Minutes of the ISTA Board of Directors Meeting on April 20, 2024
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, Bill Huhn, Stan Systo
Others: Joan Maiden, ISTA Secretary; Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate, Michelle Mueller
SECRETARY’S REPORT – Pat Haskins made a motion to waive the reading of the minutes & accept the minutes as presented by email from the Secretary; Stan Systo seconded the motion. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Mike Dennis gave the Treasurer’s report. Stan Systo made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report; Lauren Dunn seconded the motion. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS
HOF Building & Account Update – Dennis Baker first reported there was approximately $20,000 in the account but he received about $10,000 before the meeting started for approximately $30,000. He has not been reimbursed yet for the money he has paid to finish the building. Mike suggested to keep selling tickets for the gun raffle & not to count on selling a lot at the state shoot. Denny, Frank, John & Bill Duncan have volunteered a lot of hours working to finish things up. It is going to take a lot of minds to get all the pictures hung in the new building and decide things such as if we want to move the wooden cabinets from the current space to the new building. Two of the glass cases in the cafeteria are ISTA’s & the others are Brittany’s. They are going to try and get our two glass cases into the HOF so we can display trophies in them at the state shoot. Denny suggested again setting up a committee to decide what items will be accepted for display in the HOF.
HOF Brick Fundraiser Update – Bill Hugh reported 51 bricks have been sold. They were thinking of making the area for the brick sidewalk bigger for future brick purchases. The cost for the proposed 10 x 4 space. The company suggested using 4 x 8 bricks to fill in around the printed bricks. They are $2.40 per brick. The board previously decided to use epoxy filled engraving on the printed bricks. The proposed costs are about $1871 plus tax & shipping (1300 lbs. delivery cost will be $350-$360). A decision to hold off on putting the brick order in until after the state shoot to see if more bricks are sold was made. Another suggestion was to stake out where the brick sidewalk will be so people can see exactly where they will be placed. There was also a suggestion to ask at the annual meeting if anyone in the membership would be interested in helping lay the bricks after they are delivered.
HOF Gun Raffle -- Mike Dennis reported Dave Dressler has sold $13,000 worth of gun raffle tickets out of the $40,000 we have to sell. He mentioned to Bill to recognize Dave for his help with this. Mike invited Jeff from Kolar to come down and present the gun if he was available. We need to post the winner in the IL Delegate report and on our website.
HOF Committee for Items on Display – Bill Huhn, Stan Systo, Lauren Dunn are on the committee to decide what will go into the Hall of Fame Bldg. If anyone asks other Directors about items, they should refer them to one of those three for them to talk to.
Property Insurance for ISTA/HOF Building – Mike Dennis said he believes both ISTA & Brittany are both paying insurance on the ISTA building. We have it covered for $75,000. Denny sent pictures to the insurance company but has not heard back from them for the new building. Mike will get ahold of them next week (week of April 22nd) to see where they are on a premium for the ISTA building and the HOF. Lauren said her Grandma has insurance on the ISTA building too through Cross Creek who specializes in gun clubs & it would be a good idea to get a quote from them too. She said she would check with her Grandma to see what she has been paying.
Ambulance/Paramedics Update – Michelle found a lady who is an ER travel nurse that is interested in working the state shoot but she did not know how much we would be paying. We donated $1500 for the ambulance to be present. Michelle said she can borrow an AED machine and have it on grounds, and if something happens, the nurse could start treatment and call 911. She could do blood pressure checks, etc... Michelle said she also has a couple school nurse friends who could fill in for her if she needs to miss a day or two. Pat Haskins said his concern with that is liability to ISTA. If we hire someone to provide medical care, we now take on medical liability. The difference between a nurse & the ambulance workers is the ambulance attendants are paid by the Ambulance company, and we are only donating to the organization. The ambulance was only on the grounds for about 12 hours in 2023. If we do not have a health professional onsite, one of our insurance policies is going to go up because we say we have ambulance service present from AIM through the State Shoot. Michelle is going to check with the County Health Department to see if they can provide someone to be here and if they cannot attend, she will get the ambulance service, however, Mike said they need to do more than sit in the ambulance. They need to do blood pressure checks, etc. and he wants to know the hours they are there and then he will determine the donation based on the number of hours.
State Shoot Program – Joan reported she picked up the programs from Trump Direct in Decatur the day before. There are 275 extra programs after all the others were mailed out. She told the Directors to take whatever they wanted for their local clubs & for those going to out-of-state shoots, and the rest would be at BSP to be handed out at the shoot. 1150 programs were printed because Joan received the address list of last year’s state shoot attendees & incorporated the names adding 160 names for a total of 875 addresses. Joan asked if any programs are returned to BSP that they save them for her so she can remove those names from the address list, which will save ISTA money. Everyone said they liked the book and loved the cover. Charlie mentioned adding a notation somewhere to let folks know that All-American points start on Event #3 on Tuesday with Brittany Doubles. Mike suggested adding an asterisk to Event #3 page next year stating All-American points begin with Event #3. There are 1300 AA points available, but we have the High Over All being decided with 1200 points from Event #4 - #14. Lauren said they do not have to run concurrently but we can change it next year if we want.
BSP Relationship with ISTA & Complimentary Meal – Dennis Baker stated at the last meeting there was a discussion regarding some ideas for our business relationship with BSP. Mike Dennis asked Michelle when the last time a signed agreement between ISTA & Brittany was. She indicated she did not know if there ever was one. Mike presented a copy of one Ned signed on October 14, 2012. Mike said he was informed there was one after that which Larry Hight signed but he does not have a copy of it. Mike suggested to go back to a signed agreement. The reason for this is because there is a statement in the proposal stating Brittany would pay ISTA 3.5 cents for each target thrown at the state shoot. Mike said every year he has been on the Board of Directors, that this agreement was in place, ISTA turned around and gave the money back to Brittany for improvements. The proposal stated, ISTA agreed to do that as long as BSP provided a trap mechanic, maintain essential parts for the traps, larger dumpsters, trash barrels emptied, lights on the scoreboard, & trap help training, but these are all things Brittany should be doing anyway as part of running a shoot. Mike said he feels ISTA needs to go back to an agreement. Dennis Baker said it is the Board of Directors’ responsibility to the shooters of Illinois who belong to ISTA to use the money we have in the bank as judiciously as we can. This state shoot makes money and as an organization, ISTA should share in that. What our investments do on the side is irrelevant. Larry & Carole stepped up and built the complex and we have let them have the money ISTA has earned from the state shoot for 24 years and it is time for ISTA to make a profit as well. Mike Dennis said no one is suggesting we make enough money to pay the entire trophy bill for the state shoot, however, we just do not want to keep losing money every year. ISTA only makes $3.00 per person per day. This business cannot be run just on investments. You must have income coming in and it is time we started making money off the state shoot. Approximately $6,000 is what we make and that is from the shooters paying us. Stan commented that we turn around & pay that back to Brittany for the banquet. We also need to have Pat, or somebody talk to Brittany and get the same agreement on the HOF Building as we have with the ISTA Building as well. Kevin Wunder said he would not have such a problem with Michelle raising target prices if we were to get the 3.5 cents a target. Right now, it seems like things are getting high and we are not making any money. Stan Systo said that 3.5 cents a target was 12 years ago. Stan suggested 5 cents a target. Mike stated we are where we are at for this year’s state shoot. If Brittany would like to split the meal, that would be great. But moving forward, we need to get a written agreement like we used to have. We need a written contract that says what you guys are going to do and what we are going to do and that way if we generate income for ISTA, we can add more trophies or maybe help with the cost of the targets to get the target prices down to get more people coming to the shoot. It needs to be a business arrangement. If we keep lowering the trophies eventually people will not come to Illinois. Lauren asked if everyone has seen the prices for Missouri & Wisconsin, etc. She said we are the lowest in Midwest by a several dollars. Mike said Missouri & Wisconsin own their own properties so you can't compare Illinois to them. A couple states who do not own their own property are Minnesota & Florida. Florida charged $40 for the Southern Grand. They chose not to raise it and their numbers went up. Mike said we are doing the right thing here as an organization with Brittany because our numbers are going up. Had it not been for the weather last year, we would have been a 5-comp factor. Looking at the camping for this year, there are names that have never been to the IL State Shoot before. We are picking up some people that used to go to Pennsylvania and we can pick up more, but we must watch what we charge. Bill Huhn suggested taking the previous signed agreement and working from that since both parties had entered into it at one time and expanding on it. Frank Payne said looking back on the Treasurer’s Report over the past two years, the way he figures it we have made money. Mike said that money has come from dividends and interest earned on the stocks. He asked Frank if he wanted him to take money out of the investments to pay for the trophies and Frank said no. Mike said Ned had to take money out of CD’s before to pay for trophies during the year. Bill Maiden said the entire board should decide on the proposal instead of a committee so there are no conflicts of interest coming into play. Kevin Wunder agreed & said he thinks there will be a better discussion if we keep level heads and the entire board is involved. The proposal will be tabled until the meeting after the annual meeting.
Regarding the complimentary meal for shooters, it was suggested that ISTA & BSP split the meal. Michelle received quotes from The Brass Door and FEMA – Brass Door was $18.00 & FEMA is about $16.75 per plate. Michelle said BSP will split the cost of the meal with ISTA, and she will check with her mom to see if she wants to prepare the meal or have it catered.
NEW BUSINESS
Trophy Distribution & Shelves – Mike talked about buying collapsable shelves and storing them out in the vestibule but that will not work if we have pictures & things in the vestibule on display. Susie told him there were two glass cases in the hall that belong to ISTA, so we will put one trophy from each event in the cases so people can see them, but we need to get stuff off the floor in a rack or something. We could get some tables for this year and set the trophies on the tables since we cannot take tables from the main hall. The shelves we looked at are $80 – 6’ tall – 4’-5’ wide – and tables are $40. Dennis Baker made a motion to buy at least six of these tables to put trophies on. Pat Haskins second the motion. Motion carried.
State Shoot Director Assignments – Bill Maiden developed job assignments so everyone can share duties to ease the burden placed on a lot of people. As ATA Delegate, Bill Duncan oversees Classifications, but he will be shooting as well, so Bill M. said he would put a few guys in there throughout the day, to give him a break. Bill D. will be in there most of the AM except when he shoots. Mike Dennis will also be there in the AM. Fill in guys will be Pat Haskins, Charlie Bickle, Bill Huhn, Steve Carver & Lauren Dunn. For trap setters, he has John Kravanek & Frank Payne on the radar guns and Kevin Wunder, Denny Baker, Stan Systo & Bill Maiden as trap setters. That group usually starts around 7:00 AM. Michelle confirmed Daniel will be there working with them to help switch over the traps to Doubles. For Shoot-Offs, the non-trap setters (Pat, Charlie, Bill, Steve & Lauren) should do the shoot-offs Tuesday through Friday evening and Saturday & Sunday all Directors need to stay until the last shoot-off is finished. Kevin Wunder & Stan Systo said they would also be around Tuesday – Friday to help with shoot-offs too. Trophy Distribution – Brenda Dennis is going to be setting the hours when she will be open and will oversee that – fill ins for her are Joan Maiden, Lauren Dunn & Kevin Wunder.
Miscellaneous – Michelle received some complaints about the target setting abilities at Rend Lake. The manager is not checking the targets or using a radar gun. John Kravanek said he would run down there and work with him. He has talked to him in the past and he is agreeable, but he is more of a sporting clay shooter and may not know what he is supposed to be doing.
Michelle received a donation of a youth ISTA lifetime membership for the AIM shoot. The donor wants to create a quiz from the rule book for youth shooters to take & turn into AIM. Whoever gets all the questions right or tied for the most, their names will go in a hat for the ISTA lifetime membership. Lauren & and a few others will work to develop the quiz and Michelle will get with Joan with the winner’s information.
Mike Dennis said there is another gun raffle that he has raffle tickets for, but he will not sell them until ISTA’s raffle is over. This raffle is for the Mike Jordan Scholarship Fund. Tickets are $20 each for a Silver Seitz with custom wood.
ATA Delegate Report – Bill Duncan reported they had a conference call to talk about the ATA Central Zone shoot that will be at Brittany Shooting Park in July. He reported. A maximum of $45 was set for target prices for the ATA Central Zone but they are leaving it up to the clubs to set their prices. Michelle said she will be setting her prices the same as our State Shoot.
NEXT MEETING DATE – Friday, June 14, 2024, after the Annual Meeting.
ADJOURNMENT – Motion to adjourn was made by Kevin Wunder; Stan Systo seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Maiden
ISTA Secretary