241110agenda

Agenda
WPOC General Membership Meeting
2 November 2025

1. Approval of minutes of 10 November 2024 meeting. (action required)

2. Election of Board Members At-Large (action required)

The current Board Members whose terms are expiring are Sherry Shank and Nathaniel Hazelton. Both are willing to continue in their offices; however, additional nominations will be accepted from the floor.

3. Report on Past Year's Achievements

Five regular orienteering events, one night-o event, one training day and two mini-rogaine events were held. This is one fewer events than in recent years.
Another 500 additional acres were mapped for the 2026 Babcock Bog & Boulder Challenge
Alexis Rewski has updated the map of Settler's Ridge so it can be used for an event in 2026
Six orienteering workshops or demonstrations were held; four of these were open to the public.
Minor updates were made to the maps of the areas used for events during the year.
Two new people have joined the ranks of event directors: Ryan Repp and Kim Stewart

4. Thanks to Event Directors (Alexis Rzewski, Jim Wolfe, Ryan Repp, Dave Battista, Joe Logan, Sherry Shank and Kim Stewart), Vetters (Dave Battista, Naomi Jarvis, Joe Logan, Alexis Rzewski, Jim Wolfe and Ryan Knecht), Workshop Presenters (Jen Livingston, Joe Logan and Jim Wolfe), Volunteer Coordinators (John Pane and Ryan Repp), Membership Coordinator (Sherry Shank), Event Coordinator (Giuseppina Mecchia), Social Media/Photographer (Alexis Rzewski), Facebook/Instagram Connection (Naomi Jarvis), Equipment Repairman (Ryan Knecht), Livelox Coordinators (John Pane, Lee Bash and Nathaniel Hazelton), and all 19 of the Event Volunteers (many of whom volunteered more than once)..

5. Board Actions over the past year

The board approved the purchase of patches as swag items for the 2025 Babcock Bog & Boulder Challenge.

6. Financial and Membership Reports (attached)

In addition to the usual expenses related to events ( permits, map printing, director expenses, etc.) and the item mentioned above, we did spend money on plastic bags, printer ink, our domain renewal, and hosting services.

For Discussion: "Too much money" Things we could spend money on: T-shirts, Hats, Compasses, Batteries, Donations to parks, Donation to Orienteering USA. Ways to get less income: Reduce Dues, Reduce map fees.

DCNR is changing it permitting process for State Parks and State Forests for 2026. It appears that getting a permit for either of these areas will incur at least a $100 application fee and possibly additional use fees (I don't think DCNR has works this out yet). The only saving grace is that we have in place agreements to use Raccoon Creek for 8 more years and to use Babcock for 3 more years. We have asked DCNR for clarification about these existing agreements but have not received a definitive answer yet. The 10-year agreement we had to use Keystone S.P. has expired

7. Goals for 2026

Hold as many local events as we can, preferably 7 or 8, in addition to the mini-rogaines and the training day.
Hold workshops and promotional events for orienteering;
Increase volunteerism at events

8. Call for event directors and vetters (dates and locations to be discussed individually)

The dates for Raccoongaine and the Babcock Bog & Boulder Challenge in 2026 are already set, March 28 and April 25, respectively.
Alexis says that the Settler's Ridge map is ready to be used; we will try to hold an event there in 2026.
Do you want a Ski-O in 2026?
It has been Jim Wolfe's practice for some years now to direct three events per year. For health reasons, he may not be able to do that in 2026 (not certain one way or another yet). Consequently, if the club it to maintain approximately the same number of event offerings in a year, others with event director experience may have to do more.

9. Other business

Discussion: It has been suggested that the club membership would benefit from a "skills pipeline". That is something like a flowchart to show people how to progress in orienteering. For example, what skills are needed to move from Beginner to Novice to Intermediate to Advanced. Or what skills are needed to move from volunteer (registration and start/finish) to control pickup to event director to vetter.