If you are asking something to the Board because you don’t know: Aside from “self-service” by looking across our “Members Documents”, generally, the Park Office and/or Park Manager is your best and fastest response. Most topics are thoroughly covered across our many governance documents, starting with our Membership Agreement, our ByLaws, and our Rules & Regulations. Some additional questions are often answered by understanding the Policies and procedures of our Association Board, Management and Staff. This website contains as much of that as possible, and as we discover gaps in our online information - perhaps in capturing decisions made during AGMs of long ago, for instance, we then process them to add them digitally to our website under Members Documents. There are even FAQ and Members Topics to try to round out as much available information as possible. We hope this makes the Association, and our park, as understood and as transparent as possible. If you find something missing - please don’t hesitate to make that suggestion!

If you are asking to further understand why a certain rule or restriction is in place: When you have a question about any of this material, your first and best initial point of contact is our Park Manager. The Association hires the Park Manager to handle the day to day of park operations and membership management, and the Park Manager has frequent interactions with the Board and may have more information they can share about “why” something is in place, beyond the “what”. The Park Manager executes their role based on the provided governance documents. As circumstances evolve, sometimes our governance documents need to be updated, or otherwise modified to accommodate new decisions made by the Board, or by the Membership, and these changes can result in quesitions or confusion. Again, the Park Manager is the first point of contact, yet if things need to go to the Board of Directors, a Member can ask that the correspondence - email or paper letter - be brought to the Board’s attention.

When it is best to address the issue to the Board: If after you’ve discussed and understood your concern with the Park Manager, and the Park Manager does not have the jurisdiction to alter the position taken, then you should address the matter to the Board. The Park Manager can certainly explain the “what” and usually also the “why”, but in most cases is not authorized to make fundamental policy decision changes. Depending on the matter itself, and within which document the position in held, any change may be only possible at the Board level, and may even require the Board to take the matter to the membership at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), for instance. This structure is fully intentional and in place to protect both the Association and each and every member.‍ ‍

How to communicate to the Board: Writing a letter and putting it in an envelop explicitly address to the Board of Directors and either dropping it off or sending it to the Park Office, will reach the Board. An email sent to “manager@pigeon.on.ca” and asking for that email to be shared with the Board gives our Park Manager an opportunity to exercise their authority and provide an immediate response. Emails sent only to “board@pigeon.on.ca” or paper letters mailed for the Board attention only will only go to the Board. In contrast, posting on unofficial social media groups is not a path for an official communication to the Board.

When is the matter considered, and how do you get a response: The Board meets approximately monthly, and during that monthly meeting, a standing topic for any Board meeting is “Correspondence”. Any correspondence receive during the period since the last Board meeting is reviewed and discussed, and Board members contribute ideas for the response. The actual response is then formulated after the meeting, and communicated back to the Member sending in the email or letter. This is an important point, because if your issue is something the Park Office or Park Manager can deal with, you will get a much faster response from that one person versus waiting on the entire Board to convene and discuss your matter, and then formulate a response back to you sent on behalf of the entire Board.

Traditionally, this has meant a Member sending in a concern for only the Board to see and answer may wait 6 or 7 or 8 elapsed weeks for a response or even an acknowledgement that their issue has been received before they get a response from the Board Secretary writing on behalf of the Board. As we modernize and embrace more efficient email communications, we are striving to provide much earlier acknowledgement of the correspondence, though the actual consideration and response will still have a time lapse so that the matter can be considered across the entire Board of Directors, unless the item is something of an instant question of what a rule might be, and the expression of the answer, though such routine items should normally be addressed to and handled by the Park Manager.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Q: Should I always send in a letter to the Board?

A: As the Board is a volunteer group, and meets once a month, and if your issue is within the authority of the Park Manager to address, you will get much faster answers to your queries by contacting the Park Manager.

Q: Why does it take so long for a response?

A: The Board meets approximately monthly, and letters to the Board are addressed to the entire Board, so must wait for the entire Board as the audience of the letter to assemble. This is by design as the Board is not one person, and considers matters and makes decisions as a collective.