CSS Meeting Minutes 2401.0425

[Gheskori]

CSS Meeting Minutes
Stardate 2401.0425 - Saturday 25th April 2015

Voting Members Present:

• Section Admiral Paul Drew
• Fleet Admiral Magellan Lin – Site Executive Officer
• Admiral Carl Torek – Site Second Officer & Ranks Officer
• Vice Admiral Steven Smith – Recruitment Officer
• Rear Admiral Gheskori – Personnel & Trivia Officer
• Commodore (Rr. Adm. Hon) Savot – Fleet CO

Non-Voting Members Present:

• Commander 1st Class Will Jamison

Apologies:

• Rear Admiral Mathew Reynolds – Bios and Commendations Officer


The meeting was called to order by Section Admiral Drew at 19:11 GMT.

Commander 1st Class Will Jamison entered at 19:58 GMT
Fleet Admiral Magellan Lin exited at 21:36 GMT
Commodore (Rr. Adm. Hon) Savot exited at 23:07 GMT

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New Business:


Prior to the discussion of site new business, Section Admiral Drew made introductory remarks concerning the current state of Section 47 and how CSS should take action to ensure the site's continuation.


1. Resignation of Fleet Admiral Lin
Fleet Admiral Lin announced to the Command Staff his decision to step down from his position as Site XO effective from the end of the meeting. Section Admiral Drew confirmed that Admiral Torek as Site Second Officer would by default become Acting Site XO, and recommended that Rear Admiral Gheskori be appointed to the position of Acting Site Second Officer. It was agreed that votes to confirm the two officers into the positions on a permanent basis would be held at the following meeting, after an initial period of evaluation. The Section Admiral also stated that Admiral Torek and Rear Admiral Gheskori would be given promotions commensurate with their new positions (Fleet Admiral and Admiral respectively) for the duration of the 'Acting' period.


2. Fleet Review
Admiral Savot presented his report on the status of the fleet, starting with the submitted reports for February: the USS El Salvador, the USS Raven and the USS Enzio, with a view to awarding Simmer of the Month. However it was quickly agreed that the focus of the fleet review should be on improving the ships, reforming the fleet and evaluating the activity of each ship's crew.

The review focussed on the status of the USS Rainier and USS Victory. It was noted that both ships were largely inactive, with the USS Rainier's CO and XO absent. Various ideas for solving the activity issues of the two ships were discussed, the final agreement being that the USS Rainier should be mothballed and its crew transferred to other ships in the fleet according to need. Admiral Gheskori would contact the crew of the Rainier, requesting their preference regarding reassignment.

Motion to mothball the USS Rainier and reassign all willing and active crew to other ships, such assignments to be at the discretion of the Personnel Officer

• Aye - 5
• Nay - 0
• Abstain – 0

• Motion passed


3. Discussion on Potential Reform and Restructure of the Fleet and Site
The Section Admiral and Site Second Officer presented ideas for reform of Section 47's fleet and the site as a whole, with a view to reinvigorating the membership through revolutionising how Section 47 functions as a Star Trek RPG. Ideas were discussed at some length and included:

• Decommissioning the fleet and creating a more fan-fiction based simming community;
• Stationing the fleet at and running missions out of Starbase 47, with the site membership rotating among vessels and coming together for missions while other members post on the Starbase;
• Cutting the fleet substantially, given the low numbers of actual players, from seven ships to four or two, with current COs potentially giving up commands;
• Cutting the fleet to four ships, standing down all COs; have site members apply for the now vacant command grade positions (detailing to CSS how they would run a vessel) and optimise effectiveness of CO and XO pairings.

It was agreed that - given the wealth of ideas, engaging debate and the fact the matter had just been introduced - the discussion would continue at the next meeting and over the Command mailing list.


4. CSS Meeting Attendance / Voting Regulations
Section Admiral Drew resumed previous meetings' discussions regarding rules for voting on motions. The concern is that there are not always sufficient CSS members present at meetings to vote on motions. The current requirement is that 5 CSS members must attend to allow voting. After brief discussion, it was proposed by Admiral Torek that this requirement should be lowered to 4, in light of the fact this number still constituted a majority of CSS. It was confirmed that the meeting's Chair (the SA, Site XO or SSO) would cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie.

Motion to change voting rules so that a CSS meeting can take place with 4 members present, 1 of which must be the SA/XO/SSO (senior command), as long as the meeting has been properly called and all CSS notified

• Aye - 5
• Nay - 0
• Abstain – 0

• Motion passed


5. Recruitment of CSS Members
Alluding to a policy proposed by the Section Admiral prior to Item 1, CSS discussed the recruitment of two new CSS members. It had been agreed that the roles of the two prospective members would remain undetermined while the roles were being advertised. Item 3 raised the possibility of one of these members being recruited as a 'Research Officer'.

Further to this officer's implied duties, it was agreed the following would be carried out: a survey of the site membership to ascertain numbers and activity, followed by a comparison of the site to similar RPGs who may be enjoying greater prosperity to see where Section 47 might improve. To accomplish this, the Section Admiral created a commission and assigned roles within it.


6. Promotions / Commendations
For his services to CSS Rear Admiral Gheskori was nominated for promotion to Vice Admiral. The nomination was discussed and all present agreed that Gheskori was deserving of this promotion. The matter was taken to a vote.

• Aye - 4
• Nay - 0
• Abstain – 0

• Motion passed

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Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by Section Admiral Drew at 23:23 GMT.

Minutes written and submitted by Rear Admiral Gheskori – Personnel & Trivia Officer.