Minutes of Region Meeting
Western Michigan Region, NSP
October 15, 2008 Brann’s, Grand Rapids
Meeting called to order.
Region Officers Present: Region Director, Tony Wolfer; Secretary, Colleen Wolfer; Assistant Region Director, Erica Krol.
Region Advisors Present: Awards, Kathy Young; Avalanche, Michael Walenta; Alpine NSPC Ski School, Chip Knappen; Alpine Toboggan, Shawn Rhoda; Alpine Proficiency, Britt Gustafson. Alpine Toboggan IT Coordinator, Jackie Bottomley; Instructor Development, Pat Livingston; MTR, Laurie Snedeker; OEC Advisor, Dan Goldberger.
Section Officers Present: WM1 Section Chief, Ken Young; WM3 Section Chief, Tom Fisher.
Patrol Representatives Present: Bittersweet, Dan Navis; Pando, David Menke; WM Nordic, Kelly Godfrey; Cannonsburg, Michael DeVriendt; Timber Ridge, Sue Brann; Caberfae, Tim Kirch,
Guest Present: Doug Mesara; Mike Patterson; Rog Brands
Reports
Secretary’s Report: Michael Walenta moved - Chip Knappen seconded – minutes accepted.
Financial Report: Larry Klose not present.
Assistant Region Director: Britt Gustafson for Gregg Hoppe - they are checking on the number of slots available to fill at the Division Clinic.
Alpine Proficiency: Britt Gustafson - please encourage people to go for Senior. January 1 is the deadline for paperwork to be in to participate in the Senior Hill. Chip Knappen added that there is a new Senior Manual available on the Division web site.
NSP-C School: Chip Knappen went over the dates for SES and TES clinics – please consult the calendar on the Region web site. Gregg Hoppe has indicated to Chip that he feels we should back away from requiring PSIA certification for our trainers due to cost and difficulty to maintain. Suggestion that PSIA instructors be used to teach skiing etc when required. Mike DeVriendt explained that at Cannonsburg the management pays their PSIA instructors to teach patrollers.
Alpine Toboggan: Shawn Rhoda – there will be three TES clinics. There will be a toboggan instructors only clinic January 4.
MTR: Laurie Snedeker for Martin Monsma – there will be a Fundamentals and MTR 1 class in March. They need to send in an expense request to Larry. Laurie to ask Larry to put the date on the calendar.
Assistant Region Director: Erica Krol is now keeping the records for senior candidates.
Instructor Development: Pat Livingston; instructor development class was held with 5 people participating. It was a good class and there are some good people.
OEC Advisor: Dan Goldberger; Classes this year are bringing a large number of new people into the OEC program. 128 instructors available and we have lost some instructor trainers. E-mails have been sent requesting applications from anyone who is interested.
National Appointment and Leadership Commendation: Tony talked with Tom Norton who says they don’t have any National Number appointments in process.
Awards Advisor: Kathy Young is out of contact with Patrick Mulvihill at the moment regarding awards.
WM3 Section: Section Chief Tom Fisher is working on bringing Crystal and Caberfae back together as a Section. He feels they are receiving their training and functioning but not working together well. Tim Kirch suggests that Tom Fisher, Gregg Hoppe and himself work out a plan.
Caberfae Patrol Representative: Tim Kirch – just finished OEC refresher – they have had people join them from out of area. One pro patroller is refreshing through their refresher because he feels it is a better refresher than the EMT refresher he previously trained through. Tim Meyers has gone through looking at skier days to balance the patrollers with the heaviest days at the area.
Crystal Mountain Patrol Representative: Jackie Bottomley for Gregg Hoppe Refresher at Crystal completed over the weekend. 60 people attended. They included CPR as a station at the OEC refresher this year. They wish to encourage visiting patrollers to sign on. Please contact skipatrol@crystalmountain.com . New building is at the point of drywall being done – completion date is 11-15.
WM2 Section: Mike Patterson for Jack Katerburg; OEC refresher was completed this past weekend. OEC midterm is 10-16 at 6 at Cannonsburg. The ski swap is coming up – please see www.nspskiswap.com.
Cannonsburg Patrol Representative: Mike DeVriendt – they are working through the many challenges of economy and time with volunteering patrollers.
Pando Patrol Representative: David Menke – patroller numbers are down- encouraging sign ons. Pando is looking forward to having the TES again. We will be working on ski swap with Cannonsburg again. New snowmaking will be in place.
WM1 Section: Section Chief Ken Young – Combined class with Jen Squires as Section OEC advisor. OEC instructor trainers are assigned to areas other than their own to Q/A refreshers. He was pleased to be at the Cannonsburg refresher and felt it was handled well. Section I had more patrollers at the Division fall meeting than any other. Ken is concerned about rules within the Division that do not allow Auxiliaries to deliver sleds to accidents or handle snowmobile transport of sleds.
WM Nordic: Patrol Representative Kelly Godfrey – Nordic is adding some races to patrol and may have some community service projects on some of the cross country trails.
Timber Ridge Patrol Representative: Sue Brann – management has asked them to patrol at some summer functions. One was a disc golf tournament with about 1500 people in attendance.
Bittersweet Patrol Representative: Dan Navis – patrol room is done – worked through summer to complete. Snowmobile safety course offered by DNR is being required for anyone operating a snowmobile at their area.
New Business:
Erica Krol – reminds everyone that this is Section I Section Chief election year. Erica will send out an e-mail to be forwarded to the patrollers in this section.
Discussion of State of Michigan mandate concerning certification of snowmobile operators.
Michael Walenta brought up that Chair Evac refreshers are conducted by someone who is responsible for running the refresher. He questions who trains the trainer. He would like to have it clarified through legal advice what is required. Tony Wolfer and Mike DeVriendt state that this is a ski area management responsibility.
Region banquet will be at Bittersweet on May 2 – theme being discussed. Discussion was held about the usage of seed money by the Sections. Ken Young would appreciate better communication between the Sections regarding costs as this would be helpful. Tom Fisher says he would recommend not holding the event at a venue like Soaring Eagle as was done last year.
Meeting adjourned 8:36 pm
January 7 at Branns for the next meeting.