Medicine Hat Minor Hockey Association
Meeting of the Board of Directors
Monday February 9, 2015
5:30pm – Hockey Hounds
Present:
Tannis Lafferty / Kevin Mackay / Brad Irvine / Dean HarnackKrista Collier / Nick Douvis / Terrence Schultz / Kris Schultz
Alain Vachon / Michelle Miller / Joel Macaulay / Aaron Bowal
Chris Wyrostok / Tim Hall / Jason Prosofsky / Kenzie Liefso
Absent:
Jason Van Mulligen Michelle Klimosko
1) Call to Order: Tannis Lafferty called meeting to order at 5:34pm
2) Adoption of Agenda:
MOTION: Tim Hall moved to adopt the agenda for February 9, 2015
SECOND: Terrance Schultz CARRIED
3) Adoption of Minutes: January 12, 2015:
MOTION: Brad moved to adopt the January 12, 2015 meeting minutes
SECOND: Tim Hall CARRIED
4) Financial Report:
Joel presented the budget and so far it appears that we will be on budget this year. Tannis Lafferty and Joel will look into Midget AA and CAHL Bantam Honorarium and decide on how much it will be
5) Venom Name:
Tannis Lafferty spoke to Hockey Hounds to get permission to change our rep team names back to Hockey Hounds. They were in favor of this. This is a good time for this transition as the Venom jerseys are in need of replacement.
MOTION: Jason Prosofsky made a motion to change the colors of our rep teams (AA and CAHL) to Black, Orange, and White and return to the name of Hockey Hounds.
SECOND: Aaron Bowal CARRIED
Dean Harnack will take this to the next Hockey Hounds meeting and discuss their willingness to help with the cost of New jerseys
6) Community Foundation:
Nick Douvis asked the board if it would be worth it to put donations through a community foundation for tax deductions. The board does not feel that this is warranted as it would only apply to personal donations and presently we only have two personal donations. However if in the future we get more in the way of personal donations we will reconsider.
7) Skills Session:
Jason Prosofsky informed the board that he would be running a skills session Wednesday Feb 11th, 2015 at the Moose from 5:30-6:45pm for Novice. He will have Kenzie Liefso, Tim Hall, some peewee AA boys and some SEAC boys there to help. He will see what the feedback is for this and possibly try to offer this again after the season.
· Discussion: We would like to offer these skills session opportunities for coaches as well – Coaches would run through the drills, so that they would get some ideas for their own practices.
· Dean Harnack reported that there is money in the Hockey Hounds for Coach Development that we could possibly access.
· It was shared that the Peewee AA Venom Black Team had an Atom team practice with them on one occasion and that this was well received. The board will look into possibly pairing teams for mentoring kids as well as coaches for next year.
8) Hockey Hoedown:
Kevin MacKay will run this. Presently the Novice and Atom are full and they will run on thirds of the ice. Peewee may run on half ice depending on the final numbers. It will run from 8am-5pm Tuesday February 17, 2015. Some SEAC players have been contacted to help with this and a list of those names will be provided to Kevin so that the boys can be scheduled.
9) Atom and Novice CAHL Teams:
There are some concerns about the costs for parents and for the association. Also some concern that having CAHL teams makes ice scheduling before November difficult. Krista did talk to Tara from the city regarding ice and she assures that a regular schedule could be set after the seeding round in CAHL. A committee was struck to look at whether this option will be made available to the members for the 2015/2016 Hockey season. Committee will be chaired by Michelle Miller and will include Jason VanMulligan, Dean Harnack, Nick Douvis, Alain Vachon, Aaron Bowal, Kenzie Liefso and Kevin MacKay. This committee will meet and present their findings and recommendations to the board at the next schedules meeting.
It is essential that the committee consider the city league as this needs to be a priority.
10) Tournaments 70/30 Split:
It was brought forth that the original 70/30 split that the board agreed on at the beginning of the season is under question. Under AGLC licenses all monies generated from gaming have to be spent on what the application stated it would be spent on. This means that any money generated from gaming cannot be returned to parents to offset costs as AGLC would look at this as personal gain. This year Nick Douvis will ensure that all AGLC generated money will be spent properly and itemized and the board will revisit the 70/30 split at a later meeting.
11) Bullying and Harassment Charge Update:
Kenzie reported that this issue has been resolved. The bullying and harassment allegations have been retracted after all parties involved were in contact with each other. Recommendations to the board were as follows
1) Formalize the connection between MHMHA and SEAC as everyone need to be on the same page with respect to how SEAC operates within MHMHA
2) Avoid use of mass communication and text messages when dealing with contentious issues. Face to face meetings with minutes will be more productive and limit misinterpretation.
3) Modify the TRUST program to accomplish the following
a. The entire executive of MHMHA cannot be named in an allegation
b. Develop a test for the merit of a complaint against a board member
c. Develop a process for the investigation of a complaint (found to have merit) against a board member and guidelines for discipline.
12) Promoting Unsanctioned Events:
MOTION: Kenzie Liefso made a motion that MHMHA will not promote unsanctioned events.
SECOND: Dean Harnack CARRIED
13) Power skating Contract:
As of now there is no contract in place with Platinum Star. MHMHA feels that power skating at the Timbits/ Initiation level is definitely warranted, but is unsure of the merit of it in Novice. The board would like to explore other options including having some power skating instruction manufactured from within the association.
· Tannis Lafferty will look into the way the charges for the power skating are broken down by Platinum Star – Is it per session or one fee for the year?
14) Division Reports:
Timbits: Michelle Klimosko was absent due to road conditions
Initiation: Kris Schultz: P3 has been well received
MOTION: Kris Schultz made a motion to eliminate Initiation for the 2015/2016 hockey season and have just one program for 4, 5, 6 year olds - Timbits
SECOND: Terrance Schultz CARRIED
Discussion: The board would like to see more support for the coaches including coaching plans that would see all coaches in a level doing the same things on the ice.
Novice 1- Aaron Bowal: Tournament at the beginning of March. Parents are asking what next year will look like. Will it be P3? The board is still assessing this with the new association manager.
Novice 2 - Kenzie Liefso: Provided the board with a breakdown of practices/games
Atom A - Chris Wyrostok: Playoffs will run in March until the 3rd week.
Atom B - Jason VanMulligen: Absent
Peewee – Dean Harnack: Both CAHL teams will make playoffs and both Rep teams will make playoffs. Will look at how the structure of peewee will be laid out for the 2015/2016 year after the mandates come down from Hockey Alberta with the proposed Restructuring
Bantam – Brad Irvine: Nothing to report.
Midget – Terrence Schultz: Nothing to report.
Female Hockey - Nothing to report – Position not filled
City League – Tannis Lafferty/Alain Vachon: Issues combining Bantam/Midget together are evident and so the board will explore alternatives to get the Midget and Bantam House League full.
Coach Development – Tannis Lafferty/Ken Turnbull:
This will be promoted more by the board and the new association manager
15) President Report:
· Research has been done to move our board to a governance model. In this the board will form goals and then empower the management to fulfill these goals.
· Ken Sauer will be doing a presentation for the board members on the Governance model Saturday February 14, 2015 at 11am at the Hockey Hounds.
· Board Interest/Goals survey was handed out for board members to fill out. These need to be returned to Tannis Lafferty before Saturday February 14th at 11am.
· Registration dates are being worked on and the date for final registration will be moved back to August 15th, 2015.
· Jim Black volunteered to work on MHMHA sponsorship for the 2015/2016 season.
· Looking at the possibility of charging parents a volunteer fee for the hockey season. It would be the same as it was done in the past. In this, parents would pay a fee that would be reimbursed once their volunteer hours are complete.
16) New Business:
· Criminal Record Checks/ Child Welfare Checks – At the beginning of the 2015/2016 hockey season coaches will gather at their information site and the forms for these checks will be available. Coaches will be encouraged to fill the forms out at the meeting and Jason VanMulligen will submit them all. The coaches will then only have to pick them up with picture ID. This is meant to alleviate the pressure on coaches to find time to submit the forms themselves.
· Membership feedback will be solicited – Board members will forward possible questions to Kevin and he will develop a form for parents to fill out.
17) GM Report:
· Has been to watch about 17 of our teams and their practices in the first week. He noted that the kids’ development needs to be better and that coach development will be a priority. Coach Mentorship/Support is one suggestion for this.
· He also noted that because kids touch the puck so little in a game that the practices are the most important for skill development.
· Kevin will be around to see all of the teams practices this month and from this he will identify more of what needs to be done to improve skill development in our city.
· Kevin also addressed a concern that some kids aren’t attending practices and noted that practices need to be fun and challenging so that kids attend.
18) Adjournment:
Motion: Tannis Lafferty moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:39pm.
SECOND: Krista Collier CARRIED
Next Meeting – March 9th, 2015 – 5:30 pm Hockey Hounds