President's Message
Hello everyone.
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new President of MAYHA and to update you all on several of the current topics concerning the Glacier Ice Rink.
My name is Harvey Hergett. I have been actively involved with the Glacier Ice Rink since 2001 when my family moved from Great Falls to Missoula. I have been a member of the MAYHA Board of Directors since 2004, where I have served as the Secretary for the Board until being nominated this year for President. I have also served as President of the Missoula Figure Skating Club from 2004 – 2008. I have a daughter involved in figure skating and a son who is involved in both figure skating and youth hockey, where he plays on the Pee Wee travel team. In addition, my wife and son have taken in several of the Learn to Curl sessions and you will find us at many of the Missoula Mauler games. Bottom line, you will see me and my family around the rink most days of the week.
In the 10 years I have been involved with the rink, we have grown from a one rink outdoor facility run completely by volunteers to a two rink facility with the largest youth hockey program in the state, the largest figure skating program in the state, and an adult hockey program that ranks in the top 20 of all rinks in the nation run by a talented staff and Executive Director. We are now a large business with a budget of approximately $1.5 Million. If you are interested in the budget planned for this fiscal year, you can find it at Glacier Ice Rink Budget We are also seeing a tremendous growth in the participation in the tournaments and competitions at Glacier Ice Rink, a testament to the success of our organization. This past weekend we have 14 teams participating in the Pee Wee Blast Off tournament and had to turn 12 teams away who wanted to sign up. We have almost the same scenario next weekend for the Bantam tournament. Might be time for that third sheet of ice!
I would like to personally thank our outgoing President Sean Morris for the work he has contributed to the rink over the past three years. Being the President of any volunteer organization is a demanding job and the President and Board of Directors volunteer their time to make it a success. If you see Sean or any one of the Board of Directors, please thank them for their time. The other officers elected by the Board this year are Doug Jackson (Vice President), Colleen Leadbetter (Secretary) and Shane McCann (Treasurer). You can always find the current Board of Directors on the Glacier Ice Rink website Board of Directors
In a time of declining economy, the participation in ice sports at Glacier Ice Rink is continuing to grow. We are seeing a 15% increase in registrations this year for most of the programs at the rink. I am excited to be a part of such a vibrant and growing organization and hope to continue our growth over the next year. I believe we can sustain our growth and success at the rink through effective communication amongst the user groups and with our users, effective use of our ice time, and increasing our customer service. A recent example is the Missoula Figure Skating Club working together with MAYHA to offer a Learn to Skate session for hockey players on Saturday mornings that is concentrating on the skating skills necessary to play hockey. The two groups are working together to help improve the skating skills of all users at the rink and utilizing another users ice time to maximize the use of our ice. This cooperation is a positive step towards developing the highest quality skaters in the northwest. If you have any other ideas on how we can effectively increase our communication or customer service, I would invite you to contact me or Eric Penn, our Executive Director. We would love to hear your ideas!
When Sean Morris put out the last President’s message, he informed you all we were working on opening up negotiations on our current lease with the Fairgrounds. Since then, we have received a positive response from the County Commissioners willing to open up negotiations for a new lease. The Board has designated a negotiation team of Harvey Hergett (President), Sean Morris (Past President), Thorin Geist (Board Member) and Eric Penn (Executive Director). We have formally responded to the County Commissioners and will soon be opening up lease negotiations with them. Some of the salient points we are planning to negotiate are parking lot improvements, year around exclusive access to the facility, designated and safe access points to the facility, ability to use the rink for other than skating activities, and relief on the 17% fair tax on our gross revenue.
Recently, the County Commissioners visited the rink to see the operations prior to entering into the lease negotiations. We really appreciate them taking the time to learn about or operations and look forward to a successful lease negotiation with them. KPAX covered the visit during their nightly news cast. If you did not see it, here is a link to that broadcast. http://www.kpax.com/news/future-of-missoula-s-glacier-ice-rink-discussed/
Once again, I look forward to serving as the President this year and would appreciate any comments on how we can improve what we do. My contact information is posted on the Glacier Ice Rink website on the Board of Directors tab.
Harvey Hergett, President
MAYHA Nov. 2011
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September 2011
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April 2010