Exec reports - Huts Coordinator
Contents
Introduction
The Huts Coordinator takes care of the VOC's Huts to make sure they are still there for future generations. A good person for this position is one who is interested in VOC Huts, can collect information on huts and hut locations, and make persuasive recommendations to the Execs. Good email communication is key for this position as you will need to facilitate workhikes, trips and/or gatherings; communicate with members of the community; communicate with members and exec advocating on behalf of the VOC Huts; and communicate/coordinate with the President, Treasure, Trails Coordinator and the FMCBC/ACC Coordinator.
Since there is so much to learn stepping into this position, its highly recommend to stay in this position for two years. This will give you time to learn the history of all the Huts, become acquainted with everyone who can help you, navigate depths of the VOC wiki for information, organize and manage major capital projects, apply for funding grants, produce long term plans for the huts and become a strong advocate for VOC Huts within the community.
As an exec, you are of course expected to attend all the meetings and provide a voice. This position is time consuming so you probably will not have time to help out with tasks and projects that are outside your realm. As an exec, you will have write a journal article exec report (the same report you will write for the Huts Management Plan), update this exec report page, lead 2 trips per term, and cook for the banquet.
Please look at the Hut Maintenance page to see the current Huts Management Plan and other details regarding both completed and outstanding work on the huts.
Responsibilities
Below is a brief outline of responsibilities. The sections after contain more details on each task.
1. Hut Maintenance
- Coordinate the main annual workhikes and other as needed workhikes when they arise
- Encourage others to lead workhike trips and to spearhead projects on your behalf
- Apply for grants to assist funding major capital projects (ie. new outhouse, new hut, new heater, new solar lighting, ect.)
- Make recommendations regarding building of new huts, or removing or replacing huts.
2. Visitor Management
- Update and monitor the VOC Registration Board on the VOC wiki:
- Encourage hut visitors to use it frequently and assist users when necessary.
- Inform the public of current conditions and VOC trips.
- Contact hut visitors to resolve conflicts when necessary and respond to emails when queried.
- Monitor and record hut usage and include the information in the Huts Management Plan.
3. Information Sharing
Share information with the public and VOC members via email, exec meetings and the VOC wiki:
- Keep Hut and Hut Access Pages up to date
- Encourage hut visitors to post bulletins
- Email with visitors to obtain information when needed.
- Create threads on the VOC Forum for issues that arise
- Share information to the Exec at weekly exec meetings and make persuasive recommendations.
- Interact and communicate with other clubs and groups in the community in coordination with the FMCBC/ACC Coordinator.
4. Hut Administrative Duties
- Manage current hut tenures and their submit renewal applications before expiry.
- Update and thereafter publish the Huts Management Plan, including:
- Your Exec Report
- Visitor Usage
- Condition and Integrity Report
- Action Items for the future.
- Work with the Treasurer on the year end Huts and Trails Financial Report:
- Statement of expenses and revenues for the previous year.
- Budget for the next year.
5. Major Hut Gatherings
Facilitate and coordinate major hut gatherings where many VOC members coalesce of their own accord:
- The annual Brian Waddington Hut New Years trip.
- The annual Sphinx Camp (over Reading Week).
Hut Maintenance
Annual Workhikes
- Winter: Sphinx - Empty Cash Box - BC Parks allows us to have a cash box in the hut so long as we empty it every year.
- Spring: Brew - Empty Outhouse (every 2 years) - This is best done with a moderately high snow level so the back can be accessed easily and the waste can be dragged in the poop sled to the treed area 100m north. IF done in late spring, with hot weather then the water barrel may be unfrozen and able to be used. The Mechanical Unit should be checked frequently to ensure it is still working properly.
- Summer: Brew - How many VOCers does it take to replace a Helicopter 2016 TR 2016 2017 2018 - On year one, we chop up deadfall down low on the trail and haul it up to the lake. The next year, we haul the wood up from the lake to Hut. The hut needs roughly 1000 lbs of firewood per winter and so every 5 years you may need to supplement our manual wood hauling with a helicopter. Try to time up other hut related projects with this.
- Fall: Phelix - Helicopter Wood Hauling (every 2 years) - With Phelix's new wood stove, the VOC needs to provide firewood so that the alpine environment can be preserved. Although we are not certain of what the hut will consume just yet, we anticipate at a minimum, 1000lbs of firewood will be needed each year. This should be flown in each year. Contact firewood suppliers two months in advance. Plan to run this trip in early fall so that you can take advantage of nice weather (which you need for the helicopter) and cold temperatures (which increase the weight that the helicopter can carry and thus decrease it's fuel cost saving you money).
As Needed Workhikes
- Generally cleaning/removal of garbage/collection of donations from all huts
- Outhouse pit maintenance for Phelix and Sphinx.
- Improvements to Hut facilities such as windows, stoves, solar lighting, tables, ect.
Funding Grants for Major Capital Projects
There are many sources of funding that you can apply for to help you accomplish major hut related capital projects. Some of these include:
- MEC Grants (up to $15,000)
- UBC Sustainability (up to about $500)
- FMCBC Grants (up to about $3,000)
- AMS sometimes has things.
See the fundraising page for more details. When you write a grant, keep copies of the application in the applications in the OneDrive. The Hut Management Plan and those past applications will be very helpful for filling them out and often copy/paste plus some small edits can help you fill out many parts of the application very quickly. If you are considering embarking on a major capital project, always explore the grants available to you and apply because most likely you will get the funding.
New Hut Construction
This isn't something that happens very often, but if you do embark on such a project, see the Hut Building page for guidance.
Visitor Management and Information Sharing
The VOC Wiki
The wiki is a key component for information sharing with the public and for managing visitors. The wiki ensures that people know:
- The rules of our huts, and our requested donation amount (see Hut Management Plan)
- What facilities are available at our huts (see Hut Pages)
- How to get to our huts (see Hut Access Pages: Roe-Brew Trail, Phelix Creek Trail, Harrison Hut Trail)
- When other people will be at the Hut (see Hut Registration)
- What the current conditions are at each hut (see Hut Registration Bulletins)
The VOC wiki is also key for you:
- Recording how many people use our huts (see Hut Registration Archive)
- Collect information from users on current conditions
- Inform the public when the club will be using our Huts for club trips
- Facilitating the annual Brian Waddington Hut New Years (see past trip pages here)
- Facilitating the annual Sphinx Camp (see details here)
- Keeping inventory on tools and equipment at each of the Huts (see Hut Inventory and Tool Inventory)
- Keeping track of Hut Maintenance (see Hut Management Plans)
- Sharing documents with the Public (Upload Files here)
Community Issues
There are many issues in the community regarding huts and usually they long and drawn out issues that are difficult to tackle. Develop a relationship with the FMCBC/ACC Coordinator early on and communicate with them frequently so that they can spearhead and advocate for you. This stuff consumes a lot of effort and time and so the more work you can get the FMCBC/ACC Coordinator to do, the less you will need to do and the more you can focus on your other priorities. Some of these issues might be regarding:
- Land Use and Zoning (are snowmobiles going up to Phelix or Brew when they shouldn't?)
- Community Respect (did a group helicopter into Phelix with a Keg and be disruptive to other users who registered?)
- New Huts (is there a new hut going in and do we support it? If we want a new hut in the future, do we want them to support us?)
- Old Huts (are there groups trying to obtain tenure for an old untenured hut? Do we support their management plan? If so can we help support them vocally?)
- Hut Access (are we losing access to our huts because of road deactivations/lack of parking or something else? What can we do about it?)
Hut Administrative Duties
Hut Tenure Renewals
All of our huts have Nominal Rent Tenures with the government, except Sphinx which is in BC Parks. These things expire typically expire every 10 years. No tenure = no (legal) hut. It is your responsibilty to ensure that renewal applications are submitted prior to expiry. Details below:
| Hut | File | Licence | Type | Term | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brew Hut | 2400607 | 242022 | License of Occupation (Community Facility) | 30-year term | June 8th, 2012 | June 8th, 2042 |
| Brian Waddington Hut | 2410051 | Renewal in Progress | ||||
| 241077 | License of Occupation (Community Facility) | 10-year term | May 9th, 2009 | May 9th, 2019 | ||
| Julian Harrison Hut | 2401192 | 243397 | License of Occupation (Community Facility) | 10-year term | May 15th, 2017 | May 15th, 2027 |
| 240245 | License of Occupation (Community Facility) | 10-year term | May 15th, 2007 | May 15th, 2017 | ||
| 238705 | unknown | 3-year term | January 19th, 2004 | May 15th, 2007 | ||
| 235440 | unknown | 10-year term | January 19th, 1994 | January 19th, 2004 | ||
| Roland Burton Hut | BC Parks Memorandum of Understanding in Progress | |||||
The government sometimes mails us something as these dates approach, but they may not and if they do they will almost certainly mail it to the AMS, not the VOC (as these agreements are really with the AMS. After all, the VOC doesn't actually exist as a society; only the AMS "exists"). Be proactive, and make sure you get the tenure renewed. These agreements hold us to abide by our Management Plan which we submit with each renewal application. Do NOT include the Financial Appendix with the renewal application. Old applications are likely available with Sheldon, the AMS archivist. Who knows where the other applications are, but they are likely similar - we promise to build a shelter for non-motorized recreation, they let us. If you do run across them, try to get them digitized and stored in the VOC OneDrive.
Hut Management Plan
Second in importance only to completing the Huts and Trails Financial Report, the Hut Management Plan must be reviewed, updated and published annually. The Hut Management Plan contains:
- Your Annual Exec Report
- Details on Hut Tenures
- Our Hut Management Policies (what $ do we collect? Do we allow dogs? Do we allow helicopter access to Harrison? Do we prohibit campfires)
- Information on each of the Huts (including location details, hut history, hut facilities and recorded usage)
- A condition and integrity report for each of the huts. (16 categories, including things like Hut Structure, Hut Door, Hut Roof, Outhouse Structure, ect.)
- An action plan for things needed to bring the huts up to a perfect score on the condition and integrity report
- A record of completed action items
- Formal as-built drawings and site surveys for each of the huts
Publish the Hut Maintenance Plan prior to the AGM and print 6 copies (one for each Hut plus one for the clubroom and one for the archive). For further details on the Hut Management Plan task see the Hut Maintenance Page.
Huts and Trails Financial Report
This is the most important part of your job. If you do nothing else, DO THIS. Work together with the Treasurer and the Trails Coordinator to complete this. The report should contain:
- Statement of expenses and revenues for the previous year.
- Hut Donations
- Grants Received
- Funds spent
- Budget for the next year.
Make a preliminary report to show at the AGM and then finalize the numbers after the fiscal year ends on May 1st. After May print two copies of Financial Report for the archive in the clubroom. Do not publish the Financial Report to the wiki.
Position History
| Starting Year | Title | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Huts Coordinator | Haley Foladare |
| 2018 | Huts Coordinator | |
| 2017 | Huts Coordinator | George Hill |
| 2016 | Huts Coordinator | |
| 2015 | Huts Coordinator | Cassandra Elphinstone |
| 2014 | Huts Coordinator | Matt Kennedy and Shane Duan |
| 2013 | Special Projects | Ryan McKenzie |
| 2012 | Special Projects | |
| 2011 | Special Projects | Phil Tomlinson |
| 2010 | Special Projects | Geoffrey Martin |
| 2009 | Special Projects | Artem Bylinskii |
| 2008 | Special Projects | Jeff Ferguson |
| 2007 | Special Projects | Christian Veenstra |
| 2006 | Special Projects | |
| 2005 | Special Projects | Jay Piggot |
| 2004 | Special Projects | Jean-Philippe Mercier |
| 2003 | Special Projects | James Floyer |
| 2002 | Special Projects | Greg Rekken |
| 2001 | Special Projects | Jan McPhee |
| 2000 | Special Projects | Mark Huscroft |
| 1999 | Special Projects | Marsha Hamilton |
| 1998 | Special Projects | Jeff Martin |
| 1997 | Special Projects | Robyn Scott |
| 1996 | Special Projects | Tim Duty |
| 1995 | Special Projects | unknown |
| 1994 | Special Projects | Mike Buda |
| 1993 | Special Projects | Blair Hammond |
| 1992 | Special Projects | Denie Robichaud |
| 1991 | Special Projects | Mike Spagnut |
| 1990 | Special Projects | Jan Palaty |
| 1989 | Projects Coordinator | Steve Dods |
| 1988 | Projects Coordinator | Eric Clemson |
| 1987 | Projects Coordinator | Steve Dods |
| 1986 | Projects Coordinator | Jim Chesko |
| 1985 | Projects Coordinator | Pierre Friele |
| 1984 | Projects Coordinator | |
| 1983 | Projects Coordinator | John Croockewit |
| 1982 | Projects Foreman | Jay Page |
| 1981 | Cabins Committee Rep. | Terry Chow |
| 1980 | Projects Foreman | Trevor Boyd |
| 1979 | no position | |
| 1978 | ||
| 1977 | ||
| 1976 | ||
| 1975 | ||
| 1974 | ||
| 1973 | Cabin Marshall | Ian Cordey |
| 1972 | Cabin Marshall | |
| 1971 | Cabin Marshall | Gary MacDonald |
| 1970 | Cabin Marshall | Herb Dragert and Tak Uyede |
| 1969 | Cabin Marshall | Ross Beaty and Brian Thicke |
| 1968 | Cabin Marshall | Harry Bruce |
| 1967 | Cabin Marshall | Dave Lloyd |
| 1966 | Cabin Marshall | Peter Macek |
| 1965 | Cabin Marshall | Les Watson |
| 1964 | Cabin Marshall | Dave Hardie |
| 1963 | Cabin Marshall | Hart Pfortmueller |
| 1962 | Cabin Marshall | Ric Sebastian |
| 1961 | Cabin Marshall | Ken Mackenzie |
| 1960 | Cabin Marshall | Ian Stirling |
| 1959 | Cabin Marshall | Dennis Holdon and Bruce Ward |
| 1958 | Cabin Marshall | Bruce Ward |
| 1957 | Cabin Marshall | Jerry Van Tets |
