EFCL Board Package April 2011 - Report

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

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.