Submitted by Richard Harrison, Chair, on behalf of the Board
Hello everyone,
I'm writing to let you know that due to the complications created by Andrea's departure at the beginning of May, the materials necessary to close out the co-op's year will not be ready for the end of June. In a year of the unexpected that this one has proved to be many times over, this probably shouldn't be a surprise, and it is not what we wanted. The Board has worked hard to catch up and keep the administration of the co-op on track. Despite the challenges, the co-op is functioning well at present, and, as we've seen many times over, our members are actively contributing to the co-op's good, and our committees are engaged in productive and forward-looking work.
In that light, we have appealed to the provincial government for an extension in order to get the necessary work done. They have been very understanding. Our co-op has an excellent record of fiscal and social responsibility, and we are not alone in needing more time in this regard. We anticipate that our financial documents will be ready by the end of July; to give ourselves room to deal with anything we haven't foreseen in making that estimate, we've requested a deadline that will schedule our AGM at the end of August, which has been granted.
We know that the bylaws calculate the date of the AGM according to the fiscal year and put it at the end of June; however the Co-operatives Act, under which we have requested this extension, takes priority, so we are still operating properly under our governing documents.
That said, the next two months will be busy ones that will set the stage for the end of August to be an excellent time to consider the year ahead. As some of you know, also near the end of June, the Planning and Development Committee were setting up to give us an update on negotiations with the City and a recommendation regarding their offer. The City, however, has delayed their reply to us, so the needed information was not provided in time. We expect that it will be ready for mid-July instead.
We are also looking forward to hearing from P&D regarding the Social Fabric Survey that they conducted over the past few months; the results have been compiled and they plan to hold informal focus groups to follow up. Their work will provide a much-appreciated picture of where we are as a community and inform the discussion of our future directions.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate our way through a year of obstacles that I see us over and over meeting in a truly cooperative spirit.
All the best,
Richard Harrison, Chair,
for the Board.