[GREN-Exec] [All] OGA donation distribution

[Susan Bryant]

I can do Sun, Mon or Wed too.

Susan B

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 17, 2020, at 11:52 PM, Susan Koswan <susankoswan at execulink.com<mailto:susankoswan at execulink.com>> wrote:


Again, my apologies Kevin.

I could make Sun, Mon or Wed work.

Susan K

On 12/17/2020 6:26 PM, Kevin Thomason wrote:
Hi GREN Exec,

Thanks for reaching out though I think that your e-mail went to the entire membership list and not just the Executive.  I would agree that we should talk things through and make sure that everyone is on the same page and there aren’t any questions regarding the OGA funding though having dozens of people on a call could be challenging.

I would have liked to have more time along the way to keep the Executive and the GREN membership more in the loop however with the insanity of my house build, the pandemic, young toddlers, etc. any time that I had just went to trying to keep up with the other OGA groups and what needed to be done.

We had talked about hiring someone to do all the work for this Greenbelt Foundation/OGA funding and in the end I was the one who ended up doing most of work over the past 9 months - including likely about 40 hours over the past three weeks alone and another three hours today spent on Zoom calls with the OGA Steering Committee and editing documents on tight deadlines.  This certainly wasn’t a donation from the OGA - it was compensation to local groups for Greenbelt activities/outreach and in this case it has been myself doing almost all of the work required.

I have tried to provide a Southern Ontario presence at the provincial level as well as some outreach in our part of the province and it has been insane trying to keep up with everything - particularly as things such as Bill 229 just added to the onslaught.

GREN likely wouldn’t have the grant if it wasn’t for my years of efforts at a provincial level and all the time that I have put into it this past year and splitting the $10,000 funding with GREN will provide funds to put towards the GREN website or whatever the group wants however if me getting any portion of the funds causes an issue I will simply forgo any portion of it.

As John and I discussed the other day it has been great to see GREN activities on many fronts recently been it in the media, at standing committees, working with politicians, or other groups.  It is great to see GREN getting the respect and acknowledgement along with the impact we can have.

Some times that could work for me to discuss things over a Zoom call would include:

Friday, Dec 18th 6:30pm
Sun, Dec 20th 7pm
Mon, Dec 21st 1pm or 7:30pm
Wed, Dec 23rd 2:30pm

Or feel free to suggest any other times that might work better for folks.

Stay safe in the meantime.

Cheers,
Kevin.

-------------------------------------

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com<mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>

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On Dec 17, 2020, at 3:04 PM, Susan Koswan <susankoswan at execulink.com<mailto:susankoswan at execulink.com>> wrote:


Hi Kevin,
Can you let us know when you are available for a Zoom meeting to follow up on your email about the distribution of the OGA money? We want to ensure that the best interests and integrity of GREN are maintained and have a few concerns:
GREN has never compensated members in any way that could be construed as payment for work done. Our policy and practice for our limited funds is to assist small, local citizen groups, initiatives and events, often when unexpected expenses arose. As well, GREN has been able to reimburse expenses when a member is acting on behalf of GREN. Any reimbursement beyond that is best discussed further.
When we talked about the OGA funding, we agreed that $5000 would be allocated towards building the GREN website and its ongoing costs. For the remainder, there was some discussion about hiring someone to do the work to meet the goals of the OGA funding, but the opportunity to do so was not opened to all GREN members.
Because of this we’re a little concerned about the optics of compensating a GREN executive member without full membership discussion.
We are all grateful for the time and energy you have invested into protecting and extending the Greenbelt, but also want to do best for GREN to make sure we can help financially in our own small way as needed.
Please let us know when you have some time available to meet and Susan K can set up a Zoom meeting.
Thanks,
Greg, John, Susan B, Susan K

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