ISSAR

Idaho State

Search And Rescue

2006 Summer Convention Minutes

June 25, 2006 

Grangeville, ID - Hosted by Idaho Co.

Commander Pete Williams called the meeting to order at 9:18 AM

Kent Daniels gave invocation.

Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Rick Pruett.

Roll call

Officers showed all officers present.

Counties showed 10 counties being represented.

Past State Commanders present were JD Drury, Gordon Wothe, and Dale Crowther.

National officers present were John Gornick Commander, 1^st Vice Reid Stewart, and Secretary Marie Wothe.

PNC’s present Gordon Wothe, Marie Wothe, JD Drury, Sandra Drury, Terry Stewart.

Deceased or seriously ill members: Phil Courtney, PSC, has recently had surgery. Warney May and Charlie Bower ill. Bill Ashton (Fremont) passed away. Pete also recognized our soldiers for keeping our country free. A moment of silence was held.

Hosting unit remarks: Larry Dasenbrock thanked everyone for coming to Snow Haven ski area, which is owned by the city. Larry thanked the city of Grangeville for the use of the ski lodge. Pete Williams stated "On behalf of ISSAR, we thank you very much for hosting the summer convention and the wonderful training that was provided. "

Officers Reports:

Commander, Pete Williams  -Our unit hosted the 2006 National convention. All had a fun time. The luau was a big hit despite the rain and had to be moved indoors. If you did not attend, please try to make it next year you will not regret coming. If your unit is not a member of National, I would encourage you to join. Power Co. will also be hosting the 2007 National convention. Look for bigger and better things to come for the convention.

1st Vice, Brett Mackert- I have been working with Sheriff Dasenbrock and Sheriff Collings about search reimbursement questions. We have been working together to resolve some issues.

2nd Vice, Reid Stewart -  I have been attending Homeland Security meetings representing our unit in preparation for a mock disaster. Commander Richard Johnson has been successful in getting a second grant from homeland Security for an 8x16 trailer and underwater communication equipment. We continue to work on our building to get ready for the 2008 National convention. I have attended all our unit trainings. I attended the National spring membership meeting in Mesquite, and the National convention in American Falls where I was elected as 1st Vice Commander. I would like to thank Idaho Co. for hosting this convention and providing great weather and a beautiful location.

Communications, Jim Gay -  nothing to report.

Secretary, Sandra Drury - I attended the National meeting in Mesquite and the National convention in American Falls. I have typed and mailed all the membership cards. I have been in contact with Pete and Olivia about membership.

Treasurer, Olivia Giannasi  - We are sitting well financially. The training fund is growing and we need to use it. If you have training that your unit needs you can be reimbursed for instructors through the training fund.

Quartermaster- I would like to do some polo shirts, jackets. I will try to get pictures of the merchandise to get put on the web. If anyone has suggestions let me know. Reid Stewart made a motion that Olivia picks and choose a limited supply of new quartermaster items, seconded by Tim Harris. Motion passed. It was brought up that people like the old magnetic design better than the new design.

Unit Reports:

Bear Lake, Reid Stewart- Since February's meet in Sandpoint, it has been relatively quiet. Our unit had a few searches for overdue snowmobiles.

Bonneville, John Dawdy- Last fall we applied for an EMS grant. We have  received a 2006 service Chevy that is pretty loaded. Last Aug, we lost a 14 year old in the river, he was recovered. The mother of the boy held a fundraiser which raised about $50,000, of this Bonneville, received $30,000; Jefferson and Bingham received $10,000 each for their aid in the search.

Fremont, Brett Mackert -So far this year we hosted the annual Easter egg hunt; we also co-sponsor the fishermen’s breakfast. This year we served 6,000 people. We also co-sponsor the American Cancer Society Relay for Life we raised $25,000 for that. We have 2 additional fundraisers coming up this summer for our funding. We have had 24 searches to date; this year alone we have about 5,000 hours of search and rescue work.

Idaho, Vicky Dasenbrock- We had 3 actual searches an ATV rider, a bear hunter.  And 2 missing teenagers. We have been really busy with training.

Lincoln, Jim Gay-  Our unit has had a couple of extrications. One search for a runaway. We applied for a grant for a search and rescue command trailer. We did door to door flood warnings for flood conditions on the river.

Mini Cassia, Dale Crowther- We had a busy winter with coyote hunters, 4 wheelers a couple of down planes out in the desert. We have been busy with training.

Power, Pete Williams- We have had had 7 searches for the 2006 season thus far, one of these searches consisted of a missing person. This individual gathered up his belongings from his residence along with items that did not belong to him and left the area. At the present time there is a warrant for his arrest. One consisted of 2 lost individuals on the desert, they did not know where they were at and were stuck in the mud. Five were stranded boats and rescues off of the American Falls reservoir and Snake River. Power Co. applied for a grant through Idaho Parks and Recreation for the purchase of a new jet boat. We received the grant for the amount of $44,210.00. We have also applied for a grant through the Idaho Community Foundation for a small rescue boat. We will be holding our annual Salmon Bake on July 15^th, we encourage all that can make it to come and enjoy a wonderful meal and have fun. Last years event served 1250 people. We hope to have our new jet boat on display. We will be having water rescue training in August on the American Falls reservoir. This training will consist of the use of jet boats, jet skis, and the use of backboards. We encourage you to participate in this training.

Salmon, Rick Pruett- Salmon started out quiet the first part of spring. Then things started to happen. We had three extrication calls, a lady injured in a 4-wheeler accident and an injured hiker. We provided medical on two different weekends for the motor cross races. We are gearing up now for the 4^th of July festivities.

Committee Reports:

Web page, Dawn Lenz -Asked to be excused. ISSAR thanked Dawn for a job well done. The web page looks great. If you have anything you want on the web site, contact Dawn.

Sheriffs Assoc. Sheriff Dasenbrock- The sheriffs’ meeting was held in Twin Falls. Sheriff Dasenbrock brought up to the sheriffs the Jr. membership. They felt that the individual sheriff could make this decision based on their needs. Sheriff Dasenbrock spoke of the issues relating to ATV’s and how to classify them. There is a committee that is looking into how to regulate ATV’s. The sheriff of Camas Co. is over this committee. If you have any suggestions about this contact him.

Sheriff Dasenbrock spoke about what is the true definition of search and rescue. There are a lot of problems with other agencies. There needs to be some definition as to who is trained and required to do what. The regulation needs to come from local events or local authorities.

Scrapbooks:  Marie started a Past State Commanders scrapbook she has put a lot of work into this project to help preserve the history of ISSAR. Marie would like to turn this book over to the 2^nd Vice Commander to keep up to date. Norma Charles has the other scrapbooks. Anything you have that could be put into the scrapbooks please send to Norma.

Jr. Membership: We have been talking about this for some time now. Some aspects of this would work and some would not. This needs to be looked at within the individual units. The intent of this is to get younger members involved and provide them with training. They need to be limited on what they can do. The units that are now using Jr. members use them for non-dangerous things, such as moving vehicles, making sandwiches, and providing other services that help out.

Search Reimbursements, Brett Mackert -A couple of issues have come up regarding search reimbursement. One being the amount of time it takes to get search reimbursements back. The girl that is in charge of issuing checks was in a bad car wreck so that put a lot of work on the other girl to keep up on everything.  We also learned that when you are out on a snowmobile search, meaning searching for someone on a snowmobile, it comes out of a different fund. It comes out of Parks and Recreation fund. It can be a very lengthy process to get reimbursements back. We also had some problems with the address to send in paperwork that has been changed and should be correct on the ISSAR web page and also the Sheriffs Assoc. web page. We are trying to get search reimbursement on a computerized level. Where all you have to do is type in the numbers and information.  If you have input on computerizing the forms contact Brett or Sheriff Dasenbrock. There has also been an issue with reimbursements for road closures. Power Co. puts in a lot of hours on road closures that are denied for payment, as they are not actual searches. Sheriff Dasenbrock stated that maybe the county could work with the commissioners to resolve this in their county, or possibly make up a bill and present to ITD for closures of the interstate. Brett brought up that membership turnout to meetings is down with the price of fuel and such. He proposed that maybe mileage could be turned in to a unit for reimbursement. Sheriff Dasenbrock stated that search and rescue is very important to the counties. Maybe some money could be set aside in the counties for a couple of members to attend and bring the training back to the units.

Everett Bogart Award: The committee met this morning as a board and voted. JD spoke about the award and the award recipient will be announced at the September meeting. We need to get nominations in by the winter meeting.

Unfinished business: 

Minutes - were passed out for review earlier. Gordon Wothe made a motion to accept minutes as printed, JD Drury seconded motion. Motion passed

501c3  Olivia Giannasi, there was a couple of counties that called and said they were not valid with the 501c3. This was a mistake made by the IRS it has been fixed and taken care of. There are a couple of counties using the 501c3. If any unit changes their mailing address they need to let me know so I can submit the yearly report to the IRS. Being 501c3 does not exempt us from paying Idaho State sales tax.

Proposed and actual budget was discussed. It was decided to leave the budget as is, and review it again at the fall meeting.

John Gornick and Marie Wothe were in charge of the treasurers audit report. The audit report was read and accepted by membership as printed and read.

County Insurance: Dale Crowther brought up some issues they are having with fundraisers. Some of the issues are, we have to buy separate insurance to cover spectators and cover the event. The members should be covered under the county. It is a good idea to have some type of liability insurance when holding fundraisers.

New business:

It was brought up what to do with the state money if the state assoc. ever dissolves. One of the suggestions was that the money be distributed back to the counties that were currently members of the state, with the money being prorated by member numbers. The counties would have to have 501c3 status to get money. This needs to be put in the by laws. Discussion was held on this issue. The money would have to go back in to a non-profit organization. Gordon Wothe suggested we table this until September meeting and let the by laws committee come up with the proper wording.

JD spoke about a rescue dog from Logan that has been on numerous searches. This dog needs a hip replacement. They are holding a large yard sale for the benefit of this dog. If she raises more than the expenses needed she is going to start a rescue dog foundation for all search dogs. JD made a motion that we donate $100 to Sandafer Logan rescue dog. Discussion was held on this. JD amended the motion to donate $250 for medical needs. Seconded by Terry Stewart. Motion passed.

Elections Results

Commander -Pete Williams

1^st Vice -Brett Mackert

2^nd Vice -Reid Stewart

Communications -Jim Gay

Secretary -Sandra Drury

Treasurer/Quartermaster -Olivia Giannasi  (no vote, as this is a two year position)

John Dawdy made a motion to destroy the ballots, seconded by Terry Stewart. Motion passed.

Future meetings:

Fall campout will be held in Salmon over Labor Day weekend.

Bear Lake Co will hold winter meeting in Montpelier.

National fall meeting will be held in White Hall Montana on Sept. 16^th

Pete thanked Idaho Co. for hosting the meeting it has all been wonderful and is greatly appreciated.

Gordon Wothe presented Commander Pete Williams with a plaque for his services as Commander for 2005-2006.

Meeting Adjourned