M.A.S.K.G.I. MINUTES

MEETING DATE: January 10, 2001
LOCATION: Umaine Hutchinson Center, Belfast, Maine

OFFICERS PRESENT: Natalie Springuel, President
Scott Anchors, Vice President
Greg Shute, Treasurer
Doug Michael, Secretary

MEMBERSHIP PRESENT: 31

AGENDA OVERVIEW:

• Welcome & Introductions
• Treasurer’s Report
• President’s Report
• Updates/ Committee Reports
• Action Planning Break-out groups

MINUTES:

Welcome & Introductions

• The meeting was called to order at 6:15 pm
• officers, members and guests introduced themselves

Treasurer’s Report

• Membership renewals due the end of the month
• Rack card updates needed with renewals
• $3700 in the bank

President’s Report

• Summarized last meeting
• Need to step up island use reporting
• Issues between Schooner boats and Kayak groups
• Begun discussions of emergency action planning

• IFW Update
• Proposed changes postponed until Spring at earliest
• Changes being made to master guide class to make it more experienced based
• Discussion & questions followed - ? do we (MASKGI) have input into the process? ACTION: Invite IFW to next meeting

Updates/Committee Reports

Preliminary committee reports were given with an intro to each area of focus. Members were advised they would have an opportunity to break out into planning groups tonight to further progress of committees dealing with Emergency Response Plan, Guide Training Curriculum, and Guide Experience Reccommendations.

• Emergency Response Plan
• Bob Stanley reported committee beginning to gather info. Plan will need to focus on 3 areas
• What can we do as outfitters/ industry?
• What you do when an event occurs
• What you do the first hour, first day, first week

• Insurance Update
• Greg made contact with an agency in Damariscotta. An agent will be coming to the April meeting to discuss professional liability and workers comp insurances

• Schooner Captains
• Greg discussed with a couple captains the possibility of scheduling a dialogue for the April meeting

• Point of Sale Brochure
• Natalie presented a draft of the brochure which provides educational info and awareness to folks when they make a kayak purchase, and have a heightened interest. Brochure sponsors include MASKGI, MITA and Maine Sea Grant.
• A suggestion was made to print enough for the Portland Boat Show
• The group approved an initial allocation of $500. toward the cost of printing, with the understanding that the committee would price out cost effective options and come back to the group if a larger or second batch of printing is desireable. Natalie anticipates the first batch to be printed in March.

• Coast Guard Update
• Al Johnson suggested Coast Guard Auxilliary and Power Squadron might use the brochure with their public education classess.

• MITA
• Announced the addition of Steven’s Island (southern Maine) with Maine Coast Heritage Trust. 2 sites, capacity 6 and 10.
• Sid raised the question/concern of potential for "unfair advantage" if MASKGI becomes very efficient at registration for island use.

• BPL
• Steve will be preparing Ethics guidelines for BPL Island use, will bring a draft to the February Meeting.
• ACTION: set aside time for discussion

• Discussion — Greg raised the question, Should MASKGI consider leasing its own private island site(s)?
• ACTION: set aside time at future meeting agenda

During the remainder of the evening, members broke-out into planning teams to discuss Emergency response, Guide Training Curriculum, and Guide Experience Reccommendations. Planning teams met for approximately 40 minutes and each team reported back to the larger group with suggested next steps.