The Board of Directors meeting was
called to order at 10:05 by President John Miller. Board members present
included: President John Miller, Secretary Peter McCabe, and Directors Eric
Gustkey, Art Kalbach and Mike Norris. Directors not present were Vice President
Joe Thrash, Treasurer Carole Manuel, Keith Conover and Tom Hirchak.
Corrections to the Previous
Minutes: In the presentation of Minutes from the last Board meeting, the
following corrections were made.
One, the meeting
was held on November 21 1998, not December 20, 1998.
Two, Eric Gustkey
(Laurel Highlands) had been appointed Central Region Director on 11-21-98 for
the unexpired term to December 2001, and Art Kalbach (WEST) had been appointed Eastern
Region Director on 11-21-98 for the unexpired term to December 1999.
Three, membership requirements
for PSARC Operational Teams require that to be considered operational in the
year 2001, operational teams need to have 50% of their operational membership
FTM qualified by December 31, 2000. (It was indicated that FTM qualifications in
the Pennsylvania CAP and ASRC meet this requirement.)
For the period January 1, 1998 to
December 31 1998, there were $947.62 in receipts, $1,792.74 in disbursements
with a checking account balance of $96.28. There was $1,844.68 in a money
market account with net assets reported at $1,840.96. (See attached financial
reports.)
These are briefly noted in the
order discussed.
·
In a letter dated 1-21-99, Northeast SAR is interested in
rejoining the Council. Following discussion, it was concluded that Membership
Chair Don Scelza should send a letter to Northeast SAR indicating the Board
would like to talk to their Board during the May SAREX. O There is a request
for membership information from Mountaineer SAR in Emporia.
The Board of Directors meeting was
adjourned at 11:12 hours
Respectfully submitted
Peter A. McCabe Secretary
The General Membership Meeting was
called to order at 11:35 hours by President John Miller.
Representatives
from a dive and recovery team were welcomed as visitors to the Council meeting.
Council members signed in (see attached)
The Secretary's
Minutes from the November 21, 1998 meeting were approved as amended.
The Treasurer's
Report was approved as presented (see attached).
Discussion of the Council SAREX
during May 14-16 was held. Teams were urged to send in early registrations due
to the popularity of the training event.
The PSARC mailing post
office box will be moved from Somerset to Lancaster. WEST will provide space
for Council archives with members asked to bring files to the May SAREX so they
can be organized and placed in the PSARC archives.
Work in the Forms
Committee is progressing with plans for final actions and approvals at the
PSARC Board meeting at the May SAREX.
Discussion took place
regarding a PSARC WEB page. <<<PSARC.ORG>>> has been
registered. A committee is being formed by Keith Conover with a report to be
provided at the May SAREX.
Under Council Training Committee
activities, it was noted the Pennsylvania Fire Training Academy is again beginning
to offer ground SAR training courses in basic grid, and advanced grid.
Pennsylvania DCNR is also planning to offer a series of courses (some redundant
to the Fire Training Academy) in a revised single Grid Search course (formerly
Basic Grid, and Advanced Grid), MSO, and First Responder. DCNR also plans to
offer a 16-hour MSO refresher course. In DCNR zones 1 and 2, there are 15 DCNR
SAR instructors. Board member and DCNR ranger Mike Norris indicated to become
an instructor one needs to pre-qualify with DCNR and that information on that
procedure will be forthcoming. He indicated that FTM testing is now underway
throughout Pennsylvania. DCNR is planning a WEB page for its SAR Task Force.
The PSARC WEB page will carry announcements of DCNR training and testing
programs.
It was noted that
a 40-hour Practical Search Operations (PSO) training course for PSARC members
was planned for September 17-19 and October 15-17 at a site to be determined in
western Pennsylvania. In March, members of the QCNR SAR Task Force took the PSO
training course at the DCNR Training Center.
In a wide ranging discussion
regarding opportunities and challenges for Council teams to become operational,
it was concluded that any SAR team, functioning without uniform operational
standards, will have difficulty approaching a government agency at the local,
county or state level for consideration of acceptance as a professional
resource. In this discussion, it was acknowledged there will be some SAR units
that will decide not to follow a route to become operational, and that some
teams wishing to do so will need to move through a training and accreditation
procedure. Following this discussion a series recommendations were presented as
a motion that PSARC Operational Teams will
1. Complete and submit a Council Resource
Information Sheet; and
2. Appoint one member of their team
to serve on the PSARC Operations Committee with the responsibility of the
Operations Committee to develop by June 30,
1999, Operational Team
Accreditation Standards for phased-in implementation beginning January 1, 2000
The motion included a requirement for team accreditation standards to include
increasing minimums of trained and accredited members over an 18-month phase in
period; and that team accreditation standards include minimum equipment
requirements with an 18-month phase in period. The motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business, the
meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted; Peter A.
McCabe Secretary