Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition Meeting

2008 OBC President Chuck Davis of Tulsa

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Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING

2MAR2008

(New officers and directors list from OKBIKE.ORG)

Written by Pete Kramer

Monday, March 03, 2008

New 2008 Officers and Board of Directors were elected at the Special Meeting of the Board and Members held in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The new officers are:

Chuck Davis, Tulsa, President

Richard Hall, Tulsa, President Elect

Mary Cash, Stillwater, Secretary & Past President

Pete Kramer, Oklahoma City, Treasurer

The new Directors are:

Don Norvelle, Stillwater, Education Director

Shawn Gibson, Stillwater, 405 Region Director

Sterling J Hale, Stillwater, 580 Region Director

Christina L Birch, Tulsa, 918 Region Director

Jim Beach, Tulsa, Web Director

Susan Walker, Stillwater, Membership Director

Vacant, Legislative Director

...........

In his address to the assembly, incoming OBC president Chuck Davis said that the key to expanding the organization is membership involvement. To that end, he wants the present Yahoo mailing list to be the property of the coalition. He wants to publish the membership list as a means to enhance participation. The membership is crucial if the coalition is to survive.

Let me say this about memberships. All groups include a small number of people who actually do the work. The rest of the group contribute dues to support that smaller group's efforts. In effect, their dues reflect their agreement with the organization's stated goals and its actions toward achieving those goals. When those interests diverge and the officers no longer reflect the goals of the members, those disaffected members simply walk away. They vote with their feet.

I did not renew my OBC membership this year.

There was a possibility of taking a position on the board, but given its composition, I'm greatly relieved that I did not give it serious consideration. I could not work with some of the people listed above under any circumstances, let alone the climate of mistrust and acrimony that's prevailed over the last several months. I've done volunteer work for a number of organizations, work that at times was unpleasant, but none of them caused as much personal aggravation as this one.

In one way, I hope that the OBC can be rescued and that the present board will pull it back from the brink of destruction. Yet when I consider that several of the officers contributed to that downward spiral, in reality I see little hope. Maybe I'll be proved wrong about this. If so, I'll gladly re-up my membership. On the other hand, if the present slate of officers puts the coalition into a long tailspin, I'll probably be there to help rebuild it after the crash-and-burn.