Minutes: Annual Meeting – July 13, 2018
WTA Annual Meeting
July 13, 2018
There were 79 WTA members plus officers who attended the annual meeting on July 13, 2018.The 07/13/18 Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association was called to order at 8:08 am by Fritz Thistle, President.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call – Directors present were N/E Don Chrapla, S/E Jerry Kaszynski and Dick Otto, N/W Tate Barwald and Phil Challoner, S/W – President Fritz Thistle and Laverne Lehmann, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, 1st ATA Delegate Dwight Paulin, Treasurer Arlene Otto and Secretary/Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins.
Programs were handed out to attendees that included minutes from the 2017 annual meeting and the treasurer’s report.
2017 Annual Minutes –
Ken Cerney made a motion to bypass reading the minutes from 2017 and accepted as written. Don Mittag seconded. So carried.
Treasurer’s Report –
Arlene asked if there were any questions about the report that was included in the program. Don Mittag made a motion to accept as printed. Seconded by Ken Cerney. So carried.
ATA Delegate Report –
Kevin announced the all-state team last night. He said that he hopes to see everyone at the Central Zone and the Grand. Fritz asked if there are changes to the dates of the Grand and he has not yet heard anything final at this time.
Nominations and Elections of Zone Directors –
Elections were done at the Zone shoots.
S/W Zone was Fritz Thistle; Ken Cerney made a motion to accept Fritz as Director. Bill Boyd seconded. So carried.
S/E Zone was Dick Otto; Bruce Wiegmann made a motion to accept Dick, Don Mittag second. So carried.
There will be a vacancy for the N/W zone as Phil did not run.
N/E Zone was Don Chrapla; Chops made a motion to accept Don, Kevin Schutz seconded. So carried.
There are vacancies in the N/E and N/W. Jeff Recob made a motion to elect Bob Ebbers in the N/E Zone; Bruce Wiegmann seconded. So carried. Bob will fulfill the vacancy in the N/E Zone.
Hall of Fame –
John Madson and Kenneth Beutler will be inducted tomorrow night at the banquet.
ATA Delegate –
Don Mittag nominated Kevin Doerring. Bill Boyd seconded. Don Mittag made a motion to close the nominations. Dick Otto seconded. So carried.
John Reding made a motion to nominate Dwight Paulin for the 1st alternate delegate. Ken Cerney seconded. Don Mittag made a motion to close the nominations. Virgil Bomkamp seconded. So carried. Jerry K. made a motion to nominate Fritz Thistle for the 2nd alternate. Ken Cerney seconded. So carried.
Facility Manager –
Fritz explained that he cannot be up here every week on Tuesdays to open the facility for appointments and clinics. Jeff Recob stated that maybe we are looking for a few people. Maybe someone to run the grounds, but still have the BOD doing the meetings and other items. Jeff suggested utilizing some of the money raised by the FoWTA to pay for a facility manager. Don suggested trying to find a camphost to run the campground and another one to run the shooting facility. We still need to have someone to run the shooting grounds going forward. Jean Reeb asked how much we are talking about financially and/or how many hours. Work could be done in the off season to promote the campground. Lisa Rouse from Greenway has been hired to help us with some social media and other advertising. Fritz asked everyone to think about it and bring ideas to the BOD.
5-man Team Shoot –
Dick said that it is like beating a dead horse. The two that we had were very slow and suggests that we not do it again. Membership agreed to not hold a 5-man team shoot going forward.
Gary Gerhartz –
Gave a summary of the appraisal that was done. Fritz went to the Open Book meeting and got our taxes to be dropped by a large sum.
2019 Zone Shoot Locations and dates:
June 1 & 2
S/W – Janesville
N/E – Berlin
June 8 & 9
N/W – Eau Claire
S/E – Beaver Dam
2019 State Shoot: Dates will be set after Kevin’s meeting with the ATA.
Expanding the Business –
We need to have more shoots on the grounds. What can we do? Don suggested having a Sunday shoot before the state shoot. We don’t want to step on shoots at other clubs. Pat Taylor suggested talking to the other clubs with their schedules. Ken Cerney suggested sending out a survey to see when clubs are going to hold their shoots. Kevin Schutz suggested the WTA complete their schedule first and have the other clubs schedule around them. We would like to add two more shoots to the schedule. Bruce Wiegmann suggested us scheduling ours and then working directly with the gun clubs that have routinely scheduled shoots on those dates. Dick said that the Fall Classic has very little added money at this time. If anyone would like to add some more money, it will make it a bigger shoot.
Donations –
Recent donations include: $500 to the general fund from Jim Kuhls; $500 for a shelter from Muscoda Sportsman’s Club; $2500 for a shelter from Jan and Dennis Fude; $22,000 for the general fund from Bob and Bill Hunter; $2500 for patio benches from Westfield Rod & Gun Club; $500 each for patio benches from Don Chrapla, Chops, Mike Bloesl and Jim DeKay.
Lighted Fields –
We received matching funds from the DNR for the lighted fields.
Accountant –
Our current accountant originally stated they no longer wanted to work with us. Fritz, Esther, Dick and Arlene met with them and they have agreed to continue providing services to the WTA. They are currently performing a complete audit for 2017.
Brine/Calcium Chloride –
Tate gave an update on the brine that was applied to the grounds. The membership agreed that it is working great. We would like to get some donations to be able to do the entire campground as well next year. We had one person donate money towards this year’s and is also willing to donate again for 2019.
Events –
Cheesemakers will be held July 18. Mid-State holds an event in September. There is a Biker Rally holding a gun show and concealed carry class in the new building in August. We have a great building now to be able to rent out and hold other events.
Ken Cerney –
Thanked the BOD for their work and dedication. Round of applause for everyone’s hard work. Fritz is very proud to sit at this table with this membership.
Tim Mackey –
Asked if there is any consideration about changing the program from the 200 singles on Thursday. The BOD is looking at this and will be deciding on a program change going forward.
Sandy Jack reminded everyone to pick up their trophies as soon as they earn them.
Friends of the WTA –
John Coniff reported as of July 1, there is a $59,383 balance. Many checks have been written this week. There are a range of bills going to constructions costs. Depending on the dollars, there would be a balance of $2500 or negative $2500. The objective was to get this building completed all on donations. Chops deserves more thanks than can be put into words. Round of applause to him. Approximately $187,000 went in to the building. Congrats to every person in this room that has supported the WTA. This year has been a tremendous amount of fun. John would like to propose two things: Looking to contract with “Constant Contact”. Bob Schultz uses this program and sends out a newsletter. It is a way to reach members and better communicate with everyone. Project sod: support our directors. We now have a facility that we cannot just close the doors and come back in 6 months. We need to have some teams that then report to the Directors. Let’s have a building and grounds team that then reports to a Director. Let’s have a shooting team to help set up the traps before the events that reports to a Director. Thank you to John Coniff for building the table for the BOD meetings.
Gary DeSmidt –
SCTP state shoot was here a few weeks ago. He wanted to make a comment about the forum discussion. They are a 501(c)3 business. He has dollar amounts and would like to have discussions with anyone who has questions about the SCTP organization and the money topics. They have a great working relationship with the WTA and their youth program is growing each year. Fritz stated that SCTP does all the pre-registration, the computers and scoring and all of the trophies. That event is also a huge training session for the Nekoosa youth going into the state shoot.
Butcher Block –
They have agreed to come back next year and agreed to cater the fish fry and the Hall of Fame banquet in the new building.
Question asked about trap fields left for donations. Yes, there are 2.5 trapfields available for donations.
Dick has posted some statistics on the boards in the hoop building for people to review. The youth numbers are increasing immensely.
Rick Tesker asked why the High School Clay Target league falls on our zone shoot weekends. Amy will try to talk to Josh from HSCTL and see if there are options to move the date.
Paul reminded everyone about the fish fry and live auction tonight. He suggested that the refund from yesterday’s singles may be applied to the auction.
Jeff Recob made a motion to adjourn. Laverne seconded. So carried. Adjourned at 9:07am.
Board Meeting
Laverne made a motion for Fritz to remain President for 2018. Dwight seconded.
So carried.
1st Vice President
Laverne made a motion for Tate; he declined. Kevin made motion for Don. Laverne seconded. Don accepted. So carried.
2nd Vice President
Kevin nominated Laverne. Tate seconded. Laverne accepted. So carried.