[QCWA Hotlist] Changes taking place in QCWA

[Ken Simpson, W8EK]

Many of you are aware of some of the changes that are taking place in 
QCWA, but some are not.  The following will appear on the QCWA web 
site in the next couple days, but I wanted to give the chapter 
officers a "heads up" on what is going on.  The same information will 
appear on the next issue of the Journal.



Changes in QCWA
By Ken Simpson, W8EK

Remember that song from years ago, “The Times, They are a Changing”? 
For QCWA the times really are changing.  Many changes took place at 
the Board of Directors meeting in Reno on September 24.  The changes 
introduced then have now reached fruition, but more subtle changes are 
yet to come.

At the board meeting, your directors made some “Tough Decisions”.  We 
had no choice.  We either made these tough decisions, or we went 
bankrupt.  It was that simple.  Your board made the decision to make 
QCWA a viable entity going forward, and to financially move QCWA into 
the black in 2013.

The four largest expenses for QCWA (from largest to smallest) is the 
cost of the Journal, the General Manager’s contract fee, the fee we 
pay our expensive MA CPA, and the editor’s fee.  The other expenses 
are small in comparison.  The board chose to eliminate the first three 
of these as much as possible.  The changes in the Journal will be 
addressed elsewhere, but I will discuss the others.

As you probably know, Jim LaPorta, N1CC, our present General Manager, 
chose not to renew his contract, which expires December 31, 2012.  The 
board had a choice of starting a search committee, or taking other 
bold steps.  The board chose the later.  We will be using all 
volunteers to handle the functions that have been handled by the 
General Manager, thus saving the organization the second largest 
expense in the budget.  We will be splitting the job into smaller 
pieces, in essence “decentralizing” the General Manager’s position.

At this point, we will be dividing this position into six parts that 
are critical to the operation of QCWA.  We are fortunate that we have 
identified people to handle all of these positions.  They will take 
over by December 1, so that we can have a smooth transition.  The 
positions and people involved are as follows:
Executive Administrator – Ken Simpson, W8EK
Executive Assistant – Sue Simpson, N8AJU
Disbursement Administrator – Roberta Cohen, WA2FRW
Certificate Custodian – Vic Culver, W4VIC
Membership Supplies Coordinator – Myron Cherry, K4YA
Membership Renewal Coordinator – automated/Exec Admin/Exec Assist
The duties of these people will be outlined in January when the new 
monthly edition of the digital Journal will debut.

This also means that we will be closing the Texas headquarters and 
moving it to Florida.  Texas will close on November 15, and Florida 
will open about December 1.  There will be about two weeks, over the 
Thanksgiving holiday, when we will be in transition, while the truck 
moves our supplies from TX to FL.

Effective immediately, the address for QCWA is
8400 NW 115th Avenue
Ocala, FL  34482-1098

As this is being written, we do not yet have a QCWA phone number. 
Please check the web page (www.qcwa.org) for the phone number.  We 
will also start using qcwa.org for e-mail.  My e-mail address will be 
ExecAdmin at qcwa.org.

The third expense is for our CPA.  We have had a CPA in MA that simply 
was not meeting our needs, especially considering the amount we were 
paying them.  The board chose to terminate the services of this CPA. 
As a result, we are looking for a volunteer CPA, probably from the 
ranks of QCWA members.  Ideally, we are looking for a retired or 
semi-retired CPA that is/has been licensed.  At this writing, this 
person has not been identified.  If you would like to volunteer, or 
possibly know someone that would fit this criteria, please contact us. 
  We are also looking for a volunteer lawyer.

The fourth expense is that of our editor.  This will be the only paid 
position that QCWA will have. Since we are moving from a quarterly 
Journal to a monthly Journal, it is only fair that this fee should 
increase.  All of the other new established positions will serve 
without compensation, and will be on a volunteer basis only.

With these changes, QCWA should save enough to finally put us back 
into a balanced budget for 2013, or even a small surplus, which has 
not been realized over the past several years. If you have questions, 
please let me know, and we will do our best to answer.



Thanks.

73,

Ken, W8EK

Ken Simpson
E-mail to ExecAdmin at qcwa.org or W8EK at flham.net
Voice Phone  (352) 732-8400