Thetis Island Improvement District AGM

The Thetis Island Improvement District will be postponing its Annual General Meeting scheduled for April 25th, 2020. Please see below the direction from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that we received late last week.

“It is recommended that all improvement districts postpone their AGMs and elections until the Provincial Health Officer gives advice that the COVID-19 pandemic no longer poses a threat to public health.

To provide continuity, it is recommended that trustees whose positions are expiring continue to hold their trustee position until an election can safely be held. It is recommended that the board of trustees proactively communicate with their communities (e.g. email, website) and share the Ministry’s advice on postponing their AGMS and elections.

The annual financial statements of an improvement district must be presented by the financial officer to the improvement district board for their review and acceptance. To ensure compliance with the public health order, the trustees may wish to convene regular board meetings that are not open to the public in order to adopt important bylaws for annual taxation, and to approve financial statements and other key activities of staff. These meetings must conform to the Provincial Health Officer’s physical distancing and good hygiene recommendations, for example regular hand washing and spacing chairs 2 metres apart. In addition, you may wish to hold meetings outside. We encourage the staff and trustees to keep these meetings to essential business and be as transparent as possible with property owners during this time and provide communication around meetings and copies of meeting minutes.

At this time the Ministry’s priority is reviewing and registering bylaws that are critical to improvement district operations. Please continue to submit to the Ministry two signed and sealed copies of important bylaws, such as those for annual taxation (two copies) that require Inspector of Municipalities registration to become effective.

The prior year audited financial statements of an improvement district are required by legislation to be submitted to the Inspector by May 15th each year. If the financial statements of the improvement district are available by that date, please submit them. However, there is no penalty if the financial statements are submitted when available at a later date. The first priority of the improvement district is the safety of staff, trustees and the public and the second priority is to produce reliable and relevant financial statements that can be used by the staff, trustees and property owners to be informed about the financial status of the improvement district.

Improvement districts that postpone their AGM may submit financial statements, trustees list, statistics and AGM minutes when they are available after the rescheduled AGM has been held.”

We will provide updates on eSPOKES as we proceed through our 2019 audit process.

Take care of yourselves, please.

Keith Rush

Chair, Board of Trustees

Thetis Island Improvement District