Minutes of the ISTA Board of Directors Meeting on December 16, 2023
ROLL CALL
Southern Zone: Dennis Baker, Lauren Dunn, John Kravanek, Frank Payne
Central Zone: Steve Carver, Mike Dennis, Bill Maiden, Kevin Wunder
Northern Zone: Charlie Bickle, Patrick Haskins - ex, Bill Huhn, Stan Systo
Others: Joan Maiden, ISTA Secretary; Michelle Mueller
SECRETARY’S REPORT – Bill Huhn made a motion to waive the reading of the minutes & accept the minutes as presented by email from the Secretary; Lauren Dunn seconded the motion. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Mike Dennis gave the Treasurer’s. Mike reported the accounts are down $63,000 from last year & noted it is all market related. Charlie Bickle made a motion to accept the Treausurer’s Report; John Kravanek seconded the motion. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS
HOF Brick Fundraiser – Bill Huhn reported forty-eight bricks have been sold. Dan Schocke updated the donors on the website. Bill requested a 4-week lead time before they are ready to put in the sidewalk so the bricks can be ordered. He reported names are missing on a few bricks & he will get those finalized from the donors. Bill was asked how many bricks were needed to complete the sidewalk & he indicated he needed to know the square footage of the pad where they will be placed before he can give a definite answer. There are 29 8x8 bricks & sixteen of the smaller bricks. Blank bricks will be inserted to complete the square footage of the area to be used for the sidewalk if we do not have enough personalized bricks purchased. As more personalized bricks are purchased, blank ones will be removed & replaced with the purchased bricks. Bill asked Denny Baker to let him know the square footage for the area so he can determine the number of bricks needed. Denny said they have been measuring & he would get those measurements & give them to Bill Huhn, but he thinks it will be at least 4’ x 10’ & could be larger.
HOF Building Update – Denny reported they got the heat back on in the original building. He said he would like to have a workday on a Saturday in January to get it wired & then have Jesse Tedrick get the heating & air conditioning installed. Joan reminded Denny Pat Haskins has two friends who are electricians who have said they would come down to do the wiring. Denny said he would call Pat & see if they could get that scheduled. Charlie told Denny to ask Pat about materials too. After that, the insulation will go in & then the drywall. He & Bill Duncan have not been able to look at the wood Bruce Waide is donating yet. Mike Dennis reported how much the shotgun is costing & how much the HOF will make if all 400 tickets are sold. Denny reported there is $7,638 in the checking account from the gun tickets sold & the brick fundraiser. Bill Maiden asked how everyone was doing on the ticket sales for the gun raffle -- Bill Huhn reported he sold 14; Charlie Bickle sold 7; Steve Carver sold 27. Denny Baker said he plans to buy all his tickets. Mike Dennis asked if folks are hearing resistance on buying tickets. Some Directors said people are complaining about the cost of the ticket in comparison to the ATA’s raffle. People are not looking at it that it is a 1 in 400 chance versus buying a $20 ticket from ATA, but they are selling unlimited tickets.
Shoot Offs for Zone Shoots – Charlie Bickle reported back on this issue that was previously discussed. He indicated he believed ALL Championship targets at Zone Shoots should be shot off – not just the Event Champion. That would mean all first-place categories & classes would be shot off to determine the winner. Charlie made a motion that all first-place championship targets – event champion, category & class - will be shot off in the event of a tie at all Zone Shoots; Stan Systo seconded the motion. Motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Credit Card Payment Capabilities for Clubs – Frank Payne reported a few clubs in Southern Zone have expressed an interest in asking ISTA to accept credit cards or debit cards, which is an option with ATA. They say it is easy to do & they do not have outstanding checks waiting to be cashed. A question was asked regarding who would pay the 3% charged by credit/debit cards companies. Joan inquired with ATA regarding the 3% charge & right now, they are not charging the clubs that extra cost, however, it is on their radar to change that policy. Mike talked to the accountants & they would have nothing to do with it so he would have to check with USBank. After a lengthy discussion, the board decided it would be an accounting nightmare to accept credit/debit card payments from the clubs & ISTA will continue to only accept checks for now. This will be revisited in a year or two to see if things have changed, which would make it an easier process.
Pay Increase for Secretary – Steve Carver suggested the board increase Joan Maiden’s salary. He recommended $18,000 a year. Dennis Baker asked Joan what she thought a fair increase would be. Joan said $18,000 was too much. Denny asked Joan to think about it & present the board with an amount & he suggested tabling this discussion until then. Bill Huhn asked how much Joan was being paid & was told she is paid $500 a month before taxes. Mike Dennis asked Joan to put together a list of all the things she has taken on since she started as the Secretary - one being the program. Mike indicated Ned told him Jim Lyons was paid for doing the program. Michelle said it would be eye opening for all the Director to know how many hours a day or week are spent doing this work. She said she knows how long it takes her to put one shoot report together & Joan is handling all shoot reports. This issue was tabled for further discussion.
Lodging Reimbursement for Director at State Shoot – Steve Carver reported he felt all the Directors should receive a lodging allowance for the week of the State Shoot. He said he did not think mileage or food allowance should be paid but thought a stipend of $500/$600 to be used for lodging for working a week at the state shoot was not out of line. He said it should be paid to all Directors whether they camp or stay in a hotel. John Kravanek spoke up & said he would resign before he took any money. John said Missouri Directors get free targets at their State Shoot & there are such bad feelings about it. He said he cannot imagine what kind of outrage this would cause. Charlie agreed with John that he would not take the money. Mike Dennis said everyone ran for the board knowing it was a volunteer organization & knew it was going to be a time commitment so if anyone cannot afford to commit to the week at the State Shoot, they should resign from the board. Mike said he would not be the Treasurer & pay anyone for attending the State Shoot. Kevin Wunder agreed with Mike that they all volunteered to do it & he does not want to be paid & stated it would not be popular with the membership. Dennis Baker made a motion that no Director will be compensated for lodging or any other expense while attending the IL State Shoot; John Kravanek seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Mike Jordan Memorial Handicap Event – Mike Dennis reported Mike Hampton would like to sponsor a Handicap event & name it the Mike Jordan Memorial Handicap. Kolar sponsors the Championship Handicap, and we do not want to remove them as a sponsor. White Flyer sponsors the next possible Handicap event. Mike Dennis talked to Josh Taylor regarding this & he had some concerns since White Flyer is now owned by Winchester. He was concerned it would be sponsored by Remington/Federal. Mike called Mike Hampton & he indicated he had already worked with Josh’s boss & received approval -- in fact, White Flyer is going to provide the targets for that event. He also has shells from Winchester, Remington & Federal donated & he is working on getting added money donated. Mike went back to Josh & asked him to talk with his boss to see where they were with all of it. Mike said he would like to see this as a memorial event at the State Shot every year, but we must make sure we work with all the suppliers so one is not treated differently than the other. This will continue to be worked on.
Trophy Package – ATA Package & Past Movement - Non-Resident/Trophy Display (Hall of Fame Building) – Mike said he read the minutes & saw at the last meeting the board already talked about the non-resident trophies. Mike said he has heard there have been discussions about wanting to cut back on non-resident trophies. Mike’s personal feeling is it would be a mistake. Mike said he travels to several out of state shoots & has heard people say they will never go back to Pennsylvania & will be coming to Illinois instead. He said he would like to keep the trophies as they have been & revisit it after this state shoot to see if we have the out of state numbers & if not, then we can cut back the next year. Bill Maiden asked Denny Baker if we are going to be ready for the trophy display by the State Shoot. Denny said his goal is to have the trophies inside the room for the state shoot. He said we might not have all the wood on the wall & the museum items in place, but he thought we would have the trophies in there. Mike said he & Brenda have talked about using one display case for trophies – one trophy for each event would be displayed & the rest would be stacked on removeable shelves in the back where the trophy workers would pull the trophy from the shelf instead of having all the trophies out on display – needing only display cases for about 14 or 15 trophies.
HOF Nominations – Charlie reported the HOF Nominations Committee (Charlie, Bill Maiden & John Kravanek) met by Zoom regarding the nominations. There were 6 or 7 names suggested but only 4 or 5 actual letters of nominations. The committee has reviewed all the letters of nominations/shooting history. Everyone should review the information emailed to them & at the January meeting, voting will be discussed. Charlie mentioned the bylaws indicate there are only two people per year to be inducted. The committee’s initial thought was to vote two for this year & the two remaining the next year. Charlie asked if anyone had any suggestions on the committee’s ideas.
DELEGATE REPORT – Bill Duncan was not present at the meeting but reported to the Secretary there were no recent updates. There was a small discussion regarding the new Executive Director of WSRC, Skip Klinger. Mike said he was from Pennsylvania & then was the head of the Missouri Trap Association for a while.
NEXT MEETING DATE – January 6, 2024, at 11:00 AM at Scheels.
ADJOURNMENT – Motion to adjourn was made by Mike Dennis; Charlie Bickle seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Maiden
ISTA Secretary