5 days and 15 days

5 days until the budget opens for voting then 15 days to vote!

For anyone that still doesn’t know who I am, I am the Safety Chair in my second year of the position thanks to the 16 and 19 that voted for me each year.  I also “voluntold” myself as The Paddler editor in an attempt to revive it in a less obsolete form and hopefully get more club members engaged in club activities.

When I was talked into taking over the Safety chair(Thanks again Rick!!!!) I had no idea what I was getting into.  I quickly found out how out of touch most club members, to include myself, were with the club and what all we do.  My first two experiences were with the 16 votes out of over 700 members to elect me and the similar amount that approved our budget last year.  I was shocked to see that we got a budget approved that had us spending over $27,000.  So as a board we were allowed to spend over $27,000 of the club’s money with only 20 or so out of 700 approving it!   I made it a goal after that to do my best to get more members involved in the inner workings of the club, specifically the budget.  I will confess that I did not try to hard to get more votes for the officer elections as I didn’t want to get voted out of office.  Luckily I was able to get re-elected, again with a whopping 19 votes, and on the upside I am growing on someone because I didnt get a skip this time.  Now I have almost a year to “Joe Berry Spam” all of you to get more active with this great club before you can kick me out!

Many of us take for granted all the work our Board members do behind the scenes with the exception of those who have served in an official capacity.  I am sure all the years before are no different but I can tell you that your current Board and Staff have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to set up trips, clinics, meetings, and decide how to spend your money as a club member.  We have been getting new instructors certified, working with local groups to help keep our rivers clean and open, advocating for new paddling locations, new safety initiatives, keeping this website and the Facebook page up and running, and so many other things.  I think we have had more meetings this last year than any other year thanks to the convenience of Zoom.  Many of those Zooms, hundreds of e-mails, and countless hours have been spent trying to allocate all our monies to the things this club wants.  We do our best but we need all of you to help ensure we are in line with the values you want to see from the great Carolina Canoe Club!

I mention all this because it’s that time of the year again, the time that your Board and Staff rely on you to check our proposed budget and ask the questions.  We have had many very intelligent and influential members ask questions already, now we need the rest of you to get online and do your due diligence to make sure we are financially representing the club you pay to be a member of!  If you don’t understand something that’s fine, I didnt either when I proposed my first Safety budget and odds are if you don’t understand it someone else is confused too!  Ask the questions and understand what we are proposing to spend all that money on!

Now at the beginning of this story I told you it was my goal to get more activity from the club in things like our elections and our BUDGET!  I am happy to say I have unintentionally done that with this year’s proposed budget.  We have almost doubled the comments in the budget forum from previously recorded years, but to be fair at least 6 are mine.  As many of you are aware I have tried to start up a few new things and they have brought out some very good discussions and great points.   If you share their concerns then voice your opinion so we are not spending that money even if the budget is approved.  Either way its a win for me as it has generated many reviews of the budget and what will hopefully turn into a good turnout of voters.  Now we need you to go review the budget that your  Board and Staff worked tirelessly on and ask your questions or make your comments.  You will have 5 days of reviewing until I go full “Joe Berry” on all of you to Vote!  I will not stop until we surpass the amazing 51 members that voted on the 2009 budget.  Just to give you an idea of recent votes, no other year since 2009 has had more than 30 votes and last year was one of the lowest in recent years.

Go Review! Ask the Questions! Then in 5 days Vote!

Thank you

William Holman