A Message from El Presidente, March 11 Meeting Montgomery

[Tony Daniel]

A Message from your President, or as Dan Waller likes to say, “El Presidente. “ A sense of humor definitely helps when it comes to herding cats or coordinating whitewater paddlers.
Our club’s mission remains simple and unchanging, “Our club is dedicated to helping others enjoy, understand, and appreciate the joy of paddling. We sponsor clinics and roll sessions for new and seasoned boaters throughout the year, schedule trips during the paddling season, and work to keep paddlers aware of conservation and access concerns.” I didn’t make that stuff up, that’s straight from our club’s webpage.

So what’s on tap for 2020? I hope a lot of great paddling and lots of great stuff! Two clinics! One that stresses river fundamentals and another that is geared toward aspiring intermediates. I look forward to Seneca, Cliffs Spring Fling, and Science Camper Weekend. Dave’s Lower Yough trip, Bridge Day on the Water and Weenyfest have also become annual “signature” club events. I look forward to supporting them. After all, somebody’s got to scrape down Seneca and Second Creek, get America’s future leaders out on the river, and eat hot dogs and drink PBR after doing a lap on the Upper New.
I plan to fully implement a “two deep” club structure. That means nobody has to go it alone. Two folks can conduct meetings (President, Vice President), have access to the Checkbook (Treasurer, and a designated at large member), address Webpage changes (Webmaster Administrator, Forum Administrator), Web Forum (Forum Administrator, Webmaster) and have an at large member serve as Secretary, should he be unable to attend the meeting. The treasurer’s job is currently vacant and can be done remotely, meaning that the reports can be posted to the webpage without even attending a meeting. So volunteer!

Okay now for the real “knar”! Our March meeting will be held on Wednesday March 11th instead of the second Thursday of the month. It will be held in Montgomery instead of Charleston. I could tell you that I wanted to attract some new members, expose old members to new opportunities, but the truth is both the South Charleston and Dunbar libraries are booked up. So I came up with a plan B. Rolling from 6:00-8:00 at the Montgomery (Upper Kanawha Valley) Y. Cost is 12.00 for rolling. Individuals can team up and pay a family rate of 15.00. Boats must be clean. If you are planning on rolling you might want to arrive a bit early to unload (on the side of the building) and change clothes, and register (the front of the building).
From 7:15 to 8:00 we will meet and discuss “a two deep” club structure- as it pertains to conducting meetings, administering the webpage and forum, and also the treasurer and secretary positions. This portion of the meeting is occurring in the Montgomery Y in one of their meeting rooms.

At 8:00 the meeting/dinner moves to the Chinese Restaurant also located Montgomery- during dinner we will discuss safety and the upcoming clinics. My hope is that some of the pool crowd regulars will join us for this portion of the meeting.The change in location we will be less convenient for some, and more convenient for others. I know some of the Montgomery crowd prefers the Mexican over the Chinese but there is more space for a larger group in the Chinese Restaurant.

How’s that for shaking things up a bit? Who thought the WVWA would even consider meeting on a Wed. instead of Thurs? A change like that from a self-proclaimed weeny-boater. It could be worse. I could be suckering you into hiking with your boat around massive strainers all day, worryin’ about making it out before dark. Ah heck, this “el presidente” stuff , herdin’ cats, is child’s play compared to that! To quote a few club members,

Ooh-wa-wa, SYOTR,

Tony, the El Presidente

[Tim Broughton]

I'm completely behind the idea of tying club meetings to other events; since it makes no sense to come towards my direction, meetings should be closer to the water most of us paddle.

A possible add to the trip calendar will be an early spring camp/boat trip on the Top Gauley/Williams area...depending on interest.

A note or two about our Facebook pages: We have 957 followers on the public page, and 115 members on the private page. Again, everyone please consider asking the adventure-minded folks (bike, boat, camp, hike, climb...) on your contacts lists to join these pages. Anyone that's a member on the private page can post there. Please do! Posting on the public page is difficult and is used more for pubic information about the club. (Trying to attract new members). A Facebook post generally reaches 500-600 screens, with 5 to 59 further interactions (share, like, click).

The club Instagram page is slowly gaining followers: 59 as of today. Please help me boost traffic to that page if you are on Instagram.

These aren't moves that I'm making on my own, but part of a stated club strategy to grow the club. If you see something that can be improved, or killer ideas to gain us some more shuttle-buddies/bunnies, please pass that along. Hopefully we'll attract some new folks.

[Woody Davis]

Glad hotdogs and PBR stayed consistent.. All these trips listed above and on the calendar sound amazingly fun.. cant wait to get back down there. 

I think linking meetings with paddle related events is a good idea also when feasible .. 

Good job

[Wes Barthwick]

If shaking things up is what it takes to grow, I'm all in. Of course if Tony can't make a meeting, I can always postpone it until he is able. LOL. Now Montgomery is a haul for us so I would make it a day with other activities. Paddling around the foot of the falls is a treat for anyone except the jumpers. You'll never see me going over the falls. Too old and brittle. Maybe some years ago when I wanted a big challenge. My challenges now come in small steps, not 20 ft drops.
A spring Top Gauley/Williams camp/paddle trip sounds like fun. I need to get the camper back on the road before it sinks into the ground. March is right around the corner with warmer weather, I hope.

A two deep structure is a good idea. You may need to grab people by the throat to make it happen. Still, it is a good idea.

I still think there is untapped potential in the flatwater people. I'm not really keen on paddling the Coal River but getting some club members to join them or even have some sort of booth there could inform some bored paddlers that there is another more exciting level of paddling. John Carper also mentioned at a meeting about posting info at gyms and the YMCA. Not a bad idea. It sure can't hurt.

Any other ideas to build the club? Post up.

Facebook and Instagram are good but this board is far more expansive and organized.
Is any one else been missing the checks for unread posts?

See everyone in Montgomery.

[Cliff Beck]

A lot of good ideas and comments, Tony, although switching from Mexican to Chinese is perhaps too bold.

Meetings continue to be a problem for me, but hopefully I can make a few. I would like to help more, so if Chuck or someone can give me a rundown, I will take a look at the treasurer's job. I was a chief financial officer in a previous life, so the subject matter doesn't scare me. Doing it from long distance does.

[Tim Broughton]

Cliff is the man for the job. Once, I had to open up a second bank account because the other one was so jacked up.

[Tony Daniel]

alright cliff! I'll nominate you at the meeting. Thanks for the help!

[Chuck Brabec]

Feb 23, 2020 12:30:55 GMT -5 Cliff Beck said:

A lot of good ideas and comments, Tony, although switching from Mexican to Chinese is perhaps too bold.

Meetings continue to be a problem for me, but hopefully I can make a few. I would like to help more, so if Chuck or someone can give me a rundown, I will take a look at the treasurer's job. I was a chief financial officer in a previous life, so the subject matter doesn't scare me. Doing it from long distance does.

Cliff,

There is a summary of the job description for the treasurer in the "Members Only" section of the website. When I took over the job from Turner Sharp in early 2014, I decided to move the checking account to a bank that was more readily accessible to whoever could be my backup. We decided to go with BB&T. It was a bit painful getting the account at BB&T established, but it has been working well ever since.

If you would like, we can get together and I can show you everything that I have related to the job.

Chuck

[Cliff Beck]

Thanks, Chuck, that helps a lot. I read the treasurer's duties and looked closer at the 2019 annual report. No surprises. I take it the budget is built at the level of detail shown in the details section of the annual report. I saw no tax reporting, so I take it is a one and done deal when the organization was set up.

I assume I could do BB&T business from other branches, such as in Lewisburg? My personal account is in a credit union and all transactions are done online.

Does the group have a laptop that you use with all the software and files?

I would very much appreciate sitting down with you should this come to pass. Thanks again.

Cliff

[Brent Samples]

Hey All—please please please make sure your boats are clean before getting into the pool. There will be a water hose outside the pool as well. You can park on WV61 parallel to the YMCA as well as up the street adjacent to the pool entrance. There is also additional parking on the hill behind the YMCA. We usually start exiting the pool around 7:50 PM to ensure we are clear by 8/00 PM so the Y Staff can shut down the pool for the evening. Questions on the pool or Y, hit me up here or at 304-three eight nine 73 nine 2. Thanks...Brent

[Dustin Johnson]

Planned on being there, but something came up I have to take care of this evening. Sorry to miss it.