Date: January 16, 2008
Location: Holland Charter Township Offices: 353 N. 120th Ave., Holland, Mi. 49424
Time(s): 9:00am – Board Meeting
10:00am – Presentation by Ottawa County Sherriff’s Dept. (Gangs)

Welcome and Introduction
Those in attendance included Clay Summers (Kentwood), Amy Hose (Kentwood), Val Romeo (Kentwood), Kelli Koss (Zeeland), Kenny Westrate (Wyoming), Shannyn Fasbender (East GR), Darrin Duistermars (Holland Twp.), & Dan DeLoof (Kent County)

Approval of Agenda
Motion by Darrin Duistermars, Second by Kenny Westrate, Motion Approved

Approval of past minutes
Motion by Kenny Westrate, Second by Shannyn Fasbender Motion Approved

Board Member Reports

1. Treasurer's Report – Pam Slater
   Pam is willing to stay on as Treasurer. She was unable to meet, today, but Clay will meet with her at the MRPA Conference to review a few things. WMRPA is still in very good standing, financially
   Membership dues information will be sent out in the very near future for 2008. We’re a little behind in getting this out, but the membership fees will stay as they were for 2007.
2. Past President Report – Shannyn Fasbender
   No Report
3. Secretary – Darrin
   Encourage as many attendees as possible to meet the West Michigan Sports Commission’s Executive Director, Mike Guswiler, at the next meeting. We should also spend some money and become a partner with the Commission as the direction it seems to be going is very positive
   A special “thanks” to Val Romeo for putting together the wheelchair basketball tournament at West Ottawa a few months ago. Also, compliments to Mary Free Bed for the picture display in their entry way of the hospital, itself.
4. Director at large- Kenny Westrate
   Calvin College is in the midst of a major building/improvement project including a new arena, Natatorium, Indoor tennis/track, baseball improvements, climbing wall and more.
   Calvin is looking to be more involved other than just hosting a meeting. One idea is something of a ‘Celebrate Your Major” day that would be more than just a “Career Day” type of event. In short…they may be looking to be more pro-active.
   Professor Don DeGraaf of Calvin College is heading up classes on Outdoor Activities Training along with the more general recreation classes being offered.
5. President Elect – Open
   This position is still open. We need to fill this ASAP!
6. Presidents Report – Clay Summers
   Congratulations to Clay Summers for running his first meeting as President of WMRPA. Some of things he plans to address include the following; Continue to attempt to work with local colleges more. Grand Valley is already a great resource and partner for TR, however it’s good to see Calvin looking to be more involved. Web site needs to be addressed. Clay will be meeting with our web master to determine if it’s worth sticking with him. It was felt that whatever we do, we need to have control over the content of the site so things are updated in a timely fashion. Darrin is currently working with someone for potential MASA improvements. We could call on local colleges for their contacts or student help. It was suggested that if we decide to pursue another web site option maybe we look to make a big splash including getting a new logo. Clay will report back to us after his meeting with our current web master. Clay will continue to push the idea of WMRPA becoming more of a professional development outlet for our membership. Presentations are great and will help bring more people back. Maybe they, too, will get more involved. If any WMRPA member has any ideas on topics, speakers, etc. please let him know right away.

Committee Reports

1. Athletic Committee
   MRPA Adult Volleyball & Basketball information is out. Entry forms are due by February 15.
   Holland is hosting a local Hoop Shot contest for MRPA. The event will take place on Saturday, January 26 at the Holland Civic Center. Registration begins at 1:30pm with the event beginning at 2pm
   MRPA Athletic Committee will be hosting a Summit at the MRPA conference at 1:30 on Wednesday. This will be open forum to find out what is available from MRPA as well as ask questions on just about anything related to this committee. Check out the Dodge Ball tournament at conference on Tuesday night at the conference. It should be entertaining at the very least.
2. Therapeutic Committee
   TRI is scheduled for October 2 & 3 in Mt. Pleasant. For more information contact Val Romeo
3. Golf Committee
   Possible new location for the 2008 Golf Outing. A decision will be coming in the near future.
   The date is Friday, July 25, 2008
   Start time could be moved back
4. Web Site Committee
   Clay is meeting with our current web master (See President’s Report)

MRPA Reports
Kendall Klingelsmith, Darrin Duistermars, Carrie Klingelsmith, & Adrienne Schumacher met in Lansing on January 11, along with 40+ more members of MRPA to discuss the Executive Director Search. Ann Conklin facilitated this meeting along with a consultant, Terry McGinn. The meeting went very well. In short…it was an opportunity to discuss the future direction of MRPA and the kinds of attributes and abilities we think are needed for the next MRPA Executive Director. More details will be forthcoming.

Val Romeo Request
Val Romeo has turned in a request for financial assistance through the WMRPA rewards Program for a conference she would like to attend
Motion made by Darrin Duistermars, supported by Kenny Westrate Motion approved to assist Val Romeo in the amount of $150.00

Next Meeting
February 20 @ Kentwood Parks and Rec. (355-48th St. SE. Kentwood, MI. 49548) 9:00am Board meeting 10:00am meeting with West Michigan Sports Commission Executive Director, Mike Guswiler.

Adjournment
Proceeding to the Holland Township Board Room for a presentation on “Gangs” by Deputy Brent Converse of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department.