The regular quarterly meeting of
the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council was called to order by President Ron
Wisbith at 1036 Hours on Saturday, March 26, 1988 in Cabin 9 at Gifford Pinchot
State Park. There being a quorum present the regular order of business began.
The minutes of the
previous meeting, held on December 19, 1987 were distributed. A correction was
noted on page 3 relative to the Managing Search Operations course. A period was
inserted after the word package and the remainder of the sentence deleted. The
minutes were then approved as corrected.
The Treasurer
reported a balance on hand of $310.44 as of the this meeting date. He also
reported that the following organizations had paid their 1988 dues:
Keystone SAR
Northeast SAR Greater Philadelphia SAR Somerset County Sheriff's SAR Rescue 40 West
Jersey Canine
SMRG, through its
representative Kevin Parkes, requested assistance with a special assignment, a
50 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail scheduled for April 23. All Council
members will be sent a mailing via the newsletter with more details.
The Training
Committee reported that Gary Derr would be teaching a mantracking course following
the next regular meeting. A classroom session will be held on Saturday afternoon
with the practical exercise to follow on Sunday morning. The location will be
the same as the next meeting location.
The President
reported on behalf of the Membership Committee that two applications for
membership required followup. Members were reminded that applications for
membership must be referred to the membership Committee Chairman, Bruce Barton.
The President instructed the Secretary to forward these followup requests to
the Chairman by certified mail
The Ethics
Committee reported on the use of SAR Council resource data for commercial
purposes. It was recommended that only the official name and addresses of
member organizations be released to commercial mailers. Any member organization
NOT wishing to receive such commercial mailings as proprietary school training
programs, catalogs, etc. should so inform the Secretary and their address will
be removed from any list released. Commercial users should make their requests
in writing stating the purpose of the request.
The mail ballot
amendment to the Bylaws, previously published was adopted unanimously. A copy
is attached to these minutes.
The previously
published policy statement of the Colorado Search and Rescue Board to NOT
charge for SAR services was discussed and recommended as a guideline for all
member organizations. A copy is attached to these minutes.
The Legislation
Committee's report was read into the record. There have been no responses to
the Committee's questionnaire on legislative needs.
After considerable
discussion from the floor the body unanimously endorsed House Bill 751,
currently in the Conservation Committee. Legislative Committee Chairman Weyrich
is tasked with tracking this bill. Copies will be published when available.
All member
organizations are urged to support this bill by contacting their home district
representative and having their members also write to their representative.
This bill is a starting point for organizing SAR in Pennsylvania.
Incorporation of
the Council as a non-profit corporation was tabled as there appeared to be no
immediate need to incorporate. Mutual aid agreements were discussed. As the
local responsible authority must approve all such requests for additional aid
prior to the request being issued on real missions in Pennsylvania this matter
was left to the individual teams. All members present affirmed that they would
respond to another member's call for assistance, resources permitting.
The dates and
locations of the next meetings were discussed and the following schedule adopted:
June 18, 1988; Sept. 24, 1988, Dec. 17, 1988, March 25, 1989, and June 24,
1989. Mr. Lipko stated that the Fire Academy's policy requiring an Academy
employee to be present, on paid overtime, while another state agency used the
facility is being revised. The dates the Fire Academy facility was available
were considered when the schedule was revised. It was the consensus of the body
that the SAR Council should establish its meeting place permanently at the Fire
Academy if the facility would be available.
Ken Boyles
announced on behalf of the DER that four courses for external training have
been completed and are available for training SAR groups. These courses will only
be presented by DER instructors.
Ken will present
summaries of theses courses at the next SAR Council meeting. He further stated
that DER policy is to only allow the materials to be used by qualified instructors.
A-V materials will not be loaned or duplicated for any other purpose.
The analysis of
search mission data is continuing and several preliminary findings were
presented. This material is not yet ready for publication as the current data
base is too small. ALL missions must be reported and the reports sent to the
DER for inclusion in the data base. The NASAR mission report form is acceptable
and may be elaborated on by attaching additional sheets describing the mission
or maps and other notes. Reports will be accepted at any time for any mission,
so catch up on your paperwork and submit your reports to the DER data bank. The
statistics derived from this data base will be needed to justify the existence
of organized SAR in the Commonwealth. Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue
announced that GPSR would be alerted by the Montgomery County (PA) public
safety communications center located in the Eagleville EOC. A new emergency
telephone will be installed on or after April 1, 1988 by the telephone company.
This phone will be listed to Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue and will be
an Eagleville-Norristown exchange. As of the meeting date the alerting tones
had been assigned and tested, some pagers acquired, and procedures prepared for
entry in the CAD system. The new number will be published as soon as procedures
are confirmed. The current emergency number will remain in effect in parallel
for at least 90 days after the new system is activated.
The meeting adjourned
at 1500 hours.
The Secretary, as instructed by the
body on the adoption of the Bylaws, submitted the following Amendment to the Bylaws
of the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council:
Be it resolved at
this regular quarterly meeting of the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council,
convened on March 26, 1988 at the Gifford Pinchot State Park that section
IV.2.a of the Bylaws be amended to read:
IV.2.a ELECTION OF
OFFICERS--A printed ballot containing the names in alphabetical order of the
nominees for each elective office shall be provided to each member
organizations' designated representative to the Council. This ballot shall be
prepared by the Secretary so as to implement the following voting procedures:
At the regular third
quarter meeting of the Council nominations for elective office shall be opened
in the course of business. These nominations shall be closed by motion or on
adjournment of the meeting. Following the closing of nominations the Secretary
shall prepare an official ballot and mail one ballot and an envelope for
wrapping the ballot to the official address of each of the member
organizations.
Each member
organization, through its official delegate, shall indicate its vote for the
appropriate number of candidates for each elective office. The marked ballot
shall be then be placed in the wrapping envelope provided without marking the
wrapping in any way that may indicate the organization's identity or the vote
contained therein.
The envelope
containing the ballot shall then be placed in a suitable mailing envelope. The mailing
envelope shall be marked with the name of the organization, address, and
signature of the delegate(s) in the area usually reserved for the return
address. The ballot shall be mailed to the Secretary so as to arrive ten
working days prior to the fourth quarter meeting when elections are scheduled.
The ballot
submitted in accordance with this article shall be the official ballot of the
member organization. Organizations that do not submit a ballot by mail may vote
by appearing at the meeting prior to the beginning of the vote count and
completing a ballot in the manner described above.
The resolution having
been passed unanimously by the quorum present at the regular quarterly meeting
and the conditions for amending the Bylaws of the Pennsylvania Search and
Rescue Council having been satisfied the Secretary certifies that this is a
true and correct copy of the Amendment as passed and made effective on March
26, 1988.