Minutes for Organization Meeting (Long Form)

Ramsey County Chapter of Pheasants Forever

Meeting Minutes

April 13, 2016

Opening The regular meeting of the Ramsey County Chapter of Pheasants Forever was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on April 13, 2016 at Gabe’s by the Park, St. Paul, MN by Daniel Jambor.

Present Daniel Jambor, Greg DeWitt, Joost de Hoog and Greg Breining

Approval of Agenda and Minutes - The Agenda was submitted without objection or addition.

- The Minutes of the March meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved.

Treasurer’s Report 1. Greg D. reviewed the current financials along with an update of outstanding checks and still expected income of $2,300.00 from the Pollinator Grant.

2. See also below on discussion of proposed/possible expenditures.

Banquet Review 1. Raffles. There was a financial review and discussion of each raffle item – what worked, what didn’t. Gun of Year should have been more successful. Dan suggested recruiting more people to sell tickets prior to the Banquet and possibly raffle just for ticket sellers (i.e. 1 ticket for every 10 GOY tickets sold but the 1 ticket is for a raffle item just for GOY ticket sellers). Henry, liquor, quilt and fishing package are popular and successful. Ice fishing did not work well – time of year, warm weather, may have influenced success. Winchester guns were not very successful. Discussion of needing “sexier” guns next year. The addition of the Hi-Lo game was seen as adding more fun and overall people attending seemed to have a really good time.

2. Silent Auction – Most items are donated so very little cost to the Chapter. Approximately $1,800 income from auction items. We were missing a couple items that we received last year. It was agreed to document more of what people gave to use in future donation requests.

3. Overall – overall the Banquet was the best attendance and financial success yet. People attending seemed to have a lot of fun, food was well received.

4. What worked – Gulden’s did a great job again. Henry was very popular as was the GOY.

5. What did not work – Ice fishing package. Winchesters. Need to promote the print of the year better – it was in a corner location and should have brought more than was taken in. 6. Next Year – Discussion of 5-gun raffle for GOY and promotion for ticket sellers (will depend on what PF offers for GOY). We love Gulden’s, but capacity is getting to be an issue. Discussion of dinner speaker for 5th anniversary of chapter.

Policy Discussions 1. Mission of RCPF. Dan suggested that the Chapter should have a clear understanding of our Mission to guide decisions and especially how to support mission with money raised. It was agreed that Dan would draft a proposed Mission Statement and circulate to the Board.

2. Check Cashing at Banquet. There is a cash machine at our banquet location, so there was a discussion on whether the Chapter should cash checks for Banquet attendees. The issue involves the risk of taking a bad check along with have funds available on site to handle those transactions. It was agreed that it shall be the policy of RCPF not to accept checks over purchase price (i.e. tickets, silent auction items won, etc.) and RCPF will not accept checks for cash. The only exception to this policy is if both the President and Treasurer review and initial the check.

3. Facebook Acknowledgment of Donations/Sponsors. It was agreed that in the future, we shall recognize these contributions in “batches” identical to the categories listed on the Chapter website.

4. Email Meeting Notices. Greg B. suggested trying to increase attendance at monthly meetings through our e-newsletter contact list. It was agreed to try this on a 6 month trial basis and compare the results along with feedback from membership.

Proposed Expenditures 1. The Chapter has received a couple requests for financial assistance from other Minnesota chapters. Based on the current financial condition of the Chapter, there was a discussion of how we could best support our Mission and the expectations of RCPF members.

2. It was agreed to support four (4) Disabled/Veteran hunters at the Washington County Chapter hunt. The donation request was for $125 per hunter and the Chapter authorized $500 for this cause.

3. Kandiyohi County contacted the Chapter regarding a high-priority land acquisition, supported and encouraged by PF, bur for which KCPF lacked funds. There was a lengthy discussion on the topic with some suggesting a $2,500 donation and others suggesting $1,000. The discussion closed with the agreement that the Chapter would see if other opportunities like this were likely to be available and further agreement that if other opportunities were likely, then we would earmark $3,000 for land acquisition and try to support three (3) acquisitions with $1,000 each. If other opportunities were not likely, then it was agreed we would donate $2,500 to KCPF. Joost was tasked with reaching out to Eran and the Board would follow-up by phone within 24 hours given the need to forward funds to KCPF in whatever the agreed amount. (The next day, the Board agreed it was likely other opportunities were coming the near future and so $1,000 should be contributed to KCPF). 4. Other items, not set in stone but on Chapter radar, were support for high school trap, future pollinators, and a joint mentor hunt with Washington County.

Wings North 1. There was a discussion of the Chapters appreciation for the support provided by Wing’s North, the likelihood that the Chapter would only be able to do 1 Chapter hunt per year, and how our Chapter recognizes the donation received from other Game Farms.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. by Daniel Jambor. The next general meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. on May 11, 2016, at Gabe’s by the Park.

Minutes submitted by: Daniel Jambor Approved by: 5-11-16 Unanimous