Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific South Island Teleconference Thursday, May 13, 2010 19:00 Meeting Minutes Present: Absent: Jim Lee Vice-President Judith Cook Financial Development & PR Mgr. Dan Robinson Training Mgr. Sheila Flynn Boating Safety Mgr. David Rees- SAR Operations Mgr Thomas Paul Mottershead Vessel & Equipment Tom McKeachie Station 25 Gulf Islands Standards Mgr. Irwin Toellefson Human Resources Glenn Barker Station 33 Oak Bay Preet Grewal Special Projects Ron Stewart Station 34 Mill Bay Officer Rob Duffus Station 35 Victoria Brian Cromp Station 29 Ladysmith Scott Elliston Station 36 Saanich Elizabeth Wilkes Station 20 Salish Sea Gordie Robinson Station 27 Nanaimo Rob Roe Station 37 Sooke David Payne (for Brian Congdon) Station 38 Long Beach Chair: Dan Robinson Minutes: Preet Grewal Topic Discussion Action Call to Order The meeting is called to order at 19:03. Adoption of Agenda The agenda is adopted as circulated at 19:03. Area Business Discussion arose regarding the current batch of pagers from Telus. Some Stations are reporting that they aren t very loud. Discussion around alternatives such as using cell phone numbers and automatic text messaging systems. Dan reported that Station 1 has a calling system, which goes out to everyone on call s landlines/cells like a teleconference. One person calls the JRCC and then comes back onto the teleconference with the specific information. The other stations expressed interest in learning more about this calling system. Station Business Station 20 Salish Sea Reported that they now have another certified coxswain. Just purchased a rescue dummy for Dan will query the Station about the program further and report back to the Auxiliary whether the system would be applicable for our other Stations. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 1 of 6
training for $500. Will be doing joint training with other Stations in Saltspring at the end of May. Will also be doing Safety demos to schools. Station 27 Nanaimo Will have a display trailer and Bobbie at Ladysmith Paddle Fest this weekend. About 8 new members that will be ready to crew about a month. Still working on the new vessel. Held a debriefing with the Dragon Boat team about safety following the recent incident. The dragon boaters were testing a new boat when their coach who was on another boat gunned the engine, which created a big wave and capsized the dragon boat. The Station pulled 22 people out of the water. The incident was great PR as the Stations response time was 5-10 minutes and many members were at an event at the boathouse with the Mayor already when they received the call. Also had a successful SARex with BC Ferries, CG, RCMP and other CCGA-P Stations. Was a great learning exercise. Queried about receiving money for Special Events. SAR/Ops Mgr. said this is no longer happening. Instead Stations can do SAR Patrols, like special events except they are tasked by Rescue Centre. RCC is approached by the organization or the RCMP. SAR/Ops Mgr. said that special events requests for SAR Patrols should go to him and then he will send the appropriate ones forward to RCC. Queried about how training dollars are allocated. Training Mgr. explained that principal stations gets 95 hrs to start. Stations that use less get less hours. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 2 of 6
Then in Jan/Feb he reallocates unused hours to stations that have run out. Extenuating factors include: Co-crew stations that are becoming standalone stations need extra training hrs Stations with new vessels need training time on the new vessels Training hrs will be tight. Station 29 Ladysmith Recently had a medical emergency in the Harbour and used their new Sked Stretcher for the first time. It rolls up like a crazy carpet. EMT was impressed with the Sked and the Station is also happy with it. Paddle Fest is this weekend and their station will be doing in-water demos. The Station goes to the Canadian Power Squadron class and addresses new boating students. The Station gets many of its new recruits through this method. Station 37 Sooke Queried why there is such a delay in the processing of claims. Jim said this is a rare instance due to staff absence. Dan encouraged Station Leaders to tell their members to get their claims in within 2-3 days of the tasking especially in February and March. David said the SAR/Op Budget was over budget due to the increased number of taskings because we are being given more missions due to the increased training. Number of taskings cannot be estimated. Just got a new coxswain certified at the start of the year. This has since resulted in the previous coxswains not being around as much. Recruited 6 new members from the recent membership drive. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 3 of 6
The vessel now has twin Yamaha outboards which are working well and have better economy. Station 38 Long Beach The Deputy Station leader is also a Patrol Commander with CDN Rangers. This is currently offering some excellent interagency training. All the SAR agencies work well in tandem in this area. Recently ordered Gecko Helmets with intercom system. They were expensive but should be good for the 733, as without them the radio can t be heard on the boat. Mark Livingstone boathouse dedication last weekend had over 100 people including the local MLA. There was a fullpage write-up in the local newspaper. The Unit will send photos to the Office soon. Station will send photos from the Mark Livingstone dedication to the Office. Manager Business SAR/Ops Mgr. Vessel & Equipment Mgr. There is a community dance in support of Shawn England coming up. The Society has put up $1,000 for the silent auction, with all proceeds going to John s expenses. SAR Agency Frequency of 148.080 khz is a standard simplex frequency especially for SAR interagency operations. Coast Guard has it on the 47s. Ucluelet is the only place that has it up and running so far. The CG sent a letter to Industry Canada sponsoring the CCGA as an auxiliary SAR agency. All volunteer organizations need a letter like this to get access to the frequency. Of note: the VHF radio on the boats won t pick up these frequencies without a special antenna. Busy getting the plans ready for the new vessels. SAR/Ops Mgr. will put CG letter to Industry Canada online. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 4 of 6
Outlined new procedure for building new vessels/ The Region acts as the Manager in the contract so the region can ensure that all boats are at the same standards. In the future, the Region may design its own T-tops and delta configurations. For motors, all stations should be getting Yamahas. All stations should let Paul know if they are thinking about buying equipment, so that all Stations order the correct equipment, and all equipment should be bought through cooperation with the Region. If not, the stations could end up paying more for the equipment they want, and the Region could lose its special pricing and relationship with the manufacturers. Ordered a trial run of some Gath helmets for Prince Rupert. Be aware that some available helmets don t meet the safety requirements. Paul will bring these helmets around to the stations for a trial. Human Resources Mgr. Vice President Irwin Toellefson introduced himself as the new HR Mgr. The Region is working to improve member recognition, some of which will be done through the Compass. Contact Irwin, other Managers of the office with any reports/stories about members. Shawn England from Station 38 is battling brain cancer again. The CCGA-P will be putting out an appeal to its members and asking anyone who can help to contact the Executive Officer. Training Mgr. Coxswain sign off- there are still only 5 people with that ability. Will put information about the coxswain sign off procedure in the next Compass. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 5 of 6
Other Business Wants to ensure that our training sign-offs are above reproach in case there is an audit of our training certifications. There was discussion surrounding making the managers contact information easier to access on SMS. Meeting adjourned at 20:19. Preet will look into this and make sure there are no privacy issues in regards to this. Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Page 6 of 6