The Bridge River Valley Community Association Board of Directors met on December 7. The meeting was positive and constructive and filled with good will, good questions and some good laughs.
The Board was so very pleased to approve the addition of a new committee, the Marshall Valley Community Association. The Marshall Lake group had long had an informal group but needed some official status to undertake a variety of projects and decided that the umbrella model of BRVCA with its shared bookkeeping, insurance and other costs would work the best for them. They will soon have a web page on the BRVCA website and their Terms of Reference will be linked to it.
Based on the challenges BRVCA has been undergoing since September 2019 with certain parties creating information about the BRVCA finances that is not based on any factual information, the Board of Directors committed $4,200 to do a Review Engagement set of financial statements for the 19/20 year. The Board will ask the accountant to move as quickly as possible to produce this Review Engagement in order to ensure our members and community understand the BRVCA finances are open and above board.
What is a review engagement? Most societies in the Bridge River Valley either do not use an accountant to prepare their financial statements or they have their statements prepared to a Notice to Reader level (a basic compilation). By completing a review engagement of our financial statements, the accountant will perform more analytical tasks and will provide a statement of assurance there are not misstatements in the financial statements. This is not an audit (which might cost BRVCA $10,000) but will provide a moderate level of assurance on the accuracy of our financial statements. In taking this step, our Board is applying good governance by addressing the risk associated by the ongoing inaccurate statements being made in the community.
The BRVCA Board determined after a reasonable analysis that it is impossible to move forward with planning Winterfest in February 2021. There are just too many variables and possible outcomes, related to COVID19 and restrictions, to invest the time and money planning the event. With regret, and with full intent to come back bigger and better in 2021, the board voted to cancel this year’s event.
Finally, the BRVCA board endorsed in principle the development of a Respect in the BRV program. Last year we all experienced the uptick in visitors sometimes with not good outcomes. The board will work on a response for the expected greater second wave of similar visitation next year, combining education initiatives for visitors as well as encouraging the use of our businesses in the Valley. First step is to get a workplan and costing in place in order to get needed funding to implement the program.
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in these difficult times. It will be different and we hope everyone will find ways to celebrate the joys of the season.
