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Meeting Minutes – April 9, 2025

Meeting Attendees

     Tom Vanderputten    Ted Larrison    Jim Mauck      Mike Beachy    John Hollister   Wayne Andrews

     Bob Rhodes   Kris Williams

Meeting Minutes

  • The meeting minutes for March 12, 2025 were approved.

Fishing Reports

  • The Little Elkhart is high and water over the banks with recent rains.
  • Trout Season closes April 15 until opening day Saturday April 26th.

 Treasurer’s Report

  • The account balances at the end of March were $ 25,519.47
  • The W-9 form is ready.
  • Volunteer hours have been entered on the Annual Activity Report for 2025 for TU National.
  • $ 520 in checks and $ 320 in cash has been deposited in the raffle account.
  • The membership present voted to consolidate all the LECTU funds into one bank. LECTU will transfer The Everwise funds to Interra and close the Everwise accounts.

Middlebury Old Mill Park 

  • Mike spoke with Tom Enright to get an update. Tom has some places in the Riverbend Park area that need stream cleaning and blockage removal.
  • Mike will follow up with Tom on possible workdays this summer.

Reel Recovery 2025 

  • The Reel Recovery Retreat is scheduled for June 2,3,4 2025 (Monday-Wednesday).
  • The Budget will be approximately $8,500 – $9,000
  • LECTU will donate funds raised from the Annual Outing (May 3rd) to Reel Recovery.
  • Sponsorship Donations to date: $1,000 Elkhart Community Foundation, $250 Greencroft Communities, $ 250 Tom Vanderputten.
  • Bradley Moore has offered to donate warm water flies to the retreat.
  • Ted has purchased special “Indiana” fishing buddy retreat hats and will be reimbursed.

The following three sections will continue to be Reprinted so Members Stay Aware of LECTU Status

LECTU (IRS Filing Status) (reprinted from August)

  • LECTU received an email from Quentin Collins at National Trout Unlimited.
  • Due to a bookkeeping error LECTU was inadvertently reclassified from a Public Charity to a Private Foundation. This caused a major issue with the IRS and TU National.
  • REVISED: Keith and his nephew an accountant have filed the necessary paperwork required for a Private Foundation 501 (c) (3) in order to prevent our loosing Not for Profit status. The next steps are to remedy the situation altogether by getting back to a Public Charity 501.

Quentin Collins TU National (reprinted from August)

  • Mike spoke with Quentin and LECTU is still a nonprofit, however a “private foundation”.
  • To return to a Public Charity we need to shut down the chapter and restart with a new Chapter Number.
  • Since LECTU lacks the necessary volunteers to staff all positions (Officers, Board Members, Etc.), the possibility is the dissolution of the LECTU Chapter.
  • Quentin counseled Mike that this situation is not unusual and offered TU assistance.
  • When a chapter is dissolved all assets are transferred to TU National as well as liabilities. Therefore all obligated funds or future event funds would be utilized for those earmarked obligated projects. LECTU needs to start fundraising (Raffle Season) soon, and can legally do so (filing as 990PF). 
  • OPTIONS: New and Old guys step up and fill recovered positions and actually participate in volunteer activities or the Chapter shuts down and use our funds for Reel Recovery.

Quentin Collins TU Update(reprinted from September)

  • Mike sent email to Quentin to implement the Chapter Leadership revitalization process.
  • LECTU needs to fill (3) Board Members and (4) Officers.  In addition more volunteers are needed to handle various annual activities.
  • The next TU Financial Report is due Spring 2025. 
  • There will be a new LECTU Chapter number, and new Tax ID number.

Mark Sedotti (Reprinted from March Minutes)

  • The event will be held October 11, 2025 at The Elkhart Conversation Club.
  • The $2,000 cost will be split between LECTU, Kalamazoo TU, and SJVFF.
  • The participant cost will be $ 25 per person. Eric Graham requested that LECTU collects the fee from LECTU members who plan on attending. 
  • Mike will send a TU News Blast about Mark Sedotti.
  • Jim Mauck will collect the $25 fees.

CITU Film Tour

  • The annual film tour was held March 15th at the Vogue Theatre in Broad Ripple. 
  • Mark, Mike, Kris, and Chase Spaw will attended.
  • $ 320 Adopt-A-Trout were sold.

Winter Fly Tying

  • The winter fly tying was held at The Middlebury Library
  • The last session was held Saturday April 5th.
  • The new vises are working well.
  • Mark Holcomb and Kris Williams will plan the event for 2026. There is a possibility for sessions in Warsaw IN.

Riverfest

  • Riverfest will be Saturday August 23, 11:00am to 3:00pm
  • Theme: Water Quality with focus on Trees, Wetlands, and Buffer Zones
  • Dar Deegan has informed LECTU of ecoli returning to The Little Elkhart. This is the primary source of the algae blooms in the river.

Fundraising

  • Sponsorship Levels: Brown Trout $1,000 Rainbow Trout $ 750 Cutthroat Trout $500

 Brook Trout $250

  • Sponsorship funds totaling $1,250 were deposited into the General Account.
  • $520 in checks and $ 320 in cash were deposited into the Raffle Account.

Outing

  • Outing Date will be Saturday May 3, 2025 at Riverbend Park. The park is reserved.
  • Mike received the raffle license from the State of Indiana.
  • The Grand Prize an Orvis H-4 9ft 5wt Rod with a Mirage Reel has arrived and was displayed at the meeting. The expense was $785 and LECTU will hopefully sell $ 3,000 of tickets.
  • In addition LECTU will have a Silent Auction and a Garage Sale Table. LECTU has several items now ready (brown trout print, custom rod from Mike B., fish art map, two nets, one custom net, L.L. Bean Rod Outfit
  • LECTU Logo fly boxes for the garage sale table.
  • Chase will solicit the Indianapolis area for donations, Mike will solicit the Chicago area (Greg Kovelas is assisting).
  • The Guest Speaker will be Mark Luttenton of Grand Valley State Unversity.
  • Wayne Andrews will arrange the van and driver for the Little Elkhart River Tour.
  • Matt Horsley (Indiana Biologist for Northern Indiana) will present a brief update.
  • Mark Holcomb will have the ticket tumbler repaired and ready.
  • Mike’s family will provide lunch and water.
  • Volunteers are needed to set-up at 6:00am. Tom will provide the coffee. John Hollister will provide the donuts for the volunteers.
  • Volunteers are also needed assist the Parks Department set up the tent on Thursday (time to be determined). The table and chairs will be delivered Friday (Mike will be available to sign).

Chapter Status Update (Reprinted)

  • Mike is still in touch with Quentin Collins for the TU chapter revitalization efforts.
  • Mike sent an email asking for volunteer leaders to step up.
  • Mike received several responses. Unfortunately many were too far to be effective
  • Since Mike is resigning as Chapter President when LECTU is restarted, this position needs to be filled.
  • Mike would continue at LECTU and coordinate the river work projects.

Library Key Pickup

Wayne, and Mike have been listed by the Library being able to secure a building key for our monthly LECTU meetings. One of them will pick up the key prior to Wednesday of the meeting.

LECTU Meeting Place and Date

  • Middlebury Library in downtown Middlebury IN.

Next Meeting – Wednesday –  May 14, 2025

Tom Vanderputten – LECTU Secretary