Annual General Meeting (Hespeler Minor Hockey Association)

PrintAnnual General Meeting

2022 HMHA AGM minutes

Hespeler Minor Hockey Association 

2022 AGM 

Virtual Meeting - May 7, 2022 

Meeting Agenda: 

1. Welcome and Introductions 

2. Agenda and Minutes Approvals 

3. President Report 

4. Constitutional Amendments 

5. Financial Report 

6. Appointment of an Auditor 

7. Life Member Announcement 

8. Question and Answer Period 

9. Election of Open Board Positions 

10. Gift Certificate Draws 

11. Closing Remarks and Adjournment 

Reference: 

Power Point Meeting Content 

Motions: 

1. Motion to accept the 2022 Meeting Agenda - Pass (24 Yes, 0 No) 

2. Motion to accept the 2021 AGM Meeting Minutes - Pass (27 Yes, 0 No) 3. Motion to accept Ice Director Remuneration increase of $100/month - Pass (25 Yes, 0 No) 

4. Motion to accept additional duties of the Member at Large position - Pass (24 Yes, 0 No) 5. Motion to accept the 2020-2021 Audited Financial Statement - Pass (21 Yes, 0 No) 6. Motion to accept the 2021-2022 Year End Financial Statement - Pass (21 Yes, 0 No) 7. Motion to accept the 2022-2023 Financial Budget - Pass (24 Yes, 0 No) 8. Motion to accept appointment of Graham Mathew as the HMHA financial auditor - Pass (22 Yes, 0 No) 

9. Motion to close the 2022 AGM - Pass (19 Yes, 0 No) 

Q & A: 

1. [anonymous] What is the status of the Hespeler Hockey Hub? What are we doing to replace the fundraising? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] The Hockey Hub has been discontinued and taken over by HMHA. The poinsettia fundraising and things like that will continue. If anyone is willing to keep this going, please reachout to [email protected] 

2. [Lisa Petteplace] How are you planning to increase enrollment? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] Good question. Would love some help/direction on that. We send out email and social media balsts. Last two seasons COVID has had an impact. Come registration time the push will be put back on. 

3. [Tim Livingstone] Is there a chance of rostering our travel team… {audio cut out…} 4. [Lisa Petteplace] Just because for all the age groups to be competitive in A we need all the numbers there, so to have something concrete to try and increase enrolment for 

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Hespeler Minor Hockey Association 

2022 AGM 

Virtual Meeting - May 7, 2022 

tryouts when you are barely scraping a team together it is hard to be competitive in A. Its different if we were a B center where we would be competitive for the kids to have fun. But without the enrollment there and keeping the kids in A we are taking the fun out of the game. Its different if we have 40/50 kids coming out to try out. This poses a problem for the kids playing. 

○ [Nathan Hillis] Keep in mind we are boundary restricted by our governing bodies to the N3C postal code. Small center, but we strive daily with OMHA to improve and to get better things in place ie the ability to drop a level in January to be more competitive. 

5. [Sharon McKeown] Have you considered changing the designation? Perhaps, small center, we only have a certain number of kids to draw from, are we holding on to something that is not fair for these kids now that there isn’t enough kids to play competitively at their level? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] Again I have to come back to our government bodies. We can’t change OMHA rulings. 

6. [Tim Livingstone] Lisa and Sharron brought up what I was going to bring up. Respectfully I understand that Hespeler can’t make the decision, but collectively if we went to OHMA together and explained that we would like to change our classification to AE, and if we miraculously start performing at a higher level we can reclassify as A. If the board would back the parents with this and go to OHMA together. But to say that we can’t because of OMHA? Let’s reach out to OMHA together! 

○ [Nathan Hillis] As a board we have reachout to OMHA multiple times. 7. [Tim Livingstong] Can I ask that we have their reasons made public? ○ [Nathan Hillis] Our minutes are public after every meeting. OMHA ruling, we can’t be jumping forward or backward. Teams that aren’t competing at their level can drop down in January. 

8. [Lisa Petteplace] So what number of enrolment would you need to be considered competitive at A level? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] 17 players and 2 goalies 

9. [Lisa Petteplace] But we have that now. Just scraping teams together, and we are not competitive. As a parent it affects my child hating the game. But when we got dropped down, it made a world of difference to the kids. They had fun and put more effort in. ○ [Nathan Hillis] Did you team drop down in Jan? 

i. [Lisa Petteplace]Yes. It was a black and white difference 

○ [Nathan Hillis] That’s a step forward then Lisa. 

i. [Lisa Petteplace] What numbers do you need to be at to make competitive teams? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] With our boundary N3C, we can only accept N3C at the rep level i. [Lisa Petteplace] Is there something we can do to address this with OMHA? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] I would suspect emails and documentation that we can take to OMHA would be listened to. Of course, more voces the better. 

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10. [Tim Livinstone] If we could ask before the season starts, can we ask with support of the parents “This center wants to be AE”? The attitude of the kids changed for our team. Every single game came down to the wire, and it was FUN. And if OMHA says no, what if HMHA refused to roster any team at A? How would that look? Let’s get OMHA to see that. 

○ [Nathan Hillis] There is no designated AE loop. I’m not hear to dismiss or talk negative about your thoughts TIm. I don’t think a petition would help you. We are boundary restricted. During COVID we were only down 11 kids. 

i. [Tim Livingstone] There has got to be a way to talk about this with OMHA. From now to September, we would the opportunity to say “no” again. 

11. [Lisa Leachman] Is the board having discussions with OMHA about A center and dropping to AE mid season? Or are you having discussions about starting the season at AE? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] No the board is not having discussion about dropping to a B center. The ability to drop down mid season is a step forward from the oMHA. i. [Lisa Leachman] Is this something that OMHA would look at and recategorize us? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] I can’t speak on behalf of OMHA. We have discussion to help OMHA with their rules. 

12. [Sharon McKeown] Have we made any attempt to… acknowledge that we aren’t competing and give up our Rep designation? Local league only, therefore the kids that are legitimate A level hockey players would be allow to tryout with their nearest A center? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] As the president, I would say there is no discussion to lose our Rep designation. That would be detrimental to HMHA. And it would lead to amalgamation. 

13. [Sharon McKeown] But why not? (cut off by Nathan) Who’s opinion is it that giving up a Rep designation would be detrimental? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] What about the 6 teams that I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation? 

i. [Sharon McKeown] U18A was a big age group and have always done well. U10A dropped to AE mid season and did well. All other teams don’t have enough kids to be competitive at A. Those that can complete (like Beverly) can compete can play a Travel. 

○ [Nathan Hillis] Players at U10 can move to AAA 

i. [Sharon McKeown] We understand that if you are really good you have options to track out to AAA or to limited roster spots as AA as an NRP. How do the few legitimate A level players have a chance to tryout and play with a legitimate A team? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] I guess to end the conversation we will bring this to the board for future consideration. 

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Hespeler Minor Hockey Association 

2022 AGM 

Virtual Meeting - May 7, 2022 

14. [Lori Hall] I had a son in hockey too, it is no fun to lose. You are asking to make changes that impact the whole organization. We can’t make a decision based on a few age groups. This will take a lot of research to consider the whole organization. 

15. [Shane Petteplace] With enrollment down to 429. How many are rep and how many are house league? 

○ [Nathan Hillis] Roughly 150 rep players the rest being LL and IP 

Election of Board Positions: 

Communications Director 

Jessica Belovari-Tedford (15/28) - elected 

Kevin Mehlenbacher (13/28) 

Purchasing Director 

Amy Ross (18/28) - elected 

Shannon Hobson (10/28) 

Acclaimed Nominees 

Nathan Hillis - President 

Jason Godbout - Director of Hockey Operations 

Sean Eagle - Initiation Program Director 

Matthew Broga - Local League Director (1 year) 

Kim McDougall - Registration & Privacy Director 

Helen Chester - Special Executive Assistant 

Kevin Mehlenbacher - Marketing Director 

No Nominations for Members at Large Position 

Gift Draws: 

1. Joey Grenier - $125 Door Dash Gift Card 

2. Andrew Hobson - $125 Door Dash Gift Card



Initiation Program Director
Initiation Program Director
Initiation Program Director