SFI History C13

Starfleet History Chapter Thirteen

Les Rickard
As with Fleet Admiral Maddox, Fleet Admiral Smith completed his two terms and prepared to step aside. Lieutenant General Les Rickard, Jr., the Chief of Operations, announced his candidacy with a slate that included Mike Smith’s VCS (Gordon Goldberg), Computer Operations Chief (Mark H. Anbinder), and Academy Commandant (Marlene Miller) as well as Region 3 Chief of Staff Mark Vinson to take Operations, Alex Rosenzweig as Shuttle Operations Director, and Mike Mallotte as Chief of Communications. Opposing him was Vice Admiral Robert Westfall, Fleet Admiral Smith’s first Inspector General, Region 3 member Sam Black as VCS, former Lerman Chief of Operations J.D. Knight in the same role, former Lerman VCS Dwain Gleason as the Chief of Communications, R12 member Sandy Berenberg as Computer Operations, Sherry Anne-Newell as Commandant of the Academy, and R7 member Mark Handford as Shuttle Operations Director. Gary Donner, husband of Region One Coordinator Carolyn Donner also received sufficient nominations to run, but withdrew his candidacy.

With the ballots received by November 15th, the results of the election, announced on November 17th by Admiral Dyar, revealed that General Rickard was to become the 13th Commander, STARFLEET, assuming the rank of Fleet Admiral, on January 1st, 2001.

The Rickard Administration
As the Smith Administration had done the past four years, the Rickard Administration started by reforming financial procedures. A special Finance Committee was created consisting of the Executive Committee, STARFLEET Treasurer Fleet Captain Tammy Wilcox, Internal Auditor-designate Commodore Howard Cronson, and Special Advisor to the President Admiral Chris Wallace. This team, after securing the transfer of funds from the Smith Administration, then proceeded to set-up the necessary accounts and a financial review and approval process to ensure that proper reporting procedures were followed and that a two-signature disbursement process were in placed.

STARFLEET Membership Processing underwent a major transformation starting under the Directorship of Captain Don Willits and completed by Sanford Berenberg after Don stepped down in September 2001. The STARFLEET Member Database was moved from Access 97 to SQL Server 2000, which allowed better security, scalability, and robustness. The database, which went live in October 2002, was built by Captain Dino Gravato in PHP/MySQL. In addition, the already high-quality membership packets were enhanced with the inclusion of a full-color membership certificate and laminated membership card. Membership processing turnaround times dropped from the average 6-8 weeks to 2-3 weeks under Willits and Berenberg.

The STARFLEET Communiqué kept most of the people who had made it so good the final year of the Smith Administration, so the excellent quality they had set was maintained.

On January 25, 2001, Fleet Admiral Rickard delivered his "State of the STARFLEET" Address to the membership. In it, he outlined the goals of his Administration for the next two years, as well as a full financial report as of January 2001.

International Conference 2001
The 2001 STARFLEET International Conference, also known as IC2001, was held July 27th-29th, 2001 at the Kansas City Airport Marriott to a crowd of nearly 500 Fleet members. The 2001 SFMC International Muster occurred during the 2001 International Conference on the afternoon of July 28th. Several events included the General Session held on Saturday morning which announced that Admiral Alyson Dyar had been awarded the annual lifetime membership for her outstanding participation in STARFLEET and Admiral Peg Pellerin, long-time Director of the Officer Training School, was granted a three year honorary membership for her activities within the Fleet. Chapter of the Year went to the USS Stormbringer, Officer of the Year went to Admiral Alyson Dyar, and Member of the Year went to Fleet Captain Wayne Killough, Jr. The 2001 Web Awards were highlighted by the announcement that this Website, the Official STARFLEET Website, or actually it's URL (http://www.interplanetary.net/blackhawk/SFIHistory/) under the guise of the STARFLEET Historian Website name (a mistake as the Historian's site and this site are two distinctly different websites), had been named Information Website of the Year. The USS Stormbringer was awarded with the Fun Website of the Year.

A New Vice Commander, Starfleet
In October, Admiral Gordon Goldberg shocked the members of STARFLEET by announcing his resignation from the position of Vice Commander, STARFLEET, citing personal and professional reasons. Universally praised during his tenures as Chief of Communications and Vice Commander, STARFLEET, the later under both Fleet Admirals Michael Smith and Les Rickard, Goldberg had been a fixture in STARFLEET since the days when he established the first true STARFLEET Mailing List during the McGinnis Administration.

Immediately Fleet Admiral Rickard named Chief of Communications, Lieutenant General Michael Mallotte as the new Vice Commander, STARFLEET, and named, as Mallotte's successor in Communications, Rear Admiral Greg Trotter, who wore many hats within the Communications Department (both official and unofficial for many years).

Mallotte set to work immediately to fix an underused portion of STARFLEET under the authority of the Vice Commander's office - the Fleet Division Chiefs Department. The FDC was established on the lines of the RDC (Regional Division Chiefs, which not all regions had). Their main mission was to offer information and help in the various divisions (Communications, Sciences, Engineering, etc...). He named SFMC Colonel Matthew Copple as the new Director for the FDC and eliminated several redundant FDCs, including Operations and Shuttle Operations.

Also the STARFLEET Marine Corps was moved from the direct supervision of the Commander, STARFLEET, to the Vice Commander.

September 11, 2001
STARFLEET members were shocked and saddened by the events of September 11th, 2001. STARFLEET Communiqué Issue #107 featured stories from several members, including an article by Captain Rahadyan 'Tim' Sastrowardoyo, Region 7 Historian, and Vice Admiral Robert Vosseller, Jr., which included eye-witness reports and on the scene photos of the tragedy. Other articles included a call for support by 'Operation EAGLE' Director Commodore 'Wild' Bill Herrmann, reflection on the impact of the tragedy by Brigadier Dennis Rayburn, Chaplain of the STARFLEET Marine Corps & Fleet Division Chief of the Counselor/Chaplain Corps, and a personal account by Lieutenant, j.g. Geraldine Sylvester on her attempts to contact family, friends and fellow 'Fleeters. There we other articles on the tragedy as well as portions of regular features that reflected on that day's events.

Chief Financial Officer
As 2002 welcomed an advance state of alert for Americans and the world in general, STARFLEET continued as a major force in Star Trek fandom. At about this time information began to curculate on a proposed amendment to the STARFLEET Constitution that would call for an addition to the Executive Committee, to be called the 'Chief Financial Officer'. This position would be held by the STARFLEET Treasurer, now a part of the Commander, STARFLEET's office, and would coordinate all financial duties within this new department. This proposed amendment would be voted on by the membership during the next election for Commander, STARFLEET.

20 Years of the SFMC
In her research into the history of the STARFLEET Marine Corps, SFMC Historian Major General Jill Rayburn found that 2002 marks the 20th Anniversary of the creation of the SFMC onboard the USS Pontiac.

The Next Election
With the upcoming election only months away, the first phase of the process got under way on June 1, 2002 with the nomination phase. Before the process began and citing the decision of the constitutionally designated Election Coordinator, Chief of Communications, Rear Admiral Greg Trotter, joined one of the potential nominee's team and asked to be excused from his constitutional duty as Election Coordinator. Because of this Fleet Admiral Rickard, after consulting the Executive Committee, appointed STARFLEET Inspector General, Major General Robb Jackson, as the Election Coordinator.

From June 1st until July 15th potential nominees could start to campaign for nominations from Chapter (but not Shuttle COs) Commanders and Regional Coordinators. Five nominations from various COs and RCs are need for one to be placed on the ballot.

Earlier in the year, Fleet Admiral Rickard had announced his decision not to run for a second term.

Two 'teams' of nominees revealed themselves on June 1st, 2002. On July 15th, General Jackson announced that both Lieutenant General Michael Malotte and Fleet Captain Martin Lessem had received the required number of nominations to make them candidates for the office of Commander, STARFLEET. However during the 2002 International Conference in San Jose, California, at the Meet the CS Candidates forum, Captain Lessem formally withdrew his candidacy. With this, General Michael Malotte would undergo a 'Vote of Confidence', similar to the one that Fleet Admiral Smith underwent during his election for a send term. This will be a first in the annuals of STARFLEET as General Mallotte, who was not the incumbent Commander, STARFLEET, would under go the 'Vote of Confidence'.

A scare happened to the members of STARFLEET when Fleet Admiral Rickard was admitted to the hospital with chest pains. Luckily the health problem was not serious and rest was recommended. However as a precaution, Rickard transferred the responsibilities of his office over to the Vice Commander, STARFLEET, General Malotte, until the start of IC2002 at the end of July in San Jose. Luckily for STARFLEET, Fleet Admiral Rickard appeared at the 2002 International Conference with a robust zest.

A Bunch of Firsts
Besides the announcement by Captain Lessem of his withdrawal as a candidate for Commander, STARFLEET, it was announced that the 2004 IC was awarded to Birmingham, Alabama. The major award went to the USS Maat as the Ship of the Year, Rear Admiral Wendy Fillmore as Officer of the Year, and Colonel John Roberts as Member of the Year. Also it was announced that Admiral Chuck Freas was awarded with a lifetime membership. Commodore Tammy Wilcox had been announced as being granted the three-year honorary membership at the Region 1 conference earlier in the year.

Another first happened during the 2002 IC when the General Session was webcast over the internet. Members not in attendance could watch as the traditional roll call of chapters by each Regional Coordinator took place and those who were there responded. They could also listen to reports by the Executive Committee as well as watch the announcements of awards and promotions granted during the IC.

Besides the election of a new Commander, STARFLEET, there were several scheduled 'Vote of Confidences' of Regional Coordinator, as well as one that was not scheduled. This unscheduled one, in Region Twelve, was note worthy as it was only the second unscheduled Vote of Confidence ever staged by STARFLEET and the first under the 1999 Constitution. Due to confusion, the Vote of Confidence was suspended when a member of the Region objected to the fact that not all the constitutional articles were not followed (the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law, according to the STARFLEET IG). Eventually, after a month suspension, it was decided that the election was to be continued with the results revealed in late November.

Epilogue
Meanwhile the 'Vote of Confidence' on the newly promoted General Malotte was staged, along with votes on two proposed amendments to the Constitution. The amendments include the creation of a Executive Committee-level office to handle the finances of the fleet. The other concerned the length of the term of office for the Commander, STARFLEET. The length of the term of office, if passed, would change from a two year term to a three year term, allowing that no Commander, STARFLEET, could serve more than five consecutive years or six years non-consecutive years.

On November 15th, Lieutenant General Robb Jackson, Inspector General, STARFLEET and the designated Election Coordinator, announced that General Malotte had passed his Vote of Confidence and that each of the proposed amendments had also passed. The vote on General Malotte was 1013 for confidence and 137 against. In anticipation of the successful passing of the second amendment, General Malotte had announced, as part of his slate, that Commodore Tammy Wilcox, the then Treasurer of STARFLEET, had accepted the position of Chief Financial Officer.