Chairman Jim Kubitscheck, KG0HU, called the meeting to order at 1900. He then reviewed the structure and purpose of BCARES. Sign-in sheets were passed. He introduced officers, and noted that Larry Sterns, of the Office of Emergency Management and the treasurer of BCARES was not present due to the death of his wife, Connie, last week. He then presented a list of other positions, and urged all members to get involved through these coordination and liaison opportunities. After members introduced themselves, he acknowledged two silent keys, Bob Schneider, N0OUX, and Tom DeBacker, N0CH. Both will be missed. Mike Morgan, N5LPZ, the Colorado EC addressed the membership. He noted:

• The web page has been updated. It may be found at www.qsl.net/aresco.
• There are now more than 850 members state-wide.
• Having activities keeps membership involved and interested
• 21 of the 24 Colorado districts had had activities during the past year. He noted that districts with only two or three members may in fact involve 80-90 percent of hams in the district.
• There were over 6000 volunteer ham hours on call-outs/missions
• Homeland security: Four perceptions to be addressed to enhance ARES part in programs:
  • A misunderstanding about what the "amateur" in "amateur radio" means
  • Interagency interconnectivity/interoperability
  • A false sense of the dependability and capacity of the served agency systems
  • Many agencies view hams as "cowboys", out there doing there own thing.
• The OEMs have some discretionary funding; they are beginning to ask ARES groups for advice.
• He is working to finalize a state-level agreement with Red Cross
• We will be supporting the Rocky Mountain Regional HamCon, with a booth and the W1AW special events station.
• A spring SET with links across the state feeding into District 0 is in the works.
• RACES and ARES are now recognized in the state emergency plan.
• The Co-Plan is being modified to enhance the process of working together, based on lessons learned during the past fire season.
• The rapid emergency response plan is about ready. This involves persons who are willing and able to respond quickly to major incidents in any part of the state to assist in getting a communications system up and running.

• The July 19-20 Wonderland Lake Fire, helping the ICV track the fire. Night vision on the cameras enabled thermal images, where visually there was only white smoke.
• Requests from served agencies on May 3 and 4, at graduation time and Dec. 7 for after the Division Title game to monitor activities on the Hill without having a large number of officers out
• Dec. 21 for the Longmont Festive Creek Walk.

• Moffat Tunnel SET, a multi-agency, multi-county disaster preparedness exercise
• Football games, during which we utilized a cross band repeater to get clear pictures from shadowed areas
• The state fire mitigation conference, with demonstration ATV
• Boulder PSAP evacuation and transfer to Longmont and back, supported with packet and voice
• Longmont United Hospital and Longmont Emergency services SET, a train wreck and hazmat scenario, supported with packet, voice, and ATV.

• Ensuring liaison positions were covered
• Planning for training events
• Updating Bylaws
• Beginning the process of updating MOUs.

There were no comments from served agencies. Dale Scott, KA0QPV, reported on activities for the upcoming year. These include:

• The annual in interagency ET
• The annual digital SET
• The Rock Mountain Hamcon, Estes Park, May 30-June1
• CU football ATV
• LARCFEST, Apr. 5, and BARCFEST, the last Sunday in September, and information booth
• The next fire mitigation conference is scheduled for Spring 2004 in Colorado Springs
• Boulder County Disaster plan review, a tabletop BCARES event
• A hospital SET (Packed, voice)
• Summer and winter Longmont Creek walks
• 5430 Triathlon (un-official event)
• Mutual Aid
• Actual Emergency callouts
• Board Agenda Items:
  • Continue Bylaws updating process
  • Bylaws filing with the Secretary of State
  • Continue MOU updating process
  • Membership recruiter
  • Web Page updates
  • BCARES funding
  • Technical Committee/improvements
  • Distribution of responsibilities and tasks
  • Other items as required

Jim explained the offices up for election, namely odd-year and one-year At-large representatives and alternates to the Board of Directors, and the election process. As his position is up for election, he turned the election over to Jack Ciacca, WM0G; Kathy Borenstein, N0OBR; and Mike Borenstein, N0BP. Votes were as follows:

2-year, At-large odd year, designated at-large 1: Jim Kubitscheck, KG0HU, 24; Pete Goldman, WB2DVS, 8. Voting was by paper ballot.

At large 1 year : Pete Goldman, 27, Nima Gharavi 5. Voting was by paper ballot, marked 2-year alternate; the electorate acknowledged this prior to casting the vote.

2 year alternate: Rick Clark, 19; Nima Gharavi, 13 Voting was by paper ballot.

1 year alternate, Nima Gharavi, by unanimous show of hands.

There was a brief training session by Jim, KG0HU on the incident command system, especially noting that the first person on the scene is the incident commander until (s)he has briefed someone else; Chuck Dewey, who is past EC for Dist. 23, noted that at the Hayman fire, this briefing took the form of a half day of shadowing. All were cautioned to be aware that this is a time information/resources may be lost/forgotten.

The meeting was adjourned at 2110.

Respectfully submitted,

Doshia D. Kretke, KB0NAS, acting secretary