NVCA requests Conservation Act change

Allowing weighted vote would reduce board size
News report from the NVCA – April 3 2012
The Board of Directors voted March 23 to ask the support of Conservation Ontario in their request to the Ministry of Natural Resources for an amendment to the Conservation Authorities Act. The suggested change would potentially reduce the size of the Authority’s Board of Directors, thus increasing meeting efficiency and reducing administrative costs.

Currently, the CA Act stipulates that every municipality within a Conservation Authority watershed may send one representative to sit on the Board of Directors, except larger municipalities (with over 10,000 population) which may send two. Every member has one vote on general business matters, so municipalities that send two members get a total of two votes. By amending the Act to allow a “weighted” vote, larger municipalities could choose to send only one member and that member’s vote would have the weight of two full votes. This could potentially reduce the size of the NVCA Board from the current maximum of 28 members to as few as 18 (one per municipality), ensuring that every municipality still has a direct voice on the Board and has not lost any voting power.
NVCA AND MOE RENEW GROUNDWATER MONITORING AGREEMENT
The Board of Directors approved the renewal of an agreement between the Ministry of the Environment and the NVCA for a groundwater monitoring program. The agreement outlines the terms and objectives of the partnership between the NVCA and the MOE for ongoing implementation and enhancement of the program
The Provincial Groundwater Monitoring Network (PGMN) program provides valuable information to the Province, Conservation Authorities, municipalities and the public on the state of groundwaterNVCA RENEWS AGREEMENT WITH FRIENDS OF UTOPIA GRIST MILL AND PARK
The Board of Directors unanimously approved the renewal of a 5-year lease for the 50-acre Utopia Conservation Area by the Friends of Utopia Grist Mill and Park.
The initial lease was signed in July 2007, stipulating that the group assumes financial and stewardship responsibility for the Utopia Conservation Area. Since then, Friends has raised over $36,000 to cover annual operating costs such as maintaining walking trails, costs for repairs and conservation of Bell’s Gristmill, and to put toward the long-term goal of restoring the historic grist mill, which was constructed in 1904.