Markus dutifully served as corporate secretary since 2008.Kristiina was about to complete 4-years on the board this spring. Thank you to both for their perspective, experience, and voice. You will be missed as we proceed through a critical year for our organization.
Moving forward, over the next several months the Board and our community have a lot of work to do and we have extended invitations to two candidates to join the board, in accordance with our bylaws. These candidates are those that received the next highest number of votes at the most recent annual general meeting.
Like many organizations that operate buildings approaching their 60th year, we face the twin challenges of increasing capital cost and declining use by our core users. These issues are not new. Successive boards, shareholders, and our community have been debating and discussing the future of the House for over a decade.
In 2012, our shareholders approved a mandate to solicit viable proposals for an “Estonian House 2,” which would be financed by leveraging the value of our existing land asset and to return to the shareholders with its recommended proposal for final approval. In April 2017, the Board presented a proposal to build and move to a new centre on Madison Avenue, the Estonian Centre. Over 2/3 of Shareholders authorized proceeding with this project if it was deemed viable by the Board at the end of a due diligence process.
The results of the intensive work to confirm the viability of this option are becoming known and available. A series of community information sessions to provide updates on this Estonian Centre due diligence, as it unfolds, will be held on Wednesday January 31, February 21, March 14 and April 4, 2018, 7pm - 8:30pm.
An additional informational meeting requested by some Estonian House shareholders on the Estonian Centre Project will be held on Monday February 12, 2018 at 6.30 pm. All shareholders should plan to attend or register their proxies at by noon that day. Shareholders can register proxies by mail, addressed to the Secretary Eric Sehr at 958 Broadview Avenue, by fax to 416-461-2017, or by email at .
All the meetings are taking place in the Great Hall in the Estonian House.
