The only constant was change for the Community Services Department (CSD) in 2006. This was the second year for a part-time CSD manager, who took on more responsibilities from the CSD director, a Burning Man Project Board Member and founder of many Community Service departments. The CSD manager position will expand to full time next year. The duties and responsibilities of the position will expand. The manager will oversee and coordinate staff professional training, and more departments will contribute to the training curriculum. After years of service to the Burning Man Project and community, many veteran project managers of the eleven CS departments are contemplating their exit strategies — should the plan be for a near or distant departure — by mentoring assistants or councils to succeed them.
Key personnel of the Black Rock City Airport, the Prime Ministers of Customs, began teleconferencing from the Burning Man offices, and using the Burning Man Project extranet as a planning and archiving tool. Burning Man Information Radio (BMIR) has seen the continuing rise of their volunteer staff into spotlight (spot-mic?) positions crucial to the growth of their staff and programming. The BRC Shuttle Bus Depot will have a new, but experienced manager in 2007.
Arctica ice sales was one of the departments most challenged by an illness that spread pre-event on the playa, the impact mostly due to its small management staff. Team building is scheduled for 2007. In addition to their abundant annual activities, Earth Guardians were kept busy responding to a new grass roots green movement, keeping them informed of long-established, environmentally-conscience activities, to avoid duplication of efforts. The 2007 art theme will dictate vigilance in this task. Lamplighters tested easy-up large tents from the Burning Man Project inventory, as a supplement and possible future alternative to their legacy tensile cable structures. The Black Rock City Placement team distributed more mapping responsibilities among new and returning team members and were severely challenged by database problems, city design issues, and a spike in population. The running of Recycle Camp needs to become the concern of the many, as their project manager wears many hats on the playa. Recycle saw a strengthening of its volunteer structure, as shift schedules were debuted and embraced by volunteers. The Volunteer Resource Team (VRT) volunteers@burningman.com lost its manager mid-year, but persevered to host several successful volunteer appreciation events. An identified VRT goal for 2007 is to support more recruitment and networking opportunities for staff and volunteers.