Report from the chair AGM 2009

   It’s been just about nine years from the first board meeting that I participated in. At that AGM I had just been voted on to the board, and I figured even though I knew precious little about the inner workings of the association, I’d somehow manage as long as I would mostly listen to the more experienced and wiser members. I had no idea I would have to immediately take on the task of chairman, but that is the way it went. I recall driving home, mulling over the events of that afternoon, and coming to up with two possible outcomes. One was that the task could turn out to be manageable, or if not, they’d turf me. Now, after nine years I can state it has been the former, even though at times the challenges have been rather formidable. I have made mistakes, but apparently not big enough ones to get the boot.

   Everything that I, and all the members of the board have done over these years, has always taken into account the best interest of the association and its members. I hope the results have reflected that goal.

   I have to mention how privileged and proud I have felt to have had the chance to be a part of the events around the association’s 50th anniversary. The Spring Festival was icing on the cake, as in addition to all the fine entertainment we had our book launch. I’m sure all of you understand the huge amount of volunteer work that went into both the 50th anniversary party, and creating the book. We owe a debt of gratitude, and  huge thanks to everyone who took on the challenges, doggedly worked at developing what was promised, and delivered a fantastic party, and a book to treasure over the next decades. We can’t all be performing artists, writers, or theatre techies, and I’m happy to say we don’t have to be. Each one can be of assistance by volunteering in other capacities, or somehow supporting the work of the association. I know many do just that, and I thank you.

   This is the last annual report for me to write, and I wish to convey my thoughts on the organization.  I am going to use an ant hill as a simile, for we are alike.  Anyone who has taken a walk in the woods of Finland will have seen many of these relatively large structures, and been amazed at how such tiny creatures have accomplished such feats.  In similar fashion we could ask our members how is it that we have also accomplished so much, even though we are a very small group. Both groups have gone through the same process; the ants with pine needles, we with two by fours. The worker ants continued building, as did we.  The ant hill and the ants were maintained and looked after over successive generations. Same goes for us.

   Each ant is of value to the community, as is each one of our members to us.  Not a single ant is more important than the larger community or its well being.  The goals of the association can never be subjugated to the whims of an individual, or to an agenda driven by a small clique, but instead must always follow a consensus based, non aligned, non denominational path reflecting the will of our community at large. This has served well as our cornerstone, and is never to be changed.

    Sometimes in the woods, a person of ill will takes a stick and hits the anthill. There is an instant reaction from the ants, as all available members will rush to defend their home.I will remind all of the members, both on the board as well at large, to defend what we have in case of any threat from without, or within. I can’t recommend the exact method the ants use for defense, but I’m sure there are appropriate methods available.

    The world is changing, and so are we.  Our long term administrator, Kirsti Harceg, has retired as have other long term employees. We want to thank them for all those years of service, and wish them well wherever their paths take them. Even though we have lost valuable members of our team, I am happy to say we have been able to reorganize and carry on with our new administrator, Sinikka Cummings, as well as bringing in new workers. Happily some of the younger ones have a Finnish background, which is of tremendous benefit to a lot of our residents. The concept of continuity has also been taken care of, and those plans are in place.

   Along the same line of continuity, we have over the decades supported our employees by reimbursing some educational expenses if the courses have been relevant to their duties, and have helped them in moving forward in their field. Up to now we have evaluated the applications on a case by case basis, but as we have been getting a lot of these lately we have developed a Training Policy that sets clear guidelines and criteria for fee reimbursement. The language follows accepted principles already in existence, and hopefully makes the process fair and transparent.

   Taking an overall view of our operations I am of the opinion the year went reasonably well with only a few less than satisfactory events.  The older buildings are an ongoing maintenance challenge, and keep the personnel busy. At present there are a number of tasks we are working on, but nothing that is not solvable. It is very rare that the board comes across a situation that requires strong measures and direct involvement, but we currently are in the middle of such an event. I cannot share details, but for the record can state proper procedure and points of law will be followed, and the matter will be dealt with.

   The worst problem area is the recurring bed bug problem at Harrison, and I need to say some harsh words about this. The bed bugs have an advantage because some of our tenants don’t care they have them, don’t report the infestation, and are less than honest when directly asked to report their status. The outcome is that all the other tenants suffer the consequences, and the association bears huge financial costs due to the repeated treatment requirements.  If the indifference continues we will be in a serious financial situation as the costs already are running around a hundred thousand dollars. If it is possible, my plan would be to go after the tenants responsible for bringing the bugs in, not reporting same, and make them responsible for the huge costs associated with remedial action. I have been advised this may be difficult if not impossible, but I am willing to go there as nothing else seems to get the message across.

  We will never be able to control the infestations without isolating the apartment units from one another.  The board has made a decision to immediately come up with a plan to do a major renovation to the building next to the care facility to achieve this goal, as well as upgrading the building. This means the apartments need to be empty, as we will attend to the plumbing, electrical, windows, kitchens and bathrooms. We cannot do this work unless the building is unoccupied as the walls, both inside and out, need to be opened up. We can then concurrently deal with sealing the suites from each other. From this point on we will not be taking any more tenants into this building, and will start the process of emptying the suites. This does not mean we will evict all the tenants, but instead will try to move as many as possible to the other two Harrison Drive buildings, possibly to the Manor, or we will try to find some other solution. I will assume all of you will support this course of action and will not be creating obstacles for this plan.

   Another unpleasant surprise was losing a lot of parking spaces at the Manor. We tried to somehow get them back, but as they were not even on our land not much was accomplished. We have not given up, though, and there may still be a solution coming.

   Finnish Manor has been operating all these past decades, and has met the expectations placed on it. Now however the buildings are not as functional as they used to be, are a bit small for today’s expectations, and are gradually losing the Finnish community component. The time has come to look at selling the operation, taking the financial proceeds and using them for building both in Coquitlam and Harrison Drive. We have interested parties wanting to explore purchasing the site, all that is missing is the membership’s agreement to do so. This prospective sale is a complex undertaking, and the board cannot proceed in making it happen without your approval.  You will have the opportunity at this AGM to discuss the matter, and make a decision on proceeding.  In my opinion the best way to move forward is for the board to get the authority to enter into talks with prospective buyers, and make the best deal possible with the condition that it is not binding until the membership agrees to the sale in a special meeting. The contract will include many conditions, the most important one being that not a single one of our community’s residents is to be moved until we do so, either to Harrison, or a new facility.

   The world’s economies and finances are a complete mess. This situation has had an effect on the association’s savings and investments, partially in a bad way, but the total is still positive.  We have been fortunate in being on a strong financial base due to the wisdom of previous boards and all the folks who set safe guidelines and restrictions on our investments. At this time I also want to recognize the very large estate contributions made by some individuals. I have often thought how these folks have been completely unselfish in their generosity, and have magnanimously gifted the association, and by extension all of our community with substantial funds to further our long term common goals.

   At the spring festival I mentioned that we have been looking backward over the past decades, and have celebrated our successes in many ways. I also stated that the board has spent hundreds of hours making plans for the future. I will try to present the current status of those plans. In January three members of the board had a meeting with the Planning department at the City of Coquitlam, and conveyed our wish to start development and building plans for Johnson Street.  This was the first meeting for many years, and the city officials were happy to see us, as they were wondering if anything was to happen on this site that we have owned since 1967. One of our goals was to get a feel for the City’s reaction to our proposed plans for the site, said plans not being on paper, but in the head of this writer. I described these with words, and the response was positive, but naturally the City wants more detail. We left the meeting with the understanding we would go back when we had refined a plan, and had something to show on paper. 

    In order to move the agenda forward, and get a clearer picture of what had been only thoughts and words so far, I drew concept plans for the entire site. The board participated in this process, as I developed the proposed site plans as well as building plans. This phase took three months of work. The next step is to choose an architectural firm to take my concept plans, and turn them into development plans that we can present to the membership. Based on these more refined plans we can then get to the individual building level, and develop budgets. After this is done, we will be holding information sessions to show all of the projects, after which we will call for an extraordinary meeting to get approval for the project to move forward. At present three different architectural firms have done a site visit, have the concept plans, have given budgets for doing the drawings, and done presentations to the board. We are asking for some additional information from each firm, will go over it, and then make a decision on which firm we will choose.  The critical part of this process is that without hiring architects we will not be able to get to the next stage of being able to put a real action plan to the membership for their consideration, discussion and decision. If that decision is positive, we then are ready to go back to the City of Coquitlam with the drawings for their input.
 

    One of the reasons for moving forward as quickly as possible is the fact that for the first time in may years building costs are significantly coming down. If the decision is to go forward, the earliest we would have field work started is more than a year away. We want to take advantage of the ‘recession’ pricing if we can.  The second compelling reason for proceeding is the historically lowest mortgage rates available now. We have been talking about building for years, and now we have very favorable conditions for doing so.

   I will restate the position of the board for our future plans, and our vision. Many times we have identified the Harrison Drive care facility as our anchor, and it will continue to operate into the future.  The apartment building next to it will be undergoing a major renovation and upgrading. The recurring bed bug infestations are stressing our tenants, our employees, and finances. When this building has been attended to, we can better control the bugs, and deal with the attendant issues. The other two apartment buildings will be maintained and repaired on an ‘as needed’ basis. When the first building has been renovated and the tenants have moved in, we will re assess the remaining two and make a decision on what to do with them.

  We need to look into selling the Manor for a number of reasons. Firstly we are slowly losing our Finnish residents from the care side. Secondly we know that an older building such as the Manor will not be meeting the operational requirements for too many years, hence we would have to shut it down in any case. Thirdly the apartments are smallish, and do not reflect today’s expectations. In other words we would need to redevelop the entire site, but the better plan is to sell the site, and use the proceeds for the benefit of Coquitlam and Harrison Drive.

   The concept plans for the Johnson Street site in Coquitlam include a care facility, multi story apartment buildings, and self-owned apartments. The latter would be sold on something like a Life Lease principle, meaning the association sells them, and only the association buys them back. In other words there would be no market housing on the site, the association would own and control the site.  For the care facility we may want to consider an outside operator, but with predetermined terms and conditions. Some of these would include representation from us on the governing board, and reserved beds for our exclusive use.

   The above represents only a small portion of what has been going on this past year, there are many other issues, both easy and difficult, that we have grappled with. The last six months have been very demanding for the board. We have had to hold numerous extra meetings, workshops and get togethers. When a particular situation has become difficult, I have mandated that each board member has to be present. For folks who are serving as volunteers this is not a good thing. At this time I want to express my gratitude for the fact that everyone has stepped up to the challenge, hence we have been able to solve the issues as they’ve come. 

   The second last item I wish to bring to your attention is how the association can help the board, and itself. Up to present a lot of the business that comes in front of the board just ‘appears’, and is not looked at, investigated, or in any way prepared so the board could make an informed decision based on predetermined facts. In these situations a huge effort is required by each board member to understand the issue and its ramifications, and as I have mentioned before is overly demanding for volunteers. I know we have so far managed with strictly volunteer effort, but based on the last nine years experience the increasingly complex and demanding issues, we are of the opinion the board needs additional help. I don’t even want to think about how many times I’ve taken a call on the road, and have had to drop whatever I was doing, and immediately start attending to the association’s business. In most cases I then have had to involve other board members as well in order to get a resolution. This has been how we have operated in these ‘normal’ times, and once we get going on any major renovation and building plans the time and energy demands for the board will become impossible. We need help with everything that requires research, consultation, planning and options for a critical path to our goals. These are the reasons why the board has decided to hire an Executive Director. This position will be extremely challenging, and will come with a salary. If we do not hire someone to do the work, everything we have started will slow down, or come to a complete stop.

   Lastly I want apologize for the length of this report, even though I really have only covered the essential items, and have left out many lesser ones. I am hoping that you, the reader, now have a better picture of the association’s current operations and future plans. I want to thank you all for the past nine years, and your support and trust. I am proud having served so long. It is my wish that each member now knows that the time for building anew is here; we have waited a long time for this. Seize the opportunity!

     Jari Vuorensivu