Wisconsin Trapshooting Association

WTA Meeting
August 19, 2023
Homegrounds

The 08/19/23 Board of Director’s meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association was called to order at 9:06 am by Ken Michels, President.  Directors present were N/W Ken Michels and Tate Barwald, S/E Steve Downs and Bob Ebbers, N/E YZ Weisensel and Andy Wondrash, S/W John Reding, Executive Assistant/Shoot Coordinator Amy Jenkins, Treasurer Wanda Barwald.  Absent: ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, S/W & Alt. Delegate Tyler Buchanan, 2^nd Alternate Delegate Gary Witzke

Also present were:  Tom & Nora Bristol, Kevin Schutz, Al and Laura McCord, Don and Bernie Chrapla, Jeff and Deb Goering, John Coniff, Bruce Wiegmann, John King

Meeting started at 9:06 am.

Treasurer’s Report:
Account balances are as follows:  Checking account $250,104, Camping $58,621, Savings $13,513, Expansion fund is $62,6639.  Wanda did not have the updated amount for the Summit Loan.  State shoot totals were roughly $368,056.  Payouts were $97,270.  Workers were paid $52,091 for 82 workers.  Last year we paid out $38,000 for 65 workers.  We paid $15 an hour this year.  We are still working on getting everything transferred over to Wanda.

YZ made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report.  John seconded.  So carried.

Secretary’s Report:
Amy will add her items as we go through the agenda.  Camping forms are coming in already for 2024.  Camping has been very good this summer in the campground.

Old Business:

Loan Update:
Ken filled out paperwork for the new loan. He has not heard back from the bank at this time.  We do not have the new interest rate yet either.  Estimated interest will be a little over 7%.  The loan matures the middle of September and the current interest rate is just a little over 4%.

PA System:
We rented it again this year and it worked pretty well.  John said that one speaker down on the west end quit working.  Ken is giving one last try on the existing system to see if he can get it to work.  He was able to order some new parts and will see if we can salvage what we have.  For now, we will just continue to rent as it is the most cost-effective route to go for now.

Weekend Director Coverage:

August 26 & 27 – Ken Michels

Labor Day – Tate and Amy

September 9 & 10 – Tyler Buchanan

Sept 16 & 17 – Andy Wondrash

Sept 23 & 24 – Fall Classic

Sept 30 & Oct 1 – YZ and Tate/Amy

Weekend hours will be 9am to 3pm or by appointment.  Amy will update the website with the schedule

Campground will be open until October 14.  We will close campground on October 15 (shutting off water, etc.).

State Shoot Recap:
Amy gave an update on her list of items:

• Fine Design commission check of $664
• Comments from shooters were read to the group
• A shooter suggested moving the garbage barrels closer to the trap line, but if it rains then they will be filled with water
• Dumpsters will need to be emptied mid-week. Steve said that we need to look at the entire garbage process to see if it can be improved.
• Kolar raffle ticket had wrong date on it
• Program for next year needs to have a cost to charge electric cars
• Two dog issues were handled by Amy during the state shoot. We may need to address this in the program next year – ensure that all dogs are leashed.
• Scoring boxes need to be restocked every day; maybe make the scorer can be responsible for their box every day.
• The kids cannot be checking in for work every day in the clubhouse; they have to be signing in at the hoop building.
• Steve heard a complaint from a shooter that the trap was broke down and they waited 90 minutes before they got moved to a different trap.
• Parent/child – make sure the forms say in state only so out of state families do not sign up.
• Discussion about dropping HOA to 900 targets (Wed to Sun) and adding 300 targets to Monday and drop the marathon targets. The third event on Monday would start all American points.  Discussion about moving the annual meeting back to Sunday.
• Steve is willing to help out with classification when the others are out shooting. Possibly have someone at the desk to sell practice tickets and sodas, etc. rather than Ken sitting at the desk.  Suggestion to move practice tickets to the counter rather than at the desk.  No money at the desk during the state shoot; everything would be handled at the cashier’s counter.
• Is there a way to mark spots where cars can park and not be in a camper’s spot.
• YZ suggested having committees set up so directors know which area they are assigned to.
• Need to have coverage for the hot dog feed and pig roast so that we are not scrambling to find someone to serve the food.
• Suggestion to not have shoot offs going on during the live auction.
• Suggestion to charge $10 for being able to drive your UTV/golf cart during state shoot. We have discussed this in the past.  Amy will try to find why the decision was made previously to not charge for using carts/UTVs.
• Jimmy was unable to attend the meeting. Tate will discuss the possibility of him overseeing the workers/recruitment for the 2024 state shoot.

Steve made a motion to pay Jimmy a bonus of $618.75 for the state shoot.  John seconded.  So carried. 

Tate made a motion to give free camping for the state shoot next year for Bernie and Chantelle Merchlewitz for helping at the state shoot.  Andy seconded.  So carried.

 

New Business:

Storage Building:
Bruce Wiegmann gave a summary of what he has been working on for the past two years.  He stated that in order to put up the hall of fame building, he would need to build a storage shed in order to allow a spot for storage as the hoop building would need to be tore down.  The tentative plan would be for the storage building to go in the trees on the west end near the pod and old pumphouse building.  Originally the plan was to build it 96’x54’, but he increased the size to 120’x54’.  The estimate to build it is $149,356 by Modern Pole and does not include concrete which will run $58,000 to $66,000.  The friends would be willing to pay $50,000 towards the concrete.  A separate account was opened up for Bruce to deposit money into at Summit Bank.  A resolution will need to be signed as well. Chops would oversee the project.  The plan will be to build the storage shed and down the road to build the Hall of Fame building.  This would be a place for past and present WTA shooters to be recognized by photo, trophies, etc.  It would also be additional space for the WTA to use.

Tate said that he doesn’t think that we need a storage building at this time.  He asked what the mil rate is in the Town of Rome and how much will our taxes go up; it is estimated an additional $5000 a year.  We will need to plan for $50,000 in property taxes a year.  Once you put up a storage building, then you would need to consider a loading dock and a forklift.  Tate said that any of the funds that the Friends use was to be voted on and approved by the Board.  Tate guessed that the donations have been about $250,000 in the past five years; what happens when the funds dry up, what will we do.  Can we afford this?  In June, $40,000 was transferred from the camping fund to the general fund just to pay the bills.  We make money three months out of the year and it costs us at least $10,000 a month for expenses.  The hoop building is about nine years old and it has cost us approximately $11,000 a year to have that.  Stratford was here last year and said it likely would last another ten years.  YZ asked if we are locked in to the HOF building; NO.

Amy stated that we can’t afford to staff the HOF building; we can’t even afford to hire a manager at this point.  Kevin stated that it could be open when the clubhouse is open and there are other ways around that.  The HOF building can be used for other things as well.  Steve suggested that we could put the trophies in the HOF building so that they can be displayed better during the state shoot.

Steve made a motion to approve the storage building.  Bob seconded. Tate votes NO and for the fact of what it is going to cost the WTA.  He also stated that there was no director vote on the funds from the Friends being used for the cost of concrete.  Five yes.  So carried.

Bob made a motion to use up to $40,000 from the Friends account for concrete.  Steve seconded.  John no.  Tate no.  Vote did not carry.

Steve made a revised motion to use $20,000 from the Friends account for concrete and use the $30,000 that the Hunter Brothers gave us. Bob seconded.  Tate no.  So carried.

Tate said that money can be used in better areas.  John said that he currently has $70,000 in the Friends account.  He needs to have $10,000 for the Kolar for 2024.  That would leave him $5800 in the Friends account.  Tate said that it was pledged that the friends would put money towards the loan if we needed it.  Ken stated that there were other projects that the friends were going to fund such as Wi-Fi in the campground.  Tate said we probably could use $50,000 on the main driveway.  Amy said that the roads in the campground never got done.  Tate said all these things were going to get done and they just get buried meeting after meeting; we were supposed to buy equipment, work on the roads, driveway, etc.

Tate said there is never any afterthought once we spend the money.  John Reding said that it is great to have the storage building, but we can use that money elsewhere.

Al McCord said as an outsider he thinks we need to do it.

John Coniff asked to identify some priorities so we can spend the money and move forward.

Steve made a motion to accept the resolution as proposed below.  Andy seconded.  So carried.

1. Add Bruce as an authorized signer to the WTA account ending in 8359 that is designated as HOF Museum Account
2. Specify that the WTA has requested that a hold be placed on the funds
3. Authorize for the bank statement be mailed to Bruce’s address (they would still be available via online banking)

Lead Reclamation:
Ken has been talking to the company over the past couple of weeks.  He said they will be here at the end of August or early September.  We need to have the grass mowed before they come.  Bob will talk to John Reeb.  Andy suggested asking the fire chief about doing a controlled burn rather than mowing it.  Ken will contact Mark from the Rome Fire Department.  **Mark is unable to have a crew come out to burn. John Reeb is unavailable to mow yet this fall.

New website person:
Elizabeth will be stepping down. John Coniff will have his daughter contact Amy to try to figure out what we need to do or need coverage for.

Ducks Unlimited:
They would like to hold an event at the grounds in October.  It would involve shooting 100 targets and then a mini banquet at night.  We will propose two options for them.  It will be $30/100 targets and a $500 building fee or $40/100 with no building fee.  They will provide loaders and scorers.  The date will be October 14.  Amy will discuss this with them.

ATA daily fees:
The ATA raised their daily fees to $4.  Kevin said that the ATA did this to increase the rebates for the state and also to spend more on the state shoot trophies that the ATA provides.  The WTA will not raise their daily fees.

Round Table
Steve:  He would like to have the meetings scheduled for the entire year.  Steve suggested pulling personal addresses off the website for security reasons.  Amy will remove them.  Steve read thru the current bylaws and noticed some clerical issues.  He will contact John A. He asked if the annual meeting could be moved to a different day.  Kevin Schutz said that it has to be one of the last three days of the shoot no earlier than 8am and no later than 9pm.

Bob:  He would like to have the insurance policy reviewed to make sure we are covered properly.

John Coniff:  He is hoping to have another specially engraved gun for the 125-year anniversary next year.  John sent out a list of ideas for fundraising next year.  John would like to hire the camphost to stain the overhang.

Al McCord:  He says we are losing shoot dates.  He said the club numbers are way down.  He said we have lost more than 50% of shoot dates within the last 10 to 15 years.  What can we do to encourage the clubs to throw registered shoots?  John thinks that we should have a list of all clubs in the state so that we can build a relationship with them.  Also, it doesn’t appear that youth shooters are shooting registered targets.  Steve asked if Kevin’s role (delegate) be looking at these clubs.  Gateway starts on 9/13.

Andy:  There were 113 Wisconsin shooters that were at the Grand American.  Wisconsin was represented very well and there were numerous trophies won by our shooters.  Congrats to everyone.

Jeff:  The spraying is not working for the weeds.  He wants to do something more like a brine because where the brine was laid down, there are no weeds at all.  He agrees that the parking needs to be marked.  He thinks we need to put porcelain toilets on each end.  The ladies do not like to use the porta potties.

John:  We need to look at different radios for next year.

 

John made a motion to adjourn.  Andy seconded.  So carried.

Meeting adjourned at 1:42pm

Meeting Schedule:

September 30

November 4

December 9