Tundra Lodge,
Present: Jim Kirk, Lamont Strandberg, Allen Kraeger, Randall Albert, Todd Neumann, Jason Hanson, Kurt Drezek, Tony Duff, Tony Nardi, Randy Lind, Sheree Carr, Fred Haas, Bob Wuerl,
Excused: Dennis Kluge, Jeff Schmidt, Fred Rasmussen
District #4 – vacant
Call to Order at
Opening prayer – Allen Kraeger
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
Allen Kraeger made a motion to approve the meeting agenda.
2nd Jason Hanson
Motion carried
Motion made by Allen Kraeger to approve the minutes from the
2nd Randy Lind
Motion carried
Motion made by Jason Hanson to set the per diem at $25.00 for the meeting as that was the per diem at the last several meetings.
2nd Allen Kraeger
Motion carried
Allen Kraeger checked the IRS rate for mileage reimbursement the day prior to the meeting. It was set at .445 cents per mile.
All current officers and new parties present introduced themselves and we welcomed everyone present.
Financial Report – Allen Kraeger
Kraeger reports the organizations net worth including financial and fixed assets at $210,632.13. This figure is approximately $8,000 higher than the previous year. Fixed assets are $51, 421.72.
Motion made to accept the treasurer’s report made by Jason Hanson
2nd Todd Neumann
Motion carried
Albert gave the secretary’s report. Total membership is now at 2,411. This is down from 2005 when membership was 2,530. We have 1299 active/associate members and 1112 life members. We had 51 new members join in 2006. We are losing members for several reasons. Death, members failing to paying back dues over 5 years are being deleted, many moved and left no forwarding address, some are no longer officers or affiliated with L.E. agencies.
We received $405.00 in donations last year to the secretary. The secretary received $93.00 for decal sales. He received $65.00 for challenge coins. Membership is expected to continue to decline if we don’t take a more aggressive stance on recruiting and retaining members.
Motion made to accept the Secretary’s report made by Hanson.
2nd Randy Lind
Motion carried
Old Business
The secretary has taken receipt of a new computer and printer. We are currently in the process of converting all old records into a newer language in use.
The secretary reported on the data obtained from the Salmon Safari by Dave Branley. We learned there were 55 participants this year and 20 were members. President Kirk suggested someone make an effort from the Board of Directors to attend next years event and recruit new members.
Todd Neumann brought up his contact with American Income Life. He will be sending a letter to Lauri Onash with concerns from members regarding the information being solicited over the phone.
COMMITTEE REPORTS – each chair of a committee took the time to explain the purpose of the committee to members present.
Audit/Finance – Allen Kraeger – the annual audit has not yet taken place. Taxes will be filed on time.
Awards – Standberg – no new info
Campground – Kraeger – wood cutting is taking place today. There was a theft of three chainsaws, two of which were part saws, sometime this summer. Waupaca Co. S.O. is investigating the theft. The alarm system is operational. The garage door was replaced and cost $700.00. This is $100 over the estimated cost. The campground is currently under budget for the year. We received $1,365.00 in donations this past summer.
Delegates/Rules – Hanson – no report
Chaplain – Carr – Allen Kraeger has the new sympathy cards.
Historian – Haas – no report
Magazine – Wuerl – deadline to submit articles to Callon
Publishing for the magazine is
Membership – Albert – District #7 and District #2 both saw increases in membership. All other district experienced a decline. Drezek made a suggestion we start trying some electronic advertising to gain new members.
Resolution/By-Laws – Hanson – no report
Raffle – Albert – last years raffle participation was approximated at 25%. This years participation was 28.7%. We sold fewer tickets than the previous year but offered more prizes than ever before. Only 6 members who were not on the Board sold more than the two packets they received.
Insurance/Welfare/Death – Kraeger – no report
Retired Members – Haas – no report
Trials/Suspensions – Hanson – no report is a good report as none of our members contacted us with legal problems warranting our involvement
Youth/Public Relations – Carr – the D.C. trip went well and they really had a great bunch of kids on the trip.
Golf – Kirk – in 2007 the event will be held at Glacier Wood Golf Course. He did not have exact statistics but the event turned a profit with most money being raised on the raffles.
Lobbyist/Legislation – Hanson – TABOR died again in committee again this year. Expect it to get another look next year.
President Jim Kirk recessed the meeting for lunch at
Scholarships – Wuerl – received a thank you from scholarship recipient April Carr.
Presidents Advisory Board – Wuerl – no report
Web Site – Hanson – President Kirk will be taking over the website as he is leaving his position.
Announcements/Correspondence
Received a letter from Ellen Melland looking for fingerprint cards. We don’t carry these cards but Callan Publishing does send these out with solicitation materials.
Mary Kennedy sent a thank you for donation to her open gym program.
Nick Palekowski complained about telephone solicitations he was receiving. He was removed the solicitors list.
Thank you letters were received from every scholarship award winner.
DISTRICT REPORTS
District #1 Todd Neumann-states he intends to spend more time focusing on the raffle and recruitment efforts in the upcoming year.
District #2 Hanson – no report
District #3 Kluge – excused
District #4 vacant
District #5 Kurt Drezek states he is working to fill the District 4 vacancy
District #6 Tony Duff requested a list of all members for his District. That list from 2005 was provided by Secretary Albert. A current list was not available during the computer data changeover.
District #7 Tony Nardi stated he will be working on recruiting more non sworn personal who are eligible.
District #8 Randy Lind- excused from the afternoon session
District #9 Schmidt – excused
District #10 Sheree Carr states she was able to use the challenge coin as a strong recruitment tool
District #11- Rasmussen was excused
NEW BUSINESS
Albert made a motion to name scholarships for past Directors who have made significant contributions to the WLEOA through their years of service and dedication to the organization. The motion included naming two of the scholarships in the memory of Patrick Olson and Fred Rasmussen. The motion was amended to state when Fred Rasmussen officially retires as District #11 Director he should be included as should the founding President Robert O’Neil. The amended motion was made by Allen Kraeger. 2nd by Hanson.
Motion carried.
Two associate memberships were forwarded to Allen Kraeger by Bill Appleton. Motion made by Kraeger to approve these memberships if they pass the requisite background investigation. 2nd by Strandberg.
Motion carried.
Motion made to adjourn the meeting by Kraeger
2nd by Strandberg
Motion carried
At 1:52 PM the
Business/Fall Election Meeting was called to order by President Jim Kirk
Prayer by Allen Kraeger
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
All persons present at the morning meeting were present with the exception of Randy Lind. Chad O’Neil also present.
Motion made by Hanson to approve Allen Kraeger’s financial report.
2nd by Strandberg
Motion carried
Motion made by Kraeger to approve Randy Albert’s secretary report.
2nd by Hanson
Motion carried
Annual Election
Results
Vice President: Allen Kraeger nominated Monty Strandberg for vice president.
2nd by Albert
Hanson made a motion that to close nominations and asked that a unanimous vote be cast.
2nd Albert
Monty Strandberg unanimously voted to the position of Vice President
Treasurer: Randy Albert nominated Allen Kraeger for treasurer
2nd by Drezek
Hanson made a motion to close nominations and asked that a unanimous ballot be cast.
2nd Carr
Allen Kraeger was unanimously voted to the position of treasurer
District #2 Jason
Hanson announced he was stepping down as a Director and he nominated
District #4 No nominations and this director’s position remains vacant.
District #6 Tony Duff was nominated for the director’s position. 2nd by Strandberg. Allen Kraeger made a motion that the nominations be closed and a unanimous ballot be cast. 2nd by Strandberg. Tony Duff was elected District #6 Director.
District #8 Randy Lind was nominated for the director’s position by Allen Kraeger. 2nd by Carr. Kraeger made the motion that the nominations be closed and a unanimous ballot be cast. 2nd by Albert. Randy Lind was elected District #8 Director.
District #10 Sheree Carr was nominated for the director’s position by Allen Kraeger. 2nd by Nardi. Kraeger made the motion that the nominations be closed and a unanimous ballot be cast. 2nd by Strandberg. Sheree Carr was elected District #10 Director.
A sign up sheet for new committee members was passed around. Those results are being compiled by President Jim Kirk and will be made available on the website, the Fall Magazine and a mailing to each District Director and officer.
Robert Callon, representing Callan Publishing, gave a presentation on how they conduct their fund raising efforts on behalf of the WLEOA and a financial report that indicated the WLEOA experiences an economic benefit.
Old/Unfinished
Business
All unfinished business was conducted at the previous meeting.
Committee Reports
All committee’s were represented. Only those committee’s that gave reports are mentioned below. The other committee’s indicated they had no further information regarding their committee that wasn’t discussed at the morning business meeting.
Campground – Bill Appleton spoke about the campground improvements. He advised the board that they could not pin down the date of the theft. The stolen chain saws were not operable and were being kept around as part saws. They have installed the new door and it does have a few small windows on it to allow light to enter building so they can see with the door closed.
Magazine – Bob Wuerl advised the deadline was the end of October. The Board agreed the cover should reflect the 3 scholarships and the personnel for whom they will be named. Albert agreed to do the Patrick Olson article. Jim Kirk agreed to do the Fred Rasmussen profile. Chad O’Neil agreed to write the Robert O’Neil profile.
Resolution/By Laws – Hanson pointed out the three new bylaw changes will go into effect. The first has to do with filling vacancies on the board. Kraeger made the motion to accept this change. 2nd by Albert. Motion carried
The second change dealt with defining eligibility for the board. Albert made the motion to accept this change and Kraeger 2nd . Motion carried.
The third by law change was the clarification of a delegate as it pertained to the District #11 Director. Krueger made the motion to accept and Strandberg 2nd. Motion carried.
Raffle – Albert advised the license will be renewed, The prizes will change as the Kalahari Resort had way too many blackout dates for the prize to be used this past summer by the winner. Dealing with Home Depot has also been a headache in the past and we will be approaching Wausau Harley Davidson due their support in the past.
Youth/Public Relations – Carr reports the D.C. Trip for spring 2007 is still a go but we have not yet been able firm up prices or timetable. Sheree continues to work on making this trip a go. Sheree passed around a letter from Nan Delaney who had planned all of our past trips. Hanson suggested we send a thank you note to her for past dedication and service.
Golf – Kirk reported the Golf Outing will again take place at Glacier Hills in Iola.
Announcements/Correspondence
Fred Haas personally made the request for $500.00 for funding for the Arson Investigators Conference. He explained the money is used for training both police and fire personal. Drezek made a motion to approve the request. 2nd by Krager. Motion carried.
District Reports
There were no District reports at the election meeting.
New Business
Todd Neumann agreed to coordinate with Dennis Kluge and plan and arrange the Spring Conference in Wisconsin Dells. The location and dates are unknown at this time.
The evening banquet is slated to be held in the McKinley
room. All members were advised to be present by
Motion made to adjourn by Allen Kraeger. 2nd by Strandberg. Motion passed.