During the January meeting, the Board approved Eli Post as the Club Secretary, Larry Kernan as our VP of Finance, and Eliott Morra as our Treasurer.   While you already know Eli and Larry from the past, Eliott is a CPA who has many years of experience working with small business as well as nonprofits.  The Board also just confirmed Martin Hayes as our new VP of Rides.  While Martin has been a fixture with our Devo Program, he is stepping up to the plate to take over the Rides Program after Mary Kernan has stepped down after many years of service.

We are looking for a Diversity Leader.   The Diversity Leader is the person who leads education on diversity issues for the club and works on developing club rides and events that highlight diversity.  Please send an email to me at Edward_Cheng_89 [at] yahoo.com if you are interested in that position, or volunteering for the club in any way.  We can always use more help.

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The Board also reviewed our expenditures from 2022.  We had total of about $42,000 in revenue, mostly between dues and century income.  We just about broke even on the fall century, leaving about $27,000 for all other club expenditures.  Insurance cost about $10,000.  About $6,000 went to charitable contributions, such as Bikes Not Bombs.  We spent about $8,000 on Ride Leader appreciation gifts and the Ride Leader Party, and about $2,000 on all of the other ride programs in the aggregate.  The remainder went to administrative expenses and technology expenses.  CRW ended the year with a $500 surplus.  As you can see, the Board is making an effort to remain as close to revenue neutral as possible each year.

 Our 2023 budget closely tracks what we spent in 2022, though as with everything, our expenses will likely increase with inflation.  We are planning to run more than one century this year and the Board voted for a membership fee increase. The current fee schedule is $15 for one year; $28 for two years; and $40 for three years. The new rates will be $20, $37, and $53 for 1, 2, and 3 year membership -- though details may change. The tentative date to make these new rates effective is April 3, so membership renewals before then will be under current rates. We looked at the WheelPeople archives and found the June 1975 issue mentioned that dues were $15 for an individual membership!  The decision to increase rates was made after thoughtful analysis and discussion.  The Club faces increased costs, as the membership is no doubt aware given the overall economic situation.  Despite the increase, CRW's fees compare favorably with other biking clubs in the region. The additional fees will help defray the costs for an upgrade  to the club's website, communications, and membership software, and allow CRW to continue running our riding programs.