Cycling BC AGM - the state of racing in BC

Worst thing to ever happen to BMX racing in BC was losing the CBA. I Grew up racing from about age 8 - 18 so I was 2nd year junior when I stopped racing. I can remember there being a huge provincial series and an even bigger national series between here and Alberta. There was always a heap of pro's and superclass riders. Hell one year the grand prize for first overall in the Nationals was a car! Quite a few tracks went ABA when the CBA was taken over by CBC. Grand Forks, Vernon, Prince George and Penticton to name a few. The fact of the matter is theres a lot less people racing BMX now a days around here. My home track was Ridge, and they would have 30 moto's easy every Tuesday night. Heck I think when my dad was President of the track they were probably getting close to 40. Now from what i hear they are getting pretty grimm turn outs for races. When BMX became an olympic sport I think thats when things went down the drain. Everything got a lot more serious, especially at a local level, and for myself and a few good friends the fun was sucked out of the sport for us and I think turnouts for locals have steadily gotten worse.
I could go on forever about this stuff!

Those were the day's:)Plus full gate's of crazy dad's and mom's.

Those were the day's:)Plus full gate's of crazy dad's and mom's.

ya the old man cruiser and 20" was something else to watch in those days. I remember when you and someone else tangled up down the last straight and crashed into the fence and you put a huge dent in your downtube!

As everyone can see today, on Pedalmag
a wrongful dismissal suit has been filed by Richard Wooles before the Supreme Court of BC against Cycling British Columbia (CBC) the provincial cycling association.

As most now know as well, Mr Ryan (CEO of cycling bc) has decided to take a leave of Absence. It can be pointed out that he does not need to be there but he had planned on being at the Original AGM set for October. A week ago, there was a message sent out through the cycling bc newsletter that Mr Ryan would be away on holidays during the Nov rescheduled date……a bit bizarre since he may have already known his holiday schedule before rescheduling the AGM date. If he was not part of rescheduling the date, a good thing to do (as a CEO) would be to inform the board of directors of his upcoming holiday and absence from the AGM. Now we are hearing that Mr Ryan has taken a leave of absence!!!! This underscores his lack of concern for anything other than a salary.

Well, so far Mr Ryan has cost the organization the loss of respect for the organization, dwindling membership numbers and inflated costs for programs that seem destined to fail as they are pushed onto the disinterested and remaining few members that cycling bc has.

Cycling BC stands to incur the cost of the wrongful dismissal and out of the blue comes a notice to members again through the cycling bc newsletter, that the board has made available a line of credit for $50,000!!!!!! Is this to cover rent and pay salaries for the next few months until membership monies start to come in? I have to think that this is a possibility since I also received an e-mail from cycling bc about getting the next year's license earlier than I have ever seen before.

So, it would seem that Keith Ryan being with Cycling BC is now no longer a possibility. I surely hope that we do not have to pay for his "stress leave"! I wonder if people are able to go after him personally for his causes of stress and anguish?

Keith has left a wondrous trail of wreckage from Soccer to Cycling!

DK

and then there is the even bigger fiasco brewing with richard wooles filing a wrongfull dismissal suit against cbc

https://eservice.ag.gov.bc.ca/cso/esearch/civil/searchPartyResult.do?serviceId=14925382

is the link to the filing. it cost $12 to read the notice of claim (which i have) but if it goes richards way i can not imagine it being cheap for cycling b.c.

in any event the agm sure will be a bit more exciting this year than years gone by anyways

http://pedalmag.com/?p=178661

November 26, 2012 (Vancouver, BC) – Following several controversial flare ups that began to erupt over the Thanksgiving long weekend in October, and only days before Cycling BC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Pedal has learned that a wrongful dismissal suit has been filed by Richard Wooles before the Supreme Court of BC against Cycling British Columbia (CBC) the provincial cycling association.

Wooles, the former Director of High Performance and the Provincial Head Coach, claims to have been let go from his position in October following a disagreement about how to allocate monies budgeted for High Performance programs.

This is obviously a sad chapter in what has otherwise been a brilliant story about Wooles who, in addition to developing cycling programs in BC has been working simultaneously as the Head Coach for the Canadian national track team where he built a strong national framework earning World Cup and World Championship medals as he headed up Canada’s team at the London 2012 Olympic Games. His employment at Ottawa-based Cycling Canada is presumably unaffected by the dispute with Cycling BC.

Wooles claims that it was expressed or implied in his Employment Agreement that he was to manage the budgets of High Performance and also to direct the expenditure of monies he raised himself.

He claims that in September and October of this year he discovered that CBC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Keith Ryan had spent monies “ at his direction in a manner inconsistent with the purposes for which the funds had been raised and contrary to the budgets prepared by Wooles and previously approved by Ryan and the CBC.” Wooles maintains that this misdirection of funds was contrary to assurances given by Ryan and left a budgetary shortfall which in turn would leave CBC with inadequate funds to pay for commitments made to the Provincial Cycling Team.

Wooles’ claim alleges that when he contacted Ryan about the matter on October 3, Ryan went into a tirade, using “profanity and loud, abusive language.” This led to Ryan telling Wooles that he was suspended, interventions from members of the Board of Directors, and by October 12, to an email to Wooles telling him that the relationship (between Wooles and CBC) could no longer continue. This was followed by a communication on October 26 informing Wooles of the termination of his contract.

According to the same filing, Wooles is accused by CBC of calling Ryan “a liar” and approaching the CBC board “in an inappropriate manner,” “taking steps to undermine the CBC’s board of directors” and CEO, and allegedly approaching funding organizations. But Wooles’ lawyers maintain that even if such claims were all true, these would not constitute grounds for dismissal.

In addition to lost earnings in lieu of notice of termination, Wooles is seeking compensation for mental distress, loss of reputation, and aggravated and punitive damages. His base salary and commissions amounted to some $100,000 per annum.

It was Wooles initial suspension that sparked the outcry in BC that lead to the surge of interest in the AGM and other issues in the province. Pedal previously published an open letter by Barry Lyster, a BC bike shop owner, who called for the resignation of Ryan and of CBC President Wayne Pomario in connection with this affair. Todd Hansen, CBC’s VP of Road [HTML_REMOVED] Track responded to Lyster’s letter as other stakeholders entered the discussion claiming reduced numbers of riders attending races, gender equality and rigid rules as other issues.

Meanwhile, CBC will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Dec. 2. The AGM was originally scheduled for October 20 but was postponed because of an unusually high number of people, upwards of 250, who expected to attend the event. The new hall can hold more than the 250 people, some four-to-five-times more than the number usually expected. The venue for Sunday’s AGM is the Cadet Building, at Abbotsford Exhibition Park. The meeting will be called to order at 1 pm.

The Wooles Affair is not explicitly mentioned on the day’s agenda, but will presumably be raised under “new business.”

Cycling BC 2012 AGM
Date: Sunday , December 2
Time: 1 p.m.

As everyone can see today, on Pedalmag
a wrongful dismissal suit has been filed by Richard Wooles before the Supreme Court of BC against Cycling British Columbia (CBC) the provincial cycling association.

As most now know as well, Mr Ryan (CEO of cycling bc) has decided to take a leave of Absence. It can be pointed out that he does not need to be there but he had planned on being at the Original AGM set for October. A week ago, there was a message sent out through the cycling bc newsletter that Mr Ryan would be away on holidays during the Nov rescheduled date……a bit bizarre since he may have already known his holiday schedule before rescheduling the AGM date. If he was not part of rescheduling the date, a good thing to do (as a CEO) would be to inform the board of directors of his upcoming holiday and absence from the AGM. Now we are hearing that Mr Ryan has taken a leave of absence!!!! This underscores his lack of concern for anything other than a salary.

Well, so far Mr Ryan has cost the organization the loss of respect for the organization, dwindling membership numbers and inflated costs for programs that seem destined to fail as they are pushed onto the disinterested and remaining few members that cycling bc has.

Cycling BC stands to incur the cost of the wrongful dismissal and out of the blue comes a notice to members again through the cycling bc newsletter, that the board has made available a line of credit for $50,000!!!!!! Is this to cover rent and pay salaries for the next few months until membership monies start to come in? I have to think that this is a possibility since I also received an e-mail from cycling bc about getting the next year's license earlier than I have ever seen before.

So, it would seem that Keith Ryan being with Cycling BC is now no longer a possibility. I surely hope that we do not have to pay for his "stress leave"! I wonder if people are able to go after him personally for his causes of stress and anguish?

Keith has left a wondrous trail of wreckage from Soccer to Cycling!

DK

As someone new to the Cycling BC AGM should I expect anything to change as a result of the AGM? I'm unclear what my expectations should be for the day after the AGM.

If not Keith ~ Who is line to do a better job?

As someone new to the AGM can someone explain what my expectations should be for the day after. What if any changes should I expect right away? What is the best situation to come out of the AGM thats realistic?

A Cycling BC coach makes $100k/year? What does the CEO make?

In addition to lost earnings in lieu of notice of termination, Wooles is seeking compensation for mental distress, loss of reputation, and aggravated and punitive damages. His base salary and commissions amounted to some $100,000 per annum.

A Cycling BC coach makes $100k/year? What does the CEO make?

he was also the directer of high performance….??

Leave of absence just before the things are about to implode? Really? You could not write drama like this.

I'm start to get a bit concerned about how much it's going to cost Cycling BC to dig itself out of these various situations. Still, if it has to be done to find some daylight at the end of the tunnel then so be it. According to the 2011 year end annual report, there's $1.6M in annual revenue (mostly through grants/funding), so there's cash flow available. Sacrifices may need to be made along the way to lay out a viable path, financial and otherwise, to a more stable environment for the organization.

As someone new to the AGM can someone explain what my expectations should be for the day after. What if any changes should I expect right away? What is the best situation to come out of the AGM thats realistic?

SE-racing, read the entire thread again. Then go to facebook and search for The Future of Cycling in British Columbia, then search out the associated website, can someone please throw those links in here for me after my post.

I look forward to meeting you on Sunday, especially since you are asking questions and that you seem to care. You will see that right now, just bout anyone would do a better job than Keith Ryan.

Where do we go from here. We fix cycling bc and get growing the sport of cycling again, no more alienating people and forcing draconian rules upon the very clubs that validate cycling bc's existence.

A Cycling BC coach makes $100k/year? What does the CEO make?

I'm guessing the numbers have been padded… one does have to pay the lawyer.

SE-racing, read the entire thread again. Then go to facebook and search for The Future of Cycling in British Columbia, then search out the associated website, can someone please throw those links in here for me after my post.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/FutureofCyclinginBC/

A Cycling BC coach makes $100k/year? What does the CEO make?

I didn't think anyone with a half decent education makes less than 100k anymore.

VP FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT Tony Martin
VP CYCLO CROSS Matt Klymson
VP ROAD/TRACK Tim Abercrombie
VP BMX Jeff Clarke
What looks like a banding of approved candidates from the website.
What is your position if you are elected to the cbc board regarding BMX in BC on sanctions.
Do you support CBC BMX as it stands or will you work to dissolve CBC sanctioning ,and let the ABA run our programs?

quote above
Where do we go from here. We fix cycling bc and get growing the sport of cycling again, no more alienating people and forcing draconian rules upon the very clubs that validate cycling bc's existence.

If the bmx community is ever to get together ,sanction wise it will be willingly NOT like what is being tried here.
Quiet meetings by the track heads ,with out the internet or name calling.

What I see here is just another tactic, going after our sanctioning body .
A few ABA track exec. have continually made this (aba taking over cbc bmx ) their reason for being.
I am hoping Matt K /Tim A will support the vision of BC BMX sanctioning.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
Politics is a blood sport.
If there is change needed in BMX why not work to see what it would take to get other clubs to join cbc?
More license fee's ,greater numbers. The so called unification being asked is always the same.
ABA wants to take cbc bmx tracks over whether we like it or not.
Year after year of relentless attacks on this question .
Michelle Landers has worked hard as the VP of BMX and will get my support.

To me the ABA sells a great competition race program and that's it.
Where they have no strength is putting money back into the sport. (coaching ,rider Olympic development,strategic planning of the future) Even the aba has seen the power of the Olmpics and uci. Rules once thought untouchable by the aba are being changed to reflect the Olympics.(call sign )
Canadians need to feel they can make it to the Olympics and that our own organizations can do.
Not having faith in our system and feeling we are second best to let the ABA run our programs,well just because it's been that way,doesn't mean it's right.
CBC bmx is on the right path ,with a heavy commitment in coaching and long term goals.
CBC race program is progressive and steadily improving, due to investment and strategic goals.

no more alienating people and forcing draconian rules upon the very clubs that validate cycling bc's existence.
I hope these words above mean what they say.
I car deeply over our bmx clubs and the good people who run them,and other cycling disciplines.
Have given my life unpaid gladly to make a difference,especially in kids.
gary