Reposted from old website from 11/7/2021
Club members:
Summary:
- Fall Picnic as a success and a enjoyable time was had by all
- Slate of Officers & Board Members for 2022. There is still time to nominate yourself.
- 2022 Riding Planning Meeting / Annual Membership Meeting – 1/10/22 by Zoom
- Ride Leader Appreciation Event almost happened in October
- Next Try at a Ride Leader Appreciation Event
- Select Committee è
- Plan for legacy membership dues in coming years
- Name change
- The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania listing Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen, LTD. as a “County Orphan”.
- We need a new website for 2022
Fall Picnic as a success and a good time had by all
The Fall Picnic on September 21 had good weather and a good time in Cecil Park. Thanks to:
- Kris Moser for the routes
- Ken Cushy & Jim Logan for leading rides
- Al Gaburri and Dave Bialosky for staffing the event and supplying lunch.
- Mary Ann Van Develde for the group and action photos of the day. See them on Facebook.
Slate of Officers and Board Members for 2022
The slate for 2022 is:
WHO
President Jim Logan
Vice President Sarah Quesen
Secretary Dave Kasperek
Treasurer Aldo Gaburri
Director Dave Bialosky
Director Roger Hartung New!
Director Robin Woods New!
We thank retiring Directors Dave Lusher and Monica VanDieren.
We will vote at the 2022 Ride Planning & Membership Meeting – 1/10/2022. We welcome several more nominations of board members, particularly new and/or active members. Self-nominations encouraged. Serving on the board mostly involves attending 4 Zoom meetings over 2022. Our Bylaws set our terms at 2 years, though for practicality we are voting annually. Send nominations to wp****@***il.com.
2022 Riding Planning Meeting / Annual Membership Meeting – 1/10/22 by Zoom
In 2022 planning is possible again, we will try something new. In the January planning meeting we will schedule at least several rides per month over the riding season (March – October). Please do participate and voice what club activities you would come out for in 2022. Be as specific as possible.
Ride Leader Appreciation Event almost happened in October
We almost had a Ride Leader Appreciation event at Jim Logan’s house on Sunday 10/24. Unfortunately, Jim was out at several community events the prior week and woke up the day before with a sore throat. Using Covid protocols, we cancelled. Jim did get a Covid test, which was negative. And the sore throat went away in a day or so.
Next Try at a Ride Leader Appreciation Event – Thursday 12/2 7 PM
We will try again at a Ride Leader Appreciation Event. Current thought is to gather to raise a glass together and perhaps some appetizers at one of these venues:
- Grist House Brewery – Millvale – outdoor firepits
- Dancing Gnome – Aspinwall – Brand new facility
- Cadence Clubhouse – North Park
Particularly the first 2 are relatively central (plus close to President Jim’s house). More details probably about 2 weeks in advance. Hold the date.
Select Committee Report
Decades ago, the Western PA Wheelmen was a mighty organization, with over 1000 members and many ride and event options. The club has been contracting for decades. One artifact is that when the club stopped printing our paper newsletter circa 2005, we had in our bank account $20,000 of legacy dues. Meaning fees collected from members. The club has not used that money for 20 years. There has been a long-standing informal plan among past presidents that if there are decisions to be made about the legacy of the club, we would convene a select committee of past presidents. President Jim “pulled the cord” so to speak on the Select Committee, because he wanted guidance what is the respectful use of these legacy dues. The Select Committee convened and met twice in the fall. It included:
- Curt Vazquez, Past President
- Fred Klem, Past President
- Monica VanDieren, Past President & current board member
- Jim Logan, Current, and Past President
- Jo Wilson, Past Secretary
- Current board members
The Select Committee identified three 501c3 organizations that are within our club’s mission that the committee deemed supporting would be respectful of past members. Those organizations are:
- Trail Volunteer Fund / founded by Ray Weil & Mary Shaw / Pittsburgh Foundation
- PMTCC – Major Force Youth Program
- Variety Club – Adaptive bikes for special need youth.
The board has followed these recommendations and approved modest donations for 2021 – $1000 per organization. We view this as guidance that we can draw on for the next 5 years.
A second outcome of the Select Committee is that we found that we have finally progressed beyond any pushback on a name change. We rolled out “Western Pennsylvania Bicycle Club” at the Fall Picnic. Members accepted it there, so we changed our name on our website and our Facebook page. To be clear, the legal name of the club will remain Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen, Ltd. Because it is too much of a bother to change it. But we will informally do business as the Western PA Bicycle Club (WPaBC) going forward.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania listing Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen, LTD. as a “County Orphan”
Relatively new, we stumbled onto that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has an entry in the state business entity database as “County Orphan”. We don’t know what that means. We did try to request any documents on the record, but the only thing that came back was our 1969 founding documents filed with the state.
The one proactive step we did take was to update the address on file with the state. The address that the state had was from our original filing at founding as a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation in 1969. We changed the address to President Jim’s house, just in case they want to contact us.
We Need a New Website for 2022
Mycycle.club was a grand experiment that we got for free as an alpha customer, but the developer Victor decided to not continue with the project. Our thanks to Victor for getting us through 2020 and 2021. Our current plan is that Regional Brevet Coordinator Dan Blumenfeld (and club webmaster a decade ago), is creating a new website for Pittsburgh Randonneurs. Once he does that, “we” will duplicate it the WPaBC. It likely will be WordPress based.
Dan and President Jim are meeting monthly over a drink to discuss progress. Other interested parties in creating /supporting the new website are welcome. Let us know.
Jim Logan
President, WPaBC
Ride with Us!
Western Pennsylvania Bicycle Club (Wheelmen)
ri********@*********ub.com
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