NSS-CDS Board of Directors

[tursiops]

I personally think every single board member/administrator should be removed and we get a fresh start. Even more, I think the CDS should stop being a training agency and move back to being a conservation agency. Or just cease to exist.

Three options here. All good.

 

[The Chairman]

So yes, she was in charge of that.

Meh. She was supervising the people in charge of that. It's hard to supervise competent and caring people, especially if she can't fire them. Trying to manage people who are over-extended, incompetent or simply don't care makes that an impossible task. She didn't pick these people: the club did. Hey, I get the apparent need by some to eviscerate those who are in charge, but if you give them cretins to work with, how do you expect them to be even remotely effective? I have no idea who, if any, that are on the current board are cretins. I couldn't even name them. In any event, those under you can make you look good or bad.

 

[The Chairman]

She tried to figure it out but was absolutely clueless and useless.

I understand the database and the programming used to maintain it are fairly "broken". You're expecting someone trying to work a broken proprietary program through volunteers to work miracles? The member system needs to be simplified. Perhaps they should use whatever the NSS is using but I don't think there's a happy relationship there either. Not sure why I believe that either. There are a bunch of club membership programs out there that don't require one person to make it work. Use one and be done with the mess.

 

[rddvet]

Meh. She was supervising the people in charge of that. It's hard to supervise competent and caring people, especially if she can't fire them. Trying to manage people who are over-extended, incompetent or simply don't care makes that an impossible task. She didn't pick these people: the club did. Hey, I get the apparent need by some to eviscerate those who are in charge, but if you give them cretins to work with, how do you expect them to be even remotely effective? I have no idea who, if any, that are on the current board are cretins. I couldn't even name them. In any event, those under you can make you look good or bad.

I understand the database and the programming used to maintain it are fairly "broken". You're expecting someone trying to work a broken proprietary program through volunteers to work miracles? The member system needs to be simplified. Perhaps they should use whatever the NSS is using but I don't think there's a happy relationship there either. Not sure why I believe that either. There are a bunch of club membership programs out there that don't require one person to make it work. Use one and be done with the mess.

Renee was a problem too. She wqs trying to be helpful but was way more clueless than someone should be in that position. She, just like Adam and the 3rd person I spoke with would say they’d be “right on it” the drop the ball and never get back to me until I sent another email. Multiple times. i’ve never met her in person, but my relationship with her via enail left alot to be desired.
as for the database: they are giving out a ton of free memberships because they cant come up woth an alternative. And thats been happening for at least two years. So they’re losing money because nobody has come up with a solution. I don’t understand how they cant comenup with some sort of solution.
One solution I have is to stop putting dive professionals in power positions. Dive pros typically have no business sense. You need someone with a background outside of diving that has experience managing people and problems that will actually come up with solutions.

 

[Dominick Gheesling]

Renee was a problem too. She wqs trying to be helpful but was way more clueless than someone should be in that position. She, just like Adam and the 3rd person I spoke with would say they’d be “right on it” the drop the ball and never get back to me until I sent another email. Multiple times. i’ve never met her in person, but my relationship with her via enail left alot to be desired.
as for the database: they are giving out a ton of free memberships because they cant come up woth an alternative. And thats been happening for at least two years. So they’re losing money because nobody has come up with a solution. I don’t understand how they cant comenup with some sort of solution.
One solution I have is to stop putting dive professionals in power positions. Dive pros typically have no business sense. You need someone with a background outside of diving that has experience managing people and problems that will actually come up with solutions.

I just re-joined the NSS-CDS a few weeks ago. I re-joined specifically to be able to vote in the upcoming election and to stand in opposition to one specific BOD member who is responsible for the current state of affairs.

I was uncertain of which membership to purchase, messaged Adam Hughes and he got back to me immediately.

I posted screen shots, explanation, and instructions for how to renew membership on the CDF Forum.
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/38399-CDS-election?p=365425#post365425

Renee is not at fault for any of this mess. Adam Hughes, believe it or not, when not underwater drawing silly pictures of caves, has diligently been working to keep what remains of the NSSCDS intact.

I worked closely with both Renee and Adam during the preparations for the 2019 NSSCDS International Conference and I can attest that they are both devoted to the organization, willing to give well beyond what they should, and two of the few positive aspects of the current organization. I have personally witnessed each of them give everything possible for the benefit of the membership.

There is one particular individual (cancer of the organization) whose name has yet to be mentioned in all of these discussions, and that is Brett Floren.

Brett Floren is the man responsible for the current sad state of affairs at the NSSCDS.

Brett has been actively working against the best interests of the BOD of the NSSCDS as well as the Membership.
If his actions were made public, there would be no discussion regarding the fact that he should be removed from the organization and banned for life.

If you are having any problems with the NSSCDS, you should contact BRETT FLOREN directly as he is the responsible party.

Other members of the BOD, mentioned in this thread, have been doing their best to minimize the damage that he has done.

I would encourage all members to vote in the upcoming election.

Platform statements are posted.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Brett has been actively working against the best interests of the BOD of the NSSCDS as well as the Membership.

I have been told this by a lot of people who are involved.

 

[Dominick Gheesling]

So, Adam Hughes asked me to post a response to this thread as he doesn't have posting privileges yet:


"Dominick, please post the following for me:


Dominick, please post the following message for me on Scubaboard. up until now, I have never had a ScubaBoard account. I just created one to respond to Richard Dinnon's comment, but since I'm new, I don't have privileges to post yet on this forum


Richard,


First off, I would like to apologize for your past experiences with the CDS. One thing I like to remind people is that the CDS is a constantly changing/revolving door of people and influences. The organization isn't just some intangible "being", that goes out of their way to screw people over, but rather a combination of people and ideas, that come and go over time.


Yes, we are an organization built and run by volunteers who also have other (real) jobs, families, and lives, but I firmly believe that if someone accepts the responsibility of volunteering for the organization, they should, at a very minimum, fulfill that role that the membership voted them in to do.


I like to think this is generally the case, but sometimes things fall through the cracks, and the ball gets dropped. 99.9999% it was not intentional, and more of a mental error or poor prioritizing. Richard, unfortunately, you were one of those "dropped balls", and for that I sincerely apologize. Having identified what happened with your account, at the time I decided to "take it upon myself" to fix, only to completely forget about it. That's on me, and I am sorry for that.


For This reason I am going to comp you one full year membership for free, in hopes that this can somehow makeup for it. Perhaps in a year, when you get a renewal reminder, you will feel inclined to do so.

To those of you who are reading this, and also feel the same way as Richard, I ask that you contact me at cdsmanager@nsscds.org and allow me to see what the CDS can do to resolve any problems that you have experienced. I can't promise

The times-are-a-changing, and I'm optimistic in believing that by this time next year, all of the problems we are experiencing now will seem like a distant memory. There are many people out there who have legitimately been wronged by the organization over the years, and have every right to feel the way they do, but at the same time they fail to realize that the people and situations who were responsible for the CDS at the time no longer have anything to do with the organization.


Thanks,

Adam Hughes

NSS-CDS Operations Manager

561-704-3038"

 

[greeniguana]

I just re-joined the NSS-CDS a few weeks ago. I re-joined specifically to be able to vote in the upcoming election and to stand in opposition to one specific BOD member who is responsible for the current state of affairs.

I was uncertain of which membership to purchase, messaged Adam Hughes and he got back to me immediately.

I posted screen shots, explanation, and instructions for how to renew membership on the CDF Forum.
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/38399-CDS-election?p=365425#post365425

Renee is not at fault for any of this mess. Adam Hughes, believe it or not, when not underwater drawing silly pictures of caves, has diligently been working to keep what remains of the NSSCDS intact.

I worked closely with both Renee and Adam during the preparations for the 2019 NSSCDS International Conference and I can attest that they are both devoted to the organization, willing to give well beyond what they should, and two of the few positive aspects of the current organization. I have personally witnessed each of them give everything possible for the benefit of the membership.

There is one particular individual (cancer of the organization) whose name has yet to be mentioned in all of these discussions, and that is Brett Floren.

Brett Floren is the man responsible for the current sad state of affairs at the NSSCDS.

Brett has been actively working against the best interests of the BOD of the NSSCDS as well as the Membership.
If his actions were made public, there would be no discussion regarding the fact that he should be removed from the organization and banned for life.

If you are having any problems with the NSSCDS, you should contact BRETT FLOREN directly as he is the responsible party.

Other members of the BOD, mentioned in this thread, have been doing their best to minimize the damage that he has done.

I would encourage all members to vote in the upcoming election.

Platform statements are posted.

The sign up instructions are appreciated, however I can't read anything on CDF because the domain blocks VPNs...... I think all of these organizations are in serious need some IT help.

 

[rddvet]

So, Adam Hughes asked me to post a response to this thread as he doesn't have posting privileges yet:


"Dominick, please post the following for me:


Dominick, please post the following message for me on Scubaboard. up until now, I have never had a ScubaBoard account. I just created one to respond to Richard Dinnon's comment, but since I'm new, I don't have privileges to post yet on this forum


Richard,


First off, I would like to apologize for your past experiences with the CDS. One thing I like to remind people is that the CDS is a constantly changing/revolving door of people and influences. The organization isn't just some intangible "being", that goes out of their way to screw people over, but rather a combination of people and ideas, that come and go over time.


Yes, we are an organization built and run by volunteers who also have other (real) jobs, families, and lives, but I firmly believe that if someone accepts the responsibility of volunteering for the organization, they should, at a very minimum, fulfill that role that the membership voted them in to do.


I like to think this is generally the case, but sometimes things fall through the cracks, and the ball gets dropped. 99.9999% it was not intentional, and more of a mental error or poor prioritizing. Richard, unfortunately, you were one of those "dropped balls", and for that I sincerely apologize. Having identified what happened with your account, at the time I decided to "take it upon myself" to fix, only to completely forget about it. That's on me, and I am sorry for that.


For This reason I am going to comp you one full year membership for free, in hopes that this can somehow makeup for it. Perhaps in a year, when you get a renewal reminder, you will feel inclined to do so.

To those of you who are reading this, and also feel the same way as Richard, I ask that you contact me at cdsmanager@nsscds.org and allow me to see what the CDS can do to resolve any problems that you have experienced. I can't promise

The times-are-a-changing, and I'm optimistic in believing that by this time next year, all of the problems we are experiencing now will seem like a distant memory. There are many people out there who have legitimately been wronged by the organization over the years, and have every right to feel the way they do, but at the same time they fail to realize that the people and situations who were responsible for the CDS at the time no longer have anything to do with the organization.


Thanks,

Adam Hughes

NSS-CDS Operations Manager

561-704-3038"

Dominick thanks for posting. And I guess Adam will see this too. I appreciate that something may actually be done to correct my issues and I can appreciate that it's possible that some people like a free membership as a fix for their annoyance. Unfortunately I don't really think that's a good fix, but do appreciate that this may mean I can "offically" dive Cow without breaking rules if the owners of Dive Outpost ever decide to actually check people's membership status again. I have been trying to pay for a FAMILY LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP for 2 years now. Not a 1 year memeberhsip and this should have been very clearly understood by Adam and the 2 other CDS board members who I emailed back and forth with multiple times. I wanted a lifetime family membership for two reasons. One, so I don't have to deal with renewal issues every year. And two, because the goal was that my annually allotted money I put aside to make charitable type donations was going to go to the CDS. So in my opinion willy nilly giving out free memberships isn't helping the CDS or it's members. Not to be a jerk, but based on Adam's response it doesn't seem he remembers any of this from our conversation both via email and on the phone. Based on our phone conversation I was supposed to have been already given a "free" lifetime membership and Adam would asterisk my name on the database so that when the issues with payment were fixed I would be contacted to actually pay (which is all I've ever wanted to do). But now I'm the lucky recipient of a free 1 year membership eventhough I've already supposed to have been given a temporary free lifetime membership? That's just ass backwards and fits with every interaction I've had with the CDS since starting my emails two years ago.
I'm sure some people are rolling their eyes and saying "hey you got something for free so shut up." But I'm not the type of person who ever wants anything for free, especially when the money I'm spending is supposed to be going to cave conservation. Everytime I've talked with someone from the board about this issue I get the "we're a volunteer organization and people have lives" or "it was the people before us that screwed everything up." How long do we have to keep hearing that? In 2 years, nobody in the CDS could make some sort of headway? That's BS. I don't want reasons why things are so f--ked up. I just want them fixed. How many other people have gotten free memberships, who's money could have gone towards the worthy cause of cave conservation if only the CDS could accept a payment?
Lastly, the CDS has my contact information and Adam can easily go back to review our past email conversations. So rather than giving me a call or shooting me an email, I get a post on scubaboard through an intermediary?
Sorry to be an ass, but I'm sick of the CDS and it's BS excuses. If the organization is this screwed up just trying to take payments, how screwed up is every other aspect of the organization? It's really pathetic. To be clear, I will probably pay for a lifetime membership when I'm actually able to. My ONLY reason for doing so is to dive Cow. Other than that the CDS can cease to exist in my book. It's no longer the best training agency or the best conservation group. Maybe a clean sweep replacement of everybody working within the CDS would be the only way to fix it.
One last note, I do appreciate what Adam's tried to do and I think he's a very nice guy in a sh--ty position. My angst isn't actually directed towards Adam, its to the CDS in general. Unfortunately Adam just gets the brunt of it because everyone I spoke with dropped my issues in his lap and threw him under the bus. So he's had to be the one trying to clean it up.

 

[kensuf]

I don't want to wade into this for a variety of reasons, but I will say that my last year on the CDS the board, basically from around the time of Reggies death to my quitting almost exactly 1 year to the day later, was filled with paralysis and Adam, as the office manager, was frequently caught in crossfire. The in-fighting was ratcheted up last summer and my understanding is it is still going on today.

I will not go into details on the subject, but it definitely impacted my family and his too, I truly cannot imagine the stress and pressure Adam has been put under for the small stipend he receives. I'm surprised he even remembers his name right now.