Minutes of Region Meeting
Western Michigan Region, NSP
January 9, 2008 Brann’s, Grand Rapids
Region Officers Present: Region Director, Tony Wolfer; Secretary, Colleen Wolfer; Assistant Region Director, Gregg Hoppe; Assistant Region Director, Erica Krol; Treasurer, Larry Klose.
Section Officers Present: WM1 Section Chief, Ken Young; WM3 Section Chief, Tom Fisher.
Patrol Representatives Present: Bittersweet, Dan Navis; Timber Ridge, Sue Brann; Crystal Mountain, Brian Klebba; Western Michigan Nordic, Kelly Godfrey.
Region Advisors Present: Awards, Kathy Young;
Assistant Awards, Patrick Mulvihill; OEC Advisor, Dan Goldberger; Alpine NSPC Ski
School, Chip Knappen; Avalanche, Michael Walenta.,
Members: Dennis O’Brien, Dave Corey, Mike Patterson.
Meeting called to order at 7:00pm.
Secretary’s Report: Report accepted with corrections from Chip Knappen and Kathy Young. Timber Ridge over the summer added new snow guns and replaced old piping. Awards should be to Section January 21 and to Region January 28.
Treasurer’s Report: Larry Klose presented a written
report which is on file. He has asked directed
all patrol representatives to read the last page memo regarding
use of funds. Online treasurer’s report may be accessed with the password “liftticket”
and the financial reports info with
the password “seasonpass” seniorpass.
Report accepted.
Unfinished business: Sue Brann and Erica Krol need to know who won the Harper Pack to reply to Chris Moe to complete follow-up of the Division Meeting. Tony Wolfer will contact David Menke.
Programs and Advisor Reports
ARD –– Gregg
Hoppe: Division Senior Calibration Clinic gave us a lot of information
about what level skiing ability people need to be at to come to the senior
test. One injury to Britt Gustafson incurred. Central Division registration
with National will be starting to be entered this week. Cards will be sent out
when all the patrol information is complete. Do not contact the National
office about the registration packets – it will hold up the process. Contact
Sherwin VanKlompenberg if you have questions. Feel free to contact the
National Board and Board Members about the problem. Please emphasize that
people should correct their own information with National. Tony Wolfer
commends patrollers regarding correction of e-mail. Gregg says if patrol
hasn’t been completely processed you will need to do e-blast by using the 2007
information. Tri- region Jan1 -26/27
TES/SES coming up. Conflicts with Senior Emergency
Management event.
Alpine NSP-C School ––
Chip Knappen: Region SES at Timber Ridge – working on the dates. One
level III PSIA and two level II PSIA instructors will be available.
Alpine Proficiency ––
Britt Gustafson: Good calibration clinic at Caberfae on 1/6/08. 16 people attended who will be grading at the senior test. Expecting 14 candidates.
Alpine Toboggan ––
Shawn Rhoda: One TES has been held and another will be coming up at the
Senior Warm-up. Can schedule week nights on Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Bittersweet,
Feb 10 at 8:30am.
Avalanche ––
Michael Walenta: Feb 2 and 3 at Boyne Mountain in conjunction with
Northern – sheet passed to post in patrol rooms.
Mountain Travel and RescueR
–- Michael
Walenta: MTR Basic had a successful class of 6 this fall. MTR Advanced
has 4 in the course. The indoor portion of the class has been completed. The
outdoor portion is scheduled for Fri/Sat/Sun February 29, March 1 and 2. It
will be held at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Contact Marty Monsma at
616-301-9138 to pre-enroll for next year.
ARD –- Erica
Krol: Tom Fisher will be the Section Chief for Section III again – no
election will be held as there is only one candidate. Erica has contacted
Division regarding running an election for Region Director and will be run as
we have in the past. We have two candidates: Tony Wolfer and Dennis O’Brien.
Chip Knappen proposes a motion that accepts our dates for elections. Tony
Wolfer says Division has a plan to change other elections dates and they will
be more in alignment with ours. Election will be by paper ballot.
Awards ––
Kathy Young/Patrick Mulvihill: Awards deadlines 1/21 to Section and 1/28
to Region are coming up. Encourage everyone to submit awards and recognize
those who deserve it. One signed copy of every nomination please. One
electronic copy. Electronic copy is only form awards can be passed on to
Division. Changes to policies and procedures – more points for recommendation
letters than before and letters must be relative information. Merit Stars –
from now on the stars will be limited to the last two seasons. Blue and Purple
must be based on doing something using ski patrol skills within the bounds of
what ski patrollers do with documentation from a doctor saying that something
that was done was life saving.
Instructor Development ––
Tony Wolfer for Pat Livingston: One person interested in taking Instructor
Development. Pat is interested in running the class in April. Please contact
her.
National Appointment ––
Sue Brann: Same deadlines as Kathy Young has but please send National Appointment
recommendations to Sue Brann. Sue suggests that it would be best if someone
has already had an award. Dennis O’Brien will join the committee.
Outdoor Emergency CareC
– Dan Goldberger: 15 new patrollers in Section I have passed their OEC.
Section II had final on 11/29 with all but one patroller passing. Section III
had three patrollers take the test but only one completed at this time. This
was the first time for an e-class and the program will continue to be modified.
Gregg Hoppe says that the most difficult part was the skill sets. January
26 will be the Senior OEC final. Direct questions to Mike Fick.
Section and Patrol Reports
Section WM1 I
–– Ken
Young: Ken reported on the loss of Bruce Johnson and the coming together
of the patrol for his funeral.
Timber Ridge ––
Sue Brann: Hope to be open this weekend – difficulty getting toboggan
refreshers completed with the weather.
Bittersweet – Dan Navis: Hope to be open this weekend. Patrol room coming together.
Section WM2II –
Patrick Mulvihill: Section II hill test has been moved to Feb 24 from the
10th because of the weather and ability of the candidates. Expects
about 10 candidates. Will need help with evaluators as there will be a
conflict with other Region programs. Evaluators contact Mike Fick Jack
Katerburg or Patrick Mulvihill.
Cannonsburg ––
Mike Patterson: On January 26, Cannonsburg will host SEM clinic. They
received a thank you letter from management for their efforts in keeping the
area running over the holidays.
Western Michigan Nordic ––
Kelly Godfrey: Weather permitting they will be covering: Feb 2 - White
Pine Stampede in Mancelona; Feb 9 – Vasa - Traverse City. March 1 come to
Caberfae at 9 am if interested in Nordic patrolling – contact Kelly.
Section WM3III
–– Tom
Fisher: The proposed registration form for the Region Banquet was passed
out and discussed. Discussion followed about the use of region funds since
this will cost more per person for the dinner. Gregg Hoppe made motion to
increase the region funding to help reduce the cost of the dinners since they
are more costly this year. Patrick Mulvihill moves that the amount should be
$1000.00 authorized on a year by year basis. Gregg withdrew his motion. Ken
Young questions whether reducing the cost of the meals will actually increase
the attendance. Michael Walenta suggests that the season has to do with
attendance also. Dan Navis suggests using the money for meals vs prizes.
Motion passed.
9:06 Motion to continue meeting for 15 minutes to complete business passed.
Caberfae Peaks ––
Chip
Knappen: From one of Caberfae’s owners: Dec 30 they had an all time
record day. They are very pleased to have patrollers come up and sign in to
help out.
Crystal Mountain ––
Brian Klebba: Women’s Winter Tour celebrating women winter and chocolate
will be coming. Skiing this weekend 44 of 45 slopes are open. Hill refreshers
are conducted as a TES program on four separate Sundays focusing on bringing
people up to a senior level of toboggan handling.
New Business –
Region Policies and Procedures: Larry Klose requests that we amend the policies and procedures for the region to reflect that if only one candidate is nominated and accepts the nomination that there doesn’t need to be an election run.
Next meeting: We –
need to move from the planned date of March 12. Wed March 19 will be
the new date. Motion was made, amended, and
adopted. See Region web site for
resolution text.
Meeting adjourned 9:24PM.