A note by Sheri, on behalf of the Board
DECA Board – who’s coming, who’s going
Many of you joined us at Relish last Monday to celebrate this year’s many accomplishments, to elect our new Board, and to pass a motion on a new governance document known as DECA’s “Constitution”. Here are the highlights of that night, for those of you who missed it:
2013 Board, including three brand new members:
Anita Schretlen – Chair
Alison McMurray – Secretary
Lorraine Cheng – Treasurer
Paul Haines – Membership Manager
Catherine Porter
Natasha Granatstein
Melissa Peretti
Shelley Darling
Sheri Hebdon
Stephen Wickens
Tak Bui
Susan Bates
Anne Howatt (new)
Darcy Fedorchuk (new)
Jane Davis-Munro (new)
It was with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to the following departing Board members, who have decided to take their energies on to other projects:
- Sarah Kiriliuk was DECA’s PR person for the last few years, who also forged DECA’s relationship with the Danforth Mosiac BIA. We will miss her honesty and twittering! (She may still twitter, or tweet, or whatever you call it, and we may still call on her for a press release now and again, whether she realizes that or not!)
- Mary Cowan has been known to say that she “helps out with the Arts Fair”, but truth be told, Mary started the Arts Fair and has successfully run it for the past four years. The best way to describe Mary’s monumental contribution to this beloved event is to say that when they divided Mary’s work among the amazing team of Arts Fair volunteers, it took six people to fill the void left by her absence. We are so grateful that she has generously agreed to consult as needed.
- Angela Matich stepped off the Board part way through last year, but her savvy advice has helped to establish our DECA ‘brand’. She continues to help with the Business Revitalization Team, and she runs the DECA website.
- Tara Shelton was appointed mid-year to replace Angela, and made her mark in that short time. As a committed volunteer on the Renew East Danforth team, also gave existing businesses a boost when she co-organized the first ever DECA pub crawl.
Thank you all so much, and remember that Board meetings are open to all members so we’ll hope to see you whenever you are able to come!
We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the many, many years that Natasha Granatstein acted as Chair of DECA, and the keeper of our main communique, decadiaries. Natasha stepped down as Co-Chair part way through last year, and retired her master-blogger hat over the summer. We are so glad that she is able to focus her efforts on the projects most near and dear to her, and you will be too when you are shopping in December at one of the multiple pop-up shops that Natasha has been instrumental in setting up.
Last but not least, thank you to Anita. Anita got a little bit more than she bargained for last year when she went from Co-Chair to Chair in the flash of an eye, but she has risen to the occasion exquisitely. DECA is very lucky to have this lady at the helm!
New Constitution
On November 12, the DECA membership approved a new governing document titled “Constitution”. This document is meant to replace the previous documents, which were titled “Charter” and “Bylaws”. The rationale for the change was to improve clarity and transparency, and for ease of reference. Our original documents were drawn up before anyone knew what DECA was really going to be. Now we know who we are, and we think we will benefit from a governing document that reflects this!In order to make sure that DECA members have a chance to review the Constitution before it comes into effect, we’re posting it for a review period of 21 days, as per the rules of our current “Charter”. Here is where you will find all of the documents for review: http://danfortheastcommunityassociation.com/aboutus/
If you are a DECA member and have any concerns about the new Constitution, please provide them in writing to this email address by no later than December 14, 2012.
(By the way, to be a DECA member you need to be up to date with your fees. Did you pay your $10 this year? If not, you can pay online on our website through this link: http://danfortheastcommunityassociation.com/membership/)
