January 2021 Board Meeting Minutes - Summary
By Jen Sass, Secretary
This Jan. 12 meeting welcomed some staffing changes, as well as some year-end-reports from the committees.
Outgoing Chair and local kayak legend Barb Brown seemed happy and maybe even a touch relieved to be just another active and eager Board member. Barb has done a tremendous amount for the club over many decades. Barb is also the de facto historian for the club and the region, thus making her not only the heart but also the memory of our CCA paddling community. Thank you, Barb!
Welcome Cotton! As a retired government marine mammal conservation expert, Cotton started the meeting off predictably, by asking for a new study. He wants a study on how our Board, committees, and subcommittees operate and interact. Ginny DeSeau stepped up and offered to convene the group, aided by Susan Sherrod, Barb Brown, and Marilyn Jones.
In addition to the Changing of the Chair, we also wished our outgoing Cruiser Editor Joan Goodbody a fond and very grateful farewell, and welcomed in Larry Lempert, who has graciously taken up the reins. Welcome Larry! Larry has big plans to launch an online-formatted Cruiser, and you, dear reader, are looking at it now! Enjoy!
Our trusty Treasurer, Jim Landfield, continues to report that we are financially stable. Membership is also stable, with roughly 250 primary memberships, reports Ginny DeSeau. Thanks all—keep those renewals and new memberships coming!
At the recommendation of Kathleen Sengstock and the Conservation Committee, in 2020 we donated $2,300 to other conservation groups that we work with: Anacostia Watershed Society; American Rivers; American Whitewater; Muddy Branch Alliance; Potomac Conservancy; West Virginia Rivers Coalition.
Keith Edmondson is hard at work on the Roster, which is expected to be finalized for distribution by Spring. Thanks to all those CCA folks who pitch in to complete this herculean task.
The Outreach Committee is getting reinvigorated under the leadership of Risa Shimoda. She is developing a diversity outreach strategy and has started discussions with the Anacostia Watershed Society. Risa is hoping to attract DC Southeast residents, including youth, to paddling and river-related stewardship. Risa and Cotton will report back with ideas and recommendations at the next meeting. The Board is all on board!
Club meetings have been hosted by Ed Gertler and Risa Shimoda, with wildly successful high-quality guest presentations despite the online webinar format. Angie Rosser, Executive Director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition will be hard to top, but Charlie Walbridge will give it a try—check the CCA calendar for details.
The River Access Committee—Gordy Lang, Alf Cooley, John Snitzer, Pam White, and Gregory Maassen—has been hard at work. As reported elsewhere in this Cruiser issue, the committee is trying to save the Hollofield river gauge that reports the flow of the Patapsco River. And on Goose Creek they are working to have paddler access included in some new development housing plans. In addition, our team is making a presentation on the CCA website's StreamFinder tool to the MD-DE-DC Water Science Center, a part of the USGS.
The Trips Committee has been masterfully managed by Ginny and Gary Quam. They devised creative ways to comply with COVID-19 safety measures, including accessing favorite streams without shuttles, and many of us became intimately familiar with the GW Canal. In 2020, CCA members led some 120-plus trips this year to 25 different streams, with trips totaling 969 paddlers. Miki Komlosh initiated a new tradition with an end-of-summer ice cream social. Big thanks to all trip coordinators!
The 65th Annual Potomac Down River Race was held this past September, moving it up to first place as the Oldest Consecutively Run Canoe and Kayak Race in the US—since 1956. Westfield River had been oldest until this year when it was canceled.
Barb is looking for volunteers to help out on the Archives Committee. Please step up—she has big plans and would appreciate some historically like-minded folks.
All Board meetings are open to members, so join if you can; check the CCA online calendar for details.
Minutes of the Nov. 17, 2020, Board meeting, which was not summarized in the Cruiser, and the full minutes of the Jan. 12 meeting summarized above are posted in the Documents Librarty--on the left side of the Document Library page, click on the Meeting Minutes folder.
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