Minutes: August 20, 2022
WTA Meeting
August 20, 2022
Zoom Meeting
The 08/20/22 Board of Director’s meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association was called to order at 9:04 am by Ken Michels, President. Directors present were N/E Ken Michels and Andy Wondrash (zoom), S/E Director YZ Weisensel, N/W Tate Barwald and Aaron Katzenberg (zoom), S/W Tyler Buchanan, 1st Alt. Delegate Tyler Buchanan, 2nd Alt. Delegate Fritz Thistle, Treasurer Taylor Katzenberg (zoom), Executive Assistant/Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins. Absent: S/E Bob Ebbers, S/W LaVerne Lehmann and ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring.
Also present were: Glen Grabski, Chops, John Coniff, John Madsen, John King, Pete Rustad, Andy Hall, John Reding, Tom & Nora Bristol.
Meeting started at 9:04 am.
Treasurer’s Report:
Checking account $235,000, Camping $44,200, Savings $13,500. Summit Loan is $639,500; Expansion fund is $62,500. Target stock in July $15,000. Fritz asked if these balances were similar to last year. Taylor said last year we had large electrical bills for the additional campsites that were put in. Last year on 8/20/21 checking balance was $76,000. Fritz asked if the corporate events includes the HSCTL and SCTP. Taylor said this includes Kettle Moraine, Cheesemakers and HSCTL; only received half of the SCTP payment. Fritz will follow up with SCTP on getting that paid. Donations of $23,500 are included in the checking account balance. Taylor explained that the camping income is very difficult to separate out the youth shooting versus the daily camping.
Andy made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Tyler seconded. So carried.
Secretary’s Report:
Amy is working on the fall letters and zone shoot rotation for the next five years. She has reached out to Kevin for review before sending everything. Some more monthly campers moved in after the state shoot. State shoot camping checks for 2023 have been deposited that were received during the state shoot.
Friends of the WTA Update:
There is a balance of $69,600. It does not include the $2300 check written for the Sacia memorial (from the live auction).
OLD BUSINESS:
TV/ / Responder / TV Antenna
No update.
Grants Update:
Fritz has talked to Scott Gunderson about the DNR grant. Connie will assist with the NRA grant. Jill from Mid-State said that she would be sending us grant information for Adams Cooperative that we may qualify for. John Madsen received an email from the DNR for grants as well. The DNR one is for a storage building and two more lighted fields. You cannot start on these projects until after the grant is approved. The NRA grant would be for the expansion. YZ and John Madsen will get in touch with the operator engineers.
Expansion:
See info under grants about expansion.
Donations for Fall Classic:
Gateway has donated $1000 for the handicap events. YZ will donate $1000 but he wants to be able to have different people win. Suggestion to do a random draw. The random draw will be for 3 people (50/30/20); lucky number and it will be $500 each day in singles. No ties, reverse score. It will be a $10 option to get in this option.
Memorial Pavers:
John Coniff will add this into the next newsletter that is sent out. Tate suggested putting some posts/rope out front by the rocks to keep people from walking/parking on the rock. Tate said that this can be completed with the landscaping on the other side of the building.
Spring Shoot Date:
Kettle Moraine shoot will be 05/20/23. Gateway is 5/10 – 5/14/23. Taylor said may be hard to get workers to do it on Memorial Day weekend. Tate suggested possibly doing a one-day shoot on Sunday of KM weekend.
Tate made a motion to hold the May shoot on May 6 and 7, 2023. Tyler seconded. So carried.
Entrance Canopy / Landscaping:
John handed out a drawing. The builder is recommending not going all the way back to the slope of the roof. Amy asked if we could build this on our own? Andy says that he used to build pole buildings. He said that he can build this structure in less than a day with three guys. YZ said we cannot get people to come here and score. He said how many WTA members do we have. He wishes that we could get more people to get involved and help out. Tate stated that his only concern is that without it being tied to the building it is going to look like an afterthought. Ken agreed. John said if we do not attach it to the building, we do not need a building permit. Tate thinks that we would need a building permit regardless. John said that if it is tied to the building, this structure could move and maybe damage the building. Tate asked where the drawing was for the landscaping. John will explain to Tate what the plan is.
YZ made a motion to approve the canopy project with the changes made today. Tyler seconded. Tate agreed, as long as it can be built and not look like an afterthought. John will get a new quote with change in price. So carried.
NEW BUSINESS:
Parking for state shoot:
Defer until next meeting.
State Shoot Review:
Taylor gave an update on the state shoot and the income. Fritz will ensure that the gun racks and shelters get ordered that were donated. Trophies were $1200 under budget. Steve and Mary Downs will take over trophies next year. We need to figure out where to store trophies for next year. They will take up a lot of room. The shell pod rental was $800; could possibly order another pod. Tate suggested building something like Tucson uses for their trophies. John will get a quote to build some sort of showcase to store them. Taylor reported that Beth from Nekoosa will no longer be paying the kids. Anyone that gets paid next year will need a W9 on file and they will be issued 1099s for anything over $600. Taylor said we will need to talk about this as she can’t keep adding more duties without a raise. John Madsen states that he works in Florida every year; he gets paid cash every day and at the end of the year he gets a 1099 for all of his cash payments. We have paid $55,500 out so far for the kids; with the fall classic, it should be close to $60,000. This should be about $20,000 less than we paid out last year. Taylor paid out cash to state shoot winners as much as possible to cut down on the checks. Checks are 50 cents a piece and 60 cents to mail them. Discussion was held about the option of credit cards to pay for shooting. You cannot pay for options on the credit card. This would be very confusing for the cashiers; in addition the credit card processing fees would be very large. Taylor said that we did not have a gun smith this year. Cody has been working with Philip and is interesting and coming to our state shoot. He said that some of the shoots that he attends did not charge him a vendor fee.
Tom and Nora apologized for the one food vendor this year. They were not aware of the appearance of the trailer that he was coming with. They stated that the food court as designed is not big enough and there is not enough parking. Some of the vendors would like to pull their units out every night, take them home and restock and come back the next day. John suggested a long-term plan for the food vendors, etc. Suggestion was to move the food vendors down on vendor row; however, Amy does not have the space on vendor row. We will continue this discussion at the next meeting.
John Madsen suggested that the state shoot review should be a separate meeting immediately after the state shoot. He suggested we have an emergency contact list published. John asked about the GFI issues in the traps. He suggested pulling the wobble trap out for the state shoot. He suggested step stools because some of the kids can’t reach the top row of targets and are standing on the boxes. Tate suggested changing the wireless mics out with wired mics. John suggested getting a different vendor for the golf carts. He has a printer that will do the program. He stated that both of the team leaders likely won’t be here next year. He said that the biggest complaint of the workers is that they are not getting breaks. He stated there were some issues with shooters earning yardage and not getting re-squadded. Pete said that in Iowa they have 3 scorers for every two traps and 1 loader for two traps. Tate said that you need 14 loaders for 6 days. Amy stated that we need to do announcements 15 minutes prior to start time and start shooting at the scheduled time. Iowa pays $85 a day. Florida is $75 a day on weekend shoots; $150 a day for the satellite grand and state shoot. Fritz suggested that Emma and Elaina get a bonus for all the extra work that they did. Andy Hall suggested paying it as a consulting fee or referral fee and that they will help train some team leaders for next year. This can be paid and discussed with them at the fall classic. In Iowa, the workers are responsible for their own meals. Discussion will be held with Gary Witzke on these items and get started for next year.
John King had a Dewalt tool stolen that needs to be replaced. He will purchase one and turn in the receipt.
Tyler made a motion to pay $250 to Emma and Elaina as a consulting fee to assist in finding future team leaders for next year. YZ seconded. So carried.
Lead Reclamation:
It is going very slow. They have dealt with wet ground. They have tried to spray and burn. They are to bring another machine in. Hopefully it will get better.
PA System:
Ken stated that he has two quotes. One is for $17,000 and the speakers will be at the main building and be pointed in a certain direction. He will be here today to test them. The speaker that was he brought to demo will not work for our needs. The other quote is for $100,000 and will run on fiber and hopefully we can use that fiber for future wifi in the campground.
Round Table
Pete Rustad:
Application for the all-state team needs to be defined; what qualifies you as a Wisconsin resident. Tyler said we discussed this in past years and it should be where you sleep. Tyler will talk about this with Kevin and update the application. Pete asked if the expansion is necessary. Why are we doing it? We have spent $30,000 already on clearing the land. Ken stated that we have received donations for the new traps; however, Pete asked if we got enough to cover the costs to build the new traps. John Reding said that $31,000 is what they will spend to put in a new trap and that does not include electrical costs. Pete said we need to weigh our wants and needs. Yes we want the extra traps, but right now we do not need them. Ken had the numbers for the past 10 years and our numbers have not increased in the past 5 years. Pete asked if the clearing of the land was paid out of the expansion fund. There was not an expansion fund at that time, so it came out of the WTA fund. He suggested that the money for clearing of the land be reimbursed back to the WTA fund. Further discussion will be held about the expansion at the next meeting.
Andy Hall:
He suggested paying down the loan as much as we can since we have to renew our loan next year and interest rates likely will be higher.
John Coniff:
He suggested blacktopping or sealcoat the entrance road as it is really hard to keep smooth. The camphost has been doing a good job at trying to keep it smooth but something really needs to be done.
We were supposed to appoint a spokesperson to work with the SCTP. John and Ken will be the spokesperson. Youth grant applications are due the end of September.
YZ:
John King asked if the power goes out in the winter, how does this building stay warm? There is no backup right now. He suggested renting a telehandler rather than using the skid loader for use at the grounds so we aren’t putting all of the wear and tear on the skid steer.
Tate:
He went through a list of things that need to be done to maintain this facility. We have been open for 10 years now and we need to do some maintenance to keep the place running and looking good. Trees in campground are overgrown and need to be trimmed/cut as they are scraping campers. The gravel needs to be worked. We need to build/buy/rent a maintainer to keep those roads adequate; right now they are rough and full of pot holes. Spraying is not working in the campground and the cart path needs to be sprayed as well. The mowers will need to be serviced and taken care of. The camphost can’t find blades and they really need heavy duty ones; he also cannot find belts. The picnic tables need work or replaced. Not all campsites have fire rings; we need to purchase some. What about the target management systems – why aren’t they being used? We spent lots of money on them and we should be using them. Tate stated that the current camphost is incredible and we need him back. Pete may have an idea on what we need to maintain the roads. Tools and gas have been stolen and the buildings aren’t getting locked at night.
Fritz:
He said the biggest complaint about this place is the water. He thinks we need to have the DNR send a specialist to try to clean up the water. Is the well too deep? Tate will contact a person to have him come and sample it. Fritz will renew the WACO membership. There was a lightning strike a few weeks ago and there are 10 sites without power. Amy has them blocked right now so no one reserves them. Bob will be up next weekend to see what is damaged and whether or not a claim will need to be filed with the insurance company. Fritz will call the insurance company to give them a head’s up just in case we need to file. Bill is supposed to be doing the maintenance work on the trap side for free camping the rest of the year.
Amy:
Amy said that the camphost will be putting a vending machine in the laundry room and will be maintaining the laundry machines. The campground will be closed on Saturday, October 15. We will need a large work crew to blow all the lines, put antifreeze in the lines and get everything winterized.
The next meeting will be Friday, September 30. We will close the grounds on Saturday, October 15.
YZ made a motion to adjourn. Tate seconded. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 1:29pm.