Memorandum To: APAS Board of Directors

Re: Weekly Reports from the General Manager

At past meetings of the Board of Directors and in discussions with Directors and Reps, I indicated that I wanted to move to a practice of weekly reporting to the Board of Directors as opposed to providing montly reports at Board meetings only.

Enough talk...

This is the launch of the "Weekly Report from the General Manager". This and future reports will provide you with a summary of the activities of the staff group in the week just completed and the projection of activities for the next week. The intention is to keep you more effectively informed of staff activities on key issues, projects, and responsibilities in a more timely fashion. You will receive the report weekly at some point between Friday and Sunday evenings. This should enhance the accountability and transparency of management to the Board of Directors. With weekly reports beinbg psoted online, a lengthy report should not be necessary at Board meetings with the time then better directed to issue or project discussion.

Regular weekly reporting ties into a shift that we will be making in communications. Beginning in December, 2009, we will be preparing and distributing an attractive monthly one-page summary of APAS activities and key issues. The communication will be distributed electronically to all RM Representatives and RMs and to other interested audiences at month-end. As editor, Aj will use the Weekly Reports of the General Manager, the President’s Reports, and Board, Committee, and Meeting reports to create this new monthly report. Our current thoughts are that, in addition to this monthly communication to these targeted audiences, we will publish at least two newsletters in 2010 that we will distribute province-wide. The first will be in January of 2010 to assist with our RM recruitment drive.

January 18-22, 2010

Jan 25-29, 2010


Feb 1 - 12, 2010

The following provides a summary of key staff activities over these two weeks:

Doug Faller

·     Participated in a conference call of the Steering Committee for the Producer Payment Security Project.  This phase will be completed by March 31, 2010 and will identify and compare the costs of the four models.

·     Participated in a planning meeting for a February 17/18 workshop of Saskatchewan Farmers’ Markets where Doug will assist in facilitation on behalf of APAS.  Reviewed background information on the project.

·     Monitored survey returns and discussed a potential news release on the contracts survey with Aj and Terry Hildebrandt.

·     Involved in discussions with Rail West Management and individual APAS Directors about grain transportation issues.

·     Formatted and submitted APAS resolutions to the CFA.

Sonia Korpus

·   Finalized and distributed letters of invitation to speakers for the March AGM as well as letters to appropriate Ministers relative to the 2009 December Mid Term Meeting resolutions.

·   Coordinated the mailing of further letters and invoices to Rural Municipalities.

·   Finalized and distributed the Minutes of the January 18 Board Meeting and the Agenda for the February 17 Board Meeting.  Completed the final edit of the Mid Term Meeting Minutes for review by the General Manager.

·   Provided administrative support in the mailing of the Scholz Report to CFA members, review of invoices for submission to the accountant, and a variety of other areas.

 

Aj Thakker

·        Reviewed, updated and distributed presentations for 12  R.M. meetings to be held in February.

·        Updating of the website is an ongoing activity.

·        Involved in discussions with Guy Ash of the Canadian Wheat Board about Weather Farm and weather-based insurance.

·        Involved in discussions with Evraz Place, STEP, and the Saskatchewan Food Processors’ Association relative to the reception at our AGM.

·        Further discussed a potential partnership agreement with STEP.

·        Participated in meetings with the Councils of the Rural Municipalities of Barrier Valley and Tisdale.

·        Coordinated computer upgrades within the APAS office system.

Nial Kuyek

·        While officially on vacation for these two weeks, the General Manager completed first drafts for finalization and distribution of letters of invitation to speakers to the March AGM as well as letter to appropriate Ministers relative to the 2009 December Mid Term Meeting resolutions.

·        Participated in the monthly conference call with the General Managers of KAP And WRAP on February 15, 2010 to discuss the KAP AGM, the Producer Payment Security conference call, the CFA AGM, the CYFF AGM and weather-based insurance. 

 

January 11-15, 2010

January 4- January 8, 2010

December 28 to Jan 2, 2010

While the APAS office was officially closed during this week, APAS issued a press release relative to the Level of Service complaint submitted to the Canadian Transportation Agency.  The news release and subsequent interviews generated media coverage through the week and into the New Year.

December 21 to December 28, 2009

December 14 - 18

 

December 7-11, 2009

So, here we go with the first Weekly Report from the General Manager.

• Staff and Greg Marshall were involved in meetings to discuss follow-up to the Mid Term Meeting and planning and coordination of upcoming activities.

• The majority of Sonia’s time during the week was devoted to administrative follow-up to the Mid Term Meeting, processing of expense claims and invoices, and preparations for the audit.

• Doug Faller edited the resolutions from the Mid Term Meeting for member and public distribution, wrote transportation related content for the policy section of the website and began preparation of a summary of the RM Rep evaluations of the Mid Term Meeting. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you review the background information that Doug has authored on the website on “The Right to Producer Cars”. It is excellent. An ongoing task for Doug is monitoring and analysis of key and emerging issues.

• Aj’s activities during the week focused on adding the Resolutions, Action Taken on Resolutions, and other documents and presentations from the Mid Term Meeting to the website. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you review the coverage of the Mid Term Meeting on the website. It is amazing. An ongoing activity for Aj is updating the website and expanding and improving the website with new features all with the focus of “easy to use”. Aj pursues this with his usual energy and innovation.

• Doug, Aj, and Nial met to evaluate the Mid Term Meeting and begin to develop a draft agenda for the APAS AGM to be held March 22-24, 2010. A draft agenda will be presented to the Board for discussion on December 18.

• Doug and Nial attended a meeting of the Council of the RM of Grayson #184 on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. APAS Representative Harvey Mucha provided a report on the APAS Mid Term Meeting and key APAS  issues. Nial advised the Council that a resolution sympathetic to the situation emerging in their Municipality had been considered at the APAS Mid Term Meeting. Nial noted that the resolution had called for APAS to examine the issues of corporate farming and to report on why it is happening and what could be done to reverse the trend. Nial reported that the resolution was defeated largely because APAS Representatives felt that they lacked adequate information on the issue and that the focus should not be on corporate farming. Nial indicated that APAS was available to work with the RM on any public policy issues that need to be addressed as these issues evolve and asked that the RM and Harvey keep APAS updated on developments. The Council was receptive to the APAS position as information relative to the issues involved has been rapidly changing. The Council appears to continue to be a strong supporter of APAS. Local farmers had arranged a meeting with the  Saskatchewan President of LDM Foods for Thursday, December 10. This meeting will be pivotal in determining where this goes as an issue.

• While not wanting to scoop the President’s Report but wanting to fully review RM contacts during the week, I note that Greg Marshall and Norm Hall met with the Councils of the RMs of Emerald and Preeceville. Emerald is currently a member and so this was a  retention visit. I understand that Greg and Norm were well-received and that the RM voiced its continuing support for APAS. While APAS representatives have attended meetings of the ratepayers and Council of  the RM of Preeceville in the past, this RM has yet to become a member. My understanding is that the Council was receptive and indicated that they wanted a ratepayer decision on the matter. It was our understanding that the ratepayers of this RM have overwhelmingly voted in the past to join APAS, so we’ll  do what we have to do to secure them as a full member in the upcoming year.

• Sharon, Sonia, and Nial were involved with preparations for our audit for the 2008-2009 fiscal year ended October 31, 2009. Rick LeGrand and an Associate from Dudley & Company were in our office on December 10 and 11 to conduct the audit. The audit is largely completed with outstanding information items to be completed during the week of December 14. A meeting of the Finance Committee will be organized in January to deal with the Auditor’s Report and other financial issues.

For More.......

To access General Manager Nial Kuyek's reports on APAS staff activites from December 2008 to the present, as well as the archived President's and Director's reports, please click [HERE]