Attention Members,
This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December 6th, 2024 was a great success. It was probably the best attendance to date, sitting at 49 members plus guests, board members and a handful of volunteers linked to the Association. This meant that quorum was achieved according to the by-laws.
At the AGM, Information was shared about your association along with information on liability insurance, finance, government initiative and successes from our paramedic friends in New Brunswick.
As posted earlier, there was a vote on the membership fee this year due to the change in practice of separating the member fee from the liability insurance fee.
For the past two years, the membership fee has been $120 which included liability insurance. As the Association has now separated the liability insurance, the question was brought forward on how to proceed as the old terminology surrounding the definition of a membership fee is no longer valid as now it does not include liability insurance. It was decided by the board that this was a member’s decision and not one the board could make on its own.
Discussion was held at this year’s AGM and a number of options were discussed from the floor including the principle of not causing undo burden on the membership as well as how to support some growth of the Association.
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A motion was made to set a new membership fee to $100. A cost of approximately $8.33/month.
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Discussion on the motion was had and a vote was held with a large majority of the membership voting in favour of the motion.
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Therefore, effective for the 2025, membership year, member fees will be charged at a rate of $100. Membership renewal will be happening shortly.
With that, the board also announced an initiative to promote new growth of the association which will be available to all members of the 2024 membership year.
Members of the 2024 year can support growth of the association by recruiting new members. If a 2024 member recruits a new member in 2025, that 2024 member will be eligible to receive $30 towards their 2026 registration year. They can do this to a maximum of two times for a total savings of $60 towards their 2026 registration year. This incentive will not be available to new members that have been recruited in 2025.
It is hoped that this will provide incentives for members to drive support for the Association and with added membership to the Association, it will not only increase growth, but keep membership fees low, provide capital to pursue initiatives that promote paramedics and potentially reduce or maintain insurance premiums at a place where they remain affordable.
A system to administer this program is underway, however in the mean time if you beat us, keep track and we’ll provide directions as soon as the process is finalized.
Thank you for your support of the Association. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at president@albertaparamedics.ca.
Len Stelmaschuk, ACP, MAL
President
Alberta Paramedic Association