13 December 2022 Paddle BOD Minutes

13 December 2022

In Attendance
Voting members
Chair – Briggs Pletcher
Co-Chair – Kate Butoryak
Equipment Manager – Matt Himmelstein
Equipment Manager – Karen Himmelstein NIA
Lead Whitewater Instructor – Tim Schafstall
Whitewater Training Coordinator – Bill Wittig
Safety/Insurance Coordinator – Dave Sibley
Pool Session Coordinator – Connie Love
Publicity – Lauren Overman
Treasurer – Margaret Moore NIA
Whitewater Member Services – Jack Frankosky
Whitewater Trip Coordinator – John Nolen NIA
Touring Training Coordinator – Louise Young
Touring Member Service – Wes Young
Touring Trip Coordinator – Bob Strahorn

Non-Voting Members
Safety Session Coordinator – Radley Miller NIA
Web Site Technical Liasson Bill Johnston
Werner Paddle Program Coordinator Patty Stanton NIA
Intermediate/Advanced Program Lead – Lois Hillman
(NIA – Not in attendance)

Zoom Host (Thank you Rick!) Rick Cope

GENERAL DISCUSSION TOPICS

Zoom Meetings.
Rick Cope has been using his Zoom Pro license to host meetings since early 2020; however, Rick is no longer a BOD member. The BOD discussed our options for continuing to hold bi-monthly Zoom meetings. Zoom Pro could be purchased annually for $150, or a free version that limits meetings to 40 minutes could be used. The BOD agreed to use the free version for a while and have members re-join the meeting every 40 minutes.

WTC Paddler’s Facebook Page.
Allowing non-club trips on the WTC Paddlers Facebook page was discussed at length. A list of advantages and concerns follows.
Advantages to Posting non-Club Trips:
– Prohibiting posting of non-club trips is detrimental to the goal of WTC paddlers to be a part of a larger community of paddlers. An estimated 30% of followers on the WTC Paddlers FB page are not WTC members. By prohibiting posting of non-club trips an opportunity is lost to connect and build friendships with paddlers outside of WTC.
– When we miss an opportunity to connect with paddlers outside of WTC, we also miss an opportunity to promote WTC and WTC activities such as rolling session, whitewater and touring training, and the Intermediate/Advanced training program to non-WTC members.
– Posting informal rolling sessions and park and play sessions is prohibited because they are not club trips.
– There are a number of reasons why a club trip is not the best way to organize a trip or session (examples cited included PA State Law requiring permits for club trips, and use of a somewhat-less than legal put-in). In these situations, a trip or session leader has 2 options to announce the event: through email or on an alternate Facebook page. the first option excludes anyone not included in the email. The second option drives internet traffic away from WTC.
– At the May 2021 meeting, the WTC council agreed that posting non-club trips does not harm or expose the WTC to liability. The council agreed to permit non-club trips on the WTC FB page provided certain guidelines were met. To this end, the following was posted on the FB page:
Posting for non-club trips is permissible on an infrequent basis or for activities or trips that might be for WTC members or friends, but may not suitable for club trips. Please do not use the WTC FB page to look for paddlers for multiple non-club trips, especially if you are not a dues-paying club member (you do not need to be a club member to belong to the FB page; you are welcome to participate. Just don’t then use this forum as a means to recruit paddlers for non-club trips).

The following concerns were raised:
– Club members not on Facebook are excluded from trips.
– Potential liability for WTC.
– Paddlers will abuse the Facebook page by posting numerous non-club trips, resulting in a decrease in the number of club trips.

Problems created by requiring all club trip participants to sign waivers were discussed. Signatures are sometimes missed when there are late-arrival participants, and trip leaders could be fined when obtaining waiver signatures at locations where permits are required for club trips. Creating a WTC annual waiver was discussed. Briggs agreed to meet with Bill Johnston to discuss creating a WTC annual waiver. The BOD decided to shelve discussion of non-club trips on the Facebook Page in the interim.

Intermediate/Advanced Program and Administrative Costs.
The question “Should the Intermediate/Advanced (I/A) program pay part of the admin costs for services from which they benefit (website and PAC dues)?” was discussed. Dividing administrative costs as follows was proposed:
Whitewater, Touring, and I/A each pay 1/3 of website and PAC dues
Whitewater and Touring also each pay ½ of costs associated with Safety Session.
Lois requested time to consult the instructors participating in the I/A program prior to making a decision on this topic.

Renting Space in the Club Shed for Boat Storage.
The BOD discussed renting space in the club shed to WTC members to store personally-owned boats. We agreed that this was essentially subletting shed space, our contract with the State is currently silent on the topic, and we would most likely need approval from the State to do so. We agreed to table the discussion for the time being, and to consider proposing this option if the shed rental price is raised.

BOD MEMBER REPORTS

Equipment Manager – Matt will meet with Dave and Jack to discuss selling a few club boats. Matt and Briggs will meet to inventory and repair float bags and assess needs for purchase of new equipment.

Whitewater Lead Instructor – Tim reported the following:
– Whitewater training had 13 students and a total of 26 participant weekends (the sum of the number of participants in each of the three training weekends) in 2022.
– The whitewater subgroup made a profit of $457.59 in 2022.
– Whitewater training dates for 2023 are June 10/11, June 24/25, and July 22/23
– White Water training fees for 2023 are $135 per weekend plus $15 per weekend if you are not an ACA member. $30 per weekend to rent a full set of gear (boat, paddle, helmet, pfd, and skirt).

WW Training Coordinator – Bill Wittig reported that Canalside has been reserved at a cost of $750 per weekend for each of the three training weekends.

Safety/Insurance Coordinator – ACA currently has more stringent enforcement of reporting requirements. Dave is reporting all pool sessions in accordance with these requirements and will assess how these requirements will affect future activities.

Pool Session Coordinator – Lois reported for Connie that Fraim is booked for pool sessions through the end of March. We had 18 participants on Dec 11th and made a profit of $10.

Publicity – Trifolds are in the works.

Treasurer – Margaret submitted the following report for December:
Bank Balance Checking $7,259.89 Savings $405.36 Total $7,665.21
Paypal account balance 0 after transfer of $543.20 to M&T Bank.
We transferred $100 to the savings account to ensure it registered activity and would not be deemed inactive. We also paid for additional bank checks of $29.95, (administrative cost).
We paid invoices for the pool sessions ($1,520), the PAC insurance ($215), the website domain registration ($19.99). The savings account earned a penny.
When the paddle order comes in, the shipping costs will be trued up and the wire transfer cost will be apportioned.

Whitewater Member Services – The following items were discussed:
– Jack suggested that WTC whitewater instructors could assist with Lehigh Valley Canoe and Kayak Club training as a way for WTC whitewater paddlers to contribute to the community in a way that “raises all the boats.”

– Scott Douglas (a certified Instructor Trainer for L1/2 Kayaking) has extended an offer to paddlers interested in pursuing L1/2 Kayak Instructor Certification. Personnel to assist in the Instructor Candidate Workshop are already lined up (Scott Douglas, Steve Johnson, and possibly Chris Raab).

Scott is also interested in pursuing an upgrade to L3 or L4 for his Instructor Trainer certification. With enough interest in paddlers pursuing L3/4 Instructor Certification, he would seek to enlist Jordan Taylor (an Instructor Trainer Educator). Jordan could act as the ITE for Scott’s pursuing of L3/4 Instructor Trainer certification, while also supporting Instructor Candidates up to L3/4.

– Slalom Classes. Ashley Nee will offer slalom classes for WTC every Saturday from now through 25 March. WTC would be afforded some kind of “head-start” on picking dates, before class dates and times (Saturdays 11-1) are released to their general site membership/readership. Cost would be $65/class/person.

Paddlers who run gates (over and over) tend to be a very supportive group – not cutthroat competition. The intent is to promote slalom gate workouts (on moving water – Class 1) as a vehicle to more rapidly develop boat handling skills and placement. At a beginner level, the goal is to learn and develop skills that translate to improved confidence and control in whitewater. It turns out this approach works for advanced paddlers, too.

Jack will post an announcement for these classes (with links and instructions on
registering with Valley Mill Kayak School) on the WTC paddlers forum.

Whitewater Trip Coordinator – John was unable to attend, but sent the following:
– John will have a full report ready for the next meeting on trips and training numbers including # of participants for the 2022 year.
– Trip leaders and potential trip leaders, please mark your calendar, trip planning meeting –
March 12, 2023 – starting after the last pool session – at John and Patty’s home in West Chester.
Lunch provided. More to come on this…

Touring Training Coordinator – Louise reported that touring training fees would be raised to $75. Training weekend equipment rental will be $30.

Touring Trip Coordinator – Bob Strahorn reported that the Touring Subsection would have their annual planning meeting in February.

Web Site Technical Liasson – Bill Johnston will update wtckayak.com to reflect new touring and whitewater training fees, and whitewater equipment rental.

Safety Session Coordinator – Radley has a previous commitment on Tuesday evenings throughout 2023, and will be unable to attend BOD meetings. Briggs asked if the BOD would consider meeting on a different evening, and will check with Radley to determine what evenings he would be available to attend. Briggs will also work with Radley to explore cost-saving measures for the safety session.

ACTION ITEMS:
– Briggs will meet with Bill Johnston to discuss creating a WTC annual waiver.
– Lois will discuss sharing administrative costs for website and PAC dues with I/A program instructors.
– Bill Johnston will update WTCkayak.com to reflect new WW and Touring Training Program Fees.
– Matt will meet with Dave and Jack to discuss selling a few club boats.
– Matt and Briggs will meet to inventory and repair float bags and assess needs for purchase of new equipment.
– Dave will assess and report how more stringent ACA reporting requirements will affect our future activities.
– Jack will post an announcement for Slalom classes on the WTC paddlers forum.
– Briggs will check with Radley to determine what evenings he would be available to attend BOD meetings, and will work with Radley to explore cost-saving measures for the safety session.