Cold Lake Minor Hockey Association

SPECIAL MEETING Minutes

Monday, October 26, 2009 7:00pm

Held in CLMH Office

Present:Absent:

VP Business -Deb ThomasEquipment – Larry Karenko

VP Hockey Ops –Clint CookBantam Director – Scott Clarke

Registrar – Deb Josvanger

Treasurer – Bonnie Murphy

Fundraising – Joan Latchuk

Bingo – Sherry MacQueen

PR – Val Kossey-Fraser

Ice Scheduler – Michelle Delamere

Midget Director – Doug Cheyne

Female Director – Craig Booi

PeeWee Director – Jacki Cook

Atom Director – Jason Bath

Novice Director – Stephane Becotte

Initiation Director – Teresa Dole

Director at Large – Stephen Cook

Referee in Chief – Lloyd Belcourt

Admin Assistant – Cari Dejarlais – no vote, paid employee

1) Call to order at 7:05pm.

2) Adoption of Agenda: Motion Deb J, Second Clint, carried

3) Review of association status

  • President Cathy Wilson’s resignation letter was read (see attachment 1)
  • Past president/ Development Coordinator Les Wilson’s resignation was read (see attachment 2)
  • Motion to accept these additional reports to the minutes by Lloyd, second Stephane, carried
  • Deb went over the last few days of events – Thurs Midget parent meeting, game ensued, meeting with evaluators, meeting with director and coaches, decision to move one player, resignation letter timings
  • It was suggested by Deb/Clint that Doug’s report be left until the Nov. regular executive meeting but the executive decided to hear from Doug Cheyne – Midget Director at this time and get this issue off the table.

Doug’s report:

  • Started to speak to the original e-mail letter/report sent by Les to the executive meeting and later e-mailed by Cathy.
  • He firstly wanted to state that he appreciates all the time the Wilson’s have spent in service to Cold Lake Minor hockey.
  • This year was new to midget in trying to form two equal teams for the same league. Normally this is not an issue as there is a AA and Tier 3 team. Doug as the director felt that two equal teams would provide good competition for ALL players and help with discipline issues.
  • Process began with 3 scrimmages. Last scrimmage, Coaches Cook and Fallow were invited to watch. Missing 10 skaters for various reasons. Close game – 6-4 for Cook team.
  • 2 players were originally switched. Both coaches had input.
  • Hawco was put on Cook’s team to assist with coaching but not needed as Coach Cook has a full bench.
  • Top 22 had already been identified by evaluators for AA scenario so Doug put 11 split on each team. After the original complaint from Les Wilson, 2 were swapped. Bottom 12 were also split evenly.
  • Evaluations cannot be done on previous years skill level. Les’ AA numbers must be all the way from Atom.
  • Doug’s numbers have Steve and Jeff with equal (11 players) from Bantam and Midget AA or higher.
  • AT this time, Steve said uneven and Warren said even.
  • Oct. 13 meeting – Very frustrating for Doug as director. Felt he had no say. Players switched again.
  • Other issues: Doug and Jeff were not there at Monday practice to tell “players not to play” in the last “tryout” game Cathy had scheduled.
  • Doug agrees that he did not use the evaluation scores #1 team A, #2 team B etc but the correctly identified top 22 were split in half. Other factors to consider – kids want to be with friends in potentially last year of minor hockey for some, keep the teams competitive, kids who get along.
  • This was not set up for the coaches or all the best players to be on one team.
  • Doug believes the two teams are competitive and that Cook’s team might be stronger.
  • The only parent complaints received were from the Wilson’s.
  • Evaluation process did work in identifying top 20 kids.
  • ¼ of kids did not fully evaluate.
  • There is a discretionary part to evaluation as well that happens at other levels.
  • A few clarifying questions were asked of Doug
  • Clint at this time suggested a committee be appointed to look into this issue and find out what lessons we can learn to avoid this happening again. Executive agreed. Recommendations will be presented at the Nov meeting.

4) Bylaw and Regulation Review for replacement of executive – current bylaws and regulations were read by Deb Thomas.

5) Action on #4

VP’s presented their recommendations:

a) We, the executive, appoint someone as Acting President until Nov. meeting. We will continue to operate under the VP Ops and Business model with Acting President as contact point for other organizations. During this time, we can contact Hockey Alberta and Minor Council for advice and recommendations.

b)We will revisit this at November meeting at which time we will have had time for more info on this matter. At this time we will appoint a new president until March AGM for election. Two year cycle? We can amend the regulations as needed.

Clint nominated Deb Thomas for Acting President at this time until the November meeting. Steve Cook second. Deb accepted. Voted on and carried.

6) Current issues and concerns:

*NEAHL website –player numbers are needed for teams. Deb J and Cari will work together on this. Deb J needs affiliation lists to be approved by Clint by Nov. 15th.

*CLMH website – Cari and Michelle will work together for now. Sherry has uploading knowledge as well.

*Clinics are already set up. Only checking – Bonnie and Jacki will look into this.

*Team volunteer list to Cari. Questions whether we really need this or not? Michelle will check with city for clarification. Deb/Clint will approve and file.

*Hockey Alberta manual order – Deb J will handle.

*Team info and CRC - updated lists to directors. Need missing info ASAP.

*Revised picture schedule – needs a few changes and will be posted to the website and e-mailed out.

7) Questions/concerns/open discussion

  • Joan ref cost question. See Michelle.
  • Jason Atom ice issues – tabled until after meeting with only concerned parties.

Important Deadlines:

  • team info/banking ASAP
  • affiliations – due Nov. 15th see Clint for approval
  • Novice Dodge pictures Nov. 15th
  • Directors Post Evaluation Meeting Nov. 10th 7pm

8) Closing thoughts: Clint and Deb

  • Big shake up but we need to move forward
  • We have good people around the table to make this change as seamless as possible.
  • Jacki again expressed thanks for Wilson’s for service.

9) Next regular executive meeting Wed., Nov. 18th, 2009 7:00 pm CLMH office

10) Meeting adjourned at 8:32 pm

Secretarial note: These are the amended minutes that were voted upon at the monthly CLMH executive meeting on Nov. 18/09.
Attachment #1

25 Oct 2009

Cathy Wilson

11 Sammut Place

Cold Lake, Ab T9M 1L5

RESIGNATION LETTER

To the CLMH Executive Committee:

Effective today, it is with utmost disappointment that I am submitting my Letter of Resignation as the President of the CLMH Executive Committee.

I cannot support decisions that have been made, and if I can’t support these decisions, then I can’t stand as the Leader of this Association and justify these decisions to the membership, the leagues or Hockey Alberta.

I have been on the CLMH Executive for 6 of the past 8 years that I have resided in Cold Lake and truly believe that we have good processes in place to back up our decisions made by the Executive Committee Members when followed. If the processes aren’t followed, then they need to be corrected. The process at Midget wasn’t followed, hasn’t been corrected and again, I can’t stand and support this as the President, so it is in the best interest of everyone, for me to resign.

It is unfortunate too that the complaints submitted at the Midget level have been misconstrued as a personal attack of the Midget Director, Doug Cheyne, and that someone on the Executive Committee has felt the need to share our Executive Committee Correspondences with the general membership of the CLMH to cause parents to want to lynch both Les & myself. The hate mail has already started and I’m sure even with our resignations, it won’t end. I do not ever pretend to be perfect as I am always stating that I am not, however if I make a mistake I own up to it and I seek ways to correct it. That’s all that was asked at the Midget Level.

I do regret having to resign but I will not compromise my principles & ethics and I don’t expect anyone else to do so either.

I would like to thank everybody past, present & future for the volunteer time they give to this the best game in Canada, the game of Hockey.

Respectfully;

Cathy Wilson

Attachment #2

24 Oct 2009

Les Wilson

11 Sammut Place

Cold Lake, Ab T9M 1L5

RESIGNATION LETTER

To the CLMH Executive Committee:

As of the date on this letter I resign my positions as Past President and Development Coordinator with the CLMH Executive Committee. The events that have occurred at the Midget level has caused me to lose confidence that policies and procedures of the CLMH will be adhered to, which are in place to ensure fair team selections and minimize potential problems for the CLMH.

Eight years ago I joined the CLMH Executive Committee. I joined the Committee because there was no real policy for selecting teams. At that time there were huge amounts of issues at every level with team selections and transparent policies. I sat on the Committee that developed and implemented the current Evaluation System. Although there are occasional problems, usually because of inexperienced volunteers, we have eliminated the huge amounts of complaints. The foundation of which our decisions are based is that we have a policy that we can use to support our decisions.

At the Midget level this year the Director, Doug Cheyne, selected the teams unilaterally and admitted that he did not use the evaluation scores. As soon as I was told he would be an assistant coach on the one team, I felt there was now a clear conflict of interest in the entire process. I immediately submitted a complaint and asked that the situation be reviewed and fixed. Because of the clear conflict of interest and no evaluation scores being used to support decisions, there is no longer any support to say that the CLMH has selected teams fairly. I have submitted fact’s involving the kids that I have coached and evaluated over the last eight years. The Director, who is an assistant coach on the one team, has been very reluctant to change things. It is not that he has a child involved, it is the fact that he chose to be an assistant coach on the team. That in my opinion has created the perception of conflict. His son and my son are both goalies on different teams, but the fact that he is an Assistant coach on the one team has given me the perception that he does not want to change the teams because he likes what he has given himself as an assistant coach. There is a clear conflict of interest and this should have been changed without people having to fight with the Association.

In no way did I embark on a personal vendetta against Doug Cheyne. The Executive Committee has always talked about the perception of doing things correctly and that we must maintain a transparent system. We cannot say that at this level. And that is a fact. He admitted that he did not use evaluations scores to select team’s, therefore he used his personal judgment which is affected by knowing personalities, friends, family and abilities. This arbitrary selection process cannot be defended because it is not supported by facts on ability. I have not done anything wrong, I just asked that the process be followed. In all other divisions the Directors used evaluation scores, speak with the coaches, and make arrangements if friends and family are involved. The Director then has the ability to support their decisions with evaluation scores. This was not done and I have demonstrated that with facts and history on long time players in the Association. Only time will tell what affect this situation will have on the kids and the Association.

I wish things were done differently and hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have spent eight great years on the Executive Committee. From all those years of experience, whenever the process is followed correctly the Association has a leg to stand on and can support their decisions. When the process is not followed it causes a lot of problems and hard feelings.

In closing I would like to hope that the thousands of hours I volunteered to this Association will not be over shadowed by my early resignation this year. However, my principles have always been that the CLMH must follow the policies of the Evaluation System and team selections and I cannot carry on when those are compromised. I would like to thank everybody for their volunteer time.

Respectfully;

Les Wilson