President's Column by Andy Dell

It has been a while since I have written a column. Our board meetings over the last six months or so have focused on several things. Three main topics keep coming up:

What exactly are we able to provide to our membership currently and in the years to come? What does the future of the club look like moving forward? And finally, how do we continue on with no new volunteers coming forward to replace our burned-out volunteers?

Your next question after all that is probably “What is the Railroad Club board doing about all this?” A group of six volunteers, some past board members or presidents and some current board members, have formed a committee to explore options for the club’s future. Since asking for more volunteers in the past has not had much effect, we are needing to take some drastic measures. Many of the behind the scenes functions of the club are all done by 3 people: the President, Vice President and Treasurer. We also have our secretary, board members, our newsletter editor and a handful of others that put in many hours each month. Many of us are at the point of burn out or beyond.

Several meetings of this committee will take place in August and throughout the rest of the year to explore a few different options which include possibly merging with another organization, reducing in person meetings or eliminating them altogether, switching to an email only newsletter and potentially finding a different place to house the club’s historical records and other items. 

We are also looking to hire (or volunteer) a bookkeeper to review our finances monthly and perform a formal audit of our books. This person could also potentially help with membership processing.

A new president needs to be identified or someone from the membership to volunteer for this position by the end of November. I asked the membership last year in a few of my columns looking for a new president and received zero response and so I continued on this year to ensure the club kept going. As part of our bylaws, the president of the club is restricted to 3 consecutive years and I will reach that 3 years in December.

In order for the printed Rail Report to continue in 2025, we need to have someone volunteer to do the conversion / layout from the email version to a print friendly version. I currently do this with a template in Microsoft Word but it would look much nicer if someone with Adobe InDesign knowledge and software access takes it over as I do not wish to continue doing this in 2025. We could also hire someone to do this and spend some of our money in the Club account to keep the mailed version going even if that means taking a loss.

As more details are solidified, I will keep everyone up to date in this column. While we are making every effort to keep the club going, some major changes will be necessary over the next year or two. We will make a strong effort to honor the club name and it’s legacy.

To summarize, our immediate needs for 2025 are someone to take over the layout of the Rail Report to convert from email format to print friendly, a new president and a bookkeeper / accountant to help manage and review the club’s finances.

I will be mailing out a more detailed letter to the entire membership body explaining our current situation, options being explored as well as the progress we are making. Please keep an eye on your mail starting in early September for a letter from me in a standard sized envelope with the club logo and return address in the upper left.

NOW is the time to raise your hand and speak up, as the clock is ticking and volunteers are needed. If we don't get more volunteers, monthly meetings and the printed newsletter will become a thing of the past.