Victoria Bowmen AGM Meeting Minutes September 24, 2020
Victoria Bowmen Archery Association
Annual General Meeting
Meeting Minutes – Thursday September 24, 2020
- Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by the President at 6:57pm
- Attendance
Greg Cargill, Glenn Bond, Greg Birtwistle, Al Wills, Mary Wills, Lisa Lange, Ellen Vander Hoek, Jim Birtwistle, Helena Myllyniemi, Ted Minnie, Andrew Reeve, Dina Reeve, Brad Barclay, Angela Cramer, John Carinelli, Vesa Myllyniemi, Greg Fong, Billy Sanderson, Al Anderson, Andrew Engelhardt, Kendra Savich.
- Approval of the Minutes of the Previous AGM
Moved – Helena Myllyniemi
2nd – Angela Cramer
- Reports
Reports attached at the end of this document.
- Business Arising from the Minutes
Property Move: There is no new information to report until after the upcoming meeting on September 30th. The club will be made aware of any developments after that day.
- New Business
- No new business has been approved within the requisite 30 days, so any new business will automatically be handled by the new Board.
- Election of Officers
- Al Wills, President
- Greg Birtwistle, Vice President
- Helena Myllyniemi, Treasurer
- Ellen Vander Hoek, Secretary
- Larry Gagnon, Membership
- Helena Myllyniemi, Lessons
- Vesa Myllyniemi, Equipment Director
- Kendra Savich, Webmaster/Equity Director
- Greg Cargill, JOP Director
- Doug Linton, Board Member/Director at Large
- Bruce Somers, Board Member/Director at Large
- Jarrod Ball, Board Member/Director at Large
- Dave Ball, Board Member/Director at Large
- Lisa Lange, Board Member/Director at Large
- Richard Lange, Board Member/Director at Large
- Billy Sanderson, Board Member/Director at Large
- Ralph Clark, Board Member/Director at Large
The Board was elected as a slate and accepted unanimously.
Moved – Kendra Savich
2nd – Andrew Reeve
- Time and Place of New Board Meeting
The next meeting will not be called until after next Thursday.
- Good and Welfare
- Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:21 p.m.
Reports:
President: Wow what a year!! I will save comments on COVID as we have heard enough about it, we will just mention it as it has affected our shooting! Little did we know as we cancelled the last of our indoor shooting, that we would not see normal this shooting season! As I write this our indoor lessons will be starting again at Commonwealth Place, but the outdoor is done!
We entered the outdoor season knowing that we’d be off the range in August, we’re still there and who knows when we’ll actually be asked to leave, don’t get your hopes up, however as it will be soon regardless!
I wish I could report more on the proposed new range, but we will not know anything until the
30th. We had already pushed this meeting back and it must be help in September, so here we are!
I must thank all of you for your patience this season; I sincerely hope we will see some normalcy in 2021! The strain of the move and the emotional ups and downs with the proposed new range have meant lots of hours for many of us! Our planning for the site and what we might do, along with the demands of the municipality have been great, however, thank you to Ellen, Greg, Helena, and Bruce for your sage assistance!
With all those unanswered questions it is indeed difficult to report to you, but report I must, so I will suffice to say the club is doing well! We are financially stable, our membership numbers are constant, there seems to be a constant need in the community for archery, so the club is in good shape!
The only weakness I see is leadership, we need to have more of you step forward in more ways, we need every member to take an ownership role in the club. Whether it’s asking that new member where their membership card is or picking up garbage on the range, you have to do it!
Further on that topic, I feel the club requires a new leadership structure with the members of the
Board being more accountable for what we do and what we plan. Our Bylaws are outdated with too many portfolios that do not really mean that much, so I proposed to update them again this fall. In the meantime, Greg and I will have some new ideas on involvement and work during the early part of this next mandate.
I hope we can organize more tournaments this next season and year, we just need the who, as we have the interest already. We just need a place to host them and we’re working on that! Onward!
Respectfully submitted,
Al Wills, President
Vice-President: We have been busy on deconstruction at the range. Please come out and lend a hand on September 30th at 9:30; bring gloves and masks. I appreciate the help and comradery this year.
Secretary: I’ve enjoyed this year learning the secretary role and appreciated the support I’ve gotten.
Treasurer: How different this past year has been. For the treasurer it was a lot less work as we didn’t have many programs this summer as we usually have. First time as the treasurer I could fit all the documents for the whole year in one manila envelope!
The sad side of it is that we didn’t have a lot of the income that we usually earn doing summertime classes at the outdoor range.
Our membership revenue is down about $5000.00 from last year an the Commonwealth programs are down by $7000.00 as well. The community group lessons that didn’t happen this year was a loss of about $5000.00. Of course, we didn’t have any tournaments, either.
However, the picture is not all bad as we didn’t have as many expenses, either. We actually ended up in good shape for the coming year which we expect to bring a lot of expenses if we secure the new outdoor range and start building it.
I have enjoyed another year in the club and will continue if the membership votes me in.
Respectfully submitted,
Helena Myllyniemi
Membership Director: As expected, due to the three perfect storms of COVID-19, closure of indoor shooting and the early fall 2020 closure of our outdoor range the membership levels for 2020 are at an all-time low for at least the past 15 years. As of this report (Sept 11th, 2020), membership for 2020 stands at 143. Despite those realities I still continue to receive at least 1-2 emails each week expressing interest in joining the club, so there is obviously still a lot of archery interest in the Victoria area. Unfortunately, I have had to spell out our range situation to many potential newcomers. A few have joined regardless, but many of them are awaiting more positive news concerning our ranges – I have subscribed all of the interested parties to our email newsletter so they can be informed of future developments.
Archery Canada has a new database for club members so I am currently investigating how to merge our own club’s member database with theirs in the near future.
I am willing to stand as Membership Director for another year if club members wish me to continue. However, if there is anyone out there that would be interested in taking up this volunteer position then please discuss this with me ASAP.
Sincerely,
Larry Gagnon
Victoria Bowmen Membership Director
JOP Director: The year started out busy and due to COVID, interest in the program decreased. I have maintained contact with parents and athletes to keep them informed of any developments.
Equipment Director: Lots of repairs have been made over the year!
Webmaster: The new website design is focused on bringing in new members. Due to the range and COVID situations there hasn’t been a lot of feedback on the design.
Dave Ball, Director at Large: The Monday Night Drop in over the last year was pretty well attended most nights. I would think an average would be close to 12-15 people with approximately 3-5 new archers each week. There were a few club members each week with a big thank you to them for their support. I am not aware of any further plans to continue the drop in due to our current “lifestyle”. If Saanich and the club wish to continue with the drop in, please keep me advised.
Dave Ball