Category: President’s Blog

Great meeting tonight (Tue., 07/20)! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend; it was very nice to see so many new faces! Looking forward to getting to know everyone and working together to provide the very best support to the HCSO! Very informative presentation from Bruce Harlan about the new constitutional carry law; interesting to hear the differences between ‘Constitutional Carry’ and ‘License to Carry’. Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Board Members: Ruth Diamond, Secretary; and, Steve Meyer, Vice-President!
 
Cathy Gieselman, President
HCCSAAA

Greetings! In my new role as HCCSA Alumni Association President, I would like to welcome everyone to a new year filled with boundless possibilities! The February meeting was a great opportunity for members to collaborate and provide input on how the Association would like to move forward in the upcoming year; thank you to those who were able to attend. We also received a grand tour of the new Public Safety Building and it is awesome!

In thinking about what the Association would like to do; we must remember why we are here: “The purpose of the Alumni Association is to bring together graduates of the Hays County Citizens Sheriff’s Academy to enhance relations between the community and the Sheriff’s Office. The Alumni Association will assist, support and promote special projects that strengthen the services provided by the Sheriff’s Office”.

There are many of you who have been members for quite a long time and have had the opportunity to participate in various ways; there are others that may be newer and aren’t fully aware of what the Association is all about. In order to best serve the Alumni Association, I am interested in hearing from members about what the Association means to you, what do you like about it? what do you think we could do better? etc. We’ll be sending out a survey to all members with these questions, as well as others, to get a feel for what is working well and what we can build upon. It’s a great opportunity to make tweaks where needed to ensure we are fulfilling our purpose and that members are energized and excited about all of the great things we can accomplish when we work together.

COVID really threw a wrench into 2020 and hindered many activities and services; it appears the world is slowly getting back to some sort of normalcy and folks are taking the necessary precautions to remain safe and healthy. Being that the Association didn’t have regular meetings last year, we may be a bit slow out of the gate, but it is a great time to review and take inventory of where we are and where we are headed.
If you haven’t joined us in quite some time, please consider doing so. We have a great speaker lined up for the March meeting and many volunteer opportunities available; the newest being ‘greeters’ at the new Public Safety Building which is where we are now holding our Alumni Association meetings.

Speaking of volunteer opportunities, several members attended the Court Security Scenarios this week and it was amazing! Volunteering for these types of activities are extremely beneficial in assisting LEOs with vital training; not only does it assist the LEOs, but we as volunteers can learn a great deal about what our fine LEOs endure on a day-to-day basis. I would highly recommend volunteering for these types of opportunities as they are great fun and they truly assist, support, and strengthen the services provided by the Sheriff’s Office!

I look forward to serving the Alumni Association to the best of my abilities and to support and serve those who dedicate their lives to serving us!

Respectfully,

Cathy Gieselman, President
HCCSAAA

Alumni,

Hope you are ready for another year with the HCCSAAA. Our first meeting of the year is on Tuesday, January 17th @ 6:30pm in the Sheriff’s Office Training room. This meeting will be a general meeting only. We will discuss 2017, review 2016 and nominate/elect the new Executive Board for 2017, per our Bylaws. Angie and I are still interested, but there are two other positions that need filling. To help explain the duties, a brief summary of the duties for each position is included below.

2016 was a good year for the Alumni. With our membership at 54 Alumni, 53 participated in 27 volunteer events and provided over 500 hours of service to the Sheriff’s Department. We provided dinner for 16 graduates of the 31st Citizens Academy, family and friends in November, and 10 joined the Alumni. Thanks for the Outreach Support we had good speakers and several volunteer opportunities. To name a few, Motor Cop Chute Out, Sunshine Kids Adventure, ALERRT Conference, Brown Santa and for the first time, the Wimberley Winter Wonderland event.

On the financial side of business, our account is over $2000, after we made a donation of about $1600 to the Sheriff’s Office for the purchase a new I.D. Badge maker. As a new idea this year for the Sunshine Kids, we asked people to “Sponsor a Kid”, to provide “spending money” to help the kids for purchasing souvenirs during their visit to Hays County. They usually receive about $20 from the organization. This year, each kid for a gift card for $75. Along with the sponsorships, we received additional donations, and the Alumni was able purchase American Flags, provide lunch at the Capitol and Sea World, Mamacitas Buffet and more great Bingo prizes.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: We already have dates for 2017 for the Motorcycle Chute out, March 1-4 and Sunshine Kids Adventure June 5-9.

Looking forward to another year of service to the Sheriff’s Department.

Wayne Kendrick HCCSAAA – President

HCA 2017 REVIEW 2
ARTICLE IV Officers: Duties and Terms

The officers of the Alumni Association shall be President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.

SECTION 2. – Officer’s term shall be for one year, beginning at the close of the Annual Meeting, January. – Any Officer may serve any number of terms, elected annually. All officers are required to attend 75 percent of all general and Executive Board meetings.

SECTION 3. President – chief executive of the Alumni Association. – preside at all meetings, and may co-sign checks, promissory notes and contracts.

SECTION 4. Vice-President – perform duties as prescribed by the President and serve in the President’s stead, when necessary.

SECTION 5. Secretary – recording, maintaining and reporting the minutes of all meetings. – submit to the membership, and serve all notices to the members. – maintain a current roster of members

SECTION 6. Treasurer – shall maintain an account at a financial institution approved the Executive Board. – shall require invoices or receipts prior to reimbursement for member expenditures.

Alumni,

A sad note regarding Bill Cooper, our Alumni Treasurer. Just got off the phone with his daughter Misty and was informed Bill passed away on Tuesday, December 1st from an apparent heart attack. Services are scheduled at the Pennington Funeral Home in San Marcos on Wednesday, December 9th at 6:00pm.

Here is the link to Pennington’s website.
http://www.penningtonfuneralhome.com/obituaries/william-bill-cooper/

Please pass this information to anyone that knew Bill.

Regards,
 
Wayne Kendrick, President
HCCSAAA
 

Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) Tour
At our monthly meeting this past week, we had two speakers come in from ARIC (Austin Regional Intelligence Center). The Alumni has been invited to come up and take a tour. I want to see what kind of interest we have in doing that. It would have to be done during the week and during normal business hour, so if it is something you would like to do, please send me an email. Once I know who would like to go, I will get with Patty (she works for HCSO but is officed at ARIC) and we will see what needs to be done to have us vetted (it is a secure facility) and when we can set up the tour. Here’s a link to the ARIC website for those of you that missed the meeting and would like info before you decide if you want to take a tour.

https://arictexas.org