EFCL David Dodge, District B

January 2012 EFCL Board Package

2012-01-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

The Fire and Ice sculture was a dramatic installation at
Ice on Whyte this year. The event was held at Strathcona
Community League in Old Strathcona. A very cool event!
Photo David Dodge (click photo to enlarge)

January EFCL Board Package Highlights

Download the EFCL January 2012 Board Package

I have already reported on the the highlights of the January board package in my January 3 blog entry! The bigs news was that the Community League Infrastructure Program funding was increased to $3 million for 2012 - deadline for 2012 applications in March 1. We also received confirmation that the entire $1.5 million made available in 2011 was awarded to Community League projects around the city. We also heard that 153 of 154 community leagues have signed or are in the process of signing the Tripartite Agreement. Each of these has or will receive the 2011 operating grant that increased 40% last year.
Read more »

Community League Capital Funding Up $1.5 million

2012-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Community Leagues!

Community League Capital Funding Up $1.5 million

Ok, the good news first! We were successful in getting another $1.5 million in funding earmarked for the Community League Infrastructure program for 2012!

This means $3 million will be available as matching funds to fix up old community league facilities (halls, rinks, basketball courts etc.) and to build new facilities as well in 2012! Edmonton City Council recognized the need for this funding and voted unanimously to support the new allocation of funds. If you submitted applications in 2011, but did not get funds be sure to re-apply this year. Please also try to find out why your application in 2011 was turned down. Was it because your project did not meet the criteria for the funds or was it simply because there wasn't enough money? Ask your community recreation coordinator to help you figure this out and then re-apply.
Read more »

December 2011 Board Package

2011-12-06T17:10:00.001-08:00

News about Signs

The City has amended it's sign regulations. Community Leagues used to be able to place only two signs per year for two weeks. The new rules allow up to eight placements of portable signs per year for two weeks each for Community Leagues. Each placement requires a $15 permit.
If you own your own sign you need a licence to place signs. The $375 licence is needed by all sign owners, whether they are businesses or community leagues. The licence is good for five years.

December EFCL Board Package Highlights

Download the EFCL December Board Package

4.2 EFCL Meet with Area Councils – Dwayne Robertson, president of the Area Councils of Edmonton Society has asked for a meeting to discuss a draft EFCL/Area Council MOU. An agreement was drafted some time ago and the Central Area Council of Community Leagues and the Castle Downs Recreation Society have approved the MOU. The idea is to get together and discuss how the two organizations can work together.

4.4 Family-friendly Multi-unit Housing Guidelines – That EFCL adopt and promote the December 2011 version of theChild/Family-Friendly Multi-Unit Housing Guidelines. These draft guidelines attempt to put some clear criteria forward that describe "family friendly" housing in order to ensure that higher density and other new developments are truly family friendly. (see board package for the draft) These guidelines provide 67 key points to assist us in advocating for more family friendly housing. This is a really nice piece. The purpose of the exercise for the EFCL is to help keep children and family friendly facilties in mature neighbourhoods.

6.3 EFCL City Budget Request – After our presentation to City Council in the budget process members of council chose to make motions for two out of our three funding requests. Councillor Ed Gibbons moved and councillor Kerry Diotte seconded the motion to increate the Community League infrastructure budget from $1.5 million to $3 million for 2012. Then Kerry Diotte moved and Kim Krushell seconded the motion for $30,000 in addition funding to match the money that EFCL members agreed to commit to a new community league development program. We also asked that the operating grants be increased again this year, but no motion was made by any councillor. CAUTION - remember these are simply the motions and this means these two funding requests are seriously in the running for approval, but they must still be approved.

6.4 Recreation Facility Review – A joint committee of the EFCL and Edmonton community leagues has been struck to review the city‘sdevelopment strategy for constructing major recreation facilities. The committee heard about the plans for the new facilities in Claireview, Stadium, Pilot Sound and the Meadows and Lewis Estates. Each of these facilities is worth about $115 million. The committee is interested in seeing these centres serve more as community hubs. We also discussed community league rinks and wondered out loud why they are not considered part of the City's inventory of recreation facilities. If they were considered and put on all the maps we may be able to come up with better integrated plans for recreation for Edmonton. We brought up covered rinks as a possible way to provide district facilities, and we briefly discussed old rinks that the City wants to close. Mostly we were in information gathering mode at this point. It was very interesting to see the plans laid out. The idea is to advocate for more living local options for recreation and to create a much more integrated system.

Winter Community League Event - Register Now, Get in on the Promos!
There is no time like the present to make a decision about your winter event and to motivate you to make a commitment the EFCL has ReMAX event kits for the first 15 leagues that email to info@efcl.org

Send us the details of your event

Name of Event
date and time
location and address
type of activities
contact person

A new online rink map will be released early December and not only displays the location of your rink, but also the rink opening times, and any event any league is having (including those not involving rinks), any date, any theme.

That's all for now!

If you have any comments please email me anytime president(at)efcl.org

David Dodge

Inspiration and Creativity Builds Better Communities in Edmonton

2011-11-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

Community League Showcase Awards

Inspiration and Creativity Builds Better Communities in Edmonton

The Community League Showcase was an
evening of inspiration and a tribute to
community leagues in Edmonton.

A huge thank you goes out to councillors Don Iveson, Ben Henderson, Kerry Diotte and Amarjeet Sohi and EFCL board members Rob Agostinis, Christine Bremner, Ken Shapka, Lindsay Smith, Veronica Vinge and Alf White and Allan Bolstad and the EFCL staff for helping host a very inspiring Community League Showcase Awards night on Saturday at the Italian Cultural Centre in Edmonton.

When the event was done I had this overwhelming sense that all of the folks in every one of our 154 community leagues needs to hear these stories and become inspired too.

It reminds us that when they are at their best, community leagues are creative, inspiring and amazing agents of change. Where else would a group of people such as the Castle Downs Recreation Society get together to rebuild a playground and end up building a $2.3 million community-inspiring facility and then travel half way around the world to reinstall the used equipment in the Philippines!

Where else but Dunluce would a group of people get together to address security concerns posed by natural forest in a neighbourhood and instead of cutting the woods down create a young environmentally minded group of Play Rangers who wanted to learn about the woods and save the trees instead.

Where else but North Millbourne would a group of folks from the community get together with a local fitness business called “No more excuses” and get people from their community involved in “Sweat, Hope and Rock-n-Roll fitness event that helped get residents active and it raised $25,000 for inner City schools.

Where else but Duggan would a group of community folks get together to create a new kind of Community League Day event by welcoming immigrants from the entire Bhutanese Community and others from the Chinese community to a day of culture, food and music. And beyond the day, the Bhutanese are now engaged in their new community holding events in the Duggan Community Hall that is theirs too.

Or consider Alberta Avenue. When they recognized the power of the Arts community in their area, they created amazing events like the Deep Freeze Byzantine Winter Festival. Aside from making an amazing video about their event, these new connections ignited a spark of inspiration and a a new kind of engagement in their community.

And finally it’s one thing for a community to work to amass resources to build the amazing Terwilliger Recreation Centre, but it’s quite another thing to build community around it by embedding themselves in the process of building the centre and being open to new partnerships and possibilities. The Southwest Farmer’s market is an unintended consequence of building community. Plopped smack, dab in the parking lot between the high school and the recreation centre the new Farmer’s market is attended by thousands of people and already has a half time staff member.

Or lastly, consider the Brintnell Park Society in my district of the City. Faced with the absolutely daunting challenge of deciding where to start building community in their neighbourhood, they decided to tackle the problem head on. They quickly became aware of the serious challenges being faced by new communities trying to begin living local and building even the most basic community facilities. Inspired by the impossible, this group entered a national Schneiders Picnic in the Park competition and wound up winning $100,000 that will go towards a playground in their area.

The key ingredient in every single case is the unbridled creativity that comes from true inspiration and community. Thanks to all of the community leagues for the uplifting evening.

EFCL November 2011 Board Package

2011-11-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hello District B Community Leagues

Download the EFCL November Board Package

A few highights from the November package

4.2 - Socan –First approved in 1994 the tariff was set up to apply to community halls that generate less than $15,400 from events where music is played. The rates are $185 per year. Please see the letter from Rona Ambrose, MP.

4.3 Covered Rink Proposal – It's going to the board for approval on Thursday. The idea is to dedicate $100k of infrastructure money to support a pilot project to cover a rink somewhere in Edmonton. Read more!

4.4 Transit Oriented Development – a proposed position statement that is going to the board to establish that higher density development around high speed transit be family friendly, that schools and public amenities such as parks and play areas be provided. See the statement in the package and let me know what you think.

4.5 City Notifications – because key stakeholders were not notified of changes to meetings community folks missed meetings about the location of a fire hall in Rossdales and changes to speedlimits in the 40-kph pilot communities. We think there should be a way for stakeholders to be notified when changes to the agenda's of City meetings are made.

4.6 Meeting with Edmonton Public School Board – after a successful meeting with the EPSB last May the EPSB has invited the EFCL for a follow-up meeting. We will follow-up on the issues we raised in May and topics considered by the Mayor's task force on the sustainability of older neighbourhoods.

6.2 Living Local Conference – 80 people attended the conference the EFCL hosted along with the Office of Great Neighbourhoods. Attendees were community folks, city staff and people from other non-profit organizations. There were three excellent presentations and discussions centered around ways to make communities involve and serve residents locally. The people involved felt the whole concept of living local needs to be advanced on an ongoing basis through leadership from the EFCL and the Office of Great Neighbourhoods. They also felt resources need to be dedicated to this effort.

6.3 EFCL Youth Connections – Michael Janz, the EFCL marketing director intends to make a proposal to the board on ways to engage young people in community leagues. We will learn what he is thinking at the meeting, but it involves a series of gatherings organized throughout the city! Hmmm, the Next Gen group helped create the Community Challenge, but it is generally felt that we have a ways to go to truely attract and engage younger folks in leagues. I look forward to hearing Michael's ideas.

6.5 Get a community solar system and energy audit? – That's the idea, to create a low cost small solar system for communty leagues on a pilot basis. The idea is to do something high profile (a solar system) and combine it with a community message board in the lobby of leagues and a comprehensive energy audit to help leagues understand what can be done to save energy on league facilities. In our research for this project I had the pleasure of touring my own hall with Rob Harlan from the solar energy society. He thought our hall was perfectly suited for a solar system, but it is even better suited for energy conservation projects that could save energy and money for the league. We (the EFCL) needs to raise some money to pull off this program.

6.8 Planning Report - check out the board package for these topics:

EFCL makes headway on Grocery Store Restrictive Covenant Issue
EFCL disappointed with new digital sign regs
Communty plan for non-market housing in the works
EFCL providing input into zoning bylaw changes for massage parlours
Community Sustainability Task Force - report coming in December!

6.9 Executive Director's Report:

EFCL 100th Anniversary
City seeks builders for vacant school sites - the city is laying the groundwork for the development of 18 more sites
Outdoor rink comittee winds up!

7.0 Community Services Report

103 Tripartite Agreements signed, sealed and in
51 applications for new capital funding totaling $3 million!
Building Great Neighbourhoods - news about infrastructure spending
Mayor hosting six senior's coffee parties
more...

That's all folks, see the board package for more information on any of these topics.

Please email me your thoughts on these or any other issues you would like to see raised at the EFCL board meeting.

Cheers,

David Dodge, District B Rep and President, The EFCL

Anthony Henday Opening Today - Update

2011-11-01T09:21:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks in District B.

Here is an update on the on the opening of the Anthony Henday from Councillor Ed Gibbons.

Anthony Henday Opening Today

With the opening of Anthony Henday Drive later today, it is likely that questions will arise about the status of 66 Street north and south of A Henday. The following information is provided:

a) 66 Street between 167 Ave and A Henday will operate through the winter on the existing alignment. Roadway maintenance has undertaken minor work to ensure that the roadway will be functional over the winter. The road will be closed for reconstruction next spring to be reconstructed to an urban arterial roadway on the permanent alignment. The work could not be completed this year due to the various utility relocations necessary prior to construction.

b) 66 Street between Henday and 195 Ave will operate through the winter on the existing alignment, and a temporary cross connection between the new and old 66 St alignment has been built. The City and Sturgeon County are working together to ensure the road is maintained until the new connection from Henday north to 195 Ave is completed next year. The existing road will remain in operation through this construction.

c) Access for trucks to new snow site - the new northeast snow site on 50 St just south of Highway 37 will be operational this winter (replacing the former, temporary site at 188 Ave and 66 St) - 24 hour truck access will be from 66 St/Henday interchange north via 66 St, 195 Ave and 50 St.

d) Alternative routes to 66 St - the new 82 St arterial connection is open to traffic and paved from 167 Ave north to 195 Ave, and 195 Ave is paved from just west of 50 St through to 127 St. For callers who are concerned about the condition of 66 St south of Henday, we would recommend the use of 82 St as an alternative. During the reconstruction of 66 Street north of 167 Ave next year, the primary detour route will be west along 195 Ave to 82 St.

e) Winter road maintenance - the City and the Provincial contractor have developed a strategy to ensure that maintenance of 82 St and 66 Street takes place across Anthony Henday. Also, as of Nov 1, the Province has assumed maintenance responsibility for Manning Drive north of Henday and Highway 28A from Manning Drive to the City boundary.

This update was from Councillor Ed Gibbons. You can reach him at: ed.gibbons@edmonton.ca

I will be at the Area 17 meeting today.

David Dodge

Update on Sinking Roads in Northeast Edmonton

2011-11-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here's an Update on Sinking Roads in Northeast Edmonton from the City of Edmonton, provided buy Councillor Ed Gibbons:

Three neighbourhoods (Ozerna, Matt Berry and Hollick Kenyon) have had premature road base failure on a number of roadways as a result of wet subgrade conditions. The mitigation measures for this are to dig up the road and base, install drainage systems to intercept the flow of moisture and replace the base and road surface.

This work has been ongoing for 3 years at the rate of about 1 km/yr. The upcoming 3 year capital program continues this work and the most deteriorated areas are being programmed for reconstruction at an ongoing rate of about 1 km/yr. The funding for this work is from within the neighbourhood renewal programs (both roads and drainage), and it is anticipated to take an additional 12 years to complete the work

The construction standards that led to this problem have been changed to avoid the same issue occurring in future.

This update was provided to Ed Gibbons by Brice W Stephenson, Manager, Transportation Operations.

This update was from Councillor Ed Gibbons. You can reach him at: ed.gibbons@edmonton.ca

The sinking roads issue has been a long standing concern of Area 17.

Geo-Domes for Rinks - A very interesting idea!

2011-10-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

At the October EFCL Board meeting a consortium of organizations presented a concept for a Geo-Dome cover for skating rinks.

Global Resource Efficiency Services (GRES) brought James Wall affiliated with GRES and representing Sprung structures, and Leigh Bond representing Threshold Energies Corporation and together they presented five options that ranged from a simple cover for a rink to a full blown covered rink, with geothermal ice plant.

GRES Geo-Dome Brochure,
click here to download the PDF.

A cover for a community rink presents a number of benefits: There is never any snow on the ice, the wind never blows and the sun never shines on the ice. As most rink folks know, snow can be a pain for outdoor rinks such as it was last year. And sun is the enemy of outdoor rinks because it can prematurely wreck the ice cutting the season short.

The entry level covered rink with no add-ons such as an ice plant or geothermal cooling system would cost from $300-$400K.

A cover mean a rink is not only better for the skating season, but it would also be available for summer sports, farmer's markets, soccer parties and all sorts of other events.

Adding turf the covered rink further extends its potential use. Depending on the configuration it is possible to get as much as five months of ice.

They also presented a high end version of the rink that features an ice plant and a geothermal cooling system that can be used to keep the ice frozen and heat surrounding buildings at the same time. The deluxe version can cost 1 - 1.6 million dollars. However, if Edmonton were considering a civic policy designed to increase regional ice facilities, the geothermal system is 55% cheaper to operate than a conventional system with an ice plant. This could help bring new life to inefficient complexes and make the addition of more covered rinks a possibility.

The other thing these folks suggested was that projects can be staged in phases. A rink could be covered in phase one and later on a geothermal ice plant system could be added. In the geothermal version of the rink the heat harvested from beneath the ice is used to heat the stands, benches and nearby buildings such as halls or even a swimming pool. The presenters also talked about financing that may be available if it could be backed by hard assets.

A very interesting proposal. For more information check out www.gresworld.com

October EFCL Board Package

2011-10-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Well, it's been a busy month with the EFCL Regular General Meeting, the launch of new programs and with the increased operating grants coming out.

Download the Oct. 13 EFCL Board Package

Here are some quick highlights from the October 2011 EFCL board meeting package.

5.1 pg. 5 – Community League Showcase – Nominate a project - please forward your suggestions of community projects that deserve to be highlighted to me and I would be happy to pass them on. Make sure we recognize those who deserve it!

5.2 pg. 8 – SOCAN – Did you hear from SOCAN recently? The EFCL hopes to set up a meeting with Edmonton area MPs to talk about SOCAN. The EFCL did fire a letter off to SOCAN clarifying our position and suggesting that leagues be treated better.

7.2 pg. 14 – Community League Day report - wow, 101 leagues officially participated. If you register early for next year we will be able to get even more attention for community leagues and league events!
What went well? What should we change? Did you value the event kits? Please take a minute to fill out ourbrief Community League Day Survey about the event.

7.3 pg. 16 – Living Local Summit – October 28th, 9am - 4pm Woodvale Community Hall   a one-day gathering brought to you by the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues, the office of the Mayor and the City of Edmonton.   Help your organization, customers and members reduce transportation time, save money, and increase their quality of life.   Help us develop a strategy to help Edmontonians do more daily activities closer to home and reduce the amount of time driving in our city. Good speakers and a very important topic for community leagues - don't miss the opportunity to attend and participate!

7.4 pg. 22 – Arts $$$$$$ Living Local Arts and Heritage Program up to $20,000 perproject. The deadline for applications is Nov. 18, 2011. Examples of projects could be paintings, sculptures, murals, live performances, history books – anythingthe league believes would be of interest and benefit to its members. Preference will be given projects undertaken by artists in the community

7.6 pg. 25 – Sale of Membership Cards On Line – Though considerable questions arose, there was not a single person opposed to the motion at our RGMto allow EFCL to provide a printable membership card with the online sale of community league memberships. Now that this has been approved, a process will begin to assess the manner in which this can beimplemented expect results sometime next year.

7.7 pg. 26 – Renewable Energy/Energy Conservation Initiative - this is in the process of development, but the idea is to support solar energy and energy efficiency projects at Community Leagues to save them money and reduce their emissions.

7.8.1 – pg. 27 – 40 km/hr Speed Limit Project – The City‘s Transportation and Infrastructure committee has recommended to City Council that threeof the six pilot communities keep their 40 km/hr speed limit, while the others see a return to 50 km/hour and council confirmed that decision today.

7.8.2 – pg. 27 – Cultural Inclusion Project – Duggan hosted a welcome party for Chinese new Immigrants – working with ASSIST (the Chinese immigrant serving agency) we arranged a welcome party for newCanadians from China. Approximately 25 Chinese families attended "Taste of Duggan," a pot luck dinner,arranged by the league. Community members brought a variety of cultural dishes to share, and celebratewith their fellow neighbours. Everyone from the Bhutan community were in attendance (Approximately 40 families)!

Those are the highlights, as always please be sure to email me your thoughts and input on issues affecting community leagues!

Sincerely,
David Dodge
District B Rep. and President, EFCL

Living Local Arts Grants for Community Leagues - Act Soon!

2011-09-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Have a hankering for art in your community?

Have you always wanted to do an arts or heritage project in your Community League? You can see it now, a sculpture, an art mural, a young musicians workshop/performance or how about a series of historic photos that tell the story of your community's history?

Examples of qualifying projects:

• an event (festival, community celebration)

• artwork (mural, book, video, musical recording)

• interpretive presentation (exhibit, interpretive program, publication, performance)

The Living Local 2011 Neighbourhood Arts and Heritage Grants will provide up to $20,000 towards your project.

All you need to do is hook up with an artist/writer/musician in your community, write up your project and apply!

John Mahon, Executive Direct of the Edmonton Arts Council explaining the Community League Arts and Heritage grants program at the Riverdale Community League on Monday, Sept. 26. Photo Allan Shute, Riverdale Community League.

Here's the deal:

The artist must reside in the Community League where the project is to take place
Up to $20,000 is available to be matched with 1/3 from the league (for a $30,000 project) – you can do smaller projects, but 1/3 of the money comes from the league
You must host a community event to share, celebrate or launch the arts or heritage project
Application deadline is November 18 - decisions will be made by December 12 and projects must be completed by June 30

There is $80,000 available for matching from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Heritage Council.

So find yourself an artist, get that idea down on paper – and who knows you could be sprucing up your community with an incredible arts or heritage project!

For more information and project
application forms, visit:
www.edmontonheritage.ca www.edmontonarts.ca Or contact:
David Ridley, Program Manager
Edmonton Heritage Council
livinglocal@edmontonheritage.ca
780.429.0166 ext. 232

Community League Day photos from Balwin, Belvedere, Kilkenny, McLeod, Steele Heights, Lago Lindo and Rosslyn

2011-09-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Community League Day was a big success all across the City with more than 101 community leagues hosting unique events all across Edmonton. The event kicked off Thursday with the world's largest crocket game. Mayor Mandel and a others joined in as we played crocket through 154 signs featuring the names of all 154 community leagues in Edmonton.
The idea was to drive the message home that community leagues are everywhere and very active in Edmonton!

Once the day arrived, the highlight for me was Rosslyn's 50th Anniversary event held at Rosslyn Hall Saturday, Sep. 17th. The theme was 1961, after the year the community league was formed. There was dinner, reminiscing, music of the '60s and best of all some very creative outfits allegedly from the 1960s!
The MC was Barb Schmidt, the daughter of long-time Rosslyn volunteer Olive Sydor.
There were past presidents of both Rosslyn and the EFCL in attendance! Bill Marshall is both a part present of Rosslyn Community League and the EFCL.
Here are just a few photos from the event, including one of Greg Hilker, the current president of Rosslyn Community League and Bill Marshall a past president.

For me the day ended by celebrating with Rosslyn, but rewind the clock back to Saturday morning and that's when more than 101 Community League Day events kicked off all across Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Journal headline was No Dalmatians, but 101 events planned Saturday across Edmonton.
The Journal also took special note of Steele Height in Edmonton's north end: Steele Heights celebrates survival on citywide community

league day
The Edmonton Examiner advises readers to check back their print edition and website on Sept. 21 for coverage.

Then I went on a whorl wind tour of EFCL District B community leagues. Here are a few photos from Community League Day in District B.

I started at Balwin Community League's show and shine, an event that invited local and other car owners to come and show their stuff. Organizer Les De Zwaan was pleased with the turn-out and and had a few favorites among the vintage cars.
Belvedere Community League held their annula free BBQ and fun day for the kids with face painting, balloon art, free food and, most popular with residents, half price memberships for one day only! I ran into Mike Kelparchuk and Lisa and they were very pleased with their event.
Kilkenny held a safety fair and had free food and lots of fun activities for kids. They had a big turn-out including Councillor Dave Loken who stopped in to bring greetings.
McLeod Community League decided to jump on board with their own Community League Day event at the last minute with hay rides through McLeod Park, entertainment by the Sounds of Country band, jumpy arenas, popcorn and more. In spite of the late organization, folks turned out in good numbers! I managed to catch up with two past presidents Del Golinoski and Lionel Stenberg and June Golinoski and Ken Baker and many others.
Steele Heights planned a fun soccer parents-kids soccer game, had a huge jumpy arena and featured some local businesses and artisans at their event. They raised a little money for the "raise the roof" initiative to fix their hall.
My last stop was Lago Lindo up in the northwest forner of EFCL District B. They had their first ever fall celebration and corn roast featuring jumpy arenas, kids activities, good food and a great setting to come and hang out with folks in the community on a fall afternoon.
Great job everyone on your events!
See you soon.

News - Sep. 8 EFCL Board Meeting and RGM

2011-09-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Communities:

I hope everyone is ready for Community League Day Saturday, September 17. More than 100 leagues are hosting events all over Edmonton.

Here are the District B events we know about:

Balwin Show and Shine - Bring your ride and show your pride. 10am - 3 pm.
Belevdere BBQ - free to all residents who purchase their membership this Saturday (half price memberships this Saturday only). Features Big Bin drop off, face painting, balloon artists from 12 - 3 pm.
Kilkenny Safety Fair and BBQ - Free food, prizes, safety guest speakers, games, fun for the whole family. 11 am - 3 pm.
Lago Lindo 1st Family Fall Festival - jumpy arenas, corn roast, BBQ, and more. 12 - 4 pm.
Rosslyn Party in the Park 50th Anniversary - Sept. 16 meet and greet at 7 pm - Sep. 17 BBQ, sports, entertainment 12 - 4 pm and Sixties theme dinner and dance 5:30 pm until late - Sep. 18 pancake breakfast 10 am - noon.
Steele Heights Fun Soccer and Fundraiser - kids vs parents soccer game form 10:30 am - noon and a "raise the roof" Community Market Fundraiser form 10 - 4 pm to raise money and awareness about much needed renovations.

Evansdale held their Community League Day event on Sep. 10, a very successful sports and program registration along with horse-drawn wagon rides, jumpy arenas and free food!

News from the September 8 Board Meeting

Download the September 8 EFCL Board Package.

I did send a short report around prior to the Sep. 8th board meeting. Here is a short report on two items from the meeting itself.

6.4 Multiplex Recreation Strategy - The EFCL is forming a committee with three board members, two planning committee members and two members from the membership to discuss how community leagues think recreation facilities should be developed in the future. The City has committed to a number multiplex centres already - does this mean we will not see smaller, more neighbourhood developments at all? Does this mean some smaller facilities will close? What would really help communities "live local?" For example what about the idea of smaller covered rinks in communities that could extend and improve the skating season and also be used for summer events and farmer's markets. Lot's to chew on here. We will be looking for a few more committee members at the EFCL RGM on October 4 at Glenora Community League 10426 - 136 Street - free dinner at 5:30 pm

6.5 Community Sustainability Report - The EFCL board approved the Mature Neighbourhoods Sustainability Report. The report was produced by the planning committee and numerous meetings were held to seek input. It makes 30 recommendations designed to sustain and maintain mature neighbourhoods.

There is much more in the board package.

Regular General Meeting Agenda

You should have received the agenda and notice for the EFCL Regular General Meeting. Aside from this being a good opportunity to get together with leagues from all over the city and enjoy dinner together the membership will be discussing a few topics of interest.

EFCL Membership Fee Increase - The EFCL Board is recommending an increase fees from 1.8% to 2.0% and to remove the $500 cap on membership fees for the Community League members of the EFCL.

The money would be used to fund half of a new community league support program to assist presidents, treasurers, secretaries, facility managers, program directors - all of the key players in the league - to help them learn new skills, network with other leagues and develop workshops on things like filling out grant applications, strategic planning and bylaw improvements. Sessions we have hosted in the past were very popular.

The board is proposing to fund the program with $22,000 from the increased membership fees, by finding cost savings of $8,000 at the EFCL and by asking the City to match our $30,000 with another $30,000.

Asking for a fee increase is obviously touchy thiing at the best of times. But the board felt the time was right since most leagues just now receiving a dramatic increase in their operating grants.

Operating grants were increased an average of 44% this year and we are requesting another similar increase for next year. It was council that split our original request over two years.

Here is a chart showing how much league operating grants have increased in District B and how much their membership fees would increase from the proposal.

Since the cap is being removed the fee increase will affect bigger leagues who have more residents and larger operating grants more than leagues fewer numbers.

On average leagues are receiving an increase in operating grants of 44%. But as you can see some of the larger leagues benefit more than smaller leagues from the grant increases. The board is proposing that the price cap on membership fees be lifted which means larger leagues will pay an amount proportional to the number of residents they have in their area. CLICK ON GRAPH TO ENLAGE.

You can download the RGM agenda package and in the package there is a table listing the actual fee increases for all leagues. For example my own community leagues fees will go up $380 because our community league contains three neighbourhoods. However our operating grant went up $8,481 this year too. Leagues will decide and come and vote on October 4th at the EFCL RGM.

Online Membership Cards - the second item of interest that will come up at the RGM is a proposal to issue membership cards for the memberships sold online. A lot of leagues have asked for this and a lot of members have asked for this. Often when people buy membership online it's because they are having trouble getting in touch with their league and they are literally on their way to a sports registration. Getting the card and their membership number right away would be helpful for them. Each membership sold online would also include a message about the EFCL and about their community league. Most of the leagues in district B sell most of their own memberships at events and sports registrations so this will not affect us very much. But it would be more convenient for new members. Members will be asked to vote on this proposal at the RGM.

There is much more happening at the RGM as well, come out and participate!

Enjoy your Community League Day events!

Evansdale's early Community League Day

2011-09-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hi District B Community Leagues

Saturday was an amazing Community League Day for Evansdale Community League.

Aside from the 25 C temperatures, for the second year running Evansdale combined soccer and program registrations with free jumpy arenas, horse-drawn wagon rides and free hot dogs and refreshments for anyone who came. More is better as Evansdale is learning. By combining soccer, Tae Kwon Do, belly dance and basketball registrations with the Community League Day party, numbers appear to be up in all corners. Evansdale holds its Community League Day celebrations on the second Saturday of September because sports registrations have been planned for that date years in advance. This means we miss the official community league day, but nevertheless it was a very good day!

Check out the photos: Evansdale Community League Day slideshow

Next week the official Community League Day swings into action as more than 100 leagues host events across Edmonton. The official kick-off is Thursday at 10 am at the EFCL offices as we engage the Mayor and some councillors in an out-sized game of crocket through a course consisting of 154 community league signs.

I have the honour of attending Rosslyn's 50th Anniversary Party on Saturday, September 17, but will be attending other events during the day.

Good luck with your events!

EFCL Sep. 8 Board Package Get it now!

2011-09-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hi District B Folks,

Sorry for the short notes, but it's late and I am just back from a very enjoyable long weekend! Here is a link to a page where you can download the EFCL Board Package for September 8, 2011. It's the first one on the list.

EFCL Board Package

It was a busy summer for the EFCL. The EFCL hosted meetings with three of the leadership candidates running to lead Alberta's Conservative Party: Alison Redford, Gary Mar and Ted Morton. Our goal was to discuss community issues with the leadership candidates, one of which will be the next Premier of Alberta. It was a worthwhile exercise, although we only met with three candidates.

6.1 (pg. 5) Community League Day is fast approaching - check out all of the leagues that have registered their events with the EFCL by scanned the Community League Day map here:

6.2 (pgs. 6-8) Our Regular General Meeting is fast approaching - a draft agenda appears in this board package.

6.4 (pg. 10) MultiPlex Recreation Strategy - the EFCL and community leagues can summarize a lot of what we care about under the banner of "living local" but what does this mean for large recreation complexes and how does this affect our community leagues, our facilities, our programs and our ability to maintain strong interest in our communities. The board will undoubtedly recommend setting up a committee to wrestle with these issues in the context of discussing large multiplex facilities. What about community-based facilities? Should be interesting! If you are interested please provide input too!

6.5 (pg. 11) Community Sustainability Report - the ERCL completed it's draft report on the sustainability of mature neighbourhoods and this has been submitted to the Mayor's Task Force on Community Sustainability. We invited members to workshops and our staff planner, Bev Zubot and the planning committee put a great deal of work into this. It's worth a look if you are interested in the sustainability of mature neighbourhoods. See the board package.

8.2 (pgs. 14-20) 2012 Budget Submission: The EFCL made its annual budget submission to the City of Edmonton. Last year we asked for $3 million for community league capital projects and another $1.3 million in operational funding. As you may recall this request was split over too years by City Council. Last year Council provided $1.5 million for capital projects and $668,000 in increases for operating grants. This year we resubmitted our request for a second increase of $668,000 in operational funds and $1.5 million in capital funding. If successful this would mean another increase in operating funds for leagues and more money available for badly needed capital projects and upgrades.

We also put a request in for what we are calling our Community League Growth Initiative. The goal is to provide more specifically training for community leagues executives. We think this will help leagues make the most our of their limited volunteer labour and to do more exciting programs for leagues.

That's just a few highlights from the September EFCL board package.

If you have any comments, questions or input please let me know!

This week I will be meeting with the Policy Chief on Tuesday and we have our regular EFCL Board Meeting on Thursday.

District B Report on EFCL Board Package July 2011

2011-07-20T20:48:00.001-07:00

Hello District B Communities, here is an update from the July 14 EFCL Board Meeting. Download the package for the July 14 board meeting.

How is your summer going? I had the pleasure of meeting City Councillors, staff, business people in Medicine Hat last week as part of my regular work. I was there to learn about their "Hat Smart" program that provides rebates for energy efficiency and subsidies for citizens to install renewable energy on their homes and businesses. It's all part of Medicine Hat (also known as "Gas City) looking to the future and helping citizens and businesses learn to incorporate innovative new green energy systems into their homes and businesses. I mention this because I site on the City of Edmonton's Renewable Energy Task force and we are just now working on our final report for council. Would't it be great to see a program that offered Community Leagues the opportunity to install solar or other renewable energy systems as demonstration projects in communities in Edmonton?

Here is a summary, adapted from an email from Allan, of what came up at the board meeting, please refer to the board package for details.

Family Literacy Program. The Family Literacy Group (which includes a former Area 17 person by the way) has a program called The Classroom on Wheels (COW) that is available for Community League Day events. The also have programs suitable for Community Leagues. You can contact Adrienne or Wendy at info.@famlit.ca
Community League Training Officer. We will be pitching city council for $30,000 to cover half the cost of a new staff person, who will focus on workshops and training sessions for league executive members. We proposed to fund part of this positon from a very modest membership fee increase, which we will be pitching to the leagues at the Oct. 4 RGM. This person would essentially help community leagues up their game. Many leagues ask for such assistance regularly! (pgs. 5-6)
Membership Fee Increase. The board will be taking proposal to the membership to change the league fees to $275 plus 2% of the league’s annual operating grant, to help pay for the position noted above. This will be discussed at the Oct. 4 RGM, so we will have to delay invoicing the leagues by about two months this year. We secured a 40% increase in operating grants for the leagues and as you will see below we are asking for another similar increase for next year.
2012 City Budget Request. We will be asking for the $30,000 mentioned above, along with another $1.5 million in capital dollars for the leagues and $668,000 in annual operating grant money, both of which represent the second half of what we asked for last year. In addition, we will request the customary inflationary increase for EFCL operations which is generally 2 or 3 per cent.
On-line Membership Cards. The board has agreed to recommend to our membership on Oct. 4 that membership cards be available online so folks can get memberships easily and quickly in time for registrations. This is primarily a back up for leagues who normally sell most of their own membertships.
Family Oriented Housing and CB3 zoning amendments. Recommendations from the planning committee were passed. (pgs. 14-15)
Meeting with the Planning Committee. The board has agreed to meet with the planning committee and going over a work plan for the committee, to make sure everyone is comfortable with the direction we are going and the priority that is given to different initiatives. (pg 16)
Meeting with Aboriginal Agencies and Elders. The board will meet with these groups to review our cultural inclusion project and other partnership opportunities.
Annual Meeting with Edmonton City Council. The board decided that we should meet with Edmonton City Council once a year, as a matter of policy (so we will need to include this in our policy manual, Joanne). We will set up a meeting for this fall. We have met with council each year for several years now.
Memorandum of Understanding with the Multicultural Coalition. The board approved the draft MOU, which spells out how we will work with this organization. This is an important step and our increased cooperation with this group is most helpful to our ongoing work to reach out to new residents and folks from diverse cultural backgrounds. (pg 18-19)
Meeting with the Police Chief and Chair of the Edmonton Police Commission. The board agreed to request a meeting, and invite representatives from Neighborhood Watch and Community Patrol.
Capital Ex Parade. The banners are made, the balloons are ordered and work is proceeding nicely on dressing up the truck Al Innes has borrowed from Don Wheaton. Everyone is welcome to join us on Thursday morning for the parade.
100^th Anniversary Celebration Project. The consensus was that we focus on the Hawrelak Park water feature option, which seems to match our plans very nicely. We will try to flesh out a concept design with the city shortly.
Community Sustainability Workshop. Approximately 30 people attended our second and final session. The EFCL will use the ideas generated at this workshop to prepare a draft paper for the Mayor’s Task Force on Community Sustainability by the end of August.
Web Site Hosting. The board has agreed to phase out this service over a number of years and not accept any new leagues. Many are now on their own and it's time we helped leagues move to their own hosting arrangements. (pg. 30)
Advertising Contract with TheOneCo. The EFCL is considering the possibility of using this company to help sell advertising on its website.
Covered Rink Proposal. A local consortium is looking at building roof structures for outdoor rinks, along with geothermal systems that could help keep the ice cool while heating a hall nearby. The consortium would like to pitch the EFCL on the idea in the next couple of months. It looks like a smaller community rink could be covered, cooled by an ice plant and a geothermal system for under $600,000. More on this later. (pgs. 37-41)
Surplus School Sites. The city has just released a list of 19 sites that will soon be turned over to the market for residential, commercial or institutional purposes. The EFCL will ask the city to notify each league and engage them in discussions to help determine the best use of these lands before asking for expressions of interest for various other uses. You will recall the first round of sites that were identified for "Affordable Housing." This is the next round. You can download a short report from Allan on Surplus School Sites. Please note there is a site in Miller.

I hope your summer is going well, there is much going for for community leagues this summer.

David Dodge

District B Rep. and President, EFCL

Surplus School Sites

EFCL/Area Council MOU - Your input wanted!

2011-06-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

District B Report, June 8, 2011

Download the June EFCL Board Package (or go to http://efcldistrictb.blogspot.com/ and use the link in the blog)

After the Area Council 17 meeting yesterday a few of us who went for refreshments after the meeting were met by Eric Johnson, the Past President of Kilkenny Community League. The energetic and inspiring former president has suffered some health issues and is recovering very well, if his spirits are any indication. I wish him a speedy recovery and thank him for all the great work he has carried out for his community over the years.

EFCL/Area Council MOU – last year a number of Area Council Representatives and EFCL folks got together and discussed developing a short agreement to help define and explain the roles of Area Councils and the EFCL (see attached document). The EFCL asked City Council to fund a positon to help coordinate and support both Area Councils and EFCL districts. The thinking was If these two organizations of community leagues communicated and worked well together, we could all get much more done more effectively and more efficiently. The City chose not to fund the position. This means we are still left with the draft Memoradum of Agreement, which unto itself is still a good idea. The EFCL is considering how to move this along, as are some of the Area Councils, so this is an opportune time for District B Community Leagues to weigh in.

You guys are the bosses of both Area Councils and the EFCL. Does this proposed agreement sound like a good idea? Do you have any feedback on the MOU? I am asking as your EFCL District Representative. Please tell me how the two organizations can work together to BETTER help you with the business of running community leagues. Please send your feedback on the MOU to me, David Dodge email: president(at)efcl.org

Decision Items from the June 9, 2011 Board Package

Note, the minutes are no longer part of the board package because we should really distribute minutes before they are approved. You can get those from the EFCL website once they are approved.

EFCL Board Package June 2011 - District B Report

2011-06-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hi District B Folks,

This must be the busiest month of the year for community folks!

Download the June EFCL Board Package

Decision Items

5.1 Board Retreat – the EFCL board is going to discuss the Area Council MOU at it's upcoming retreat so if you have any input on this please let us know in advance of that. The board will also discuss some new ideas of energizing leagues and update the EFCL business plan.

The EFCL hired seven cultural outreach workers to help connect a diversity of people with community leagues and we are working on a fascinating project with the Arts Council and the Heritage Council to support arts projects in community leagues. More on this soon.

5.3 (pg 8) - Transit Oriented Development – a series of recommendations are coming to the board on issues including managing density, family friendliness of the housing developed, access to transit and neighbourhoods, and much more. See pages 8-11 and send in your comments.

5.4 (pg. 12) RA8 Medium Rise Apartment Zone Changes – the EFCL Planning Committee suggests supporting increases in Floor Area Ratios if family-oriented units are built, that site coverage be limited to 45%, that transitions to smaller scale sites be increased and the the length of RA8 buildings be limited. See pages 12-13).

7.3 (pg. 16) Representatives from 21 community leagues attended the Community Sustainability Task Force meeting and discussed concerns about schools, changing demographics, housing, public safety and planning.

7.4.1 (pg. 17) Capital Ex Parade – the EFCL is entering the parade this year in order to promote community leagues in Edmonton. We would like to represent the many things that leagues. The parade is on July 21st from 10:00AM - 12:30PM. If you or anyone you know can attend and participate, please email ryan.troock@efcl.org. It is essential for us to attract a significant number of participants (100 plus) for this to work.

7.4.4 (pg. 18) Community League Day – September 17 – REGISTER YOUR event, there is going to be a 12-page features in the Edmonton Examiner and you will would to make sure your league's event is featured! Let Valerie know about your event: communications@efcl.org

7.5 (pg. 19) Executive Director's Report – a number of goodies here:

The Tripartite Agreement was approved by the EFCL Membership 65-2 and goes to the Community Services Committee on Monday June 13
At a Neighbourhoods USA conference Allan learned about something called "Neighbourhood Redevelopment Agencies" that essentially purchases, restores and sells problem properties that are affecting the vitality of older neighbourhoods. Read more on page 19.
Arts and Heritage Project - At a meeting last month, the Arts Council agreed to allocated $50,000 toward this initiative, while the Heritage Council tossed in $30,000. This will let community leagues triple their money on projects that celebrate the unique character on their neighborhood. (Also see 10.1 pg. 33)

District News

District J has a new representative! Veronica Vinge, the VP of Gold Bar Community League was elected as the new District J EFCL Board Rep.

Those are the highlights. There is much more in the board package!
If you have any questions about the EFCL, or if you have input please email your thoughts to me anytime: president(at)efcl.org

Have a great summer,
David Dodge

Area Council MOU

2011-06-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

District B: Area Council 17 and Area Council 2:

Thanks to the more than 65 community leagues that attended the Tripartite Meeting at Rosslyn a few weeks ago. As you probably heard the new licence agreement was passed by 63 of 65 leagues at the meeting. I hope to get more information about operating grants and the new infrastructure program at the EFCL Board Meeting next week.

1) Your EFCL District B Representative:

Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated! I am still your EFCL District B Representative. I was elected last year and my position is up for election in April 2012. The EFCL Board consists of 12 Elected District representatives. At the first meeting following the April AGM each year the executive committee is elected from among the 12 elected representatives. This year I was elected President, Christine Bremner was elected VP Internal, David Gibbens was elected VP External and Al Innes was elected Treasurer. You must be a District Representative to be on the board.

Each District also has an elected representative of the EFCL Planning Committee. Our representative is Ron Favell of Killarney Community League. His phone number is: (780) 456-4706. His email is: cherylmcnalley (at) hotmail.com

If you have planning issue concerns about City-wide issues please contact Ron.

2) EFCL/Area Council MOU for your consideration:

Last year Area Council representatives met with the EFCL to hammer out a Memorandum of Understanding between the councils and the EFCL. This agreement was developed by a fairly strong contingent of Area Council representatives. Even though the position was not funded it is a very good idea for us to look at this an push it along if we think it's important.

The EFCL asked for funding from the City to hire a coordinator to help coordinate meetings, assist with key activities, help with communication and assist with volunteer recognition among EFCL Districts and Area Councils. The benefits of coordination could make us more efficient and much more effective.

The City did not fund this position, but did fund the new capital grants program and the City increased operating grants at the time as well.

The draft MOU was emailed to Area 17 and Area 2 leagues. We should review the MOU at Area Council meetings and discuss ways of funding the position if we think it's still important.

EFCL Board Package May 2011

2011-05-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Communities:

Report in advance of the May12, 2011 EFCL Board Meeting

Download the May12 2011 Board Package
It has been a very busy time with the Tripartite agreement up for renewal and a flurry of meetings. It was good to see the Area 17 communities at the annual Area 17 BBQ in the weekend. It was also good to meet with the executives of Steele Heights, McLeod, Kilkenny, Evansdale, Londonderry, and a few folks from Rosslyn in the last month. It seems everyone is very busy this month!
Reminder:

Tripartite Agreement special general meeting

May 17, 2011 at 7 pm at Lauderdale Hall, 12937 - 107 Street.

Remember we must have quorum at this special general meeting to vote on the Tripartite Agreement. I attended the second meeting hosted by Area Council 17, 1 and 2 on May 5 and just a few leagues showed up. This is probably because by now most leagues have attended one of the many information meetings. IN addition I have also attended half a dozen league meetings to discuss the draft agreement. Please show up on May 17 to vote on the agreement – otherwise we will have to do it all over again!

For more information and downloads, visit the EFCL website's Tripartite page.

Highlights from the EFCL May 12, 2011 Board Package

6.1 –Recommendations for Public School Board - pg 12

After a meeting between the EFCL board and the members of the Edmonton Public School Board the board is considering a series of recommendations to the public school board to help preserve schools and mature neighbourhoods.

Please carefully read the report and feedback from the planning committee on page 13 of the board package and consider the following recommendations:

That the EFCL send a letter to the EPSB that thanks them for meeting with us and recommends the following:

That they send representatives to our Living Local conference on Oct. 28.
That they develop a program to promote neighbourhood schools
That they consider creating catchment areas for all programs of choice so that children living close to these schools are given priority when space is limited.
That they ask parents to pay the full cost of transporting their children to programs of choice.
That they join us in lobbying the province to open up space for community programming in new schools, as well as creating more opportunities for all communities to have access to the schools after hours, as per the joint use agreement
That they put together a proposal, perhaps in conjunction with the Edmonton Catholic School Board, that asks taxpayers at election time to approve a 3% hike in the school portion of property taxes to help maintain schools in mature neighbourhoods and help the board meet other educational needs of their students.
That they do joint planning with the City to reinvest in mature neighbourhoods and attract more families with children to mature neighbourhoods.

As you will see from the report and feedback on these ideas in the board package there are diverse opinions on some of these ideas. Schools in mature neighbourhoods are often neglected in a budgetary sense which also contributes to their eventual demise. This is where the special levy idea came in to support the maintenance of mature schools. The other recommendation regarding subsidized transportation of children to specialty programs far and wide also attracted some discussion. Please read the report and send your feedback.

6.2 - Retaining Children in Mature Neighbourhoods - pg 15

This is a revised motion to create an EFCL policy regarding the retention of children and families in mature neighbourhoods to ensure the neighbourhoods remain viable and retain the infrastructure critical to strong neighbourhoods, such as schools. This draft policy brings a number of existing positions under one clear policy. It was in last months board package as a motion, but the board wanted it presented as a proposed policy instead of as a motion. This is that motion.

6.3 - On-Line Community League Cards - pg 17

When the EFCL started selling memberships online many leagues wondered whey we did not issue membership cards with the online purchase. Some leagues opposed this at the time, but in my travels to leagues most of the leagues I have heard from in the last few years wondered why we don't issue cards online saving leagues the work of creating and mailing or delivering cards to new members.

This issue is back before the board and membership and the choices are:

Email cards when the purchase is made online
Email a temporary card when the purchase is made online
Mail a hard card to new members who purchase online from the EFCL

Please see the report on page 17 of the board package and let us know how you feel. My sense is that emailing a membership card is the way to go. We have lost members because they can't figure out how to get one in time for sports registrations and the whole hockey fiasco is largely because of how hard it is to purchase and track memberships.

Don't worry we plan to strike a committee to consider this issue further and the recommendation to the board is that we bring the proposed solution to the membership at the fall AGM.

As you might have guessed I think this is a good idea. There is nothing preventing any league from having direct contact with their members anytime they like to welcome them to the league. But by being more responsive and by making it easier to get memberships we will be serving our members better, and we will keep members longer.

Let me know how you feel about this.

6.4 - 90th and 100th Anniversary Projects - pg 18

The EFCL is considering taking on a major park redevelopment project for its 100th Anniversary in 10 years. The idea came up from the committee that is trying to figure out what to do to celebrate our 90th Anniversary. The idea is to take step one this year, in our 90th year and build up to a major, big deal just in time for our 100th Anniversary.

6.5 - Board Meeting Locations - pg 19

The board is considering a request to hold one of our board meetings at the new Terwillegar Recreation Centre. This raised the question of whether we should hold some board meetings in the regions of the city. The board will consider this idea at the meeting on Thursday. We don't want to make meetings a political football, but my sense is holding some meetings in different areas of the city occasionally would prove we are accessible and open. We will see how the discussion goes.

6.6 – Lobbying PC Leadership Candidates - pg 20

That the EFCL hold meetings with three or four of the key PC Party leadership candidates to discuss our primary concerns and initiatives. It makes sense to me to get out in front of the leadership race and brief would-be new premiers on the issues we care about in leagues.

6.7 – Creation of Rink and Carnival Committee - pg 21

That the EFCL appoint a board member to chair the 2012 Rink and Carnival Weekend Committee and invite leagues to provide representatives. This is your chance – do you want to help create an awesome Winter Rink and Carnival event across the City. Consider joining this committee that will surely be created at the board meeting this week.

8.1.1 – Community League Memberships Sold through EMHA - pg 23

Reading the report I sense and understand the frustration of EFCL staff who are still trying to sort out the hockey membership fiasco, but I must say the tone of the report seems to suggest that it will be a problem for the NE Zone to carry on with the excellent relationship it was with leagues and with the idea of requiring community league memberships for players in the NE. This has not been a problem for us in the NE. The EMHA will vote on removing the requirement for a community league membership on May 11 (this week) and they will require 75% support to remove the requirement. Hmmmm, we will see what happens. I would prefer to see the way it works in the NE characterized as successful!!! Remember to give a hug to your NE reps next time you see them.

8.2 – Celebration of Neighbourhood Character - pg 24

The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues is launching a project with the Edmonton Arts Council and Edmonton Heritage Council to celebrate the character of individual neighborhoods.

8.3 – Community League Day Examiner Insert - pg 25

We are exploring a number of promotional opportunities for this fall‘s Community League Day. These include radio promotions, social media, sponsorship prizing and a special 12+ page Edmonton Examiner insert.

8.5 – Executive Director‘s Report - pg 28

I know this report is already jam-packed, but see Allan's report for information on: Living Local Conference (Oct. 28), Hall Rental Meeting and Guide, Good Neighbour program and more.

8.6 – Planning Advisor's Report - pg 30

Please see Bev Zubot's report for information on recommendations from us on apartment zones, a new request for feedback on small-scale zones, Transit Oriented Development, and the Community Sustainabilty Task Force charied by Michael Phair. Remember Ron Favell of Killarney Community League is District B's new representative on the Planning Committee.

That's it, please let me know if you have any feedback, ideas or issue you would like me to raise at the board meeting this week.

Cheers,David Dodge
District B Representative and President, the EFCL
May 9, 2011

EFCL Board Package April 2011 - Report

2011-04-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Communities:

Highlights from the April 14, 2011 EFCL Board Meeting

Download the April 14 Board Package here

4.0 Election of EFCL Officers - the district representatives elect the new executive of the EFCL after the April AGM each year. The following is your new executive of the EFCL:

President: David Dodge
VP External: David Gibbens
VP Internal: Christine Bremner
Treasurer: Al Innes

It is worth noting that the new EFCL executive has excellent representation from the northeast. Al Innes is from Claireview, Christine Bremner is from Highlands and yours truly is from Evansdale. Past President Davie Gibbens is from the west end.

6.0 - Page 14 - Tripartite Agreement - All of the comments from community leagues were gathered and taken to the April 6th meeting of the Tripartite Task Force. The task force of community league representatives and City representatives agreed to make many changes to the draft agreement. Some suggestions were not accepted because the committee thought them inappropriate or felt they were already dealt with in the agreement. A definitions section was added and an introductory clause was added clarifying that leagues own their facilities. The agreement is a better agreement thanks to the input from leagues. The revised agreement went to the EFCL Board on April 14. It was approved for recommendation to to the membership (unanimously I might add).
For history's sake, remember it was District B that led the call for new negotiations on the Tripartite Agreement that got this task force going in the first place. We were very well represented by on the negotiating committee. All of our concerns were injected into the process numerous times during the process.
We have met with interested leagues in our district at two major metting. I have also met with several individual leagues to discuss the agreement and the reaction is quite positive. This is a better agreement that our 1999 agreement and it is a better agreement than the agreement some of our leagues did not sign.
Please talk about the agreement with your executive and come the May 17 Special General Meeting of the EFCL at Lauderdale Hall to vote as a member league on the agreement. Your community league votes to decided if the EFCL accepts the agreement and then again to determine if your league accepts the agreement. Please show up at this meeting to ensure we get quorum.

6.2 - Page 15 - The EFCL Talent Show is being discontinued. After disappointing registrations for this year's program, the board voted to discontinue the event after many successful events over the decades. Perhaps times have changed, or perhaps it's YouTube and the myriad of opportunities people have to show off their talents these days, but whatever the reason the EFCL talent show is no more. Watch for a tribute article in our newsletter.

6.5 - Page 18 - Child Friendly Housing and Neighbourhoods - the planning committee made an attempt to amalgamate a number of existing policies and statements that the EFCL has made regarding family and child friendly neighbourhoods into one document. While the board agreed with the spirit of this document it was felt we could not pass it in the form proposed to the board. The board asked staff to put the proposed policy in the format of EFCL policies and bring it back once again. Your comments are welcome.

6.6 - Page 20 - Letter of Support for Youth Emergency Shelter in the NE - The board considered my request for a letter of support for a shelter in the NE as requested by Marg Day and the communities of Area 17. Although the board is very sympathetic to this initiative it could not provide a letter of support due to the EFCL Governance Policy that states we do not take positons in issues that do not affect a majority of our members. Instead the EFCL will provide a letter wishing the the group well in its work and suggesting advocates for the YES work and consult with the local community league once it is know where it is being proposed.

6.7 - page 21 - Agenda for meeting with the Edmonton Public School Board - the EFCL is meeting with the EPSB about: 1) Promotion of neighbourhood schools; 2) Inclusion of community space in schools; 3) Revitalization of older schools and 4) Shared use of school parking lots in off hours. I asked number four to be added to the list because I have seen kids being forced to park in neighbourhoods across busy streets at night to get to soccer games in our parks while very large school parking lots sit empty at night. We need to have better community relations with our schools.

8.4.1 40 KPH Speed Limit in Communities - In a letter to City Council the EFCL reported on the six pilot programs that ran in communities in Edmonton. The community leagues that participated in the program were very supportive of the initiative and most actually recommended the limit be applied to neighbourhoods across the City. I presented this report to City Council last week. However problems with enforcement were noted by many people, whether it's a 50 kph limit or a 40 kph limit. City council seems to be opting to consider speed limited on a case-by-case basis in communities after a long meeting of the Transportation Committee last week. This is because of mixed feedback from citizens. What does your community league think? Please pass your thoughts on to us. Policy folks tell us that uneven speed limits across the City are NOT a good idea.

8.5.3 Edmonton Community Challenge - presented by the EFCL and Nextgen we are running the community challenge on June 3,4,5 this year. Please visit www.ecc.edmontonnextgen.ca for details on how to get young and old involved in a very special community event this year!

That's it for now.

Please send your comments to districtb@efcl.org
David Dodge, President and District B Rep
Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues

EFCL Board Package April 2011 - Tripartite Agreement

2011-04-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Community Leagues:

Download the April 14 Board Package here

Please let me know if there is anything you would like raised at the Board meeting. Here is news from the EFCL AGM.

District B has a new planning representative:

Congratulations to Ron Favell of Killarney CL - Ron will attend planning committee meetings and represent our District. Congratulations Ron!

Tripartite Agreement special general meeting

May 17, 2011 at 7 pm at Lauderdale Hall, 12937 - 107 Street.

Version 2 of the draft will be available for download and review by the week of April 18th, 2011. Download the current draft tripartite agreement - along with a brief tripartite overview and read the comments from the meeting on our news article at the EFCL website.

Pool Allocation Meeting

April 27 at Strathcona Centre Community League Hall located at 10139 - 87 Ave.

Doors at 6:30 meeting at 7:00 pm. Please RSVP@efcl.org

New deal allows CL to book public times at 25% discount. Cost is reduced by the number of leagues participating. Leagues can keep existing "new" deals too.

Cultural Integration Workshop

The EFCL is holding a cultural integration workshop to get some input from leagues about ways to reach out to newcomers and native Canadians.

7:00 p.m., April 11, at Lakewood Community League (260 Lakewood Road East) in Mill Woods. RSVP@efcl.org

The goal is to find ways to reach out to ethno-cultures and immigrants. We are hiring outreach workers to help with language and cultural issues. Leagues should come out and provide input and feedback to ensure the program works for leagues. Many leagues in our area talk about the challenges of working with and attracting diverse participation in league activities - come on out and help make it happen!

Community League Day is September 17, 2011 - Register your event!

As soon as you confirm with your board inform EFCL of the name of the event, date, time, address, and activities planned. Be sure not to miss the advertising deadline and stay tuned to this page for details of prizes, promotions, and a great fall promotion.

Hall Rental Workshop - April 28 Lauderdale Community League, 12937 - 107 St, 7 to 9 pm. Modeled after the successful rink workshop held earlier this year. Come for presentations, to share and to learn.

Website Workshop - May 4, EFCL offices, 7103 - 105 St 7 to 9 pm. Come out and see a very high-end web solution for leagues that sells ads, memberships, executive lists and much more.

EFCL Board Package March 2011 - Tripartite Agreement

2011-03-11T08:00:00.001-08:00

Hello District B Communities,

What a busy week. There is plenty of news following the EFCL Board meeting last night. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Here are the highlights from the meeting last night.

David Dodge, District B Representative

Download the board package for the March 10, 2011 meeting

April Calendar

April 04 EFCL Annual General Meeting - 5:30 to 9:00 PM , Woodvale Community Hall, 4540 - 50 Street
April 14 EFCL Board Meeting
April 16 EFCL Talent Show
April 19 School Board Meeting—Neighbourhood Schools
April 20 Swim Allocation Meeting
April 27 Planning & Development Meeting
April 28 Hall Rental Workshop

6.3 - pg 15 - Triparite Agreement - NEW INFORMATION

The new Tripartite agreement will be distributed this Monday at long last. The negotiation process was very successful. We addressed all of the issues raised about the previous agreement, cleaned up some of the language, reduced the mentions and role of the EFCL in the agreement to appropriate roles, and best of all we secured a new 50 per cent matching capital fund for on-lease community league projects and a 40 per cent increase in operating grants.

District B Special Report - Tripartite Agreement

2011-03-06T19:48:00.001-08:00

District B Report

David Dodge

March 6, 2011

Hi everyone in Distrit B:

I will send a link to the EFCL Board Package as soon as I receive it. Meanwhile here are a few important updates for your attention. As always, if you have anything you would like me to bring up at the EFCL Board meeting this Thursday, please let me know.

AT LONG LAST THE EFCL PRESENTS:

The Draft Tripartite License Agreement

EFCL is holding a meeting at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, at Rossdale Community League Hall, 10135-96 Avenue, to present and review the draft Tripartite License Agreement. This is the agreement that determines how leagues can use the land they have under license with the city. We will be sending out the draft agreement shortly after the EFCL board deals with the matter on March 10. This agreement will be ultimately be voted on by the membership at the Annual General Meeting, which is set for 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 4 at Woodvale Community League. Dinner at 5:30 p.m. – RSVP@efcl.org for both events.

District B Update

2011-03-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone in District B:

AT LONG LAST THE EFCL PRESENTS:

The Draft Tripartite License Agreement

EFCL Board Package Feb. 2011 - District B Report

2011-02-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

District B Report:
This is been a very busy month of meetings: the EFCL Trade Show, the EFCL Alberta Cabinet meetings, the TriPartite Licence committee, Rink Program Workshop, Area 17, Steele Heights, Killkenny and Evansdale’s Little Kickers program and more.

Download the EFCL February 10 Board Package - pg. numbers refer to the board package

6.0 pg. 15 – Community League Infrastructure Grant Program

Preliminary details of the new City capital grants program. Grants will be offered in three categories small, medium and large projects. See the board package for more information. The grants and the increasing operating grants are tied to the new Tripartite agreement process.

8.2 pg. 20 – Community League Operating Grants

This comes up later in the agenda, but it is connected. The operating grants for community leagues are increasing by about 40%. This will mean the base amount will increase from $3,500 to about $4,900 and the per capita amount will increase from $1.47 to $2.07 (I hope this is accurate). The increased operating grants are also tied to the new TriPartite Agreement.

TriPartite Agreement

I am pleased to report the TriPartite committee has at long last arrived at an official draft of the new agreement. After a few last minute tweaks at the Wednesday meeting of the committee it should be ready to present to leagues very soon. The plan to host a meeting with interested community leagues and go over the draft agreement with them in detail. This will likely happen in March. Then the goal would be to present the agreement to the EFCL membership at the AGM on April 4, 2011.

It has taken almost two years, but there is a sense on the committee that the agreement is improved in many ways. Perhaps the biggest achievement of the process was securing a $1.5 million a year increase in funding for the next two years. Stay tuned for more details!

6.2 pg. 16 – Community League Rink and Carnival Day

Today the board approved a motion to create a new winter Community League day to help promote rinks and rink programs and winter carnivals. The very first Community League Rink and Carnival Day will be in February 2012. All that is left is to pick the date, which will be done with input from the leagues. The idea is to promote outdoor ice and winter programs by hosting a lot of our events on one day in the winter similar to the way the Community League Day worked last year. More than 90 leagues participated and it brought a great deal of attention to leagues and their programs.

6.4 pg. 18 – Meeting with the Edmonton Public School Board

We are working to organize a meeting with the EPSB to discuss the importance of retaining neighbourhood schools and offering to partner with the school board to find ways to retain as many schools as possible.

8.2.2 Pg. 20 – The Rink Program Workshop

This meeting was a success. See notes in package and see my EMHA-EFCL Outdoor Rink meeting blog post for the secrets of a successful program from Shirley at Belvedere and much more information.

8.2.4 pg. 22 – Meeting with Provincial Cabinet

The meeting with Cabinet ministers was a big success and very well attended considering it was a last minute opportunity. This is the second time the EFCL has been able to meet with the provincial cabinet and it was a very good opportunity for community folks to roll up their sleeves and work on issues with the provincial representatives. A very good event!

8.3.1 pg. 24 – Edmonton Community Challenge

It’s back, the Edmonton Community Challenge is just the thing to get new, young community leaders involved. Last year we gave away $14,000 in prizes. Check the EFCL website for more details. The event is June 3-5.

8.3.4 pg. 24 – Living Local

The process to work with community and other groups to define what Living Local means continues with a meeting on March 9, 2011. We are hoping to get support from the City to host a major summit on living local in the fall. Living Local is about being able to do as much as you can in your own community.

8.3.5 pg. 24 – Community League Day 2011: Saturday, Sep. 17

Start your engines, book your parties, start planning your events and join with your fellow community leagues in creating a massive collection of incredible events in as many communities as possible this year. More than 90 leagues participated last year!

8.4.2 pg. 25 – Swim Time Allocation Meeting

There is a meeting coming soon, notices will go to those who have participated in the previous meeting and others!

8.5.1 pg. 28 – Retaining Families in Mature Neighborhoods

The EFCL will contribute our message to the Mayor’s Task Force on Neighborhood Revitalization about retaining families in the places we call mature neighbourhoods.

8.6 pg. 31 Community League Hall Lookup

Ding, ding, ding, a new feature has been added to the EFCL website. There is now a Community Hall Lookup function. Please click here to check it out and click here to get the form to update your hall information at the EFCL website. While you are at it make sure your executive information is up to date as well! This is very worthwhile, even if you have your own website since many people will land on the EFCL website to look for halls and communities!

Wow, what a crazy month. I also have an update on insurance for you once I get a change to write it up.

If you would like more information please let me know. If you would like me to raise an issue at the EFCL please let me know that too!

Cheers,

David Dodge

EFCL-EMHA Rink and Winter Program Workshop

2011-01-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

SPECIAL REPORT:
Outdoor Rink meeting with Community Leagues

The EMHA, the EFCL and 18 community leagues gathered at Crestwood Community Hall on Saturday, January 29 to discuss what we (EMHA/EFCL and community leagues) can do to support programming and the use of outdoor rinks in Edmonton.

We were joined by Bill Whitefield of Sports Central and a couple of special guest presenters: David Proden of the E4C Learn to Play Hockey program and Shirley Barton of Belvedere Community League.
If, for whatever reason hockey can no longer support this requirement then perhaps there are other ways we can work together to support community league rinks, and entry level programs in the communities. More on this later.

Community Leagues have 120 rinks city-wide!

Saturday however was not about hockey-community league politics, but about the challenges leagues face running outdoor rinks and what leagues can do to enhance the use of community league ice.
There are some inspiring things happening in leagues in Edmonton. Shirley Barton of Belvedere started looking after the ice in this north-end neighbourhood talked about their program at Belvedere.
What Makes a Successful Rink:

Here are the top eight things that make a great rink in a Community League according to Shirley:

Rink attendent with a positive attitude and is approachable
Hours of operation are clearly posted
Telephone answering machine reflects the hours of operation and closures due to weather
Assurance that the community league is a safe place to drop off children
Communicaton with local schools about rink times
Lights on nightly, even if there are no skaters, people come if they see the lights
Music playing on the rinks
A rink shack concession

For Shirley, those are the key ingredients of a great outdoor rink program in a community. She also suggests a few other add-ons that can really make a league's rink get popular:

Learn to skate programs from the City
Equipment loaning on site (skates and other equipment)
Relationship with Sports Central - community leagues can refer folks to them to get skates and equipment
Yearly photos of skaters posted on bulletin boards - builds a sense of history
Community rink events: hot dog Sundays, milk jug curling, skating games, hockey skill competitions or a 3 on 3 tournament
Skate sharpening on site - Belvedere has skate sharpening right on site, a popular thing!

As you might have guessed Belvedere has a successful program.

From the Floor:

At the January 29 meeting, the folks present also broke into two groups and talked about challenges and some ideas for improving programs.

Challenges:
Community league folks mentioned the following challenges and ideas for improving rink programs:
Challenges:
Ice not level
Old rinks
Insurance - hockey teams covered if the coach says ice ok (from hockey folks)
CL insurance probably ok if community league is in control of facility - so rentals for $ might be different?
Staffing/volunteer shortage can be issue

Ideas:

Group buys for equipment, snow blowers
Share old equipment, excess equipment
Build-it event to level rink and refurbish boards etc. – one league did it for $3,000
Rink hours must be predictable
Lights on, Music on
Rink not locked and open all the time – several examples of this
Open late - 11 pm - adult groups use it after 8 pm
Send email to Hockey Edmonton about ice availability
Corporate and family rentals are possible?
Love to do 3 on 3 tourney with other leagues
Would like more attention on outdoor rinks and programs
Love this meeting - need more networking for rink & program people in CLs

A number of leagues have experimented with offering the use of skates and equipment and many note that this does allow significant numbers of kids to skate and even try pushing a puck around the ice.
One reaction to the meeting was agreement that networking for rink attendants and program people is a really good idea!

Many of the community leagues attending the meeting already host winter events ranging from simple events to full-fledged winter carnivals.
A number of folks thought it is a really good idea to have a City-wide winter community day to promote outdoor rinks and programs.

Community leagues have many excellent ideas, but the question remains how hockey can work with their founding partners in Community Leagues to support and promote the biggest supply of outdoor ice in Edmonton and support and encourage programs at the community level.

David Dodge,
January 31, 2011

EFCL Board Package Jan. 2011 - District B Report

2011-01-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

EFCL Dec. 2010 Board Package
Happy New Year District B:

This month the EFCL/EMHA Outdoor Rink Committee met and the Tripartite Committee met to talk about the community capital funding program and the new operating funds money, in addition to other regular meetings. Here is my monthly report on the agenda of the EFCL Board. These notes were prepared after the board meeting held on Thursday, Jan. 13.

Download the January 2011 EFCL Board package here

6.3 (Pg. 14) Large Site Rezonings:
The EFCL Planning committee recommended that the EFCL Board approve a series of amendments to bylaw 15654 regarding the community consultation process for large site redevelopments. One of the more innovative ideas that generated a lot of discussion at the board meeting was an idea to require a community vote on final DC2 applications going to council. The board passed these “suggestions” as proposed by the planning committee. Some of the questions that came up were: wouldn’t the community say no to everything? How would you undertake the vote? And even the question of whether money could be used to skew a vote by the use of advertising and other methods that tell only half the story. See the notes on this for more information. The board passed item and will be asking the City to apply the six suggestions made by the planning committee.

8.2 (pg. 18) 1) EFCL/EMHA Hockey - Outdoor Rink Program Workshop Planned
The outdoor rink promotions committee of the EMHA and EFCL has scheduled a rink program workshop for Saturday, Jan. 29 at Crestwood Community League (14325-96 Avenue). Doors open at 8:30 and the workshop will run from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Hmmm, hockey is not talking much about contributing a fee to developing hockey programs and supporting communities facilities anymore (more than 100 outdoor rinks).
But there is a workshop planned to talk about ideas for winter programs to enhance participation in community leagues rink facilities, the possibility of an annual Winter Festival or Rink Day across the City. So join us for this important discussion about ramping up rinks and programs and hockey’s role in it.

8.2 (pg. 18) 2) EFCL to Discuss New School Design with Education Minister
The EFCL will be meeting with Education Minister Dave Hancock on Feb. 1 to review ways in which the community could be involved in the design of new schools to encourage opportunities for nearby leagues to use the schools for programs or meetings.

8.3 (pg. 20) Arena User Committee meeting December 14, 2010 – see notes in board package for an update on the meeting.

8.4 (pg. 22) Living Local – next meeting is January 18, 2011 at the EFCL. Input has been collected from many groups and this meeting is to talk about measurement tools for determining success in our living local campaign. Interestingly the committee is putting together a matrix of groups and ways to live local – a simple example is “schedule more soccer games closer to home.” If you are interested in helping define what it means to live local from a community league point of view contact Michael Janz at the EFCL office for more information.

9.0 (pg. 28) New Website Helps Address Space Needs – in the Community Services report there is a note about a new website designed to help promote your space and to help non-profits find space for programs, meetings etc. See www.edmontonspacefinder.ca. Edmonton SpaceFinder is collaboration between the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, the Multicultural Coalition for Equity in Health and Wellbeing, Arts Habitat Association of Edmonton and the City of Edmonton

10.0 (pg. 29) 1) New Capital and Operating Funds for Leagues – Allan prepared a summary of information about the new grant programs for operating grants and capital funding grants for leagues. . The Tripartite Committee met this month to discuss proposed criteria after this note was written. This is a really useful summary, but some of the criteria are not finalized yet, so things may change. Suffice to say your operating grant will be going up and there will be new capital funds available to match other funds for projects on community league leases.

Other District B Updates – Questions from Area 17
Insurance and Community Hockey Rinks – there was a note in one of the City newsletters about written by the EFCL that suggested participants in activities put on by the Community League are covered by insurance whether it is a dance in the hall or skating on the rink. PLEASE NOTE this information came from Foster Park Baskett and may not apply to all community leagues. If you are not insured with Foster Park Baskett you would need to confirm coverage with your insurance company.

Third party insurance applies to events that someone else is running, such as a cultural group that rents the hall for a dance. It is up to them to have third party insurance and we recommend that the leagues insist they have it if the event involves liquor or sports activities, both of which increase the potential for accidents.

Community Swims Update – Regarding the community swim meetings, Shahriyar is in the process of setting up another meeting for early February. As an aside, Shahriyar has a meeting with the southwest leagues set for next Wednesday. They will be discussing the use of the new Terwillegar facility, which it turns out is quite expensive due to its size and cost. So the city and the local leagues are trying to get as many leagues from other areas involved, to help share the costs. This is upsetting the apple cart over at Confederation Pool. We are walking a fine line here, as we are reluctant to extend the meeting invitation to leagues in Mill Woods or Strathcona and upset any more apple carts.

District and Area Council Coordinator –The EFCL did apply for some funds from the City to hire a District and Area Council Coordinator. But it didn’t get a mention during the budget debate. Allan thinks a couple of things played into this. First and foremost was the significant requests we made for league funding, both capital and operating. Allan suspects council thought that it was plenty. We should probably continue to pursue this, since it makes a great deal of sense to get some small assistance to help coordinate districts and area councils, something that would help councillors too!

When it comes to the EFCL, Who are you going to call?

Click here to see a guide to the staff at the EFCL.
EFCL
7103 - 105 Street
Edmonton AB T6E 4G8 Tel: 780.437.2913

EFCL Board Package Dec. 2011 - District B Report

2010-12-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Best of the Season District B:

As you may have noticed from the emails there is plenty happening this month. The EFCL board meeting this month will be abbreviated due to the board taking a little time to celebrate the holidays together.

This month I attended the playground funding meeting, the living local meeting, the EFCL outdoor rink committee meeting and the City Council budget meetings to name a few.

Download the December 2010 EFCL Board package here

New Capital and Operating Funds for Leagues
First the GOOD NEWS. City Council passed the EFCL budget request for $1.5 million in community league capital funding next year and they also passed our request for increased operating money. The criteria for the capital funds are being developed and we will know more soon. As you will recall this increase in budget came directly as a result of negotiations for a new Tripartite Agreement. The capital funds are half of what we asked for, but a welcome initiative to start cleaning up some of the infrastructure problems in community leagues and possibly building new facilities as well. The money will be gobbled up very quickly since there is a backlog of needed projects. The Planning Committee has created some specific "asks" in this regard. Please see section 6.1 on page 13 of the board package for details. If you have input please let me know.

EFCL/EMHA Hockey - Outdoor Rink Committee
As I reported in a separate email I have joined this new committee that cam about as a consequence of the problems with hockey registrations experienced this year. As Allan reports in the board package the EMHA is saying membership requirement in leagues is in their bylaws and there is a 50-50 chance a vote at the EMHA would remove that requirement. However, for us in the northeast that is only part of the story. The Northeast Zone also has this requirement in its bylaws as well and President, Lorraine Jex advised me last week that they have no intention of removing this requirement. This is why I am working with the EFCL/EMHA committee to support the creation of NEW EFCL/EMHA programs to promote the use of rinks and perhaps even shinny hockey in the communities. This should be positioned as a new program and not a replacement for the relationship we have with hockey in the northeast including membership in leagues.

Dates to remember:

EFCL Trade Show:

Saturday January 22nd 9AM-4PM - Blatchford hanger, Fort Edmonton Park Free parking, food and beverages 9 Featured presentations booths, entertainment, and free parking as well as easy access on the #4 bus.

6.1 Attracting Families to Mature Neighbourhoods - at last month's meeting the board past a motion to ask Edmonton City Council to undertake measures that help mature neighbourhoods retain and attract families with children. This includes infill housing standards that are attractive to families and the development of a strategy to retain existing schools. This month a motions is coming before the board to add some detail to these ideas.

See the board package for more details. As always if you have any questions, comments or input you would like me to take forward please let me know.

Playground Meeting at the EFCL with MLA Thomas Lukasuk

2010-12-06T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks, I attended the meeting about playground funding on November 22 at the EFCL. MLA Thomas Lukaszuk was there along with half a dozen folks from the City and a gaggle of community league folks including Troy from Belle Rive in our area.

There were wide ranging discussions. Mr. Lukaszuk explained that he feels playgrounds are costing a lot more in Edmonton than in places like Spruce Grove. He also said that the more expensive playgrounds that are built the fewer neighbourhoods will get playgrounds. He said the pot of money is limited from the province. He explained that the provincial money is divided four ways: 1) Edmonton; 2) Calgary; 3) Small Towns; 4) Rural Alberta. He did not say if it was done on a per person, or per capita basis.

The group talked about the use of volunteers in the building of playgrounds and the City seemed to say they would refrain from discouraging communities from using volunteers.

The group also talked about expectations in building playgrounds and managing them. There was some discussion about how suppliers tend to ramp up the sense that we need to buy everything under the sun for each playground and that sometimes overlooked are the less expensive features that are less focused on hardware and more focused on activities and use of the park.

After the meeting the EFCL asked the City to also look at the cost of drainage requirements to see if that can be managed better to reduce the cost to leagues building playgrounds.

Most of the city funding is geared to "neighbourhoods" which is fair for community leagues that have more than one neighbourhood in their community. There is one gap this principle – apparently district parks such as Poplar Park in Belle Rive do not qualify for NPDP funds that are geared to neighbourhoods. Some of our city representatives promised to look into what fund could be used to support playgrounds in district parks like Poplar Park.

When asked about how decisions are made about provincial funding for community leagues undertaking park projects. Mr. Lukaszuk reiterated that funds are limited, but did not elaborate on how funds are dispersed. However, Mr. Lukaszuk did say that there is nothing that should prevent groups from applying for casino funds to assist in funding playgrounds. I did indicate that we heard community folks were getting a lot of grief about this from gaming, so I would suggest taking your applications to your MLA and give them copies when you submit them. He suggested getting you project pre-approved by gaming and to get your MLA involved if you have problems.

It was very worthwhile to get community, city and provincial folks all in the same room!

EFCL-EMHA Hockey Committee Launched

2010-12-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

New EFCL Hockey Committee News

Here is a quick update on the hockey situation. I have joined a committee to discuss a new relationship between the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) and the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL).

See these notes from the first meeting on November 22, 2010. We had a second meeting today (on December 6, 2010).

The committee arose as a result of wide-spread problems that occurred during hockey registration this year in some parts of the city.

The idea is to establish a new relationship between the two organizations and possibly to run programs together at the community level.

Today, Shirley from Belvedere stepped forward and joined the committee as someone who looks after a rink and is interested in programs. See the attached document for a list of the other participants.

Committee Objectives:

1)    To increase the utilization of outdoor rinks in Edmonton.
2)    To increase the number of people playing hockey
3)    To provide more opportunities for people to develop their hockey skills.
4)    To bring people together in neighborhoods, to help them develop friendships and feel good about the area in which they live.

At today's meeting we talked about programs to bring community scale hockey back into communities, the idea of a winter rink day and the idea of talking about improving use of rinks and participation in learn to skate and hockey related activities.

I also spoke with Lorraine Jex last week and she confirmed that the North Zone is very committed to retaining the relationship between communities in the northeast and hockey and the requirement for memberships. I also stressed that many folks in the Northeast would like to see these new programs developed as "new initiatives" between the EMHA and the EFCL and not as replacements for the requirement for community league memberships.

The EFCL/EMHA committee is talking about hosting an event in January to get community folks together to discuss ideas for improving participation and possibly even promoting informal shinny hockey in leagues. Watch for details, but the meeting will likely be held on Saturday January 29, 2010 early!

EFCL Board Package Nov. 2011 - District B Report

2010-11-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

EFCL District B Report
David Dodge, District B Rep.
November 9, 2010

Download the EFCL November, 2010 Board Package

Highlights from the EFCL Nov Board Package

6.1 – City Budget Presentation Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

That the EFCL invite three community leagues and a couple of area councils to participate in the Dec. 1 budget presentation to Edmonton City Council.

6.2 - Attracting Families to Mature Neighbourhoods

That the EFCL ask Edmonton City Council to undertake measures that help mature neighborhoods retain and attract families with children.

That these measures include, but not be limited to: A) The development of infill housing standards that are attractive to families with

children. B) The development of a strategy to retain existing schools.

6.3 - Design of New Schools Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

That the EFCL, in conjunction with the Edmonton YMCA, request a meeting with the Minister of Education to discuss the inclusion of community space in new schools.

6.4 - EMHA/EFCL Outdoor Ice Committee Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

That the board identify two representatives to sit on the EMHA/EFCL Outdoor Ice Committee.

Report:

The Edmonton Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) would like to put together an outdoor ice committee, in conjunction with the EFCL, to make better use of community league rinks.

Following our discussion at an informal meeting on Sept. 27, the EMHA would like to flesh out a plan whereby all hockey registrants would pay into an outdoor rink program fund. It was suggested that either five or ten dollars per player would be dedicated to this fund, which would produce $40,000 - $80,000 per year, depending on the fee that is selected.

The outdoor program could feature elements like learn-to-skate and power skating lessons, hockey skills clinics, hockey skills competitions and mini-hockey tournaments. It would require some staffing to get it established and coordinate the activities.

The committee would be charged with fleshing out the program and bringing a proposal to the EHMA. The hockey association would have to hold a formal vote before the fee could be implemented.

It would helpful if the EFCL could provide a couple of people to sit on this committee, in addition to staff. If no board members are interested, we could put out a call for representatives from the leagues.

6.5 - Grants to New Leagues Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

That the EFCL ask the city to authorize the payment of operating grants to new community leagues that are incorporated at the time of the grant application process.

Report:

The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues would like to see new leagues receive an operating grant from the city as soon as possible.

6.6 - Planning Committee Governance EFCL Planning Committee

That the EFCL Governance Committee consider options to broaden community league involvement in the EFCL Planning and Development Committee.

Report

The current structure of the EFCL Planning and Development Committee provides for an elected representative from each district. Some elected district reps attend regularly; others are not able to do so. Some districts have not been able to find a volunteer willing to serve on the committee; others have had frequent turnover in their rep.

8.1 – Executive Director‘s Report Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

1. Non-Profit Sector Consultations with Culture and Community Spirit Minister

The EFCL took an active role, once again, in the second round table discussion on non-profit operations, chaired by Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett, on Oct.20.

3. Meeting with New City Councillors

The recent election saw two new people elected to city council – Dave Loken in Ward 3 and Kerry Diotte in Ward 11. Dave Loken is the former business agent for the Coalition of Civic Unions and is quite familiar with community league activities. He and his wife have been part of an informal group attempting to get a community league started in their neighborhood of Griesbach in north Edmonton.

Kerry Diotte is a former Edmonton Sun civic affairs columnist who wrote dozens of columns about waste- ful spending at city hall and used that as the focus of his recent election campaign.

EFCL Vice-President and District B director David Dodge has a meeting with Dave Loken on Nov. 4 and planned to discuss both Ward and EFCL issues. He was given a copy of our Living Local pamphlet to pass along to Councillor Loken.

A) Aquatic User Committee Meeting October 13, 2010

The Aquatic User Committee met on October 13, to discuss the Aquatic Allocation Process for the new Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre. Terwillegar Recreation Centre is scheduled to open at the end of this year. The swim programs are starting in January, 2011. The City is in the process of booking time for various aquatic user groups. The EFCL through e-mails, e-News, and Newsletter has asked the leagues to book their pool time. We have about six requests so far. The EFCL once again requests leagues interested in the new facility to book their swim time now. Most of the leagues prefer time between 4-7 P.M. on Sundays. The City proposed time for community swim is from 5 – 7 P.M. on Sundays. The EFCL hopes that the two hours time slot would work for most of the leagues. Please note that allocation is based on sharing cost among user leagues. A league wanting to book the whole pool for itself may contact the City. Leagues interested to have more information or to send booking request can contact Shahriyar at 780-437-2913, e-mail Shahriyar.khan@efcl.org or Gina Holowach Senior Booking Coordinator at Gina.Holowach@edmonton.ca

8.4 - Community Planning Advisor’s Report Bev Zubot, Community Planning Advisor

1. Row Housing Zone Negotiations Continue

2. The Planning Committee Gives Initial Feedback On The Draft Medium Scale Residential Infill Overlay For Mature Neighbourhoods

3. Planning and Consultation Process For Rezoning Large Residential Infill for Mature

Neighbourhoods

4. Nov 3rd Meeting re Improving Early Land Development Consultations

8.5 - Marketing Director‘s Report Michael Janz, Marketing Director

1. Living Local campaign

Meetings will be held on Thursday, November 25 at 930-1130AM at the Edmonton Room of the Stanley Milner Library and 6-9PM at the EFCL office,.

2. EFCL Tradeshow

Blatchford Hanger, Fort Edmonton Park Free Admission, Free Parking Jan 22nd 2010 9AM-4PM Space is limited.

Questions or RSVP: Michael.janz@efcl.org

10.1 – Presidents‘ Dinner Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

We‘re pleased to report that our Presidents‘ Dinner is fully subscribed.

Mayor Stephen Mandel has agreed to bring greetings and other members of council are beginning to confirm their attendance.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., dinner is at 7:00 p.m. and the program is set for 8:00 p.m. The Don Berner Trio will be playing during dinner and then joined by a singer and horn player for the dance afterward.

10.4 – Playground Meeting Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

The EFCL – in conjunction with Castle Downs MLA Thomas Lukaszuk – is hosting a meeting to review the costs of building a playground and associated facilities like spray decks.

Community leagues representatives and city representatives have all been invited to attend. We are most interested in hearing from people that recently built a playground or are in the project planning stages and have some cost-cutting suggestions to make.

The meeting will begin with dinner at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 22 at the EFCL office (7103-105 Street).

Please let Joanne Booth at (780) 437-2913 or at Joanne.Booth@EFCL.org know if you are able to attend.

City of Edmonton Renewable Energy Task Force - What's that?

2010-10-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Community Leagues

First, congratulations to Dave Loken, Ed Gibbons, Tony Caterina and Kim Krushell on their successful election campaigns! These are our four councillors from the region. Welcome "back" to three of you and a special welcome to Dave Loken, the new councillor on the block.

Don't forget the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues RGM is Monday October 25! Get the meeting package here. Come on down and join in the conversation about hockey memberships, get updates on current topics and have your say!
Duggan Community League, Address: 3728 – 106 Street
Dinner for RSVP’ed guests at 5:30, Registration until 6:30
Meeting begins at 6:30 Monday, Oct. 25, 2010.

Renewable Energy Task Force

A very interesting thing happened to me in my community league work over the last few months. Not long after members of Area Council 17 were peppering Edmonton City Councillor Ed Gibbons with questions about why the City does not have more solar panels installed, one of my colleagues, Renewable Energy expert Tim Weis invited me to a special meeting of the City of Edmonton Renewable Energy Task force.

The special meeting was to hear California renewable energy guru Paul Gipe make a presentation about using feed-in-tariffs to encourage growth in clean energy sources. I did a short video interview with him after his presentation. Gipe was promoting feed-in-tariffs as the key policy that has successfully secured half of the new renewable energy projects in the world.

The City of Edmonton ran a very small solar-electric pilot program to test interest in solar energy and their small $200,000 program was oversubscribed within days! The program resulted in 29 new solar systems being installed in Edmonton increasing our solar energy supply by 100%. This last statistic is pretty sad really, since it confirms we have only taken very tiny, baby steps towards developing clean sources of energy. But it does give a strong indication of interest by the public in getting in volved with renewable energy. Enmax is working on a program to put 8,000 small solar systems on the roofs of their customers. Watch for this next year.

There is no question the public is interested in renewable energy. I know this because of surveys that confirm that the public sees renewable energy and energy efficiency as the two key things we need to do to create a new green energy economy, to tackle climate change and to transform our relatively dirty energy supply into a clean energy supply over time.

The moral of the story is after attending the meeting I was invited to the next meeting of the City of Edmonton Renewable Energy Task force and I am now representing the EFCL and community leagues on the City of Edmonton's Renewable Energy Task force.

I attended the fourth meeting of the task force today and the topic was transportation.

This seemed like a good way to combine my interest in energy issues and my volunteer work in communities. The committee is a very interesting mix of folks and includes a lot of expertise.

I will be looking for ways to share information with community folks and eventually we will propose a meeting for community folks on these topics.

Today the topic was transportation and I learned all sorts of interesting things. I learned that Edmonton is one of the most car-oriented cities in Canada. I still think Calgary must be worse, but so it goes.

The City of Edmonton is currently working on significant expansion of the LRT to reduce emissions and roadway congestion. Apparently LRT ridership is now 94,000 per day, up 26% since adding just two stations to the line!

Environmentally this is interesting for other reasons. LRT runs on electricity and quite efficiently. Just this week I also noticed a sign at the new local school. The sign indicated an electric car charging station at the new school in my neighbourhood.

There is a sign and a plug-in for electric vehicles. I was thinking that electric vehicles are one of those technologies that is still not mature enough. But it seems electric vehicles are coming on stream in a variety of forms: electric vehicles (EV) and as plug-in-hybrids. Apparently even in Alberta where 60-70% of our electricity still comes from dirty sources like coal, the EV car produces 30% fewer emissions than a conventional gas car, according to experts on the task force.

The topic of the task force is of course renewable energy. The connection to cars and LRT is obvious. Electric is more efficient, and if you supply the power for the cars from renewable sources of energy then you have one very clean system.

One other fascinating fact came from a presentation by Godo Stoyke of Carbon Busters. He told us Amsterdam decided to invest heavily in cycling to encourage people to use bikes instead of cars. The program was so successful more than three times as many people use bicycles now in Amsterdam. And here's the crux: apparently there has been no increase in bike accidents with three times as many riders. Apparently the more bicycle riders you have the safer it is!

The last little factoid comes from Belgium. When the City of Hasslet was desperate for new transportation solutions and broke financially, they decided to try something radical. Instead of building multi-million dollar roads, they invested something like $5 million to provide all citizens with free transit service. Ridership went up 700% immediately and ten years after ridership is still up 1,100% thus saving the City millions of dollars on roads and other costs.

The City of Edmonton Renewable Energy Task Force is collecting information at this stage and will be making recommendations to City Council about a year from now.

If you have any questions let me know.

EFCL Board Package Oct. 2011 - District B Report

2010-10-17T20:42:00.001-07:00

EFCL District B Report
October 14, 2010

The big news is that the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) has decided that they will no longer sell or require membership in a community league to play hockey. There will be discussion about this at the upcoming EFCL RGM. The EMHA has indicated they may be interested in collecting a fee to support hockey programs or facilities in communities, but the days of requiring memberships are over. There are approximately 4,000 community league members who play hockey. (see item 10.4 in the board package).

UPCOMING

EFCL RGM is October 25, 2010 at Duggan Hall – Don't miss it. Hockey memberships will be discussed and much more.

President’s Dinner – November 12, in honour of the terrific contributions of Community League Presidents in Edmonton the EFCL is hosting an appreciation event on November 12, 2010.

FROM THE OCTOBER 14, BOARD PACKAGE – Download it here

6.1 EFCL Policy Manual – the EFCL hired a summer student lawyer to gather up and organize its policies into a one-stop collection of all EFCL policies. It will be available for download soon.

6.2 Direct Deposits for Community Leagues – set up direct deposit FROM the EFCL to make it really easy and efficient to receive deposits from the EFCL for membership revenue.

6.4 LRT Alignment Notice – the EFCL is asking the City to provide one month notice from the time the plans for the new LRT alignment are released before the matter is considered at council on Dec. 8, 2010 to give community folks time to provide input.

6.6 Casino Report – the provinces report on casinos is out and it recommends changes that would see Edmonton casino funds go down. However, the minister has not accepted the report and has sent it back for review. The risk is still there, but the report is under review now and the status quo will apply for a while yet.

8.1 Complete the Quilt – Community League Day was a tremendous success, with 91 leagues participating this year! Your league will now have a chance to contribute to the Community League quilt that was created for the 2010 Community League. This is your chance to join the 43 leagues who have already created sections for the quilt celebrating their communities. Watch for news in the EFCL newsletter.

8.3 Executive Director’s Report – (Allan Bolstad)

CL Capital and Operating grants proposal – as a direct result of the Tripartite licence negotiations and a report by the EFCL about the Community League infrastructure deficit out there (leagues that need halls and other families fixed or built) we made a joint proposed with Community Services to the Community Services Committee for the following:

$3 million in a new Community League (CL) capital projects fund
$1.35 million in additional funds for (CL) operating grants

This proposal was reduced by the City to the following:

$1.5 million for CL Capital Projects
$700,000 for increases in CL operating grants

In addition the proposed has moved from the “funded” column to the “unfunded” column which means this allocation is in serious competition with many, many other projects for a limited pot of $6.9 million.
Please urge your councillors to support these desperately needed increases for community leagues across the city. One community league hall was recently found to be in nearly condemned condition – this fund is really needed to prevent facilities from becoming a big mess.

Tripartite License Agreement Negotiations – work continues on this front. Dwayne Robertson (President of ACES) and I got together to review the proposal on our own before the last meeting of the committee and then continued our line-by-line review of the licence with the Tripartite Committee.

it will take at least three meetings (we’ve had two) to go through the agreement clause by clause
there is some legal jargon still in the agreement – we have been trying to reduce jargon and we are pushing hard for an agreement community leagues can understand – this is an uphill battle
we are making good headway on many points
we are still trying to get the City to reduce its involvement in small projects to cut down on red tape and reduce the hassle for the City too
the role of the EFCL is being reduced dramatically from the original agreement to an appropriate role as a backstop for leagues

Living Local Symposium – the EFCL is proposing to hold a symposium with the City to discuss what living local means and how we can support community concerns that activities and reasonable facilities are located close in their communities

the symposium to could take place as early as spring or next Fall

8.4 Community Development Officer’s Report – there is some very interesting work going on here on cultural integration, REACH, joint use and many other topics. Please read this section of the board package if you are interested in these topics.

Pool Allocation Meetings

Pool Allocation Meeting with Area Councils - EFCL attended a meeting with Area council 1,2, 17 and Clareview representatives to deal with a number of issues surrounding the Pool allocation process. Contrary to the notes in the board package the outcome was this (I sought a correction at the meeting):

Leagues in the NE will receive agreement letters and not long contracts for rental periods
Recognition for the contributions of Area Councils to the development of pools is being considered
prices for pool rentals for our region have gone down
the model we use in the NE is being replicated in other parts of the city

EFCL Pool Allocation Meeting – many people attended this meeting from all over the city

the model we use in the NE is being used in other parts of the city
the city is going to come back at some point with some sort of City-wide offering for Community Leagues – leagues asked for this and the City seemed quite interested – we will see.

8.5 Planning Report – the planning committee is very busy, here are a few highlights:

Family Friendly Housing Workshop – well attended
Vision for what row housing should look like
Feedback sought on
Medium scale residential overlay
RA8 – 6 storey high-rise higher floor/area ratios
Large site zoning process
Transit-oriented development guidelines
EFCL organizes Nov. 3 meeting between community leagues, city and developers about pre-application process

10.4 Edmonton Minor Hockey Association has decided that the days of requiring community league memberships for hockey players are over.

Hope to see you at the RGM at Duggan Hall on Monday, October 25 at 5:30 pm. Dinner is included!

EFCL Community League Day 2010

2010-09-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

More than 90 community leagues hosted events across Edmonton today! Ten community leagues in in District B held events today.
Belvedere held their 6th annual Membership BBQ event. They had a great turn-out, and sold almost 100 memberships today!
Rosslyn Community League held a big bin garbage event and sale and sold memberships at a sale price today and had a great turn-out too.
I visited Rosslyn, Glengarry, Northmount, Lago Lindo and Belvedere communities today and saw events going on also at Kilkenny and Killareney. Steele Heights is hosting a movie night this evening and I will be attending Killkenny's 50th Anniversary as well. Congratulations Killarney!
Flickr slide show of Community Day in District B
The EFCL has already booked the 3rd Saturday in September as Community League Day for 2011!
See you then.

EFCL Board Package Sep. 2011 - District B Report

2010-09-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

Please refer to my previous blog for notes on the previous meeting and minutes District B Blog on August 4 meeting. As usual please send me an email or call me if you have any input or messages you would like me to carry to the next EFCL Board Meeting:

Here are some highlights on the upcoming meeting, please refer to the board package for details.

EFCL AGM October 25, 2010 – TBA Location

There is lots happening this year please mark your calendars and ensure your league is sending a representative to the EFCL AGM this year so the northeast is strongly represented.

Pg 12 - 8.0 Boysdale Letter

8.1 – Response to Boysdale Camp Letter Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

That the EFCL write a letter to Mary Shalapay, president of the Boysdale Camp Foundation, that makes the following points:

That the EFCL has no further interest in the operation of Boysdale Camp.
That the EFCL would like to wish the Foundation and Fort Road Victory Church the best of luck in getting the camp back in operation for needy Edmonton children.

Rationale for the Recommendation:

According to a recent letter from Mary Shalapay, president of Boysdale Camp Foundation, the foundation is in the midst of striking a deal with Fort Road Victory Church to jointly operate Boysdale Camp through a new organization called Kidz Club.

In the letter (which is included in this agenda package, see 13.1), Mrs. Shalapay asks the EFCL to supply a ―legal letter stating that the EFCL has no ties to Boysdale Camp Foundation, now or in the future.

As detailed in the above background discussion, Foundation board members want an assurance that the EFCL is not going to step in and try to influence the development of the camp.

Given the EFCL‘s decision to step aside from the affairs of the foundation, it would be in our interest to acknowledge that position in a letter to the foundation.

A letter from the board to this effect should provide the foundation with the assurances that it seeks. Involving a lawyer, as requested by Mrs. Shalapay, would involve costs which are considered unnecessary.

Finally, we are unaware of any motion by the EFCL to withdraw as a member of the Foundation, as mentioned by Mrs Shalapay in her letter. We simply never exercised our right to take part.

I brought this up at the Area 17 meeting on September 7 and reiterated that the EFCL decided last year to not get involved or get in the way of Boysdale finding a new path to the future. I see no reason why the EFCL Board will not continue to support this position and allow the new partnership to take hold.

Pg 14 - 8.2 Select Annual Community League Day

The fact that nearly 90 community leagues have chosen to host an event on Sept. 18 suggest that our membership is very supportive of the Community League Day concept.

Already a number of leagues want to know if we will be doing a similar promotion next year, so they can plan well in advance.

With that in mind, it would be in the federation‘s interest to set a date well ahead of the celebration.

The third Saturday in September seems to work well, as it is in the middle of the community league membership drive. It is also gives some time for the leagues to get settled, after the summer break. However, it is not so late that cold weather should be an issue.

Evansdale Community League thought we should have Community League Day on the second weekend of September to allow combining soccer registration with a community membership event. I am looking for feedback from other District B communities – do you want Community League Day on the second or third weekend of September?

Pg 15 – 8.3 EFCL Infrastructure Assessment Program

New criteria are being proposed for the infrastructure assessment program in light of the mini assessments the City just did of community leagues. The new criteria will likely be designed to help the community leagues who need it, get more detailed assessments of their facilities.

Pg 16 – 8.4 Supportive Social Housing Policy

The idea is to define social housing from a community league perspective and get a few principles incorporated into social housing policy that is very important to us in the northeast:

a hard cap on social housing
fair distribution of social housing across the city
an option for a community to take more social housing if community thinks it’s a good idea

The draft policy is very well-written and includes the key principles may communities would like to see in such a policy.

Pg 18 - 8.5 CL Membership Sales at Hockey Registrations

Here’s the irony: The District B communities I saw at the Area 17 meeting the other day say the hockey registrations went extremely well this year. Most of those community leagues went right to the hockey registration and handed out membership cards and collected volunteer commitments. The northeast zone is also attempting get online registration working so folks have most of the paper work filled out when they show up. This cause some line-ups at hockey registration because folks did not have their paper-work filled out. However Lago Lindo said this was their best hockey registration in quite a while in terms of numbers. Some communities also said they are getting information very quickly, unlike previous years.

Here’s the irony. The new system had some very serious growing pains elsewhere in the City and there are some very unhappy community leagues. A recommendation is coming to the EFCL board to renegotiate this agreement with Hockey.

Some of the concerns included:

we are creating reluctant CL members
people selling who are not CL people who understand CLs
the new process soured EFCL relations with some leagues

Unless I hear otherwise from the Area 2 communities, I will be taking the message forward that the new process seemed to work well in the northeast. Time will tell.

Pg 27 - 10.3 Allan Bolstad’s Executive Director Report:

TriPartitie Agreement

working to get increased capital and operating grants in the City budget next year
Shared space tool kits from the City – if you are contemplating taking on a tenant or partner, check this out.

There was a meeting of the TriPartite committee on September 7. I had to miss it due to work commitments, but I will report back on progress as soon as I get news.

Pg 32 – 10.4 Community Development Officer Report

Pool Allocation Strategy Meeting September 29 at 7 p.m. at EFCL

In the last Pool Allocation meeting held on June 16, the participations agreed to meet again on September 29 at 7 p.m. at the federation office to review proposed community pool allocation options. The EFCL has not yet received the city‘s proposal and have been told that they are still working on it. We have asked to have the information sent quickly, so the leagues have sufficient time to review it and get feedback from their membership.
At a special Meeting of Area 2 , Area 1, Area 17 and Clareview District Area Council representatives on September 1 representatives of these communities said they were very surprised to receive new, long and complicated agreements for the pool rentals that our leagues have taken on for as many as 30 years. The good news is the rates for northeast communities seem to be down, but there are questions about the details of agreements. We have asked for a meeting to sort out the numerous questions that arose out of this. As you can see from the note right above this there was no due process around the whole question of pool allocations. This is too bad because I would have thought the City learned good process with the recent gym allocation revamp.

Next Steps:

Meeting of Area Council reps with City and EFCL to get questions answered about the agreements and process as soon as possible
September 29, 7 pm meeting at EFCL already planned to further discuss the Pool Allocation process. The meeting is at 7 pm mark your calendars
Most concerning is that the rental season starts September 10 and this has created uncertainty among leagues about their swim times

Proposed 2010-11 swim times:

Area 1, 2 and 17 Swims:

Area 2 - Saturdays 3:45 - 5:45 Oleary Pool (CLOSED SEP OCT)
Area 17 - Sunday 4:15 - 5:45 Londonderry Pool
Area 2 - Saturday 4 - 6 pm Grand Trunk Pool (Sep. Oct ONLY)
Area 1 - Sunday 4:15 - 5:45 pm Grand Trunk Pool (Shared with Castle Downs)
Area 1 - Friday 7-9 pm Grand Trunk (Area 1 only)

Pg 33 - 10.5 Planning Committee

The EFCL Planning Committee is looking at a number of policies including: (refer to board package for details)

EFCL Planning Committee Provides Input to Proposed Transit Oriented Development Framework
Public Participation Process for the Designation of Undeveloped School Sites
Family Friendly Multi-Unit Housing Workshop - September 25^th

Pg 34-35 - 10.6 CL Day Kickoff is on September 13 – 88 leagues participating

Preparations for the Monday, September 13th kickoff event and photo-opportunity are going very well. Work is well along for a 10:00 AM press conference in Churchill Square and 10:30 AM aerial photograph from the roof of Stanley Milner Library.

Each league has been invited to participate in our promotional event by preparing a 5 feet x 5 feet piece of quilt. The pieces will be sewn together at three sewing bees (7:00 p.m., Friday, September 10 at Ritchie Community League; 1:00 p.m., Saturday, September 11, Parkdale/Cromdale; noon, Sunday, September 12, EFCL Office), and taken in sections to Churchill Square.

It looks like this is going to be a very good event for community leagues!

Contact Michael Janz at the EFCL office: (780) 437-2913 michael.janz@efcl.org

Well, it’s fall and things are winding into gear again. Please let me know if you have any feedback or input. The next EFCL Board Meeting is September 9, 2010. I would be pleased to take your ideas, concerns, input or questions forward.

David Dodge, EFCL District B Rep

EFCL Board Package Aug. 2011 - District B Report

2010-08-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Communities: Lago Lindo, Kilkenny, McLeod, Evansdale, Northmount, Londonderry, Steele Heights, Balwin, Killarney, Delwood, Glengarry, Rosslyn, Belvedere

I am back from vacation. Here are a few notes from the EFCL meeting in August that I missed.

Download the original August 4 board package for the EFCL Board Meeting on August 4, 2010

Here are some notes from the draft minutes:

4.0 Urgent Matters
4.1 EFCL/Area Council Relationship - Draft MOU Coming
There have been two meetings between Area Council and EFCL representatives. Eight Area Council Presidents attended the first meeting in order to discuss the merits of creating an administrative position to support both Area Councils and the EFCL Districts with meeting logistics.
At the first meeting the idea of the position was discussed and participants also discussed the relationship between the EFCL and Area Councils and City Council. The EFCL has a government affairs policy that says it should deal with issues that affect 51% or more of its members. Districts can work on more regional issues.
Allan and Ian of the EFCL have since drafted a job description for the proposed position. The main purpose would be the coordinate meeting logistics, and facilitate communication between the EFCL, the Area Councils and the City.
At the second meeting, representatives of eight Area Councils discussed the details of the draft MOU. Items discussed included the facilitation of EFCL district elections at their meetings, in addition to the regular EFCL process. Representatives would also attend Area Council meetings to collect feedback from community leagues. It was also agreed that Allan would supervise the coordinator position if we are successful in hiring one.
The spirit of the meetings was positive and it was agreed to take the proposed draft Memorandum of Understanding to the next meeting of the EFCL membership.
It seems pretty clear that there is a logical division of responsibilities when it comes to issues with Area Councils being appropriate to handle local and regional issues and the EFCL dealing with issues that affect a majority of leagues.

7.0 Decision Items
7.1 MOU between EFCL and Area Councils
It was noted that Area Council presidents will be invited to the upcoming Community League Presidents appreciation banquet.
Some concern was noted by EFCL Board Members about how the elections might work, especially in some districts where there is a split of leagues between several Area Councils.
Allan reminded board members that the EFCL elections would still be held according to the bylaws of the EFCL and that the EFCL would run the elections in each case. And the election part of any meeting would be open to any of the districts of the district.
It would mean there is a third option for district elections, outside of the opportunities at the EFCL RGM and AGM.
This is a very good step forward and has the potential to strengthen community leagues by strengthening the links between the various structures that community leagues organize themselves in.

7.2 2011 Budget Request
The EFCL is already making a significant budget ask of the City as a result of the Tripartite negotiations. The proposal is to cover the significant infrastructure deficits in leagues across the city and to provide a an increase in the annual operating grants to leagues. This proposal is being made with support from Community Services.
As a result the EFCL will be cautious about increasing its budget request to the City, except to support the creation of an EFCL/Area Council coordinator position.

In view of the long history of the EFCL and Area Councils a request to fund a coordinator position will surely be considered a very positive thing. Right Ed? Right Kim? Right Ron? Right Tony?

Other Items
The EFCL has also endorsed the idea of Community Leagues being able to allow advertising on the insides of their rinks. An inquiry has been made to city staff by Councillor Linda Sloan to find out what it would take to allow this to happen.

That's all for now! The September Board package will be out soon, so watch for more news soon.

EFCL Board Package June 2011 - District B Report

2010-06-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello District B Communities: Lago Lindo, Kilkenny, McLeod, Evansdale, Northmount, Londonderry, Steele Heights, Balwin, Killarney, Delwood, Glengarry, Rosslyn, Belvedere

I am very sorry, but I must miss the EFCL Board Meeting this Thursday because I am out of town on business for the next week and a half. If you have concerns or issues to raise please send them to me ASAP and I will pass them on by email.

Download the board package for the EFCL Board Meeting on June 10,2010

Here is the list of decision items from the agenda:

7.0 Decision Items 7.1 Meeting with Area Councils / District Coordinator Position (pg. 16)
Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director
7.2 REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities (pg. 17)
Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director
7.3 Row Housing (pgs. 18-19)
Bev Zubot, EFCL Community Planning Advisor
7.4 Planning Committee Representative (pg. 20)
Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director
7.5 Summer Board Meeting (pg. 21)
Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director

A couple of current notes:

The EFCL $25 Hockey Membership
We spoke about this at length at the Area 17 Council meeting and we were joined by Northeast Zone Sports President Lorraine Jex. A plan was discussed to still allow the community league folks attend hockey registrations and collect the volunteer commitments as usual even though community league memberships will be sold directly by hockey with each registration. This solution seems to go against directives from the hockey folks, but the seven leagues of Area 17 easily agreed this was a good solution.

Pool Allocation Meeting June 16
The City of Edmonton and Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues are jointly hosting a meeting to discuss the various options available for community leagues pool booking. The meeting will take place at Bonnie Doon Community League Hall at 7 p.m. All leagues and area councils are requested to attend. Board Members are requested to share information with interested leagues and area councils and encourage them to attend.

Planning Committee and Mature Neighbourhoods Infill Policy
I spoke with Bernie Zolner, the recently elected District B Planning Committee Representative and President of Glengarry and he is very concerned about the City of Edmonton's infill policy for mature neighbourhoods. There was a lot of activity on this file last year prior to the passing of the current policy in June and subsequent adjustments in October. We may hear more about this.

EFCL Board Package May 2011 - District B Report

2010-05-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

EFCL District B Report
David Dodge, District B Rep. 
Download the May 13 Board Package  

Hello District B Communities,

And I thought this was a slow month! Thanks again to the 11 of 13 District B community leagues that came to our special District Meeting to elect yours truly as your EFCL District B representative for two more years and Bernie Zolnar as your EFCL District B Planning Committee representative on the same day! So our district now has two representatives at the EFCL. Thank you and congratulations to Bernie once again!

District B News

Northwest LRT
The City has completed its evaluation of the NW LRT Route and it recommended the LRT use the 113A Street route to 153 Avenue and then off towards St. Albert Trail. The route was chosen because it “maximizes ridership and connections.” The recommendation goes to Public Hearing on June 22 at City Hall and two more information sessions are planned for June 9 at Calder Hall and June 10 at Caernarvon Community Hall. DD COMMENT: Without prejudice to the communities to the west of us this route is good for our communities in District B since it brings rapid transit closer to us than either the 127 Street or St. Alberta Trail options they considered.

5.0 Highlights from Approved Minutes from April 8

The following items are highlights approved in the minutes from the April 8 meeting:

Social House Policy – Notes from presentation by Walter Trocenko
Surplus School Site Update – Notes on Tim McCarger’s update
Capital and Operating Grants Request – EFCL motion to seek $3 million per year to deal with community league back log of capital projects
Distribution of Social Housing – EFCL motion to distribute social housing
EMHA Sale of $25 League Memberships – motion to take this to the AGM – it passed at the AGM
Residential Lighting Program – EFCL motion to support light efficient communities
Neighbourhood Schools – EFCL policy statement on neighbourhood schools

7.1 EFCL Meeting with Provincial Cabinet and Edmonton MLAs
As you have undoubtedly heard the EFCL secured a meeting with the Edmonton caucus and the provincial cabinet. Almost 150 community representatives have already registered.
We have a 90-minute meeting, from 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Thursday, May 27. LOCATION: Balwin Community League, 12904 - 74 Street GOOGLE MAP
You must RSVP to communications@efcl.org - MAXIMUM 4 PER LEAGUE. First come first serve.
Program details are still be worked out, but plans at this stage call for a short presentation from the EFCL at the outset, where we can identify some of our key concerns/projects (provincial grants, casino funding, keeping schools open and as community hubs, Living Local). DD COMMENT: this is a very good opportunity to carry community issues forward.

7.3 EFCL rep. on EPCOR Water Services Community Advisory Panel
The EFCL board is looking for a representative for this community that considers water issues in Edmonton. 

7.4 City Report Notice to Community Leagues
The EFCL Planning Committee recommended to the Board that the City provide agendas and supporting documents (reports) at least 14 days notice prior to the Council or Committee meeting and that an automatic extension be provided upon request to the City Clerk. The EFCL board discussed this proposal at length and felt it a better approach would be to take our concerns about notice directly to the City Clerk’s office and attempt to discuss a system that would give communities more notice, but not shut the City down. DD COMMENT: this is a long-standing issue, many community leagues discover issues at the last minute and with no opportunity for them to properly consider the City proposals before they go to Council.

7.6 EFCL Board Retreat – so why is that news?
Ok, so a board retreat is hardly news, but one of the topics on the agenda is a discussion about how to improve our process for recruiting and selecting of EFCL directors (the last AGM left four key positions unelected due to a lack of quorum for district communities even though there were good representatives available to serve).
The board also wants to discuss better ways to community to district leagues.

9.3 Executive Director’s Report highlights
Allan Bolstad, our intrepid executive director presented the EFCL’s emerging Living Local campaign to Mayor Mandel and Allan reports that the mayor supports the initiative.

EFCL Disappointed with school closures – the EFCL has indicated that we are not interested in participating in school closure processes. We are interested in retaining schools in communities and or schools as community facilities critical to the heart of communities.
Aquatic Development Committee Update – the city’s Aquatic Development Committee has been working since March 2009 on the allocation of pool space. They committee has dealt with a number of issues (standards of play, tournaments, an aquatic allocation policy and the proposed community league pool allocation model. A meeting of league and area council representatives is planned for early June. Not date has been set.
Northerners Update – there is a committee of 44 agencies providing social services to North East Edmonton with a goal to work with immigrant communities. DD COMMENT: I suggested this group consider coming to Area Council and other regional meetings to share their work with leagues so we know what’s going on and because this is an area we struggle with too.

9.4 Community Development Officer’s Report
Shahriyar Khan’s report is working on a variety of initiatives – the one I will mention is the EFCL

9.5 Community Planning Officer’s Report
Bev Zubot, our planning officer and the EFCL Planning Committee is working on:

Social Housing Distribution
Family Oriented Muti-Family Housing
Zoning bylaw changes – transition between small and big buildings, row housing and infill
Smarter Residential Lighting
Recreation Facility and School Planning

The EFCL is extremely busy these days, you can’t do it all, but hopefully this summary helps you follow some of the things that you and your community are interested in.

David Dodge

Bernie Zolnar elected as new District B Planning Committee Rep

2010-05-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Bernie Zolnar was elected the new President of Glengarry Community League and the EFCL District B Planning Committee representative on the same day!

Eleven of the 13 community leagues in District B attended the Special District Meeting after we failed to get quorum at the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL) Annual General Meeting on April 19.

Lago Lindo, Kilkenny, McLeod, Evansdale, Northmount, Londonderry, Balwin, Killarney, Delwood, Glengarry, Rosslyn and Belvedere community leagues attended the first District B meeting in many years on Tuesday May 4.

At the meeting David Dodge (yours truly) was re-elected as the EFCL District B Board Representative for the region. I am also currently the VP External of the EFCL as well.

This means our district has a representative on the board and one on the EFCL Planning Committee which works on city-wide planning issues on behalf of community leagues. The committee has started to become quite active monitoring new City policies and proposing policies for the EFCL. As Mike White from Lago Lindo said "It's good that we have someone from the Area 2 community leagues at the EFCL as well from the Area 17 community leagues to provide balanced representation."

The next Board meeting is May 13 at the EFCL offices. The meetings are open. Just today we heard the community leagues are going to be meeting with the Provincial Cabinet and Edmonton MLAs from the Tory Caucus near the end of May. We will let you know about the venue soon.

This will be a good chance to talk about a number of issues affecting community leagues in a round table format with the provincial government.

Congratulations Bernie for your election as the Planning Rep. I look forward to serving with you at the EFCL. After the special District B meeting community folks from both Area 17 and Area 2 got together for a drink along with one of our MLAs.

Leagues Vote to Sell $25 Memberships to Hockey Players

2010-04-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday Edmonton's community leagues passed a motion that will allow the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) to sell special $25 corporate community league memberships to every hockey family in Edmonton.

The new agreement is designed to address a long-standing logistical nightmare for hockey registrars. Some folks in the EMHA were ready to drop the requirement that hockey players must be members of community leagues because of very serious problems finding the right leagues, with people filling in fake community league membership numbers and even people just leaving the membership box blank.

Pictured are Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director and David Gibbens, EFCL President

Under the new agreement (soon to be ratified by the EMHA) the hockey association will sell every single hockey family a community league membership when they register for hockey. This will mean every single family of the 7,000 hockey players in Edmonton will have a community league membership, guaranteed.

The EMHA will send the money and a list with complete information for each new member to the EFCL for passing on to leagues.

The new system is a change, but the vast majority of community leagues in Edmonton will benefit since they will capture every single hockey player from their community league. In the old system people got away with not buying memberships, buying them from other leagues or even by entering fake membership numbers. This arrangement also reconfirms the relationship between community leagues and hockey. The community leagues started hockey and have a long time affiliation with hockey people many of whom have served on community league boards.

Some leagues from the west end were not happy with the arrangement because their membership fees are higher, many around $40. The $25 corporate rate was chosen as the average rate and with a view to not increasing hockey fees too much.

The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues Annual General Meeting was Monday, April 19 at Athalone Hall.

As a footnote, I write today the "acting District B representative" since our district did not have quorum on at the April 19th meeting! We have a special meeting of District B communities planned for May 4, 2010 to elect or re-elect a representative.

State of the City of Edmonton Address - Mayor Stephen Mandel

2010-04-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today Stephen Mandel gave his annual State of the City address at the Chamber of Commerce event at Shaw Conference Centre. I attended along with Allan Bolstad, EFCL Executive Director.
The two-term Mayor laid out a pretty big vision that seemed centered around Edmonton's Expo Bid. He spoke at length about the "sustainable community" planned for the Airport lands redevelopment.
The Mayor spoke at length about LRT as a focus of transit development and about how it is the focus of creating a modern green city of the future. He even suggested a second ring road may not even be needed if we do an excellent job of transit, and LRT in particular.
He affirmed his commitment to seeing downtown redevelopment as a priority and encouraged business leaders and citizens to look carefully at the major sports facility being proposed for downtown as a possible key to creating a vibrant downtown in Edmonton. The reiterated the City needs to be prudent and fiscally responsible in any deal, but he also seems to favor a big, bold idea for down town.
The Mayor spoke from notes and there was no standing ovation this time. But it seems fairly clear that there was good, strong support for his vision in the room full of business leaders, politicians, plus a healthy dollop of City employees and a few lonely community people!

EFCL Community League Capital Projects Deficit 2010

2010-04-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I referred to a report prepared by Allan Bolstad EFCL Executive Director on the capital projects deficit faced by Community Leagues in Edmonton and I now have a copy. Download it here: EFCL Capital Project Costs.

This report found about 10-12 Community Leagues will be looking to build Community League Buildings in the next ten years and another 3-5 need to rebuild. Estimated cost is $7.5 million over the next three years.

The report also documents $4.5 million in needed repairs to Community buildings, $1.75 million for Tennis Courts, $2.5 million for hockey rinks, $300,000 for basketball courts, and about $1.45 million in other projects over the next three years.

This report is being used by the Tripartite Committee to attempt to find new ways to fund capital projects in Community Leagues and in fact the committee has a very rough draft proposal. The EFCL Board has already endorsed a plan that calls for a new model for funding and $3 million over three years in matching funds to fund these important Community League capital projects.

EFCL Board Package April 2011 - District B Report

2010-04-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

EFCL District B Report
David Dodge, District B Rep., April 8, 2010
Download the April 8 Board Package

Notes from the April 8, 2010 Board Meeting

Hi everyone, I am back from the rain forests of southern Costa Rica and am ready for warmer weather here! If you are curious, here is a link to a slide show of Costa Rica photos. The follow are my highlights from the 43-page board package and the EFCL Board Meeting:

AGM is April 19, 5:30 pm - FREE FOOD!

EFCL AGM April 19, 5:30 pm (dinner), 6:30 pm meeting. Athlone Hall, 13010 129 Street - goto EFCL.org for more information or RSVP. There is a lot happening with Community League issues, so come on out and catch up on the news, and compare notes with fellow community league folks.

Talent Show

This Saturday April 17th at Stanley A Milner Library Theatre, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm – 67 entries & great talent.

3.1 Presentation: Walter Trochenko on Social Housing
Walter Trochenko of the City of Edmonton presented an early draft of a Discussion Paper on Social Housing in Edmonton to the EFCL board. Click here to download this early draft (remember it’s only a draft). Version 2 of this may be available online at the City site already. The City is keen to find new ways to manage the distribution and supply of social housing and this report is about how that will be done. This report will be discussed at 5:30 pm at a public meeting on April 19 at Alex Taylor School and it goes to Executive Committee on April 21. In a nutshell there are three options:

Status quo
Flexible plan to attempt to steer housing around the city. The idea is to spread housing around, but not create hard and fast rules
A hardcap on social housing in communities with more than their share

The report considers proposing the use of funding for projects to steer developments away from some areas and into others. The report contains a fascinating table that lists the concentration of social housing by community: four District B communities figure in the top 20 communities for high concentrations of low income people and families and social housing: Belvedere, Balwin, Rosslyn and Evansdale. The communities at the top of the list have up to 51% low income residents and one community, McCauley has 54% of its homes as subsidized housing units. The top 10 communities would be singled out, and social housing projects would avoid those communities.

First time homebuyers is market-based housing and none of the approved sites will change to social housing sites
20 more school sites that are not needed however are now being released and subjected to the City’s process for reallocating the sites once earmarked for school envelopes. Social housing will undoubtedly target these sites and try to get them allocated to social housing projects.

DD COMMENT: Download the report and participate in the process if you are interested in these issues. Equitable distribution makes sense, especially to those with more than their fair share, but this will not be easy.

3.2 Presentation 2: Tim McCarger - Allocation of School sites
Twenty school building envelope sites are up for grabs since they have been released by the school boards because the do not need them. Tim McCarger of the City is working on crafting the process for the reallocation of these sites. As you will recall the last time this happened the City worked with the province and the Municipal Government Act to allocate all of the previous 20 sites to affordable housing in a pretty unilateral fashion. This has created some healthy skepticism that a fair process can be brought to the table.
However Tim McCarger, to his credit, seems determined to see this happen. See the Surplus School Sites web page the City has set up for this process. There is a map of the sites and tons of information on the process. School sites in or close to District B include: Caernarvon, Dunluce, Miller, Belmont, and Overlanders. The map includes links to site maps for each site.

Remember the City gets first dibs on what happens with these sites (many City departments/programs could be interested), the second priority is non-profit uses and then if there is no interest by those two levels sites can be disposed of to developers or the site can be retained by the City and leased to a developer.

6.0.1 Tripartite Progress - New Funding Model Proposed
The EFCL and the City have come up with a VERY PRELIMINARY draft of a potential new model for funding community leagues as part of the TriPartite License negotiation process. We are making excellent headway in simplifying this agreement and fixing some irritants to some community leagues and actually making the agreement better.
Better yet, once confronted with the incredible capital funding challenges being faced by community leagues and their inability to apply for funds from NPDP or to get loans to build or repair community league facilities on licensed land the committee is in the early stages of negotiating a new way to fund leagues.

Allan Bolstad our executive director has done a report that has identified about $18 million in repairs and construction required by community leagues over the next three years! This backlog has been building for some time.
The Tripartite Committee (consisting of City and EFCL and community representatives (me included)) has come up with a proposal to model a new funding process after the newly crafted Partnership Agreements the City has created for non-community league organizations.

The EFCL passed the following motion at the April 8th meeting:
Recommendation:

That the EFCL recommend to the membership that we ask the City of Edmonton to establish a capital grant program for community leagues of $3 million year, for three years, beginning in 2011.
That the EFCL recommend to the membership that we ask the City of Edmonton to increase the annual operating grants to community leagues, from $1.7 million/year to $3 million per year, beginning in 2011.

DD COMMENT: This is a needed step and a very good idea to emerge out of this process. We’ll see if it flies. You may want to follow this and let your councillor know if you think this is a good idea!

6.1 Distribution of Social Housing (pg 12)
Edmonton City Council has asked the administration to review the placement of social housing in Edmonton and as you can see there is a lot of action on this file lately (see above). The EFCL Board thought it prudent to weigh in on this issue. The EFCL board passed a motion (see page 12 of board package) to support the redistribution of social housing, giving stressed out communities the ability to support better social housing if it will help them, that consultation with stakeholders and communities is critical and finally that we support the equitable distribution of housing in the city.

DD COMMENT: This is a file to watch closely and the EFCL is trying to make sure the communities interests are protected. The City’s discussion paper will go to Executive Committee on April 21.

6.2 EMHA Sale of $25 Memberships to ALL PLayers (pg 14)
Hmmm, well the hockey guys are still not very happy with the Community League membership situation. The good news is the EMHA wants to retain a good relationship with Community Leagues and the EFCL. But apparently the hockey registrars have had it with all the problems with Community League Memberships. Apparently people write down numbers that don’t exist, they often do not fill in the CL numbers on the hockey forms and the hockey guys are fed up and they asked for a new round of meetings with the EFCL.

Our online membership sales system has improved things a great deal--we sold a few thousand new memberships last year, but the system is not solving the hockey situation.
Therefore the EFCL met with the EMHA and has begun negotiating a new agreement to ensure ALL hockey players have community league memberships and that the process is easy for them.

It looks like the only way to ensure good cooperation is to integrate CL membership sales right into the hockey registration process. The idea is to charge one fee: $25 to every single hockey play as they register and then turn over the list of new members and money to the EFCL to pass on to the leagues. The EFCL will be forced to undertake a certain amount of administration here, but every player will have a new membership and it will be paid for.

DD COMMENT: I am still in favor of an improved online membership sales system, but this sounds like a good deal for Community Leagues. On the upside ALL players will have a membership and they will be paid for in one-fell swoop. Some leagues may complain if their membership fees are higher, but that is a small price to pay for a guarantee that all EMHA players join leagues and that the relationship is cemented for the long term.

6.3 Artifical LIghting Policy (pg 16)
In order to reduce light pollution, conserve energy and ensure adequate lighting for security pruposes the EFCL passed a recommendation from the EFCL Planning Committee to encourage the City of Edmonton to be a Light Efficient Community.

DD COMMENT: This is an innovative policy to encourage the city to manage light really well. Check it out.

6.4 Neighbourhood Schools (pg 18)
The EFCL Planning Committee thought it was important to come out with a clear statement of the importance of schools to communities. The statement acknowledges the critical role of schools in strong communities and supports the “continued presence of neighbourhood schools in mature neighbourhoods...”
DD COMMENT: A good clear statement.

6.5 President’s Dinner (pg 19)
The EFCL is planning to host a dinner for all Community League Presidents to recognize the significant contributions of the Community League Presidents and all of the Area Council Presidents as well. This event would be instead of an awards gala for this year only.

DD COMMENT: A good idea and long overdue at the City-wide level. See you there!
That’s the highlights from the EFCL Board Package for what appears to be an extremely busy period for Community Leagues in Edmonton. If you have any comments or questions please fire them off to me anytime.

EFCL Board Package March 2011 - District B Report

2010-03-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues District B Report
David Dodge, District B Rep., March 11, 2010
districtb@efcl.org
Download the March 11 Board Package

District B Community Leagues: Lago Lindo, Kilkenny, McLeod, Evansdale, Northmount, Londonderry, Steele Heights, Balwin, Killarney, Delwood, Glengarry, Rosslyn, Belvedere

Notes from the March 11 Board Meeting

Hi everyone, here are some notes about things that caught my attention in the March 11 Board Meeting Package.

6.1 Free Memberships (pg 11)

The idea is to offer free memberships to new residents to introduce them to the benefits of community league membership. Of the two recommendations to the board (see page 11) the board opted to support the second which reads: “That the EFCL encourage community leagues to provide free memberships to new residents and that the EFCL survey all its members to see how many support a policy of giving free memberships to new residents in their neighborhood.” As an example, Duggan CL has provided free memberships for newcomers and free soccer registration for newcomers as well.

DD COMMENT: this is a great idea. This would capture new members that may not even know that community leagues exist. We rope them in, introduce them to the benefits of community leagues and renew them in the second year. The board opted not to put a resolution to the membership to “require” all leagues to participate because we did not think it will fly. That’s too bad, this is a good idea. What do you think?

6.2 EFCL Annual General Meeting Agenda (pg 12)

The EFCL AGM is April 19 at Athlone Community League (13010 129 Street)
Registration and Dinner 5:30 pm, Start time: 6:30 pm Finish Time 9:30 pm
We still do not have a District B representative on the EFCL Planning Committee. This is a great opportunity to make a difference on City-wide issues from a community point of view. The committee is presently working on defining Family Friendly Housing, side yard transition policy, Artificial Lighting Policy, Affordable Housing, Social Housing, Group Home spacing, and much more.

DD COMMENT: It would be great to have a representative from District B, ask around, we probably have some great candidates in our region.

6.3 Planning Committee (pg 13)

The EFCL is putting the final touches on side yard transitions between low density and multi-unit housing. The key recommendation is to retain a 7.5 m side yard between apartments and housing instead of the 3 m being recommended. The committee is also recommending side yards not be relaxed based on sun shadow studies until the City has adopted minimal sunlight standards. And finally the RA* Apartment Zone (up to 6 stories) should not be adopted to reduce them from 7.5 m. (See page 13)

The EFCL Planning Committee is also working on an efficient lighting policy. The board liked the presentation that was made (page 14), but sent it back to committee to specifically acknowledge community security concerns and how it can be dealt with in the context of an efficient lighting policy.

DD COMMENT: This is a great idea, but we must acknowledge and look after community security concerns right in this policy. The police tell us to light everything all the time, and this sometimes completes with energy conservation and light pollution concerns of some. The idea is to look after security and conserve energy at the same time. Apparently, more light isn’t always the answer. More on this alter I am sure.

6.5 School closure position (pg 16)

The EFCL Recommendation:
March 11, 2010 6.5 – School Closure Policy Position Allan Bolstad, Executive Director

1. That the EFCL ask each public school board to step up its efforts to keep schools open by working with the local community to find partners for vacant space before announcing any closures and by taking steps to eliminate vacant space.
2. That each school board be invited to join the EFCL’s Living Local campaign by promoting the concept of students attending schools close to where they live.
3. That the EFCL go on record as opposing the process currently used to close schools and communicate its concerns about the impact of school closures to the school boards, the City of Edmonton, the Province of Alberta and other key stakeholders.

DD COMMENT: I whole-heartedly supported this position and so did the board. Schools are the heart and soul of a community and inner city neighborhoods are about to face a blizzard of proposed school closings. The current process results in schools being named for closure and then the community rises up and declares war on the closings. The problem is the decision is all but made at this point. The EFCL is not happy with the process and is actively working to work with board(s) to get notice of schools at risk so communities can receive notice and start work on plans to save their schools well in advance of the fatal day. It is hoped that creative arrangements can save as many schools as possible, both in recognition of the vital role they play in the fabric of the community and in the sense that as the city evolves there is a good chance with changing demographics and densification that these schools will be needed again some day. The EFCL received notice that the process has started to close Eastwood School, McCauley School, and Parkdale School. This added some urgency to this issue. More later. (see page 18 and 40)

8.3.2 Report on First Time Home Buyer’s program (pg 25)

You will recall the City rammed through a program to build “affordable homes” on surrendered school envelope sites around the city and designated 20 vacant sites for a pilot program to build affordable housing. Walter Trocenko answered a number of questions we had about how that program is doing – you really should read this on page 25.

DD COMMENT: essentially this program is going nowhere fast, since the demand for the housing is not high.

8.3.3 Group HOme Distribution (pg 26)

The EFCL Planning Committee has formed a sub-committee to look at the distribution of Group Homes in Edmonton. An enquiry was submitted by several ward 3 councillors and there will be a report on the spacing of group homes to the City’s Executive Committee on March 18. DD

COMMENT: The planning committee and others are taking an interest in social housing issues and we all need to support these efforts, but we are pushing for is fair distribution of housing projects and group homes across the City.

8.4.1 Community Ice Time Allocation Changes Comming Soon (pg 27)

The City of Edmonton provides 100 hours of ice time to community leagues much of it is NOT allocated each year. The City would like to develop a separate allocation process where you can go and rent ice for your league on a priority basis, but only for non hockey activities. The EFCL is hosting an allocation meeting for 2010-2011 on March 24, at 6:30 pm at the EFCL Office. Don’t miss this if you are interested in community ice time in the arenas.

8.4.7 Swimming Pool Allocation (pg 30)

The Aquatic Development Committee met on February 23. They are creating two poll allocation committees: one for city-wide groups and the other for Community Leagues. A meeting is being organized for June – stayed tuned for dates and times.

10.3 Community League Day Kick-Off Event (pg 39)

As you may have heard Community League Day is September 18 and communities all over the city are organizing special events to promote community leagues across Edmonton at the start of the new Community League Membership Year! Register your event with Michael Janz at the EFCL and let’s make this the biggest group of community events ever. Send your information to michael.janz@efcl.org to get your league involved – 15 leagues have already registered their events. The EFCL is planning a photo op stunt four days before Community League Day to draw attention to it – 150 students from Victoria School are each going to hold a sign representing all of the Community Leagues in Edmonton in the shape of a map of Edmonton in Churchill Square on September 14.

That's it, please send your comments in anytime.