Minutes: August 19, 2017
The 08/19/17 face to face general membership meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association Board of Directors meeting was called to order at 9:07 am by Jerry Farnsworth, President. Directors present were, President Jerry (Dewey) Farnsworth, N/W Tate Barwald, N/E Don Chrapla, S/E Jerry Kaszynski, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring and 1st Alt. Delegate Dwight Paulin, 2nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, Treasurer Jim Kroeplien, Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins. Absent for face to face meeting was N/E Josh Kroeplien, S/E Bill Marsden, S/W Laverne Lehmann. Others present were Andy Hall, Phil Challoner, Lisa Rouse, Bob Ebbers, Connie Lee, John Coniff, Chops.
Meeting started at 9:07am.
Treasurer’s Report:
Jim discussed the current report. There currently is $14,000 in the Homegrounds checking account. There is $144,000 in the building fund and $9800 in the checking account before the state shoot and current balance is $184,000. There is $7800 set aside for lighted fields. There are about $15,000 worth of checks not yet cashed from the state shoot. Jim thinks that we are about $50,000 ahead based on last year. We owe Nekoosa kids about $15,000 yet.
Don made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Jerry seconded it. So carried.
Building discussion:
Chops introduced the builders that were present at the meeting (Steve Thompson from Northland Builders and Jason Conrad with MPB Builders). Chops explained we are looking for an 80’ or 100’ by 40’. Discussion was held between the builders, Chops and the members so that quotes could be given on the same specs. The builders will give us quotes for an 80’ and a 100’. Height of the building will be 10’ with five or six 5×4 windows and 4 service doors (someone else will be providing the actual doors). Jim also provided the quote that he received from the builder that he works with for his business. The Homegrounds building committee will meet on September 9th to discuss the quotes received.
Lisa with Greenway:
Lisa is willing to move forward on whatever we want her to do. She will work with the Campground board. Bob Ebbers will take her number and work directly with her. Dwight asked her if she could add something with an area map for tourists that aren’t here for shooting.
Old Business:
Camp Host:
They will be leaving October 1st. Discussion was held about a camp host for next year and to evaluate the current ones from this year. Tate suggested that the Campground board determine what should be done for the future with the reservations and a possible camp host or someone to be onsite next year. It was discussed that it would be best to have multiple camp hosts in the future to keep the grounds cleaned up and run the traps as well. Tate said that the only way this place is going to grow is to be open and that is not possible on a volunteer status. In order to drum up business it is going to cost us. Discussion was held about possibly holding leagues and more shoots and Kevin said that when Homegrounds opened, we agreed to not interfere with the leagues at Heart of Wisconsin. We will explain to the current camp hosts that we will look for more camp hosts for next year to cover the traps, mowing, and keeping the grounds tidy.
Talk was to try to do things to promote shooting at Homegrounds during the week. In 2018, zone shoots will rotate weekends. The zone shoots rotate every third year to the opposite weekend.
2018 zone shoots:
June 2 and 3 = NW/SE – Heart of WI and Beaver Dam
June 9 and 10 = SW/NE – Sauk, Brown County
Porta Potties:
We will leave the porta potties that we have there now and add some extras for the Fall Classic. Fritz said that Bruce Nelson will likely start coming up in January and February and the cost for the porta potty is $100 a month and $20 for antifreeze in the winter. Fritz will talk to Bruce about possibly covering part of the fees.
PO Box:
Helen called Fritz and said that the Post Master was at her camper with a bag of mail. It turned out that the forwarding part of our mail was not renewed and all of the mail was kept at the post office. The majority of it was junk mail. Fritz therefore opened up a PO Box and paid for the box fee. We just need to renew the forwarding address every six months so that the mail for 1312 Akron Drive gets forwarded to Jim. Jim will check into the forwarding rules with the post office as it appears you can only renew the forwarding for 1 year.
State Shoot:
The dates for 2018 are July 10 to 15. Michelle will be back to run the scores and will into the future. She said she will be here every year going forward. The Grand dates are set until 2032. Indiana will fall on the same week as Wisconsin next year. The following year South Dakota will fall on the same dates as Minnesota.
Kevin talked about the missing ATA and WTA memberships during the state shoot. He suggested that possibly next year they collect those fees at classification and turn the paperwork into Michelle each night so that her money balances. Kevin talked about some of the classification errors at the state shoot.
New Business:
Discussion was held at the annual meeting about adding extra directors from different zones if there were vacancies. There is still a vacancy in N/W zone. Also, the S/E director has not been at multiple shoots and did not attend the state shoot.
Tate made a motion to remove Bill Marsden from the board for missing multiple meetings and the state shoot. Don seconded. So carried.
Tate made a recommendation to the board to appoint Phil Challoner to fill the vacant N/W position. Phil will be up for election at the 2018 Zone Shoot. Don seconded it. So carried.
Jerry made a recommendation to the board to fill the vacant zone director with Dan Horkan. Tate seconded it. His position will be up for election at the 2018 zone shoot. He will fill the vacant position in S/E zone. The bylaws state that you cannot have more than 3 directors from the same zone. So carried.
Septic:
Dewey asked if anyone knew how to get ahold of John Benson. There were some problems at the state shoot with the septic system and he would like to know if he fixed it.
Money from State Shoot:
John said that there is $31,000 at the bank in Two Rivers. Last year Friends of Homegrounds stated that they had $48,552 in the account in January 2016. At the state shoot, Paul Becker stated we were a few thousand dollars short of making $150,000 so he passed a hat to reach the $150,000 goal, which was easily made. Now, the statement shows that we are missing approximately $25,000 of this fund. John said he sees that two things need to happen, the money that is in Two Rivers needs to be transferred to River Cities Bank as soon as possible; and he needs to talk to Paul to find out where the discrepancy in numbers is coming from. John will call Paul on the way home and ask him to transfer the money. John will set up a meeting with Paul and some of the directors and meet personally to determine where the discrepancy in money is. John sent a revised report on 08/22/17 to the Board with updated numbers that are now correct.
Chops said that some people asked about the bar money and if we broke even on the beer/soda sales and the bartenders. It is something that we will have to look at for next year. Chops donated three sweatshirts that were left over from the sweatshirt sales. The Board thanked Chops for all of his hard work on the building.
Letter from Trapshooter:
Dewey read a letter that was sent by an unhappy trapshooter to all directors. However, he didn’t put his name on the letter so we are unable to speak to him about his concerns from the state shoot. If he reads these minutes, we ask that you please contact one of the board members so that we can discuss your concerns.
ROUND TABLE:
Delegate Meeting:
Kevin stated that there was a conversation that the Grand was not throwing legal targets. This spring all the traps were made legal. They re-set all the traps. Australia has been recognized into the western zone.
Shoots:
Mid-States will hold their shoot on September 9th; there are approximately 40. Town of Rome will hold a picnic on September 22nd and will have approximately 60 people.
Matt Harn submitted a bill for the wood shed that they put up quite a few years ago; however, the WTA did not request that they build it. Dewey will call him to discuss it.
Campground:
Bob asked if there is any discussion about separating the campground and shooting grounds for tax purposes, etc. Jim is going to double check because he thinks that this may not need to happen.
Fritz:
Fritz thanked Amy for all of her hard work in the past couple of years.
Trophies: Kevin stated that you do not need to have trophies for the points. We have to purchase something from Shamrock for the 2018 state shoot.
Fritz suggested signage on highway 13 and something to think about during the winter months.
Jim will contact Hunter Farms and find out what they want on their signage for the donation.
Jim met with one of the new accountants a couple weeks ago and had to cancel one appointment. He will continue to follow up this next month.
We have shot 4 million targets since we opened. Fritz will have some companies come and collect samples to see if it is too soon to reclaim the lead.
Next year we need to get better about thank you’s so that we aren’t duplicating efforts.
Fritz gave a big thank you to Don and Jerry for covering the facility the majority of the summer.
We need to be sure that we charging the same prices for targets and shells so that everything is consistent.
There will be a bunker shoot the same weekend as the Fall Classic. They will have the ability to shoot doubles all day when not shooting bunker.
Fritz would like to provide the HAA prizes for all classes during the Fall Classic.
Discussion was held about prices for ads and sponsorships for the state shoot next year. A ½ page ad is $100 and a full page ad is $200 and the ads will be in black and white. Sponsorship fees will remain the same as previous years.
Tate made a motion that the prices for event sponsors and ads stay the same for the 2018 state shoot: $100 for ½ page ad, $200 for full page ad. Sponsorship fees will be $500 for preliminary events, $750 for regular events and $1000 for championship events. Kevin seconded it. So carried.
Jim:
Dewey will call Brian about the balance due for the last payment based upon the shortage for the youth shoots in June.
Jim asked about the shoot that is held in Mayville over three weekends, what the chance would be to move them to Homegrounds.
Jim suggested having a few extra runners for the state shoot next year to raise and lower targets and put out mics if needed.
Michelle said with the new building she would like to have the squadding and cashiering all in a row and that way we could eliminate two staff because the two middle ones can fill in with whatever is needed.
The Meet and Greet cost $849 this year; discussion will be held at future meetings on whether to continue this.
Kevin made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Don seconded it. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 3:05 pm.