Tom Henihan
Due to conflicting accounts being offered regarding the lead up to the Centre Chevalier Special Meeting on December 3 and the general state of affairs with the hall, some correction and clarification is necessary regarding an article I wrote in the December 16, Smoky River Express.
In that article entitled “Centre Chevalier’s new board planning a strong start to the New Year” I was informed that the original AGM took place a week prior to the December 3 special meeting when in fact that original meeting took place on October 22.
The previous story also reported that outgoing secretary Esther Picard would continue in the paid part-time position of Hall manager. However, the part-time position has been only recently created and prior to the December Special Meeting, with the exception of on-call janitorial and maintenance duties, the Centre had no one on payroll as board members fulfilled all practical, organizational and administrative duties on a volunteer basis.
“The crisis at the Centre was not due to any dysfunctionality with the performance of the board,” says Esther Picard. “Of the original 5 member board only one member was missing but with four members (3 active) we still had a quorum and fulfilled the role of a functioning board. The problem was as the outgoing board was performing all duties it ultimately became over extended and the situation unsustainable.”
It was determined that the Centre Chevalier’s old and new board meet again on January 5 at 7pm at the Centre Chevalier in Falher where the transfer took place and the new board assumed its duties.
“The objective, of the new board,’ according to Picard, “is to maintain the revitalized Hall and to find funds to cover the part-time position as well as to grow the account for emergencies, if they should arise. Bingos cover the utilities but is not enough to cover major renovations or repairs and cannot be used to pay salaries.”
However, Bingos are a major source of income for the hall and cannot be cancelled.
At the January 5th meeting, a question was also raised regarding the legality according to the Society’s by-laws of electing 11 board members instead of five.
In the December 16 article, I also wrote that the “New Year’s Ball to Save the Hall” was a Centre Chevalier event with the cooperation of the Smoky River Minor Hockey Association when the event was actually a SRMHA undertaking with 60 percent of the proceeds going to the Hall.