Meeting Minutes

January 26th 2008 Yellowstone River Inn, Glendive

President Mike Newton called the meeting to order and asked for all proxies to be turned in.  There were five proxies, those being:  Flathead Chapter represented by Trent Young; Fresno Chapter, Neil Kulbeck; Glendive Chapter, Craig Wagner; Upper Missour Chapter, Mike Sedlock; and the Upper Yellowstone Chapter president, Darren Raney, returned his with his vote choices indicated for the meeting’s elections.  The sign-in roster showed sixty-two members attending, twenty-one of whom were eligible to vote and with the votes cast by Darren making the vote total twenty-two.

After self-introductions all around, Mike called for approval of the minutes from the fall meeting in Glasgow.  Doug Hill so moved with Mike Sedlock seconding.  Motion carried.

Treasurer Mike Butzlaff distributed copies of his financials showing the organization “in the black” by about $340+.  After a few questions were answered, Ted Toavs moved, Doug Hill seconded the financials be accepted as presented.  Carried.   Mike has a new system in place regarding insurance per event fee payments which allows chapters to pay per event as they happen or pay for the whole year.  Fees remain the same and forms are available on the website.  To date all fees due have been paid and there are no delinquencies.

Jim Rettig reported that “Fish Tales” is ‘holding its own’ with $290+ in the bank.  He asked for email addresses from each chapter for better communications.  Steve Harada moved that due to our soon-to-be 501c3 status and following our WUM bylaws, there be no more paid political ads printed in ”Fish Tales.”  Ted Toavs seconded the motion which was passed.

Webmaster David Sedlock handed out an information sheet detailing a first year overview of the website hits which showed an average of 143 different people a day visiting the site!  David asked that more information be sent to him for posting on the web.  He receives about 12 emails per day and spends over twenty hours per week on the WUM website.  He also asked that we either call or email to make corrections and updates and he would also like a listing of chapter contact email addresses.

Bob Klein asked about updating the FWP information site and who is responsible for this.  Regional Directors should get information from their area FWP’s to help keep the site updated.

All are encouraged to get at least one sponsor.  The Gallatin/Madison chapter would like to add a webpage link for their chapter and they plan to get a sponsor to pay the $150 yearly fee for which that sponsor will have their name added to the scroll, link, and webpage.  All considered this very cheap advertising and all chapters are asked to get at least one sponsor from their area to support the site.

President Mike replaced outgoing regional director Bill Combs with Jim Rettig on the website committee.  He also asked that anyone please notify him if they want placed on any of the current committees.

Executive Director and Lobbyist Bob Gilbert reported there is quite a bit of proposed legislation that will have a big impact on Walleyes Unlimited of Montana, the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery, etc.  He also suggested that with only 3,000 plus Walleyes Unlimited members out of the approximate 35,000 to 40,000 warm water fisher-people in Montana, chapters need to get out in their communities not only to educate and inform people and try to increase their WU membership numbers but to also make them aware of such things as the warm water stamp.  Bob will be having the walleye feed for the legislators on the third Wednesday in January 2009 and asked for help from WUM members.

President Mike discussed the Fort Peck hatchery fund committee meetings and their suggestions in the “uphill battle” to continue funding of the hatchery which must be decided by legislative session 2009 because the current fund will run out of money by 2011.  Carl Seilstad suggested putting together a packet using statistics concerning the hatchery to present our case to the legislation.  Also mentioned was the Canyon Ferry meeting held in Harlowton and the WUM’s proposed limit on walleyes from this fishery going from 20 down to 10.

A lengthy discussion followed which evolved in the organizing of a Hatchery Committee to meet as soon as possible to come up with a plan to legally deal with these issues concerning the hatchery, FWP, etc. as moved by Ted Toavs, seconded by Steve Harada and carried.  The committee members are Jim Muscat, Kennie Williams, Dan Spence, Mike Newton, Darren Raney, Mike Sedlock, Brian Tomlinson, Trent Young, Bob Klein, and Bob Gilbert.  Carl Seilstad later offered $1000 from the Fall Classic in support of this project for any fees incurred.

The 501c3 status was next on the agenda.  This should be in the hands of the IRS by next week.  The proposed design of the WUM license plates will be posted at the banquet and will be available for purchase as soon as the state prison begins producing them.  WUM will receive $20 per plate in revenue.

Steve Harada proposed one bylaw change to Article XI, 3. to allow WUM to suspend and/or penalize in some way any chapter delinquent in their duties such as paying insurance fees, providing financials for CHMS, etc.  It was felt this change/addition must also include a time line such as “for 60 days.”  This will go to the Bylaw Committee who will work on proper wording as required by our new 501c3 status.  They will send the proposal out to voting members for review and take a phone vote.  Jim Rettig reminded all of the minimum membership required to qualify as a chapter being 25 and that some of the chapters do not meet that requirement.  President Mike stated that because of this requirement, Plentywood and Shelby were not counted as active chapters when we applied for the 501c3 status.

Under new business, President Mike presented a WUM belt buckle made by Bear Mountain Silversmiths.  The company makes them one at a time from pure German silver.  They may be willing to donate them to kids’ events, awards, etc.  Two of these will be displayed and auctioned at tonight’s banquet.

The 2008 Walleye Circuit tournament directors’ meeting will be held at the EPEC center follow this meeting.  Discussion followed concerning that occasional ‘live’ fish that, within minutes of release, turns belly-up but was counted by the weigh boat as a catch for that team.  Travis Scott moved, Rod Putnam seconded that at every rules meeting preceding tournaments, five minutes be taken to educate tournament participants on the proper method(s) of keeping their catch(es) alive and well including the use of weight clips, etc., and that tournament packets include some of these weight clips.  Motion carried.  It will be left up to the circuit committee to handle this requirement.

Billings Chapter President Bob Klein proposed the addition of a “Lifetime Membership” to WUM for a suggested $500.  Jim Jesson of Glendive, who in 1983 was one of the original founders of the organization, informed all that at one time there was such a membership for $100.  Any decision concerning this proposal was tabled and Treasurer Mike Butzlaff, Bob Klein, and “Fish Tales” publisher Jim Rettig will put together some numbers and project the impact on WUM by the next meeting.

Jim Jesson suggested WUM offer a $500 scholarship to any graduate of a Montana high school who is now a junior or senior in college and majoring in wildlife management.  He felt that this would not only benefit the student but would also be good publicity for WUM.  The WUM Foundation fund interest could cover this expense.   This brought up an endowment given the Billings chapter that was $10,000 and was to go to students from four area counties and had Walleyes Unlimited name on it.  It was asked if the newly reorganized Billings chapter knew anything about this and Bob Klein will check.  Further discussion of the scholarship was tabled.

Bob Gilbert reported that he is on the Boating Advisory Council which controls the boat tax money.  On the FWP website there is an application and the requirements to apply for the $100,000 in grant money available for any improvements related to boats and public boating facilities.  To date there has been only one applicant.  He encouraged anyone with a need to look into this.

Craig Wagner discussed a Fort Peck habitat enhancement feasibility study proposal.  A federal funding bill must be written by September in order to finance this study.  After some discussion the general consensus was that he should proceed with this proposal since it could not only benefit Fort Peck but other lakes as well and that he would have WUM’s full support as this was well within the mission and goals of Walleyes Unlimited of Montana.

Next on the agenda were the elections of Regions 2 and 4 Directors and State Secretary and Treasurer.   After written ballots were tallied, Jim Rettig was re-elected Region 2 Director, Travis Scott Region 4 Director, Nora Grubb re-elected Secretary, and Mike Butzlaff re-elected Treasurer.

Positions up for election in 2009 will be:  Vice President and Regions 1, 3, and 5 Directors.

President Mike announced there would be four Hall of Fame inductees announced at tonight’s banquet along with three 12 and under Youth Awards and two 13-17 year old Youth Awards presented.

Roy Ereaux thanked those chapters who sent donations to the Malta Chapter for the new ramp at Nelson Reservoir.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned.  President Mike stated at this time he could see no need for an April meeting, but would keep all informed.

Respectfully submitted,

Nora Grubb, Secretary