Welcome to what will be the first of quarterly messages from me.
So much municipal activity is governed by provincial legislation. We hope that by FUN’s sharing of information we will learn about each other and our provincial government and that this will result in responses to our various concerns.
We recently took several steps to improve the outreach to our members and make neighborhood associations more aware of our existence. What follows are the results so far, largely thanks to the superhuman efforts of our communications and membership directors, Janice Brown (from Hamilton) and Harry Eaglesham (from Markham).
We were very pleased to welcome more than 60 new associations as FUN members as a result of the survey process. We are committed to working on your behalf to make the Provincial Government aware of your issues and to lobby them for satisfactory solutions. We will report back to you on our actions.
FUN WEBSITE
We have redesigned and updated our website. Please have a look at it and give us your feedback. Note that we have set up a Resource Centre on the site. Its purpose is to help you. It will include some of the excellent work done by many of you and shared with us.
COMMUNICATIONS
FUN’s Communication Committee has created a new plan which includes the following communiqués: President’s Messages, Queen’s Park Updates, and Member News. These will be produced quarterly ensuring that our members will receive a communiqué monthly. The President’s Messages will be a summary of FUN activities, Queen’s Park Updates will outline new Provincial Government initiatives and Member News will be comprised of experiences of other community associations from around our province. If you have any input for our Member News publication please contact us.
MEMBERSHIP
Until this year, FUN’s membership required that community associations pay annual dues of $50.00. As a volunteer organization with no other source of funding, this was a necessary but limiting requirement in terms of growing our membership. To encourage more involvement, we now invite groups to participate in FUN as Associate Members free of charge. We are happy if you join as an Associate Member. However, I encourage you to join us as a fully paid up supporter of FUN and contribute concretely to the growth of our organization.
My next report will cover our history and the initiatives which we have taken recently. Don’t forget our AGM coming up on May 7 which will be held in Sudbury. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be our guest speaker. All are welcome to join the proceedings by conference call. Details are on our website.
I’ll be back in touch in June, but hope to speak with many of you in Sudbury in May.
Archie Campbell
President