U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Sierra Division 11

Department of Homeland Security
United States Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
District 11NR Sierra Division 11
April 26, 2010 Minutes
Date: April 26, 2010
Time: 1900 Hours
Location: Fire Station #1 Carson City, Nevada

Members Present: Dave Law DCDR, Leon Borden VCDR SO-MS, Dee Dee Kincade IPDCDR SO-SR, Tom Henderson FC 11-01, Jim Kremsner FC 11-03 SO-OP, Jim Snell 11-04 SO-MT, Mike Lawrence VFC 11-05, John Boyne SO-CM/NS, Tom Komadina SO-CS, Dale Herman SO-FN, Steve Perez SO-HR, Kathy Boyne SO-IS, Vic Beelik SO-PB, Bill Stolz SO-PV. A quorum of the Board was present to conduct business.
Pledge of Allegiance: Mike Lawrence
Guests present: None

Approval of Minutes: Motion made by Jim Kremsner, seconded by Leon Borden to approve the March 2010 Minutes. There being no discussion the minutes were adopted.
Awards: Division Best of Web Tom Komadina SO-CS. Flotilla runner-up for Best of the Web Alex Belleque 11-05. Joe Harris 11-01 2010 20+ VSCs. AUXOP awards went to Steve Perez 11-01, Dick Clark 11-04 and Bob MacRae 11-05. Tom Henderson 11-01 2009 210 VSCs. Joe Harris 11-01 2009 256 VSCs. Bill Stolz 11-01 2009 102 PVs. Jerry Pearlman 11-01 2009 256 PVs. Lorin Grover 11-05 2009 138 PVs. Dee Dee Kincade 11-01 2009 131 Crew Hours. Jack Leth 11-01 2009 139 Coxswain Hours. Jim Kremnser 11-03 2009 32 PWC Hours. Aids to Navigation Chart Updating Program Special Recognition: Jack Leth 11-01, Vic Beelik 11-04, Bill Stolz 11-1 and John Boyne 11-03. Search and Rescue plaques are available for 2009 Coxswains.
Station Lake Tahoe Auxiliary Liaison Report, BM2 Graham Potter: Not Present.
Coast Guard Liaison Report, Jack Leth: Not Present.
Division Commanders Report: Dave Law: DTrain was a great success and was in budget. The Newly Elected Officer Training will be held on the weekend of the November District Meeting. The class will be held Saturday November 20 from 1300 to 1700 and Sunday November 21 0800 to 1630. Our District is in 110% compliance with the ICS 210 requirement for Coxswains. There are questions on the floor for the DCDR whether crew must now have the ICS 210 class and whether there will be another class before the August Past Captains Fair. There will be no reimbursement for personally owned PFDs. DIRAUX will replace badly worn Auxiliary PPE. National is still considering the wavier to wear personally purchased Auxiliary PPE not under orders. The Auxiliary budget was cut 20%. The May District Meeting will be a phone conference not a meeting held at Coast Guard Island. Upcoming District retirements and Change of Watches: Adm. Breckenridge May 17, CAPT. Cullen June 25 and CAPT Gugg August 19. Send pictures of National Safe Boating Week events to DSO-PA Jerry McAlwee. The District Poker Run will be held on July 31 at Brannan Island State Park, Sacramento. See the District Calendar for all the Division OPTREX dates. Elections for the District Bridge will be held September 11. Intent to run for office should be submitted by July. Divisions need to update their Readiness Plans. There will be no National or Pacific SAR completion in 2011 due to the budget deficient. A new Auxiliary Manual is due to be released in October. The manual will be available in CD form only. There will be a new Division Procedures Manual due out in the fall. New AUXOP courses are under review. There will be a new SAR Reporting form due out in the fall. New National policy is you must live in the same District that you hold office. Paddlecraft ID stickers will be available soon. Email OTO Kilburger with your order. District has deemed the VSC Decal deficit problem has been resolved. Recreational Boating Safety is the Coast Guard’s top priority for the Auxiliary.

IPDCDR Report, Dee Dee Kincade: The Change of Command for Senior Chief Bennett is being held on Friday June 18. Please plan to attend as it would be nice to have good representation from the Auxiliary.
Vice Division Commander Report, Leon Borden: Leon went to 11-05 meeting and oversaw the elections.

Flotilla Commanders Reports:
01 - Tom Henderson – Report on file (See Attachment A). Tom would like to congratulate flotilla member Steve Perez for attaining his AUXOP designation. Joe Harris has already conducted over 300 VSCs this year. The RFO went will for the Station. They appreciated all our help with the 2-Boat training.
03 - Jim Kremsner – Report on file (See Attachment A).
04 - Jim Snell - Report on file (See Attachment A).
05 –Mike Lawrence VFC for Alex Belleque – Report on file (See Attachment A).

Staff Reports:
SO-CM John Boyne – Nothing to Report.
SO-CS Tom Komadina – Report on file (See Attachment A). Tom videoed at the Toy Storage Vessel Safety Check Day. Bill Stolz and Jack Leth conducted short video talks for each VSC item.
SO-FN Dale Herman – Report on file.
SO-HR Steve Perez – Report on file (See Attachment A). The Flotilla 11-05 audit of the books is complete. A special that you goes out to Dale Herman SO-FN for conducting the audit.
SO-IS Kathy Boyne – Report on file (See Attachment A).
SO-MA Ken Willrich – Nothing to Report.
SO-MS Leon Borden – Nothing to Report.
SO-MT Jim Snell - Report on file (See Attachment A).
SO-NS John Boyne - Nothing to Report.
SO-OP Jim Kremsner - Report on file (See Attachment A).
SO-PA Carlos Vasquez – No report received.
SO-PB Vic Beelik – Report on file (See Attachment A).
SO-PE Dave Law - Nothing to report.
SO-PV Bill Stolz – Report on file (See Attachment A).
SO-SR Dee Dee Kincade – Forward flotilla events to me to be added to the Division Calendar. Please include times and contacts.
SO-VE Alex Belleque – Report on file (See Attachment A).

Old Business:
• Division OPTREX – Jim Snell SO-MT reports that we currently have 18 members planning to go for a QE check ride on July 24. Jim plans to turn in the completed request to Gail the third week in June. Members going for new boat crew and coxswain must have all the qualifications completed by that date. We must also know on that date what facilities and crew will be participating for the request.
• Tom Komadina asked the members whether they wanted a Facebook and/or Twitter page developed for the Division. The members voted no. Tom asked about archiving blogs as the website has become slow in loading the blog pages. The members agreed to archive blogs older than 12 months. Tom asked about posting our videos on UTube. The members agreed with Tom that all videos must be edited by Tom before being placed on UTube.

New Business:
• Look at the Division Calendar for Flotilla and Division events.
• Vic Beelik is a coordinator for the interpreters for the USCG Auxiliary Interpreter Corps. The US Coast Guard Auxiliary Interpreter Corps is a Division of the USCG Auxiliary International Affairs Directorate. Interpreters are members of the USCG Auxiliary and offer their linguistic skills to the US Coast Guard and other agencies of the Department of Homeland Security. The US Coast Guard Auxiliary Interpreter Corps has 2 Competency Levels: Level “A” Interpreter fluently reads, writes, speaks and understands a foreign language in addition to English. Level “B” Interpreter speaks and understands a foreign language in addition to English, but does not necessarily fluently read or write in any language. Vic would like the Flotilla Commanders to survey their members to see if any of them speak a foreign language and if so would they like to apply to be an interpreter.
• An inquiry was made as to Bob Dickerson know whether there was going to be a Carson City Air Show this year.
• Dee Dee Kincade reminded FCs to have members take pictures of NSBW events for Dave Law’s Division report for National Safe Boating Week.
Good of the Auxiliary: Steve Perez spoke on the ArrowCreek golf club’s participation in a Palm Springs golf tournament where active military personnel were invited to play. He asked whether personnel at Station Tahoe would be interested. As Steve gets more information he will pass it on. Flotilla 11-03 Reno is starting a crew training program that will take place each Wednesdays starting on April 28. These classes will be held at Tom Komadina home and start at 1900. The April 28 will be the Mandatory Operations Workshop.
Notices: Our next Division 11 Meeting will be held May 24 at Coast Guard Station Lake Tahoe, Lake
Forest, CA.
Motion to Adjourn: Motion made to adjourn Leon Borden by and seconded by Jim Kremsner. Meeting was adjourned at 2007 hours.
Respectively submitted: Approved by:
Dee Dee Kincade SO-SR Dave Law DCDR
Attachment A
Division Board and Staff Reports
Sierra Division 11
April 26, 2010
Flotilla Commanders Reports
Tom Henderson FC 11-01
Operations
April has been another busy month for operations. We started the month where we left off last month with two boat training in advance of the Station’s RFO (Ready for Operation). The Station had their RFO the week of the 12th and passed their towing portion with flying colors thanks to the help of the Camie Marie on the 14th. The Station passed their RFO on the 16th and are now getting ready for the Stan Team next month.
This week we have night two boat training planned for Thursday and Friday with the Station. I think this will make 19 two boat training days with the Station so far this year (off to quite a start).
Activities & Events
At D-Train, our flotilla won the Vessel Examination Flotilla Trophy. This Award was made possible by the hard work and leadership of Joe Harris and all the flotilla VE’s. Joe Harris already has over 300 VSC’s this year. If we can get more decals, he will most likely do a lot more.
April 24th - Dee Dee Kincade will be giving the mandatory TCT and Operations Workshop at her residence in Incline Village.
April 25th - we will be at Reno Toy Storage performing VSC’s for his customers & anyone who brings their boat to his shop.
May 2nd - we will be at Reno Toy Storage for another VSC day.
May 8th - will be the Pre-SAR Picnic at C.G. Station Lake Tahoe
May 22nd - we have planned to have a Kayak Class at C.G. Station Lake Tahoe. This class may have to be canceled or rescheduled due to a conflict with the Spring Paddle the same day.
May 28th - will be the last day at C.G. Station Lake Tahoe for MK1 Adam Barton.
May 29th - we will be having a VSC day at Meeks Bay.
Jim Kremsner FC 11-03
Our meeting was held April 21st at 1900 hours, only one award was distributed to Robin Morgan. The meeting, though short, was complete so as to allow Dee Walter to conduct the Sexual Harassment workshop. She did a great JOB and we are all very proud of her as she continues to step outside of her comfort zone and become a very active and important member of our flotilla.
Angelo Perata conducted the proctored NAVRULES exam just prior to the start of the meeting as a culmination of Dave Young’s hard work as FSO-MT, Good job Dave. The Melroy will be displayed at Cabelas during the safe boating week promotions at the end of May. Auxiliary members will be on had to recruit new members, answer questions from the public and push sign-ups for the safe boating class. Lastly, the kid’s free fishing day is approaching in June of which the auxiliary will be participating.
Jim Snell FC 11-04
APRIL
Nothing going on except for out Flotilla meeting. Our Flotilla meeting was held on 4/20/10 at the South Lake Tahoe Marina Conference Room commencing at 1900.
Awards: Vic Beelik-Sustained Service Award- 3911 cumulative hours, Certificate of Appreciation-15 Instructor hours, Certificate of Advancement- Interpreter, & Re-certification – Aids Verifier. Stu Harrington-Completion of Vessel Exam & Recreational Boating Safety & Program Visitor Exam Bob Oden Re-Certification as an Instructor.
Old Business: ODU Handout. Dick Clark has passed the AUXSCE (TTT) course and is now an AUXOP.
New Business: Douglass County Sheriff Boating Course will be held on April 27-29th.
Program for the evening was the “TCT Workshop” presented by Bob Oden.
MAY
Our Flotilla meeting will be held on 5/18/10 at the South Lake Tahoe Marina Conference Room commencing at 1900. Current Program plan is to hold an “Operation” Workshop. Develop a plan for Crew/Coxswain Members Training so that they will be ready for QEing at our Division OPTREX.
Alex Belleque FC 11-05
Public Affairs
Our public affairs members have worked very hard to create great new upcoming RBS programs with Cabelas. We welcome all members to participate in this great event.
Public Education
Our Flotilla will begin, over the next month, starting offering the new Paddle Sports America class. The current plan is for this class to be offered on the opposite months of our About Boating Safely classes.
Human Resources
At our Flotilla meeting on April 14th we elected a new Vice Flotilla Commander, Mike Lawrence. This election was approved by David Law and over scene by Leon Borden. We also have 4 new members who are currently in AP, as well as two further new members whose information has been submitted to DIRAUX.
Staff Reports:
Tom Komadina SO-CS
CS Report for April 2010
1) Two new projects underway
a) Web video of VSC. This will demonstrate all of the items needed to pass a VSC.
b) Lake Tahoe Video
Steve Perez SO-HR
Very little has been going on with regards to HR. As I get referrals from National, I send them on to the appropriate Flotillas.
Kathy Boyne SO-IS
I attended DTrain and attended IS/AUXDATA workshop.
The Mission Reports ANSC-7030 are back on the E-FORM list. I have found that if you have Acrobat 8 or less these E-FORMs work best. Acrobat 9 seems to cause problems with the E-Forms. ANSC-7030, ANSC-7038, ANSC-7039, and ANSC-7048 have an E-Form version. Any form that you fill in by hand or on the computer then printed could be scanned and emailed.
The following are REMINDERS:
If you are a staff officer or elected officer, your time preparing for meeting, attending meetings and doing work in your positions as 99A - Leadership. If you are not an elected or appointed officer and spend time doing for USCG Auxiliary that time is reported as 99E - OTHER
If you have been on an OPS, UW Mission the hours preparing and traveling to the water are reported as 99B - RBS. Once you are on the Facility and underway, the COXSWAIN does the reporting. If the vessel is trailered, those who ride in the truck pulling the facility will have their travel time reported by the coxswain if you did not ride in the towing vehicle you travel time and mileage is reported by you.
Prep for VE & RBSPV as well as PE & PA missions are reported as 99B – RBS. 99C - MS is restricted to time spent preparing and traveling of Marine Safety Missions. If you are an ATON Varrifier or a RBSPV visitor the time from when you leave until you return home is counted. Your last site as a visitor has the total hours on your form.
The AUXDATA Training Report "Training Management" has # of hours that have been entered in AUXDATA and # of VE's that have been entered. The key to all of this is HOURS NEED TO BE ENTERED INTO AUXDATA.
ANNUAL MEMBER SUMMARY & STATUS REPORT: This AUXDATA Report currently has 2009 hours and what each member accomplishments were 01/01/2010. When I looked at mine, I am not rated as a VE ... I have now done my two training VSCs and the MT2 form has been sent to DIRAUX; when I receive my letter of recertification, I will be able to do my five for 2010. It pays to check out your ANNUAL MEMBER SUMMARY & STATUS REPORT.
Jim Snell SO-MT
In General:
On 3/13/10 we retook the AUXSCE Written Test and all four students passed. Steve Perez, from 11-01, Nevin Armstrong and Robin Morgan, from 11-03, and Edward York, from 11-05. Steve, Nevin and Edward are now AUXOPs. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Dick Clark, from, 11-04, passed his AUXSCE challenge and also became an AUXOP. Only took a couple of weeks to get the results back this time. This makes a total of 21 AUXOPs in our Division.
Have asked the FSO-MTs for a list of possible candidates for the next Full, 32 hr, class. Only three so far.
Flotilla 01:
We continue to train with Station Lake Tahoe. Our operational boat crew trainees have had several opportunities to conduct towing operations with the Coast Guard. On the evenings of April 22 and the 23rd trainees were able to train at night with the Coast Guard allowing them to sign off this important boat crew task. The evening of April 22 tested the crew with rain and fog on the lake.
On April 24 10 members from flotillas 11-01, 11-03 and 11-05 will be attending the mandatory Operational Workshop and TCT Refresher at the residence of FSO-MT 11-01 Dee Dee Kincade.
I have contacted operational members from 11-01 who have let their qualification go into REYR. I have asked them to either bring their qualifications up-to-date or request from DIRAUX to be have their qualification removed from the program. One of the qualifications for the Flotilla Operational Award is to have all operational members current on the qualifications.
Dee Dee Kincade
Member Training Officer
Flotilla 03:
The test for NAVRules is being held tonight (4/21/10) at 6PM. Several fine members of 11-03 and 11-05 will be taking the test. Everyone who put in the effort to learn the Rules of The Road should be congratulated for their dedication to safe boating.
I will be participating in the Crew / Coxswain training and eventual QE in July. Additional information on this will be forwarded and class dates will be posted on the flotilla web calendar.
Respectfully submitted, Dave Young FSO-CS, FSO-MT
Flotilla 04:
At our Flotilla meeting, on 4/20/10, we held the TCT Workshop for 8 of our members.
Am still trying to schedule an Advanced First Aid and CP class for us from the Red Cross.
Dick Mc Sorley
FSO-MT
Flotilla 05: No Report Provided.
???
FSO-MT
Jim Kremsner SO-OP
April has been slow in Operations down in the Valley with Flotilla 03 and 05; however, flotilla 01 has been hitting home runs with their 2 boat training at Tahoe thanks to Bill Stoltz on the Camie Marie as well as Jack Leth on Yuletide. May promises to be busy with the regatta season getting underway as well as special events like the Mike Brown Splash In, currently being organized. Division 11’s Jim Kremsner was awarded “PWO operator of the Year” for 33 cumulative underway hours. Kudos to all the coxswains who were his Mother Ship during the operations.
Vic Beelik SO-PB
THE NEWSLETTER: “DIRECTION FINDER” IS BEING DISTRIBUTED TO ALL MEMBERS OF DIVISION 11N.
Bill Stolz SO-PV
All the Reno/Sparks area dealers are serviced every two weeks and are looking fine. Dealers at the lake are coming out of hibernation and will be serviced soon. No individual reports from 03 and 05. 04 does not have any PV's.
Alex Belleque SO-VE
Our Division is leading the way for VE’s this year and looking great in the District. As a reminder to all, there is a new SUB VE form being used in our district. This form is available from http://rbsafety.d11nuscgaux.info/ve/ve.html . As noted below no further decals will be to either the Flotilla MA officer or to the SO-MA. If you need decals, please contact me. As recommended by Mike DSO-VE (see note below) all requests for decals will be checked in AUXINFO/AUXDATA. Also as noted below the pass rate for most VFC’s is about 70-75% so in theory 100 decals should be good for 160-175 VSC’s. I recommend that all FSO-VE’s keep a simple log of the number of decals they issue to all VE’s in there Flotilla to insure they are able to obtain more via myself or in the unlikely event we run out, I can justify more decals from District. Please also note the (email attached) new tri-fold 2-sided VSC brochure that was introduced at D/Train that may be used for VSC stations, Program Visitor racks, and other PA events. The brochure is done in Microsoft WORD and is easily modified for your use. If you go to the "For Information Contact" section, you can highlight and remove my name and replace it with yours, and in most cases keep the same size font and centering. You can do the same for the phone number and email address. You will find the brochure listed on your D11NR Vessel Examiner website: http://rbsafety.d11nuscgaux.info/ve/ve.html under VE FORMS as ML-5 "Boat Smart from the Start" marked "NEW". Lastly, this is best printed on #67 weight paper, but, you can also use #20 regular or colored copy paper and also print it in black and white to save on color ink. To print, if you simply print one side and then flip it over and re-run the copy having both pages on one sheet. Another option is your local stationary store copy service.
Please review the following memos from the DSO-VE .
1.) No more will be shipped to either the flotilla or SO-MA. I strongly suggest SO-VE’s keep a simple log of who receives supplies and when. In addition, prior to allocating resources, you should also check AUXINFO to verify activity, which is easily accessed thru the D11NR VE website: http://rbsafety.d11nuscgaux.info/ve/ve.html. Please remember that the pass rate for most VSC's is about 70-75%. So in theory 100 decals should be good for approx 160-175 VSC's.
2.) New orange 3” x 4” kayak/canoe lost and found ID stickers being distributed by the Coast Guard. The “stickers” are in a very limited supply and most are not being distributed thru the Auxiliary, but thru the CG PA dept. to local CG stations. However, with little effort, I found an option that will work in their place. AVERY makes a 3”x 4” waterproof blank white polyester label # 5524. The labels come in a box of 50 sheets with 6 labels per sheet-300 total. They retail for $49.99 at stationary stores-about $.16 per label. They stick firmly and feature durable construction that allows them to repel water and moisture