Meeting Minutes April 2025
Meeting called to order by President Tom Huber @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Tom Huber
Jamie Belanger makes a motion to add Todd Smith as Treasurer, Motion to accept Ed Gervais, 2nd Larry Aubin, all in favor
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept Larry Aubin, 2nd Chris Berthelette, all in favor
Treasurer’s report not read this month due to no Treasurer.
Board of Advisors: BOA had their meeting about the debit card section wording. Suggestion is that they strike out what is there now, and change it to President, VP, treasurer, and kitchen chair. Full reading of old and new proposal will be read under new business. Rob Knapik is still working on the CORI issue.
Officers: no report
Archery: Dan Sullivan said there were 28 paying shooters at the first archery shoot. John still has tickets for the Mathews Lift raffle.
Fish: Matt thanks the kitchen staff for having another great breakfast for the derby. There was a lot of snow so the derby was Saturday and Sunday. Prize winners 1st Mark Kuras, 2nd Ed Owens, 3rd Mark Kuras. Matt thanks Mike Keup, as well as new members Pete Olbrys and Bill Noyes that helped. This Thursday at 10am the pond will be stocked, Matt says come down and get a few work hours. Pond will be closed Thursday and Friday, and the derby is from 8-10 Saturday morning. It is open to all grandchildren, kids, and nieces and nephews of members. There will be breakfast. Come down and help out at the derby if you need work hours.
Forestry: no report
Game: no report
Pistol: Russ says he had 2work parties, last weekend to get the foundation ready for cement. Russ thanks everyone that helped out at both work parties and will keep everyone updated when they plan to pour cement.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says a work party was held yesterday and they cut in some new parking areas and everything is cleaned up. Next work party will be later in the summer, Jim wants to put up a new shooting house and add more benches. Jim will cancel the swap meet if he doesn’t get a lot of people to sign up tonight. 200 Sportsman’s is having one the same weekend. Jim has 4 spots left for CMP class.
Grounds and Maintenance: Tom says westill need a chairman. The woodshed needs to be stained and water sealed, see him after the meeting if you want to do that for work hours. The 3 doors we originally had approved need to be done, Jamie says we would need to talk to John Piotrowski to see if he is still able to do them, or see Tom if this is something you can do.
Kitchen: breakfast will be 7-10am on Saturday. Club rentals MUST call Steve to sign forms if you add something to the calendar, otherwise your event date is not held for you. Steve says we need a pest company for mice.
Clubhouse: no report
Junior activities: Tom says we are still looking for someone to take this over. Easter egg hunt was pretty successful and the kitchen did an amazing job. Tom thanks everyone that was here that day.
Membership: Jim says we still have openings for membership.
Work hours: Jamie says to make sure you sign in before you leave if you are a new member
WCL: Tom is going to ask for $XXX for the WCL dues. Matt Fontaine is interested in attending some of the meetings. Russ Hinchliffe is also interested. Dinner is also provided at the meetings.
Old Business: no old business
New Business:
- Ethan Desilets makes a motion to ask the club for approximately $XX/mo to allow us to have email and google drive. This will allow membership and officers to keep all documentation in one place. This will allow everyone to share documents in the event someone leaves abruptly and for easier tracking. Chris Berthelette 2nd, all in favor.
- Larry makes a motion to change the wording for the Debit Card section of the By-laws as listed below. This will be emailed to all full time and lifetime members prior to the next meeting when the vote will occur.
ARTICLE 8, C., iii Debit Account.
OLD: The President and the Vice President shall have custody and use of debit cards for general Purposes, subject to a limit of two thousand and 00/100 dollars ($XXXX) in available funds.
NEW: The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Kitchen Chairman shall have the use of debit cards (all on the same account), to be reimbursed by their committee’s funds and must present receipts for the amounts of the purchases at the next scheduled meeting. Debit account to have a maximum of $XXXX for this use.
- Russ would like to see the sign up sheets and hold harmless for the ranges go back to the ranges in addition to clubhouse because he thinks they will be used more. Chris Berthelette 2nd, all in favor.
- Russ got 3 concrete prices, estimated $XXX.XX for the pistol range and will need a check to cover it.
- Russ also states there were rifle shells on the ground at pistol, be aware that you are not supposed to shoot anything but pistols and 22 rimfire at the pistol range.
- Bob Lepage would like to make a motion for the club to purchase a log splitter. Jamie says we will need to get 3 prices and then the treasurer and will need to review and advise where the money is coming from.
- Paul Soares says Sayles Hill Rod and Gun Club burned down and would like to make a donation. Paul makes a motion to donate $XXX, Russ Hinchliffe 2nd, all in favor.
- Tom says Matt Oliver is going to take over the gate duties to make sure it’s in good shape as well as dealing with fobs.
Motion to adjourn 7:36pm
Meeting Minutes April 2025
Meeting called to order by President Tom Huber @ 7:00pm
Pledge led by President Tom Huber
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, Chris Berthelette 2nd, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, Joe Eisenhardt 2nd, all in favor
Correspondence: The letter and certificate were received for the CMP program, certificate is in the bulletin board by the bathrooms.
Board of Advisors: Larry held a vote by email for chair and co-chair for BOA. Larry Aubin will remain chairman and Tom Bienkewicz will remain co-chairman.
Officers Report: Tom says as we get the new year going, he asks that people know their surroundings and act right in front of people including vulgarity around children. We want to remain family friendly especially during public events. Tom reminds everyone of work hour requirements and says a lot of committee chairs do work with no help. Tom wants chairman to be more engaging to encourage people to do work hours. Tom asks everyone to be respectful during meetings.
Archery: John will have a work part Saturday morning to put targets out on the course. He thanks Danny Sullivan, Sabio Santiago, and Dave Hudson for helping with resetting the bridge. First archery shoot of the year is April 27th, registration starts at 7 and goes until noon and it costs $15 to shoot. John still has raffle tickets for the bow.
Fish: Matt thanks everyone that helped stock the pond Friday. He asked for 12” and above, and she didn’t have enough so she added small ones to make up for it. If you catch a fish under 10” it doesn’t count toward your fish count. Derby is Saturday from 8-10am, 3 fish limit. Under 11” won’t count toward your fish count. Steve asks why we close the pond after its stocked because all the birds and otters are eating all the fish. Steve says this is not actually in any rules that the pond should be closed after stocking and before derbies. Matt likes to stock the pond on Saturdays so the kids can come help. Matt says for the first stocking for spring he would like to shut it down for the week, and for the 2nd for the kids he will stock on the Saturday before but just shut it down for Saturday and Sunday only. Ralph asks if they can make it catch and release with flies or artificial lures only the week between stocking and a derby.
Forestry: no report
Game: Dave says he still has raffle tickets for the Winchester 20Ga pump. Dave says the game dinner was a great success. They made just under $XXXX on sale of tickets and $XXX on raffles, and 50/50 gave out a $XXX prize.
Pistol: Russ says Wednesday night shoots are going on, 6pm start time and this week is a steel plate shoot. Russ notified all the new members that he will be having a work party on the 26th at 9am.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says the CMP certificate is on the wall and you can order an M1 Garand if you want to buy one. Swap meet is scheduled for May 18th 10am-2pm and he will be doing transfers that will go toward rifle. Table cost is $10. CMP Class is 6/28 at 8am. Jim will add it to the calendar. Jim has flyers up at other clubs in the area and he has a sign-up sheet with him.
Grounds and Maintenance: Tom says we are still looking for a chair for grounds which is mostly mowing, weed whacking etc. Work party will be this Saturday rain or shine at 8am and he also has eggs that need to be filled with candy for the Easter egg hunt. Dan Gaudreau donated the mulch to be put down around the clubhouse.
Kitchen: Steve said the BOH came in and the kitchen was perfect and she was extremely impressed. The corned beef dinner was a few weeks ago and Jim White and his crew did a fabulous job and had a great raffle. Raffle made $XXX and 70 tickets sold. Rifle committee made $XXXX on the meal. Last week was the game dinner and Steve had a lot of people that helped. Lenny Audette helped Steve every day, Steve Rondeau, Jack Murphy, Bob Lepage, Ray Demore, Rolly Aresnault, Pete Guertin, Bob Bedard, Chris Monterotti, Nancy Lewis, Tom Caraceni, Dave Hudson, Ken Mercer, Bob Demore., and many others. Steve says he was wondering where the pheasant people were and that very few pheasant hunters came to help or bought tickets to the dinner. Tom adds that if you want the pheasant program to continue, then support it. Steve says he has a lot of good help but he needs to have someone like him that wants to do stuff, that isn’t afraid to come in and cook things even if he isn’t here. Steve is going to start working a little bit more and he needs people to come in to help out when he can’t be there. Breakfast will be Saturday 7-10am. Steve can use more help after breakfast to break down tables and help clean up. Next Saturday Steve will be here for the easter egg hunt, sign up is on the front table. Buffet breakfast is free for those who sign up for the easter egg hunt. Steve will do lunch the day of the swap meet. Steve says Dick Baker is one of the most important people here and he was here with Steve all week and also helped out all day in the kitchen. He donates all the seafood for the chowder he makes for the dinner. Round of applause for Dick Baker.
Junior Activites: Tom says we still need a chairman for Junior Activities. Dick Baker wants to submit a name for conservation camp, Jimmy Lubas. It is about $XXXX for sponsorship. Ray says in the past the kids that want to go write why they want to go to the camp, it is suggested that Jimmy Lubas write a letter why he wants to go to camp. Dick Baker makes the motion to sponsor Jimmy Lubas, Ray Demore 2nd, all in favor. Egg hunt is the 19th, 2 adults per child. Members children and grandchildren are eligible to attend. Breakfast is at 8am, egg hunt is at 9am.
Clubhouse: No report. Pete Guertin is in charge of the clubhouse but if anyone needs hours it’s a simple thing to do to sweep the floor or clean the bathrooms.
Membership: Chris thanks all the chairs and officers that came to the new member meeting. They have currently filled 34 of 101 open slots. Potential new members please see Chris and Jim after the meeting. If any new members are here and did not sign in, please make sure you do before you leave tonight. See Mark after the meeting to get your fob. Pins for current members are on the table.
Work hours: I will put a list in the bulletin board. Tom says committee chairs should have a list of all probationary members names and phone numbers to let them know about work hour opportunities.
Worcester County League: Tom says we need to find current members that want to volunteer. Meetings are 1x a month the 3rd Friday. Dues are $XXX/yr for the club to be in WCL. If you are affiliated with the WCL, all the clubs pitch in and help out other clubs in the event of emergencies such as a fire.
Old Business: Larry got an email from Rob Knapik about CORI checks. He says he worked with Kevin Kuros and got a sample CORI policy from EOPS. He has reviewed but hasn’t discussed with EOPS rep. He has not fully determined any risk. Kevin spoke to Chief of Staff at EOPS and his point was if we are going to use CORIs for anybody we should probably have at least a separate CORI policy on file even if not in bylaws. Information found is on a need to know basis only and a list needs to be maintained and shared with EOPS. We are not technically making them mandatory for everyone because we ask for LTC or FID as well. Ralph says they put a RI blue card as a form of background check in the bylaws and it is not accurate because it is not a background check.
Ralph says when the bylaws were voted in, Steve and Mark have debit cards and should not according to the bylaws. Tom says has something written up to update kitchen chair and treasurer as debit card holders.
Ralph says the floor can still vote on up to $XXXXX at a meeting and the it needs to be cleared by the treasurer that the club has the funds and there should be a justification where it is coming from.
New Business:
Ralph says there is a lot of talk about working together and probationary people getting hours and meetings. He wanted to go shooting the other day, and a gentlemen was here who harassed Steve the whole year he was probationary that he didn’t think he had to do requirements again, and then went to Ralph and he told him no as well and Ralph says he was allowed in strictly because he was a friend of someone. Steve told this member to come to the floor with his situation and he never did. If you have a problem and can’t do work hours or meetings you should have come to the floor. Ralph says they tried to stop all the sneakiness and back door dealings and most people know we had issues in the past and he thinks that we could run into more issues like this if people try to sneak others in. Steve says it was not a single person’s decision to make on that and it should have come to the floor.
Art makes a motion to address this particular concern. Mark says he is the one that renewed his membership and said he has been here many years and he paid for his work hours. Steve says he was a probationary member and did not have the option to pay for his hours, and refused to do his hours and meetings. Tom says we cannot make exceptions and we will have to revoke his membership. He will have to fill out a new application and fulfill his requirements if he wants to be a member. Chris Berthelette says he does think the bylaws should be clarified a little more for existing members that don’t renew on time and for probationary members. Eli says the requirements say “only upon satisfaction” of requirements which is pretty clear. Chris says he will help Larry and the BOA if needed on the membership section of the bylaws. George asks what right mark had to take this members money and let the member in. Tom makes a motion to retract the member’s renewal, Ray Demore makes motion to accept, Joe Eisenhardt 2nd, all in favor.
Larry reads the proposed motion to update the debit card account to include treasurer and kitchen chairman. The cost limit needs to be updated in the document and then it will be read at the May meeting and voted on at the June meeting. Tom will get with BOA to rewrite before the next meeting.
Steve makes motion to allow fishing after stocking with lures and flies only. Paul Soares thinks the fish committee should make the rules for fish. Ralph thinks the floor should vote on it because the money comes from the floor. Matt suggests when we put the fish in you shouldn’t be able to fish the first 2 days. Matts updated rule states to keep the pond closed for 2 days after stocking, and then catch and release with artificial lures and flies only leading up to the day of the derby. Ralph makes a motion to accept, Dick Baker 2nd, all in favor.
Motion to adjourn 8:29 pm
Meeting Minutes March 2025
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:01 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Ralph casts one vote for Mark Cardarelli, Jamie Belanger, and Tom Huber, all in favor.
Vice President vote: 13 votes for Jeff Bruyere, 32 votes for John Castonguay. John Castonguay voted in as the new Vice President.
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Mark Cardarelli, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, Matt Oliver, all in favor
Board of Advisors: No report
Officers: No report
Archery: All of John’s shoots have been picked, first will be April 27th. He is going to be looking for some help on the course as well as fixing the bridge by the practice range. John will post the work party on Facebook. John still has raffle tickets for the bow.
Fish: Saturday April 12th is the adult derby, pond will be stocked Friday April 4th and pond will be closed until the derby. Kids derby will be Saturday May 10th, pond will be stocked Saturday May 3rd, pond will be closed until the derby. Kids can fish at the adult derby but cannot win prizes.
Forestry: No report
Game: Dave Hudson says the game dinner is the 29th and asks anyone that wants to donate to the raffle you can leave prizes on the table and let him know, or he can pick them up. All tickets are sold.
Pistol: Rus says he is hoping for the weather to break and hoping to start shoots at the beginning of April. Shoots are at 6pm and there are different games every Thursday.
History: No report
Trap: No report
Rifle: Jim has 5 dine-in tickets left and a bunch for takeout for the corned beef and cabbage dinner. CMP class will be limited to 30 people and will be held on June 28th and 29th. If you want to look up the M1 Garand which is available for purchase because the club is affiliated, the Uxbridge Rod and Gun Club number is C13180.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: BOH is coming in tomorrow, there was a work party Tuesday night and Steve thanks everyone that came to help. Steve has 2 porkettas, 3 kinds of sausage, and cowboy candy relish for sale tonight.
Membership: Current members are renewed, shooting for the new member meeting to be held April 6th. If mail ins came in before the last in person meeting, the pins are ready for pick up.
Clubhouse: No report
Work hours: No report
Old Business:
Ralph has a few issues with the updated bylaws to be voted on. He says he was told it was illegal to ask anyone to provide their own CORI check in MA. He also says Article 7 section 5 we are allowed to appropriate up to 10K per meeting, Ralph suggests this clause needs an explanation of where the money comes from and it needs to approved by the Treasurer. Article 8 section 1, debit account should only be for president and VP, Ralph wants to ask to add the kitchen committee chair to the debit card.
Rob Knapik says because there was some uncertainty around what was properly adopted or not, the best way was to go off of the new amended and restated bylaws. He recommended that it will be this copy of the bylaws for this meeting only and all requested changes will need to be submitted afterward to be voted on in future meetings.
Jack Briggs brought up that the CORI check is illegal for an employer or another entity to provide a copy of his/her personal CORI. In order to become a member, you need an FID, LTC, or a CORI and we don’t know if this section of the bylaws is legal. Rob says it is not crystal clear because the statute says only certain entities can require a CORI.
Rob suggests 3 options:
• Adopt the bylaws the way they are in regard to this issue and agree to investigate further on CORI
• Table the bylaw vote until this is resolved
• Put it back to BOA for review.
Rob says in light of the entities and groups that can request a CORI, it would seem a club engaged in shooting sports should have the right to require a CORI. Rob says he or anyone else can all Executive Office of Public Safety. Joe Eisenhardt asks if it is up to the member to provide, is it illegal if they do voluntarily provide a copy. Rob says if you go on the EOPS website you can learn how to be authorized to request CORI’s. Mark says he will try to get clarification or a direct answer.
Kevin Kuros is friends with Chief of Staff at EOPS and he text him. Kevin thinks because this is a private action and it will only be an issue if someone trying to join rejects providing a CORI. The club itself would need to be authorized to pull CORI’s.
Procedurally, the motion is to adopt these bylaws, on the other hand a motion to table would take priority over that primary motion. Rus Hinchliffe recommends we accept the bylaws as they are and then work on the updates.
Jack Briggs makes a motion to table the motion of a bylaw vote, Matt Oliver 2nd. Motion is not accepted. Mike Perks asks that we move the bylaw motion to a vote. Rob says even if the motion to adopt them passes, Rob will still investigate this because it is important. If it warrants a further change, Rob will draft and propose the change. 60 members in favor of accepting the bylaws, 12 members against, motion to accept the bylaws has passed by more than a 2/3 vote.
BOA Members for 2025:
Larry Aubin
Lenny Audette
Mike Benedetto
Tom Bienkiewicz
Matt Fontaine
Mark Kuras
Eli Laverdiere
Paul Soares
Scratch ticket raffle winners:
Judy Olivo
James Bombard
David Bianco
Earl Mcrae
New Business:
Rus says at the pistol range if there is a lot of interest to do a steel shoot they were wondering about a Sunday afternoon 12-2 which will generate more income for the pistol range. He is planning for 2 Sundays per month and he will work with John around his archery shoots.
Motion to adjourn 7:54pm
Meeting Minutes February 2025
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:01 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, Jim Berthelette 2nd, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Jim Berthelette, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry says BOA along with Paul, Ken, and lawyer Rob Knapik went through the by-laws. Membership will need to be notified, and then they will be voted on at the March meeting. Rob will explain under old business.
Officers: We still need a Junior member activities chairman.
Archery: John still has raffle tickets for the new bow.
Fish: Matt says there was good ice this year and had a great turnout, over 30 fish were caught. Matt thanks the kitchen for breakfast, and Mike Keup for helping check the fish. First was Steve Lemoine, 2nd X Blanding, 3rd John Foley. Next derby will be the adult derby Saturday April 12th, kids derby will be may 10th.
Forestry: Devon says no report but asked if the trees on the rifle range be marked he will take care of them.
Game: Dave has shotgun raffle tickets as well as game dinner tickets for sale.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim sold all the raffle tickets. Matt Oliver wins the rifle. Jim has corned beef dinner tickets still. New target boards need to be made, Jim has all the stuff in the pistol trailer. See him if you need work hours. Jim is planning a CMP class which will be limited to 30 people. $45 charge per person.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Steve says breakfast for the derby was a superb turnout and he ran out of everything and thanks everyone for coming down. Steve thanks Dave Patulak for doing electrical work in the kitchen. Steve thanks Pete and Matt Colella for sharpening all the knives in the kitchen. Steve purchased a new griddle for the kitchen that is a little bigger than the one we have. It will be delivered tomorrow or Wednesday. The company he bought it from said it will last a long time. Steve doesn’t have much left for sale, there is 1 pheasant pot pie and 1 porketta. Pie is $12, porketta is 6 lbs $30.
Membership: Renewal is February 9th 10-2 and February 23rd 12-4.
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: no report
Old Business:
Rob Knapik is presenting the revisions to the bylaws. He met with the board of advisors a few weeks ago and the Board of advisors did their best to go through meeting minutes and to figure out all the changes made through the years. Rob recommended to BOA that they propose the bylaws be restated and amended. They went through them and edited the version from 10/24 and made improvements and clarifications. There will be a motion tonight to adopt them as proposed by the BOA. The next motion is suggested by Rob to waive the reading of the bylaws. They will be distributed to membership via email and will then be voted on at the next meeting. Ralph wants to know how to properly propose his new bylaw change and Larry suggests waiting until these are in place. Larry makes a motion that we accept these bylaws as amended and restated and put it to membership to vote on at the next meeting. Mark Cardarelli 2nd, all in favor. In between, the proposed by-laws will be sent to membership. PDF attached to an email satisfies that requirement. Joe Eisenhardt makes the motion to waive reading the updates, Chris Berthelette 2nd, all in favor.
Joe makes a motion to make sure that anyone that doesn’t provide an email address gets a physical copy at membership renewal, Ed Owens 2nd, all in favor.
New Business:
Paul says he and John Quinn checked the 6 duck boxes, results were not great. There was only 1 hatched eggs and some of the boxes were repaired. One of the boxes will need to be replaced next year. He is running low on shavings, and last year they purchased lumber at their expense. Paul asks for $40 for lumber and shavings for the duck boxes. Larry makes the motion to give them $40. All in favor.
Mark says you do not have to wait for renewals to renew your membership, you can drop it off anytime in the mail slot.
Nominations:
President: Mark nominates Tom Huber,
Vice President: Tom Huber nominates Jeff Bruyere, he accepts.
Vice President: Pete Johnson nominates John Castonguay, he accepts.
BOA:
Lenny Audette nominates Larry Aubin, he accepts.
Lenny Audette nominates Paul Soares, he accepts.
Motion to adjourn 7:30pm
Meeting Minutes January 2025
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Bob Brooks, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Bob Brooks, all in favor
Board of Advisors: no report
Officers: no report
Archery: John is still selling raffle tickets for the new Mathews bow. The practice range targets will be coming in this weekend.
Fish: Matt thanks everyone that donated trout to the club. Pond will be stocked Saturday the 18th at 10am. Pond will then be closed until the derby Saturday the 25th. Derby will be at 8am and breakfast will be available. There will be cash prizes.
Forestry: No report from Devon. Ralph asks if he can get a truck up here when he has time to take care of a dead tree by the gate. There are also 3 or 4 dead trees on the rifle range road and asked if he could take the trees or at least the big limbs down.
Game: Dave Hudson asks the other chairmen to give him an idea of what it costs them to run their programs excluding any improvements.
Pistol: Russ says shoots are done for the season.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says there are 2 new targets on the 200yd range and someone already shot up the rack. Jim has a corned beef and cabbage dinner March 15th if anyone wants tickets. There will be in house and take out dinners. He also has raffle tickets for the rifle still.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Steve says to plan on breakfast on the 25th 7a to 10a whether there is a derby or not. Steve could still use some venison for the game dinner. The pheasant committee needs to get together with Steve to plan the date for the dinner. Steve needs volunteers between 2 and 3 Saturday to clean pheasant from Addiville.
Membership: Feb 8th and Feb 22nd are for membership renewals. Thinking about an early shift on one day and a later one the other day but it has not been decided yet.
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: probationary list is finalized.
Old Business: Larry makes a motion to raise membership by 50 members to bring it to 400 paying members. Ken Mercer 2nd the motion. Bob, George and Steve oppose.
Pete Johnson asks what is going on with the scratch ticket raffle, Mark is still selling tickets.
New Business: Bob Brooks wants the club to buy 5 wreaths for wreaths across America Uxbridge for $XX and if you buy before the 17th it will double the amount of wreaths. George Hamm 2nd, all in favor.
Paul Soares says he learned there was a new version of the bylaws that he was unaware of. He says there are 24 changes and he says none of these changes went through the correct process. Larry says they went through 5 years of updates to the bylaws and did it correctly, and Paul says they were not done correctly.
Ron Manyak says it isn’t fair that trap shooters even if they are members have to pay, but pheasant hunters don’t have to pay to hunt birds.
Ken Mercer argues that the separate accounts are a bylaw change. Mark says nothing has changed for division of funds for membership, it stays the same. The only thing that has changed is allocating $XXXX per account to help fund or support the other committees which came out of general. 12.5% to fish and 12.5% game are still in place. No new accounts have actually been created, Mark just tracks what each committee has under the general fund.
Art says Ralph has been an outstanding leader for this club.
Nominations:
President: no nomination
Vice President: no nomination
Treasurer: Bob Brooks nominates Mark Cardarelli, Mark accepts
Secretary: Mark Cardarelli nominates Jamie Belanger, Jamie accepts
Board of Advisors:
1 Ralph Godin nominates Eli Laverdiere, he accepts
2 Eli Laverdiere nominates Mike Benedetto, he accepts
3 Dick Baker nominates Tom Bienkiewicz, he accepts
4 Lenyn Audette nominates Mark Kuras, he accepts
5 Mark Kuras nominated Lenny Audette, he accepts
6 Jamie Belanger nominates Matt Fontaine, he accepts
7 Eli Laverdiere nominates Devon Deragon, he accepts
8 Dick Baker nominates Brian Richard, he accepts
Motion to adjourn 7:54pm
Meeting Minutes December 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:05 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Bob Brooks, 2nd Larry Aubin, all in favor. Bob Brooks asks for a rough idea of the electric bill, Mark says about $XXX/mo and corrected later that it is about $XXXX/mo factoring in all meters.
Board of Advisors: Annual meeting for finances was held and Mark attended. After a thorough report of the financial standing, it was determined that club expenditures were met with no additional money left over. For 2025, Mark says what the projected increases are, and the board recommends raising dues by $XX to bring them to a total of $XXX, and the non-work hour fee raised by$XX to bring to a total of $XXX. Mark and BOA suggests also adding an additional 50 members bringing the total amount of members to 400.
Officers: Ralph says the upcoming vote will be orderly and people will conduct themselves like gentlemen.
Archery: no report
Fish: Matt’s friend took a look at the screens and they will fabricate something and get it in as soon as possible. Upcoming tournament dates as of now are the ice fishing January 25th, adult fishing derby will be April 12th, and the kids fishing derby will be May 10th. All are subject to change.
Forestry: no report
Game: Dave thanks everyone that helped with the program this year. Dave says to keep the program going it is $XXXXX/year. Ralph thanks Dave for everything he did for the program this year.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim has a 223 rifle to raffle off.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Saturday breakfast is done for now. Steve thanks everyone that came in for breakfast and says we made a good profit this year. He also thanks John, Rolly, Dee, Eddie, Nancy, and everyone else that has helped. Steve has a few things in the freezer for sale, see him after the meeting if you want something.
Membership: pins are in, but may need another 50 if that gets voted in. There are about 80 people on the waiting list.
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: updated list is on the Facebook page, not in the board.
Old Business:
Vote for changing the by-law: Dick says XX% was put in years ago and they worked hard to get that into the by-laws. As Dave said, fish and game are the only 2 segments in the club that only members are allowed to use. No committee has ever been turned down for any money and all other committees have a lot of funds in their accounts. Ralph says the only assets the club has are the buildings and the land, there is nothing else to make money here and the individual accounts were put in place to keep the spend under control.
Matt Carter asks what other committees will do with the additional money. Jim White says he wants to redo the 100yd range with additional funds he might get as well as adding electricity and lights to the 200yd range. Steve says the only way money comes into the kitchen is with him making and selling things and doing breakfast and the clam bake. Ray Demore says half of the money that gets raised for pheasant is from the two dinners. Steve asks if anyone knows how many people actually hunt birds at this club and it is probably about 20/25 people. Ron Manyak wants to get LED lights at trap to do shoots at night and Ralph says that is what this additional money would be for. Matt says its going to be a really big hit to fish right off the bat and the club can only support so many dinners. Matt Oliver asks how much money doing the 200yd range has cost to date, Jim says $XXXXX. Dick puts a motion to move the question, George Hamm 2nd. Paul Soares says this was not done the proper legal way. Ralph withdraws the motion and says he will ask the club lawyer Rob Knapik to go through it with him and get the committee chairs to sign it before it comes up at the next meeting.
New Business: Ralph asks that going forward whether its a rule change, bylaw change, etc, that it can be done through email. When the rules were written years ago none of these options were available. Ralph makes a motion that we are allowed to send out a notification via email and wants to let people vote via email. It will give everyone the opportunity to have their voice heard. Art seconds the motion for the email suggestion and wants to know if it requires a by-law or rule change. Ralph withdraws the motion.
Larry Aubin makes a motion to raise the dues up $XX to $XXX. All in favor.
Larry Aubin makes a motion to raise the non-work hour fee $XX up to $XXX. All in favor.
Raising the membership to 400 paying members is a bylaw change and needs to be written out. George Hamm asks where the money goes for work hours. Mark says stabilization. Electric bill alone is almost $XXXXX/yr and liability insurance went up and it can’t be shopped around because there are only 2 companies.
Motion to adjourn 8:06 pm
Meeting Minutes November 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Mark not here, no report
Board of Advisors: No report from Larry. Ralph says December is the money meeting whether dues go up or not. Mark needs to get financials and Ralph has asked him for the last year for a P&L and he hasn’t gotten it. He is trying to be patient so that needs to be resolved before the next meeting, so the BOA needs to meet and Mark needs to attend. If Mark cannot attend the meeting then we will need to have a special meeting.
Officers: Ralph thanks whoever cleaned the brush along the causeway. Anyone looking for hours, you can trim all the way back to the new maintenance building.
Archery: no report
Fish: Pond stocking went well and there are some nice trout in there. Next stocking will be in the winter toward the end of January for the ice derby and Matt asked for all brookies. Matt says there is a picnic table missing from the dam, Ron Manyak says trap has 1 extra that is probably the one they are missing. Steve asks if Matt has any plans to try to fix the screens, right now there is no water so it’s a great time to have someone weld it and fix it. Matt says he has a friend that has a machine shop and he will have him come take a look at it. Ralph says he can get the backhoe over there to dig a hole to put a new beam in if needed.
Forestry: no report
Game: no report
Pistol: Russ thanks Mike Zalenski and Steve Johnson for painting outside the pistol range.
History: no report
Trap: November 17th is the turkey shoot, all are welcome
Rifle: no report
Grounds and Maintenance: no report, but Ralph says there are leaves and acorns all around the clubhouse and by the kitchen that need to be cleaned up.
Kitchen: Steve says anyone that hunts pheasant, if you don’t need them you can clean them and donate them for the game dinner. Breakfast has been going fantastic, Steve thanks Rolly, John, Dee, and everyone else that volunteers along the way. Steve said a few times he did some venison backstrap and venison bacon. The game stuff can’t be sold, and the BOH can find out about that and the club can get in trouble, so keep it on the low. Steve has 2 porkettas, sausage, and stuffies for sale, see him after the meeting.
Membership: Ralph says we had a probationary member that joined, Paul Dryden. His sister passed away and then he got ill himself and hasn’t been able to complete his membership requirements. He is asking to be a probationary member again next year. If we let him be a probationary member next year he will at least have to pay the dues and fulfill the duties next year. Tom Maeder makes a motion to allow him to be a Probationary member again next year, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor. Larry asks if we can waive requirements for probationary member Mike Romasco due to him being in an accident. Ralph says we cannot waive everything, but can make the same motion as we did for Paul. Tom Maeder makes a motion, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor.
Clubhouse: Cheryl wants to step down from being the committee chair for kids programs. If anyone is interested in taking this over and doing the Christmas party, Easter egg hunt and helping with the kid’s fishing derby, see Cheryl or Ralph.
Work hours: updated list is in the board.
Old Business: last month Ralph brough up a proposed bylaw change and it wasn’t done correctly at the last meeting because it needed to be printed out and given to everyone at the meeting. It has now been done correctly at this meeting. Jamie will send an email to everyone and this will be voted on next month.
New Business: Ed Gervais makes a motion that before next spring, one of the benches be engraved to say “In memory of Wilhelm Huber” and maybe have a breakfast and dedication. If we can remember who the other member was from a few years ago where this was asked to be done, we will do that at the same time. Ed makes a motion for $XXX toward this, and if it costs more Ed will pay for it. Ralph says some of the money can come out of the Sunshine fund also. Scott Graham 2nd, all in favor.
Jim White says the shotgun for the pheasant committee that Dave requested for a raffle is here. It is a Winchester 20ga pump. 100 tickets will be sold.
Motion to adjourn 7:24pm
Meeting Minutes October 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Dan Sullivan, All in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Latest copies of the rules and bylaws are done. Larry sent them to Jamie so they can be posted on the website.
Officers: this past month Steve got a new hood for the kitchen, Ralph thanks him for getting it done. Ralph thanks Dave for getting the bird program going and Jim White for finding and getting the shooting benches. Eli got us some fill to use by the quail house free of charge. Ralph asks Mark about the security scratch ticket raffle, Mark says it is still ongoing.
Archery: John thanks everyone that helped pick up the course last weekend. John has raffle tickets for a new custom Mathews bow, $20/ticket, see him after the meeting.
Fish: Pond will be stocked October 13th at 10:30am. People should be able to work around it during the pheasant hunt that morning. People would have to park at the clubhouse and walk around the pond to help. Pond will be closed that day and open for fishing Monday, Columbus day.
Forestry: no report
Game: Dave put up a new purchase form for birds and he will take it down in 3 weeks. Delivery will be the first week of November, please pay Dave for your birds before the end of the month. It is $XX/bird. Dave is going to sit with Steve and get the game dinner and porketta scheduled for next year. Reminder that it is 1 bird per day, 2 on Saturdays. Dave is going to start the 6 bird raffle tonight, $10/ticket, and they are only selling 40 tickets. If it goes well there will be a second raffle. He will be here on the weekends to sell tickets. Dave didn’t want to go into next year with no money so he made the call not to get the rest of the birds for the season. 2 buildings need repair and if he runs out of money ever year he won’t be able to repair the buildings. Dave’s number is on the board if you need to talk to him, and if you have a complaint, then be productive and provide a solution to your complaint. Dave was thinking of getting a shotgun to raffle off to benefit the bird program. Jim says to talk to him after the meeting.
Pistol: Shoots are still going well. Russ has added an infrared heater and a fan for the outdoor shooting area. There is a timer inside the house, you are welcome to use it. Russ will keep the shoots going until it gets too cold.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says they had their first 200yd shoot yesterday and it was a little more difficult than he thought but it was fun. Next year he might add bigger plates. 8 new benches have been added to the range, Ralph found them on Facebook and they were built for $XXX/each. The 100yd range will get some upgrades once the 200yd range is done. Per Jim, Semi-auto without an LTC is a felony. RI residents can apply for an LTC or temporary LTC for the hunting season but Ralph has not found the paperwork online yet. Once you are on club property you are fine, but you cannot transport without an LTC. If you are hunting with 209 primers you need an FID. Art suggests that Jim has some kind of information give members at the next meeting with some major bullet points on the new laws.
Grounds and Maintenance: Ralph has people asking about hours. Now that the leaves and acorns are falling, you are more than welcome to come clean them up and drag them down the road into one of the piles. Brush has been cut along the road and it needs further clearing from the road to the pond so you can see pistol from the clubhouse. Jim says he will have another work party at the 100yd range come wintertime to clear more brush.
Kitchen: The first breakfast of the season was Saturday and it went very well, Rolly took over and Steve thanks him and everyone that helped. Steve says the new fan was put in. Dick Baker donated all the seafood for the chowder they have for sale tonight. A lot of it is sold already. 2Qts and 5pints left, $12/qt and $6/pint. Steve also has Italian sausage for $6, and anyone that sent a message about chowder he has your name on it, see him after the meeting. Ralph says when Matt Carter sends a bill for the kitchen fan, it will have labor and parts. All labor cost comes out of stabilization which is funded by work hours because it is work that members are not willing to volunteer to do, and parts come out of the committee fund. Breakfast will be every Saturday 7-10 during pheasant season.
Membership: no report
Clubhouse: no report. work hours are always available to clean the clubhouse.
Work hours: no report
Old Business: no old business
New Business: Ralph makes a motion for a bylaw change. Right now we give XX% to fish and XX% to game, and then $XXXX to each committee. A lot of committee chairs do not think this is fair. The total we give to all accounts is $XXXXX. XX% of total income. The motion is to split this evenly which divides this amount by 7. It will be $XXXX, for fish, trap, kitchen, rifle, pistol, game, archery. All other committees are very active and the only way they get money is to raise it themselves and it isn’t fair. Ralph is trying to be as fair as possible and keep the club financially sound before he is gone next year. All bills go up and he is trying to keep costs under control. Paul Soares says the club has any right to go through the process, but he thinks it would decimate the pheasant and fish committees and suggests as an alternative to add another percentage of the dues to go to the other committees. Ralph says we do not have the funds to do that. Ralph says that while these are what the club was formed on, the dynamic has changed and we now have a large shooting and archery community. Kenny argues that fish and Game are the only 2 that have to buy product for club members to have a successful program, John Castonguay says all other committees have to raise their own money so Fish and Game should as well. Larry Aubin 2nd the motion. Jamie will send an email to all full members informing them of this bylaw change request and advising of the vote for this bylaw change at the November meeting.
Motion to adjourn 7:58pm
Meeting Minutes September 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: John Castonguay, 2nd Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry says the updates to the bylaws are finished, Larry will give us the updated documents to review. They should not have to be voted on because they were voted on in the past.
Officers: No report
Archery: John thanks everyone for the help at the bbq and Steve and everyone for working in the kitchen. The BBQ made $XXXX profit for the archery program to put toward targets.
Fish: Pond will be stocked in October, don’t know the dates yet and need to wait for the water to cool down.
Forestry: No report
Game: Dave isn’t here tonight, October 5th is the first stocking. September 30th the birds come in and will need help that morning for delivery. Beagle club has paid for their birds.
Pistol: No report
History: No report
Trap: No report
Rifle: Jim has a few tickets left for the rifle, see him after the meeting.
Grounds and Maintenance: No report
Kitchen: Steve thanks everyone that showed up to help at the bbq. Steve put out to see if anyone had veggies for the salad and he thanks Dave Hoel who brought some.BOH score was a 98, the test strips were expired.
Membership: Raffle
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: Jamie posted the work hours document in the bulletin board and it is updated as of the morning of 9/3. She will also post in on the Facebook page.
Raffle Winners:
300 Badge 142 Dustin Ciccarelli
200 Badge 28 Tim Shimko
100 Lifetime John Murphy
50 Lifetime Dennis Makowski
50 Lifetime Ken Zereski
50 Badge 153 Sean Atherton
50 Badge 68 Kyle
25 Badge Lifetime Rob Bacchiochi
25 Badge 118 Earl Corey Jr
25 Badge 329 Paul Dryden
25 Lifetime Karen Briggs
25 Badge 187 John Kossuth
25 Badge 156 Dave Deluca
Old Business: no old business
New Business: Steve was approached by the boyscouts that they have been having their meetings Thursdays and want to move it to Wednesdays. All in favor
Motion to adjourn 7:23pm
Meeting Minutes August 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: John Castonguay, all in favor
Board of Advisors: updates to the rules and bylaws are still a work in progress
Officers: No Report
Archery: John says The BBQ is on August 24th and to let him know if you want tickets, they are $25/each. Mathews is reluctant to send us a bow. John should have tickets to start selling for the raffle tomorrow and when a winner is drawn, the bow will be built to the winner.
Fish: No Report
Forestry: No Report
Game: Dave Hudson posted the stocking schedule on the bulletin board. He will be taking down the bird form and will put another one up for the second half of the season. Dave would like money for private birds by the end of this month.
Pistol: Russ thanks Matt Oliver for mowing and picking up brass at the range
History: No Report
Trap: No Report
Rifle: Jim has the raffle rifle here. He is having a work party August 18th at 8:30am to clear the brush along the pond at the 100yd range.
Grounds and Maintenance: No Report
Kitchen: Ed says that Steve needs 5 or 6 guys this Saturday at 7am to clean for the BOH inspection. Stuffies, sausage and porketta’s on sale after the meeting, see Eddie after the meeting
Membership: No Report
Clubhouse: No Report
Work hours: No Report
Old Business: No old business
New Business: No new business
Motion to adjourn 7:11pm
Meeting Minutes July 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Ralph Godin, Mark is not here
Motion to accept: John Castonguay, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry says they are still working on the by-laws
Officers: No report
Archery: John says he had a decent turnout for his shoot on Sunday. As of July 10th, John will be raffling off a new Matthews compound bare bow, $20/ticket and 100 tickets will be sold. Chicken BBQ will be August 24th, $25/ticket. People can shoot the 3-D course and there will be novelty shoots, a reptile show, and dunk tank.
Fish: no report
Forestry: Tom thanks Devon for taking down the 2 trees. Of the 222 acres, 165 are in the forestry plan. They want to try to get rid of the invasive species around the property. Some funding could be provided to get rid of the invasive species. Tom says they will have work parties, and Ralph says cleaning along the roads will get added to the forestry list of things to do each year.
Game: no report
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim White says there are no steel plates on the 100yd range anymore because someone used the box of bolts as target practice. Jim says they will be clearing down to the water so you can see what is going on over at the range from the clubhouse. There was a car of people that came in and did not sign in and it sounded like automatic fire and then they left. We do not know who it was. There will be another raffle rifle coming, Jim will have the rifle tomorrow.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Clam bake was a few weeks ago, 143 clambake tickets and 30 chicken dinner tickets were sold and that made $XXXX. Cost of food was $XXX, so it was a profit of $XXXX. 10% to club was $XXX, Raffles brought in $XXXX, total profit to kitchen was $XXXX. Steve thanks everyone that helped out with the dinner, and everyone that donated to the raffles. Dick Baker donated the large lobster and all the money from the raffle for it. Steve thanks the Richardson’s who are friends of Dave Carter’s who buy tickets every year, this year they bought 29 clambake tickets and 6 chicken dinners, plus they brought a raffle item and they are not even members.
Membership: no report
Clubhouse: Steve says there is a member Paul Morante who wants to donate a deer mount to replace the broken one. Steve makes motion, John Castonguay 2nd, all in favor
Work hours: no report
Old Business: no old business
New Business: High pressure sodium lights are not working on the building. One of our members is an electrician and he provided a quote to replace them with photo sensors which will be $XXXX and it will come out of building fund. Ralph makes a motion to approve replacing broken lights, Ed Gervais 2nd all in favor.
Motion to adjourn 7:21pm
Meeting Minutes June 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, Dave
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: no report this week.
Board of Advisors: Larry says they had their first meeting as requested and discussed the rules and possible by-law entries. He says they will need to research documents and past meeting minutes to make the necessary additions and changes. Any changes will need to be voted on at a meeting to be added to the by-laws.
Officers: Ralph says John just had a shoot, and a member felt it was ok to mouth off and have some harsh words. John works very hard around here all the time even outside of archery and there was no need for it. If you cant be constructive keep it to yourself and if you do have something to say, be polite about it.
Archery: John says May 26th was his first shoot had 35 shooters come out. He says the practive range is now done and thanks Bob and Jack Lepage for doing for trees, Eli for grading, Steve for the help with platforms and everyone that helped. Targets are out and you can now shoot. Sign-up sheet for the archery range will be in the clubhouse like all other ranges. Reminder that there are no broadheads allowed on practice or 3D range at any time.
Fish: Matt says the kids derby was a success and thanks everyone that helped checking in fish and thanks the kitchen for supplying breakfast and snacks. There were 4 age classes and everyone got a prize. This father’s day there is no limit for trout. In regard to the dead fish in the pond, they were sunfish and there are 3 other ponds around here that this happened at according to the State. There is not an issue with the water. Pond will not be stocked again until October.
Forestry: no report
Game: Dave put a sign-up sheet on the wall for any interest in buying pheasant, delivery of birds is September 30th and first hunt will be October 5th
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says the swap meet brought in $XXX for rifle range. He hopes to make it bigger next year.
Grounds and Maintenance: John fixed the mowers again and the lawn has been cut.
Kitchen: Steve says the Clam Bake is June 15th, $60/ticket. Anyone that wants a ticket see Steve after the meeting. He will need help in the morning and for cleanup at the end. Reach out to Steve and let him know if you are coming and he will give you a timeframe when to show up, usually about 9am. There will be soda and water for sale. If anyone knows how to shuck littlenecks, come a little earlier. Steve is also looking for donations for the raffle. Steve has 3 porchettas for $5/lb, bratwurst, chorizo, and breakfast sausage for $6/each.
Membership: no report
Clubhouse: We bought 2 new fans and those need to stay in the clubhouse. There is also a new floor air mover to dry the floors after mopping.
Work hours: no report
Old Business: no old business
New Business: Ed Gervais says he has a friend at work that prints on everything and wants to know if he can advertise on the Facebook page. He has made custom shirts, hats and signs for the club before. All in favor but can be readdressed if it becomes a problem.
Steve says as of right now we allow Boyscout troop #1122 to come in and have their meetings every Thursday. They do camping once a month and all their camping equipment is all over the place. They want to know if they can store their camping stuff here. Matt asks if he worries some stuff will be stolen because some derby prizes were allegedly stolen. If something gets lost or stolen it is not our problem, we will have them sign an agreement. All in favor.
Motion to adjourn 7:27pm
Meeting Minutes May 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Rolly Arsenault, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Dave Turner, all in favor
Board of Advisors: No report
Officers: Ralph says we finally planted a new Japanese Maple for Walter Knapik. The roof project is 99% done. Roof was stripped in less than 3 hours and all the people that helped saved the club about $XXXX. New doors will be installed soon and the rifle range shooting pavilion will be after that. We will need a lot of help with that as well. Ralph thanks John Castonguay for all the work done to the archery range. A few weeks ago John Quinn had an LTC class that no one knew about and 2 kids smashed the taxidermy deer by the door. John was responsible for having it fixed but it is not able to be repaired. Ralph wanted to notify the floor in case any action needed to be taken. There is a new sign on the maintenance building, Ralph said Dick Baker paid for and and thanked him as well as John Piotrowski for hanging it.
Archery: John thanks everyone that helped him with his work party. He gives a special thank you to Eli for grading the practice range with his own equipment, and Steve for helping him with the platforms this past Saturday, John hopes to have it done this coming weekend. There will be a work party soon to get the 3-D targets out before the May 26th shoot.
Fish: Matt thanks the kitchen for putting on breakfast for the adult derby. 15 people checked in fish this year. This past Friday 235lbs of fish went in and the kids derby is this Saturday at 8am. If you want work hours be here before 8am. Adult derby winners were First place Erin Kossuth, 2nd Scott Graham, and 3rd Cory Lepage. Pond is closed until after the Kid’s derby.
Forestry: Devin talked to Tom Maeder and he has the forestry plan but it’s too big to email. Devon is waiting for nice weather to take down 2 trees on the corner.
Game: Dave Hudson will be putting a sign up sheet in the clubhouse in a few months for anyone wanting to buy their own birds for the upcoming season. Dave will also be doing 2 raffles for private shoots. Dave is working with First Flight to get a price for birds. Ralph suggests checking with the Mane Place soon to secure grain price in advance.
Pistol: Russ thanks everyone that came to the work party a few weeks ago. He had about 16 people so they also cleaned up around trap. They put away 4 skeet machines laying around and there is one left.
History: no report
Trap: Ron says they are starting to pick up and thanked new member Steve Thompson who built a new gun rack.
Rifle: Jim says there will be no work parties until the shooting house is getting built. There will be qualifying this weekend at the 200yd range.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Breakfast for the kids derby this Saturday will be a buffet starting at 7am, it will be $8 for adults, kids will eat free. Steve needs a few people to get here at 6 to help set up. Clam Bake is coming up on June 15th, we do not have a ticket price yet. Steve hopes to have tickets before the next meeting. Steve will be collecting raffle items if anyone wants to donate items. Steve says they will also do some chickens for people who don’t like seafood. Steve asks Jim if there is a lot of people signed up for the swap meet so he can plan for lunch. Steve says he purchased a new ice maker that is smaller than the old one but it still makes a good amount of ice. If you want ice, let Steve know in advance and he can bag it and put it in the freezer. He asks for some kind of donation for the ice. Steve has 4 porchettas for $30/each, 25lbs of chorizo $6 each, breakfast sausage for $6, and 10 packages of zesty Italian sausage. See Steve after the meeting.
Membership: Chris says there is one more slot open. If you need a badge still, see Chris after the meeting.
Clubhouse: Pete can always use help cleaning.
Work hours: Once Jamie has the membership list the probationary member status will be put in the bulletin board and on the Facebook page.
Old Business: Mark updated the gate, so any chairs that need their fob for locking the gate open see Mark. There will no longer be codes. Fobs need to be scanned on the keypad for locking the gate open.
Mark has the lottery raffle, see him after the meeting if you want tickets.
New Business:
Jim White mentioned the swap meet is May 19th. Jim is trying to fill the pavilion. He will cancel if he cannot get more people.
If someone has a few friends coming down that wanted to camp with him, as long as they sign a hold harmless and the member is here with them its ok, they just cannot fish and it cannot be during the hunting season. They are coming to teach a trainer course with Tread Lightly, a non-profit organization for responsible use of recreation areas and conservation. He teaches but he does not make any money off it. He can pay $XXX to rent the club to use as a class.
Ralph asks the Board of Advisors to make sure that everything changed in the last 15 years for By-Laws and Rules has been added. A lot gets voted on but didn’t get added. The bylaws have 4 accounts listed. Ralph wants to make sure they stay in place and wants BOA to get a list of the current accounts and approve them and get them added to the by-laws. There are some accounts that need definitions and how that money should be spent (IE: stabilization)
John Castonguay says he doesn’t know if its new or existing members, but no one is paying attention to the speed limit and wants people to be more cognizant of it.
Motion to adjourn 7:36pm
Meeting Minutes April 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:01 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Ken Mercer, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry contacted all BOA members to nominate chairman and co-chairman. It was unanimous to keep the chairs as-is for this year and both accepted.
Officers: Easter breakfast and egg hunt was Saturday. Cheryl got a suit for Ed to wear, we had the oxen here from Scott Brundage, and Mike Benedetto gave hayrides. There were 100 people here and we will have to look into how to proceed because we only have about 90 chairs.
Archery: no report
Fish: Matt says they are stocking the pond this Friday at 10am if anyone needs work hours. The pond will be closed until the derby Saturday the 13th at 8am, breakfast will be 7-10am.
Forestry: Devon is waiting on the forestry plan. Ray gave the forestry plan to Kurt Salvas who will either bring it to Ralph or give it to Dick Baker.
Game: Kenny says the game supper was a huge success with great food. He thanks Steve Bedard and everyone that helped in the kitchen. Kenny provided a list to thank anyone that donated or helped with the raffle (Ray Demore, Dick Baker, Ken Mercer, John Meserve, Karen Briggs, Ed Gervais, Ed Johnson, Pete Guertin, Chris Monterotti, Jim Lavallee, Jamie Belanger, Bob Demore, Jim White, John and Sherry Castonguay, and Bonnie Godin)
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: Russ says trap is going every Sunday and is open to the public weather permitting
Rifle: Jim White has a sign-up sheet for the swap meet on the table. You can pay him tonight or at the swap meet for a table.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Steve says he had Pete Guertin, Ken Mercer, and Ray Demore that helped throughout the week and thanked them. Everything went smooth and it ended up bringing in about $XXXX in ticket sales. The cost of the food was about $XXX and after the 10% to the club it was about $XXXX profit for game, with raffles it is about $XXXX profit altogether. Steve thanks Rolly Arsenault and Dee Kwiatkowski for the help at the Easter breakfast. Steve has stuffies, kielbasa, and German smoked sausage for $5 a package tonight. See him after the meeting.
Membership: Chris thanks Mark for going through all the mail for membership renewals. There are about 51 spots open, 30 have been filled. New member meeting is this Saturday at 10am, if you haven’t gotten your badges see Chris after the meeting. All Chairs and Officers are expected at the meeting.
Clubhouse: Pete cleans every week and fills the firewood. If you want to help him he usually cleans on Tuesdays. He will be going away sometimes during the summer so he will need some help.
Work hours: no report
Old Business: no old business
New Business:
- Bob Brooks asked Ralph to have the club donate $XXX to Kayla Lavallee’s GoFundMe. Kenny makes the motion to accept, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor.
- Russ would like to do the raffle for the pistol at the end of the meeting now that all tickets are sold.
- Mark says anyone that is a chairman that has a code for the gate will be going to a fob instead of a code. It will be specific to locking the gate open and will be separate from your standard fob. Dick Baker asks if Mark has given any more thought into extending the arm for the fob scanner. Mark hopes to have it installed before the next meeting.
Brenden Bessette is the winner of the pistol raffle
Motion to adjourn 7:30pm
Meeting Minutes March 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Jim Berthelette, all in favor
Correspondence: Kayla Lavallee sent a card thanking the club for the donations and support.
Board of Advisors: No Report
Officers: Easter breakfast and egg hunt will be on the 30th and the sign up sheet is on the table, please write how many adults and children will be attending.
Archery: No Report
Fish: Matt says it was a really small turnout for the derby: Winners were Quinn Horvath, Gerry Leclair, and John Murphy. 9 fish were caught and most were released. There are a lot of fish in the pond still. Adult derby will be Saturday April 13th and Kids derby will be Saturday May 11th.
Forestry: Tom and Kathy Mader will be taking over forestry along with Devon Deragano who works for Stanley Tree. They will work on getting the property surveyed along with our lawyer Rob Knapik.
Game: No Report
Pistol: Pistol shoots will start this Thursday and go every Thursday at 6pm. Russ will be having a work party April 13th from 10-2. Russ has a pistol being raffled for $20/ticket to benefit the pistol range, it is a Rock Island 1911 .45. If the winner lives in Rhode Island Jim White will do the transfer.
History: No Report
Trap: Ralph talked to Lew and asked him to let people know when there will be shooting because a lot of people have been asking.
Rifle: No Report
Grounds and Maintenance: No Report
Kitchen: Steve is not here, Rolly covered and said for the Game dinner, Steve has people for the kitchen and needs 2 more for dishes. Dave Hudson will need setup, serving, and cleanup people. Smoked german sausage, stuffies, and fresh kielbasa for sale tonight. See Rolly after the meeting.
Membership: Membership is closed and they are working on getting ready for new members. There are approximately 50 open spots which has been average over the last few years, and more than 70 people currently on the wait list.
Clubhouse: No Report. See Pete if you want to get some work hours to clean the clubhouse.
Work hours: No Report
Old Business:
Mark Kuras wants to know if there is anything new to report on the subdevelopment. Ralph says it is not the land behind the pistol house, it’s a Chocalog Road property and we only slightly abut it.
New Business:
- Paul Soares wants to report on the duck boxes. John Quinn and Paul went out a few weeks ago and repaired some boxes and one was replaced and moved. Unfortunately, no eggs in 6 boxes. Paul had zero eggs in 12 boxes in North Smithfield as well so it’s not just here. They did spend some money on lumber and shavings but it is a gift to the club.
- Mark is doing a lottery raffle to win a book of scratch tickets. 300 tickets will be sold and there are 4 books of tickets, so you have a 4 in 300 chance. Once the tickets are sold the drawing will be done at a meeting.
- The AED was acquired and John Castonguay hung it up last week. It is mobile and can be used anywhere. The instructions are directly on it. The door on the cabinet is not locked.
- Ralph says we discussed the roof last month. He got 2 quotes for dumpsters, $XXXX from one, and Berkowitz was about $XXX but expect some overages. John says figure about $XXXX tops which is still $XXXX less than the other company. John also asked for a few hundred dollars extra in case plywood is needed for any spots that may have water damage and need replacing. Ralph makes the motion for $XXXX for dumpsters and possible plywood, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor.
- There are quotes from Koopman’s and a company out of Worcester to replace the 3 steel doors (2 clubhouse, 1 kitchen) The total for the doors is $XXXX from Koopmans. Ralph makes the motion for $XXXX for the 3 doors and John Piotrowski will be putting them in. Larry makes the motion to approve, Joe Eisenhardt 2nd, all in favor.
- Dave Carter called Ralph 2 weeks ago. He is still sick and he isn’t making it to the club. He purchased machines a few years ago for sporting clays and asked the floor if it was ok if he donated the equipment to the club. Ralph says there is probably $XXXX worth of machines outside. Ralph makes the motion to accept Dave’s donations, Larry 2nd, all in favor. Russ says maybe if trap has a cleanup they can go into one of the storage areas to get them out of the weather.
Dick Baker makes motion to open nominations.
Jamie casts vote for Ralph as President, Steve as VP, Mark as Treasure, and herself as Secretary. Russ Hinchliffe 2nd, all in favor.
BOA members voted in for 2024 are:
Larry Aubin
Lenny Audette
Mike Benedetto
Tom Bienkiewicz
Matt Fontaine
Ed Gervais
Mark Luras
Eli Laverdiere
Motion to adjourn 7:36pm
Meeting Minutes February 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Correspondence: We received a certificate of appreciation for donating wreaths for Wreaths Across America.
Standish Sportsman’s Association is hosting their sportsman’s show this weekend February 10th and 11th, there are $2 off coupons on the head table if anyone wants one.
Board of Advisors: No report
Officers: There have been people coming to other officers asking about work hours and giving excuses. No matter what your excuse is, February 1st is not acceptable to bring this up. If you even put in an effort we are willing to work with you, but if you don’t, we cannot help you.
We received a notice of intent from someone trying to put in a subdevelopment on the abutting property behind the pistol range, Ralph is going to ask Rob Knapik if he is still interested in helping us with this.
Officers meeting and the Chairman meeting were held to make sure we are all on the same page. We have dates set for all the main functions so far this year, so the calendar is now open for members to reserve for private events. At the committee chairs meeting, some people had interest in a family day/field day. The chairs are still in discussion about that because Ralph will not be running it, it needs to be a group effort. If they do decide to have it, 10% will go to the club and the rest will be split between the participating committees.
Archery: no report
Fish: Ice derby is this Saturday weather permitting from 7-10am. There needs to be at least 4” of ice. Steve will do breakfast and there will be cash prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. If there is no tournament this weekend, it will be the following weekend. If you do not want to keep the fish you catch, you can clean them and donate them. Do not leave uncleaned fish in the kitchen.
Forestry: no report
Game: Dave says he didn’t know how much money it costs to run the pheasant program, so the dinners and the raffles are very important. He thanks people in advance for the help he will need. Ralph says in order to hunt the second half of the season, you need to buy 2 porketta tickets and 2 game dinner tickets, the money from those dinners is what pays for the birds in the second half of the season.
Pistol: Thursday games are planned to start in April but if the weather is better, Russ will start in March. Games start at 6pm and go until about 8pm.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim wants to do a sportsman’s swap meet May 19th, $10 per ticket to benefit the rifle range. Jim has his FFL and can do firearm transfers. It can be open to the public. Motion to accept: Art Campbell, Ed Gervais 2nd, all in favor. Ralph will check with Rob to make sure there is no liability before we move forward.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: BOH visit went well. Breakfast will be held Saturday from 7-10. Steve might need one or 2 more people to help. The game committee needs to be in charge of selling the tickets and getting help for serving. Steve will have his group together for cooking and will work with the game committee to plan. Steve is looking for requests of something you would like him to make at the game dinner. He has a list but is always looking for suggestions. Steve has bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage, smoked german sausage, and 4 stuffed portabello mushrooms, see him after the meeting.
Membership: This weekend, Sunday the 11th from 10-4, and Sunday 25th from 10-4. Most people should have gotten stuff in email or Facebook. Please make sure to fill out all required forms.
Clubhouse: Clubhouse is clean. Ralph says we ripped all the old dispensers out of the bathrooms and patched the walls and added new touchless dispensers.
Work hours: Jamie says you need to put your own work hours in and make sure they are in by 12/31 otherwise they will not count.
Old Business:
Brian Richard had asked about the pheasant buildings at the January meeting. Ralph says he misspoke that we could work on the new sheds as a club. The maintenance building falls under the regular building fund, the bird houses do not. If we tell Jim he has to raise his own money for the shooting range, he is going to tell the pheasant committee they also need to raise the funds to get new bird buildings.
New Business:
Ralph was asked about looking into getting an AED for the club. One of Ralph’s customers gave him some contacts to get a quote for the AED, the security box it goes in, a year’s worth of maintenance, the needed paddles and first aid equipment. It was cheaper than what the internet had. The quote was $XXXX, which included about $XX in taxes which we can use our tax exempt certificate to get rid of. After the first year, maintenance is $XXX per year. It will get tied into the security system so if it gets used it will contact emergency services. Larry makes the motion to approve $XXXX for the AED. Joe Eisenhardt 2nd, all in favor.
Ralph got a quote for the roof of the pavilion which is leaking and would like it done before it gets bad and we have to start replacing plywood. The cost to redo $XXXXX, to strip and redo it is $XXXXX, John Piotrowski will do the roof with help of other members and it will cost $XXXX for materials. Dick Baker says we need to factor in a dumpster and disposal of the old shingles, Ralph says we will do that next month. Ralph makes a motion to approve $XXXX which will come out of building and maintenance fund. Ed Gervais 2nd, all in favor.
The head table was probably donated 50 years ago and is falling apart. We got a new table to replace it. If someone wants to take it home, Ralph makes a motion to remove the old head table, and will allow 3 weeks until we remove it in case anyone wants to take it. Ed Gervais 2nd, all in favor.
Ralph’s wife Bonnie and John Castonguay’s wife Sherry have come down to sell raffle tickets at just about every meal and with the amount of dinners we have, it might be a good idea to start a raffle committee to be responsible for getting raffle items. Ralph asks if anyone wants to volunteer.
We have a few shirts left in the back from when Monique was doing the clothing sale. We will have things marked down to get rid of it on membership days.
Nominations:
Larry nominates Matt Fontaine for Board of Advisors, Matt accepts.
Dick Baker makes a motion to close nominations, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor
Motion to adjourn 7:47pm
Meeting Minutes January 2024
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Moment of Silence for Lifetime member Al Monterotti
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Mike Benedetto, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Mike Benedetto, 2nd Larry Aubin, all in favor
Board of Advisors: no report
Officers: Last storm we had a bunch of trees come down, including one on the wires. Matt Carter is a member and a licensed electrician and will be fixing it. We have to rent a lift for about $XXXX, and the cost to fix is about $XXXX. It is a safety issue and there is no power to trap so it was approved by Ralph on emergency basis. Jimmy Lavallee’s daughter has thyroid cancer and there is a GoFundMe for her. If anyone wants to donate you can put money in the sunshine fund, her insurance is not covering everything. Ralph will cut a check from the club for the GoFundMe with money raised. Dave Hudson has volunteered to take on the pheasant program.
Archery: no report
Fish: Matt is stocking the pond the week before February 10th and will be having a derby on February 10th.
Forestry: no report
Game: Jeff thanks everyone for a successful and safe year and he is stepping down due to work. Jeff turned in some funds and donations to Mark.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim has 11 tickets left for the raffle.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report. Ralph says there is plenty of cleanup after the last storm if people need work hours.
Kitchen: Steve says BOH is coming next Tuesday for the inspection. At the end of the year we need a new food permit and there was something new on the permit that needed to be addressed. Steve says the BOH will bring the permit next week. Breakfast is done for the year. Steve thanks everyone who helped in the kitchen or who came and had breakfast. Steve has 25lbs of sweet Italian sausage, 1 porketta, and venison hot Italian sausage, see him after the meeting. Steve says the past month or so there has been a flyer for the fundraiser for his granddaughter. Steve says he had so many people donate money and cannot thank everyone enough. The fundraiser was yesterday at Wallum lake and ended up raising about $12,000 in donations. Steve says he will still do some breakfasts occasionally, keep an eye on the Facebook page. Steve used money from the kitchen fund to buy a new Traeger smoker for the club.
Membership: no report, keep an eye on Facebook for Membership renewals.
Clubhouse: Pete could always use help cleaning
Work hours: Final updated probationary list is in the board, there are 12 people that did not meet the requirements so there will be at least 12 spots open.
Old Business:
No old business
New Business:
- Eli would like the club to recognize Janice for all the hard work and time she put into Wreaths Across America. The 13th is wreath retirement day at 9am collecting all the wreaths and they will be donated to a goat farm. Eli says Janice did an incredible job in organizing the placement of 800 wreaths bought. Ralph wants to appropriate $XXX to buy 6 wreaths from the club, Larry, 2nd Mike Benedetto, all in favor.
- John says the backhoe needs some work. He is estimating about $XXX for all the parts needed to get the backhoe fixed. Ralph says it will come out of the building fund. John makes the motion for $XXX toward parts, 2nd Ed Gervais, all in favor.
- Ralph says the building fund will take a bit of a hit this year for improvements and repairs that need to be done.
- John Piotrowski said as long as he gets help, he will come down and do the roof on the pavilion this year.
- Ralph got 2 quotes for new doors which is approximately $XXXX and will bring this up at a later date.
- Windows upstairs also need to be done and John Piotrowski offered to do those as well.
- Brian Richard wants to make a motion to remove the 2 old bird sheds and would like them replaced with one new shed. Ralph said the big maintenance building will be paid off in 3 years and he wants to pay that down some and then we can address replacing the 2 old buildings with something new.
- Jim says the steel plates are down on the ground to replace some straps, he is aware of it.
- After the Officers meeting, Ralph wants to have a meeting with all of the committee chairs to plan out the year and all the dinners for the year.
Nominations:
Officers:
Larry Aubin Nominates Ralph Godin for President
Larry Aubin Nominates Steve Bedard for Vice President
Ralph Godin Nominates Jamie Belanger for Secretary
Larry Aubin Nominates Mark Cardarelli for Treasurer
All accepted
Board of Advisors:
Ralph Godin nominates Mike Benedetto
Mike Benedetto nominates Larry Aubin
Ralph Godin nominates Bob Knox
Dick Baker nominates Lenny Audette
Lenny Audette nominates Tom Bienkiewicz
Jamie Belanger nominates Eli Laverdiere
John Castonguay nominates Ed Gervais
Tom Bienkieweicz nominates Mark Kuras
Steve Bedard nominates Brian Richard
Ed Gervais nominates Rolly Aresenault
All nominees have accepted.
Motion to adjourn 7:33pm
Meeting Minutes December 2023
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Ed Gervais, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry says they held the BOA meeting on November 17th to discuss raising probationary initiation fee as well as the work hours fee. Larry would like to make the motion to raise the initiation fee from $XX to $XXX, and work hours from $XXX to $XXX and to leave the general membership fee the same for 2024.
Officers: no report
Archery: no report
Fish: Matt will be stocking the pond this winter but he is not sure when that will happen yet. They will try to get more brookies because they bite better in the winter.
Forestry: Paperwork is turned into the town. Forester says 25 acres over the next 10 years need to be cleared. It will be switched from a harvesting plan to a grouse habitat plan. They are still working on getting it properly surveyed.
Game: no report
Pistol: Russ says Thursday shoots are done for the season and will pick back up in April
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim has tickets for the rifle raffle. Ralph will also have tickets
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Steve thanks Rolly Arsenault for taking over on the grill and Dee and Eddie and everyone else that was here to help while he was gone.Steve says that Matt Oliver is working on installing a fan in the kitchen. The ice machine is still being worked on and hopefully will not cost too much to get it fixed. BOH will be coming this month sometime so he will have to do a cleaning probably on a Wednesday night if anyone wants to help. Steve bought a new soap and paper towel dispenser for the kitchen that are touchless, if they work out well we will put them in the bathrooms too. Steve has bison Italian sausage, chorizo, bear stuffed peppers, and 1 porketta in the freezer if anyone wants it. If anyone wants porkettas for Christmas let Steve know, they are between 8-10 lbs. They are $40 and he will make them up for you.
Membership: Jim says there are currently 35 people on the wait list and badges are in.
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: Work hours were updated as of yesterday, Jamie will update the list after tonight’s meeting and post it to the Facebook page and the bulletin board.
Old Business:
- Ralph says the gate is almost fixed. The new ground sensors are in but the board inside was fried so Matt Oliver is working on rewiring it. He is busy with work but will get to it when he is able to depending on weather and work.
- Ralph says he still has a few more lights on the maintenance building that need to be done.
- Cheryl asked that anyone who wants to sign up for the kids Christmas party can do so up until tomorrow and can sign up on facebook or in the clubhouse.
- John says the ice machine parts are in, he is just waiting for the guy to have time to get here.
- New Business:
Member has a new picnic table to donate to the club. Motion to accept a new table Larry Aubin, all in favor. - Eli will call Roger and ask about hay bales for the hayride at the kids Christmas party.
Motion to adjourn 7:22pm
Meeting Minutes November 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Board of Advisors: No Report
Officers: Ralph is asking that all committee chairs make an effort to show up to meetings. This is supposed to be done already and he is tired of passing along everyone’s messages.
Archery: No Report
Fish: Pond is stocked
Forestry: Ray is supposed to pick up the forestry plan and fill it out to give it to the town, which needs to be done by December 1st
Game: Ralph says we have been stocking birds and the second shipment just came in. $XXX birds are paid for by the club and the other half is paid for by game dinner and porketta profits. Starting next year, if you do not buy a game dinner ticket and a porketta ticket to support the program, then you will not be bird hunting after the first shipment of birds is gone and the second shipment will be reserved only for those that purchased tickets for the dinners.
Pistol: Shoots are still going but might end soon depending on the weather.
History: No Report
Trap: No Report
Rifle: Jim says he has a new raffle rifle for a bolt action .233. Hopefully he will have it this week and Ralph is working on getting the raffle tickets made.
Grounds and Maintenance: There are plenty of leaves to clean up for work hours. Fill out your slip and write See Ralph.
Kitchen: Steve says breakfast has been going pretty well every Saturday and he has had a lot of help. Steve is looking for someone that knows or can learn how to cook on the grill so he doesn’t have to be here every Saturday. Eddie is going to do breakfast this coming weekend so Steve can have a break.Steve has bear stuffed peppers, bison stew, and bison and pork polish sausage. He also has 1 uncooked porketta in the freezer. See him after the meeting.
Membership: Jim says 2024 badges are ordered and the waiting list is up to 31 people and he will put it in the board. If you are missing a name on the list email membership.
Clubhouse: Pete usually cleans Tuesday’s, or if you need hours, you can contact him.
Work hours: Jamie will update the list tomorrow and post to Facebook and in the bulletin board.
Old Business: We are working on the gate, but if you are the last one out please close the old gate.
Jim says Sunday someone was here at 3:45pm to use the range and someone training a dog told them they could not until he was done. For the final time, the 200 yard range is FIRST a range and if someone comes to use it, you need to get out of their way. If there are any more issues, that member will be suspended until the following meeting and it will be dealt with by the floor.
Ralph is going to try to dig up the road this week and the gate will be getting repaired on the 12th, the road going in will be closed for at least a few hours as of 11am.
New Business:
Ralph makes a motion that the Board of Advisors discuss raising the probationary member initiation fee from $XX to $XXX. As you can see from our list of probationary members, there is a large amount of people that don’t put in the effort to get the required hours and meetings. Second John Castonguay, all in favor.
Ralph makes a motion that the Board of Advisors discuss raising the work hours this February to $XXX if you don’t get your 10 hours. He is tired of having to beg people that do trades to do work around here. He will not pay a member to do the work and will pay outside help instead. Cory Lepage second, all in favor.
Motion to adjourn 7:30pm
Meeting Minutes October 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Jim White, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Jim White, all in favor
Board of Advisors: No report
Officers: Ralph thanks Dick Baker, John Foley, John Piotrowski, Bob Lepage, Pete Guertin, and Dave Chabot for raising the cupola on top of the building. Ralph asks if the member who works on gates is at the meeting, we are looking to find out when the wiring is going to be done.
Archery: John thanks everyone that helped clean up the course this weekend.
Fish: Matt says the pond will be getting stocked later next week if the conditions and temperature of the pond are ok. Matt thanks everyone that did all the donations of the fish, he cut it up and cleaned it and gave it to Steve to make things with.
Forestry: Ralph is working on getting the approved plan from the state.
Game: Ralph asks to make sure that the Beagle Club has paid for their birds. He will ask Jeff.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: Ralph heard they are having trouble getting clays delivered. He got a hold of a regional sales rep who gave him the number of someone who can deliver clays. Ralph has contacted Ron Manyak with no response.
Rifle: Jim made some new steel targets for the 100yd range and asks that you be careful with the steel frame. Ralph asks that Jamie send an email to all members that when you pull up to the ranges, blow 3 loud honks on your horn to let people know you will be shooting in the event someone is out bird hunting on weekdays or once ranges reopen after stocking mornings.
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob Lepage has stepped down from Grounds and Ralph thanks him for all his work. Ralph is looking for someone to take over. Ralph says there will be plenty of leaves that will need to be picked up for work hours.
Kitchen: Steve says the porketta was a few weeks ago and came out with about $XXXX in profit. 120 tickets sold and we had a lot of donations and people that bought meals afterward. Steve has 1 cooked porketta vacuum sealed for sale for $XX. Steve says there will be breakfast every Saturday morning during pheasant season and he will be needing help. Usually about 5 people each Saturday. Steve hasn’t decided if he will do breakfast on Columbus day. He will not be doing breakfast Sunday’s. Steve has stuffies, sweet Italian sausage, chicken sausage for sale tonight, see him after the meeting. Steve is still waiting on an electrician to help him out with the fan and he has not heard from him since it was discussed. Steve says if you need hours come in on Saturday mornings and help.
Membership: Jim says membership raffle will be tonight.
Clubhouse: contact Ralph, Steve, or Pete Guertin if you want hours to clean the clubhouse.
Work hours: Jamie says work hours are updated as of tonight and will update meetings tomorrow and add to the facebook page.
Old Business: Ralph says the electrician is just about done with the maintenance building.
Ralph says one of the trailers was removed and we got scrap money for it. Ralph will move some more things tomorrow to get rid of the next one.
Ralph thanks Eli Laverdiere who put some fill at the practice archery range.
New Business: None
Yearly Raffle Winners:
$XXX: Badge 187 John Kossuth
$XXX: Badge 79 Keith Kearnan
$XXX: Badge 203 Richard Boucher
$XX: Badge 348 Danielle Cyr
$XX: Lifetime Mike Guertin
$XX: Badge 46 Brett Graham
$XX: Badge 290 Jack Perry
$XX: Badge 205 David Johnson
$XX: Badge 201 Edward Danis
$XX: Badge 216 Scott Morvan
$XX: Badge 56 Jim White
$XX: Badge 8 James Watkins
$XX: Lifetime J Michael Smoot
Motion to adjourn 7:33pm
Meeting Minutes September 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:03 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Moment of Silence for life member Roland Brochu
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Ed Gervais, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: John Castonguay, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Board of Advisors held a meeting on August 24th with 5 members present to discuss the rule change of requiring LTC, FID, or CORI checks for Auxiliary members. The club’s attorney Rob Knapik has cleared us to go ahead with requiring every new auxiliary and all current auxiliary members to provide a background check, as well as any junior members moving to full time member.
Officers: no report
Archery: John says the chicken BBQ brough in $XXXX and thanks everyone that purchased tickets, Steve and the kitchen crew for dinner, and the officers for going in the dunk booth.
Fish: no report
Forestry: no report
Game: Jeff says Ed’s daughter Kaylie has taken over the business, so make sure to follow up with Kaylie if you have spoken to Ed because she was not aware of the order Jeff placed. Jeff has 2 private bird orders with a total of 866 birds total. The deadline is September 11th if you want birds. Private birds will be $XXXX each this year, delivery date could be September 26th or 27th, or October 3rd, they are working to get delivery for free. First hunt of the season will be October 7th and the kitchen will be open for breakfast. Jeff says that private birds will not be cared for after the last hunt of the season. Jeff is looking for volunteers to box birds on Fridays, feed and water during the week, and put birds out on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Ralph suggests to ask Kaylie for birds 2 weeks before we are set to run out. He also says in order to keep the year round permit we need 1000 birds minimum, so we need more to be ordered or for Jeff to talk to Ray Demore. Jeff says the porketta is September 16th and tickets are $20, the first 100 tickets are almost sold.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim White says he has a work party Saturday the 9th at 10am to weed whack and get the shed down here and set up.
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob says if anyone needs work hours see him after the meeting.
Kitchen: Steve says the chicken BBQ did pretty good, members donated fresh tomatoes, and all the corn donated from John Pietrowski was excellent. Steve thanks all the guys that donated. Porketta is coming up and we will need the same help for servers and clean up, help will be needed around noon. Steve will be here the Thursday before to make the porkettas. Reach out to Steve if you want to help. The ice machine is currently broken and we may not be able to fix it. If we cannot, we may just get rid of it and get a new smaller one. Lenny says the fishing club he is a member at has an ice machine and it got really hot and the machine broke which could be the issue with ours.
Membership: Janice was working with Jim and Chris on the list for the raffle, which we will have to do next month.
Clubhouse: Ralph says Pete is doing a phenomenal job but it would be nice if someone would help him.
Work hours: Jamie says the list was updated and put in the board 3 days ago, and will be added to the Facebook page tomorrow.
Old Business:
- Jerome says the cost for the field as of today is $XXXX. He thanks Lenny Audette, Dick Baker, Dave Carter, Bob Hughes, and Ralph true for their donations toward the costs. He thanks Lenny for also helping him spread all the seed across the field. Next year Jerome wants to mow the field in late spring to about 8” and spray the toxic yellow flowers to eradicate them. Ralph says if he gives him the name of the product he should be able to get it through his supply company.
- Ralph says we have a probationary member Jesse who is painting the pavilion. The electric is halfway done in the maintenance building. The outlets and indoor lighting are mostly done, and the light is in the cupola may be changed at some point. The outside lights still need to be done.
New Business:
- Ed Gervais makes the motion on behalf of the BOA that every new and current auxiliary member, as well as junior members moving to full time member at age 18 be required to submit CORI, LTC, or FID. Motion to accept, all in favor.
- Jeff Graves makes a motion to take all of the CORI Check related rules and make it a bylaw. Second John Castonguay, all in favor. This will be voted on at another meeting after it is discussed by the BOA.
The winner of the rifle raffle is Eusebio Santiago.
Motion to adjourn 7:43pm
August Meeting Minutes 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:03 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Correspondence: Someone reached out to the Club regarding signs for HD.4420. Will bring this up under new business to vote if the club wants to purchase signs to give away. Signs are $X each with a 50 sign minimum purchase.
Board of Advisors: no report
Archery: John says his shoot in July brought in $100 due to rain and thanks Steve for running breakfast. John says he has a shoot on the 13th and the chicken BBQ will be on the 19th. See him for tickets
Fish: no report
Forestry: Ralph met with the Forester on Friday. There was an issue with the plan because a lot across the trunkline cannot be included because it is less than 15 acres and not attached to primary properties. This was resubmitted and it should be good to go.
Game: Jeff has been sending out Facebook messages and getting volunteers for people to help feed, water, and stock birds. See Jeff if you want to order your own birds.
Pistol: Russ says the Thursday shoots have 12-20 people weekly and are still going great.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim says the concrete pad was done Saturday and Steve and Ralph did most of the work. Jim wants to donate a new 7×10 Rubbermaid shed to the rifle range. None opposed.
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob thanks John for fixing the backhoe again. Ralph says we need to paint the pavilion still. He will get paint and then will schedule a work party to get it done.
Kitchen: Steve says the BOH came on July 20th and we got another perfect score. Steve thanks Jim Lavallee for being here and cleaning before the BOH came. Chicken BBQ is less than 2 weeks away and Steve will need help with that. 4 or 5 guys for the chicken as well as servers and cleaners around 9am, see Steve if you want to help. Steve has kielbasa, cheesy bratwurst, breakfast sausage, 3 porkettas, and cowboy candy for sale. First come first serve, see him after the meeting.
Membership: no report. Ralph says we have two new volunteers, Jim and Chris, to do membership next year. They will meet with Janice after the meeting.
Clubhouse: Ralph thanks Pete Guertin for cleaning the clubhouse every Tuesday, but is always looking for someone else to help Pete.
Work hours: updated probationary list is in the board and Jamie will add it to the Facebook page again.
Old Business: No old business
New Business:
- Art says HD 4420 is tabled right now but it is not going away. Art wants to man a table with stamps and papers at club events to educate on the bill. None opposed.
- Larry makes a motion to buy the signs for the bill, Art is going to see if we can get them cheaper or for free.
- Tom Maeder makes the motion to purchase 100 signs so if we cannot get them for free or cheaper, it is already decided and it won’t have to come to the floor again. All in favor, none opposed. We will still try to find them for less money.
- Jon Neitz has a request for the club to be used for historical firearm research. This will be a live fire shooting project with 18th century rifles. This is to benefit those interested in history of firearms, reenactors, and professional historians and archaeologists. Club will be fully acknowledged in any publication and this would be held during the week for a full day. There is not currently a date they are requesting. Jon will be here for supervision, they will need to sign hold harmless, and it is limited to only their historical weapons for research, no other firearms. Steve asks if there is any benefit to the club. Jim White only suggests using the left side of the telephone poles and the range. Ralph says if they would make some kind of donation it would be appreciated. Ralph asks if the club will give Jonn the go ahead to proceed with details, then he can get it approved at the next meeting. Art Campbell 2nd, all in favor.
- Russ says he has made some purchases for the pistol range. He has made improvements such as a first aid kit and a new flood light. He also had a sign made that says in the event of emergency call 911/Uxbridge EMS with additional detail. Ralph says we will look into having more of them made for around the club property. Russ asks if anyone has a bucket truck to reach the pole to mount the light. Jon Neitz says he will look and may be able to do it.
- Ralph asks the BOA to meet with Rob Knapik to revise our background check rule to include auxiliary members into the rule to pass the background check.
Membership raffle will be done at the next meeting.
Motion to adjourn 7:40 pm
July Meeting Minutes 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Bob Brooks, all in favor
Mark isn’t here to read the Treasurer’s report. Ralph says if anyone needs a check Mark can come down.
Board of Advisors: Larry said the BOA had a meeting on 6/29 and discussed the ask of a president becoming a life member after 2 successful years. The motion was made at the BOA meeting that after a member completes 3 years as president they get life membership. Ralph recommends that you should also have to be a member for 10 years in addition to being president for 3 years.
Officers: Ralph says he will call Ryan soon to schedule a time to pick up the old trailers.
Archery: John thanks Bob and Jack Lepage for taking care of the trees at the practice range. He says he is working on getting the new targets set up and the rest of the practice range cleaned.
Fish: no report
Forestry: Ralph says he met with the forester Thursday night and signed the forestry plan which got submitted to the state Friday.
Game: Jeff says 832 birds have been ordered, 700 for club, 12 for raffles, and the rest for the Beagle Club. Anyone wanting birds can preorder them with Jeff. Delivery is TBD, and it will be free delivery if the club works with them when they stock public land. Jeff is planning for the first full weekend in October for hunting. Currently the cost is $XX/bird and Jeff needs to reach out to The Mane Place for grain prices. He is expecting the cost to be about $XX.XX per bird with feed included. George has offered to mow inside the pheasant pen and Ralph says he will accept any help.
Pistol: no report
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim has a new 22 up for raffle, see him for tickets. Jim will be having a work party on the 22nd at the 200 yard range to finish framing for the concrete and to mow and weed whack. He says there are currently 96 people qualified for the 200 yard range.
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob Lepage thanks John Piotrowski, his son, David Ives, and Pete Guertin for building the wood shed, Steve Bedard for doing the patio, Mark Cardarelli for restoring electrical to the pavilion, and his Jack Lepage for cutting trees. Bob also thanks Mike Zalenski, Steven Christopher, Tom and DJ Heney, and Dan Sullivan for the help cleaning up at the archery practice range.
Kitchen: Ralph says the Clambake money goes to the kitchen and he believes it brought in about $XXXX profit. Ralph thanks everyone that showed up and helped.
Membership: no report
Clubhouse: Ralph says there was another issue with a rental. Steve and Ralph are going to sit down and discuss it if renting will still be allowed. We do not rent to outside people in general, but since Ralph has been president there have been 3 incidents. Ralph thanks Pete Guertin for cleaning the clubhouse every week.
Work hours: no report
Old Business:
- Dick Baker wants to draw the bow ticket and Bob Brooks was the winner.
- John Piotrowski is working on the cupola and we believe it will have windows and a light.
- Ralph says all the receipts he could find for the wood shed totaled $XXXX.XX, which is under budget.
New Business:
- Larry highly recommends that anyone that owns or supports guns go to the gun action league website because they are trying to pass a bill to confiscate semi-auto rifles. Jon Quinn says this also affects people that live in RI and CT.
- Larry makes the motion that after 3 years as president, a member that has 10 or more years of membership be made a life member. All in favor, none opposed.
Motion to adjourn 7:25pm
June Meeting Minutes 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:02 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Ed Gervais, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Ed Gervais, all in favor
Correspondence: The Metacomet Land Trust is holding a free public program about Massachusetts Streams and the fish that live in them at the Uxbridge High School on June 21st at 7pm.
Board of Advisors: No Report
Officers: Ralph thanks John Castonguay for fixing the gate and Mark Cardarelli for getting the electrical supplies for the maintenance building. The money for the electrical came out of the remaining funds we had left for the building.
Archery: John says he had 39 shooters in May and 41 shooters yesterday. John thanks everyone that helped out with the course and Steve and the kitchen crew for breakfast.
Fish: Matt says29 kids came for the fishing derby and a 7 year old girl won 1st prize. Matt says there was a good variety of ages that participated. Matt thanks Karen Briggs for all the posters and the check in table, Steve and the kitchen crew for doing breakfast and snacks, and helpers Russ and his grandson Evan, Zach Wickstrom, Monique Fontaine, and Jamie Heywood. Matt is always looking for donations for kid’s fishing derby prizes. This Father’s Day the pond will be open and you can keep whatever you catch, no limits, just make sure to log it in the book. Matt says to beware of the snapping turtles stealing fish. Pond stocking will not happen again until fall.
Forestry: Ray Pemberton, Erik Irving, and Steve Stefanik finished marking the property. The Forester has been here the last 2 weeks walking the property and he should be done soon because the plan is due to the state by the 26th of this month. His total bill was $XXXX, Ralph has instructed Mark to put $XXX/yr into a forestry fund so when this needs to be done again in 10 years there will be some money ready.
Game: No Report
Pistol: No Report
History: No Report
Trap: No Report
Rifle: No Report
Grounds and Maintenance: Ralph says Bob’s work party will be Sunday at 9am, Ralph needs the 100yd range road cleaned up due to trees overgrowing the road that need trimming back.
Kitchen: Steve says if anyone is looking for hours, the upstairs needs to be cleaned more. There is a lot of sawdust and organizing, see Steve if you want to help and he will show you what’s needed. Steve says if anyone wants to rent the club you need to call him first, do not write anything on the calendar. Waiver needs to be signed and $XXX deposit needs to be provided. Ralph and Steve make it clear that if you rent the club it is for one day only. You cannot come a day early to set up and a day late to clean. Everything needs to be done the same day. Ralph says cleaning up after your party isn’t just cleaning up tables and sweeping the floor. If you have people all over the place making a mess of the clubhouse and the bathrooms, you need to do a full clean and make sure the bathrooms are restocked and everything is clean. Steve has clambake tickets for $60 and he has a list of 5 or 6 people right now to help out, see him after the meeting if you want to to help. Start time will probably be 10am, serving is around 2. Steve could use donations for raffles at the Clam Bake. There is breakfast sausage, stuffed clams, cowboy candy relish, and 4 packages of Italian sausage for sale tonight. Steve says we have been doing breakfast on Sunday mornings for John’s archery shoots and it’s been going well so he will keep doing it. Steve thanks Dee for helping him in the kitchen at all the events as well as anyone else that has been helping out.
Membership: No Report
Clubhouse: Ralph says Peter Guertin cleans every Tuesday but we are always looking for more people to help out.
Work hours: Jamie says updated list for probationary members will go into the bulletin board tonight.
Old Business:
Ralph says last month we asked for money for a dumpster. A small crew of guys showed up Saturday to help mostly made up of lifetime members. They got rid of the old building that was torn down, emptied the old archery trailer, one of the containers behind the kitchen, and got rid of all scrap by the dumpster and the rest of the trash from upstairs.
New Business:
Mark says a new culture is starting to brew and it’s getting frustrating. We are all members of the club and your membership fee does not include services. People are starting to expect others to be doing things when they want it done and that is not how it works. Mark says officers are here daily and weekly working for free and it is exhausting.
Ralph says Jerome asked where we were with fiscal spending for the year. What he pulled looks like last year general operating costs were $XXXXX. Estimate for this year with cost-of-living increases will likely be about $XXXXX.
With our new maintenance building, Dick Baker has asked if we can put a cupola on top of it and he wants to raise the money himself. The estimated cost is $XXXX to have it built and put on. Dick has donated a brand new crossbow that we are going to raffle off for $10/ticket and he will also accept any donations. Dick is getting a weathervane with a pheasant and is going to try to get a fishing pole on it also. Ralph says we have a new member that makes signs so we will track him down.
Ralph says we have been trying to figure out how to manage our firewood because it is a mess with all the tarps and pallets. John Piotrowski designed a wood shed and it will be 16Wx10D with a roof. The sawmill was more expensive so the quote from Koopmans with all materials (if needed) is $XXXX. Pete Guertin may have metal roofing which will knock off $1,000. Ralph asks to approve $XXXX for the wood shed. Cory Lepage 2nd, all in favor.
Ralph says we got rid of a ton of trash with the one dumpster, but we have 3 trailers that need to be crushed and trashed and will need to get another dumpster to finish up. Ralph asks to approve a 50 yard dumpster for $XXX, 2nd John Castonguay, all in favor. This dumpster will be brought in after the clambake. Ryan Rudy says he will bring a flatbed in and get rid of the trailers for us.
Ralph asks Eddie to bring to the BOA that he wants to make a motion that anyone who holds the president position successfully for 2+ years be made a lifetime member.
Monique says raffles will come to an end because she will no longer be doing merchandise. See her if you’re interested in taking it over.
Motion to adjourn 7:43 pm
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May Meeting Minutes May 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:04 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: John Castonguay, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Ray Demore, 2nd Rolly Arsenault, all in favor
Board of Advisors: BOA held meeting on April 16th per Rob Knapik’s request. BOA cannot discuss anything until Membership asks him so the meeting was adjourned until further notice.
Officers: New fobs are now working. Ralph says Janice has decided to step down as Membership chair and said to see him if you are interested in taking it over. Ralph also says we still need a clubhouse chair. Ralph says hopefully this month the patio will be done and the electric in the new shop will be worked on as well as the floor being sealed.
Archery: John says the first shoot was on the 23rd with 3 shooters due to the rain. He had a few donations from other people that came for breakfast and made $XXX for the day toward archery. Next shoot is May 21st. John thanks everyone that came out to help get the course ready.
Fish: Matt says the adult tournament went well and 25 anglers checked in fish. $XXX went to John Kosuth, 2nd Pete Guertin, 3rd Steve Dzicek. Matt thanks Steve and kitchen crew and those that helped him with the derby. Matt says they are stocking pond at 10am this Friday if anyone wants to come help. The pond will be closed until the junior derby on May 13th at 8am. Jerry’s bait and tackle and John Kosuth as well as others donated prizes. All year round if you come up with something, he will accept donations.
Forestry: In the last few weeks, Ray Pemberton met with Erik Irving who is a surveyor and they marked the property line with orange paint. Blazing will be done after that. The cutting plan can be decided once the blazing and the forester are done. The proposal and bill came in from the forester at $XXXX which is below what we approved.
Game: no report
Pistol: Russ is having a work party the 6th at 9am, bring your outdoor tools like rakes shovels, gloves, blowers. If anyone has drills or saws they will be fixing some of the benches. Russ asks that anyone who uses the steel targets please keep them at the berm for safety reasons and do not shoot any closer than 25 feet from those targets.
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: Jim white says there will be another qualifying weekend the 6th and 7th. Art will be there 8-12 Saturday, Jim will be there 12-4 Sunday. Jim White has new signs and asks that you flip up the RANGE ACTIVE sign when you are on range, and flip it back down when you are done. Jim will also be having a work party May 20th at 9am to form the concrete pad. 40 people have been qualified at the 200 yard range so far.
Grounds and Maintenance: no report
Kitchen: Steve says he has a lot of stuff for sale in the kitchen, see him after the meeting.Steve has to clean the kitchen at some point in May to prepare for Board of Health, he is waiting on the call from them and will set up a work party. He also wants to organize upstairs too now that we have new shelves.
Membership: Janice will hang the new wait list tomorrow or Wednesday. Ralph thanks Janice for all her years of service.
Clubhouse: no report
Work hours: no report
Old Business:
- Ray asks when we are able to walk on the grass. It is not mandatory that you stay off it, it is just requested that we stay off it as much as possible.
- Mark says all initial fobs have been given out. He says you can now get additional fobs, key cards, or fobs for auxiliary members you can see him tonight, $XX. The card reader and keypad are going to both stay that way. The old fobs will be eliminated from the keypad, and the lock codes for those that have them will still work. If you took the wrong fob, it is going to be deactivated, we have had at least a few instances where this has happened already.
- John Piotrowski has built the new shelves and benches in the maintenance shed.
New Business:
- Ralph wants to get up to $XXX approved for a dumpster to get rid of all the trash next to the dumpster as well as emptying the 3 trailers on property. Second Ed Gervais, all in favor.
- Jon Neitz says 250th anniversary for the country is coming up. He says Freemasons were an integral part of this. One of the things they would like to do on July 22nd or 29th is to rent the building and work with the kitchen to do a meal and historic revolutionary musket event on one of those 2 days. A donation would be made. Jon is asking for approval to use of the 100yd range for the event which will be open to members as well and Jon will make sure hold harmless are signed. Ralph makes motion to allow Jon to use the range, second John Castonguay, all in favor.
- Ralph says 2 months ago there was a new ruling that someone could work others work hours. Ralph wants to amend the rule that says you can still do someone else’s work hours for hardship reasons and you can only do them for one person. Second Ed Gervais, all in favor.
- Ralph says someone brought to his attention that there might be an issue with some people regarding mowing the rifle range. Ralph says if Jim White wants to mow the range, he is free to do as he pleases and no one is to bother him about that or doing other things with the range.
- Last month the Blackstone police department put on our calendar they are closing the range for qualifying. Hanna security does it as well, but they donate about $XXX per person. Someone said it was approved but no one knows anything about it. Someone was supposed to be here at the meeting to discuss but they are not in attendance. Ralph says he will not close the club every time a police department wants to use the range.
- Ray Demore asks about the targets that were shot up. Ralph says it has been said many times that we have a metal stand specific for shotguns and reminds people to use them correctly and at least replace what you damage.
Motion to adjourn 7:41 pm:
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April Meeting Minutes 2023
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Moment of Silence for Bill Wurzberg
Secretary’s report read by Ed Gervais
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Jerome Jussaume, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry Aubin reported that the BOA met and have chosen Larry to be the Chairman, with Ed Gervais as the co-chair.
Officers: Ralph thanks everyone who participated in the game dinner. Ralph says the pole barn is done and on budget and thanked John Foley.
Archery: John says he will be having a work party April 15th to put out the 3D targets.
Fish: Matt Fontaine says the pond will be stocked April 7th at 10am and will be closed until the adult derby at 8am on April 15th.
Forestry: No Report
Game: No Report
Pistol: Russ Hinchliffe says the first clay shoot will be Thursday April 6th and a work party will be held May 6th at 9am.
History: No Report
Trap: No Report
Rifle: Jim White says he will be having a work party Saturday April 8th and spoke about the regulations and qualifying for the 200 yard range.
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob Lepage thanked everyone for helping at his work party.
Kitchen: Steve Bedard says 98 tickets were sold for the game dinner which made a profit of $3,737. Steve thanked everyone for helping but there were way too many names to mention.
Steve announced there is a 9×9 pheasant pot pie for the raffle. Steve says there will be a breakfast buffet on April 15th for the adult derby. Junior member Easter breakfast will be this Saturday April 8th. Steve says there is still pork and goose sausage for sale.
Membership: 50 new probationary members came in Saturday, 3 are at the meeting tonight, and 2 more will be coming this week. Janice thanks everyone who helped at the new member meeting and thanks Steve and the kitchen for a great lunch. Janice says the updated list will be done in a few weeks, and if any full time members do not have their badges yet to see her.
Clubhouse: Steve Bedard said the position for clubhouse chair is still open.
Work hours: No Report
Old Business: No old business
New Business:
- John Castonguay asked for up to $1200 for work benches for the new maintenance building. Russ Hinchliffe 2nd, all in favor.
- President Ralph Godin would like to appropriate $5600 for a new kitchen door and clubhouse door. He will bring it up again after he gets a third quote.
- $100 was appropriated to Wreaths Across America, John Castonguay 2nd, all in favor.
- Jerome asked about a field project and wants signs to reduce foot traffic in the fields until October on his dime. All in favor.
- Paul Soares reported the nesting boxes were empty of eggs this year and one needs replacement.
- Mark says new gate fobs for badges 1-152 are available.
Raffle winners:
Barry Mander
Dee Kwaitkowski
Bob Lepage
Pot Pie winner: Deb Burr Motion to adjourn 8:19pm
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March 2023 Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:01 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Correspondence: Our club member Jason Shea is in charge of the bird program at The Beagle Club. There is a flyer on the front table for a meat raffle at the Beagle Club March 11th at 4pm to benefit their program.
Board of Advisors: no report
Officers:
- Ralph thanks Devon Deragon for taking down the tree this weekend and Bob Lepage, Pete Guertin, and anyone else that helped to cut it up.
- John Piotrowski is ¾ of the way done with the shelves upstairs. He is still under the budget of XXXX.
- Ralph thanks Dick Baker for helping him move the old trailer out of the way where the building is going.
- Ralph thanks Mark and Janice for all the work with Membership renewal.
Archery: no report
Fish: Adult tournament will be April 15th and Kids Derby will be May 13th. Matt is still looking for donations for kid’s prizes. The pond will be stocked April 7th and will be closed from then until the 15th. Stocking for the kids derby will be May 5th and the pond will be closed until May 13th. Matt is getting reports of dead fish at the pond. If you use power bait, you should not be putting the fish back. If you do not want your fish, freeze them and save them. Matt will smoke them.
Forestry: no report
Game: Jeff says the game dinner is the 25th and he is still looking for raffle donations. Steve says there are currently 4 more in house tickets.
Pistol: Russ says Thursday night clay shoots will start April 6th
History: no report
Trap: no report
Rifle: no report
Grounds and Maintenance: April 2nd Bob will be having a work party, which he will inform all new members about at the new member meeting April 1st for anyone that wants to start getting hours early.
Kitchen: Steve has the menu pretty much set and will not be sharing it in advance. Steve made 4 porchettas, zesty Italian sausage, and twice baked potatoes, see him after the meeting if you would like to buy anything.
Membership: Janice thanks everyone that helped for renewal. See Janice if you paid by mail and have not received your badge because you have paperwork to fill out. There are 53 open spots. Those consist of 6 life members, 30 probationary members, and 17 regular members. Janice will start calling the waitlist tomorrow which has 67 people.
Clubhouse: Clubhouse chair has decided to move, so Ralph is now looking for a new clubhouse chair.
Work hours: no report
Old Business: Matt is asking about the website, Ralph says ask Jamie if you need something posted.
The old garage is getting torn down and deliveries starting this week or next.
New Business: Dick Baker wants to know if he can work his grandson’s work hours. Dick Baker makes motion to allow other full time members to do another full time member’s work hours, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor.
BOA Nominees
Larry Aubin
Lenny Audette
Tom Bienkiewicz
Ed Gervais
Matt Fontaine
Mike Benedetto
Mark Kuras
Eli Laverdiere
Motion to adjourn 7:39pm
February 2023 Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:01 pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Moment of silence for Larry Aubin’s wife Sandra.
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, all in favor
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Jerome Jussaume, all in favor
Board of Advisors: Larry says at least 4 more members need to be nominated for the board of advisors tonight.
Officers: no report
Archery: no report
Fish: Matt says the pond was stocked on Thursday and reminds people to write in the book of you are taking the fish home. The adult fishing derby will be Saturday April 15th and the kid’s derby will be May 13th. Matt asks for donations for prizes for the kid’s derby.
Forestry: no report
Game: Jeff says the preserve license came in this past week. Game dinner is March 25th, tickets are available. 3 tickets left for in house, to go tickets will continue to be offered as needed. See Jeff or Steve Bedard. Jeff says raffle items are needed for those that want to donate something.
Pistol: No report
History: No report
Trap: Ron says trap will continue, weather permitting
Rifle: No report
Grounds and Maintenance: Bob Lepage says there will be plenty of work hours available throughout the year.
Kitchen: Steve says not much is going on until the game dinner. Every once in awhile Steve will make breakfast on Friday or Saturday mornings if you happen to be around. The ice machine has been cleaned and Steve will let the Board of Health know. Steve is working on the menu for the game dinner. Steve has some sausage, breakfast sausage, one porchetta, and soup for anyone that wants to purchase. See him after the meeting.
Membership: Janice says renewals are this Sunday the 12th and the 26th from 12-4. If you need hours, come down and help. New member meeting will be Saturday April 1st at 10am. Janice says make sure you are sending in both forms if mailing in your renewal.
Clubhouse: Gord is usually here once a week and cleaning the clubhouse. He is not around this week if anyone wants to clean and get some hours in.
Work hours: See Ralph if there is an issue with your slips.
Old Business: John Foley spoke with Matt Till regarding the garage door for the maintenance shed. He can give us a 12×6 door and just needs a color. Jamie will talk to John about colors after the meeting.
New Business:
- Jerome makes a motion that the club appropriate XXXX for field improvement near the new rifle range. Three loads of manure at XXX a piece were donated. Jerome says we need at least one more load for XXX and it needs to be spread, and the machine costs XXX/hr. We need 3 hours for a total of XXX. The seed is XXX.XX. 95-100lbs of oats are approximately XX. Also need kitty litter, 5 bags at approximately XX.XX. The field has little to no grass in several areas. Jerome says this is improvement for dog training, better for pheasant hunting, and to provide food for native animals. Jeff Graves wants to amend the motion to include the 5th load of manure that Jerome says we need.
- Ralph asks if this is coming out of game fund, Jeff says he did not discuss that this would come out of game. John Castonguay asks if it’s coming from game fund as opposed to general fund because this would primarily be for dog training and pheasant hunting.
- Lenny says when the field was planted by the current rifle range road it was a one-time thing, he asks if this is a one time planting. The cost provided by Jerome is for a one time planting.
- Jeff says there were fields over there that had proper cover, and says the club should probably restore what was removed. Jeff says if we vote on this tonight he is not committing the money is coming from the game fund.
- Matt asks if we can split the cost between different funds. He also asks if we know the soil can support the seed because we have been trying on that field for 10 years with no luck, Jerome says we do not know if it will work. Ralph asks if we can do a soil analysis first to see if it can support the seed before we spend the money on the field. Ralph also says the only other fund this could come out of is the stabilization fund. Russ Hincliffe makes a motion to do the soil sample first, Larry Aubin 2nd, all in favor.
- Ralph wants to make a motion to donate XXX from the club to Larry Aubin’s wife’s go fund me page, 2nd Mark Cardarelli, all in favor.
- Ralph says the forester says XXXX-XXXX for the forestry plan and it needs to be submitted by June 1st to approve and submit to the town. He will then have to charge us again for the cut plan for the forestry company. This cost is to cover a 10 year period. Currently, the taxes are XXXX with the forestry plan. Without the forestry plan, the taxes would be XX-XX. Dan Sullivan asks if the club gets the money for the trees they cut, Ralph says that will also be the case with this. Tom Maeder says he is happy to help if needed. Ralph makes the motion for XXXX for the forestry plan to move forward. All in favor, none opposed.
- Jerome wants to spend his own money to move forward with the seeding project, all in favor.
- Brian Richard asks about the letter for Electric from the town. Club is automatically signed up, unless opted out.
BOA nominations:
All members below nominated and accepted:
Ed Gervais accepted
Mike Benedetto accepted
Matt Fontaine accept
Mark Kuras accepted
Bob Dobson, accepted
Eli Laverdiere, accepted
Monique says merchandise will be for sale at the membership renewals but she will not be ordering any more merchandise. Ed’s friend can do it on order as needed.
Motion to adjourn 7:55 pm
January 2023 Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order by President Ralph Godin @ 7:00pm
Pledge led by President Ralph Godin
Secretary’s report read by Jamie Belanger
Motion to accept: Larry Aubin, 2nd Bob Brooks, All in favor.
Treasurer’s report read by Mark Cardarelli
Motion to accept: Bob Brooks, 2nd Larry Aubin, all in favor.
Correspondence: Standish Sportsman’s Club in East Brookfield is hosting a Sportsman’s show February 11th and February 12th. $2 off coupons will be left on the front table for anyone that is interested.
Board of Advisors: No report
Officers: Ralph thanks John Piotrowski moved the building for the pheasant committee, Cheryl Briggs and crew for all the work on the kids Christmas party which had a good turnout. Ralph says John Castonguay is getting parts needed to fix the backhoe, Ralph will get a cost and if it’s lower, he will have John buy it. Ralph thanks Joe Theberge for the mugs he made for officers and chairmen for Christmas.
Archery: No report
Fish: Matt Fontaine thanks Ed Gervais for all his years of service. He is going to keep it running the same way with 4 tournaments per year. Kids derby will be the Saturday of mother’s day weekend. Matt asks if anyone wants to donate to the kid’s derby to please see him. Bob Lepage said he might be able to be co-chair for fish.
Forestry: Ralph spoke to the forester and he is willing to come have a meeting with us about having the property blazed. Member Eric Irving is a surveyor and he will do the blazing for the property. Ralph confirmed the forestry plans needs to be done by June 30th.
Game: Jeff Graves says hunts are done for the year and the pen is cleaned up. Jeff thanks those that helped throughout the season and at the work party Saturday. Jeff is looking into doing a kid’s program so he is asking for any members involved with hunter safety to reach out to him. He is hoping to deliver the youth program in August or September timeframe.
Pistol: Russ says Wednesday shoots are now over and will probably resume in April.
History: No report
Trap: Ron Manyak says they will be shooting all year long, weather permitting.
Rifle: No report
Grounds and Maintenance: No report. Bob Lepage told Ralph after the meeting that he will take over as chairman for Grounds and Maintenance.
Kitchen: Board of Health came in and everything scored 100%. The soap dispenser is getting installed tomorrow and then the dishwasher will be finished. Steve says money-wise we have done pretty good. He just gave Mark an additional XXXX. Steve says the ice machine will be getting shut down pretty soon to get cleaned by George Hamm’s grandson. Steve says he is also able to fix a lot of the other kitchen equipment if we ever need it. Steve says he has 5 more packages of breakfast sausage for $5 per package, see him after the meeting.
Membership: Janice says in person renewals will be February 12th and February 26th from 12-4. Janice says forms are sent in email, on Facebook, and on the front table. If you need hours for next year, you can help at membership renewals. Wait list is updated as of the end of December.
Clubhouse: always need someone to clean.
Work hours: Durk has been ill and in rehab. Jamie updated the probationary list for meetings and hours.
Old Business: The meeting with John Foley for the maintenance building was held and the building is put off until March. John is ordering the trusses, but he is hoping the cost of materials come down. It will take approximately 3 weeks to build.
New Business:
Mark says if you do not have your key fob as of tonight, you will be locked out. Mark says he was able to get the building system to integrate with our existing system. The fob will get you into the gate and the main clubhouse door. We are currently limited to 500 users in the system. Mark is working on getting this updated but until then, please make sure to keep tabs on your fob. Mark says we can provide a fob in the lockbox by the old gate for police and fire, but there is an upgrade to the gate that can be done to allow them in automatically. They are looking into costs for this. Ralph says fobs for new incoming members are XX. To replace the fob is XX if you lose or break yours. Mark is also looking at a long-range reader for the fobs, but it’s XXX. This option would only be available once we tie it to the building system.
Nominations:
BOA
Ralph Godin nominates Larry Aubin, Larry accepted
Larry Aubin nominates Lenny Audette, Lenny accepted
Larry Aubin nominates Tom Bienkiewicz, Tom accepted
Larry Aubin nominates Bob Knox, Bob accepted
Ralph Godin nominates Jamie Belanger for Secretary and Steve Bedard as Vice President, both accepted.
Steve Bedard nominates Ralph Godin for President. Ralph accepted.
Bob Brooks nominates Mark Cardarelli for Treasurer, Mark accepted.
Tom Bienkiewicz wins the 50/50 raffle that was run to go toward the new dishwasher.