Steward's Report for PRCSA AGM 28 January 2007
Submitted by: Dwayne Collins

Introduction
My second year as Steward of Sadleir House has been a wonderful experience
and I believe that we have made great strides forward in our operation of
the building. As usual, I must extend a hearty thank you to Jill Staveley
for her work here at the building - without her it would be quite difficult
for someone in my position to accomplish the work they are required to do.
This report is meant to be an overview of the major activities and events
that have occurred here at the House - the only items that may be missing
are those that are covered elsewhere by another report for this meeting.

Section I - The Site Plan Agreement
As has been previously reported, part of our severance and zoning, we agreed
to a Site Plan with the City of Peterborough. This agreement stipulates the
installation of larger parking lot to replace the one currently on the north
side of the building, in addition to some minor work on the South Lawn area.
A few complications arose regarding the parking lot after it was installed
this past summer. The primary concern being drainage and structural support
of the lot itself in the north-west corner. The City required that we
install a retaining wall to ensure that run-off (both from water and from
gravel) would not negatively affect the neighbouring property. This has been
done and the parking lot installation is complete. Other complications
included a broken gas line into the House because of an unknown and
improperly disconnected supply line left by previous owners. The only
remaining items for the Site Plan are laying some sod to indicate the border
between our property and that of our immediate neighbours and some minor
path realignment on the South Lawn. I anticipate that we will be able to
declare our Site Plan compliance this spring or early summer without much
difficulty.

Section II - Tenants
All Rooms in the House are currently occupied. There are plans underway to
do some minor renovations to the old Porter's Lodge in order to create some
additional space. Our list of tenants are:

* The Famous Couch Theatre Company
* Theatre Trent
* Trent Shinerama
* The Free Market
* OPIRG
* The Arthur
* Trent Women's Centre
* Trent Queer Collective
* Ordinary Press
* Trent Film Society
* Prof. Stephen Regoczei
* Trent Annual
* Body Artz
* Trent Philosophy Society
* Prof. Constantin Boundas


Section III - Liquor License
This past October, Sadleir House received its Liquor License. The Dining
Hall is permanently licensed with a capacity of 105 (including staff &
volunteers) and we hold a Catering Endorsement that allows us to license
other areas of the House for functions. Holding a permanent license now
allows us to hold stock and to cater functions without the need to give 30
days notice to the LLBO. Our operations are now much smoother for events
where alcohol is served. In addition to holding the license, we have also
SmartServe trained all of our staff and have the ability to host training
sessions to train others.

Section IV - General House Maintenance
This past year has not been without the need to conduct maintenance on the
House. Here are the highlights from the last year:

* In the spring there was some minor backing up of the plumbing resulting in
  the mild flooding of our basement storeroom. Nothing of significance was
  damaged, other than the carpet of the room itself. Upon investigation it
  was discovered that roots had invaded the pipes - they were cleared and we
  have not had any problems since. The recommendation of the plumber is that
  so long as the problem is not recurring within short periods of time, it
  is not of immediate concern to conduct repair to the pipe.

* Sadleir House was invaded by a malicious band of squirrels bent upon
  mayhem and destruction in the spring. Making their home in the crawl space
  behind room 307, the squirrels proceeded to make a mess of the insulation
  and walls in the area while feasting on the wiring casing for room 307 and
  the hallway below - no doubt addicted to the inevitable jolts of
  electricity such a diet would yield. As a result, power had to be shut
  down for that area due to safety concerns. Since then, the squirrels have
  been thoroughly routed out of the House, repairs to the exterior roof line
  were conducted, repairs to the interior walls of the crawl space area were
  done to create a second barrier should they get in again, and the
  electrical wiring was repaired. Constant vigilance against further
  squirrel invasion is underway.

* For insurance reasons, some brick was repaired on the northeast corner of
  the Coach House where it was partially damaged from when the coal shed was
  removed as part of our site plan compliance in the summer of 2005. The
  brick was repaired and the necessary repointing done to ensure that
  moisture would not seep into the brickwork, causing further damage.

* The floors of the Dining Hall were refinished and the Hobbs Library was
  recoated. I anticipate that it will be necessary to perform a recoating of
  the Dining Hall floors on an annual basis based on the amount of traffic
  it receives and that we should likely plan for recoating Hobbs on a two
  year cycle.

* Our poor fence was subject to vandalism on at least two different
  occasions this summer. One event resulted in an entire section falling
  down and several other being severely damaged. The other resulted in two
  of the cement caps on the pillars being knocked off (a feat that is quite
  surprising as it takes about 3 or 4 people to lift one of these caps).
  Happily, the fence was repaired and received some new stain making it look
  as good as new!

* Over the summer, in honour of the very strong support of John Muir and
  Yvonne Lai, their friends donated a courtyard garden to Sadleir House to
  commemorate their wedding.

* With the arrival of winter came the discovery that part of the heating
  system was malfunctioning. After a couple of days of work and
  investigation by the folks at Sayer Heating it was discovered that a
  circulation pump was the major culprit, which was replaced. Since then the
  heating system has been working well.

* Room 307 has recently been painted to match the second floor hallway which
  was also painted in the spring.

* We are in the process of conducting repairs to be in compliance with a
  recent fire inspection. The major things that were required related mostly
  to changing lightbulbs in the exit signage and emergency lighting, but
  there is also a need to install a fire separation door in the basement
  which will be done within the next month.

Section V - The Heritage of Sadleir House
Last year we received our heritage designation from the summer and this year
saw two exciting events occur at the House highlighting the heritage of the
building.

The first was the installation and opening of a semi-permanent exhibition of
the House's heritage put together by the Fleming College Museum Management &
Curatorship Programme. The exhibit focuses on the history of the house
during three time periods: The private families that lived here, Trent
University years, and then on the PRCSA years. The exhibit occupies the
Hobbs Library, the 2nd Floor of the Link, and the Lecture Hall. All sections
excluding the Link can be removed and put back up should the need arise. At
the opening of the exhibit, Sadleir House received the heritage plaque which
was installed over the summer and can now be seen on the southeast corner of
the original house.

The second event was Sadleir House's participation in the 2006 Doors Open
Peterborough - part of the wider Doors Open Ontario event organised by local
heritage committees and the Ontario Heritage Trust. On September 30th, in
the neighbourhood of 200 people came to visit Sadleir House and tour through
the building. It was a wonderful success and great to speak to everyone -
many of whom had not realised that students had purchased back the building
and that it was open to the public! Often buildings are not asked to
participate every year so that each year is different. I am happy to say,
though, that Sadleir House has been invited to be part of 2007 Doors Open
Peterborough and I look forward to that event.

Section VI - Communications
Over the past year slow but steady changes have been made to the Sadleir
House website in order to continue to communicate to the public what happens
here at the House. We have been slowly developing an online form that can be
used to request space and there are plans to create a section devoted
specifically to the heritage of the building. In addition, Sadleir House is
now on MySpace and the photo sharing site Flickr in order to connect more
with people. Our website is available at http://www.prcsa.ca/ and
http://www.sadleirhouse.ca/ ; the use of the dsft.ca domain was
discontinued. Suggestions for developing the website are always welcome.

There is still much that can be done in terms of communications and there
are plans to create a variety of pamphlets, produce an annual report to be
distributed, as well as the creation of a newsletter.

Section VII - Accessibility
In order to move forward with Accessibility planning, OPIRG has hosted two
TCCBE projects that are focussed on conducting research on what Sadleir
House can do to become more accessible. After these reports are received,
there will be a need for the Accessibility Committee to create a formal plan
from which we will work to acquire Trillium Foundation funding and begin
necessary renovations to the building. Anyone interested in Accessibility
planning at Sadleir House is welcome to participate. I hope that we will be
moving forward with creating more accessible space in the building as I
think it is extremely important.

Section VIII - The ALTi Project
Sadleir House has partnered with the Trent Central Student Association,
OPIRG, the Trent Women's Centre, and the Alternative Resource Library to
launch a project that has been tentatively named ALTi (the Alternative
Libraries at Trent initiative) which will be launching an integrated online
catalogue and circulation system for the various libraries in the Trent
Community which are not part of the Bata Library system. It is anticipated
that the official launch will occur sometime near Reading Week of this year.


Respectfully Submitted,


Dwayne Collins,
Steward & Vice-President