Official minutes
Meeting March 20, 2004
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Art Jordan, Sharon Fisher, Sarah Jordan, Brooks Hanford, Wanda Hightower, Chuck Dunnavant, Darrell Monroe, Glenn Schultz, Jim Peters, Terry Lawrence, Darrell Verney, Bill Gillespie, and Karen Luniger
GUESTS PRESENT:
None
Next SARVAC Meeting:May 22, 2004 at at state SAR convention,
EOC. Board meeting 11:30 a.m. General meeting 12:00 p.m.
SARVAC’s mailing address as follows:
SARVAC
Washington EMD
Camp Murray WA 98430-5122
The future meeting dates are as follows:May 22,2004 at State SAR Conference- Time TBA in the State SAR Conference schedule
September 18, 2004, East Side Meeting. Board Meeting 11:30 a.m. General Meeting 12:00 p.m. Council Chamber Conference on 102 N. Pearl, Ellensburg WA
November 20, 2004 at Camp Murray EOC. Board Meeting 11:30 a.m. General Meeting 12:00 p.m.Board meeting was called to order at 11:45 a.m., General Meeting at 12:15 p.m.
Introductions
Acceptance of the minutes.
The minutes were accepted with the additions of Jim Peters and Terry Lawrence as members present at the November 2003 meeting. Chuck Dunnavant moved and Brooks Hanford seconded that the minutes be approved with the noted corrections. The motion passed unanimously.
Also corrected was the Member-at-Large position to be voted on today. The position up for reelection was Darrel Monroe’s position not Terry Lawrence’s position.
President's Report: Art is still working to get SAR personnel identified as 1st Responders through theEmergency Management Council. Another goal of his goals as a council member is to make training that is available through the state accessible to SAR volunteers. Most SAR volunteers can’t pay the travel and room/board costs to attend trainings or miss work to attend trainings during the work week.
Secretary’s Report:
Trying to get an updated mailing list for SARVAC has been difficult. Terry Lawrence loaned a CD with the names of SAR Coordinators for each county so that we can use those contacts to update the SARVAC mailing list. Chuck Dunnavant will contact Gene Siebert from Lewis County to see if we can get a copy of the mailing list that is being used for contacting SAR members in the State about the upcoming SAR conference.
Treasurer’s Report:
The following counties have paid for their 2004 membership in SARVAC: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Snohomish, 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 3/20/2004 was: $1615.13.
Terry Lawrence moved that the Treasurer’s report be accepted as presented and Brooks Hanford seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
It was discussed that SARVAC should receive an acknowledgement of some kind at the State SAR Conference for providing seed money to help with the initial expenses of planning for the conference.
Committee reports: Terry Lawrence shared that the WSSARCA has been unable to complete Out-of-County SAR guidelines. The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure counties, when they request searchers from SAR units in other counties, that the searchers who respond will have the knowledge and skills to safely do the tasks expected of them.
Terry will get the proposed guidelines back from the WSSARCA representative for SARVAC.
Also, there has been an individual who has been contacting SAR units and individuals and representing his organization as a SAR Support Council for the State of Washington. He has 3 complaints against him with the Attorney General’s Office. There is information on the WSSARCA website about him. Tom Walker, of Spokane, can also be contacted for further information.Nominations for Officers:
At the November meeting, the Board recommended that the By-Laws be changed to allow officers to serve more than two terms for the good of the organization. Chuck Dunnavant moved and Wanda Hightower seconded that change in the By-Laws. It passed unanimously.
No additional nominations were made for the open positions so Wanda Hightower moved and Chuck Dunnavant seconded that each person nominated in November be approved. It passed unanimously. Art Jordan was elected as President and will serve March 04 – March 06, Sharon Fisher was elected as Treasurer to serve from March 04 – 06, and Darrell Monroe was elected to serve as Member-at-Large from March 04 – March 06.Old Business:
The Washington State Search & Rescue Advisory Council Revised By-Laws - January 2004 were presented for acceptance. A correction was made under 3.2 E MEMBER AT LARGE from “Shall be responsible to file all required financial reports with the appropriate agency.” to “Shall represent the voting membership concerns and interests at Executive Board Meetings.”
With that revision, the By-Laws were accepted unanimously.
Corrected By-Laws will be sent to all Board Members and counties who have sent membership information for 2004 to SARVAC.State SAR Conferences: 2004 Lewis County
2005 Chelan County
2006 King CountyNew Business:
SARVAC will present award for Junior (up to age 21), Senior, and Meritorious SAR members at the State SAR Conference in May. Councils may send their nominations to President Art Jordan to his home address or email address. So and So, the Thurston County Representative, will see about scanning the nomination form so they can be sent via email.
For the 2005 awards, nomination will be accepted between November 2004 and March 2005 and then voted upon at the March 2005 SARVAC meeting.
Glenn Schulz suggested that the links on SARVAC are checked out on a regular basis to be sure that they are accurate and current.Unit Reports:
Cowlitz – Has had a quiet winter. On March 13, a Mock Mission was held that was very successful.
Snohomish – Road washouts have limited people’s access to popular wilderness areas and so have had a reduction in the number of calls.
Okanogan – One search ended in a recovery mission when the lost hunter was found in a river. Three trainings/month have kept the team busy. While on one training, they were able to respond to a severely injured person within a 1/2 hour. If the unit hadn’t been training, it would have taken them several hours to respond. Another time they were able to help 3 stranded snowmobilers.
Kitsap – There have been few searches in Kitsap this winter. Six people were recently trained through the Public Safety Diving Course. On April 3 & 4 there will be a Kitsap County mock search.
Yakima – SAR is helping with the Lifesaver Project. Currently there are 12 clients (10 elderly and 2 autistic children) who are benefiting from this program.
Jefferson – Quiet. No one in the field since December. Ongoing revamping and updated of search procedures has been happening. A council has been formed with a representative from each SAR unit. The goal is to have a trained overhead team. The council has been meeting once/month. Each person who is a SAR volunteer in Jefferson receives a patch after completing initial training. A county wide mock search has tentatively been scheduled for July 17th.Adjourned: Motion to adjourn at 1505 hours. Motion unanimously passed.
SARVAC‘s mailing address the address as follows:
SARVAC
Washington EMD
Camp Murray WA 98430-5122SARVAC web site.
Any information you would like to see announced, may be addressed to SARVAC‘s web manager. Noel McRae, a life member of Cowlitz County Search and Rescue Team, has agreed to be the webtech.
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.
