Web Hosting Help For a Moron

In brief here is my story - I was born - did some crap - and now i am trying to get our local DFA groups shit together.  We are doing fairly well, except for the web page - we have one (it sucks) but is is being hosted (or held hostage) by someone not with the group and not really inclined to be helpful.  I swear I am not looking for free webdesign help, but I have a few questions and am hoping you can get me on the right path - if you are so inclined - please follow me over the hump.

Here is our pitiful website www.gkcdfa.org - my current redesign plan is simple - start over and make it simple - basically links to pages we actually use (like our google group for discussion and dfalink for events - plus some about us, join us, contact us stuff.  However, I don't even know where to start getting to the point where I have control over the page.

Here is the latest helpful email i got from the guy who has been handling the hosting:

I have told them that when they get a web master, and a host, I will send them a backup.  They don't get it, and they haven't put anyone in charge who does get it.  I can not transfer the account to them, because it's under my account that has a bunch of other accounts.  They need to find their own host, or they need to strike a deal with me to do the work for them.

okay - never mind that I asked many times what he would need from us to transfer it - etc.  So I guess my question is, do I just need to go pay for a hosting service, type in the web name, and it magically pops over (okay I know that is not it).  What I need is enough information so I can ask the right questions to get this done.

Also, if you have any recommendations for a cheap and blue hosting service - I would love that too.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give me - I swear I am fairly technically skilled - but right now it is like I am trying to do this all in a foreign language, and I don't even know where to start.