At the Bonnyville Community Council Meeting on November 19, 2007 people talked about the following business:

Co-Chair

The Community Council needs a new Chair/Co-Chair as this position is now vacant. Dayna said she would consider the position.

Community Council Re-Vitalization

When talking about re-vitalizing the Council meetings the following ideas were suggested:

• Make the meetings more fun. Host a carnival style event.
• Go to different venues such as; a gym night, floor curling, games night, dance, yoga or Tichi, collective kitchen, or go to the movies.
• Reduce the number of meetings but make each one a special event; such as a Christmas Party, Winter Festival, Spring/Summer BBQ, and a Fall Harvest Dinner.

These and other ideas will be presented to the people at the Christmas party next month. Another suggestion was to change the name of Community Council to a Club name. The Council wants to encourage more disabled persons to come to the Council meetings.

A person asked what the Community Council is supposed to accomplish? Marlene said one of the reasons PDD supports Community Councils is that they are to be a connection point between the PDD Board, PDD clients and their families.

Dayna pointed out that Dec. 3 is International Day of Disabled Persons. A request to proclaim it has been sent to the Municipal Council.

The Annual Christmas Pizza Party will be Dec 19 at the Dove Centre. There will be Christmas carol singing, goodies and a discussion about the ‘new, improved version of the Community Council.’

AISH Update

AISH has a new staff member Tamara Hutmacher. Her office is in Cold Lake.

AISH is experiencing a culture shift. They are striving to become more client friendly. There have been a few minor changes which may affect some clients. (eg. Policy on how inheritance income is handled has changed). AISH clients are being encouraged to find work if they want to do so. The policy on how earned income will affect AISH benefits has also been made more client friendly to encourage AISH clients to find employment.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is December.