Report from Annual Membership meeting, Jan 30 2016

Meeting was opened by President, Sal DiGrande, with approximately 32 people present

Planning Meeting Update, held 11/21/2015 by John Bouwsma 

• Dell Hambleton was given sponsorship for her replication of the Cherokee Trail of Tears trek in the form of free rent on half a bay until may 1 to complete work on her kayak.
• Committee Chairs and volunteers needed for various comittees:
       *Tool maintenance Committee:  Steve Mahoney
       *Shop Beautification:  Russ Smith
       *Shop Move Contingency Planning:  Art Wilson
       *Treasurer backup:  Craig Bryant offered to take on this role from Chuck Stuckey
       *Membership Coodinator:  John Whitehouse
       *Activities Coordinator,  Kevin Cote
       *Education coordinator, Randy Torgereson
• Tool Use Training and/or Certification
       *Several members have joined the Oregon Woodworker's Guild to leverage their process
       *John Whitehouse has created and distributed a form for self-evaluation of each member's skills and needs for additional training.  These will be analyzed and a plan will be made based on it.
       * A series of demos will be set up on the machines that people seem to need the most training on
• New membership Policy
       *Memberships will not go from Jan 1 through Jan 1
       *Members are encouraged but not required to pay for the balance of 2016 now, so everyone will be due at the same time
       *Each quarter or partial quarter will be charged at the rate of $12.50/qtr
• Maritime Skills  Classes, Randy Torgerson
       *Schedule of classes is on the web site
       *Anyone wanting to teach a class or a demo please contact Randy
       *  Someone is needed to teach a paddle-making class
• Awards, Sal DiGrande
       *  President's Award given to Art Wilson, Russ Smith, Michael Carrico, John Ost and John Bouwsma for participation in the Catlin Gable builds
       *Founder's Award given to Jim Litton in appreciation of  his donation of his shop tools to RiversWest
• Guest Speaker: Ric Fry, Caitlin Gable School
       Ric talked about the very positive impact on his students from the experience of building a total of 4 Salt Bay Skiffs with volunteer help from RiversWest.  
• Election of Board and Officers
       The following members were elected to the board and to the three offices:
        Russ Smith,  President
        Craig Bryant,  Treasurer
        John Bouwsma,   Secretary
        Jim Litton
        Chuck Stuckey
        Steve Mahoney
        Stu Whitcomb
        John Whitehouse