ACC National Board Meeting

October 30/31, 2004

The fall Board meeting was held at the CAC in Lake Louise on Halloween weekend with a bit of fresh snow to make it really seem like pre-winter in the mountains.

I guess the most significant event at the meeting was actually the absence of a stressful discussion about the budget, because fiscal 2004 ended up being balanced and no fee increases needed to be discussed. More about the budget later on. The highlights of the meeting:

There were numerous references to the ACC’s Centennial in 2006. The basic message here is that each Section needs to have something planned to celebrate the Centennial. Some are having special "dinners", others are having a special Section camp (which other Section members will be invited), and so on. The January Gazette will start featuring articles about the upcoming Centennial.

Time is set aside at each Board meeting for reviews of activities and issues from all the Sections. With the number of Sections now in the Club, this takes some time. Among the interesting comments were those from Calgary (financial support to trip leaders; benefit of being a Club member built into the fee structure for huts; an offer to support a project of the Safety Committee) and Vancouver (their membership now costs $61 and their membership numbers have dropped by 10%).

There have been two (2) new inquiries from outdoor clubs elsewhere in Canada about becoming Sections of the ACC. There may be formal requests for this by the new year.

There has been a decline in membership numbers recently but there is no analysis of the possible reason(s) for this decline. It was pointed out by the Secretary that the Club needs to sell the benefits of membership

In Facilities, it was noted that hut fees will increase somewhat, but there will be a larger differential between member/non-member rates. A donation for $50,000 was received towards the construction of the Fay Hut (which will begin mid-July). Most of the other moneys that will be needed for that project have been received as donations. The proposed "Centennial Hut" may actually be a possibility for the Mt Robson area. There is a proposal to BC Parks. Their process will take some time, but it does seem like a good possibility. The Elk Lakes cabin (which we manage on a temporary basis for BC Parks) will have proposed renovations put off for one year while the lease with BC Parks is negotiated and set up. It was noted that the hut has generated over $7000 in revenue just since July 1^st, 2004.

In Activities (David Zemrau), it was reported that there will be a 6^th week added to the GMC but that the numbers attending each week will be decreased slightly. Custom portering is available and growing. Between the GMC and other National trips, there were 4500 person days of mountaineering organized by Office staff over the past year.

The Chair of the Safety Committee (Dave McCormick) briefly reported on the activities of the Committee and presented guidelines for reporting accidents (incidents) that occur on Section trips as well as a standard report form to be used to inform National Office of such incidents. It was approved after some discussion and re-wording.

The Mountain Culture Director (Bob Sandford) reported on activities of the Publications Committee; the digitization of all issues of the CAJ is proceeding. So far, 20 years have been completed.

Access and Environment (Peter Muir) discussed a few issues that the AE Committee has been dealing with and also the issue of "Kids on ACC Camps". Basically, young people between the ages of 16-18 do present Sections with a possible problem. A proposal was briefly discussed but more work needs to be done on the wording and process that would be involved.

It was noted that the deadline for award nominations is December 31^st, 2004. Sections were encouraged to make use of awards to recognize their members who have contributed in various ways to Section or National activities. As well, a motion to re-name the ACC Service Award to the Don Forrest Service Award was passed. Don Forrest was the first Canadian to climb all 50 peaks over 11,000 ft. He died last winter while cross-country skiing.

In Finance, the big news was the budget. As a result of careful cost management, the budget for 2004 should break even. Readers will remember that at the last meeting, it was decided that Sections would make up any deficit on a pro-rated basis. It appears that this will be unnecessary. Facilities continues to grow its revenue but it continues to subsidize the members/sections section. There are two bit capital projects this coming year, the Fay Hut and the Toronto Cabin (on the clubhouse property). In total these projects will exceed $200,000. Most of this cost will be covered by donations and insurance (for the Fay Hut). It was also noted that the ACC currently manages a portfolio with a total value of $1.5 million from which money is paid out to various funds each year. There was a suggestion some time ago that the annual audit be set aside to save money (approximately $7400/year), but this was turned down. The Canadian Alpine Centre in Lake Louise is better off financially than it was a year ago but the current management has indicated that more money will need to be put into maintenance in the coming years.

The ACC has started to seriously pursue fundraising for its various projects. For example, there was a single donation of $70,000 for the Toronto Cabin just this year. Currently, the fundraising total is in excess of $170,000. In the next 3 years, the ACC is aiming to raise $1 million. This money will go to capital projects, not maintenance. There are now 23 huts plus the clubhouse and associated buildings. Considering this, there is still only 1.5 maintenance staff indicating a serious need for one more position. Keep in mind that a lot of maintenance and construction work is done by volunteers, organized by the Huts Committee.

The Board was informed that on-line booking plans are proceeding as well as more on-line membership services. Hopefully within the coming year members will see the effects of these changes.

Liability insurance was discussed briefly. In short, Liability insurance is in place for fiscal 2005, the coverage is back at $2 million, the rates are the same (in the mid-$ 90,000 range), a buying group which currently includes over 400 outdoor organizations is looking for a better insurance deal and with total premiums exceeding $10 million, this will hopefully come to fruition in the coming months. The question was raised whether insurance should be unbundled from basic membership fees, making insurance coverage optional. Concerns were raised over this.

A brief report was presented regarding the UIAA. It is apparently having financial troubles of its own and will be moving out of Geneva to a less expensive location. As well, the fees that it charges to member clubs will be reduced by 20%.

The next Executive meeting will be April 9^th, 2005, the next Board of Directors meeting will be May 14/15 with the AGM on May 15^th, 2005, in Canmore.

Dave McCormick - SK Section Board Representative