Feb. 11, 2019 meeting
The meeting was convened at 7:00 PM
The Treasurers Report was available for inspection, but was not formally reviewed.Old Business:
- The raffle drawing for a CRPC 100th Anniversary commemorative Henry Rifle was held. The winner was Danny Bell, who is not a club member. He will be notified by Carson Guns, where the rifle is currently stored.
New Business:
- The status of the Carson City shooting range was reviewed; The range at this writing is closed to the public Monday-Saturday, and open to the public on Sundays only. On Sundays, the private bays are available to the public on a first-come first-served basis. The Carson Rifle and Pistol Club is tasked with supplying volunteer Range Safety Officers on Sundays to educate the public in proper range procedures. Currently, commercial users of the facility are allowed to reserve the use of the private bays Wednesday-Saturday, subject to their possession of proper liability insurance and a qualified Safety Officer. During the city landfill’s hours of operation, frangible ammunition is specified for use in the bays. Approved commercial users may also use bay 1 for 2-1/2 hours or less on Sundays, without the frangible ammunition requirement. At the present time, club activities (such as CRPC events) are not being scheduled. These conditions have been imposed by the city, frequently over the protests of the Club.
- A report on the city’s Task Force formed to look into range issues was made by Executive Officer David Hillis. The Task Force is composed of two members of the County Board of Supervisors, the City Manager, The Director and Asst. Director of Parks and Recreation, representatives of the user groups and approximately a dozen members of the public. Working from the results of the two Range Assessments done thus far, the priority for repairs and modifications has been to place the private bays first and the rifle range last. An engineering consultant has reportedly been hired by the city, and unverified news reports have the city budgeting some $500k to the project. However, the task force has yet to issue any concrete proposals, and there is concern that the composition of the various committees is weighted away from persons with actual range management experience.
- The status of the Club-supplied Range Safety Officers was a prime topic of discussion at the last meeting of the Executive Board members. It was noted that the presence of RSOs were in response to a condition imposed by the city, not as a result of any negotiation by the club. In addition, it is the opinion of a number of Board members that the practice of using volunteers was not sustainable in the long term. For these reasons, the Executive Board voted unanimously to compose and deliver a letter to the city, along with a press release, stating the club’s intention to terminate the practice of supplying volunteer RSOs, effective immediately. A motion was made and seconded for the membership to approve these communications. Following discussion, the debate was closed and the membership voted on the measure: AYE-16 votes, NO- 16 votes. Having failed passage, the motion was tabled.
- The subject of RSO status was re-opened for discussion. After a good deal of debate, the suggestion was made to modify the language of the letter discussed previously to warn the city that, in the absence of an alternate plan that would keep the range open, discontinuance of RSOs would occur in two weeks. The motion to serve a letter containing this language was made and seconded. The motion passed on a majority vote.
- In light of the upcoming expiration of the club’s Use Agreement with the city, the club’s chief mission was debated; whether to concentrate on staging shooting events vs. supporting public service. Eventually, a motion was made to seek re-negotiation of the Use Agreement supporting public service and education for shooting sports. The motion was seconded and voted upon. AYE-25 votes, NO-3 votes. The motion passed.
- The club by-laws are in the process of being overhauled and modernized, with an eye toward clarifying the club’s mission, streamlining processes and better defining member and board responsibilities and duties.
- Bill Bryant donated $40 to the club.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 PM