The ACDGC Annual Meeting for 2016 was held Saturday, January 11th at the WATER Center in Herman Hill Park. The primary purpose of the meeting is to summarize the year past, select ACDGC Board members to serve in the coming year and to take initial steps towards meeting future goals.
A little over a dozen members attended the meeting, including four members of the 2015 ACDGC board of directors: President Jerry Sherwood, Treasurer Bob Decker, Secretary Taylor Camp and Park Liaison DJ Wells.
After the meeting was called to order and roll taken Bob presented the treasurers report. Here’s a brief summary as it pertains to funds available for course improvement; with a major investment in the upgrading of the Oak Park Disc Golf Course and maintenance and improvements to other area courses in 2015 the ACDGC fund balance was down about $7,500 from the previous year to just under $11,000. After reserving funds for obligations and liabilities and setting aside an addition $2,000 for operations the funds on hand at this time and available for course improvements in 2016 stands at just over $8,000.
The report prepared by Bob will be posted soon in the member’s only section of our website. The page is password protected and an email with the password was sent to ACDGC members with an email address on file with the club on January 15, 2016. If you have not seen it you might want to check your spam folder or look back at unopened mail in your inbox for that date. The password will be sent out again in the near future and can be requested by emailing me at president@aircapitaldiscgolfclub.org
Next on the agenda was the President’s report summarizing the activities and accomplishments of the ACDGC in 2015 and based on the Year in Review, a document prepared to share with the Park Departments in Wichita and surrounding communities to educate them on the value of our partnerships.
Here is the 2015 ACDGC Year in Review:
Tournaments – the club hosted 115 Events in 2015
- 2 PDGA B tier/Oz Tour Tournaments, Doo Dah Open and Round Up with 144 Players at 27th Annual Doo Dah Open setting an all-time record, and 94 at Round up the best since 2010
- 26 Annual Ice Bowl, held for first time at Camp Hiawatha. Record participation at 95 players, mild temps offset by strong winds. Raised $3,100 dollars for Kansas Food Bank
- Membership Drive at Oak Park saw 89 players and a total of 94 memberships paid, 29 of which were new members.
- Ace Race Tournament at Oak Park – Participation down, 36 players.
- 104 Weekly league events with 1,883 participants paying into the prize fund
- ACDGC also provided major sponsorship of the Keeper of the Chains, which expanded to two courses utilizing all of Oak and North Riverside Parks and drew full participation with around 180 players, the largest disc golf tournament to date in Wichita and the surrounding area.
- Other tournaments hosted and sponsored at Wichita area parks included the Fore Fathers Fling, Cash Cow Doubles, the Supper Class and the Trilogy Challenge and 2015 Winter Challenge
- ACDGC continued support and sponsorship of the KDSSF Tick Ranch Fund Raiser which drew record numbers in 2015 and provided sponsorship prizes for the 1880 Dubs in Newton.
Public Outreach and Education
- Weeklong disc golf clinic for youth campers at Camp Hiawatha well over 100 participants, 60 man hours
- 2 disc golf clinics at Wichita recreation facilities, 2 days each. Total outreach estimated to be around 100 kids ages 8-13, 40 man hours
- Small putting course set up at OJ Watson Park for OK Kids in May and the revived Wichita Play Day in September. Each event drew hundreds of kids and their families. 20 man hours
Course Maintenance and Improvement
- Clean up and maintenance at Stone Creek Park in Derby, 60 man hours.
- Clean up at Herman Hill and Oak Parks, 300 man hours
- Work days at Cow Skin Disc Golf Course in Colwich, 110 man hours, $127
- Negotiations with city and design for Oak Park upgrade to Mach X baskets with dual pin placements, 30 man hours
- Oak Park Disc Golf Course upgrade, 160 man hours, $8,632
Other Notables
- $1,675 paid out in aces for 2015
- Membership for 2015 ended at 151 a 30% increase over 2014
The next order of business was the selection of ACDGC Officers to serve through 2016. Three previous ACDGC Board members chose not to submit nomination forms: Events Coordinator Corey Harrison who moved to Kansas City midway in his first term on the board; Vice President Mike Speer who has served on the board for about 7 years and chose this year to continue his support of the club through his volunteer work in maintaining the courses and education/outreach programs; and Treasurer Bob Decker who was a member of the ACDGC Board that incorporated in 2004 and served/volunteered for more than 5 years with other incarnations of the ACDGC and is the current treasurer for the PDGA, the ever growing demands of his accounting firm have made it extremely stressful for him to continue his role with the ACDGC but we are pleased to say he will remain a trusted advisor to the board in general and our new Treasurer in particular.
Joe Belsan, a club member since 2012 and an experienced treasurer with a degree in accounting, submitted his request to be considered for ACDGC Treasurer. Ben Nispel, an avid disc golfer, experienced business owner and ACDGC member since 2014 asked to serve as Events Coordinator. And Jehramy Heckman, a member since 2010 and one of our “super” volunteers this year stepped up to serve as Vice President in 2016. DJ Well applied to continue service as Parks Liaison, Taylor camp stood for re-election as Secretary, Brian Thompson requested to serve another term as Communications Director and Jerry Sherwood asked to remain President for a third and final term. There were thirty two votes approving this slate of candidates, only 30 votes were necessary to satisfy the bylaw requirements that the board be approved through a vote by at least 20% of the active membership.
After acknowledging the service of the previous board members and welcoming the new board members discussion turned towards items to be considered for placement on the board agenda for 2016.
Top on the list was raising additional funds specifically for course additions and improvements. A concept was proposed for a major event tied in with our annual Doo Dah tournament. Keep your ears open for this one as it promises to be fun and should draw a lot of participation.
Another outstanding issue to be taken up is a better process for maintenance and completion of improvement projects. The vision is a system where anyone who has the time available and skills that match the task can consult a list of jobs that need to be done and a way to get needed materials so the job can be done at the volunteers convenience.
There were other issues as well and all will be included on the next scheduled board meeting, Thursday, February 11th at 7:00 pm at the WATER Center. As always, all are welcome to attend ACDGC Board meetings.
Jerry Sherwood
President, Air Capital Disc Golf Club
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