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Contents:

● March 16, 2009 Meeting

● February 16, 2009 Meeting

● January 19, 2009 Meeting

● December 16, 2008 Meeting

● November 25, 2008 Meeting

● October 21, 2008 Meeting

● September 16, 2008 Meeting

● August 19, 2008 Meeting

● July 29, 2008 Meeting

● June 17, 2008 Meeting

● May 15, 2008 Meeting

● April 15, 2008, ANNUAL MEETING

•  Michelle said there were a lot of bills and good income. The polar plunge was a nice addition for us.

• There are still some people we owe money that we’ve owed money for a long time but we should be getting money from fund raising make up money and others that owe us.

• If we received all of our money owed and paid all of our outstanding bills, we would come out pretty even but would be difficult to pay our summer bills.

Brad motioned to approve the March treasurer report. Jeff seconded.  March report passed.

II.      Board Minutes

Michelle motioned to approve February minutes.  Kim seconded. February minutes passed.

III.   Old Business

A.      3 on 3 Tourney

• Minus getting the shaft from a Minnesota squirt team, the 3 on 3 tournament went very well. Curt was here to say the Peewee parents were upset that they worked the majority of the tournament.

• Rick said everyone is supposed to give the extra effort. During the Jr. Gold Tournament, the other parents picked up the slack the Peewee team didn’t fill.

• Michelle added that we need to do a better job of an association of telling everyone what is expected as far as the fundraising, food for tournaments, etc.

• Rick said if we had better advertising, we could get more teams available and it could be even more of a success.

 B.      One Goal

• St. Croix Falls agreed to go in with us to get 10 more bags of equipment.

• Rick would like to offer free hockey for all first year skaters.

IV.   New Business

A.      Ice Bowling

• Rick said everyone that can be there needs to be there to help.

• The Bantam and the Girl’s team can help out on Sunday.

• We prefer not to have kids in the rink the Friday of Ice Bowling due to the fact of having alcohol present.

• Wednesday night at 5:30 will be setup for the setup for the event.

• Thursday night at 5:30, the setup will begin.

B.      Grant form NHLPA

• There was a discussion about the state of our arena and the lack of funding available to make those funds. There was a discussion about the need to raise funds in the rink during the summer hours. Rick said it would cost $80,000 to put concrete in the rink to make the rink usable in the summer.  If we put in concrete, we’ll need to put in new boards and fix the ceiling.

• Rick and Josh are working on a grant from the NHLPA to fund these improvements. If the grant fails, Rick said we could look at refinancing although that’s not a very good option for us.

C.      Meeting with Siren.

• Jeff said Burnett wants to get together with us to discuss the games for the high school team next year and just having some open discussion for next season.

• Rick would like to see from girls and Bantams, we are co-opting every year.

• Rick told Jeff to go ahead and schedule this meeting.

D.     Meeting with RVHA (Rick)

• Rick said RVHA wants to co-opt with us. Rick wants to meet with Siren first about opportunities. If that doesn’t work, River Valley can be an option.

E.      Set date and agenda for annual meeting

• The annual meeting is set for April 23^rd at 7:00 PM. We will see if it can be at Crex Convention Center.

F.      Curt Lee wishes to address the board.

• Curt addressed the board regarding the accusations brought up during a board meeting a couple of months ago from another association member. Curt would like to put a sign up sheet for private lessons so kids that want extra time, can get it rather than having a coach up there by himself with his own kid.

• The biggest issue with this is making sure someone is there to staff it.

•  Curt would like to set up a game with next year’s possible bantams.  The okay was given to do so.

•  Curt recommends we do the Learn to Skate program earlier next year.

G.      Updating the handbook

• Michelle would like the handbook updated and cleaned up. She would also like some of the policies stated. She would also like to see a rough budget set with an estimate of home games to help determine the budget.

• Josh is currently working on the policy manual

H.     Club Choice Pizza

• We get a $500 bonus to keep with Club Choice next year. The decision was made to keep it with them in order to get the $500.

I.        Banner for Bantams

• Jeff was wondering about getting a banner for the Bantam State Championship. It was decided that the association would get the banner for the team.

J.        Open Ice Issue

• Kim said River Valley rented our ice for a game against Oakdale and the Oakdale Jr. Gold trashed our locker room.

• Jeff said we should get an apology from the Oakdale association.

-          Michelle said it was a good month with tournament income but we haven’t caught up on everything. We’re behind on Bernick’s but hopefully the sign payments will help with this.

-          Parker gave us a donation. The board thanks them for their support.

-          Polar Plunge is this weekend and will help with the funding.

-          Rick mentioned about setting up a 3 on 3 tournament for March and this could help.

 Josh motioned to approve January minutes.  Michelle seconded. Motion carried.

There are 24 learn to skate kids. We are currently short on equipment so Michelle is calling other associations to see if they want to go in with us for the USA One Goal Equipment. This is a $70 bag with everything minus the skates and stick. The equipment will say “rental” on it.

 We need to start this program in the fall so we can possibly get some to register later on.

-The meeting with the BYHA went well. It was agreed upon that practice would be as close to 50-50 as possible with the understanding we’d have the varsity locker rooms completed.

-The boys varsity team has been accepted into a conference of Minnesota schools which will raise the competition and cut down on travel costs. There is a plan right now for a JV schedule that will allow them to skate close to the same schedule as the Varsity.

-          The Co-op resolution was passed 33-3 by the association. It now goes to the Grantsburg School Board on Feb.23^rd. The Wednesday night practice issue needs to be dealt with prior to the meeting.

-          Michelle has put out the information as far as the plunge goes. Dave Roberts will cut the ice and make the cage. She says on Saturday we will need at least 6 volunteers to help people out of the water.

-          There will be a $50 prize for the best costume and there will also be a trophy.

A.      Rick wants to put a 3 on 3 tournament together  the weekend of March 14.

B.      Ice Bowling will occur on the 21^st of March. There was a discussion for the encouragement of costumes of the Ice Bowling.

C.      The GYHA party will be on March 22^nd.

D.     Josh mentioned that he would like to work with Michelle on the Grantsburg Youth Hockey Policy Handbook to work on making it more user friendly.

-          Michelle said we are going to want to up our pizza sales or else ask people if they’d like to donate $5 to the hockey association.

-          Michelle said we would be a little behind with the budget at the end of the season. We will be pretty good February and March.

Angie motioned to approve the November treasurer report. Kim seconded the motion. November treasurer report passed.

Angie motioned to approve the December treasurer report. Kim seconded.  December report passed.

II.      Board Minutes

Michelle motioned to approve November minutes. Josh seconded. Motion carried.

Josh motioned to approve December minutes.  Michelle seconded. Motion carried.

-          We were going to start the 15^th of January but we will now start February 3^rd. Rick is going to talk with Mike about this. Rick, Brad, and Josh will help out with this during the mini-mite practices. Two letters will go out about the program. Age level will be Nelson and Elementary students. Rick will be the contact.

-          Dates will be given to Jeff Schinzing. We have a lot of Friday tournament dates this month so we will need to make up for those dates.

-Rick said we need to meet with Rebecca Harlander and the Burnett board to discuss the co-op agreement. One thing we want to look at is to make sure practices are 50-50.

If there is anything people want to bring up, let Rick, Jeff, and Brad know. After meeting with Burnett, we want to try to have an association vote by the second week in February so we can go to the board Feb.23.

Rick said our vote could be through a sign-in for full members or associate members. Only one vote per family is allowed.  

Tuesday, Feb.10, 2009 will be the date of the vote for the co-op agreement. A copy of the proposed new contract will be posted on the website and attached near the concession stand for the members to review.

IV.   New Business

A.      Collect money from teams that have exceeded budget amount for tournaments. This will be collected by the end of February.

-Michelle will send a friendly reminder to those that haven’t paid their registration. This will hopefully be collected or payment systems set up by the end of February.

- By Feb.15, the signs need to be paid for or else they will be taken down.

- Brought a formal complaint to the board about a situation that occurred with the peewee team. She feels this conflict was due to the lack of communication. A parent got upset and punched a wall. A coach from another Grantsburg team swore at Curt Lee in front of spectators near the concession stand. During the alumni game, another parent checked Curt and when asked what it was for, the parent said it was for his son and niece. During the same game, this same parent yelled across the ice, “Shut up Curt!”

Julie wants an apology from the parent that did this. She feels the board needs to do something to address this issue. Julie wants this to be a good environment for the kids to play in and coaches to coach in.

Michelle McEvers that this has been affecting the team.

Julie would like a statement in the handbook about the dual membership for a team and also the formal complaint process.

The board will get a school policy copy to see what the school does in situations such as this.

E.      Carmen Luedke letter

 -Carmen had a complaint that the peewee parents were allowed to go after the peewee tournament without cleaning. The tournament director let the workers go prior to the squirt game and open skating.

Everyone needs to clean after his or her own tournament.

F.      Darren Lien Letter

 -          Darren had three issues with a coach/association member. He’s concerned about bench minors, a sign that is up in the arena that hasn’t been paid for, and having family members skate on the ice during non-scheduled times.

-          Rick said the sign issue is being addressed. If we don’t see the money by the end of the month, the sign will come down. Rick did talk with the coach about using the ice during non-scheduled time. This coach agreed he wouldn’t do it again unless he was up at the rink working.

-          Rick feels the bench minors need to be addressed.  Because of this, Rick feels Curt needs to step down as the A.C.E. coordinator because it’s difficult to have someone in that position that is actually getting bench minors. The ACE coordinator is supposed to be a role model for our other coaches.

 G.      Polar Plunge

-          Rick gave the okay to Duke Tucker that the Hockey Association will head up the polar plunge. There will be a cage that is built to go into the water on Memory Lake. This will be a fundraiser where volunteers are willing to jump in the water. Players will get sponsors to donate money for the people to jump in the water.

-          Angie made the motion to have the hockey association sponsor the Polar Plunge during the Midwinter Days. Michelle seconded the motion. Motion carried.

November minutes will be approved at the next meeting.

Michelle will notify teams of their tournament money.

Mike Alderman said he will head up the learn to skate program but wants someone else to help out. This will be a one night a week program that will start January 15 at 5:30 PM until 6:15. This is a free program that will run through Feb.5th. Participants can utilize the free equipment through the hockey association.  

Rick, Josh, and Brad will help Mike with the program. 

Open skating will start December 26 from 7-8:30 PM. Friday, Jan.2 will have open skating followed by the alumni game. 

Jeff Schinzing inquired about Sunday dates for open skating that he will staff. The Sunday skating dates will be free. Angie motioned to approve Jeff to run the free Sunday open skating. Michelle seconded. Motion carried.

The 7/8th grade requested the rink to be open this Friday, the 19th of December from 12-1:40 PM. We will offer this for free. If anyone needs skates, they need to let us know. Jeff, Rick, and Brad will staff this. Rick would like to have all of the school kids have the opportunity and will talk with the Superintendent about the possibility of this.

Burnett sent us a proposal for co-ops. Rick felt the proposal was pretty solid. He’d like to see this at all WAHA levels. Jeff motioned to approve the co-op agreement as written. Angie seconded. Motioned carried.

Rick wanted to discuss the agreement with the Blue Line Club. Rick wants 50/50 practices. There was a poll of the girls’ varsity team and they loved the 50/50 split due to the earlier practice times. Rick feels next year, 60% of the players will be from Grantsburg. Rick wants to have Jeff, Brad, and Josh meet with the Burnett board prior to our decision on the varsity agreement.

There was an email sent out that states there is a work night tomorrow night to prepare for the WIAA game on Thursday night. We need to clean up the rink.

Michelle motioned to adjourn. Brad seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned.

Jan.19th at 6:30 will be the next board meeting.

There was a discussion if everyone agreed to the reimbursement for Jodi Cordell for the test and mileage for the test since she needs to be licensed to run the concession. We agreed. Michelle motioned to approve the minutes as amended. Kim seconded. Motion carried.

Michelle said she hasn’t sent a bill to some of those that are sponsoring us yet. Jeff questioned whether some of the businesses will donate some of the money that we owe them.

Brad made the motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Josh seconded. Motion carried.

We can send out letters in December for the learn to skate program. Mike Alderman is in charge of this and would appreciate any help.

Rick said Rebecca from Burnett Hockey Association has a written draft of a co-op agreement for future co-op teams between the two associations. This is a set of guidelines for the co-ops. Rick was informed there were some changes to the agreement that Rick wants to see. As a board, we need to take a look at it and accept some type of agreement/guidelines.

Rick said we need to decide as a board when and how we’re going to vote for the high school co-op. Jeff would like a way we can have a meeting about this prior to the vote so we can get the issues on the table. Our two-year agreement is up at the end of this season.

Jeff feels as a board, we need to look at our numbers and we’re really week. He said we need to look at co-opting with other associations.

Rick said at next meeting, we will take a look at the agreement from two years ago to get an idea of how we’d like the next agreement to look like. He said we might need to have an association meeting at the end of January in order to determine the direction we want to go.

Rick said we need to decide the dollar amount we are going to give each team for tournaments. For teams that want to go to state but can’t, we need to decide if the $225 we will get back can be used toward the costs of other tournaments.

Rick feels we need to go with the budgeted amounts for tournaments and the squirts have the extra money from flagging that the board approved.

Kim said we only have one team besides ours for the squirt tournament in January. Kim said Colleen wants to know what we’re going to do for the tournament. Rick is worried about losing money by not offering a tournament. Bill said for paying the refs, it may not be feasible. Rick isn’t ready to cancel the tournament yet since it’s only November. This issue will be tabled until next month. Rick feels we may need to drop the price of the tournament.

Rick feels the managers need to sit down with Colleen for advice and tips for running a tournament.

Kim reminded us that the coaches need to be wearing their helmets during practice. Bill said the USA hockey rule does not apply to the WIAA coaches or AAA Coaches.

Kim said Curt Lee had registered for two tournaments during our Jr. Gold tournaments. It was determined earlier that the Bantams and girl’s team would be the primary teams responsible to work during the first Jr. Gold Tournament. The Peewee, Squirt, and Mite teams are responsible for working the second Jr. Gold Tournament. Rick said as long as the time slots are filled for the first tournament, they could skate in a tournament. The second Jr. Gold Tournament will have to be a date the Peewee, Squirt, and Mite teams don’t have games during that tournament games.

The board was fine with this decision.

Michelle asked who was in charge of the pictures. Michelle will call Total Sports Pictures.

Tammy reminded us it is a WAHA and USA Hockey rule that we need to have background checks for anyone that has access to information/or has contact with our kids on the ice.

Bill wants to raise the fees for the referees by $2. We will still be ahead of many WAHA associations but far behind the Minnesota associations. Bill made the motion to raise the fee to pay the refs $2 per game. Rick seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Rick motioned to adjourn. Josh seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned.

December meeting will be December 16th at 6:30.

Approval was tabled; copies will be brought to the next meeting for approval. Rick motioned to approve the August minutes. Michelle seconded the motion. Motion carried.  

Tammy made the motion to approve the September minutes. Angie seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Michelle said she paid some bills. She said we still owe on the sewer we haven’t paid and need to use some money for the start up money. Michelle says we need to submit plans for HVAC for the locker rooms.

Michelle said if anyone is buying things out of their own pockets and want to donate it to the rink, give her the receipt and she can make a receipt for tax purposes.

Michelle says we need to renew our raffle license. She said she would need to know anytime someone does a raffle.

Michelle said we need to get pictures lined up for the teams. 

Kim made the motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Angie seconded. Motion carried.

Rick recommended we abandon the hope of a Junior Gold team as we only had three kids register and received only one check.  There may be some Grantsburg kids playing for the St. Croix Falls Junior Gold Team.

Rick made the motion that due to the lack of numbers, we will not offer a junior gold team. Tammy seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Rick wants to send out another batch of school letters with it announced in bold letters we offer free equipment for any first year player minus the skates and sticks.

Jodi Cordell has agreed to do this but would like a reimbursement for taking the test and the mileage needed to take the test and get the food. The question was raised if we have a reimbursement policy.

Rick made the recommendation that since Jodi doesn’t have any kids in the hockey association that we pay the cost of the test since she is using it specifically for us but we don’t pay for mileage for concession supplies.

Rick made the motion that from now on we pay for the test for the food service license but not for mileage. Kim seconded. Motion carried.

Amendment: Rick made the motion to reimburse Jodi and any future Head of Concessions the cost of food service license test as well as the mileage for taking the test, and mileage for specific trips to stock the concession stand with supplies. Michelle seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Colleen said the first junior gold tournament is full. The peewee tournament has three paid teams. She asked if we want to have a 6-team tourney or 8. It was recommended we try to fill an 8-team tourney. The Bantam team tourney has four paid and we will try to fill it for an 8 tournament. The squirt tournament has 2 and the mite tournament has none.

Colleen asked that if we cancel a tournament, we do it more than a week in advance.

Colleen said last week we discussed having a 3-penalty maximum for a player for the Jr. Gold Tournaments. It was noted that it was decided to have a 3 penalty per player per game and a 15 penalty per team per game limit.

Colleen said the butter braids packets are at her house. We need to have the order forms back in by November 25. We need to sell 15 butter braids per family (mini-mites not included).

Colleen was wondering if we could do a family fun night on November 14th. Rick said we will set if for November the 14th at 7 PM. Association families are welcome to come, eat, and skate.

Colleen is wondering whom she needs to forward the other tournament information to at this point. Rick will talk with Michelle McEvers to see if she is still interested. If Michelle is not interested, each team manager will have to handle his or her own tournament.

B. Locker room project and workday

Rick said we have another workday for the rink and locker rooms tomorrow. Rick said he would have a list outside and inside of the rink that says what needs to be done. We also need people to help clean the rink this weekend.

Rick said anyone that isn’t a coach, board member, Mitch Ryan or Benny Johnson to please turn in their keys to Rick.  

Rick said Rebecca Harlander has said we need to pay for the varsity pictures is we want the pictures in the rink. The cost is $5 per picture. Rick made the motion approve the purchase of the varsity hockey pictures to hang in the concession area for an estimated cost of $5. Michelle seconded the motion. Motion carried.

C. Verbal approval of co-op plan (this is only to approve that we make a draft for later approval).

 The board thought this was fine.

 D. Don Kohlman (Registrar and Secretary of WAHA passed away)

The passing saddened the board.

 E. Release Letter

The Bohlman family asked for a release for one of their sons. He will not be playing hockey this year if he isn’t released. WAHA doesn’t allow the release of players. If someone wants to play in a level up, they have to be invited to play on the nearest level higher and play on that top team. If they do go, they are still required to give a financial release. If they are released, we have to release them for two years, meaning we need to release them each year. After those two years, they are released but will be considered as a non-resident player and teams can only have two non-resident players. Players cannot transfer to a team on the same level as their resident team. In this specific case, the Bohlman family will have to petition WAHA.

Rick said we need to produce a letter for the Alderman family stating that they do not owe our association any money and are financially released to play on the Tier I Wisconsin Fire team.

F. Concession stand and pricing

Rick told Jodi to plan on opening the concession stand the first weekend in November. Prices for food have increased so she would like to increase the prices of some of our food. Jodi wants to know if she has our approval to set the prices for the food. It was decided that would be fine.

It was decided at the coaches meeting to leave it up to the individual teams if they want to staff the concession stand during practices. Some teams don’t sell very much money during those practices.

V. Other business

Michelle wondered who was responsible for the handbooks. Rick said we have more books upstairs but we can talk to Jeff, as he is responsible for updating the information.

We will talk with Craig Johnson to see if he will still be the equipment manager.

The next meeting will be November 18th at 6PM at the Rink. 

Brad made the motion to adjourn. Josh seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned.

Approval was tabled; copies will be brought to the next meeting for approval.

Michelle presented the Treasurer’s report.

Food Service Certification - - Need to plan for someone to be Food Service certified.  Darren is going to see if Kim Johnson is certified and can fill this role. 

People should let Michelle know of any expected expenses will be coming so they can be planned in the monthly budget.

Bill motioned to approve the treasurer’s report. Tammy seconded the motion. Motion carried.

III.     Old Business

A.  Bantam meeting.  The meeting was held.  Rick, Brad & Jeff are next going to Siren to finalize details and expect to Co-op.  Need to make sure we understand how District 10 games will be handled.  Rick will email Tim Timm from District 10 to inform him about the Co-op.  Bill wants to have three refs at the home games and requests that games are scheduled on Wednesday where possible. 

B.  Peewee meeting.  Was held yesterday and went well.  Looks like we’re going to skate twelve players.  There are still a few girls that have not declared if they are going to skate U14 or PeeWee. Curt Lee is going to be the coach.  We’re still waiting to see if there are more players that register next week.

C.   Squirt team.  We have enough for a Squirt team. 

D.   Mite team.  Numbers are a little low, but we still expect to have enough to skate a team. 

Everyone should continue to encourage new skaters to register.  Notes will be going home with school folders this week (and were also sent last week.)

E.    Jr. Gold team.  If we have enough kids registered (10+) for a Jr. Gold team, we will have it.  

F.    Region 1 meeting:  U14 Girls Playdowns were awarded to Grantsburg.  Will be weekend of February 14^th.

A.   Tim Bennett -  Girls Varsity coach.  Tim came to tell us he really appreciates the support from Grantsburg very much.  This year’s Girls team expects to have four girls from Grantsburg and although numbers are a little down, it looks good.  They have scheduled twelve away and eight home games (four at Grantsburg.)  Also hoping to schedule a scrimmage at Grantsburg.  Tim mentioned we need to really help promote that we have a High School program in Grantsburg - - it’s not a “Blizzard” co-op; it’s a Grantsburg/Siren/Luck/Webster/Frederic co-op.  Rick suggested we have the HS girls come to open skating again and work with kids.  We should also do whatever we can to increase exposure of the HS program here in Grantsburg (e.g. notes at school, team managers including HS games on the schedules, etc.)  The first girls game is 11/25.  The website www.BlizzardHSGirls.com will be updated soon.  Bill suggested we have a “kick-off” the night before the first game of the season that is open to the public where people can get to know the team, have pictures taken, have refreshments, etc.  We also discussed space for dry-land training and practice times.  For games, GHA will take care of concessions, door security, zamboni, and pucks.  The HS team will cover clocks & announcer.

B.   Locker Room.  We are now going to go all the way to the ceiling with the wall above the locker rooms.  We need to schedule more work days to finish things up.

C.   Ice Package.  We are going to sell ice again this year.  Angie B. will be pulling together the final packages.  We plan to offer a pre-season deal where costs are lower.  Later in the year, there will be premium pricing at a higher rate.  Right now we plan on getting ice in at the end of October.  If we can sell a lot of ice in October, we could go earlier.

D.   Advertising Package.  We are going to add a new advertising package for the new wall above the locker rooms – 10 years for $3,000 (including the painting.)  For local restaurants, we are also offering a $50 annual price to include their name on the website, concession area handouts, and in tournament packages. 

E.   Other.  We have an auditor coming to look at the rink soon to advise on ways we could lower operating costs for electricity and heating.  We expect one recommendation will be to replace the lights, and this will require an investment on our part.  Once we have this information, we need to look at an overall capital improvement plan (including refinancing options and grant opportunities) considering which changes in the structure, facilities, and equipment would be beneficial.

I.        July Minutes

Michelle motioned to accept the July minutes as amended. Tammy seconded. Motion carried.

II.      Treasurer's report

Michelle said there were some bills that were due so there needs to be a decision about what bills to pay. Michelle is going to call the lumberyards. She is hoping for some more registrations to come in. Michelle said the Watercross numbers are still being finalized. Bill motioned to approve the treasurer’s report. Kim seconded the motion. Motion carried.

 III.     Old Business

A. Bantam Meeting: Jeff said there is a meeting on Tuesday about the proposal to co-op with the Bantams. The numbers from both associations are close at the bantam levels so there should be a team of 15-16 players. If it’s registered as a Grantsburg team, we will be able to play District 10 teams and this would be a benefit for the team.

Players will register with their own association. Jeff said he has been asked by the parents to keep the games down to 22-25 games instead 40 games.

B. Association Registration:   We are way down with registrations. Mini-mites = 7, Mites = 4, Squirts = 7, Peewee = 5 committed. 3 more are supposedly going to register. Rick feels we will have 9-10 Pee-Wees.  There are 5 new girls registered in the association.  The list of non-registered skaters going back 3 years is large.

Rick wants to have a 3rd registration. The final roster has to be into WAHA by December 1st. By September 5th, we have to declare what teams we’re going to have. The scheduling meeting is in the middle of September. The elementary has an open house on September 18. We want to have a promotional table at the elementary. We would like to have the 3rd registration on Tuesday, September 23rd from 6-8 and the Saturday the  27th from 9-11 AM. The registration will be at the rink. Tammy will staff this event.

Rick wants to put by the board the idea of having a Saturday morning 4 x 4 hockey for $50 that will have guaranteed equipment. Kids could come to the rink at 10 AM, play for 45 minutes and then go home. The time commitment for parents is minimal. Rick wants to go for 6 weeks. This will be a no-travel league. We would like to get at least 20 people. Parents for work hours could help “coach” or the high school players could “coach” for community service hours.

Rick said Dwayne Roberts has 10 kids for a Jr. Gold team. Rick said if we have 10 kids with checks in their hands for registration, we would offer a team. These are all kids that didn’t play for the High School team or kids that know for sure they won’t be skating for the High School team. If Dwayne comes up with those kids, then we will need to find a coach for the team. Rick feels we need to have a disciplined coach.

C. Coaching Clinics Reminder.  Remind the coaches they need to have updated USA Hockey coaching certificates.

D. Region One Meeting:  Rick, Tammy, and Brad will be attending the Region one meeting on September 6th.

E. Fair Booth:  At this point, we won’t have a dunk booth at the fair. It was decided that at this year, we would not have anything at the fair.

 IV.    New Business

A.     Rink Work Day:  Is set at 6 PM on August 26th. We will need a crew to help clean up the outside.

B.    Duke Tucker:  Duke said Watercross was pretty successful. He will let Rick discuss the financial end of it when it is ready. Duke had a meeting with Mark Dahlberg and Jeff Shinzing and there were nothing but praises about our Watercross.  Jeff said they could use 4 more officers.  

Duke feels we may need to have a meeting with Sherriff’s department to see if they could have coverage.

Duke asked if there was somebody else interested in coordinating the Watercross event. Duke is thinking about not doing it but if nobody else wants to do it, he’ll do it for next year. Duke feels it’s important to have a change in leadership every three years. If he does it, Duke would like to pick up another person on the committee to help out with the marketing, checking the voice mail. This person would need to have computer skills and like to talk with people they don’t know. 

Duke said the Kids Pro Ice would like to have a part of Watercross next year. The Wrestling Club was happy with their part in Watercross.

Michelle made the motion to sponsor Watercross for 2009. Jeff seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Rick said on behalf of the board, we’d like to have Duke back for next year and if there were ways we could help him out, we’d find a way.

C.    Other: 

Kim said she wouldn’t be going to the Norwest scheduling event, as we won’t know the teams we will be offering.

The next meeting will be September 16, 2008 at Woodland’s Grille.

Rick made the motion to adjourn. Michelle seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned.

Rick called the meeting to order.

I.        June Minutes

Angie made the motion to approve the June minutes. Tammy seconded the motion. Motion carried.

II.      Treasurer's report

Money was transferred from the Watercross account to help us cover expenses for the past couple of months. With registration coming up, we are hoping that will help with the upcoming months. Michelle said our profit from the brat stand was $650 so we may want to make some increases in prices.

Brad motioned to approve the treasurer’s report. Rick seconded. Motion carried.

II.         Old Business

A. Peewee update: Without counting Drew, we have 11-12 players interested in playing. Two of those would possibly be from St. Croix Falls. There are four girls interested in playing. We do not know who the coach of the peewee team will be. Mike is willing to help with the practices and so is Russ.

B. Watercross update (not financials)

Every family but one that couldn’t make it put hours in for watercross.

C. Ice packages

Rick would like to have a package deal set up prior to the MAHA District 10 scheduling meeting.

New Business

Mike Alderman addressed the board to say his son made a Tier 1 hockey program. Mike wants to register as an associate member but Drew will be playing with the tier 1 program. He would be willing to have Drew practice with the peewee team if that will work out for the coaches and teams. Mike still wants to help out with the association in whatever capacity will work out. Rick feels as long as the registration requirements are met, it wouldn’t be a huge deal with the association if that were okay with the coaches and team. Rick feels the Alderman’s have helped out with the association in a huge way so we should honor their request. Mike wanted to reiterate that he only wants to do this if it’s okay with the peewee coach.

Coach’s letters

-          Rick Danielson is interested in doing the mini-mites

-          Jason Lee would like to do the mites but he doesn’t know his schedule so he will need some help.

-          Rick, Brad, Ben and Randy are interested in doing the squirts together.

-          No formal letter of interest for the pee wees

-          Jeff Linke would like to be an assistant coach with the Bantams. Brad will have a discussion with a possible coach.

Coaches’ clinics

            Michelle will put a link on our website for the USA Hockey coaching clinics.

Rink workday schedule

The next rink workdays will be the 12th and 26th of August. The 12th will be at 6PM and the 26th will be at 5PM.

Robbie Glanz fundraiser

At $125/kid, we need at least 40 kids to sign up to break even. To make it a profit, it is recommended we charge $170 and get 40 kids. The overall feeling from the board was it wasn’t worth the price. We could possibly charge $60-100 and offer something our own association could do to get the kids ready.

Open water fishing contest (Rick)

Rick is looking into doing a fishing contest on either Little Wood or Big Wood Lake. It would be $50/boat and take place in September with minimal workers needed. He’s still working on the details of it.

Communications (mail--emails--website updates)

Michelle asked if there were any changes that needed to be made to the website. There was a discussion that there needs to be better updating of the schedules by the team managers so the website can be updated.

 

Michelle and Angie will ask if local businesses will want to sponsor our website and we will put their name on the website and put it on a brochure we will have at the rink.

Dunk Tank

            Kim will look at having a dunk tank at the fair.

The next board meeting will be August 19th at Woodlands at 6:00 PM

Kim made the motion to adjourn. Angie seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned.

Absent:  Jeff Linke, Brad Jones, Kim Jensen

Members Present:  Rick Quimby, Brad Jones, Jeff Linke, Bill Cordell, Kim Jensen, Michelle Lee, Tammy Thoreen, Angie Bonander

Visitors: Colleen Roberts

Meeting Call to order

Rick called the meeting to order:
 

1) Review April Minutes: There was a review of the past treasures report. It was reported there was missing information on the parking lot and paint settlement that we won’t have for income next year. Michelle added this information. Kim made the motion to approve the April Board Meeting minutes. Michelle seconded the motion. Motion carried.
 

2) Review of the March Minutes:
 

3) Treasurers Report:

Michelle discussed the treasurers report. A lot of the expenses were what we paid in April. We currently have $1,000 but will need $4,000 through June to cover the mortgage and bills. We have contacted the companies we owe money and have made arrangements to pay them when our Watercross money comes in.

Rick was wondering where the Ice Bowling money went. Michelle pointed out where some of it went.

Rick wanted everyone to notice the bills to pay just for the summer. When it comes to Watercross and getting people to work, it’s imperative we have this be a success. There was a question why we had more fundraisers and how we were told we were doing fine financially. Rick said in actuality, prior to this year, our debt was greater and we are getting closer to lowering the end of the year deficit. Rick wants us to watch and monitor our expenses, especially our utilities. Rick said in the middle of April, lights were left on. He would like to see policy set that determines how many lights are on for practices, etc.

Jeff mentioned how we took on a lot of projects last year. He said we need to finish the locker rooms and then that’s it for the year.

Bill motioned to approve the treasurer’s report. Jeff seconded. Motion carried.

Review Old Business
4) Water cross update

a. Workers/ etc.
Rick talked with Duke and he said everything was going fine and mentioned that there may be some painting at the pavilion. Tammy mentioned how some people she was calling to work wondered if they were going to get armbands. It was explained people working must do so for a minimum of 4 hours before getting an armband.

Bill wants to make sure Duke gets Tammy information about what she’s calling families for working for. Rick said the Learn to Skate families don’t “need” to work at Watercross but they can if they want.

5) Peewee Co-Op update

Rick said Siren is not interested in doing a co-op at the Peewee level at all. They did say if we don’t offer a Peewee team, our kids could come over and skate. Rick said we are not releasing our skaters to do so. Rick is checking with River Valley to see if they’d be interested in a co-op. River Valley has close to 10 or 11 skaters. We currently have 8 total Peewees (5 boys, 3 girls). With 8 skaters, can they be competitive. If the co-op doesn’t work out, we have to decide if we’re going to get offer a Peewee team. If we don’t, those players will be free to go to another association to skate for one year.

6) Locker room project update

Rick said we have the sheeting now. Half of the sheeting came from Bass Lake and half came from Johnson Lumber. The next workday is May 20th from 6-8PM. Rick thinks we will do two evenings a month to work at the rink. The goal now for the locker rooms is to get them usable by September but hold off on the plumbing for the bathrooms until see that we will have the money available.

Jeff mentioned that we voted a couple of months ago on somebody not paying for the advertising sign. It was decided if this person committed to getting the locker rooms done, he wouldn’t have to pay for the sign for last year. This hasn’t worked out so Rick took over the locker room project and at the point of registration, the sign will be taken down.

7) Varsity and JV schedule (WIAA)

Rick mentioned that we had an agreement with Burnett that we should have 50% of the home games. According to the schedule, there will currently be 13 away games and 7 home games. If that’s the case, we will be pushing only 4 games, if not only 3.

With the JV schedule, there are currently 12 games scheduled. They are planning on have a JV squad but we don’t know where their financing for the JV games will be.

Jeff feels we need to have another meeting with the Burnett Board to get on the same page. Rick has been trying to email Rebecca Harlander from Burnett but hasn’t had any response.

 

New Business

8) New jerseys for mites and squirts

a. Anonymous donor will donate 5 more sets, The Association needs to purchase 2 sets. Bill made the motion to purchase 2 additional sets of jerseys for squirt/mites as long as they looked the same. Kim seconded the motion. Motion carried.

 

Colleen mentioned we still don’t have a jersey replacement fund.

9) QuickBooks program for Michelle

This program will help Michelle do more things with the budget and we will be able to see where the money is actually going and coming from. Jeff made the motion to purchase a QuickBooks program if Rick can’t use his multi-user license for the hockey association. Brad seconded the motion. Motion carried.

10) Big Gust Days (additional food stand)

Rick was approached by the Chamber about running or staffing the food stand for the street dance on Friday, June 6 during Big Gust Days. If we run it, we keep the profits. If we staff it, we get a percentage.

 

We were also asked to staff possibly another food booth in front of the Sentinel. We already staff one in front of the hardware store. This one usually takes only 5 people to staff. Rick will get more information on what type of food they want offered.

11) Fundraising hours (winter hours and summer hours)

Rick asked if we wanted to change our fundraising system to having separate winter/summer hours. Rick feels we need to do this but we don’t want to raise our overall hours of 25. Currently, we are requesting 12 hours of work at Watercross. Most associations do this type of split in fundraising hours. If we decide to do this, it will start next year, not this current year.

It was decided to table the fundraising hours to the June board meeting.

12) Registration

The registration dates are August 5th and 7th.
 

a. Skate sharpening fees
 

Kim made the motion up the registration at every level $25 and discontinue the skate sharpening fees. Tammy seconded the motion. Motion carried.

13) Possible WAHA team at the High School level

Rick said due to the uncertainty of skaters at the upper levels, there may be a chance to offer a WAHA High School team. When the vote to co-op at the high school level for WIAA was done, the board said if we have available skaters to have a WAHA High School team, then we should offer one. He said we still need to push the WIAA but if there are skaters that don’t want to play WIAA, we should offer a place for them to play. Ultimately, the board will need to decide if this is something we want to do.

14) Other

Colleen said she had the tournament dates:

• Junior Gold Tournament is December 5,6,7.

• Junior Gold Tournament #2 is January 9, 10, 11.

• Peewee Tourney is January 17 and 18th.

• Mite/Squirt Tournament is January 23rd, 24th, , and 25th. There will be a varsity and JV game on the 24th.

• Bantam Tournament is Jan. 30, 31, and Feb. 1
  
  Colleen thinks we can afford to raise the Junior Gold Tournament fees from $500 to $650. Jeff and Bill feel we need to be careful about how quickly we raise our fees. It was decided to raise the fee to $600.
  
  Colleen thinks we need to cut out the gate fees at the younger levels.
  
  Colleen was approached to change our Junior Gold Tournament penalty limit from 5 per/player to 3. We need to have a board decision to change the penalty limit. The board told Colleen to make that decision. We feel 3 penalties would be better than 5.

It was decided to have the hockey board meetings on Tuesday nights. The next meeting will be June 17th at 6:00 PM at Woodland Grill.

Kim made the motion to adjourn. Brad seconded. Meeting adjourned.
 

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April 15, 2008

Grantsburg Hockey Association

ANNUAL MEETING

Board Members Present:

-          Darren Lien (Vice President)

-          Sheila Meyer (Treasurer)

-          Brad Jones (Secretary)

-          Kim Jensen

-          Jeff Linke

-          Bill Cordell

-          Rick Quimby

-          Michelle Lee

Association Members Present:

-          Benton Jenson                                     - Carmen Luedtke

-          Duke Tucker                                       - Dave Roberts

-          Angie Bonander                                  - Colleen Roberts

-          Heather Linke                                     - Mark Omer

-          Craig Johnson                                     - Bob Barnard

-          Brad Luedtke                                      - Dave Volman

-          Willma Volkman                                 - Niki Olson

-          Michelle McEvers                               - Angie Carter

-          Cindy Omer                                        - Russ Thoreen

-          Tammy Thoreen

1. Meeting Call to Order

          Darren called the meeting to order

2. Review Annual Minutes

         Sheila motioned to approve the 2007 annual minutes. Rick seconded. Motioned Carried.

3. Review Treasurer’s Report

Sheila discussed how important the tournaments are as we netted $26,000. She said the teams from the Cities love to come up and play because the fees are manageable and they have fun.

Sheila explained how she entered three entry fees for Jr. Gold Tournaments but didn’t put anything in the budget for the mite or squirt tournament as she didn’t know what the plan was for those tournament.

Sheila discussed how the expenses for the concessions were over inflated due to inheriting expenses for last year. Overall, we’ve done an excellent job in the concession stands.

With some of the bills (utilities) where we get hit for big expenses, this is where some of the fundraisers such as WaterCross make a difference and allow us to pay those off.

We ended the season on a positive note financially.

Craig asked about being approached for having names painted on the parking lot for spaces. Sheila said this action is currently in Mitch Ryan’s hands as he agreed to be in charge of this at the last annual meeting.

Duke mentioned how the gas heaters were left on some time during the season. Sheila explained if it was for the radiant heater that uses very little natural gas. There still is about a $1,500-2,000 heating bill/month during the season. Rick mentioned that we don’t need to heat the concession stand area to 70 degrees during two o’clock in the morning.

Sheila discussed how the skate sharpening fee was a pain in the rear to collect. The skate sharpening equipment is very expensive to replace. She is hoping that the fee is collected in a different way this year. Rick said Siren has a $10,000 sharpener and ours is very old.

Duke questioned why there was $15,000 less income projected for next year. Sheila said next year’s income will not include the paint settlement money or the parking lot fund transfer.

Michelle motioned to accept the treasurer’s report. Jeff seconded. Motion carried.

4. Discuss Hockey Rink “Summer Work Days” Needed to get Locker Room Project Completed.

Rick said he is now in charge of the locker room project and plans on setting one weekend a month where work on the locker rooms is done. He said we need to have those locker rooms usable by the start of the 08 season. Every third Saturday from 8AM-Noon is scheduled as locker room work days. Rick said the 26^th of April is the next work day. Rick says we have money now to get a lot of the work completed but we may need to do a little more fundraising to accomplish what we want to do.

Rick also said there are other projects that can be completed at the rink. Duke said maybe he can have people from the softball program come up and clean up some of the mess on the outside of the rink.

Craig talked about the Lawn Mowing Project where people can mow the lawn and get credit for towards their registration fee. Craig said this is a nice way to pay for the registration. People have to provide their own gas, mower, and weed machine.

5. Watercross Update

Duke said all of the committee members from last year are the same this year. We don’t need to meet as much as we did last year. Everything is going pretty good. Angie Carter is working over at Siren this weekend promoting the Watercross. Duke said we need to pay attention to the number of hours expected for a hockey family to work during the Watercross. Duke said he felt all of the families participated last year and the more we work, the more we get to keep for the association. There are different sponsors this year. We’ll be selling multiple brands of beer this year as well as energy drinks and ice cream. The bands are signed. There’s a different toilet provider this year that will save us money. There is a discussion of possibly bringing in a mechanical bull as something new.

Duke said the major change this year is the racing will start at 1PM on Friday due to the number of racers participating. Duke said there will be a vintage snowmobile racing event this year. Currently there are no registrants for it but he is hopeful they will come.

Jeff asked if we’d get more proportion of the beer sales this year. Duke said this year, the Lion’s Club is set up strictly on a flat fee and not a percentage. Duke felt it’s better to offer different types of beer and ice at the event rather than having people bringing in beer that wasn’t allowed. He feels we will have a lot more beer sales this year so that’s why he doesn’t want to go on a percentage.

Rick discussed how the Ice Bowling Event was a success this year. We made over a $5,000 profit. Next year he plans on advertising the Saturday event more as a family event. Rick is thinking we may not offer beer on Saturday night since it will be more of a family event.  We will need more volunteers to be a pin setter. Rick said he will also lengthen the bowling times available because we were backed up. We will add four more lanes which will allow more teams to participate.

For the first year of this event, Rick was happy for the turnout and funds that were raised. He said the prizes for the winning team next year will probably be bigger. Rick would like to build this event up so that the only fundraisers we will have will be Watercross and Ice Bowling.

Duke said local business appreciated having a fundraiser where they were able to do something rather than just being asked to give money. Rick said the business owners love to help out but they also want people to visit their business.

6. New Business

Jeff discussed how there is a need to discuss registration for the Co-op teams with Burnett Hockey Association in order to determine how many players we are looking at.

There is still a concern about the JV programs and who will be responsible for the costs that are needed to run a WIAA Junior Varsity program.

There was a discussion about fees for the players on the WIAA program. If kids are going to participate in the captain’s practices before the season, they need to register with USA Hockey. If not, they don’t need to pay the USA Hockey fee.

Bill is writing a letter to the director of District 10 to discuss the progress and how this past season went playing MAHA District 10 teams. He said if anybody has any information to share, he’d like the input. Bill would like these quotes sent to him in an email so he can share that information. There is some confusion over what the MAHA District 10 team levels are. Some C teams where very good while their A teams were not so good.

7. Election of New Board Members (Three board positions available.)

Darren said there are three board positions available and opened the floor for nominations.

     Rick Quimby nominated Angie Bonander. Duke seconded.

     Michelle Lee nominated Tammy Thoreen. Craig seconded.

     Bob Barnard nominated Niki Olson. Michelle McEvers seconded.

     Sheila Meyer nominated Bill Cordell. Kim Jensen seconded.

     Brad Jones nominated Josh Watt. Sheila seconded.

     Rick nominated Curt Lee. There was no second.

Association members voted for the three members. The new board members will be:

Bill Cordell, Tammy Thoreen, and Angie Bonander.

8. Review/Appoint Associate Board Member Positions.

Bill asked if anyone wanted to step down from their present position. Colleen asked not to be the Tournament Director. Bill had Colleen describe what the Tournament Director entailed. She said the tournament dates were put in the Let’s Play Hockey magazine. She did all of the programs, scheduled the games, did the brackets, talked with the coaches/managers, did the trophies and medals, lined up the workers. Colleen wants to stay the director for the Junior Gold Tournaments.

Sheila and Rick wondered if this is a position we need to split into a couple of positions. Craig said Colleen did a wonderful job.

Michelle McEvers volunteered to step in and help out as a Tournament Coordinator.

There was a question why there was a Mite Director but not a Squirt Director or Pee Wee Director. Bill stated since the mites included the mini-mites and learn to skate kids, there was a need for a director to coordinate what was being taught at those levels.

Michelle Lee is the new Web Master.

The Associate Board Member Positions for 2008 are:

-          Mite Director – Rick Quimby

-          Girls Director – Darren Lien

-          Rink Manager – Craig Johnson

-          Ref Scheduler – Bill Cordell

-          Game Scheduler – Kim Jensen

-          Tournament Director – Michelle McEvers (Colleen Roberts will do the Jr. Gold Tournaments)

-          Registrar- Angie Carter

-          Ace Coordinator – Curt Lee

-          Advisor –Sheila Meyer

-          Watercross Director – Duke Tucker

-          Concessions Coordinator – Jodi Cordell

-          Web Master – Michelle Lee

Rick motioned to adjourn. Brad seconded. Meeting adjourned.

Minutes for Board Meeting Following the Annual Meeting

Appointing New Officer Positions

Darren called the meeting to order and the following members were nominated:

     Rick nominated Michelle for Treasurer. Jeff seconded.

     Jeff nominated Brad for Secretary. Michelle seconded.

     Rick nominated Jeff for Vice President. Brad seconded.

     Bill nominated Rick for President. Jeff seconded.

Nomination carried.

Rick said the Pee Wee team wants the board approval to have discussions with Burnett for a co-op. Rick feels discussion is fine but we would have to split games and keep the registration. Mike Alderman and Curt Lee will be the ones in discussion with Burnett. Rick wants to know how many girls will be skating on the Pee Wee team. He feels if we have 9 total players on the Pee Wee team, we’ll have our own team.

Michelle made the motion to remove Sheila Meyer and Mike Alderman as signers on the GHA Bank accounts at both Community and US Banks, and replace them with Michelle Lee and Rick Quimby. Jeff seconded the motion. Motion carried.

The next meeting will be: May 15^th at 6PM. It will be at Woodland Grille.

Rick motioned to adjourn. Michelle seconded. Meeting adjourned.