Just getting caught up here...My thoughts in random, nonsensical order:

I would greatly value hearing from members/officers of clubs who have Chaptered-Up. Did their membership increase or decrease? Did their workload increase or decrease? Do they consider it the best thing they've ever done or was it much adieu over nothing? I don't just want to hear from ICORR or LAMBA. I want to hear from several clubs, it it's possible, so I can get the sense that a club very much like ours (which neither ICORR nor LAMBA is, in my opinion) has benefited greatly.

How much are the dues going to be? They are $20 now. Are they going to $30 or $50? Be prepared for that ****storm...Granted, there will be a minority who will complain about the hike but they will certainly complain loudly.

Speaking of dues. I can tell you as former treasurer if we have a bad year for races (poor turnout, rain, etc) and we only collect dues at $20/clip at the average of 70 people or so, we're screwed for that year anyway. Getting 40% of that or whatever isn't going to make or break us. Additionally, we are in a pretty good position to endure a bad year or two so long as we don't go out wasting money. Besides how much do we really HAVE TO HAVE to operate for a year? If our membership declines, so will our insurance costs. It's not like we have to fund major programs or pay salaries or a building. If S hit the fan, we could move our stuff out of storage and we could even sell our assets. Basically, if we get to this point, it won't be b/c we joined with IMBA. It will be because we BOTH got screwed two years in a row AND made some really poor money management decisions. In summary - getting less for dues doesn't matter much if at all.

Does being an IMBA chapter impact our insurance rates?

As for TT's and joining multiple clubs, how cool would it be if created a "Conference" of local clubs who are also IMBA Chapters. Maybe members of those clubs (you get a card, right?) can ride a TT or attend an event of another conference club is hosting at a reduced rate. Obviously, needs to be some thought here, but I think it would be awesome if I could go to an ICORR TT, flash my IMBA-FORC membership and receive some privileges and vice versa.

I find it hard to believe that being an IMBA chapter is going change anything from day to day besides, maybe, the VP/Treasurer not maintaining the chapter list. I won't vote for it for that reason but maybe for others. As for chapter operations, it always has been and always will be 10% of the membership doing 90% of the work. That's not just our club - that's life in general - at work, at church...They key, then is GROWING the membership so there are more people in the 10%. I believe that's the only way MAJOR projects are going to get done.

Very, very, very important to me that we retain our website as is. Sounds like that's the deal. Just want to be sure.

Though Mielke's responses are about as bi-partisan as a political attack ad, I do agree that you must not think about what becoming a Chapter will do for us today but think about what it will do for us tomorrow (as in when our kids are joining the club and running it).

I appreciate those who brought this up and got the fire started. I also appreciate those trying to pee on the fire to see how strong it is. Good stuff - that's extremely important. Just be careful your pecker doesn't get burned. Once we decide - one way or another - no one is doing anyone any good if we have integral members throwing a ****fit over it. There is no wrong decision here. I hope all will agree to support the club over all in the end.

As I read through this entire post, I was all for it then all against it then all for it again...I still want to hear from other chapters for affirmation but I'm leaning towards the Democrats (or is the Republicans?). Whatever. I think we're on the right track.