IC 1996 was, perhaps, the turning point for McGinnis, and the beginning of the end for his term as RC. After the removal of Region 4 and Region 15's Regional Coordinator the year before, and the demotion and removal of Bill Hermann at this IC, along with the issues surrounding the original hotel for this event, as well as issues surrounding the hotel this event finally was held in, it was simply a matter of time for McGinnis.

On August 11, 1996 Mike Smith announced that the the Marriot that was originally contracted for the event had cancelled the contract. The reasons for the cancellation was that they had required an advance deposit, based on events that occurred at the Winter Conference the year before (these events were never detailed, as far as this researcher had been able to determine), no deposit was received, "multiple"checks sent by STARFLEET to the hotel bounced, HQ refused any contact from the hotel, and STARFLEET was listed as a bad credit risk by "other Mariott Hotels." However, the local committee, headed by Marion Murphy-Tompkins, secured a second hotel, and held the event as planned, running August 30 to September 1, 1996.

In his address to the fleet, McGinnis talked about the good, and the bad, in the organization. He talked about the things that his mother had dealt with in correspondence to Fleet HQ, from nasty letters to razor blades in the envelopes. He discussed what STARFLEET used to be, and what it could be, and asked that every member stand with him to better the organization. At that point, nearly all members in attendance joined him at the front of the room, in essence joining him in solidarity for the betterment of Fleet. However, by the end of his address, several members in attendance all had the same thought, this was his resignation speech. Just under three months later, McGinnis had resigned as Commander, STARFLEET.