Minutes: January 15, 2021
WTA Meeting
January 15, 2021
Sherwood Lodge and Zoom
The 01/15/21 Board of Director’s meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association was called to order at 9:07 am by Fritz Thistle, President. Directors present were N/E Don Chrapla and YZ Weisensel, N/W Keith Lehmann, S/W LaVerne Lehmann, S/E Tyler Buchanan and Bob Ebbers, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, 2nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, Executive Assistant/Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins. Absent was N/W Rich Johnson, 1st Alt. Delegate Dwight Paulin, Treasurer Taylor Katzenberg.
Also present were: Connie Reimer, John Coniff, Ken Michels, Gary Witzke
Glen had shoulder surgery and will be recovering for about 12 weeks.
Meeting started at 9:07 am.
Treasurer’s Report:
The WTA Checking Account has a balance of $85,940.09; the WTA Homegrounds Account has a balance of $45,565.00; the WTA Savings Accounts have balances of $7,855.19 and $5,622.33. The accountant has received the information for the 1099s and Glen’s W2, so hopefully those will be going out soon.
John recently asked Taylor for an estimate on what our expenses will be through the spring. Fritz said that Taylor had provided numbers previously.
Don made a motion to approve the treasurer’s report. Rhino seconded. So carried.
FoWTA:
Currently, there is $37,410 in the Friends account. Three shot guns have been purchased and delivered to the WTA. There is money set aside for the target management system. John suggested that the golf cart could come out of the Friends account. John sent $300 to seven clubs for the youth grants (Berlin, West Salem, Waterford, Ashippun, Riverdale, Merrill and Cassville).
Secretary Report:
Amy reported that she continues to work on the state shoot camping. There are a few sites left on the south side of the parking lot, so she is going down the waiting list seeing which campers will fit in those sites and if the people are interested in reserving those sites. There is a large waiting list for large RVs that she just cannot accommodate at this time. She is working on the newsletter that will be included in the annual shoot calendar. Calls are starting to come to reserve camping for the SCTP weekend. Amy plans to open the online reservations near the end of the month or early February. She will need to go through all of the steps to ensure Campspot is ready to go before she opens it up. All of the state shoot sites will need to be blocked off as well as the camphost site and other lease holders. There are still two shooters that have unpaid ATA memberships for 2021. One shot targets at Langlade and the other at the WI Fall Classic. If anyone knows Jake Fusak or Phillip Pettit, Jr., please get in touch with Amy as attempts to contact these individuals has been unsuccessful to date. When dues are unpaid, this affects our rebate at the end of the shooting season. It was suggested that Amy post something on the forum to see if anyone can help reach these two shooters.
Old Business:
TV Responder/Antennae:
Kevin has no update. Tom Roberts requested Amy’s number for a campsite but Amy has not heard anything from him. He would have to be added to the waiting list.
EVR Water:
We should be good to go on this for the spring. Bob Ebbers and Chops will have to meet at the grounds so Chops knows where to pull power from so he knows where the wires will be ran. Chops said we need to mark the power line to the electric panel and pump house so we can bury the water line deeper. We need to do this before we turn the water on. Plan to complete it in early April.
Strategic Plan:
Below is the current priority list in order:
- Ten new trap fields
- Five stand
- Expand camping
- Bunker
- Sporting clays
- Strengthen partnership with other organizations
- Increase amenities for both shooters and their respective families
- Expand club house to accommodate the HOF banquet and museum
Main priority would be to expand the trapline. Rhino suggested moving camping expansion to the 2nd priority because if we add new trap fields we will need more camping. Chops said that the original expansion for east vendor row would add an additional 20 sites with water and electric. He said we could match the same septic system that we have on the west end and have sewer on the east end as well. Tyler will talk to his boss to see if this is something that his company can draw up. Bob also agreed that it would be better to expand this first rather than starting on the campground. Amy suggested that we can leave the other items as is and we can concentrate on the top two for now and can reorder the list at a later date.
YZ made a motion to keep the trapline expansion as priority one and make camping expansion as priority number two. The camping expansion would be on east vendor row (not the new campground area). Kevin seconded. So carried.
NEW Updated Priority List Order:
- Ten new trap fields
- Expand camping
- Five stand
- Bunker
- Sporting clays
- Strengthen partnership with other organizations
- Increase amenities for both shooters and their respective families
- Expand club house to accommodate the HOF banquet and museum
Target Management System:
John said he expects to hear from Bob Schultz of Target Shotguns by the end of March/early April regarding a target management system for the Homegrounds. Bob is donating one system and the FoWTA is purchasing three more from Bob. Our goal is to have this operational by May 1st. If a designated computer is needed for this system FoWTA will also purchase this from Target Shotguns.
WTA Staff T-shirts:
We will likely proceed with YZ’s or Fritz’s quotes and move forward on this. Fritz and YZ will follow up getting them ordered.
West end pavers:
Plan is to finish this in the spring.
Entrance Seal Coat:
Fritz will get a quote on the limestone and entrance seal coat before the spring.
Mowers/Carts:
John will give us access to his trailer to haul them to Wisconsin Rapids for service. John, YZ and Fritz will coordinate this project for the spring.
New Business:
Future Project Priorities:
Sporting Clays:
This was in regards to the email that Fritz sent out about a company wanting to build a sporting clays course on our grounds. Fritz has not heard anything back from them. YZ says not to pursue this and to continue with our plans of expanding our trapline and not moving forward with sporting clays.
Wi-Fi for Building:
Fritz met with Solarus at the grounds. They will install Wi-Fi into our building for no cost. We will pay a wireless access point fee for about $12 a month; a switch for $5 a month, a streaming device for $8 a month and about $92 total or $160 total a month. Fritz recommends getting it installed into the building and move forward with having internet. We will be able to suspend the service in the winter. Amy will be able to follow up with Campspot on possibly adding a credit card terminal now that we will have internet capabilities.
Don made a motion to move forward on getting Wi-Fi installed in the main building. YZ seconded. So carried.
Solarus was going to take a drone out to the grounds and map the campground. They will work on this and try to give us a quote on having internet throughout our grounds. There may be a way to add equipment down east vendor row or west vendor row as well. It likely may still be out of our budget to add to the entire campground due to all of the wiring that is needed. We will review the quote when it is finished.
Gold Target of Merit:
Fritz has been working with John Atkielski on some examples on how to proceed with this project. This would give us the ability to recognize individuals that would not meet the requirements for the hall of fame. Fritz read some suggested guidelines for this merit reward.
2021 Shoot Schedule:
Kettle Moraine:
They have scheduled their state shoot for May 15, 2021. They are also looking at an invitation shoot October 9 & 10. Gary Witzke reported that they will do their own scoring and load their own traphouses. He would like to know if we can keep target prices at $21 per 100 targets due to all of the hardships in this past year. Vendor fees will remain $50 a day. Kettle Moraine would like to set up a small sporting clays course down on the east end and they will pay for the targets.
YZ made a motion to charge $22 per 100 targets for Kettle Moraine state shoot on May 15. Kevin seconded. So carried.
Don made a motion to allow Kettle Moraine to run a sporting clays course and will be charged $19 per opened case of targets. YZ seconded. So carried.
Bunker Shoots:
Bunker shoots were held at Winchester last year and may again this year. Bruce Nelson would like to schedule the JO Qualifier on May 22 and 23 with practice on Friday. This is the same weekend as the May opener shoot, but it should not interfere with the bunker event.
HS Clay Target League update – They will make a decision no later than April 12, 2021 if they will be holding the state shoot at Homegrounds.
SCTP:
Right now it is scheduled for June 25, 26 and 27. It is unknown if they will add anything for Thursday. The SCTP coaches meeting was just canceled so they are trying to finalize dates for their events.
State Shoot:
Trophy Update:
All trophies have been ordered, with the exception of Event 2. Taylor will place an order for these next week. She is working on the all state team awards with Tyler as well.
Sponsors:
Sponsors have been confirmed for almost all events. We are still waiting to hear back from CZ-USA to see if they want to sponsor Event 11 again. If they don’t want to sponsor this year, Rewald Electric will sponsor Event 11. Taylor and Aaron will sponsor the Event 3 Doubles event. If anyone knows anyone that would like to sponsor an event for the state shoot have them reach out to Amy or Taylor.
Program:
John has started working on the program. Amy has given him updated information on the sponsors so he can update the events. She will continue to work with him as updated information comes in. Amy talked to Paul Becker to see if he was planning to do the fish fry. He will reach out the Connie to see if she is interested in doing the cooking for it. He has some other ideas for the state shoot and will keep us posted. Amy will reach out to Bob Schultz to see if he is planning the hot dog feed for this year. The pig roast will be held on Tuesday. The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at the Ridges on Wednesday evening. Lehmann’s will donate four baskets valued at $100 each.
Kolar Raffle:
The tickets are printed for the Kolar raffle and John will be sending out tickets for people to sell. We would like to get these tickets sold as soon as possible. He will be issuing new tickets to everyone that purchased tickets last year. He needs to get them mailed out to Paul and Amy. Directors should be selling tickets as well so that we do not end up with tickets to sell at the state shoot.
Round Table:
Fritz:
Golf Carts prices went up from the place we are renting from, but we should not need to raise prices for state shoot rentals. Rich has reserved 40 carts for the state shoot. We will not be renting golf carts for the youth events in 2021. YZ purchased a cart at an auction. He talked to Tate and he ordered what was needed. He will be putting tires on it and getting it painted and then delivering it to the grounds.
The new WACO brochures are printed and Fritz has them. We will start handing them out. We got 5000 of them for $295 which is about 6 cents a piece. White Flyer will not have a price increase on targets this year. Last year we used 6783 cases of targets and we got a rebate of $2713. In 2021, we will receive a credit rather than a rebate check. Fritz gave information about the Muscoda items that were received that they need for the new clubhouse.
Don made a recommendation for the Friends to pay $2200 to YZ for the golf cart that he purchased. Tyler seconded. So carried.
Don made a motion for the WTA to purchase a stove for the Muscoda gun club. YZ seconded. So carried.
Jon King will remain as the trap mechanic and is interested in getting a trailer with an air compressor and some tools. He will do some checking on prices. Chops said that Rich has a trailer with a toolbox on it that he is willing to donate it to the WTA. Rich will bring this to the grounds on one of his next trips down.
Fritz asked about getting the stumps burned off yet this winter. Fritz and YZ will help Don get this done.
Chops:
Need to meet with the operators but John Madsen knows the guys and YZ does all their work. So all of the guys need to be present to get a meeting set up for April. Fritz will attend as well. Chops said that we need to price the new traphouses and determine if we want to build them on site or truck them in which is very expensive. Don will get a price on getting them built at a place near him. Kevin suggested getting the size of the houses we currently have so that they are the same.
Tyler:
He has been working on all state team awards. He proposed an idea to have first time shooters that make the all state team will receive a Shamrock leather shooting bag. Jeff Mainland has approved $2000 for the all state team awards for the 2020 all state team. Taylor says the WTA would be able to put money towards these as well. Shooters would only qualify for one bag. If someone made the all state team in 2018 (didn’t get a bag), but didn’t make it in 2020, but makes it in 2022, they would qualify for the leather bag in 2022. Some states do rings, buckles, etc. Amy stated that we would still need to come up with about $3000 to cover the additional costs that exceed our current donation from Kolar. Is this year the year to start this with the pandemic and lack of shooting events and loss of income. Other directors are willing to put money towards this to make it happen this year.
Don made a motion to start giving Shamrock leather bags starting with the 2020 All State Team. Each shooter can only receive ONE leather bag ever (if someone goes from Men’s to Vet and received a bag on the Men’s team they will NOT qualify for another bag on the Vet team). Kevin seconded. So carried.
Kevin:
No updates from the ATA. They are hoping for a normal season. Satellite grands have changed their look back for target requirements to 2018. Winchester products are going up 5-10% on pricing. Federal bought out Remington for ammunition.
Gary Witzke:
He suggested that we give each WTA club 10 tickets to sell Kolar raffle tickets so that they are all sold before the state shoot.
Amy:
She will get in touch with Bristol’s so they know the shoot dates and to book food vendors. She reported that she currently does not have a premium site for the camphost to move to for the state shoot. Premium sites are in high demand at this time. There is a large waiting list for people that want them.
Next meeting will be March 5, 2021 at 9am at Sherwood Lodge. The meeting will be available by zoom as well.
YZ made a motion to adjourn. Don seconded. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 11:45am.