EFCL Board Package Dec. 2011 - District B Report

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

The September EFCL Board Package is out and there is lots going on!

Download the September 9 board package

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.