DISTRICT COMMANDER’S REPORT

GOVERNING BOARD – JUNE 5-7 2009 

My travel was uneventful, the weekend was very busy, and I think that quite a bit was a accomplished.  Unlike previous meetings, where the District Commanders met together only on Friday evening, and the rest of the meetings were held jointly with the whole Governing Board, on this occasion the District Commanders also met separately on Saturday morning , which  provided lots of opportunity for the exchange of ideas.  It was unanimously agreed that this process should be continued in the future.

In this report I shall attempt to bring you up to date on the items that I feel are of most interest to the members of VIND. 

Notices of Motion –

Motion NM1, re giving the National Secretary authority to approve pennants, was carried.

Motion MM2, re allowing those who pass Advanced Course to become members, was withdrawn to allow time to investigate some insurance issues – it will be brought to the October Governing Board.

Motion NM3, re requiring parental consent for Juniors to hold Squadron positions was also withdrawn, for further investigation of the definition of ‘under age’.   It will also come to the October meeting. 

Membership – to date renewals by regular members nationally have been about 77% (usually they are about 80%).  About 15% of Associate members have renewed, which is higher than was projected when the automatic membership was introduced.  More renewals will probably still come in.  the latest statistics are shown below. 

Membership Acquisition Program (MAP2) – the MAP 1 project led to the decision to provide all Boating and PCOC graduates with automatic membership.  The Special Projects committee has followed this up with new proposals which they feel with help to retain new members.  Two key elements are the:  

1)    “Fly the Flag” program by which CPS will provide every new Full (not associate) Member their first CPS flag free of charge. They propose a significant new ceremony as part of the graduation where the squadron presents the graduate’s “1st flag” and the emphasis is placed on the flag, not the pledge. The purpose is to encourage new Members to feel pride in flying the flag, which will be a daily reminder of their association to CPS throughout the boating season. 

2)   In addition CPS will now provide every new Member (full and associate) a CPS “Card ‘n Key” Float for use on their boat. The float will not only be a typical keychain float but will also hold an individual’s PCOC as well. The float will carry the CPS insignia. 

This program will be presented at the National Conference in October and will be instituted with the fall 2009 classes.   It was endorsed enthusiastically by the District Commanders and General Directors. 

CPS Budget – The Finance Committee had prepared a balanced budget, but had decided not to accept the MAP2 proposal, the cost of which will be approximately $35,000.   There was considerable discussion concerning the best way by which to fund this project.   The final decision was to increase the cost of the Boating notes by $5.00 and the PCOC exam by $3.00.  The budget also includes a 10% increase in all Advanced and Elective course costs.  This results in the budget having a very small surplus.  The budget was approved with these changes which come into effect on July 1, 2009. 

Please note – the increased cost of $5.00 to the Boating course notes and 10% to all Advanced and Elective courses will have to be factored into your charges for the fall – so make sure that you include them before you plan your advertising for the fall.  Many (probably most) squadrons across the country already present Boating graduates with a flag, with the cost included in the course fee.  For those squadrons there should be no additional cost to students for the Boating course. 

District Trailer – As most of you are aware, the use of the District Trailer was discontinued pending resolutions of the issue of insuring it, as our district is not a Society within BC.  The National Law Officer has suggested that CPS buy the trailer for a nominal $1.00.  CPS will then register CPS as an out-of-province society, and will be able to insure the trailer and be responsible for any liability as a result of its use.  The legal costs of extra provincial registration will be covered by CPS with individual trailer registration and insurance costs covered by VIND.  CPS promised to expedite this procedure as quickly as possible, and it is hoped that we may be able to use the trailer by Rendezvous time.  

CPS Recreational Vessel Courtesy Check (RVCC) Program -This program is up and running.  The National Coordinator is P/C/C Tony Gardiner (acg@ieee.org).   The west coast coordinator is Ann MacDonald (agmac@telus.net).  Any squadron which is interested in becoming part of the program should contact her.  The plan is to have 15 two-person teams on the west coast this year. The Office of Boating Safety will arrange for training of volunteers, and costs will be reimbursed.  CPS insurance will cover all CPS volunteers taking part in the program. 

Using the revised, Transport Canada approved, form the checks should only take about 15 minutes, which is considerably shorter than the previous Coast Guard programme.  A CPS sticker will be provided for successful checks. 

PCOC providers - The Lifesaving Society has withdrawn completely as a PCOC provider and passed its records over to CPS.  Some Lifesaving providers may wish to continue using Boat Pro, so if there is a provider in your area they many apply to become a RP.  HQ will advise your squadron if this happens. I suspect this will not affect many (if any) of our squadrons. 

 Share Program ; There have been complaints that smaller squadrons cannot afford to advertise, even using the Share Program, because of their small numbers. Changes were approved to the program, to provide additional funds to smaller squadrons, at the expense of larger ones, so that the total cost to CPS will be about the same.  The new formula will be as shown below: 

Total amount that can be granted - 300 minus the number of members times $1

All squadrons may receive at least $100 

For example  - a squadron with 50 members can now get up to $250.  (300 – 50 x1 = 250)

-         one with 350 members can only get up to $100:  (300 – 350 = -50 x 1)

Other criteria are unchanged, such as the 50/50 cost sharing

For this program, member numbers exclude CPS associates  

Boating course – there will be few small, non examinable, changes in the Boating notes this fall, in the form of appendices covering such things as GPS, environment, boating etiquette etc.   The National Training Officer will send out an e-blast in a couple of weeks to keep everyone up to date with Training matters. 

Reminder for STOs - As soon as an STO enters marks into the WBAS system he/she should e-mail HQ (Carole Brown for Boating and Linda Green for other courses) to say the marks have been entered and specify whether the certificates should be sent to the STO or the student.  If no indication is given, then they are automatically sent direct to the student.   Once the marks are entered, temporary certificates can be printed directly.  STOs will be able to enter PCOC marks by September, and similar certificates will be able to be printed for PCOC graduates. 

Flare Demonstrations – apparently these are being allowed by Coast Guard in some parts of Ontario.  Perhaps we should check into this again on the west coast. 

Agreements with other organizations - The National Law Officer is drawing up policy guidelines re agreements that squadrons may enter into.  Such things as agreements to renting classrooms or facilities for social functions are not a problem, but more complex agreements which require the signature of an officer of the corporation (with governments, crown corporations, other non-for profits, copyright issues etc) may have to be reviewed by HQ or the Law Officer.

WBAS – HQ has prepared a draft WBAS Member survey for distribution to all National, District, and Squadron Officers, to be sent out later this month. This is intended to facilitate input on any problems being experienced and determine what may be improved within the system (via change/correction) and what issues may be addressed via improved documentation and/or education.  Watch for this coming, and please return it with your comments.   They are also preparing a ”request for change” form where changes to the system may be suggested (but not necessarily implemented depending on the costs involved and the complexity of the changes). 

CPS Passport – The membership certificate is being redesigned.  Stickers for other courses will be entered in a new “CPS Passport” which will also include slots for a membership card, PCOC card, etc and pages for stickers, sailing logs, and certificates for courses taken with other organizations such as CYA.  Examples were circulated, and they look very good. It is hoped to introduce the passport for fall 2009 graduates. 

Member benefits – On the WBAS site, if you enter Member Services and go to Member Benefits there is a listing of the national member benefits.   That list includes a section for Additional Regional benefits.  So far, only Quebec squadrons are listed there.   HQ would like squadrons and districts to send them a list of discounts etc that you receive locally so that they can be added to the list. 

Squadron and District Web Sites – for those Districts and Squadrons that do not have a web site, National would like to have a link of some sort on the CPS site which would at least provide contact information.  However, this cannot be done without local permission.   More information about this should come out during the summer.