September 18, 2004
Official minutes
The future meeting dates and locations are as follows:
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Art Jordan, Sharon Fisher, Sarah Jordan, Chuck Dunnavant, Darrell Monroe, Glenn Schultz, Jim Peters, Jake Weber
GUESTS PRESENT: none
The meeting was called to order at 11:58 p.m.
IntroductionsEveryone at the meeting introduced themselves to the group.
Acceptance of the minutes.The minutes were accepted with the correction of WSSARCA. Chuck Dunnavant moved and Sharon Fisher seconded that the minutes be approved. The motion passed unanimously.
President's Report:Art reported on the Governor’s Advisory Emergency Management Council meeting he attended in September. He learned that Homeland Security monies can take 1-2 years to be available. Sometimes, the monies are reimbursed rather than given up front. To obtain monies you must make a specific request. Equipment purchased with the monies must be maintained for 10 years. During this time, equipment must be kept in working order. If repairs/maintanance is necessary, it must be made at the purchaser’s expense. Eventually, Search and Rescue groups may be able to access some money for training. One idea is that grants would be available to the DEM. That department would then hire 1-2 trainers and they would be available to at no cost to SAR volunteers.
Secretary’s Report:Notifying interested parties of upcoming meetings was discussed. Sarah and Chuck will work on the most cost effective way to do this.
Treasurer’s Report:The following counties have paid for their 2004 membership in SARVAC: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grant, Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Okanogan, Snohomish,Thurston, Whatcom and Yakima. The following council representatives have been identified: Clallam – Don Kelly, Clark – David Parson, Cowlitz – Chuck Dunnavant, Thurston – Bill Gillespie, Okanogan – Scott Miller, Snohomish – Glenn Schultz, and Yakima – Jake Weber.
The balance on 5/22/2004 was: $1695.18. $200 was received in dues, $110.38 was paid for awards and $10 to the Secretary of State. $14.22 was collected from caps/ patches sales.
The balance on 9/18/2004 was: $1,789.20
Old Business:
State SAR Conferences: 2005 Chelan County 2007 TBA (East side)
2006 King County 2008 TBA (West side)
Chris Long has requested that SARVAC determine who will host State SAR Conferences. It was moved that SARVAC determine the host counties for SAR Conferences with backing from Chris Long and with WSSARCA’s supoort. Counties that are SARVAC members will be given first consideration when selecting the host county. Jake Weber moved and Chuck Dunnavant seconded the motion.
SARVAC has given $1500 toward State SAR Conferences over the years to be used as “seed money” to help cover the initial costs of hosting the conference. SARVAC voted in May to give an additional $500 bringing the total to $2,000.
It was also decided to ask host counties to return the seed money each year. Then SARVAC will send it on to the next host county. Chelan county will be asked to send the $2,000 back to SARVAC by July 1, 2005 (unless the county notifies us otherwise) and SARVAC will promptly send it on to King County.
Jim Peters will contact Chelan County about this decision and also send them the additional $500 to add to the current amount.
New Business:
Chelan County has been very supportive of recognizing SARVAC’s role in the State SAR Conference. It was decided that we would like to design and print a flyer about SARVAC that could be included in the conference materials each participant receives. The flyer will be designed at the November meeting. Please come with input about the design of the flyer and what should be included.
Jim Peters shared concerns expressed at the WSAARCA meeting about fundraising by a group that is legally asking for SAR donations, but not for the ongoing costs of local units. Some people who are contributing think they are supporting the efforts of their local SAR volunteers, but the donations are not. Jim Peters shared that this fundraising has been negatively affecting the fundraising efforts of local units in many counties. Please be advised that this may be happening. Complaints have been made to the Attorney General’s office. Groups are encouraged to have citizens all the A.G.’s office and/or work through the local law enforcement agency if they feel something has been done illegally in terms of fundraising in their area.
Jim Peters talked about the Modified ERI International SAR benchmarks Draft presented for consideration that he was given at WSSARCA. The draft is going to be presented to the Chief’s and Sheriff’s Association next. If the format is approved by them, then the process will continue in this work to have Washington State Out-of-County Standards. Discussion ensued and members were asked to come back to the next meeting with their thoughts and ideas about this document. SARVAC’s input will be a valuable part of this process/document.
Unit Reports
Okanogan – 19 missions to date. Plan to have all SAR personnel CERT trained this fall.
Yakima – 9 missions thru June. In one 24 hour period, there were 4 missions. Help was provided with a drowning victim, locating lost hikers, transporting evidence, and manning barricades in areas with forest fires.
Cowlitz – Searchers responded to several situations over the summer including an airplane crash where they documented the scene and transported one victim by litter to the coroner’s van. Assistance was provided at drownings and in searching for an overdue young child on 2 separate occasions.
Snohomish – Several incidents required SAR assistance including two occasions when people went over Canyon Falls in the Mt. Index area. In addition, a base jumper died, a hiker was hit by a rock, and a young hiker became ill and SAR volunteers helped transport all those individuals out of the wilderness.
Adjourned: Motion to adjourn at 3:04 p.m. Motion unanimously passed.
SARVAC's mailing address the address as follows:
SARVAC
Washington EMD
Camp Murray WA 98430-5122
The web address is: http://wasar.bizland.com/
For information about the site you can contact the webtech at webtech@wasar.bizland.com
Chris Long [the State SAR Coordinator of WA]
can be reached at the web address: c.long@emd.wa.gov,
WA-SAR.net: www.wa.gov/wsem.
From this web page you select SAR.
You can down load forms and find out what is going on within the state.