June 15, 2011 General Meeting, 24 members and guests attending. After preliminaries, new member Richard Booth was sworn in.
Vice Flotilla Commander Dave Shuster explained the Coast Guard’s new effort to bring the Auxiliary’s on-the-water operations up to the same standards as those expected of active duty personnel. The voluntary program focuses on training between requalification periods and includes specific skills such as towing, anchoring, and navigation. These sessions will be scheduled for our coxswains and crewmembers on a voluntary basis, and all flotilla members are urged to attend. Joint training with the Coast Guard will also be scheduled.
Public education classes are not bringing in enough money to support our activities, and spending on advertising has not worked. Ideas for boosting class attendance included asking boat dealers to give our brochure to boat buyers, working with boat clubs, offering discounts to new boat owners, and displaying posters about classes at Bass Pro Shops, West Marine, and local marinas and tackle shops.
Announcements of interest:
· The hurricane call tree exercise was a success. Everyone located on the second try.
· Awaiting arrival of the new man-overboard dummy, paid for by the Foundation.
· Communications trailer is up and running
· Flotilla Leadership course had been rescheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17 and is good for one AuxOp point.
· QEs scheduled for August 15 and August 22.
· Fifty-two Vessel Examinations performed in May.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
UNITED STATES COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
Flotilla 96
13531 Vanderbilt Drive
Naples, Florida 34110
General Meeting
June 15, 2011
General Members present: 1
Staff Officers present 12
Staff Officers Aides present: 0
Guests Present: 1
The meeting was called to order by FC, Shuster at 1900 hrs. IPFC Skaggs led the pledge of allegiance and afterwards a moment of silence in remembrance of our fallen armed services personnel was requested.
A motion to approve the minutes of the May 18th General Meeting was offered by Richard Brant and after due second by FSO-MT Jim Mayer, those minutes were approved as submitted, by voice vote without dissent.
IPFC Skaggs and VFC Shuster provided the swearing in ceremony for Mr. Richard Booth.
Vice Flotilla Commanders Report:
VFC Shuster reporting on the recent Division meeting stated there will be strong effort to engage Standardized AUX Boat Crew Operations Training (SABOT) that has been initiated in the ninth district. This elective training program will is designed to bring AUX crews up to regular Coast Guard standards and will focus on:
1. Training between requalification periods
2. Training in several distinct areas, i.e. towing, anchoring, navigation, etc.
3. There will be 6 general targeted areas, i.e. boat handling, SAR
Our District has approved the JOBAID portion of this program which is the first step.
Shuster next opened a group discussion that was initiated during the staff meeting regarding problems some of the flotillas are having regarding Public Education (PE) classes. These classes provide most of the flotilla’s operational revenue and any drop in revenue will have a significant effect on AUX operations. We are just not getting enrollees and advertising is not providing much if anything at all. One suggestion was to work with all the area boat dealers and ask them to speak to boating safety and provide anyone who purchases a boat one of our PE brochures. We should also work with boat clubs, i.e. The Freedom Boat Club. We could provide a discount voucher to new boat owners and/or new boat club members. We might also place attractive informational signs at BPS, West Marine, and local marinas and tackle shops.
FSO-PA/VE Arnal commented on the success of the National Safe Boating weekend event held at Bass Pro Shops. Although the PE classes were not well attended we were able to reach hundreds of store visitors at the entrance and in the store’s marine section.
Shuster then spoke of the joint training possibilities with the Coast Guard; scheduling will be through SO-OP Mary Werres and there will be an email sent to FSO-Ops very soon. The Coast Guard is finding fault with AUX basic operations skills and this joint training should improve those skills.
The Hurricane Griffin Exercise went very well with over 98% accountability. We were at 94% after the first test and 100% on the second test. We are still in Condition 4 and we need to be certain that our response area is covered.
1. OPs. Know where all coxswains, crews and AUXFACs are
2. CM. Thee communications trailer must be ready for transport/operations and watchstanders available and a 24hr schedule prepared and ready to initiate
3. SR. All important records need to be ready to transport to safe storage
4. CS. The Call Tree lists need to be up to date and ready.
Summary of Staff Officer Reports
CM: VFC Shuster reported that the DSC is still functioning sporadically and issued a call for software assistance. He suggested that it could be the Uniden radio and asked all facilities to check their own radios. Make sure they are on high power; this problem could be facilitated by our own personal radios.
CS: We need to get the podium computer communicating with WiFi. The modem and router checked out. It appears that the problem is internal to the Dell PC.
NS: FSO Skaggs reported that ATONs verification is complete; only the bridges remain to be verified.
FN: Reporting for FSO Thompson, Shuster stated that:
The opening balance on Jan. 1st was $13,300
The closing balance April 30th was $8,600
The net loss was $4,700
The foundation grant of $3,800 brought our closing balance as of May 31st to $12,400
MA: We are awaiting the arrival of a new man overboard dummy that can be adjusted to provide anywhere from 40 to 140lbs of drag. The cost of this dummy is $701.
MT: The FLC (Flotilla Leadership Course) has been re-scheduled for Saturday Sept. 17th. This AUXOP course is good for 1 point. QEs are scheduled for August 15th and 22nd.
HR: We will swear in Mr. Richard Booth as a new member during the General Meeting. We have two transferees, Mr. Joe DeJesus and Greg Guederian and two potential new members, Sue Brugett and Adam Nicklos. We also have an offer from the Boy Scouts to address the next Division meeting which could open a channel to the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts re: boating safety classes.
PV: The communications trailer was utilized at the Naples Marina & Excursions grand opening on May 28th.
SR: All member records have been reviewed and a plan for safe storage is in effect.
VE: We have performed over 300 VEs to date, with 52 for the month of May, and are well on the way to reaching our goal of 600. We held VEs at Lover’s Key on June 11th and will also be set up for business on 25th at Lover’s Key. Al Poyser has initiated a contact with Estero Outfitters to inspect all of their watercraft, most of which are kayaks. This could amount to over 300 examinations.
Old Business
None
New Business
Bernie Appelman reported that the next fellowship meeting is scheduled for September 9th or 10th at the Coconut Point Hyatt.
A motion to adjourn was offered by FSO Mayer and after due second by FSO Gaston, the motion to adjourn was approved by voice vote without dissent.
The meeting was adjourned at 1930 local time.
Submitted by:
FSO-SR Billy R. Willsey
