Minutes: July 14, 2023 – Annual Meeting
WTA Annual Meeting
July 14, 2023
There were 131 WTA members who attended the annual meeting on July 14, 2023 in addition to the Board of Directors.
The 07/14/2023 Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association was called to order at 8:02 am by Ken Michels, President.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call – Directors present were N/E Ken Michels and Andy Wondrash, S/E Bob Ebbers and Rich Weisensel (YZ), N/W Aaron Katzenberg and Tate Barwald, S/W – John Reding and Tyler Buchanan, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, 1st Alt Delegate Tyler Buchanan, 2nd Alt ATA Delegate Fritz Thistle (absent), Treasurer Wanda Barwald and Executive Assistant Amy Jenkins.
Programs were handed out to the attendees that included minutes from the 2021 annual meeting and the treasurer’s report.
2022 Annual Minutes:
Keith Lehman made a motion to bypass reading the minutes from 2022 and accepted as written, Ken Cerney seconded. So carried.
Treasurer’s Report:
Profit and Loss for 2022 is in the handout. Balance sheet is current as of June 21, 2023. Before the state shoot, balances were: $50,945 in checking $120,761 camping, $13,506 in savings and $62,603 in the expansion fund. The mortgage loan has a balance of $630,000. Keith Lehman made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Bob Ebbers seconded. So carried.
ATA Delegate Report:
Kevin said there is not a lot going around in the ATA right now. A few concerns about the gender reality concerns. The ATA will use whatever is on the birth certificate. Kevin congratulated those on making their grand slams. Congrats
Nominations and Elections of Zone Directors:
Elections were done at the Zone Shoot.
N/E – YZ was elected.
S/W – John Reding was elected.
N/W – Ken Michels was elected.
S/E – Bob Ebbers was elected. There is a vacancy in this zone. Bob Ebbers nominated Steve Downs to fill this vacancy. Don Chrapla made a motion to accept Steve Downs as Director. Aaron seconded. So carried.
ATA Delegate:
YZ nominated Kevin Doerring to remain as the ATA Delegate. Keith Lehmann seconded. So carried.
Chops made a motion for Gary Witzke as 1st Alternate Delegate. Aaron seconded.
John Reding nominated Tyler Buchanan to remain as 1st Alternate Delegate. Don Chrapla seconded.
A vote was taken and Tyler will remain as the 1st Alternate Delegate.
Kevin Schutz made a motion for Gary Witzke as the 2nd Alternate Delegate. Chops seconded. So carried.
All State Team:
The names for the All-State Team were listed in the program. They were recognized during the Hot Dog Feed on Thursday night. A huge thank you to Kolar and YZ for sponsoring.
Hall of Fame Inductees:
Chad Blanke and Don and Jeff Mainland were inducted into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday night. The banquet will be on Wednesday night at the 2024 state shoot.
OLD BUSINESS:
Expansion:
There has been a hold on the land to expand at this time. We don’t have the funds to do that project right now. There is a possibility of a museum going in.
Grant Writer:
We are still looking for someone to work with the WTA on applying for grants. It takes some work to apply for the grants. John Reding has someone he has been talking with to assist.
NEW BUSINESS:
Volunteers:
We are always looking for assistance/volunteers to help at our shoots. We are still short scorekeepers on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
Future Zone Shoot Location/Dates
Amy read the dates of the future zone shoots for the next few years which is based around the youth events being held at Homegrounds. Zone shoots will be held on the opposite weekends of the youth shoots.
2024 – June 1/2 and June 15/16
2025 – June 14/15 and June 28/29
2026 – June 13/14 and June 27/28
Zone Shoots:
- 2024 – Weston & Beaver Dam = June 1 & 2
- 2024 – Sauk & Langlade = June 15 & 16
Shoot Calendar
Ken stated that the printing of the shoot calendar was discontinued this year. Steve Keely said that there were only two clubs that said it was too expensive. He said we are losing clubs every year. Bob Ebbers asked what the cost was for the calendar and Carol thought about $6000. Andy Hall wanted to know from the board how many clubs threw registered targets this year. Amy said that she could get that information and Andy told Amy she was not a member of the board. Bob said that he did hear some comments at zone shoots that shooters would still like to have the calendar. Andy Hall suggested raising the price of the WTA fee from $10 to $15 and having the extra $5 pay for the shoot calendar.
Bylaws:
John Atkielski stated that the bylaws are to be revised every three years. The bylaws are to be posted 90 days prior to the voting at the annual meeting. John stated that there are not many concerns with the new bylaws other than residency. The issues came forward last September regarding Matt Riffe and Jeff Vollmar. There was a meeting in January discussing this and they came up with some new language. It came up again at the next meeting and the language was reviewed again. The final decision was to check a valid driver’s license to verify residency for the WTA. There are still members that are not satisfied with the way the bylaws are written (using a valid WI driver’s license to verify residency).
John stated that there are two choices today:
- Continue with the old bylaws from 2017.
- Pass the new bylaws with the rule of a valid driver’s license.
Any new language will not be added into these bylaws and we would have to operate under the 2017 bylaws because the language had to be added 90 days prior.
Ken Cerney asked why we care about residency. The ATA determines residency and why wouldn’t we want anyone to support the WTA. Amy stated that we tried this at future meetings (to let the ATA determine residency and have anyone support the WTA). Ann Kasten stated the bona fide rules indicate there may be more information related to that.
Andy Hall spoke about the residency. He said that we want to compete against other Wisconsin residents. He says we need to solve this for the future. It is the responsibility of the shooter to stand on their correct handicap yardage and it should be their duty to shoot for their correct state. John Atkielski stated that per the ATA, the state association has the final decision and this state has determined that Matt and Jeff have valid WI driver’s license and have done nothing wrong. Matt spoke to the group and said that he has been shooting as a Wisconsin shooter over 20 years. He apologized to the board for wasting 11 months of the board’s time when there are bigger issues to deal with such as the expansion, fundraising, etc. John A. stated at this time, Jeff and Matt are doing nothing wrong as they have provided a valid Wisconsin Driver’s license when they classified.
Jay Nigbor made a motion to accept the bylaws as written. Harley Heinrichs seconded.
Show of hands was done for the vote. Yes – 69 No – 31. The bylaws are passed.
YZ made a motion to adjourn. Tate seconded. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 8:55 am.