Minutes: March 5, 2016
WTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Face to Face March 5, 2016
The 3/5/2016 face to face meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association Board of Directors was called to order at 9:00 A.M. by Bill Simonar President. Directors present were 1st Vice President Glenn Hamerly, N/W: Bruce Stiteley, N/E Pat Schuette, S/E: Jerry Kaszynski, S/W: Dan Horkan, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, 1st Alt. Delegate Dwight Paulin, Treasurer Jim Kroeplien and Secretary Theresa Howland. Absent for face to face meeting was 2nd Vice President Jerry Farnsworth, 2nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, and SE: Phil Kubow. Also present at the meeting was John Coniff, Don Mittag, Dick Otto, Arlene Otto, John Atkielski, Julie Atkielski, Donald Chrapla, Amy Jenkins, Tate Barwald, Gary Gerhartz, Virgil Bomkamp, Brad Bomkamp, Mick McGinley, Ken Cerney, Sandra Jo Jack, Tammy Stiteley, Roberts Ebbers, Pete Rustad, Kent Marshall, Connie Riemer, Glen Carlson, Andy Hall, Harvey Terre, Fred Kasten and Jeff Recob.
Meeting started at 9:00
Bill: Bill started the meeting announcing that Ken Cerney would be a Sargent of Arms during the meetings to help the meeting run smoother and more efficient.
Secretary Report: I brought up that I have been working on getting the letters out to the state team, but was waiting for information on the captain of the mens team before I sent out any letters. With all the changes I didn’t want them to go out wrong.
I also announced that I will be resigning as of March 5th and the board would need to look into getting someone to replace me as soon as possible. I will continue till they can find a replacement.
Treasurer’s Report: Jim handed out the financial report and asked if there were any questions. Of course there were questions about where we are standing as far as bills. He announced that he has paid the bills up to date, but there will not be enough to pay next month the way it is going. As is we have gotten most of the money for camping for the state shoot and there really will not be any income till after May. He is wondering what can be done soon so we are not fighting again to pay bills. He gave the board several ideas of what could be done.
Ideas: Ideas include looking for a new accounting firm, and maybe have someone sell food and water at the state shoot to benefit the WTA. He said it worked out nice last year when the FFA group did this and shared the profits. He said it might be of benefit to liquidate Ray’s funds and pay down on the loan, re-zone land for Ag/ CRP, sell Ray’s house, and revisit things we pay for like help at the state shoot, manager’s wages, selling of campgrounds.
John said there should be a committee formed to find out if we can get some of the land into a different zone such as a CRP. Bruce and Pat have volunteered to look into this.
Andy said we should look into selling the campgrounds, maybe the west side. Bill said the west side parking lot would have to be all rewired. He also asked what we would do with the 10 year contracts sold, if we did sell the campgrounds we have open now. Jim said we made about 36,000 this year but between the loan and manager it lost about 75,000.
Andy Hall said we cannot continue to run this way we are losing to much money. Maybe look into selling the 40 acres. Glenn said the town was thinking of running sewer past this property and maybe it would bring in more money if we wait. Dwight asked would we be charged for the sewer going past if so will it be worth it to wait.
There was a committee formed to investigate the selling of campgrounds, the 40 acres etc. The committee will consist of Andy Hall, Dan Horkan, Fred Kasten, and Pete Rustad. They will look into this and report back to the Board of Director next meeting.
The next question was how much of Rays inheritance is to go to Summit. Everything would need to go if it is liquidated.
Sale of Ray’s house: Bill asked what the BOD’s would like to do about Ray’s house. Right now we are having water problems in the basement. Should we fix it or sell as is. He had to different prices to fix the water problem. 28,000 would fix it both inside and out. Or 10,800 to fix just the inside. If we do that we might want to fix up the inside it is out dated.
Don M. asked how much the house is worth, Bill said that it would be about 191,000 if it was fixed up. But there would be a lot of work. He said he had gotten a name from John of someone who buys houses and flips them and we could go that way.
Dan made a motion to sell Ray’s house as is but not under $100,000. This motion was seconded by Pat. Bill called to vote 6 yea, 0 nay. Bill would look into sale of the house.
Insurance: First Bill asked how many golf carts we would need. After asking who would need one they decided on 3 four seaters, 11 electric for Directors and runners, also need 14 gas carts for camper rentals. Last year there was damage to a golf cart and it cost the WTA money. We will have to do something different so we are able to keep better track of who has what cart. We need to take pictures of them when they are rented and then again when they are returned as well as proof of insurance. This way if there is damage the renter will need to pay to have it fixed. Bill said he had the lease agreement for the golf carts and asked if he should sign and send it in. It was agreed he could do this. The carts would be rented from June 23 to July 23.
Bill said he is looking into how the WTA insurance would need to be changed for the rental of the carts.
State Shoot Program: John said almost everything is ready but he had a few questions. First, when and where will the banquet be held. Also he would need the Presidents letter. Will the cost of targets stay the same? Directors agreed to leave them the same.
Bill brought up that Mark Zuhart was going to run a Heads and Tails game during the Friday Fish Fry. He asked John to save a page in the program for this ad to promote this game. Proceeds from the game will go to the WTA.
Ken Cerney said he had an idea of how he would like to see the banquet run this year. He thought it would be a good idea to not have all the raffles and selling of things. Maybe just have a nice dinner and honor the HOF inductees. Save the auctions things for the Friday Fish Fry. Go back to a $50 dollar plate and have a nice dinner. Then if there is anything left after paying for dinner and maybe a few door prizes we could put the extra money back into something for the Homegrounds.
Bruce made a motion to have the Banquet as a tribute to the HOF inductees and honor other HOF members. For anyone to come and support the inductees and enjoy a nice dinner. Giving free tickets to the inductees for that year. This motion was seconded by Jerry K. Bill called it to a vote. The motion was carried unanimously.
The 12th HOF Banquet will be held on Saturday July 16th 2016 at the Ridges, happy hour 5-7P.M. and dinner at 7:00. Ken Cerney will be in charge of sale of tickets.
Don M. asked about Pre-squadding in the program and if anyone has set up this year’s pre-squadding. Michelle will be contacted and she will only be setting up two flights at first until filled then add more.
He also brought up qualifications and does it say in the program Wisconsin shooters would need their ATA membership and WTA membership for qualification.
Bill brought up the need for tents this year. He said we do owe $1200 dollars to Westfield for damages done to the tents in last year’s storms. But they did agree to lend us tents again this year.
Bill also said we owe 3-8 foot tables to Sauk City for the ones that were damaged when the tents went down. Paul Becker said he was going to get a tent for the auction and he would pay for that out of the proceeds of the auctions. Bruce said he would contact Westfield and look into sizes and an invoice for the damaged tent. He would also see about chairs and tables.
Sandy Jack asked what could be done as far as the pod for the trophies. Last year’s pod was so hot and sandy. There was suggestions of maybe using the second half of Michelle’s pod. After it was talked about Sandy said they would stay in the same area and pod.
April 15th will be the deadline for Connie to get in the ads and sponsors for the program. Connie asked about the printer and if we were thinking of changing. It was decided to stay with the same printer. She asked about putting in a thank you for Paul, Kolar, Recob’s, Mr. Zuhart and others. The Directors said it would be a good idea. She also asked if there should be a memorial for Ray Moser and it was agreed to put one in and Sandy Jack was asked to write it.
All State Team Requirements: There was several questions brought up about the Friday before a zone shoot. Would a shooter be able to count the Friday before and the zone shoot as two different shoots. Don M. said that it should only be one shoot because when a club sends in an application they have all three days on it so it should be all the same shoot. After this was discussed further Kevin made a motion for it to be 3 different sites and the Homegrounds can be counted as two sites because they use different numbers, for the year of 2016 target year. This was seconded by Glenn. It was voted 6yea and 0 nay, motion was passed.
Delegate report: Kevin said he has received an email from the ATA about Nick Gajewski and his yardage. His yardage has been straightened out now. He also said that the incident last year at Trails End was taken care of and apologies were made.
The ATA was looking at the 18-19 yard in handicap not sure what will be decided.
From Kevin’s understanding the ATA was going to run the shoots in Sparta through the months of June, July and August. Ken Cerney said from what he had, there was nothing written that this was for sure. Kevin said on his update it was said that the ATA will be opening the Grand in Sparta.
The SCTP will be holding their Grand at the Cardinal Center for the next 5 years.
Bill was asked if he had gotten the 5 year contract signed and sent to the SCTP. Bill said it was reworded from the last meeting and it is ready to be signed and sent to the SCTP so he will do that.
John asked for the State Program how we would be putting the men’s team in as. Would Jerry be captain or George? After this was talked about there was a motion made by Glenn that Jerry and George should be co-captains and leave Don Wagner on the 2015 Wisconsin All State Team. It was seconded by Kevin. Bill called it to a vote it was unanimous for the motion.
Homegrounds Manager: Bill had talked to Denny. He is starting chemo every two weeks and he was looking at working on his off weeks. He would expect that his pay would be reduced as well. He then asked if we could maybe ask retired guys to come up and help out while he is going through his treatments. After much discussion about what would be best for now. The Directors have decided to keep Denny on and look for guys to come up, work and help out so more people would learn the operation. Denny will still be doing the reservations for now. Also look for maybe camp hosts to help out in the camp grounds.
Glenn made a motion to keep Denny on for 2 weeks on 2 weeks off at half pay and get volunteers to run it in between starting on April 15th of 2016. This was seconded by Bruce. Bill called it to a vote. It passed unanimously.
Dan asked how we will pay Denny if we are broke next month. It was suggested to maybe ask Denny if he would hold off getting paid till we are back up and running and money is being made. They would talk to Denny.
John suggested that we have a volunteer coordinator. Don Chrapla would get this started.
Don M. suggested that maybe Jeff and Fritz might be helpful at this also.
Five Man Team Shoot: Glenn and Bruce have been working on this shoot. It will be held on August 19th-21st, Bruce said there is already $1000 dollars added money. They thought Friday would be a regular shoot 100/ 100/ 100. Then Saturday would be the 5 man open shoot 16 yard 200 bird event. Sunday was decide to maybe have a 100 handicap slider. Bruce thought he would talk to Muscoda to see how they run their shoot.
There was talk about where we could advertise the shoot. They thought Wis. Outdoor News, and maybe the State Journal.
Fall Shoot: Bill said he got a call from Gate way and they would like it if we would call our shoot something other than the Fall Classic. The dates would be Sept.16th – 18th and it was motioned by Dan to call it the Moser Memorial Shoot. It was seconded by Jerry K. Bill called it to a vote, 6 yea 0 nay, the motion was passed.
Target Prices: Bill asked what the target prices would be for the May 6th-8th shoot, the July 1st– 4th shoot and the Moser Memorial Shoot. After some discussion a motion was made by Dan to keep the prices the same as last year at $26 dollars per 100.
Computer for Homegrounds Shoots: Bill said that Dick has offered to run the shoots, as long as he can stay in the camper he did last year as well as the WTA pay for any shooting he would do at these shoots. Glenn made a motion to have Dick Otto run the shoots for the cost of a camper stay and his shooting costs. It was seconded by Pat. Motion went to a vote. It was 6yea 0 nay.
High School Workers: We received an email from the coaches of Nekoosa for a raise for the workers they supply for the shoots at the Homegrounds. There was a lot of discussion as to what we pay them now and how the checks are paid out is it a donation. Will we lose the help if we don’t give a raise? Dan Horkan was voted to be a liaison between the WTA and the Nekoosa coaches to try to get this solved. Hopefully we can reach a compromise.
Around the Table
Don Chrapla: Don talked about an add he has seen about grass plugs that you can put in anywhere and they will grow and he will buy some and he would like to put it in to see if it will grow at the Homegrounds. He asked for help to do this, Jerry and Dwight said they would help.
He asked Bill about the playground equipment. Bill has looked at it but he said the grant would need to be written by them which is where the cost is.
Dwight: He has been looking into ads in the Wis. Outdoors News. He has sent out ads which will run once a month.
He asked if we were going to use a sealer on the picnic tables. He has some and will try it.
The plans are there for the Skeet Houses, but the funds are not yet.
Dick Otto: He asked what the Directors would like to do about the mailing list for the programs. He has several cut-offs they could use. He figures if they went with 1400 targets in the last calendar year would be their best bet.
John: John talked about the new website and that there are now 77 people on the forum. He asked about different sponsors for all the days at the state shoot. Bill was going to look into some of them and Connie is looking into some of them that he was questioning.
He said that there was going to be a memorial for Ray Moser on Sunday March 13th in Hartford at the Chandelier. There will be a DJ and cake, John said he would be willing to talk on behalf of the WTA if no one else can make it.
John Coniff: John handed out coupons for the Homegrounds camping. He gave each Director two bundles in hopes that they will give them out to businesses so it will promote the camp grounds. He said let the Directors know all they do is give each business a code so we can track the coupons being used. They will need to give those codes to Denny when they have them.
He was also asked to look into the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. In his opinion from what he learned he said his position is for an employee.
Jim: The audit went well for the WTA, but as the auditor was scrolling through the checkbook he had questions about the Homegrounds. He suggested to his supervisor that maybe it would be good to audit the Homegrounds side also. This is just for unemployment purposes.
Andy: He said that the WTA is in for a tough road.
Fred: Fred has been working with Fritz to get all the donated items at the Homegrounds labeled. He passed around an example of what the granite will look like for the field donations.
Don M.: Don brought up a few things the Directors need to think of as the State Shoot approaches such as a watering truck for the dusty roads. The exhaust fans in the showers in the campgrounds does not seem to work. We might want to look at that. He also asked if Denny is adding in the electric and camp site in his pay.
Tate: He commented on selling the campgrounds again. If they did sell the camp grounds would the coupons still be honored. This is something we should keep in mind.
Amy: Amy asked what the Shoot in August will be called. The Directors decided on Wisconsin 5 Person Team Open Shoot.
She also asked if the WTA would be holding a registered shoot on the 26th of June since The Heart of Wisconsin has canceled their shoot on that day. Glenn made a motion to have a registered shoot on June 26th at the Homegrounds. It was seconded by Kevin and passed unanimously for the registered shoot.
Bruce: Bruce asked what was going to be done to find a replacement for the secretary position.
He also asked how the pavers will be done. Glenn said that Bruce and Don Wagner will be bringing a lifter for them and Pete will be creating a path for them.
He also wanted to know more from Jeff on how much it cost him to do his text alerts for his business. Jeff said that his program cost $1000 dollars a year. He also said there are different programs to choose from.
He asked about how we would run the TV and Booze Raffle that was donated by Gary Renolds. Bill said he asked Gary to contact Paul since he is doing the fundraising.
Jim: Jim asked for a list of the 5 and 10 year campsites, bill said he would get that for the accountant.
He asked about the lease agreement between the Homegrounds and the WTA. Bruce said it was asked for and should have it soon.
He wanted to know if they would be getting the air-conditioned Toilets again this year. If yes we will need to find a better way to keep them clean.
He also feels that the Bylaws should be looked into because they are very vague is some areas.
He asked if something happens to Denny will we have things transferred to the WTA from Ray’s estate. John said he is working on this. He wanted to know how it works in relation to Summit. Many feel that this money should be used to pay down the loan so our monthly bills could be more manageable.
Who will be running water and things to the line? There were a few volunteers for this. Both Bob and Nick said they would take a few days and Pat said he would maybe ask his kids help.
How will we be paying the bills and is there any way we can work with Summit to lessen the payment through winter months. Bill is going to talk to Summit and get a meeting to let them know our position and see what can be worked out.
Sandy: She said there is room for 3 more sponsors for events at the state shoot. She would like to see the negativity she has been hearing about Wisconsin to stop.
Motion to adjourn the meeting by Bruce seconded by Glenn. Meeting was adjourned at 3:15 PM.
Next meeting: The next meeting will be a face to face on April 2, 2016 at 9:00 AM. It will be held at Lake Sherwood Lodge