LPRCA is even asking for donations for once and they could even possibly be looking at promoting their under utilized campgrounds to non-local people! This is a miracle indeed. Is the LPRCA looking to get off their constant suckling at the public teat and actually trying to promote their wonderful campgrounds and properties for the 1st time ever! We know it sounds crazy but it may be possible that the LPRCA get's out of the tree slaughter business and looks to make money in other ways. There are only so many forests that they do own and most have been seriously logged.
Yes folks someday they may have maps of their campgrounds and low and behold more than a few paragraphs about Backus Mill on wikipedia! They may even be able to increase their income from their underutilized campgrounds. Not that they will know it because they can't seem to track that income but at least it's a start. Unfortunately LPRCA has decided not to post their poor financial statements online yet again. They may attempt to hamper our efforts to make this clandestine organization transparent but we are here to get to the bottom of their finanicial woes and make it public for once. After all, it is YOUR money!
They have even posted their strategic plan.
Now that the iron curtain has been opened for a peak we did find some very interesting notes in their meeting minutes.
- Every single meeting has an in-camera session on a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the Conservation Authority.” It's never mentioned again, anywhere - what’s up? After the sale of Backus Woods, let's hope that they are never allowed to sell another piece of property under from under the real owners or it too will be sold for 25% of it's real value.
- The minutes of the AGM held on February 22, 2013 report a “clean” audit.
A copy of the audit we received from the LPRCA disclosed that the audit was “qualified.”
One would not call a qualified audit a clean audit.
As well, from a “clean audit” report in April, we have the Chair of the LPRCA, Roger Geysons,
openly calling for a forensic audit of the LPRCA in the County Council meeting November 2013
- what gives? - The minutes of the meeting held May 2, 2012 had Betty Chenyi reuse herself over a conflict of interest
B. Chanyi declared a conflict relating to Item 9 (b) New Application re: NC-23/12 and
removed herself from the table during discussion.
- is this the Long Point Basin Trust, whom she's also a director? DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST
- The minutes of the meeting held April 3, 2012 notes "The GM will be bringing a report in May detailing the land acquisition partnership proposal with NCC. “
- This implies they plan to use their cash to buy land in partnership with the NCC - again. Let us hope the next deal is better than the last one. The structure of the last deal suggested this might happen. Who controls the land? Who controls the cash? Are they looking at purchasing land with tax payers money and then gifting it to The Nature Conservancy of Canada yet again? We all got screwed on the last deal they did so let's hope this doesn't happen again.
On the new LPRCA website they claim that they own the following :
In 2002, LPRCA designated 1,933 acres or 20 percent of its forested
properties as Natural Heritage Woodlands. The sale of Backus Woods to
the Nature Conservancy of Canada in 2011 reduces the NHW sites to ten
properties (1,145 acres).
| 195 acres |
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|
South Walsingham Sand Ridges (Areas of Concern only) | ||
| 307 acres |
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|
Watson Conservation Area | ||
| 100 acres |
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|
Burwell Tract | ||
| 50 acres |
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|
Carr Tract | ||
| 35 acres |
-
|
Anderson Tract (natural oak forests only) | ||
| 90 acres |
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|
Harvey Tract | ||
| 35 acres |
-
|
Earl/Danylevich Tract (core area only) | ||
| 105 acres |
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|
McKay/Baker/Lipsit/Penner (core area only) | ||
| 78 acres |
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|
Hepburn Tract | ||
| 150 acres |
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|
Harris/ Harris/ Floyd Tract |
Of course it's not clear that they actually do own this or other properties since giving away so much property during the Backus Woods gift to NCC. They will never publicly post the Backus Woods sale / giveaway document because it clearly shows that the sale price was well below market value and included many other properties with it.
The below images have been taken from the LPRCA Annual Reports (2009-2012). In 2012 they decided to drop the 'Acquistion/disposal' column from the report. They certainly can't have the Citizen's who have purchased these properties with their tax money knowing that they are being sold off behind closed doors.
2009 Annual Report
In the 2011 Annual Report, Ron Sackrider, Chairman states :
One of the particular highlights of 2011 was establishing a perpetual fund to support LPRCA’s conservation education programs. This was made possible with the sale of Backus Woods to the Nature Conservancy of Canada for $5.25 million, thanks to the generosity of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation. The majority of the proceeds of the sale were placed into two endowment funds with the interest generated to be used to fund conservation education programs and acquire future properties.
In the 2010 Annual Report it's noted : Ownership of the 85-acre Barrett-Sanderson Tract was transferred to the Nature Conservancy of Canada as per terms of the Backus Woods Management Agreement.
So the 875 Acre Backus Woods sale according to LPRCA, also included these 85 acres for free. What other properties were included for free in this sale?
The Annual Report 2011 clearly shows that 875 acres were lost from their holdings but then what happened to all the rest of the properties that went with it? Hiding those losses from the tax payer are they?
The actual real estate figures show that 3 properties were sold on the Backus Woods transaction in the amount of $5,372,500 for 908 acres. A difference of $112,500. Not surprising that the numbers don't jive. The W. Garfield Weston Foundation claims it paid $6.1-million dollars for Backus Woods! So where did the rest of that money go? LPRCA didn't receive it all so where did the $800,000 extra go?
It appears to us that the Directors of the Board and the GM at LPRCA sold out the very people that have been paying them to manage their properties. As Directors these individuals have a fiduciary duty to the Citizen's of Norfolk County. After reading this post do you believe they did this in YOUR best interest or theirs?
We're all for the preservation of Backus Woods. The Citizen's of Norfolk County have covered the cost of doing so since it was donated to the Big Creek Conservation Authority. Because of the LPRCA's ineptitude with financial matters they ended up in a position that they were forced to sell off one of OUR best assets. This inability continues on and who knows how long before they have to sell off more of YOUR holdings.
Will they also sell off the campgrounds since they cannot manage them effectively? When they are done raping the forests and there's little money left in the remaining logs, will they then sell those as well or just give them to NCC? Will we be left with a shell of a conservation authority that does little more than collect fat salaries with very large pension plans at the end? It looks that way with the current management but at least they have a new website for all of the money that we hand them. Likely after 15 years and tons of debate they finally decided on something that does help bring awareness to OUR assets.
The General Manager of The Long Point Conservation Authority is Mr. Cliff Evanitski and he can be contacted in his plush surroundings at 4 Elm Street or called at 519-842-4242, ext 225. Why don't you ask him to tell you the truth for once? After all it is YOUR money and YOUR assets.
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