Draft Minutes
Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club
10 November 2024
Memberships represented: Battista, Campbell, Cebula, Faber, Gary, Hendrych, Irvin (2), Livingston, Logan, Opila, Pane, Repp, Rzewski (3), Shank, Sheers, Smith, Stewart, Wolfe.
Jim Wolfe called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.
1. Minutes from 12 November 2023 were approved.
2. Election of Officers
The following officers were nominated and seconded and elected by acclamation, as there were no other nominations – each to a two-year term.
- President- Jim Wolfe
- Vice President- Dave Battista
- Secretary- Jennifer Livingston
3. Report on the Achievements of 2024
- Six regular orienteering events were held along with one ski-o event, one training day and two mini-rogaine events.
- The map of
Hartwood Acres was extensively updated and two permanent courses were
designed and installed there. 500 additional acres were mapped for the
2025 Babcock Bog & Boulder Challenge.
- Seventeen orienteering workshops or demonstrations were held, three of which were open to the public.
- Minor updates were made to club maps in areas where events were held during the year.
4. Thank You
- WPOC thanked the 6 Meet Directors (Shank, Livingston, Rzewski, Logan, Knecht, and Wolfe), 4 Vetters (Battista, Logan, Rzewski, and Wolfe), 5 Workshop Presenters (H. Bash, Livingston, Logan, Opila, and Wolfe), and the more than 25 Meet Volunteers for their many hours of service to the club.
- Special Thanks also go to Volunteer Coordinator Ryan Knecht, Membership Coordinator Sherry Shank, Event Coordinator Giuseppina Mecchia, Social Media/Photographer Alexis Rzewski, Facebook/Instagram Connection Naomi Jarvis, and Equipment Repairman Ryan Knecht, and Livelox Coordinators John Pane, Lee Bash, and Nathaniel Hazelton for their time and efforts.
5. Report on Board Actions in 2024
- The board approved subsidizing the purchase of club jerseys for any club member that wanted one. Ryan Knecht and Naomi Jarvis designed the jerseys and 35 were purchased from Bryzos Sport, a Romanian company.
- The board approved purchasing swag items for participants in the 2024 Raccoongaine (a buff/ neck gaiter was chosen) and the 2024 Babcock Bog and Boulder Challenge (a string bag was chosen). The board also approved purchase of a t-shirt as the swag item for the 2025 Raccoongaine (2025 will be the 15th year).
- The board approved the purchase of 40 compasses. We needed to replace the compasses that had acquired bubbles and Jen Livingston requested additional compasses to conduct larger workshops.
6. Financial Report
- A financial report was made for WPOC through November 2024. A complete report for 2024 will be sent to the membership in January 2025 after the fiscal year is completed. The report shows the club to be financially stable.
- An explanation was given about the change that OUSA made to recharter fees that clubs are now paying and how it has had a negligible effect on our overall fees paid to OUSA.
7. A Discussion of Goals for 2025
- WPOC discussed the goals for next year to include holding as many local events as possible (preferably 7 or 8) as well as our annual training day, Raccoongaine and the Babcock Bog and Boulder Challenge.
- WPOC will continue to provide workshops and promotional events for orienteering.
- WPOC wants to continue to increase club membership and volunteerism at meets, and desire to add a few new meet directors. A brief explanation was given of support and guidance available for a person who would like to be a new meet director.
8. New Business
- WPOC is in need of a new volunteer coordinator. Explanation of the responsibilities was given and it was shared that the job is much simpler now that members can indicate that they are willing to volunteer for a specific event when they register for the event. This is a crucial position to fill in order for the club to run smoothly.
- A brief discussion of meet attendance and starts was had. The year-to-date numbers show that the number of people attending WPOC meets is now back up to the level we were at in 2019 (pre-pandemic). The number of starts is still down a little bit so that shows we have more groups participating this year compared to 2019.
- A discussion was had regarding possibly ordering additional items of clothing (pants/hats) since many people really liked the orienteering jerseys that were purchased. The board along with those who designed the jersey will determine the best path forward on this issue.
- Information was given regarding the ending of a ten year agreement with Keystone State Park which the board will seek to renew. At this point it is a $50 cost for a 10 year permit to hold events. WPOC also has a ten year agreement with Raccoon Creek State Park which is only a few years old.
- WPOC is looking for anyone interested in being the meet director for a ski-o to give the past ski-o directors a break. Ski-o directors will need to plan for 2 dates in order to have a back- up date if there is not enough snow.
- Interest was expressed in WPOC holding another Bike-o event in 2025. There was talk of two meet directors potentially adding a bike-o course to their events next year.
Meeting adjourned at 2:40pm.