CORBA held its annual membership meeting on March 11, 2020. Elections for CORBA board positions were held at the meeting. All of the positions up for election were filled by incumbents who ran unopposed. The following positions were voted on:
Officers:
- Vice President: Laura Plummer was elected for a term of two years.
- Secretary: Jenny Pederson was reelected for another two year term.
- Trails Director: Jay Plummer was term-limited out and nobody was on the ballot for this position. Therefore, it was left vacant.
Board Members at Large:
- Eau Claire County: Bayli Cristorf was reelected for a one year term.
- Chippewa County: Bill Zimmerman was reelected for a one year term.
- Dunn County: Jerry Porter was reelected for a one year term.
- Barron County: Ryan Urban was reelected for a one year term.
CORBA is grateful for all of these volunteers for committing so much time and energy into serving on the board and helping to make our trails and trails community better. While we appreciate all of the incumbents for being willing to serve another term, we always encourage others to step up and become involved. If you have any interest in doing more for the organization and for the trails, please consider running for a board position in the future.
Vacant Trails Director Position
Because our Trails Director position is a vital position to fill (this officer of the board coordinates all trail work, tools and equipment needs, and works with land managers for trail related issues), the vacancy required immediate attention from the board.
At our April board meeting, we discussed the issue of term limits and decided there really was no good reason to keep them in our organization. Being that all board positions are unpaid and power is very limited, the reasons for term limits for other elected offices in the country do not really apply to our situation. We concluded that it didn’t make much sense for the organization to have a position unfilled due to an unneeded term limit restriction while we had a person willing to fill the position and perform the voluntary work involved. CORBA, like most non-profit volunteer-staffed organizations, just can’t afford to turn down volunteers. Therefore, the board unanimously voted to remove the term limit clause from our by-laws.
Upon the removal of the term limits, CORBA President Steve Wood appointed Jay Plummer to resume the position of Trails Director with unanimous approval from the board.
New Liaison for Northwest Park
We want to thank David Uber for stepping up to be a liaison at Northwest Park. Unfortunately, David’s job has shifted a bit which keeps him away from Eau Claire more than anticipated. Therefore, David has had to step down, but we expect he will still be willing to help with our trails as much as possible during the times he is back in Eau Claire. Jon Strosahl has eagerly volunteered to fill the liaison position and CORBA has officially made the appointment. Jon has jumped right in and has already saw to it that the trails at Northwest Park are clear and in good condition. He is also working hard on completing old projects and analyzing new projects for the trails at the park. Thank you, Jon, for your willingness to take on this position and for your eagerness to get to work. We are developing a great team for the park and we are fortunate to have Jon as a part of that.