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YOUR 2012 OPTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Please contact any of us and we’ll help you anyway we can!
Presidents Message – January 2012 I trust you are all enjoying the post season league shoots and preparing for the upcoming OPTA season! I look forward to seeing all of you at the various league shoots and hope you have a safe and enjoyable winter. The Board began working on the 2012 Ontario Championships last August with a post mortem of the 2011 Competition. We received many compliments about the shoot, as well as some recommended changes, and we are searching for ways to make if more efficient and appealing to competitors. Hamilton Gun Club was very supportive in doing its best to make the shoot run smoothly and maintain the grounds. The OPTA appreciates the HGC Executives and Members’ support in making the competition an enjoyable event. The Hamilton Gun Club has acquired a school portable which is located on the west side of the grounds. It has been wired and will be cleaned up over the winter. The Ontario championships and other registered shoots will be run from that building using the same layout for classification, squad selection and cashiering as last year since that layout proved to be very efficient. By setting the shoot administration up on the west side, we will be able to minimize the commute between the shooting fields and administration which will help to speed up the shoot-offs. We believe we can finish the shoot-offs well before dusk and will not have to depend on lighting. If weather delays or other uncontrollable delays occur and we need lighting, Hamilton Gun Club has upgraded the lights on the east side and the shoot-offs will be conducted there. A cause of delay in running the shoot-offs in 2011 and determining the option payouts, was the number and complexity of categories and options. We plan to streamline both for 2012 competition while continuing with those necessary to appropriately recognize the Championship categories and the more popular options among our members. While many members were enthusiastic about the 2011 shoot, there were issues with some of the events and there are always things that could be improved. The Board has prepared a survey to get a sense for what we should retain, dispose of, or modify. The results of the survey will be used to help us finalize the program as well as improve the shoot. Additionally, the survey is a good opportunity for the Board to get feedback about many elements of the OPTA’s activities. There have been several favorable articles about the shoot in various clay target magazines so we believe we are gaining momentum to increase participation. An important question in the survey is designed to get member reaction to changes in membership fees or shoot fees so we can get a better sense for the options that might be acceptable and what the Association can do to further improve trapshooting in Ontario and accommodate potential decreases in revenue such loss of the grant we currently receive. As we do more work on the budgeting process, I will provide more detail regarding our finances in the next edition of the newsletter. I will talk a bit later about finances but would like to recognize OPTA members who have or will sponsor awards at the championships. This helps manage finances and improve the quality of awards. Ray Kassmanian was kind enough to support an event in 2011 and Florin and Alicia Marinachi of Learn Trapshooting Canada have offered to provide awards for the New Junior and New Sub-Jr Shooters in 2012. If anyone would like to sponsor an event, just notify one of the directors who will bring it to the Board’s attention. But don’t wait too long, we would like to make sure sponsors get the appropriate recognition in the 2012 program. The Ontario Championships is our most significant event but is not our only focus. The 2012, shoot program is almost complete and will be released soon. Additionally, the Ontario teams have been determined, loaded on the website, and are summarized in this newsletter. With the transition of leadership in 2011, the Board made some changes in the way it manages OPTA member’s funds. These changes will improve governance and make our financial activities and procedures more transparent. The amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws (C&B) will be raised at the August 2012 Annual General Meeting (AGM) for membership ratification before being incorporated into the C&B. Briefly, these amendments and the underlying logic are: • The C&B has been interpreted to allow Board members to audit the financial statements regardless of professional qualifications. This section will be changed so that the Board must cause an audit at least every 3 years by a qualified professional, or earlier if deemed necessary. During the intervening period, the financial statements are to be reviewed annually by an independent qualified professional. • The C&B states that the Directors and Executives are elected at the AGM. The practice has been to elect the Directors and allow them to elect the Executives. This process will be clarified in the Amendment. • The C&B allows the Treasure to sign a check on behalf of the OPTA for $1,000 with no counter-signatures. This will be amended to restrict the Treasurer to write a check for up to $250 to cover routine expenses. Any amount above that will require an additional signature from an authorized executive so any such check will have two authorizations. An audit of the Organization’s financials was requested when the Treasurer function was transferred in 2011. This audit has identified several issues of concern to the Board so the audit has been expanded to ratify financial records against statements acquired directly from the bank. We are anticipating a report from the accounting firm in the near future and will inform the membership of their findings and our actions. The OPTA’s financial position is sound given its limited sources of revenue and we showed a small net gain in 2011. We receive an annual grant of about $10,000 which is steadily decreasing and expected to disappear over the next few years as the requirements are increasingly stacked against the shooting sports. If that happens, the interest on the existing GIC’s will not be adequate to cover the shortfall between expenses and income and we will see a gradual decline in surplus unless alternative revenue sources are found or expense cuts are made. As a result, the Board is setting up a better approach to managing finances and making Board actions more transparent to members. To date there has not been a formal budgeting process for the OPTA’s financial activities. If we are to be successful in growing the sport, we need a better sense for our projected revenues and expenses so we can focus our efforts on important growth opportunities while ensuring we have the finances to manage our commitments to the membership. The Board is working on a budget process that will enhance the financial management of our affairs. As you will appreciate, there is a lot of work still to be accomplished to improve trapshooting in Ontario and the Board is working diligently to make it happen. Neville Henderson
Past President of the OPTA Steve Stiby 2007 - 2010 W. L. (Smokey) Smith 2000 - 2007 Ike Prokaska 1998 - 2000 Brent Price 1996 - 1998 Ray Norton 1994 - 1996 Paul Shaw 1992- 1994 Jerry Mariana 1991 - 1992 Jerry Gilroy 1990 John Van Huesden 1988-1989 Jerry Mariani 1986 - 1987 Bruce C. Lyons 1982 - 1985 Maurice J. Wainwright 1976 - 1981 Jerry Mariani 1975 John Kaylor 1973-1974 Jack Henning 1971 - 1972 Bruce E. Stevens 1969 - 1970 Ed Wladichuk 1953 - 1968 Tom Oliver 1952 Hugh Lennox 1951
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