OGC

[photogpat]

Speaking of website and calendar. I was at a board meeting this spring where they decided to spend ?$7K? On an outside ?Drupal? Coder to fix up tge website and etc.
I thought the timeline and reason for paying a contractor was weeks. We're months out now.

I remember when Dick was maintaining the site with PHP, hisself! ... don't know that it cost us that much?!

... purdy fancy site, now! ... all that, jest to fill a berm with lead?! ... we can still shoot lead, right?!

Here's the thing (and I'm not saying anything about anyone) - OGC needs to update itself and its image to attract the younger crowd of shooters these days - the baby boomers will be firing fewer and fewer rounds over the next decade. We need to be geared more towards younger, more "connected" (both Intarwebs and smartphone) crowds, and provide what those people want in addition. To me it appears OGC needs to (has been trying?) to shed the crusty old benchrest and trap shooter mentality that I think (IMHO) it had for many years. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with benchrest and trap shooting -- but the new generation of "gunnies" wants short pistol ranges (1-7yds), the ability to do holster work, tactical courses (aka 180 or 270 degree range of fire), and sporting clays in addition to those. I know one club will never be able to provide "everything" - and some of those are pipe dreams to install at Lake Elmo....

I believe I'm correct in stating that maintaining a member base for OGC hasn't really ever been an issue (theres always been a waiting list for membership, right?) -- but continuing to attract an involved base, introduce new shooters to range/firearms safety, and remain one of the better (technically, operationaly, physically) Metro area outdoor ranges needs to be a priority.

[xd ED]

I've sent an email to the board secretary asking for copies of the current bylaws and the proposed bylaws changes. The bylaws on the website do not at all appear to be the current bylaws.

B

I hope you share what you learn.
I am RO on Sunday, and won't likely get to the meeting.

[plblark]

The current direction, if I'm reading the wind correctly, is Range safety. But the methods have me worried.

Instead of adding side berms you can SHOOT INTO which will INCREASE opportunity in the fastest growing segments of shooting sports, we're going to get no blue sky and etc... Which leads me to the concern that once we spend umpteen bucks on these barriers and improvements there will be iron-fisted control of the activities which don't take advantage of them. The no blue sky range is negated by any event which doesn't take place from the established firing line. Yeah, never mind the fact that practical pistol has a scoring RO, a safety RO, and a TON of procedures designed to make it a safe sport. People unfamiliar with it won't get it and that's a risk.

Heck, we already lost a sectional match this year to "scheduling", the "Public", and "other members". Let's see... up to 70 people at a match, 25-50% members... Are there really up to 20 members at a particular range during a typical closed to the public date?

[bstrawse]

I've sent an email to the board secretary asking for copies of the current bylaws and the proposed bylaws changes. The bylaws on the website do not at all appear to be the current bylaws.

B

I hope you share what you learn.
I am RO on Sunday, and won't likely get to the meeting.

I absolutely will do so. I'll post updates in this thread.

I'm going to be asking for some other information soon.
b

[bstrawse]

The current direction, if I'm reading the wind correctly, is Range safety. But the methods have me worried.

Instead of adding side berms you can SHOOT INTO which will INCREASE opportunity in the fastest growing segments of shooting sports, we're going to get no blue sky and etc... Which leads me to the concern that once we spend umpteen bucks on these barriers and improvements there will be iron-fisted control of the activities which don't take advantage of them. The no blue sky range is negated by any event which doesn't take place from the established firing line. Yeah, never mind the fact that practical pistol has a scoring RO, a safety RO, and a TON of procedures designed to make it a safe sport. People unfamiliar with it won't get it and that's a risk.

Heck, we already lost a sectional match this year to "scheduling", the "Public", and "other members". Let's see... up to 70 people at a match, 25-50% members... Are there really up to 20 members at a particular range during a typical closed to the public date?

Is the current Director of Safety & Security a NRA Chief Range Safety Officer? I believe that's the proper certification for someone to review and approve courses of fire & range design internally - but I know there are outside contractors who specialize in this sort of thing.
b

[rugersol]

The current direction, if I'm reading the wind correctly, is Range safety. But the methods have me worried.

Instead of adding side berms you can SHOOT INTO which will INCREASE opportunity in the fastest growing segments of shooting sports, we're going to get no blue sky and etc... Which leads me to the concern that once we spend umpteen bucks on these barriers and improvements there will be iron-fisted control of the activities which don't take advantage of them. The no blue sky range is negated by any event which doesn't take place from the established firing line. Yeah, never mind the fact that practical pistol has a scoring RO, a safety RO, and a TON of procedures designed to make it a safe sport. People unfamiliar with it won't get it and that's a risk.

Heck, we already lost a sectional match this year to "scheduling", the "Public", and "other members". Let's see... up to 70 people at a match, 25-50% members... Are there really up to 20 members at a particular range during a typical closed to the public date?

Is the current Director of Safety & Security a NRA Chief Range Safety Officer? I believe that's the proper certification for someone to review and approve courses of fire & range design internally - but I know there are outside contractors who specialize in this sort of thing.
b

IPSC/USPSA has an well-established 30yr+ record as the foremost "action-pistol" shooting sport, in the world!

It now appears, the NRA desires to get "into the game" ... a bit late, perhaps?!

Until they've established a comparable record, in that area, I'd suggest an NROI (National Range Officers Institute) Range Master (no ... not the guy who knows how to run the till ) ... someone who's put in the YEARS (vs. some weekend "certification") of experience, might be best qualified to "approve" ... well ... much of anything, really!

Of course, that's all fairly irrelevant, if there were no actual problem that needing solving, in the first place?!

[Seismic Sam]

My take is that while the club is growing in size, the number of Directors is shrinking, down to the point where the President and a few of his buddies will wind up in complete control of the club, and once they nail that door shut it's their way or the highway. And considering that OGC has a little over $300K in the bank proposing a $500K development is asking for big trouble, if that's what is actually going to happen. And as another symptom of what's wrong here, if there are plans for new by-laws, why haven't copies of the proposed changes been sent out for everybody to see, rather than spring them on members at a live meeting?? That's ambush politics, and also may be the writing on the wall for how the club will change. Show up on the 28th!!!

[Holland&Holland]

My take is that while the club is growing in size, the number of Directors is shrinking, down to the point where the President and a few of his buddies will wind up in complete control of the club, and once they nail that door shut it's their way or the highway. And considering that OGC has a little over $300K in the bank proposing a $500K development is asking for big trouble, if that's what is actually going to happen. And as another symptom of what's wrong here, if there are plans for new by-laws, why haven't copies of the proposed changes been sent out for everybody to see, rather than spring them on members at a live meeting?? That's ambush politics, and also may be the writing on the wall for how the club will change. Show up on the 28th!!!

And scheduling a meeting the week before the firearms opener (an on a Sunday) is also ambush politics IMO.

[bstrawse]

IPSC/USPSA has an well-established 30yr+ record as the foremost "action-pistol" shooting sport, in the world!

It now appears, the NRA desires to get "into the game" ... a bit late, perhaps?!

Until they've established a comparable record, in that area, I'd suggest an NROI (National Range Officers Institute) Range Master (no ... not the guy who knows how to run the till ) ... someone who's put in the YEARS (vs. some weekend "certification") of experience, might be best qualified to "approve" ... well ... much of anything, really!

Of course, that's all fairly irrelevant, if there were no actual problem that needing solving, in the first place?!

The NRA has had Chief Range Safety Officers for years - that certification includes course design, facility / range design, etc... I'm not disputing the role that a IPSC/USPSA leader would have in terms of knowledge -- but the NRA CRSO certification isn't something new...

B

[bstrawse]

My take is that while the club is growing in size, the number of Directors is shrinking, down to the point where the President and a few of his buddies will wind up in complete control of the club, and once they nail that door shut it's their way or the highway. And considering that OGC has a little over $300K in the bank proposing a $500K development is asking for big trouble, if that's what is actually going to happen. And as another symptom of what's wrong here, if there are plans for new by-laws, why haven't copies of the proposed changes been sent out for everybody to see, rather than spring them on members at a live meeting?? That's ambush politics, and also may be the writing on the wall for how the club will change. Show up on the 28th!!!

Normally, organizations grow the size of their board rather than shrink it as the organization grows... There are also plenty of other non-profit organizations to benchmark - and sources of governance information like Boardsource - that advise on issues like this...

Proposing a $500k development with $300k in the bank isn't necessarily a bad thing - it depends on the organizations cash flow, other liabilities, and ability to sustain those liabilities in the long term... but such an investment should come with a financial analysis outlining things like that.

Bryan

[XD-GRIF]

My take is that while the club is growing in size, the number of Directors is shrinking, down to the point where the President and a few of his buddies will wind up in complete control of the club, and once they nail that door shut it's their way or the highway. And considering that OGC has a little over $300K in the bank proposing a $500K development is asking for big trouble, if that's what is actually going to happen. And as another symptom of what's wrong here, if there are plans for new by-laws, why haven't copies of the proposed changes been sent out for everybody to see, rather than spring them on members at a live meeting?? That's ambush politics, and also may be the writing on the wall for how the club will change. Show up on the 28th!!!

That sure seems like that is thay are trying to do.

[bstrawse]

Guidance from Boardsource on the size of a non-profit board:

According to the BoardSource 2010 Governance Index Survey, the average size of a board is 16 members, the median being 15. Organizations with larger budgets tend to have larger boards: organizations with budgets of $10 million or greater have an average size of 18 members and organizations that have budgets of less than $1 million typically have 14 board members. It is always good to remember: Average figures only reflect the reality, not a recommended norm.

http://www.boardsource.org/Knowledge.asp?ID=3.101

[XDM45]

Speaking of website and calendar. I was at a board meeting this spring where they decided to spend ?$7K? On an outside ?Drupal? Coder to fix up tge website and etc.
I thought the timeline and reason for paying a contractor was weeks. We're months out now.

I remember when Dick was maintaining the site with PHP, hisself! ... don't know that it cost us that much?!

... purdy fancy site, now! ... all that, jest to fill a berm with lead?! ... we can still shoot lead, right?!

Just an FYI from your local Linux Geek.... No, servers do NOT need to cost 2k. Yes, they CAN, and yes, sometimes they DO need to, but I doubt the one for OGC needs to cost that much.

Also, there are free POS systems out there which work just fine and are free.

Lastly, you don't need anti-virus on Linux. Yes, there are viruses for Linux, but much less so than for Mac OS X and Windows. I won't derail the thread into a a discussion about IT Sec, but if you really want to know, I'd be more than happy to discuss it - or better yet to help out.

[bstrawse]

I don't think the issue is linux versus microsoft or php versus drupal
b

[XDM45]

I don't think the issue is linux versus microsoft or php versus drupal
b

Agreed.

My point is not an OS discussion, rather there are alternative cost-saving options and methods with long-term ROI and lower TCO which could be implemented, thus saving OGC time, money, and other valuable resources.

I'm not anti-Microsoft (sometimes is is the right tool for the job), but often times, it's not. No one implements a solution they don't know exists or do not know how to implement; so they only recommend what they know. Other times, it's simply a matter of what will make the consultant the most money vs. what's the best solution for the customer's needs, wants and desires. Unfotuneatly, such practices give ethical IT people and businesses a black eye because of a few bad apples in the industry.

Many times consultants an and do only recommend what they know in a very limited area using very specific tools. That kind of focus and expertise is great, but what is often needed is someone well-versed in many tools and options who can work with them, and if need be, can gather experts for specific tools if it goes beyond their level of expertise. No one can know all of the minutiae of all the tools out there, but if someone only focuses in on 6 tools and SLAs for them, they are missing a plethora of other tools which may better fit the customer's needs.

I don't know OGC's setup for hardware and software, who implemented what, where, when and why, I'm simply saying that for a small gun club, $2,000 for a server is a big bill.

On a side note...... Microsoft is moving away from small business support, but that too is another discussion and beyond the scope of this thread or my point.