Wisconsin Trapshooting Association

The 12/02/17 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, S/W Laverne Lehmann, N/W Tate Barwald and Phil Challoner, N/E Don Chrapla, S/E Jerry Kaszynski, Treasurer Jim Kroeplien, 1^st Alt. Delegate Dwight Paulin, 2^nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, Secretary/Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins.  Absent were S/E Dan Horkan, N/E Josh Kroeplien, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring.

Others present were Chops, Ester Thistle, Sandy Jack, Jeff Mainland, Pat Taylor, John Coniff, Jeff Recob, Arlene and Dick Otto, Fred and Ann Kasten.

Meeting started at 9:07 am

Treasurer’s Report:
Jim has a final copy of the final tax report from the attorney.  He handed out the Treasurer’s report and went through the amounts.  Ending balance in checking account is $119,903.  Fritz asked if we had received the check from the ATA for $2700.  He will call the ATA to find out about it.  ATA confirmed that this payment was mailed on 8/24/17.  Arlene asked if we can get a list of profit and loss.  Jeff R. said we will have a rebate coming from White Flyer after the first of the year.

Jerry K. made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report; seconded by Don C. So carried.

Dewey resigned effective today.  He said that this board is split down the middle and he has kissed so many asses that his lips are chapped.  He said that he is willing to help out in any way, just let him know.  He was asked to stay for the rest of the meeting but he declined.  After Dewey left, Jim then stated that he had Josh’s resignation letter and Dan’s resignation letter.

Jerry K. is next in line for the President and will run the meeting.

Old Business:
Fritz said that we have not done anything with the Hwy 13 sign and going into the Campground. The winter time is the perfect time to move forward on that.  Jeff R. said that Bruce Nelson is willing to help out.  Fritz will contact Matt Harn to see if he can share some his information on what he needed to go through to get a sign on the property.

Fritz stated that we had some concerns about UTV safety and driving. The rules are in the state shoot program.  Discussion was held about possibly going back to issuing permits for using personal vehicles at the state shoot.  John Coniff suggested setting up a kiosk near the hoop building to register golf carts and UTVs.  Jeff R. will contact Ken Cerney to see if he is willing to take care of this for the 2018 state shoot.

New Business:
Chops asked about Mayville and if they will be moving to Homegrounds.  As of now, we believe that Mayville will continue to hold their shoots as planned.  He has a large organization that would like to donate money to a youth program.   Amy and Chops will try to contact Bill Lorenz to find out what the status is with Mayville moving their shoot to Homegrounds.  Chops asked what it possibly would cost for trophies for an event like this if the organizations wanted to donate for it.  At Mayville, Jim said it is approximately 1000 shooters over a period of a few weekends.  He believes they are charging $25/100 but provide their own loaders, scorers, etc.

Friends of the WTA (FoWTA):
Jim asked if he was getting fired today.  He said that the first line of business was supposed to be to ask for his resignation.  Don C. said that it depends on how things go.  Don said that we need to have a meeting that everyone gets along and no one fights.  We have to iron things out with the FoWTA.  Jim said that we haven’t seen any kind of financial statements from that organization.  John said he can get reports whenever needed.  Jim asked why the money can’t be raised under one organization.  Chops said that the FoWTA would come to the WTA Board and ask what we want money to be raised for.  Chops said who cares where the money is at.  Why are we biting the hand that feeds us.  Jeff R. gave a history on where this all came from.  He said that Mark Zauhar was willing to donate money towards the hoop building.  Mark pushed the fundraising for the WTA for years.  He wanted to do a separate foundation and a 501C3 due to what happened in a different state; he did not want us be in a situation like other states have been.  Phil suggested putting this behind us and let’s move forward with the FoWTA.  Jeff M. said that this was set up for the long haul. He said he thought it would help separate the bickering and fighting about where this money was going and where that money was going.  Fritz said that back when we were struggling to make payments, the money was being used for the general fund.  We need a mechanism to move forward which is why the FoWTA were trying to raise funds for things other than the general fund – projects: lights, building, etc.  It is for the benefit for the organization.  John said there is $187,000 in the River City account and there is $3600 in the Two Rivers account.  There will be $1887 in the account after John Coniff is reimbursed for his receipts that he has paid out of his own funds.  John has already given the numbers to Jim that he will need for tax reporting.  Tate said it would be nice if we could call the FoWTA and say hey, we could use more water sites for the state shoot and FoWTA say perfect, let’s vote on it at the next meeting.  Jeff R. said that originally, the first Kolar raffle money was supposed to be used for lighting and possibly five-stand; however, the goals changed because of moving forward with the building because of the amount of money raised.  Arlene asked if with the separate 501C3 if taxes are filed on their own.  John C. said that in 2017, because they used the WTA raffle license the taxes need to be filed with the WTA.  John didn’t realize that the 501C3 required you to be in business for one year before being able to apply for a raffle license.  If there is a raffle in 2018, the WTA would let the FoWTA use our raffle license; however, the money would be kept in their account but the taxes would be filed by the WTA.  Don asked if Jim wants to stay on as treasurer if he receives monthly reports from the FoWTA.  He read a prepared statement to the group.  Jim resigned and said someone can come get the books and files, the PA system which needs to be in a heated shop and the PO Box needs to be changed within 10 days.

Dwight made a motion to nominate Arlene as the interim Treasurer as a paid position.  Don C. seconded.  So carried.  Don and Fritz both thanked Jim for getting us to the point that we are at right now.

Dick Otto volunteered to take the S/E zone director position.  Jerry K. made a recommendation to appoint Dick Otto as the S/E zone director to replace Dan Horkan.   Dick accepted.  So carried.  This position will be up for election at the 2018 zone shoot.

Laverne Lehmann recommended to appoint Fritz Thistle as the S/W zone director position.  Fritz accepted.  So carried.  This position replaced Dewey Farnsworth and will be up for election at the 2018 zone shoot.

Jerry asked if we are okay with the FoWTA.  Jerry said that he is happy with the agreement that John Coniff and Dewey created; however, he is wondering about the statement about the WTA borrowing money from the FoWTA and having to pay it back within twelve months.  John is fine with revising it and defining what emergency means. John will send Amy a description of what the FoWTA is to post on the website.  Their mission is to raise money for Homegrounds, promote international, national, state-wide trap shooting competition and to support youth shooting.  John will provide some revisions to the agreement and will send it to Amy to send out with the minutes for review.  The current Board will review the agreement and revisions and both parties will sign the agreement at the next meeting.

Building Update:
Chops has the state plans in hand and ready to go.  He is waiting for the sanitary plans before he can go to the Town of Rome and Adams County.  We have an early start permit and the posts are in the ground.  We have reached our window for concrete so that will not be poured until the Spring.  It will cost about $5000 for permits from Town of Rome and Adams County.  The first payment of $22,460 is due now or very soon. The state required insulation around the building, which was not in the original budget, so that will be an extra $1000 not budgeted.  Chops had to order another load of gravel as well.  If the materials are delivered, Chops will notify Arlene as insurance will need to be put on the materials for the winter.  Chops talked to a carpenter that is a WTA member and will help out with labor when needed.

State Shoot:

Program:
Amy gave an update that she and John Atkielski are working on the state shoot program.  She will send a copy to John Coniff and the Otto’s for review as well.  Changes have been made since the 2017 program, but she is just looking for a few extra sets of eyes to review it.   Arlene noted that the collection that was taken up at the annual meeting for Denny that three more people have donated money since the state shoot.  So far, Arlene has received over $5000 for Denny.

Ads:
Amy discussed the ads and having to contact everyone with the prices for the 2018 ads.  The ad prices will remain the same for the 2018 state shoot; however the ads will be in black and white this year based on the vote by the general membership at the 2017 state shoot.  Amy has been working with Carol Keeley on getting some quotes for printing/mailing from the printer that does the shoot calendar.  John thinks that he can place the ads in the publisher program, but isn’t sure about how it prints out.  Amy also has a contact for someone that should be able to place the ads as well, and possibly someone to do the printing/mailing.  Amy contacted Jim to get everything from his daughter from the 2017 program and ads, however has not been successful in retrieving all the of the needed documents.

Trophies:
Sandy went through the amount spent on trophies last year which was $9774.12 plus the donation of $750 in federal shells and $3000 in gift cards.  Sandy is asking for a budget for the 2018 state shoot, which has not been established in years’ past.  Sandy is asking for $17,000 for a budget.  Last year we had to order 200 gift cards in order to get them.  In 2017, we had some extra to be used later in the year; however, if we get gift cards in 2018 we will use them all as trophies.  Sandy asked for help in handing out the trophies this year.  Fritz suggested checking with Tom and Nora Bristol to help out.  John C. also agreed to help out.

Don made a motion to set a trophy budget of $17,000 for the 2018 state shoot.  Phil seconded it.  So carried.

Sponsorships:
Sandy went through the list of sponsors for the 2018 state shoot.  The majority of the sponsors will be sponsoring again.  There are a couple events to fill yet.  Fees are $500 for preliminary events, $750 for regular events and $1000 for championship events.  Each sponsor will have a banner on the entry road into the grounds as well as a “Today’s Events Sponsored By” each day.  Amy and Sandy will work together on the sponsorships and invoicing to ensure everyone is paid.

Camping:
Amy gave an update on camping for the state shoot.  Right now, there is one non-premium, unlevel site available in the campground.  Vendor row is completely full and there are a few electric only sites available on east vendor row.  The remaining sites will be electric only with limited water on the south side of the parking lot.

Water on East Vendor Row:
Discussion was held on whether or not to purchase hoses and run water to sites on the east side of the hoop building or run pipe and water that way.  Also talked about getting water and hoses to the sites on the south side of the parking lot so that Amy doesn’t have to try to sell the sites with 100 or 200 feet of hose.  Chops said they discussed this project when working on the building and running a trench all the way down to trap one with a conventional system.  Chops said when we are there in the spring we will look at trenching in some water lines down east vendor row and the possibility of using the hoses on the south side of the parking lot.  Discussion also held about the parking between vendor row and the south side of the parking lots in order to accommodate shooters parking near the traps that they are shooting at.

Food Vendors:
Glen Hammerly will not be at the state shoot this year but he is more than willing to help with lining up the vendors.  Discussion was held about space for the food vendors.  Amy said that Butcher Block from Sparta, IL and the Sky Kone ice cream from Ackley, IA would both like to come next year as well as Buck Shot, American Legion and Papa Murphy’s.  We will need to try to map out where the vendors will set up to ensure there is enough space for everyone.

Bar:
Glen won’t be available but will help order the product and get it set up.  Sandy will talk with the Wagner brothers to see if they are interested in helping out this year.

Camp Hosts:
Jeff R. will try to look online to see if we can find at least two more couples to camp host in 2018.  We are looking for someone to work the trap line as well as keep the campground up.

Schedule for 2018:
Fritz asked if WTA members are working for the weekend at Homegrounds that they would receive free camping like the past.  He asked if someone is working a bunker shoot if their camping would be free.  Fritz will draft a policy for consistency purposes.

May 19 – Kettle Moraine (note that this is a week later than previous years)
June 2/3 – WI SCTP International Trap Championships (bunker and a few traps)
June 9/10 – HSCTL
June 24-26 – SCTP

Amy will check with Kettle Moraine and Perry and Gary for the bunker shoots.

Round Table:
Billie Jo picked up the last porta potty.  We will not have one for the winter.  Fritz received a call from the Fat Tire bicycle club to hold a camping event; he will follow up.  The golf course will be putting up small housing rooms/buildings for their caddies to stay in; rumors were that they were going to put in a campground, but that is not true.

Don gave an update on available grants for 2018.  Sandy will follow up on getting the paperwork and forms to apply for the money.

Sandy said thanks to everyone for making things work out today.  After what happened this morning, she just wanted to thank everyone for making this a very productive meeting.

Jeff R. said we will have over $3000 coming in rebate from White Flyer.  He doesn’t see an increase in targets for 2018.

Tate asked what we are going to do for fundraising.  Jerry K. is going to do a booze raffle.  Chops will run the mega shelf raffle, clothing booth and YZ will likely do the jewelry raffle.  They will also do two 50/50 raffles per day one at $1 and one at $5.  Chops said that eventually we are going to need a storage building.  The hoop building is starting to show its age.  Fritz said this is our 5-year anniversary at Homegrounds.  We should be promoting that this year.  Fritz mentioned this to Bruce Nelson and he wants to help out as well as Lisa at Greenway.

Laverne made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Don seconded it.  So carried.

Meeting adjourned at 2:45pm.

Next face-to-face meeting will be held on January 13, 2018 at Sherwood Lodge at 9am.