President’s Turn 26-09
As the end of 2026 is now only four months away, we are rapidly approaching the end of my second term as your president. Likewise, the list of pending initiatives works down to zero. I still hope to complete revamping our membership “database” before the end of the year, but other than that, all of the other club upgrades are completed, or nearly so.
Over the last eighteen months, we have completed migrations of all of the club’s IT, financial, marketing, and management systems, including a new website with online and in-person credit-card payments, a new monthly demonstration/training meeting at JCH with access to warehouse the club’s lathes, tools, and turning blanks. Bert has updated and improved all of the club’s financial tracking and reporting, registration with the state and federal agencies, transferred all banking activities to Nusenda credit union (a massive improvement over BMO), and Ray Davis and I made several upgrades to the trailer that we use to transport the club’s lathes. And now, thanks to Bert, we actually own the trailer, and it is properly registered with the state.
It is now time for me to hand over the reins to the next generation of leadership. Both Alex and I will be stepping down at the end of the year, so a new leadership duo will be needed if the club is to continue. Bert and Nancy have agreed to stay on as treasurer and secretary, respectively (assuming they are both re-elected).
With all of the changes that we have made, there should be no immediate need to make further massive changes in the foreseeable future, but we do need a fully staffed executive committee both to meet the requirements for the club to continue and to keep things on track. Other board positions that need to be filled include the education committee chair, and the webmaster. I will continue my involvement with both of these committees, but additional persons are needed, both for a variety of input, and for functional redundancy.
Please consider investing in your club’s success. If you have any questions, please reach out to Tom Durgin (who chairs the search committee) or me. Please copy both of us in any email communications.
The New Mexico Woodturners September meeting will take be held on September 5th and will feature turning ornamental holiday turning demonstrations. The board decided to hold this annual demonstration topic a bit earlier than normal to allow time for those members planning to create holiday turnings prior to the holidays. Please reach out to Alex (and copy me) if you would like to demonstrate.
