Update from Our President, John Van Gorp, News (Lambton Shores Minor Hockey)

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May 11, 2020 | Heather George | 1374 views
Update from Our President, John Van Gorp
To all Lambton Shores Minor Hockey Members,

With all the uncertainty that surround us now amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Minor Hockey has taken a backseat to more pressing needs. However, we the Lambton Shores Minor Hockey Board, are still having discussions as to how to move forward. This includes how to properly finish off last season and planning ahead for the 2020/2021 season.

As you know, OMHA suspended all hockey activities until further notice. This included AGM’s and Award Banquets, so the LSMHA Board of Directors have been having discussions as to how to ensure these activities are not forgotten in the new environment that exists today. It was decided that the simplest and safest way to move forward with the awards would be to post the winners on the website. This would include the individual team award winners, as well as the Organizational Awards. The Awards Committee will meet remotely to discuss their selections and all award recipients names will be posted on the website when completed. The AGM, however, presents us with a more complicated challenge. The AGM is the Forum that is used to complete 3 main objectives.

1) Give an update to the members as to the current state of the organization. This includes recapping the successes/failures of the previous hockey season, updating the members as to our goals for the upcoming season, and presenting a completed Financial Report.
2) Elect new Board members to replace the existing members whose term has expired.
3) Getting feedback from members as to what issues they have or get direction from them as to what they would like to see going forward.

Although the LSMHA Board understands that an in person AGM is best for dealing with these things, it might be some time before we are allowed to do so, so it was decided to postpone the AGM to a later date that would allow for an in person AGM. Since it could be some time until we can do this, we decided to bridge the time between then and now by doing the following in regards to the 3 main objectives of the AGM.

1) As President, with feedback from the LSMHA Board, I will put together a Presidents Report to inform the members of everything we feel you need to know. Corrie Jones (Treasurer) will update the members with a completed Financial Report for the 2019/2020 season. This will be posted on the website.
2)  The Board members whose term was set to expire this year were approached and most are willing to stay on until we can complete a proper election process, so we will proceed with the Board as is until we have a better understanding of when an in person AGM is allowed. This will not be permanent. If these self-isolation measures continue long into the Fall/Winter, we will come up with a way to hold elections so anyone who is interested in joining the Board will have the opportunity to join prior to the start of the 2020/2021 Hockey season.
3)  Any member that has ideas, thoughts, and/or concerns that are typically brought up at our AGM, please send them to click here. Having this information prior to our AGM will allow us to properly prepare for whenever OMHA/Hockey Canada determines it is appropriate for us to resume hockey operations.

As a reminder registration is open and you would need to be registered by June 1st 2020 to qualify for the early bird discount. No money is required at this time. If anyone is negatively affected by COVID-19 they should contact the executive to work out a payment plan for the season.

Thanks for your time,

John Van Gorp
LSMHA President
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