CALABOGIE & AREA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS, 2005-06

1. ASSOCIATION STILL GROWING

Since the spring of 2002, the association has moved from 17 inactive

members to 108 members as of May 16, 2006. General and executive

meetings were reduced to six as a result of a change to our bylaws. Three

extra executive/board of directors meetings were held in the winter for a Strategic Planning Exercise. Minutes of the previous general meeting and the agenda for the next meeting were distributed by email or paper copy before each meeting. For the May meeting, all members were called by phone as well. Annual fees remain at $25.00.

2. FUND RAISING

CABA's t-shirt sale, on July 1st, 2004, at the Canada Day Celebration in Calabogie, coordinated by Georgette Reed, with "I partied on the lake in Calabogie" on each shirt, sold $1345.00 worth of shirts, caps and buttons. More than half the stock is left over for the July 1, 2006 sale. The fourth annual Calabogie Fall Classic Golf Tournament, chaired by Ted Young, raised $ $2041.66 for trail development and an additional $330.00 was given to Hospice Renfrew, as a donation. The raffle only cleared costs. Over the three year period 2003 to 2006, a total of $7654.89 has been raised for local community improvements with $5613.23 of this amount raised for Barnet Park and $2041.66 for trail development. Included in the $7654.89 amount is the $3063.87 which has already been turned over to the township and is being held until a CABA decision is made on how the money should be spent on the Barnet Park project. The remaining $4591.02 is being held in the CABA bank account until a decision is made on exactly how the money will be spent. The golf tournament and raffle will not be held in 2006.

3. OTHER PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

A tournament brochure including a directory of CABA members, sponsors,

volunteers, prize donators and other supporters was produced and distributed.

All sponsors and volunteers were sent thank you notes.

Twenty banners were again flying on hydro poles in the area depicting snow in

the winter and the Canadian flag the rest of the year.

CABA partnered with the township's Economic Development Committee to form

a Grants Sub-committee of which two members are CABA members. In April,

approval was received for the sub-committee's first grant. HRSDC has approved

the cost of one person year for a Research Assistant, a lap top and a digital

camera which the Township may keep at the end of the year.

CABA submitted CABA Corner for eight editions of the Madawaska Highlander

newspaper which were distributed to all residences and businesses in the Greater

Madawaska Township and the Burnstown and Denbigh areas at no cost to CABA.

(Distribution, as of May, 2006, is twenty-eight hundred copies.)

In May 2006, a four-page directory insert was included in the Madawaska

Highlander with all CABA businesses listed under categories similar to the

directory available on the CABA web site. One thousand extra copies of the

directory are available for distribution through businesses in the township

over the summer of 2006.

A letter was sent to the Ontario Minister of transportation, from CABA, providing rationale for and asking for a reply informing us of the date they have planned for the start and finish of the Highway 17 twinning project between Arnprior to Renfrew. The Minister's response to CABA was published in the Renfrew Mercury and indicated that their priorities are reset annually.

The CABA web-site, www.calabogie.org, was updated on a regular basis by David

Lester and includes minutes of meetings, CABA's 2006-08 Strategic Plan, annual

reports and a business directory.

CABA partnered with a college student who volunteered her time to add the Calabogie area to the County’s ValleyExplore Trail Guide. This update was added to the ValleyExplore web site by the county as well.

CABA requested and received from Mike Grace of the Renfrew County and District

Health Unit a letter stating that they would share water testing results with

CABA upon request for pubic beaches.

Mike Bohm, Ministry of Natural Resources, attended the October 2005 CABA meeting. He spoke about fish stocking and populations, crown land, zebra mussels and wildlife.

A CABA member survey was conducted in September 15, 2005 to identify courses

or workshops for support staff and managers. Only one business expressed an

interest. Information about training available within the county through Enterprise Renfrew and Algonquin College was shared with members.

CABA produced a two-page report entitled Report on CABA Priorities Based

on the January 2005 Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Review prepared by Sir San Ford Fleming College.

Three CABA members served on the Greater Madawaska Township Economic

Development Committee: Ken Lauzon, Debora Giffin and Carolyn Jakes. A cell

phone tower on Dickson Mountain, the production of 10,000 copies of a tourist

brochure listing tourism related businesses, of which only 1,600 remain in stock, and the selection of a theme, "So much more to explore", for public relations purposes, were three highlights of the year.

One CABA member, Debora Giffin, serves on the newly formed (March 2006) Renfrew

County Chambers of Commerce Council. The plan is to share ideas and

experiences and to select projects which would benefit both the rural and urban

economic sectors of Renfrew County. Its first project is the “Buy Local” Program initiated in June 2006.

Lucy Lester represented CABA at the Remembrance Day ceremony in Calabogie and

presented a wreath. CABA purchased a tree for the Calabogie Seniors' Bogie Lights Christmas tree display at Heritage Point.

CABA adopted a stretch of 1.2 km of Highway 511 from Highway 508 to the bridge in the village of Calabogie as part of the County's Adopt-a-Road Program. CABA's two highway signs were provided free and installed by the County and the CABA team of five collected 17 bags of garbage in the spring of 2006. Garbage will be collected two times per year.

In the winter of 2006, the executive and board of directors produced a two-year strategic plan for CABA. Section one of the strategies identified for action apply to CABA and the second section contains strategies for partnering with the Township's Economic Development Committee.

In June of 2005, an awards program was introduced. Bill Graham and Richard Copeland of the Madawaska Highlander received the Excellence in Community Service Award and Steve and Gayle Main of Eagle's Rest Country Store received the Excellence in Customer Service Award. In June of 2006, three awards will be given.

CABA applied to HRDC and received funding for a summer student for 2005 to work

two days a week at the Calabogie Information Bureau so that the centre could be open seven days a week instead of only five, and to help organize the annual golf tournament and raffle. Due to illness, the student worked approximately half the summer.

Four CABA members attended the County GPS training and three geocaches were installed in the Greater Madawaska Township as part of a federally funded grant to the County. Part two of this project will be for CABA to add seven more geocaches for GPS treasure hunting to attract visitors to our area.

The issue of teambuilding was addressed and more CABA members will be sharing the CABA work load in the 2006-07 year.

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE NEW EXECUTIVE, YEAR 2006-07

1. Team build within association and with other community groups to improve

communication within the community and to focus resources/effort to achieve

common goals. Increase percentage of CABA members involved in CABA activities.

2. Focus on Trades and Services in the next year.

3. Continue to partner with Township Economic Development Committee to

a) obtain more grants, for example, to follow up on recommendations from Eco-tourism and Adventure Tourism Report, and

b) encourage the township council to continue the Base Line E.coli Study.

........Submitted by CABA President for June 12, 2006 Annual Meeting