Annual Planning Meeting held Nov 22. 2014

Our Annual Membership Meeting was held on Nov 22, 2014 at the Rose City Yacht Club, attended by 23 members.  There was a lot of enthusiasm and lively discussion.  Several main directions emerged for the next year.

One goal that emerged was that we need to increase our membership.  We expect to do this by placing our brochures in businesses and public buildings, contacting lapsed members to renew, and though publicity at the Portland Boat Show, Family Boat Build, and any wooden boat shows we can attend through the course of the year.  In addition our expanded  Workshop Program is very likely to attract new members.

Related to this is our desire to increase our outreach to the public.  Public outreach, and especially education, is one of the main purposes of RiversWest, according to our bylaws.  Randy Torgerson has taken over and expanded the Workshop Program, with  workshops and demos scheduled throughout the next year. 

We have had some issues in the shop with inappropriate and in some cases unsafe  use of the machinery, and broken machinery that was not reported.  We all agreed that we need to have written procedures for each machine that give safety rules, and the proper way to set them up.  Once this is in place we will certify members to assure that everyone understands these rules and procedures. 

There was general agreement that we need to continue all the events we held last year and even add some, especially more on-the-water activities.  This would include the Portland Boat Show, where we will have a large booth, the Family Boat Build, the Hagg Lake messabout, and the Spring Swap Meet.  We have been approached by the Catlin Gable School and agreed to provide kits and mentors for them to build two Salt Bay Skiffs in 4 days in their shop.  This will happen in March. 

On top of all this we will  now be publishing our newsletter 4 times a year.