[MRIC] Meeting Minutes for 4-21-07

BrettHam at aol.com BrettHam at aol.com
Thu Apr 26 22:09:13 EDT 2007


Pat,

Al's title in the minutes is  correct. The fact that his title is "State 
RACES Officer" does not imply that he  has any authority over RACES Officers of 
other jurisdictions. That's just the  title MEMA gave Al. For the 5 years I have 
known Al, Hank Black (State  Communications Officer), and Warren Campbell 
they have repeatedly made it very  clear that they do not have authority over 
RACES Officers of other  jurisdictions. We ROs report directly to our EM, or 
his/her designee. I don't  think there is any confusion about that.

Regarding any state agency  creating their own RACES group, that doesn't make 
sense to me. It seems to me  that the state would have a RACES group that 
would man different positions  around the state, in the same way Talbot County 
RACES mans different locations  around the county. Otherwise you have 
competition for resources and multiple  plans. But this is outside my scope so I'll let 
Al or Hank respond to  that.

Brett

In a message dated 4/26/2007 8:02:51 P.M. Eastern  Daylight Time, 
wb0egr at comcast.net writes:
I would like to make a VERY  significant correction to these minutes:

In the second paragraph, last  sentence, Al Fitzsimmons, W3YRS, is 
identified as the "...State RACES  Officer from MEMA...".  This is 
incorrect.  Al, W3YRS, is the MEMA  RACES Officer.  There is no State 
RACES Officer in Maryland.  Any  state agency that desires to can form a 
RACES group, and the RACES Officer  for such a group would be a peer to 
us and to the MEMA RO, plus they would  not be accountable to MEMA.

Please remember, that in Maryland, ALL ROs  are equal.  There is no "head 
RACES Officer" in Maryland that the other  ROs report to.  The ROs report 
to the Emergency Manager or their  designate in the appropriate Emergency 
Management Jurisdiction they are  located in.  Please remember, NIH also 
has (or at least had) a RACES  group in Bethesda.

73,
Pat Scolla, WB0EGR
Harford County RO &  EC

BrettHam at aol.com wrote:
> All ROs,
>
>  Congratulations on a very successful MRIC meeting this past  Saturday!  
> Congratulations also on approving a standardized message form for  use  
when passing 
> messages between RACES jurisdictions. This is a  very big  accomplishment 
for 
> just our second meeting. We are off  to a very good start.  Thanks for all 
that 
> attended the meeting,  despite it being the nicest weather  outside so far 
this 
>  year.
>
> I want to personally thank you all once again  for  all the many 
contributions 
> that you made; for helping to move the  process  along and not get bogged 
> down; and for keeping the  discussion germane and  professional. I am very 
proud of 
> how you  all kept the discussion to the subject  at hand; showed respect 
for  
> others; and held a legitimate detailed debate. It  was a very fair  
discussion 
> that continued until no one had anything else to say,   before we voted. 
There 
> were so many significant contributions I won't  be able to  remember them 
all, 
> but I would like to say a special  thank you to Al FitzSimons  (State RACES 
> Officer from MEMA) for  making the motion and all his research and  
accommodations 
> during  this process. 
>  
> Al will be directly emailing the approved  ICS-213 form to the ROs in  the 
> next few days using his COMMEX  announcement email list. If you do not  
receive it 
> by Monday, and  would like a copy, please contact him.
>
> I would  also like  to recognize Frank Winner for being so accommodating as 
> our   host.
>
> In the absence of our MRIC Secretary, I have prepared the  minutes  of the 
> meeting:
>
>
> ----------------  MINUTES ------------------
>
> The following were in attendance of  the second MRIC meeting held on  April 
> 21, 2007 at the Anne  Arundel EOC:
>
> ANAR - Frank Winner (RO)
> BACO  - Joe  Krystoforski (RO)
> CALV - Les Dickey (RO)
> CECI - Dave Gray   (RO)
> HARF - Pat Scolla (RO)
> HOWA - Rich Firestone (Assistant  RO)
> KENT -  Bill Clark
> MEMA - Al FitzSimons (RO)
>  MONT - Fred Bader (RO)
> PG - Dan  Blasberg (RO)
> STMA - Ray  Brown (RO)
> TALB - Brett Hammond (RO)
> WASH -  Carlo  Belella
> WICO - Joe Woods
>
> The minutes of the previous  meeting were discussed. The following  
amendments 
> were  made:
>  
> - Change phone number for Joe Woods to  443-523-6061.
> - Under Item 6, change "hose" to "host".
> - Add  roll-call votes to the minutes.
>  
> The minutes were accepted  with amendments without objection. Updated  
minutes 
> will be  distributed.
>  
> ------------------- MOTION  -----------------
>
> There was a motion by Al FitzSimons, seconded  by Frank Winner to remove  
the 
> following motion from the  table:
>
> MOTION: To adopt ICS-213 as  presented by Al  FitzSimons as the standard 
> message form to be used by RACES to   send messages between jurisdictions.
>
> The motion was discussed  for several  hours, after which time several 
> amendments were  made.
>
> -----------------  AMENDMENT ----------------
>  There was a motion to amend made by Pat Scolla,  seconded by Joe  
Krystoforski:
>
> AMENDMENT: Change the date and time field  of  the proposed ICS-213 to 
> yyyymmdd and hhmmss.
>
>  ROLL-CALL  VOTE:
>
> YES - ANAR - Frank Winner (RO)
> YES  - BACO - Joe Krystoforski  (RO)
> YES - CALV - Les Dickey  (RO)
> YES - CECI - Dave Gray (RO)
> YES -  HARF - Pat Scolla  (RO)
> YES - HOWA - Rich Firestone (Assistant RO)
> YES -  KENT  - Bill Clark
> YES - MEMA - Al FitzSimons (RO)
> YES - MONT - Fred  Bader  (RO)
> YES - PG - Dan Blasberg (RO)
> YES - STMA - Ray  Brown (RO)
> YES -  TALB - Brett Hammond (RO)
> YES - WASH -  Carlo Belella
> YES - WICO - Joe  Woods
>
> The amendment  passed unanimously.
>
> -----------------  AMENDMENT  ----------------
> There was a motion to amend made by Pat Scolla,   seconded by Joe 
Krystoforski:
>
> AMENDMENT: Remove the message  number field  from the proposed ICS-213 form.
>
> There was  some discussion about using the time/date as a means of uniquely 
 
>  identifying a message.
>
> ROLL-CALL VOTE:
>
> YES -  ANAR - Frank Winner (RO)
> YES - BACO -  Joe Krystoforski  (RO)
> YES - CALV - Les Dickey (RO)
> NO - CECI - Dave Gray   (RO)
> YES - HARF - Pat Scolla (RO)
> YES - HOWA - Rich Firestone  (Assistant  RO)
> YES - KENT - Bill Clark
> YES - MEMA - Al  FitzSimons (RO)
> YES - MONT  - Fred Bader (RO)
> YES - PG -  Dan Blasberg (RO)
> YES - STMA - Ray Brown  (RO)
> YES - TALB -  Brett Hammond (RO)
> NO - WASH - Carlo Belella
> YES -  WICO -  Joe Woods
>
> The amendment passed 12 to 2.
>
>  -----------------  AMENDMENT ----------------
> There was a motion to  amend made by Dan Blasberg,  seconded by Frank 
Winner:
>
>  AMENDMENT: To remove the message boxes from the  proposed  ICS-213.
>
> ROLL-CALL VOTE:
>
> YES - ANAR - Frank  Winner  (RO)
> YES - BACO - Joe Krystoforski (RO)
> YES - CALV  - Les Dickey  (RO)
> YES - CECI - Dave Gray (RO)
> YES - HARF -  Pat Scolla (RO)
> YES -  HOWA - Rich Firestone (Assistant RO)
>  YES - KENT - Bill Clark
> YES - MEMA -  Al FitzSimons (RO)
>  YES - MONT - Fred Bader (RO)
> YES - PG - Dan Blasberg  (RO)
>  YES - STMA - Ray Brown (RO)
> YES - TALB - Brett Hammond (RO)
> YES  -  WASH - Carlo Belella
> YES - WICO - Joe Woods
>
> The  amendment passed  unanimously.
>  
> ----------------  MOTION --------------
>  
> There were no more motions to amend  the motion on the floor. There was no  
> more discussion, so a  roll-call vote was taken on motion on the floor:
>  
> MOTION:  To adopt ICS-213 as presented by Al FitzSimons [and amended above] 
  
> as the standard message form to be used by RACES to send messages  between  
> jurisdictions.
>  
> ROLL-CALL  VOTE:
>  
> YES - ANAR - Frank Winner (RO)
> YES - BACO -  Joe Krystoforski  (RO)
> NO - CALV - Les Dickey (RO)
> YES -  CECI - Dave Gray (RO)
> YES -  HARF - Pat Scolla (RO)
> YES -  HOWA - Rich Firestone (Assistant RO)
> YES -  KENT - Bill  Clark
> YES - MEMA - Al FitzSimons (RO)
> YES - MONT - Fred  Bader  (RO)
> YES - PG - Dan Blasberg (RO)
> YES - STMA - Ray  Brown (RO)
> YES -  TALB - Brett Hammond (RO)
> YES - WASH -  Carlo Belella
> YES - WICO - Joe  Woods
>  
> The  motion passed 13 to 1.
>  
>  ------------------------------
>  
> Ed (AA3X) gave a  presentation on automating ICS-213 and other forms using 
a  
> PC  program he developed and made available to all.
>  
> Al  FitzSimons gave an update on the state drill scheduled for April   26.
>  
> Terry Sapp (DHMH) gave an update on the Pandemic  drill scheduled for  
August. 
> There is not any specific  participation of RACES requested, but each  
> jurisdiction is  welcome to participate per their EM.
>  
> The list of ROs was  updated and approved by unanimous consent, without  
> objection. An  updated list will be distributed in a subsequent email.
>  
>  The list of Maryland RACES Frequencies was updated and approved by   
unanimous 
> consent, without objection. The updated list will be sent in  a  subsequent 
> email.
>  
> There was a motion by  Dan Blasberg to provide DHMH with our complete list  
of 
> Maryland  RACES Frequencies so all our frequencies could be programmed  
into 
>  all the DHMH ready-kits. The motion passed by unanimous consent,  without  
> objection.
>  
> Rich Firestone talked briefly about  the web site he and Dave Prestel were  
> preparing to develop. There  was general consensus that they should go 
ahead and  
> start to  develop it, with the understanding MRIC has no budget.
>  
>  Dan Blasberg presented a list of all HF frequencies that were available  
for  
> RACES under the old rules. There was general consensus he  should progress 
with 
>  more detailed recommendations for HF  frequencies for state-wide HF net(s) 
> using  these frequencies as a  starting point. The discussion will be 
continued 
> on the  email  reflector this summer, with the objective of running some 
trial  
>  nets during the fall COMMEX prior to our November MRIC meeting, so we  can 
 
> vote on this in November.
>  
> Pat Scolla and Joe  Krystoforski gave a presentation on RACES Recruitment,  
Tr
> aining  and Retention.
>  
> Frank Winner gave us a tour of the AA  EOC.
>  
> There was discussion on agenda items for the next  meeting. The consensus  
was 
> to focus on finalizing HF frequencies  for state-wide nets so we could vote 
 
> in November. There was also  consensus to make digital communications our 
next  
> priority, and  begin discussions on standardizing a digital mode for 
state-wide 
>   RACES communications at our next meeting.
>  
> The following  people tentatively agreed to look into making  presentations 
at 
>  our November meeting:
>
> Dan Blasberg - HF nets
> Joe  Krystoforski - MT63
> Associate of Brett  Hammond - APRS  packet
> Associate of Dan Blasberg- WinLink
> Associate of Dan   Blasberg - ATV
> Associate of Joe Krystoforski - DSTAR
>
> The  next MRIC meeting is scheduled for November 10, 2007 at the Howard   
> County EOC from 10:30 until 15:00. The 2008 MRIC meeting schedule will  be  
> discussed at that time.
>  
> The meeting was  adjourned at 13:05.
>  
> Brett Hammond
> Chairman,  MRIC
>
>
>  




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