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USACK Wildwater Committee
Board Meeting Minutes


September 24-30, 2007 (by Email)

by John Pinyerd
USA Canoe/Kayak
Wildwater Committee Chairman
Email: jpinyerd@usawildwater.com

 

In leau of a full blown board meeting the Wildwater Committee (WWC) elected to address several important topics by email. All members of the WWC participated. The consensus of the emails is below:

  1. Slate of Officers for the next Term. A list of candidates that have expressed a willingness to serve is and the postitions that they are interesed in are:
    • Chair - Doug Ritchie
    • Treasurer - David Jones
    • Rankings - Rob Murphy
    • Events Coordinator - John Pinyerd (but is more than willing to take a lesser position)
    • Western Rep - Tom Wier
    • East Rep - ??
    • Vice Chair -??
    Other propsects for the postions include Tom O'Sullivan, Chrissy Zeltner, Seth Eiser, MIke Sparks, Denny Adams and Geoff Cahoun.

  2. Bids for 08 and 09 Nationals/Team Trials. The WWC was urged to reach out to organizers. To date we have only received the following feedback:
    • Nationals - Fibark is willing to host our Nationals in 08 and 09. Ed Loffel will make the motion to the Fibark Board that they host the 08 venue. The Dates for 08 are June 12-15. The dates for 09 are something like June 18-21.
    • Nationals - Zoar has also said that they would host Nationals again. They are looking at 09 and doing it in mid-July.
    • Team Trails - Hipgrave reports that the Pigeon does not start scheduled releases until May so we cannot count on water there (and for sure not now with the drought). He has volunteered that the US Open could double as our team trails on the Nanty.

  3. USACK Revenue Shortfall/Deficit at the Jr Worlds - USACK ended up having a $22k shortfall at the Jr Worlds. The WWC voted with a majority vote for the following:
    • That USAWW donate our $2500 allocation from USACK back to USACK.
    • That we engage in a limited one time fundraising effort for USACK this fall.

    A copy of our email to USACK is below:

    We (Doug Ritchie and me on behalf of the Wildwater Committee) would like to follow up to our phone conversation on 9/24. We apologize for the delay, but we needed the time to build a consensus with our Board (the WWC) . We are very sympathetic to your position and are in agreement that we as the Willdwater Committee (WWC) will help to try to offset some of the deficit incurred by USACK in sponsoring the 2007 Jr. Worlds. As we discussed there are a variety of reasons which caused the event to be underfunded and it is in everyone's best interest to try and remedy the situation as best we can.

    Before we begin a fund raising effort we feel it is necessary to reiterate our position (and the position of the WWC) and confirm that you are in agreement:

    1. The proposal to host the 2007 Jr. worlds was never voted on or approved by ANY Wildwater Committee board.
    2. Though there were members of the 2007 Jr. Worlds organizing committee who were either members of the 2005 Wildwater board, members of the ICF Wildwater Committee, and/or members of the USACK board, those individuals promoted the Jr. Worlds directly to USACK without including the then existing Wildwater board, asking for board approval or any commitment to satisfy funding requirements.
    3. That the current Wildwater board is acting in good faith to help offset a debt incurred by USACK, albeit for a Wildwater event, and that the Wildwater board in no way commits to paying any specific amount of the debt.
    4. That the current Wildwater board will not agree to carrying this debt forward into future years, nor does the board agree at this time to future fund raising events.
    5. That this debt is not due to spending by the Wildwater board, its officers or agents and that USA Wildwater is not responsible for the debts that were incurred.

    If we can agree to the above, here is our plan to help USACK reduce the debt as much as possible with the following plan:

    1. Make Ben Sandiford and Dave Mason pay most of it. The race was their idea, they can belly up any shortfall. Since that's not practical or fair, or likely to happen, read on.
    2. The Wildwater Committee will credit back to USACK a one time donation of our annual $2,500 allocation that we receive from USACK (see attached RFP).
    3. The Wildwater board will begin an aggressive fund raising effort to bring money into USACK specifically for the payment of debts from the 2007 Jr. Worlds.
      A) A letter writing and phone campaign to past supporters
      B) A letter writing and phone campaign to foreign federations, officials and equipment manufacturers
      C) A general fund raising campaign utilizing the Wildwater USA web site and chat group.

      We will stipulate that All donations made from our attempt at fund raising will be sent to USACK with specific instructions by the donor that the money be used for 2007 Jr. Worlds.

    USACK Wildwater Committee – 2007 Expense Budget Summary (Updated 9-30-07)

    John Pinyerd
    USA Canoe/Kayak - Wildwater Team Chairman
    www.usawildwater.com
    jpinyerd@usawildwater.com

   
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