[Imperium] ECAB Report as provided by RC 7

[Mark Hanford]

Friends,

Here's the latest ECAB report as provided by Joe H. Read if you like.

Mark
++++++++++++++++++++++++++


ECAB Report



Office of the CS

Big happenings here at HQ:  Promotions is still catching up on the backlog
left to them from the previous Promotions personnel.  Also, they are still
working hard to get out the certificates from last year that were left
before Kris took office as well as those for the promotions which have been
approved since the start of the year.  Awards is collecting this year's
nominees from the RCs and getting them ready to present to the EC for
evaluation.  Isn't there a deadline looming closely on that?  Also, progress
is being made on locating a new source for the award plaques as last year's
recipients have yet to receive their awards.  Personnel have begun
advertising some of the current openings and collecting resumes from folks
interested in working for the betterment of STARFLEET.





Office of the VCS



The VCS Department has been hard at work focusing on creating, organizing
and developing programs that will address our membership's customer service
needs and support programs so that they can have fun. In addition allot of
work has been done on its infrastructure.



VCS Reform Committee

A basic format has been established for the membership Handbook and
paragraph-by-paragraph review is on going



VCS Communications

Since the last month I have putting the final touches on the VCS Website (
http://vcs.sfi.org/).  In regards to the web site the most recent page added
was the STARFLEET Reform page.  In the coming weeks I will be working on
other enhancements to the site.  There are plans in the works for adding the
following functionality in one manner or another to the STARFLEET Reform
page.



•           The ability for STARFLEET members to send emails directly to the
VCS with questions and comments about STARFLEET reform.



•           Setting up of a FAQ to answer those questions



•           A repository of some kind to archive STARFLEET reform documents
for members of STARFLEET to read.  The documents would be read only, and the
general public would not be able to change them.



Another recent project I've been working on is contacting all the RC in
STARFLEET for the purpose of requesting access to their regional email
lists.  This is for the sole purpose of making announcements from the Office
of VCS.  I have sent out emails to 11 of the 16 Region RCs.  I was already a
member of one of the list (my own region).  I am currently subscribed to 9
out of the 16 regions email lists.  I'm still waiting for replies from 3
RCs.  I'm still looking to find contact information for the other 5 regions.



VCS Member Services

The Member Services Department has been moving along.  This month the

helpdesk was hit with over 250 spam messages and only about 30 some odd

Helpdesk tickets.  Must of those tickets have been concerning Database

access and Renewal issues.



Within the next couple of days, in conjunction with CompOps, we will be

launching the new Helpdesk software.  This new software will greatly

increase our ability to service the members of Fleet.  This package allows

us to not only accept tickets via web form but also via verifiable email.

It will also allow us to create a Knowledge Base system and a Step-by-Step

troubleshooter to empower the membership.  Also, included will be a Live

Chat feature for direct interaction with Member Services Staff, and lastly

Member Services will be getting an extension on Fleet's Toll Free number

system.  Also, see the attached report from Member Services on the questions
they have been answering and issues they have been helping the membership
solve.



VCS FRC

Jeff Schnoor has been selected as the new Fleet Resource Director and has
been busy

organizing activity occurring within the Sciences, Special Operations,
Chaplain Corps, Counselor Corps. Announcements will be made as they go
on-line



VCS International Charities

Ellen Majka has been selected to spearhead the International Charities
program and I expect to hear exciting things from her in the very near
future.



VCS PetFleet

John Schulte has been selected to revamp and revitalize the Petfleet program
and I also expect to hear some exciting things from this department in the
near future.



VCS Annual Campaign

The Annual Campaign is continuing to make efforts to contact those who are
electronically challenged, to make sure they feel a real part of the 'Fleet
family.





Chief of Operations



It's been a relatively slow month here in Operations. We have constructed a
list of all under strength and non-reporting chapters and are tasking
Chapter Care with follow-up with them.



We have had one chapter commission, the USS Atlanta, and one petition to
leave the fleet, USS Athena, which we are still awaiting final paperwork
for.



Reporting for the month is as follows:



Reporting on Time: 158

Reporting Late: 10

Failing to Report:  34





Chief of Communications



Things are going pretty smoothly here in Communications.  Our new CQ editor
is putting together #145 and it is a great new direction for us to be moving
in.  I think, when you see the new layout, you'll be very impressed.  Prasith
is a very talented person and I'm glad he was able to step up into the
editor's role so quickly.  We are also continuing to investigate new options
and directions in which the Communiqué can be taken.  Additionally, we are
looking to produce a new issue of Stellar Visions to showcase our members'
creative sides.





STARFLEET Academy



Under Wayne Killough, Jr., the Support Services of SFA has been working
non-stop since this new administration took over.  We are currently going
through nominations for the academy awards that will be given out at the IC.
Truman Temple and Scott Anderson have been doing an outstanding job in
keeping up with the awards program.



The scholarship program has a new director as of March 1, 2008.  Reed Bates
is also working non-stop to ensure that the scholarship application is
updated and distributed to the various regions.



Jayden Tryolian has been doing a fantastic job in keeping up and maintaining
our website, including daily additions, etc.



Greg Staylor has been constantly adding to our FAC program, making courses
even more accessible for the members.



While Abe Smith is out on leave, Adam Sherman Day, our Alumni Association
Director, is filling in as our SFA newsletter editor.  In fact this brings
me to a point I'd like to share is the fact that the staff of SFA are superb
when it comes to helping and filling in when someone has to be out for a
while or if someone needs an extra hand.  I have got a great team.





Chief of Shakedown Operations



We had 14 out of 14 Chapters in Training report for the month of March.



The following are chapters that have launched in March:

None



The following chapters were decommissioned in March:

None



I have one chapter that is on Standby:

USS Battleborn



Possible new launches in March could be:

Region 4 – TBD



Chapters cleared for Commissioning in March were:

None



Vice ShOC Jerry Tien sent in a report.



Looked up USS Atlanta CO/XO's OTS/OCC records to verify their status

Extracted USS Blackheart's MSR's and forwarded them to that training
chapter's support ship (USS Avenger)

Reviewed USS Starquest's status toward commissioning



Problems noted - None



DTS – Report was received from Alex Rosenzweig. DTS activity was pretty
steady through March. Two new vessel reservations were received, both using
established classes. A new design proposal is being reviewed by ASDB, as
well. OTI was quiet during March, and OSA remains vacant.

ASDB has been in communication with the U.S.S. Atlantis regarding assistance
with potentially developing the Insignia-class design, which can be found on
the web, into a possible class option for STARFLEET, as well. Discussions
are still in the early stages at the moment, and MGEN Ueffing reports that
he has not heard back in response to his initial questions on the subject.
So this one's still pending.



Departmental plans: Looking at ways to speed up the launch process
concerning the paperwork. In the works will be sending paperwork scanned and
sent to the next person on the distribution through email attachment. This
has been discussed but not implemented. There may be a trial run in the near
future.



That's the update for the month. If you have any questions or comments,
please feel free to contact me.





Chief of Computer Operations



CompOps is hopping along rather peachily.  MP is rocking and rolling along.
We're getting a backlog of non-forwarded memberships from California any day
now to work through and get caught up on.  This year's "freebee" has arrived
and it's too cool for words.  We have selected static cling STARFLEET
"sticker."  They should be going out in the next round of memberships that
are processed and sent out.  Look for yours soon!  Also, if you can't wait
for your next renew or you just want more than one, extras were ordered and
will be available through the Quartermaster.  And, speaking of the
Quartermaster, setup is complete and all the hooks are working on the new,
full-blown shopping cart for ordering STARFLEET merchandise from the
Quartermaster.  As soon as the stock levels are input, we will be unveiling
this to the membership as the premier way to place your orders.  Development
on our new web portal is continuing.  The latest feature is the ability to
log in to the "Members Only" side of things using one's database
password.  That's
right, only one password to remember!  And, there are already departments
with member-only information posted with more to come.  One last enhancement
on the web side of things is the installation of our new helpdesk software.
Our previous software package was rather outdated and lacking in the way of
features, so we decided to make a change there.





Chief Financial Officer



My Vice Chief, Pat Spillers, went to the Region Two Summit in Montgomery,
Alabama, to help Matt and Sal out during the weekend.  Sal and Pat visited
the State Department of Revenue for Alabama to ask questions about any back
taxes that we owe.  They were able to get help thru a program of voluntary
disclosure and we paid the Alabama part of the back taxes to the tune of
$279.51.  Pat was also able to change our reporting periods from monthly to
quarterly for Alabama.



Pat stayed over through Monday and met with sales tax officials from
Jefferson County and filed the taxes with them to the tune of $87.99.  The
City of Vestavia Hills is not asking for back taxes but we did have to pay
for a business license of $160.  It appears that they are forgiving the
sales tax, which totaled $41.30 for the last two years.  We'll be contacting
the City of Birmingham for the IC '04 sales tax, which will be in the
ballpark of $130, next month.



At the time of this report's filing, we are still waiting for the final
totals from the Region Two Summit to file the sales tax reports that are due
to the County and the City of Montgomery combining Region Two sales for
merchandise and auction with sales of STARFLEET merchandise.  Because
STARFLEET already had all the necessary permits, it made very little sense
for Region Two to have also filed separately with Alabama and all the
various entities with the associated filing fees on top of everything else.



This is being looked into being used on an across-the-board scale so that
when the STARFLEET Quartermaster is able to travel to regional summits and
conferences, we can either use the permits that STARFLEET or the region
already has for those taxing entities involved.  Once we have done this a
few times, we will be establishing a formal set of guidelines for the
regions on handling sales taxes.



We're also waiting for the Income/Expense Reports from IC '08 to file with
the STARFLEET Monthly Income and Expense Reports.  All IC committees are
expected to report monthly, but we have not received a report from IC '08 in
the established format of yet.  For February, their report consisted of a
total count of registrations received and the bank balance but not the
Income/Expense report as requested.   We've offered to help pull the figures
off the bank statements for last year and bring them up to date but they
have not yet responded to our offer.



The sales tax questions are still up in the air for New York. Each time
someone from the CFO's office has called, or when Mark Anbinder has
contacted them, we receive different answers.  On April 3rd, we sent a
formal request to the New York State Tax and Finance Instruction and
Interpolation Unit for a written ruling on this.  However, we don't know how
long it will take them to send us an official response to our questions.



Concerning IC '09, we're still waiting for the signed signature card from
Chairman Les Rickard.  The signature card was delivered to him on February
16th along with a book of checks and a Visa debit card was ordered for their
use.  However, since the signature card has yet to be sent on to the next
signer and no emails or phone calls we're returned by Les, the checks in the
book, which was sent to him, were cancelled along with the debit card.  As
of the filing of this report, we still have not received a verification of
Les's residential address, or if he has the signature card to send on with
the pre-stamped envelops.  Currently, the IC account only contains $50 in
order to hold the account open.  Once the signature card is returned and
posted to the bank, the $500 seed money will be returned to the account and
a new debit card ordered for the IC's use.



We have verified that no New York or Virginia sales tax will be needed to be
collected at IC '08 or, with Tammy handing the registrations, for IC '09.  Only
North Carolina sales tax will need to be collected on merchandise sold and
auction items won.  The remaining item in question is the food service.  The
sales tax owed is contingent upon what is charged above the cost of the
meals as the hotel will charge the IC tax on the costs of the foodservice.
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