Meet New Treasurer Bill Kinsey

Meet New Treasurer Bill Kinsey

Longtime club member Bill Kinsey was elected by the Board late last year to take over for retiring treasurer Ralph Goodrich. Below, Bill explains his long history with Mill Creek Rifle Club and what led him to a leadership position:

I moved out here to Lawrence in 1989 or ’90. I was living in Miami, Florida, prior to that. I was interested in the USPSA/IPSC shooting discipline at the time. When I came out here, I met some guys at The Bullet Hole and was shooting regularly with them. They told me they had to show me this great place they had discovered called Mill Creek Rifle Club. I came out here and was immediately sold. It has turned out to be by far the best facility I’ve been to anywhere.

I used to shoot with the Swiss Rifle Club, a few high-power matches, but my most intense involvement was been with the IPSC clubs. I really enjoy the mult-gun aspect of that style of competition. This club was doing multi-gun shooting long before it took off and became really popular. For instance, Mill Creek Practical Shooting League was doing shotgun, rifle, and handgun competitive shooting in separate stages on the same day for years. That’s mostly what I shoot now.

I first joined the Mill Creek board two years before [Previous President] Witek Grzymala-Busse’s tenure, as the safety direct, when Bill Pruitt turned it over to me. That was a really rewarding period of time as I helped refine all our safety rules during that period. As the club got into more non-traditional competitions, everybody wanted to do things like shoot steel targets, shoot while on the move, etc. So it took quite a bit of trial and error. But I think we eventually came up with a pretty workable safety solution. That, of course, was followed by the concealed-carry craze, before which time every gun came to the range cased and unloaded or disassembled. No longer. So we had to come up with solutions to address the potential risks that loaded and carried firearms introduced. Many of those are the same safety solutions we’re using today. I’m glad I was able to be a contributing part of that.

So now I find we are in need again--in need of somebody to do the treasury functions necessary to club. I guess it looks a little boring compared to range safety, but I thought, I’m pretty good with a computer, I’m pretty good with numbers, I have the experience to know the ins-and-outs of how the club functions after this many years.

So here I am.

I remember when I first got here and came to my first board meeting, the club treasurer would just stand up and tell everybody the simple sum that was in the bank account, with no detailed explanation of income breakdown, expense allocations, longterm budgeting, any of that. That was the sum of the financial reporting. Of course, I recognize it was a period when the financial demands were relatively smaller, we had much lower maintenance, the club wasn’t undergoing  much capital expansion, etc. Now, it’s much more complicated with a lot more activities, a lot more items that need to be paid for, that sort of thing. I think only [Former Treasurer] Ralph Goodrich could have managed that transition. Trying to pull it all together the first time had to be tough. But Ralph’s been very good about explaining his complicated setup, and I know where he lives!

But seriously, what I’m hoping for is to run the club treasury about as good as Ralph did, if that’s possible, but also contribute to how the club develops and expands in the future.

Are we in good financial shape today as an organization? I have no doubts the years of member dues are being watched over carefully. In fact, I almost kind of wince when I look at what our financial reserves are. A lot of members may not realize the history of that. Those reserves are based on calculations we came up with after the time we had a big windstorm blow the entire high-power awning down. It was a very expensive rebuild. Today, we have vastly more buildings, much more expansive facilities to be equally concerned about. A similar windstorm today would risk a whole other level of financial catastrophe. That reserve is based very specifically on ensuring we could meet the financial needs we would face in order to immediately rebuild after insurance reimbursement.

I became interested in serving on this organization’s board because over the years, while participating  in the different IPCS clubs, you find that eventually you have to step up and contribute to the leadership team on a pretty regular basis. Organizations like this don’t simply run themselves. So, I’d rather have people who know a lot about shooting in that leadership than those who don’t, or those who may have their own agendas, that sort of thing. So, I think that’s an important part of membership, for qualified people to step up and participate in the club they want to make high-quality.

I look forward to serving as your treasurer and welcome your questions and comments.

Bill Kinsey

MCRC Treasurer

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