MINUTES

2009 MARKHAM CANADA DAY COMMITTEE

2009-5-04

Meeting No. 5

__________________________________________________________

 

Attendance

 

Members

Jaswant Dhanjal

Deirdre Kavanagh

Adam Poon

Mitch Reiss

Willie Reiss

 

Council

Councillor Alex Chiu

Staff

Wendy Lucas, Assistant to Councillor Moretti

Steve Matunin, Supervisor, Operations

Joanne Olson, Special Events Coordinator and

   Assistant to Councillor Kanapathi

Cynthia Taylor-Huff, Assistant to Councillor Chiu

Matt Vetere, Financial Analyst

Bob Walter, Operations

Bev Shugg Barbeito, Committee Secretary

 

 

Regrets

Jeanne Bowman

Samuel Carr

Javaid Khan

Chuan Li

Todd Bailey, Operations (Milne)

Rob Hincks, Operations

Anna Rose, Corporate Communications

Councillor Logan Kanapathi

Councillor Carolina Moretti

 

The fifth meeting of the 2009 Markham Canada Day Committee convened at 6:09 p.m. with Councillor Alex Chiu in the Chair.

1.      WELCOME

Councillor Alex Chiu reported that Committee member Jeanne Bowman has injured her leg and will be unable to attend future meetings. He also welcomed new member Deirdre Kavanagh to the committee.

 

 

2.      ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 23, 2009 MEETING

 

THE MARKHAM CANADA DAY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:

 

That the minutes of the Markham Canada Day Committee meeting held on February 23, 2009, be adopted with the following change in italics:

 

a)    Canada Day Shirts

White golf shirts will be ordered for Committee members; volunteers will receive white

T-shirts. Red shirts will be available for sale to the public at the Information Booth.

 

CARRIED

 

3.      2009 BUDGET

Matt Vetere reported that there have been no changes to the Canada Day 2009 Preliminary Budget since the last report.

 

4.      PLANNING FOR CANADA DAY 2009

 

a)      Timelines

It was agreed that all Committee members will prepare timelines for their role in Canada Day events, and bring these timelines to the next meeting.

 

b)     Preview to Canada Day (Media Launch)

Cynthia Taylor-Huff reported that plans for this event are well in hand. It will take place at Markville Mall on Saturday June 13th from 1:00 – 2:00 PM. Volunteers will be needed to distribute postcards advertising Canada Day events. Cynthia Taylor-Huff will send an email to Committee members to remind them of the event details.

 

c)     Preview to Canada Day (Town BBQ)

Cynthia Taylor-Huff reported that plans for this event are underway. This event will be held at the Markham Civic Centre on Tuesday June 23 from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM. For $5.00, staff will be offered their choice of one of hamburger, veggie burger, chicken or sausage with potato salad and drink. Committee members are welcome to attend; if they do, it would be appreciated if they would wear their Committee shirts. A cake for the event will be covered by the Canada Day budget. Cynthia Taylor-Huff will contact Enbridge Gas about the possibility of renting a BBQ.

 

d)     Advertising/Posters/Invitations

            Wendy Lucas advised that the Canada Day posters, postcards, and invitations have been updated and are ready to be printed, pending a decision relating to including media sponsor information.

 

e)     Mayor’s Seniors Luncheon

Cynthia Taylor-Huff reported that Le Parc hotel has been confirmed as the location of the Mayor’s Senior Luncheon. The lunch takes place at 12:15 PM on Canada Day.

 

 

f)        Parade

A report was not available.  Jaswant Dhanjal will contact Javaid Khan to determine progress and what remains to be planned. Joanne Olson will contact Mercedes Benz about the possibility of the company sponsoring a vehicle for the parade. Bob Walter will confirm the number of flatbeds available as floats for the parade.

 

g)      Food Vendors

Adam Poon distributed and reviewed the proposal “Canada Day – Celebration with Good Food”. He felt this would be a good opportunity to show off ethnic foods. After much discussion, it was recommended that Adam Poon should further develop the proposal and re-submit it for consideration for planning of 2010 Canada Day events.

 

Joanne Olson reported that only three food vendors have been confirmed. She will forward a Food Vendor contract to Adam Poon, and encourage Samuel Carr to contact him so they might increase the number of Food Vendors participating on Canada Day.

 

h)      Entertainment

Mitch Reiss reported that he is still interested in securing community groups to be part of the entertainment line-up and asked Committee members to forward the names/contact information of any such groups to him. He has been in contact with the Mayor’s Youth Task Force and plans for a Markham Idol type of entertainment are possible. A final schedule of the entertainment will be presented at the next meeting.

 

i)      Media Participation

Willie Reiss distributed and reviewed a proposal “Media Sponsorship Overview”, a draft of media information to be integrated with photos of last year’s events. He hopes to distribute the media package to potential media sponsors within a short time to attract at least one traditional and one ethnic sponsor in each of TV, radio and newspaper media. To assist with these efforts, he asked Committee members to forward to him the names/contact information of any such local media they are connected with. It was hoped that the names of any media sponsors would be included on promotional posters, post cards et al, but this will have to be authorized by Corporate Communication.

 

j)        Volunteers

Joanne Olson reported that she is working on confirming volunteers for the Children’s Activities, Mayor’s Seniors Luncheon and other Canada Day events. Deirdre Kavanagh offered to send Joanne Olson a list of potential volunteers.

 

k)      Children’s Activities

On Canada Day, Deirdre Kavanagh will manage the Children’s Activities with assistance from Chuan Li, since Jeanne Bowman’s injury will prevent her from attending. The decision has been made to not proceed with plans to include a Jumping Castle in the list of activities.

 

l)        Signage

Bob Walter will locate the existing signs for the Mayor’s Senior Luncheon. Committee members were again reminded to provide as much notice as possible for any new signs that are needed.

 

5.            OTHER BUSINESS

 

a)    Fireworks

An email relating to coordinating the music and fireworks has been received from Perry Chan; Wendy Lucas will forward it to Steve Matunin for action.

 

b)    Transit

Joanne Olson will be ordering the same number of buses as last year.

 

 

6.            DATE FOR NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Markham Canada Day Committee is scheduled for Monday, May 25, 2009 at 6:00 PM in the York Room at the Markham Civic Centre.

 

Committee members were asked to email regrets to either Wendy Lucas or Councillor Moretti if they are unable to attend a meeting.

 

 

7.      ADJOURNMENT

The fifth meeting of the 2009 Markham Canada Day Committee adjourned at 7:45 PM.