Minutes: April 8, 2017
The 04/08/17 face to face general membership meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association Board of Directors meeting was called to order at 9:05am by Jerry Farnsworth, President. Directors present were, President Jerry (Dewey) Farnsworth, S/W Dan Horkan, N/W Tate Barwald, S/E Jerry Kaszynski, N/E Don Chrapla and Josh Kroeplien, 2nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, Jim Kroeplien, Secretary Theresa Howland, Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins. Absent for face to face meeting was S/E Bill Marsden, 1st Alt. Delegate Dwight Paulin, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring.
Also present at the meeting: Rachel Kroeplien, Lynn Howland, Jeff Recob, Dick and Arlene Otto, Mike Pigusch, Chops
Guests: Larry Okray
Meeting started at 9:05am
Secretary Report:
Theresa sent out all the letters for the All-State Team. This is the last thing that she is going to do for the Secretary position. Theresa stated prior to the conference call on March 27, she informed Dewey that she could not make the conference call; however, her meeting got done early so she called in to the conference call and did not announce that she was on the call because there was already a conversation going on and the phone beeps when someone comes online and no one stopped to ask who came on the call. She said that she heard some things on the call that she was very unhappy about. She explained about the auditor position for the state shoot. She feels that the board does not trust her right now and she says she likely will not be doing the state shoot. She is very sad about this and feels that she is not being trusted. She said that the deposits are checked and double checked by her and the other girls. She stated that she worked her butt off at the state shoot for Jim. Theresa worked in a bank and ran the money for the state shoot the same way that she did at the bank. There are four in scoring and four in cashiering. Theresa worked both areas. Theresa will email the gals that worked for her and have them contact Dewey.
Jim stated that the deposits on the last day were a mess. Nothing was itemized. Jim stated that she explained it to him but when he got home he had no clue what it was. Jim apologized and stated that he maybe overstepped his bounds. Theresa said that the money in the bucket was the start-up money and was $3500. Jim stated that there were some errors and Theresa said that it should have been brought to her attention, but it came to the board. Jim just thought it was best to have another set of eyes.
Arlene stated that sometimes the banks have issues with their money counters. She encountered a situation with the bank where the teller told her she was off $20 on the deposit; however, called a few hours later and stated that the money counter was wrong. She stated shame on the board for not standing up for her. Don stated that we are all guilty for not opening up our mouths on the phone.
Fritz stated that this conversation is very disappointing and he stated that Theresa has done a great job the past few years and he is sorry that she is leaving.
Dewey asked if there was anything to do to change her mind. Theresa stated that she doesn’t feel that the Board trusts her and no one stood up for her on the call. Dan said so many things have gone wrong in this organization and he believes that Jim was just trying to cover the money situation. Theresa would be willing to help train someone for the state shoot and she is willing to train someone for the Secretary position as well.
Treasurer’s report by Jim:
Jim stated that he resigned due to the money not coming in as requested. The money did get deposited six days later. He doesn’t know if this was intentional to get him out of the position or not. He did state that $754,000 from the Fidelity account has been deposited in to our account. He has no other report to give as he has not paid any bills since the last meeting. Summit stated that they are already working on the re-amortization of the loan and it will take a couple weeks to get something back to us.
Dewey asked if he would reconsider taking the Treasurer position again. He stated that we are supposed to be getting the director and officer insurance policy set up again. Jim stated that the past board made the decision to drop the policy. However, Arlene and Jeff Recob stated that there was never any insurance for the board. Jeff states that a handshake still needs to matter inside this room. Jim stated that Larry is coming later this morning to talk about the insurance. He would consider being re-appointed for the position if the insurance is complete. Originally there was an issue getting coverage for the hoop building but Larry had to go back and explain things to the agent. Jim stated that Mike Martin was also going to get some numbers for us, but Larry Okray and Mike use the same company so Mike said to let Larry move forward with it.
Fritz stated that Ray’s IRA had about $38,000 and asked if we received it and Jim stated that no it has not been received. Jim has contacted the attorney to see where the funds are at and the attorney does not know at this time. Fritz said that it has been liquidated but no one knows where it is at. Jim said that the IRA money was supposed to be there before the Fidelity money. Fritz asked if we knew how much the attorney fees are so far, however, Jim does not know and has not yet received a bill. Fritz said that the porta potty company has an outstanding bill from 10/15/16; Jim stated that he paid it last October and thought it was paid in full; however, Jim received a bill two weeks ago dated back to October 2016.
Fritz will talk to Billie Jo this week and have her deliver a handicap and one regular porta pottie for the weekend of April 22 that will remain all summer. She also wanted us to order enough of the handicap ones for the summer so that she has those set aside for us.
Trap Help:
Josh stated that at the job fair that they attended, they had six groups interested and a few others that would get back to us. Josh said last night that they talked to another group that is extremely interested in taking over the state shoot and all the other events for $50 a person and with a potential $10 bonus if they attend all days. They stated that they are a poor Catholic school and will be back in touch as soon as they have their meeting. Josh stated that after some comments made on the forum and emails that his mom is no longer willing to donate her time to help the organization. She is very upset about the interactions that have been made over the past several months. Rachel stated that she was sorry that she used the word “bashing” when she responded on the forum but wanted to let everyone know that the Kroeplien family donated over $1000 for marketing materials for the job fair. Jim wondered if for the shoot on the weekend of May 5 and 6 if we could try to save some money and run the shoot ourselves? Rachel stated that they did send out some letters to local Lions, Rotary and other clubs to try to generate some help.
Josh stated that we have to follow all child labor laws because we are a firing range, all workers have to be 16 years of age. No one under 16 will be able to work.
Brian told Dewey that he has been reaching out to other organizations to try to get enough help.
Dick asked if we are still trying to run the full 30 traps on 60 workers. Josh explained that one trap is usually for make-up and that requires a Director to be there for that. Jeff from Kolar typically uses another trap for the week and monitors that one. Josh estimates that there should be 10 to 12 floaters with this set up. Fritz suggested having line supervisors, score sheet runners, loaders and garbage runners. Josh stated that they were considering breaking out the garbage duty as a separate task rather than relying on the trap help.
Brian arrived to talk about the trap help. He provided two documents to the Board to review and talk about while Brian is outside. The group discussed multiple options and talked about the number of workers needed for each shoot based on the dollar amount decided on the amounts based from the conference call on March 27th.
Dewey told Brian that we had reviewed his proposal. Jim explained that we are looking at different insurance and asked how many kids were over 16 vs under 16. He doesn’t believe that he could guess how many of his volunteers were over 16; probably 30 or less. Brian’s proposal is asking for the $12,000 that he believes is owed from last year for the athletic programs. This year he is asking for approximately $44,500 to cover the shoots plus another $16,000 for the programs for a total of about $60,000. Brian said that he will have to research the child labor laws. Jim will also do some research and check with the attorney. Brian will also check with the Town or Rome. Brian will start working on a contract. If we can get everything resolved, we can hold a conference call next week. Brian states that he will be able to cover the May shoot if everything gets worked out.
Josh made a motion to pay Brian/Nekoosa $9000 from the 2016 shoot fees. Don seconded it. So carried. The check will be payable to Nekoosa Youth Athletic Program.
Insurance:
Larry stated that he put together a quote for insurance and handed out four portfolios. He will go over a few things that need more clarification if there is a loss that takes place. He knows this is something like buying a Mahindra vs. a John Deere. He stated it is difficult to find a mono-line policy for director and officers. Jeff asked if this would cover the Homegrounds board of directors and that answer is yes. Larry talked about a liability/participation waiver in depth and lots of questions regarding that. Discussion was held about possibly putting up signs to cover everyone, not just those participating. This would cover everyone that stepped on the property. Larry also suggested if we were going to be making signs, to post some more signs about donations; he saw one on the laundry room door. The currently policy was $644 for hoop building, $3100 for liability, $1200 property and $267 for something else that he couldn’t figure out; for a total of $4807. The hoop building insurance was to be for one year and they thought we were covered only for that one year. Larry stated that we could keep our current policy now until that expired in November; but we could add the other insurance in the mean time until that expires. The current agent has already stated that when the current policy expires he wants nothing to do with the WTA. We will get a credit back from the current policy if we canceled that. The quote for the new policy through Secura is a total of $10,131 and can be paid in installments if we so choose. Larry believes that he may be able to knock off another 10% off the current quote. Jim will check with the attorney on the liability/participation waiver and what needs to be on that if we want to do signage.
Dan Horkan made a motion to accept the insurance proposal that Larry Okray provided us. Josh seconded it. So carried.
At the last meeting, Dan and Tate stated that they would stay on the board if there was insurance for the board of directors. Dan will remain. Tate will ponder it and make a decision.
Dan made a motion to re-appoint Jim Kroeplien as the Treasurer. Jerry K. seconded it. So carried.
Fritz:
He asked if we wanted to put ads in any publications this year. Connie asked Dewey and Tate earlier for something for her to present to some meetings coming up this next week. Fritz received an email from someone from WACO for a motorcycle group that wants 125 to 150 sites for August 3 to 5, 2018. Fritz will contact them back to see what they are looking for.
Who is going to do the cashiering for the shoot in May. Dewey stated that he has talked to some people about helping but most of them so far have shoots going on the same weekends. Mary Bleiler from Janesville stated that she is more than happy to help train anyone.
What is the long term and short term help? Jerry K. will stay for the month of May; he will bring his camper up and stay after opening weekend. The camp host will come basically whenever we want them.
What hours will the facility be open? We need to post hours on when the traps will be open. We can post Saturday and Sunday and be open by appointment after that.
Bruce Nelson has been opening the bunker every weekend since April. They shot in the snow and high wind. Fritz has given the deposits to Jim for the dates that they have been open. Rachel will send him a thank you letter.
Fritz stated that we should still move forward on designing a building and get our ducks in a row rather than just rushing. He said that he knows that when Pritzel’s was built, it was funded by the Town of Rome through state trust funds obtained by the Town of Rome and should be something that we consider doing. Dewey has all kinds of information on the building from meeting with the Town of Rome on Thursday. He has all kinds of information on what is needed; he met with the planning and zoning as well. The original building was zoned and approved, but we will have to start over with the process because it is totally different now. Town of Rome will get back to Dewey hopefully by Monday. It was uncertain if we will need fire suppression to start with. Dewey stated that the money that was transferred to the WTA was suggested to go ahead and move forward with the building. This is all just preliminary information. The committee was set up at the last couple meetings and includes: Jim, Dewey, Chops, Tate, Don, Jerry, Dan. Tate suggested trying to determine how much money should be spent on the building and determine if we want to do phases and then have something prepared to present at the state shoot so the members can see that we are moving forward. The committee will get together and have a report by the next meeting. The plans should move forward so that we can apply for the grant before the deadline in July.
He asked if Jim Grunewald was sent a thank you letter for his donation and be added to the donation list. Rachel will follow up and send a thank you to him. Fritz asked about Glenn Carlson and a thank you for the previous work that he has done on the grounds as well. He wants him to be added on the donation list.
Fritz asked about a sign. Josh stated that a generic sign can be done with the open hours and it doesn’t pay to spend money on a big sign until we determine if we are going to change the name of the campground. Josh and Rachel will create a couple new banners to replace the ones on Hwy 13. Rachel will also get some banners for the state shoot with a list of all sponsors for the week.
Fritz said that the DNR grant got mixed up. It was supposed to be $16,000 for the lighted fields; so they resubmitted what was needed. We will not get the money until July so we cannot do anything until that time. Bob Ebbers will be applying for the ATA grant for two sets of voice callers.
Camping rates for three nights for SCTP and High School Clay Target League is $90 including tax. $40 for one night and $60 for two nights. The rate was set at the last meeting but some are requesting three nights.
Dewey will bring a 20 gauge to be used for when youth and women to use. Jeff R. will check to see about one as well.
Dewey is working on a shelter/check in area for the camp hosts. Amy will have printed forms filled out for the camp host to have campers fill out upon arrival. We need to get the Square account set up. People that leave their camper here will be charged a $2 storage fee.
Amy will talk to Jim’s Golf Carts and have three delivered for the clean-up weekend. We now own one, so they can deliver that one and then two more; one that we can put a box on. Rentals will be $50 a day or $100 for the weekend during the youth shoots.
Amy will let Michelle know to open up 28 squads for events 1-8 and 56 squads on the rest of the events. Amy will also get the program to Michelle so that she can open up pre-squad viewing until May 1st when it opens. Amy will also get the program to ATA for emailing out to all members.
Dewey is having the first pod delivered on June 23. The rest will be delivered the week of July 1st.
Dewey received some paperwork from Wood County regarding opening up the wells. The state wants to know what we are using for water so we likely will have to put some meters on them. Dewey is working with a village down by him to try to get that done when we are opening them up. Dewey has some guys doing spring clean-up and touch up on the traps today. The skidsteer was picked up and serviced.
Fritz stated that he will be here for every youth shoot in May and June and will help out as much as he can. Otto’s are still up in the air for helping this summer.
Mike P:
He asked that Dick to fix a typo on the Fall Classic sheet so that he can post it on the website. Dick will fix it and send it to Mike. He also asked about the Five Man team shoot and having it be registered and non-registered. He asked how we are going to send the information to ATA. The document doesn’t anything about the ATA and the WTA fees. There was discussion about how the registered targets would be recorded with the ATA. There was a concern how this would be done.
Don C. made a motion that the 5-man team shoot will ONLY be a non-registered event. Jerry K. seconded it. So carried.
ByLaws:
Rachel asked if we were going to try to revise anything in the bylaws regarding the zone director vacancies and opening it up to state wide as that was the only thing that wasn’t finished for recommendation at the last meeting. Rachel would like to get them revised so that we can get them posted for review by the membership and then voted on at the state shoot.
Round Table:
Josh is working on something for batteries and walkie talkies before we purchase any batteries this year.
Dick asked if anyone has opened up a cell phone account so that Denny can disconnect them from his account. Dewey will go to US Cellular and get a new phone so that we can get that to the camp hosts when they arrive.
Jeff said that Midwest Shooters donated two MEC traps for our five-stand course that we hope to get opened some day. He stated that he also has about 2 pallets of Ray’s stuff in his warehouse. MEC would like to talk with Chops and the guys that are setting the traps to go through some of the steps to make it better for our use.
Next meeting will be April 22 at Homegrounds around 3pm. This is also work weekend; the meeting will occur after that.
Don made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Josh seconded it. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 3:35pm.