[MRIC] Meeting Minutes for April 25, 2009

Thu May 7 23:39:42 EDT 2009

Brett:

With respect to the minutes of the April 25, 2009 MRIC Meeting, I am
appalled that the minutes of the meeting are being used to editorialize.
The minutes are to be an objective accounting of the meeting, not a soapbox
for one to vent their displeasure on how the meeting went or how things
turned out.

If anyone wishes to vent their personal feelings about an MRIC meeting they
should do so in a separate e-mail to the group and not in the meeting
minutes.

The way in which the second paragraph of the preamble was written is at the
very least, misleading and overall inaccurate.  Yes, it is true that Harford
County did call for a vote to delete specific references to equipment by
model number and to replace it with general equipment specifications.  The
discussion leading up to the vote was initiated by Howard and Washington
Counties, and all present actively participated in a very lively debate.
The end result was the removal of the specific model numbers from the
appendix with a recommendation, and eventually a motion that passed, that
each jurisdiction posts their equipment on the MRIC website.

As far as the third paragraph of the preamble goes, this is entirely your
opinion and not an objective reporting of the minutes, and as previously
stated, opinions do not belong in the minutes.  If you have a problem with
poor attendance, then you should say so in a separate e-mail, or just say
that you are concerned about the lack of attendance at MRIC meetings and
leave it at that.  Do not go on to say that you are concerned about a
minority leading the group in this e-mail.  That is your opinion, not an
official MRIC opinion.

Remember you are just ONE member of the group.  Yes, you are the Chairman,
but you are not the "Head" or "Group Leader".  A Chairman's function is to
oversee the meeting and ensure that it takes place in accordance to Robert's
rules and procedures and the MRIC Charter.  You are not to use MRIC as a
tool for your own agenda.

Harford County agrees that attendance at the MRIC meetings is below what it
should be.  However, we must all remember that we are volunteers and we do
not get reimbursed for travel or for the time we devote to these meetings.
One alternative which has been discussed and was brought up at the April
2008 meeting was to provide for a method for jurisdictions to vote via
e-mail or proxy.  An alternative method for members to participate and vote
would put aside any concerns any jurisdiction would have about a minority
pushing an agenda.  This issue was brought up in April 2008 and at your lead
was voted down.  No further concerns regarding attendance at meetings after
April 2008 were raised by any jurisdiction until the April 2009 meeting.  

If attendance is truly an issue then we should revisit alternative methods
of participation and open up a discussion on the MRIC e-mail reflector and
continue it ahead of any other business at the next scheduled MRIC meeting
in November 2009.  Another alternative that we should look at is the use of
webinar technology using products such as Go To Meetings, which costs $30
per month ($1.00 - $1.50 a month per RO) for a subscription, or the free
version of Aim Professional which supports video, audio and text
conferencing.  As Dave Prestel from Howard County and others suggested at
the April 2009 MRIC meeting, let's take advantage of technology and put it
to our good use.

Pat Scolla, WB0EGR
Harford County RACES Officer
Member, MRIC

-----Original Message-----
From: mric-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:mric-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Brett Hammond
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 3:58 PM
To: mric at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [MRIC] Meeting Minutes for April 25, 2009

All Maryland RACES Officers:

Please find below the proposed minutes for the Maryland RACES 
Interoperability Committee meeting held on Saturday April 25, 2009. You will

note that the motion to pass on our interoperability document to the 
Association actually passed. There was a miscount during the meeting, 
perhaps due to one vote scrolling off the top of the window during the vote.

My apologies for any confusion.

One significant event that occurred during this meeting was the deletion of 
all the text we approved over the past year to create guidance material for 
those interested in purchasing equipment to implement our interoperability 
recommendations. Instead, the motion made by Harford County to delete the 
guidance material allows for each jurisdiction to post their current 
equipment list to our web site with no unified guidance material to be 
created by MRIC. See the minutes below for details. I will post the updated 
interoperability document in the next few days.

We had poor attendance at this meeting with only 9 members staying through 
the meeting. I know some of you had very good reason with personal family 
emergencies that could not be helped. I am concerned that it only took 6 
members to vote to delete the work we accomplished over the past year during

which many more members attended. I am also concerned that a motion passed 
with just 6 members voting to pass this significant change on to the 
Association for approval without waiting until the next meeting as we 
normally do for significant interoperability motions, in order to ensure 
consensus. Also, this is the first time MRIC has recommended something be 
passed on to the Association for approval that has not been unanimous. And 
finally, I am concerned about the attempts by one or two jurisdictions to 
try to use procedural rules to prevent other jurisdictions from speaking. I 
hope we can return to an atmosphere where everyone is working toward 
consensus on what would be best for all jurisdictions, rather than try to 
get their own position pushed through quickly.

Thank you.

Brett Hammond
Chairman, MRIC
410-829-6749 (cell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------

Maryland RACES Interoperability Committee (MRIC) Meeting Minutes for April 
25, 2009:

Pat Scolla hosted the meeting at the Harford County EOC. Thank you Pat.
-------------------------------------------------------
ATTENDANCE:
The meeting was called to order at 10:30 AM. The following RACES Officers 
(or their representative) were in attendance:

Allegany -
Anne Arundel - Frank Winner
Baltimore County - Joe Krystoforski
Baltimore City -
Caroline -
Carroll -
Calvert -
Cecil - Will Owen
Charles -
Dorchester -
Frederick - Jim Devilbiss
Garrett -
Harford - Pat Scolla
Howard - Dave Prestel
Kent - Bob Lovell
MEMA -
Montgomery - Fred Bader and William Hatfield
Ocean City -
Prince George's - Dan Blasberg
Queen Anne's -
Somerset -
St. Mary's -
Talbot - Brett Hammond
Washington - Bob Long
Wicomico -

The jurisdictions listed above with no name, did not send a representative.
-------------------------------------------------------
AGENDA:
A motion was made by Bob Long to approve the following Agenda as distributed

earlier this week. Seconded by Bob Lovell. Motion passed by unanimous 
consent without objection.

- Welcome
- Attendance
- Review Agenda
- Approval of Minutes
- Update MD RO Contact List
- New 80 meter net frequency (Dan Blasberg)
- Winlink Frequency List (Ray Brown)
- Update MD RACES Freq list
- Publishing RACES Contact info? (Chuck Hodell)
- MRIC Winlink Tech Support contact procedures (Dan Blasberg and Bill Clark)
- Discussion on HF Net test results/schedule
- Lunch
- Finish HF Voice and Additional Equipment Sections of our Interop Doc
- 2009 MRIC Interoperability Exercises
- Simplex net
- Next Meeting Agenda
- Adjourn
-------------------------------------------------------
Approve Minutes:
A motion was made by Fred Bader to approve the January meeting minutes as 
distributed earlier this week. Seconded by Frank. Motion passed by unanimous

consent without objection.
-------------------------------------------------------
Contact List:
The Maryland RACES Contact List was reviewed and updated. A motion was made 
by Bob to approve the RO Contact info, seconded by Dan. It was approved 
without objection by unanimous consent. A copy will be emailed to the MRIC 
email reflector after the meeting.
-------------------------------------------------------
80 Meter Freq:
Dan reported there are no 80 meter frequencies that don't have a net running

on them at some point. He recommended we stay with the frequency previously 
agreed to.
-------------------------------------------------------
Winlink Freq:
The discussion on Winlink frequencies was postponed until the next meeting 
with Ray Brown can attend.
-------------------------------------------------------
Freq List:
There were no changes to the Maryland RACES Frequency coordination list.
-------------------------------------------------------
RO Contact Info:
The discussion on how much RACES Officer contact information we want to make

public was put off until the next meeting since Chuck could not attend.
-------------------------------------------------------
Winlink Tech Support:
No change since last meeting.
-------------------------------------------------------
Web Site:
Brett reported that Bill Bickley of Kent County graciously created a web 
site for MRIC (www.marylandraces.org). Part of the web site will be 
accessible by the public, and some will only be accessible by Maryland RACES

Officers. Only approved documents authorized for public release will be 
accessible by the public. We discussed creating a discussion thread for a 
contribution to be made by Dave Prestel. Also Brett will talk to Bill about 
adding the following links:

About - what we are doing right now.
History - What we have done so far (milestones).
Contact - TBD.
Web Master contact link.
Links Button - to other RACES sites.
Suppliers - of equipment

Also, Brett will address the following concerns:
Verify that everything is not accessible by the public (i.e. readable).
Ensure ability for all ROs to distribute documents to MRIC members.
Add Home page links to other Maryland RACES web sites.
-------------------------------------------------------
HF Test Results:
No further comments regarding HF test results.
Dave Prestel volunteered to draft a new section to recommend procedures for 
establishing multicounty contact in the event of loss of region-wide 
communications.
-------------------------------------------------------
Interop Document:
Motion by Pat that MRIC not recommend specific equipment in guidance 
materials. However equipment used by jurisdictions will be posted to the 
MRIC web site for reference. Seconded by Dave Prestel.

Baltimore County - Yes
Cecil - No
Harford - Yes
Howard - Yes
Kent - No
Montgomery - Yes
Prince George's - Yes
Talbot - No
Washington - Yes

Motion passed 6 to 3.
-------------------------------------------------------
Motion to "delete Appendix A as re-written without guidance on which 
equipment meets these requirements" by Brett, seconded by Pat.

Motion failed by voice vote.
-------------------------------------------------------
Motion by Bob to accept the document as amended. Seconded by Dave.

Baltimore County - Yes
Cecil - Yes
Harford - Yes
Howard - Yes
Kent - Yes
Montgomery - Yes
Prince George's - Yes
Talbot - No
Washington - Yes

The motion passed, 8 to 1.
-------------------------------------------------------
Motion by Pat to submit to the Association for approval. Seconded by Joe.

Baltimore County - Yes
Cecil - No
Harford - Yes
Howard - Yes
Kent - No
Montgomery - Yes
Prince George's - Yes
Talbot - No
Washington - Yes

Although it appeared this motion failed during the meeting by not getting a 
2/3 vote, while working on the minutes later I found that the vote actually 
passed with 6 YES, 3 NO. I believe during the meeting one of the votes may 
have scrolled off the top of the window resulting in an inaccurate count. 
Therefore, the interoperability document will be passed to the Association 
for approval.
-------------------------------------------------------
Motion made by Bob Long: "Be it resolved that MRIC expresses its 
appreciation to Bill Bickley for his work to create and maintain an MRIC web

site for the dissemination of interoperability recommendations." Bob Lovell 
seconded it.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
-------------------------------------------------------
A motion to adjourn was made by Dan, seconded by Bob Long, and approved by 
unanimous consent at 15:03.
-------------- end of minutes --------------- 

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