Call to order at 7:30 pm by President Greg Gerou
Attendance: Greg Gerou, Greg Braun, Brad Edwardson, Rich Truesdell, Justin Kratz, LeRoy Smith, Jerry Oren, Melissa Schumacher, Becci Truesdell, Cindie VanTassel, Charlie Loll
MSC (Rich T., Mel S.) to approve the January 18, 2024 meeting minutes
- Note: The Boy Scout donation from the January meeting. The budget committee discussed making sure any donation went directly to Camp Wilderness instead of the Northern Lights Council. Check already issued for this year. We will address if a request from Camp Wilderness is received.
President Report
NDGF Youth Conservation & Leadership Waterfowl Summer Camp Opportunity
- June 3-7 in Washburn, ND for ages 13-17
- Application deadline March 15
- The club can provide scholarship opportunities to anyone from the area if they are selected
Status of Wahpeton Community Center with proposed Wellness Center
- The new facility would not host rental events like our smoker, the club would need to find an alternative option
- The current community center may not be used the same in the future – TBD
- Nothing is official yet, the project still needs to pass a vote
Transfer of checking to First Community Credit Union – in progress need to get signatures from the executive board
Plan to purchase a laptop computer and software for the club
- In progress – applied for a non-profit Microsoft account
Nominations are open for the club awards until the end of the March meeting (Sportsperson of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Lifetime Member Award, Landowner/Conservationist, Conservation Officer)
Multiple grant funding is available. NDWF grant has been submitted.
- If anyone is interested in taking on the responsibility of writing grants for the club talk to Greg Gerou. There are many opportunities available.
- Heather Retzer has some experience in grant writing and could be a resource for assistance.
Treasurer Report
- $84,894 (plus $9,960 invested and $6,085 in cash)
- Bills – Digital Guru for computer deposit, Park & Rec, EconoFoods, Joe Keller (conference travel), Becci (Smoker/Printer/Website), Cindie (Heitkamp Derby/Conference Travel), Jeff Schwartz (mount), Melissa (Jr Wildlife)
- MSC (Cindie, Justin) to approve the Treasurer’s report.
Directors
- Turkey banquet – they were 62% better than last year (goal is 50%). Attendance was down 10-15 people from 2023. The club won a pistol. Received a thank you for the group.
- Two summer camp opportunities (NDGF Waterfowl Camp & Prairie Wetlands Woody Camp). Create social posts promoting registering for the camps. If we can find a list of emails of our youth hunt participants send them an email about both opportunities. Camp sponsorship is available.
General Committee Reports
Parks & Recreation
- ND G&F $5,000 reimbursement to Park & Rec for running the fish station
- Community Center has a new digital display in the lobby to promote events
Jr. Wildlife Club
- Feb 15 was Animal Tracking & Identification led by Brad. Had 6 kids participate.
- March 21 is Birdhouses at Comstock Construction
Scholarship
- Received an application to review
- The committee wants to get together to discuss changing some of the requirements
Public Relations
- Ice Fishing derby was featured on ND Today.
- Please make sure to share any photos you have from events with Becci so they can be added to our Flickr page. Email them to redriverareasportsmen@gmail.com
- Continuously working on updating the website with new information, news articles, etc. If you see anything that needs updating please bring it forward.
Recruitment
- Working on cleaning up the current membership list and discussed sending out a mailed piece to get back some of our past members who haven’t paid up in a while.
Seasonal Committee Reports
- Neil Heitkamp Ice Fishing Derby: The event is still on – a social post should go out letting people know. Holes will be drilled Friday by hand – need volunteers. There is about 10” of ice on the pond. Have lots of volunteers for Saturday. Ordered more food than last year. Got some homemade fishing rods to give out to 1st place. Grand prizes of fish houses and underwater camera.
Internal Club Contests
- Submissions were made by Cindie 15” crappie and Justin (Kris) 10” puffer fish & 34” redfish.
New/Old/Unfinished Business
- Justin confirmed the memorial fishing tournament date will be June 22 from 7 am-2 pm. There will be an opportunity for the club to have a table.
- Betsy Sitz donated 6 rods/reels to the club
- The insurance renewal date is in discussion to try and make it earlier in the year.
- Greg will be sending out an email with committee lists to make sure everyone still wants to be on what they are listed
- Andrew Meyer is the new St. John’s youth director and will accept information to share on any events we host
The meeting adjourned at 8:39 pm.
The next club meeting is March 21 at the Wahpeton Community Center at 7:30 p.m.