ISSAR

Idaho State

Search And Rescue

2007 Summer Convention Minutes

 June 10^th, 2007

Twin Falls, ID - Hosted by Twin Falls Co.

Commander Pete Williams called the meeting to order at 0900 hrs.

Invocation was given by Terry Stewart

Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Ron Stilwell

Roll call

Officers:

Commander Pete Williams                               Present

1^st Vice Commander Brett Mackert                 Present

2^nd Vice Commander Reid Stewart                  Present

Secretary Sandra Drury                                    Present

Treasurer/ Quartermaster Olivia Giannasi     Present

Communication Jim Gay                                   Present

15 counties being represented

Past State Commanders present: Cole Colvin, JD Drury, Dale Crowther, Gordon Wothe, and Stan Fenn.  Excused was Brent Lewis.

National officers present: John Gornick Commander, Reid Stewart 1^st Vice, Marie Wothe Secretary, Mike Oliverson Communications, Ron Stilwell 2^nd Vice. Past National Commanders present were Terry Stewart, Jerry Colvin, Marie Wothe, Gordon Wothe, Cole Colvin, JD Drury, and Sandra Drury.

A moment of silence was held for deceased or seriously ill members, Evan Riggs from Cache Co. Utah had by pass 2 weeks ago. Also our troops that are serving and our law enforcement personnel.

Hosting Unit Remarks, Rob Leitch: "This is the first time we have been able to do this. We hope you  have enjoyed your time here."

Officer's Reports

1^st Vice, Brett Mackert - I have been working with Sheriff Collins on a couple of different issues, one being the search reimbursements / training funds.

2^nd Vice, Reid Stewart -

Communications, Jim Gay -  Our licenses are all in order. I would like to thank Twin Falls. They have done a good job and I appreciate the pistol shoot returning to convention. I've had a good time.

Secretary, Sandra Drury - I have sent out minutes to all the units. Also, there was a lot of communication going on Yahoo groups. JD and myself applied for grants for Idaho State through Alcoa. I am not sure if Brent has received them  yet. I have finished up the membership cards for the units who have added members.

Treasurer, Olivia Giannasi - Olivia reviewed what the balances in the accounts with a total current balance of  $9,332.43, general fund $5,613.43, training fund $3,317.00; we will discuss the training fund later. Due to the 501 ( c ) 3 status if your unit has any changes in address you need to let the treasurer know and also the form 4202 you can use when you hold fund raisers or apply for grants or donations the companies can write their donation off.

Olivia thanked everyone for 13 wonderful years.

Quartermaster, Olivia- supplies are low, we need to order more supplies. In regards to supplies we did a trial run on new shirts in new colors. We will not go with the cream color, but will probably order the burgundy and hunter green. The new stickers are in process with the new logo. The magnetics are extremely expensive. It was brought up to order new stickers and have people put them on their own magnetic backing.

Unit Reports

Bannock, Steve Clinkscales- We had 43 runs, 3 major searches and 3 extrications. With a total of 4, 423 miles and 485 man hours.

Bear Lake, Reid Stewart-  Since the start of the year and the winter meeting in Bear Lake, we have had five call outs, 600 hours. . The most recent being an ATV wreck in North Canyon at 2:00 a.m. Monday morning, in which we transported the male out to a waiting ambulance and a female to a clearing for pick-up by Life flight. Our unit has begun campground patrols and we are gearing up for the fair ground patrols in August. We have had some great training and added a few new members to our unit. We are still finalizing the unit Junior membership program and should have it ready to kick off come fair time. Spare time is spent hanging drywall in the bays and getting the building and grounds ready for the 2008 National convention.

Bonneville, Stan Fenn - We have been pretty busy, we have been doing boat inspections, fundraisers, training with high angle and swift water.

Boundary, Don Stolley - We had 2 searches for snowmobiles, a prank call, and search training.

Fremont, Brian Lenz - As of June 1, we were up to 17 searches, 2 snowmobiles stuck on the reservoir in the slush. During spring run off, we had a dog stuck on a limb. During this, we were called to another call. We found the person we were looking for in the desert on March 18^th. Fremont Co will be hosting the fall campout.

Lincoln, Brian Chenney - Several callouts for kids missing.

Mini Cassia , Dale Crowther - We had 3 searches, 13 extrications.

Power, Ron Stilwell - Last fall, we had a 13-year-old male missing. We searched all night and found him about 4:00 AM 3 canyons away and he had actually started a fire.  We assisted Bannock County in a search for a missing lady. She was snowshoeing and got disoriented. She was out over 24 hours. This lady was 63 years old and an avid hiker She started in the Mink Creek area and ended up in Arbon Valley in Power Co. We had one call out for a stranded boat, two callouts for motorcycle accidents, one with 2 victims and most of our older members were gone, so our younger members got some good experience there. We had one yesterday morning that was a fatality. We have been doing a lot of training. We are combining our dive team into the search and rescue. We have all attended refresher courses in CPR, with three more of our members certifying for First Responders. We have been helping with marine patrol and have learned how to inspect boats. The Saturday of memorial weekend we inspected 85 boats. We are finishing up our grant for a new jet boat. We received a grant for an expansion on our building, 20 x 40. We got a grant for a new truck for marine patrol. We would like to invite everyone to the National convention in American Falls June 14-17; we have a lot of fun planned. We will be having our annual salmon bake on July 14.

Salmon, Rick Pruett - We have been relatively quiet. One callout for a stranded snow machine. Two more callouts when we left Friday.

Clearwater, Joyce Nobels - We have had 7 callouts, a mutual assist with body recoveries. We stay very busy.

Committees

Search Reimbursements- Brett Mackert:  I have been working with Wes Collins, at our winter meeting we proposed an increase reimbursement rates for searches. They have discussed this; it was subjected that now is not a very good time. They are going to keep this on the back burner and increase the rates in the near future. They realize the rates are behind. There are some concerns with the state search and rescue fund. There is some money coming into that fund this year. There is also snowmobile fund that can only be used for actual snowmobile searches if you have any searches that were for snowmobiles they need to be turned in immediately.  He also asked me to convey to you at this meeting today, that he would like to see a change in the search reimbursement form. The forms are cumbersome and redundant. If someone would like to champion revamping the form. I would like actually having someone write an Excel program or other program, where you can type the information in and have it calculate the reimbursement. If anyone wants to take this on let Brett know. Olivia will look into making a spreadsheet. It would be very beneficial to make this form electronic. Some units are still using the wrong form; make sure you are using the most current form. These can be found on the Sheriffs Assoc web site or the state web page.

Web page, Dawn Lenz- get information in to me to be posted on the web page.

Bylaws - In our last meeting in Montpelier, we discussed some issues with the training. We are going to offer some recommendations and offer a proposed by law change. We are proposing that we increase the dues to $5.00 per person currently $1.00 of dues goes into the training fund.  A general discussion was held on this subject.  It was recommended that we take this back to our units for discussion. Suggestion was made to set up a committee to look at the training fund. The committee consists of Tony Barrett, Stan Fenn, Joyce Nobels and the State Commander.

Audit Report - An audit was done by Marie Wothe and John Gornick and found all the books to be in proper form. Gordon Wothe made a motion to accept the audit report. Seconded by Terry Stewart. Motion carries. Olivia has done a wonderful job for the past 13 years and we thank her for her years of service to the state organization.

Everett Bogart Award - JD Drury asked the Past State Commanders to come forward to help present the award.

The Everett Bogart award was awarded to Stan Fenn from Bonneville County for his dedication, both to his local unit and to the state organization. Congratulations Stan.

Old Business:

Minutes- Stan Fenn made a motion to accept minutes as printed. Seconded by Terry Stewart. Motion passed.

New Business:

ISSAR Attendance - Brett brought up that we have had problems getting units to come to the state meetings. We discussed this a year ago and I am proposing that we propose to the sheriffs association that travel to and from the state meetings be handled just like a search. With the limitations for reimbursement of 1 vehicle per unit and the meals not provided by the hosting organization. This will help get people to the meetings.  Discussion was held. An advisory vote was held to see how many units represented at the meeting were in favor of taking this proposal to the sheriffs association. The vote was unanimous to propose this to the sheriffs association.

Gordon Wothe proposed that the new commander send out a news letter at least every other month to all the units as well as posting it on the web site.

Election Committee, JD Drury and Gordon Wothe -Elections were held for new officers for 2007-2008. 

Results were:

Commander Brett Mackert, Fremont Co.

1^st Vice Rick Pruett,  Salmon

2^nd Vice Tony Funk, Gooding Co.

Quartermaster/Treasurer Steve Clinkscales, Bannock Co.

Communications Jim Gay, Lincoln Co.

Secretary Brian Lenz, Fremont Co.

Congratulations to all the new officers.

Future meetings:

Fall Trailride- hosted by Fremont County. Information will be posted on the web site.

Winter meeting is open  (Clearwater may take this meeting with unit approval).

Boundary Co. offered to host the Summer Convention for 2008.

Rick Pruett made a motion to accept Clearwater Co. for the Winter Meet on unit approval and Boundary Co. for the 2008 summer convention, seconded by Reid Stewart. Motion carries. 

Power Co. offered to host the fall campout for 2008. Reid Stewart made a motion to accept Power Co as the hosting unit for the 2008 campout, seconded by Deverl King. Motion carries.

National Fall meeting will be held in Unitah.

Brett Mackert entertained a motion to adjourn, seconded by Reid Stewart. Meeting adjourned 11:52.

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary Sandra Drury

Commander Pete Williams