President’s Message
Last October I wrote to you all advising that after 30 or so President’s messages, 6 years on the board and 3 years as your WRCA President, I intend to step down as President at our Annual General Meeting on April 22. I remain fully committed to supporting WRCA in the future, but after so much change in our community, and our association, over the past several years, it is time for some new leadership to take us forward. A different approach in leadership style and community direction is probably necessary and healthy for our volunteer organization.
I will repeat what I stated 5 months ago. There are many good reasons to have term limits for our Officer positions. It is important to ensure that we continue to have a good supply of keen and interested community-minded residents to keep our organization healthy, fresh and growing. Succession planning for volunteer boards is always a challenge, and finding replacements for positions before the incumbent gets tired is hard. Please consider joining and building our volunteer team!
Many members on your Board have put in many, many hours of volunteer time to make the community where we live a better place. However, the “outside” challenges of careers, growing families, and other volunteer service or cultural activities has put some constraints on our directors’ time and availability.
The “inside” challenges over the past several years have also not been minor. An extended period of major community change, including the construction and now the operation of our new building, the associated change in our staffing model, and the internal workload of being a WRCA Board Member has not been simple, compared to the many years in the past.
Your President probably was a bit too ambitious over the past 3 years, and your Board has taken on and achieved many, many tasks and projects, both big and small. Some were critical and necessary. Others might have been able to wait for a while. Building a $3.5 million building with volunteers and constant time and financial pressure is, in hindsight, more than enough for a Board to take on without any other projects
So, where do we stand today? I am still looking for my replacement. The list of community projects continues to grow. We will have quite a few openings on our Board for the upcoming year. For these reasons I sincerely hope that a few of you who read this newsletter will consider taking the first step of joining our volunteer board. We could really, really, use your help. After that, who knows!
Your Board puts in many hours of time to make the community where we live a better place, more than what a President could ever hope for, and I am very grateful to be part of a group of people that care for their community, and each other, in such a positive and committed manner.
Thank you all for your assistance and participation, and I hope that our volunteer spirit continues to build.
Don Boykiw
