Whiteoaks Park Tennis Club
Annual General Meeting Minutes
Zoom meeting
November 16, 2020
7:00 – 9:00 pm
AGM Attendee List (46 members):
| Absalon Figueroa | Craig Finlayson | Huai Fu | Mark Feng | Tony Lin |
| Arthur Searles | Dave Ferguson | Huibing Xiong | Maurice Lee | Vincent Filteau |
| Amy Yee | David Steger | Ivan Jimenez | Natalia Sasyk | Vincent Nan |
| Bibi Popovic | Dragan Popovic | Joe Smirlies | Norma Peckover | Wei Zhang |
| Bob Tilarso | dragutin pintaric | John Pakrul | Robert Donald | Xiaofeng Peng |
| Carol Pyke | Erika Babayan | Julia Litvinenko | Shelley Li | Yoko Kodaira |
| Carol Salisbury | Frank Zhao | Kelly Martin | Stephanie Hansuld | |
| Carol Ann Burgmann | Frank Yee | Le Yin | Steve Wykurz | |
| Catalina Mejia | Ginger Pakrul | lily zhou | Sue Adorjan | |
| Christine Svoboda | Henry Xi | Lynn Bryans | tarique khan |
A quorum of 25 participants was met.
Call to order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:15pm. Ivan Jimenez (President) thanked volunteers members who joined the meeting. Ivan introduced the agenda.
Approval of last year’s AGM:
Last year’s AGM minute has been posted online. There was no question. Ivan asked members to vote for approval on Zoom. 94% approved and 6% abstained. Carol Ann moved the motion to approve last year’s minute and Sue Adorjan seconded.
President’s Report – Ivan Jimenez:
Ivan had sent the report to the members twice in advance of the meeting. He recapped the highlights of this year’s events.
The 2020 season was an eventful one for a variety of reasons as a result of Covid-19. We had many challenges and at one point we didn’t know if the city would allow the club to open. Fortunately during the month of May, Covid-19 cases decreased and we were able to open on June 1st, 2020. As a result of the late opening, membership fees were pro-rated. This season we had a strong membership and our financials showed positive results with a net saving of over $25,000. In 2021, we plan to work on the reconstruction of courts 1 to 3 and the hitting wall, as recommended by the city inspector. The city is covering 50% of the cost and the club will cover the other 50% of court reconstruction. City will cover 100% of the hitting wall floor reconstruction. This will be a capital intensive project for the club. The City included this project in its budget and it is schedule for the fall of 2021. Court 6-8 is estimated to be resurfaced in 2022 season.
During this season, we made the following improvements:
- Added an Online Court Booking System in order to minimize social gatherings for COVID-19 measure. As it was received well by most members, we will continue next year.
- Implemented a point of sale device for members to buy tennis balls and over grips conveniently using Credit and Debit cards. As a result we have gotten rid of petty cash eliminating any risk of theft or misplacing cash.
- Implemented a new ladder program.
- Increased court attendant hours with an emphasis on the regular cleaning of washrooms, the main gate and clubhouse door knobs.
- Enhanced Whiteoaks google search, website load speed and invested in google search marketing which enabled us to do targeted google advertising whereby we targeted Mississauga residents to serve more members of our community and also to meet our 80% target for members to be Mississauga residents. As a result we achieved 82% of Mississauga residents rate of our membership.
- We saved a significant amount of money by moving our insurance coverage with the Ontario Tennis Association (OTA) sponsored insurance provider. The club was able to keep the same insurance coverage as previous years at a much lower premium as a result of OTA group discounts.
- The board is happy to inform that the President/ Vice President and board members have established healthy working relationships with our partners such as city of Mississauga, Fob security system provider, Webhosting service provider, Club registration system provider etc. This was a lot of work given the board was new and a lot of things had to be figured out and simplified. Congratulations to the board for a job very well done.
Membership
- We added a report to our membership program that tracks Mississauga residents to ensure we meet the City of Mississauga residency requirement of at least 80%.
- Our 2020 membership increased from 846 members in 2019 to 1,096 members in 2020 or 250 more members. This represents a 29.6% increase compared to 2019.
| Adult | Juniors | Total | Perc of Juniors | Mississauga Residency Perc | |
| 2020 | 797 | 299 | 1,096 | 27.3% | 82.3% |
| 2019 | 669 | 177 | 846 | 20.9% | 78.3% |
| 2018 | 723 | 191 | 914 | 20.9% | 76.6% |
| 2017 | 672 | 195 | 867 | 22.5% | 80.3% |
Financials
Compared to last year, our Total Income decreased slightly but we were able to keep costs down. As a result, we recorded a Net Saving of over $25,000. We expect our cash reserves to decrease significantly in the upcoming years as a result of the costs associated with court resurfacing and reconstructing of our three tennis courts and the hitting wall.
| Total Income | Total Disbursements | Net Savings | Cash Reserves | |
| 2020 | 63,985 | 38,812 | 25,173 | 152,311 |
| 2019 | 64,754 | 52,356 | 12,398 | 127,138 |
| 2018 | 62,681 | 39,870 | 22,810 | 111,752 |
| 2017 | 54,869 | 42,883 | 11,986 | 88,942 |
Club Programs
This year, a new Ladder program was run. The ladder had 91 participants and 424 matches were played during the season. Congratulations to Farhan Ali for finishing first place in the ladder and thank you to everyone who participated.
Due to Covid-19, the club did not run round robins, social events, leagues or tournaments.
Past Club Champions – we updated all club tournament champions’ plaques from 2012 to 2019 and our website was updated to include all club champions as far back as 1978.
Tennis Lessons – We are happy that Attila Nagy continues to be our Head Tennis Pro and he will be with us again next year. Attila brings with him excellent tennis knowledge, experience and teaching ability. He provides a wide variety of lessons and clinics that our members enjoyed. This year Attila did a wonderful job accommodating as many lessons as possible and we look forward to seeing him again next year.
Facilities Update
- Purchased a backup portable leaf blower / vacuum
- New Office desk donated by Arthur Searles
- New ceiling fan with lights
- Replaced defective bathroom light switches
- Replaced main door entrance Perimeter lamp
- New Tennis net
- New windscreens
- Replaced broken flower boxes
- Bought 3 new umbrellas
- Fixed tennis courts light post
- The City inspector inspected our tennis courts and recommended courts 1 to 3 to be reconstructed and the hitting wall to be resurfaced.
Communications
We made significant improvements to the club’s google search and to our website load speed.
Newsletters and various emails were sent to keep members updated during the season and our website “latest news section” was updated accordingly.
Club Court Attendants
This season we had the following part time court attendants:
- Ginger Pakrul
- Dan Babliuc
- Renee Balila
- Connie Luo
- Tia Bigos
Everyone did an excellent job keeping the Clubhouse and tennis courts clean and well maintained as well as greeting our members upon entry and verifying their court bookings when they arrived at the club.
Court attendant hours were increased in order to ensure washrooms and touch points were as clean as possible to minimize Covid-19 exposures.
Poll results
Member’s satisfaction
| Very Satisfied | 48.3% |
| Satisfied | 37.5% |
| Somewhat Satisfied | 5.8% |
| Dissatisfied | 4.2% |
| Very Dissatisfied | 4.2% |
Members planning to return in 2021
| Yes | 93.3% |
| No | 6.7% |
Online Court Booking Satisfaction
| Very Satisfied | 51.7% |
| Satisfied | 31.7% |
| Somewhat Satisfied | 6.7% |
| Dissatisfied | 4.2% |
| Very Dissatisfied | 5.8% |
Members who want the online court booking again next year
| Yes | 87.5% |
| No | 12.5% |
Vote on By-Law changes
The city issued a document dated Aug. 13, 2019 regarding new “Community Group Registry Program Policy (08-01-01)”. Numerous changes are required by all tennis clubs which operate under the City of Mississauga umbrella. Only two By-laws are minimally affected.
The required amendment to the By-laws could not be implemented at the 2019 AGM and the City approved postponing the amendment to the 2020 AGM.
- Voting Rights (City requires the change)
CURRENT By-law
#19 MEMEBERSHIP
… Each member in good standing shall be entitled to one vote on each question arising at any special or general meeting of the members
Amendment:
#19 MEMBERSHIP
Each “Senior” member in good standing shall be entitled to one vote on each question arising at any special or general meeting of the members
CURRENT By-law
#25 VOTING OF MEMBERS. Subject to the provisions, if any, contained in the Letters Patent of the Corporation, each member of the Corporation shall at all meetings of members be entitled to one vote.
Amendment:
#25 VOTING OF MEMBERS. Subject to the provisions, if any, contained in the Letters Patent of the Corporation, each “Senior” member of the Corporation shall at all meetings of members be entitled to one vote.
Note: A Senior member is defined as a person who is 18 years and older.
- By-Law change, since we are in an electronic age.
#21 ANNUAL AND OTHER MEETINGS OF MEMBERS
Current text:
…No public notice nor advertisement of members’ meetings, annual or general, shall be required, but notice of the time and place of every such meeting shall be given to each member by sending the notice by prepaid mail not less than ten days before the time fixed for the holding of such meeting
Amendment:
No public notice nor advertisement of members’ meetings, annual or general, shall be required, but notice of the time and place of every such meeting shall be given to each member by sending the notice by electronic means and posting to the club’s website , not less than ten days before the time fixed for the holding of such meeting
#29 NOTICE.
Current text
“ … such notice may be given either personally or by depositing same in a post office or a public letter-box in a prepaid, sealed wrapper addressed to the director, officer or member at his or their address as the same appears on the books of the Corporation”
Amendment :
“ … such notice may be given either electronically or personally depositing same in a post office or a public letter-box in a prepaid, sealed wrapper addressed to the director, officer or member at his or their address (physical or electonic) as the same appears on the books of the Corporation.
Ivan asked members to vote for by-law amendment approval.
- 94% of members approved By-law amendment of articles #19 and 25
- 97% of members approved By-law amendment of articles #21 and 29
Financial Report – Tarique Khan:
Accounting Method and Controls:
Whiteoaks Park Tennis Club follows cash method of accounting. Revenues and Expenses are booked as cash payments are received or paid. Whiteoaks accepts payments in the form of online payments, cheques and debit/credit card payments via Square. Whiteoaks makes payments through cheques signed by two authorised signatories. As of this year Whiteoaks in not dealing in any physical cash.
Club Reserves:
The surplus at the beginning of the year was $127k. Revenue of $64k for the year was offset by cash disbursements of $39k leaving cash resources of $152k – an increase of 25k.
Revenues:
Overall expenses were down this year by $13,544 as we did not have the security system cost that was incurred last year and the social events expenses were eliminated. The expenses went up in the area of webhosting and software as we streamlined our webhosting services and introduced new digital enhancements.
Membership and fob sales revenue decreased $687 or by less than 1% from the prior year and accounted for ~90% of total revenue. This is great news for the club as we had discounted this year’s membership fee by 25% or more due to covid but that also resulted in higher number of members offsetting most of revenue loss. This year Lesson income of $3,500 represents a new and simplified arrangement with our coach Atilla Nagy. Interest income was earned from our Mutual Fund and GIC investments. Ball sales revenue of $2,280 is for the ball cans sales to members through a new digital payment system that accepts both debit and credit cards.
Expenses:
Contracted supervision is up by $2,505 as we increased the supervision hours due to covid. This year we had a roaster of club attendants including Ginger Pakrul, Tia Bigos, Connie Luo, Renee Balila and Dan Babliuc. The attendands did an amazing job this year. In terms of major equipment spending this year we had flower boxes ($2,250), new nets and screens ($1,594), Umbrellas ($678), leaf blower (343$), ceiling fan ($123) and square dongle ($69) for accepting debit/credit cards. Most of these investments will benefit the members in future years but the leaf blower and square dongle were well used this year.
Key fobs cost the club $2,763 for 300 fobs we bought this year due to higher membership demand.
Utilities are charged to the club by the City. This seasons bill is still awaited from the city
Some of the payments from last year’s season were made this year. These payments included final payments to Atilla for lessons and OTA membership fee for last year ($2,100). This year OTA charges us half the fee due to covid ($1,050).
Whiteoaks Tennis Club board rents rooms, for board meetings, from city community centres at no cost to the club. Whiteoaks Club has not received any grants or any indirect financial support from the city
A couple of things in terms of maintaining control – one of the things is getting rid of petty cash. There is no cash sitting in the club. The new system accepts debit card and credit card, and it worked well. Another thing is we simplified the contract with our head coach Attila. It removed the complexity, which helped managing the cash flow. Next year, the court reconstruction of courts 1-3 will affect our financial spot. We can afford this, but next year we will have to make sure we will stay positive and our revenues continue to exceed our expenses in order to rebuild reserve for future maintenances.
- Board member /candidates introduction and election
Nomination form was sent to all the members prior to the AGM and members who were interested in joining the executive board of WOTC were requested to submit by November 11th. Following are the nominations received:
| Nominee | Nominated by | Seconded by | Submitted on |
| Absalon Figueroa | Ivan Jimenez | Carol Ann Burgmann | October 29, 2020 |
| Arthur Searles | Tarique Khan | Sue Adorjan | November 1, 2020 |
| Carol Ann Burgmann | Lynn Bryans | Chris Svoboda | October 21, 2020 |
| David Steger | Tarique Khan | Ivan Jimenez | November 2, 2020 |
| Ivan Jimenez | Natalia Sasyk | Carol Ann Burgmann | October 31, 2020 |
| Robert C Donald | Sue Adorjan | Carol Ann Burgmann | October 20, 2020 |
| Shelley Li | Tarique Khan | Sue Adorjan | November 1, 2020 |
| Sue Adorjan | Tarique Khan | Lily Zhou | November 1, 2020 |
| Tarique Khan | Ivan Jimenez | Carol Ann Burgmann | November 1, 2020 |
| Yoko Kodaira | Tarique Khan | Ivan Jimenez | November 1, 2020 |
Votes were casted anonymously by AGM participants through Zoom voting function.
Voting Results:
| Nominee | Results |
| Absalon Figueroa | 90% |
| Arthur Searles | 75% |
| Carol Ann Burgmann | 85% |
| David Steger | 80% |
| Ivan Jimenez | 100% |
| Robert C Donald | 75% |
| Shelley Li | 88% |
| Sue Adorjan | 95% |
| Tarique Khan | 100% |
| Yoko Kodaira | 88% |
All the nominees have been elected for 2021 Executive Board members of WOTC.
Questions and Answers:
Q: Does WOTC consider adding new courts? (by Xiaofeng Peng)
A: We need city approval and it is a long process. City needs to send notice to the neighborhood and they must be approved by them. Currently we are focusing on maintenance of the existing courts.
Q: Are there any plans to increase parking lots? (by Julia Litvinenko)
A: We haven’t heard anything from the city. In the past, we asked city but it didn’t happen. We will ask the city again. This year, we had less issues as there was no event. Yet, we will ask the city again.
Q: Why we don’t have utility fee? What are the entertainment fee and legal fee? (by Shelley Li)
A: We haven’t received the bill from the city yet. It will be reflected to next FY. In terms of legal fee, we received some legal advice from layers to make sure privacy data was protected. Entertainment fee is related to volunteers during opening days, closing days, and board meetings. FY closes on September 30th and some of the expense was carried over from the previous year.
Suggestion from Sue Adorjan. We encourage members to check the website regularly as we have to follow the city guideline under the COVID-19 circumstances. Ivan will be updating the info online and members can see what’s coming in the next season.
Q: Is it possible to organize WhatsApp group including all the members? (by Shelley Li)
A: Sue Adorjan suggested the messages will be in overwhelming volume. We can use Facebook. Natalia Sasyk suggested Instasgram instead. Sue Adorjan suggested that we can emphasize the player info during registration to help new members to find hitting partners.
Q: Can you ask the city about lighting of parking lot? (by Arthur Searles)
A: Ivan will check with the city. Sue Adorjan – We checked with the city last year and they set a timer to turn on the park light at 11PM. It was resolved last year.
Q: Can you talk about closing date by city? (by Shelley Li)
A: Ivan confirmed the closing date required by the city is November 30. For opening, we can open as early as March 15th. Sue Adorjan added that we need to take down the nets before the snow for safety reasons and to keep nets from damages.
Adjournment
Sue Adorjan moved the motion to adjourn the meeting, Carol Ann Burgman seconded it. Motion was carried. Meeting was adjourned at 8:21PM.
