This last installment of the “History of Riviera Clubs” brings us to today. In the last issue we saw that our rapid growth during the first four years enabled us to hold independent meets, publish a magazine, and recruit knowledgeable Technical Advisors and enthusiastic Regional Coordinators.
Over the years, our membership continued to grow and leveled off at 3,200  in the late 90s. Although new members join each month, we always lose others. The reasons are many; members grow older, sell their car, lose interest, or just find us unable to serve their needs.
We welcome your suggestions for improvement and several examples are the Q&A, non-member cars for sale and recommended parts sources that appear in the Riview. The original Q&As were taken from letters we received; now they are also collected from the internet forums. We include Riveras for sale that we find in other publications and even on the internet, along with ads we receive directly from nonmembers, listing them at no cost to the owner. (However, only members can renew their ads along with photos.) We also list recommended part sources and services at no cost to the person or company. All this is for the benefit of our members.
The Riview was black and white until May of 1992, when we added color to our covers. In March of 1996 we added eight color inside pages for the Member’s Showcases. In September 2005, we switched to a new printer and added a few more color pages. However, it wasn’t until September 2008 that the Riview was printed in full color, as it is now. We relied on letter writing until we got email in September of ’96. In 1997, we started to accept credit cards and established our website.
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In 1994, we hired Joann Birsa, who had desktop publishing experience to assist me in the preparation of the Riview, while I continued managing the membership office. In early 2002, my wife, Jean and I retired and considered moving to Costa Rica. For over a year I searched for members to replace me as director, editor and/or office manager. After many contacts and discussions, I found a member and his wife from Nebraska, whoappeared to be more than capable, with the necessary experience, interest and time. The ROA office was moved to Nebraska in July 2003 and I retired to Costa Rica. Unfortunately the new team failed to publish the Riview on time, or provide good service. As a result, over the next three years membership dropped to 2,400. In November 2006, the Board and I were forced to take legal action to regain control of the ROA. We found that the cash reserve was gone and we were faced with over $5,000 in debt for an unpaid issue. Through legal negotiations, we were able to retrieve “most” of our library and property. We discovered there was not only mismanagement, but financial mishandling of our funds. Members Ed & Sherry Pentico in Iowa immediately stepped in as Office Managers, while Tom Mooney in Illinois volunteered to take custody of our library. Although I live in Costa Rica, thanks to the internet and Skype, I was able to resumed duties as Editor starting with the January 2007 Riview. The Board appointed me to once again serve as Director. As word spread of the change, we quickly regained many lost members and have grown to 2,900, still short of earlier numbers, but steady growth has continued.
As a group, we learned a lot and we acted quickly to prevent this from ever happening again. We amended our by-laws to give more control to the Board, establish term limits and create online banking oversight. The Director is now appointed each year at the January Board meeting. In September of 2008 the ROA office was moved back to Colorado and Joann Birsa accepted the position of Office Manager. Joann continued to assist me with the Riview until May of 2013, when Michelle Finney at Finney Creative joined to format the Riview.
The ROA is served by hundreds of volunteers—some known, many unknown. Each Riview is filled with the names of those who contribute articles or technical information, or who gather information on a regular basis. Member’s Showcases, stories and photos are submitted by members willing to share their experiences and pride of ownership. The listings in the classifieds are not paid ads, but submitted by those willing to share extra parts or recommend a quality source for parts or service. Sharing information and support was the purpose of the first newsletter in 1984 and it continues to be our goal. With your support, we continue to serve you, our members—the legions of Buick Riviera enthusiasts! |
