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Highlights of April 10 Board Meeting


The CCA Board met virtually April 10. The full minutes have been posted on the CCA website (Members Only > Documents > Meeting Minutes). Here are some highlights, from minutes taken by Jen Sass: 


Present: David (Cotton) Cottingham (Chair), Jen Sass (Secretary), Alan Gale, Alf Cooley, Lynn Miller, Ginny DeSeau, Marilyn Jones (Treasurer), Tom Hackman, Rolando Arrieta, Hildy Ferraiolo, Dianne Whitaker, Gary Quam, Anna Normand, Kathleen Sengstock


Chair's comments

Waivers. Lynn Miller looked into how other clubs operate their trips. Many groups use the Common Adventurer Model,which explicitly makes participants responsible for their own safety. Our thanks to the lawyers that looked into the issues relevant to the CCA. As a group, we determined that at this time we will continue with what we've been doing; we don't use waivers for most of our trips. We will continue to train trip coordinators and other CCA members by continuing to help them take some river rescue and safety training. 

Charlie Duffy hosted a "stay out of trouble" river safety workshop March 30 with 18 CCA members participating, including many of the club's trip coordinators. People really enjoyed it, and learned that we all need practice throwing ropes effectively. Cotton and Rolo will also look into scheduling a wilderness first aid course for this fall.

 

Pool sessions hosted by Ron Ray have been very successful. The last session was April 9. The first two sessions were cancelled for bad weather, so the season was extended. We had 12 pool sessions. We charge $20 per person per session. There were four sessions that included Soul Trak members, with 4-6 novice paddlers from that group each time; all had a lot of fun and were very complimentary. Huge thanks to Ron for coordinating the pool sessions.

Staying Out of Trouble class

Charlie Duffy (center) talks about staying out of trip trouble (photo by Alf Cooley).


Treasurer transition. Thanks to outgoing treasurer Jim Landfield for his decade-or-so of stellar work balancing our books and keeping us financially healthy. Big thanks to Marilyn Jones for taking over this critically important task. 


Conservation Committee – Dianne Whitaker, Kathleen Sengstock

CCA hosted a very successful clean up on April 6 at Algonquin Regional Park in Virginia. The river was too high to safely get out to the islands for clean up there. Another cleanup is coming up April 20 at Riley's Lock, with the goal of getting into Seneca Creek. 


Access Committee – Gordy Lange

Upper Yough bill. Tom Hackman reported that Maryland Senate Bill 837 (House Bill 910) referring to Deep Creek water levels and dam releases technically passed, but thankfully the legislation as amended will not have an impact on the Upper Yough summer releases. CCA sent a letter and rallied area clubs to help combat the bill.


Safety – Rolando Arrieta

Rolo wrote an article about upcoming safety classes for the last Cruiser newsletter, and plans to write one for each newsletter; he also is starting a guest speaker series. He will work with Susan Sherrod to send an email blast to members that mentions the $75 stipend available to any CCA member who wants to take a safety class, upon their agreement to coordinate two trips in the next year. 


CCA has contracted with Mike Aronoff to offer a Swift Water Rescue class for CCA members for $2,200 total. (See related article.) He can have 12 people, for a discounted rate of $185/person over the July 13-14 weekend. We will pay him the full amount, even if the class is not full. CCA will send Mike a $1,000 deposit by June 1. CCA will let Mike know several weeks ahead if the class isn't full so he can advertise it to his network and fill the class.


Treasurer's report – Marilyn Jones

Marilyn thanked outgoing Treasurer, Jim Landfield, for all his generous work to help transition her into the job. Marilyn's first report was all good news. Our year-to-date net income for the club is $3,592. This is due in large part to $2,391 income from the Wells Fargo investment account. Within our operating account, the club has a positive income of $1,451. To date, most of our operating income is a result of $3,630 membership; $460 advertising; $1,850 downriver race sponsorship; $2,500 pool rolling. In the next month, we should expect both expenses and revenue related to the Downriver Race. Also, since pool rolling is ending, final numbers will be available for that soon.


Membership – Ginny DeSeau

We continue to get roughly one new member per week, even over the winter. 


Trips Committee – Gary Quam

The trips are starting up, with Thursday trips and weekend trips off and paddling. Alf is looking for weekend trip coordinators. The ever-popular Wednesday evening trip from Anglers to Lock 10 is coordinator-less right now, so please step up if that appeals to you. Ginny Quam's email blast with the 10-day upcoming trips is very helpful at encouraging participants. 


We had a healthy DC-based contingent that went to the 56th Red Moshannon (RedMo) Downriver race (PA), and had a great time, as well as proudly representing us by being very fast. Thanks to Anna Normand for coordinating that trip.


Facebook and web issues – Jen Sass, Lynn Miller

We are getting some questions through Facebook members about how to start kayaking. How do we respond to novices and aspirational novices? At this time, we don't have beginner courses or gear for people. As a solution, we've pinned a note to the top of the Facebook page encouraging newbies to take courses with local professional schools and instructors. 


Next meeting: Wednesday, June 5