September 23, 2014 Minutes

Snowmobile North Dakota
Board of Directors Meeting
September 23, 2014


The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held a meeting via webinar on September 23, 2014.

Present Board Members:  Laura Forbes – President, Sheri Hoffmann – Vice President, Dale Deibert, Mark Shipley, Jesse Fritz, Todd Rasmusson, Shawn Cole, Marty Malachowski, Byron Norsby, Kristie Thone and Perry Brintnell.

Absent Board Members: Brian Sauer – Excused.

Others Present: Keri Wanner-Executive Director & Tari Norby-Administrative Specialist – SND, Matt Gardner, Erik Dietrich –NDPRD.

  1. Call to Order – President Laura Forbes called the meeting to order at 8:04 a.m.
  1. Approve Agenda
    1. Marty made motion to approve the agenda as is, Shawn second. Motion approved.
  1. Approve Minutes
    1. May 17, 2014: Byron made motion to approve, Dale second. Motion approved.
  1. Financial Reports – July 2014
    1. Just received the snowmobile registration numbers that day. Will send document out to the board when numbers are plugged in.
      1. Registration numbers are at an 8% increase from this time in 2012.
    2. Kirstie made a motion to file the financial reports, Sheri second. Motion approved.
  1. Reports
    1. President Report: Laura reported the summer went by fast.  She had the opportunity in August to go to the National Off Highway Vehicle Conservation Council Conference with NDPRD.  They have the same challenges as the snowmobiling community does.
      1. There are states that are looking for ways to fund their projects
      2. Getting the volunteers to be excited about helping to keep the trails safe
  • Getting the younger generation involved
  1. How to change the negative media to being positive by listening to the public.

Laura is going to be contacting Dan Ruby to see if he will support SND with the legislation on changing the youth age from 12 to 10 years old.

  1. Office Report:
    1. Annual Report: Completed and up on SND’s website, NDPRD’s website and in DropBox.
    2. 2014-2015 Annual Work Plan: Has been completed.
  • Sno-Dak News Production & Ad Sales:
    • Total SND Office Sales: $19,497.84
      1. Doesn’t Include the total sales MSPN has sold
    • Denise Sanzo, the previous designer has went on her own and is freelance designing the Sno-Dak News
    • MSPN is now printing the publication out of Detroit Lakes, MN and its shipped out of Fargo, ND
    • This change is providing a full color publication at a cheaper rate plus allowed us to move back the materials deadline to the 10th of each month; plus the entire magazine will be printed on the same paper.
    • Currently $2,000 in donations for SND Silent Auction table at the convention where proceeds will be donated to the Grant & Aid and Scholarship program. Still filling Product Reviews to gain more products.
  1. HayDays & Upcoming Show Update:
    • HayDays: Great attendance this year, booth traffic was a little down because of new location
    • October: ND Sportsman’s Expo and Rough Rider Snowmobile Association’s Show n’ Shine will be held in Bismarck the weekend of October 24th-26th.  The Expo is at the Civic Center and the Show n’ Shine are at Kirkwood Mall
    • Saskatchewan Snow Show: Not attending this year.  The funds for this show will help cover the additional expenses needed to host the Regional Trail Meetings.
  2. Trail Guide Update – Promo Bags: They are printed and in the promo bags
  3. Guideline Book Updates: Updates are in process and will be completed by next week.
  • Raffle Tickets: Tickets are printed and ready to sell, please let Tari know how many tickets you would like. Club that sells the most tickets will receive $1,000 (donation is prorated based on ticket sales)
  • Sled N’ Snap: will continue for 2014-2015.  Looking for prizes for the program.
  1. 13-14 Taxes (SND & SNDTP): in the process of being completed.
  1. NDPRD:
    1. Working with Keri on Legislation
    2. Working on finalizing budget with new registration program funding.
      • Need support from volunteers and Representative for the DOT take-over in legislation.
  1. Committee Reports
    1. Equipment Committee: 
  1. Sign and equipment orders are completed for the season. Signs will be delivered at the convention.  Clubs can also schedule a time to pick signs up at the office.
  2. 2015 New groomer was delivered to Minot.
  • Track, Inc. picked up the 2014 groomer in Webster for warranty work. It will be delivered around the convention.
  1. Bret Gibson with Track, Inc. will be in Minot on 10/30/14 for training on the new machine if anyone is interested.
    • Dale will have all the Sno-Trails groomer operators there for training.
  2. Track, Inc. received a new sales rep. named Bob Leidlein. Bob will be attending the State Convention.
  3. Still looking for legislative support and sponsors.
  4. Created a letter of support with SND’s legislative recommendations for 2015.
    • Will be taking to the Governor meeting Keri has on Monday.
      1. Will be discussing legislation and International Ride.
    • Keri contacted JR Burke with Polaris and no update as of now.
      • He is busy up in Canada.
      • Will contact Keri when he gets back in the office.
    1. Budget Committee:  No Report
    2. Regulations Committee: 2015 Legislative Updates
  1. After further discussion it was decided SND will not be addressing the dealer registration during the 2015 Legislative Session because it was felt the agenda was too full with registration transfer, registration increase and youth age requirements.
    • SND will pursue this at a later time
  2. Midcontinent Communications: 2 employees from the Minot branch will attend the state convention, to receive a Special Merit Award for donating air time for the snowmobile PSA’s
  3. SND Hall of Fame: Laura reached out to the family for the very first SND president and they were not interested.
    • 2 names were brought forward:
      1. Bob Smith:
        1. SND Trail Coordinator in the 90’s
        2. Not active anymore
      2. Missy Sjolin:
        1. Has been Secretary, Vice President and President for SND
        2. Not active anymore
    1. Awards & Nominations Committee:  Winners were sent out via email to the committee.
  • Vote was held and Missy Sjolin will be inducted in 2014
    1. Trail Operations Committee:
  1. IASA (International Association of Snowmobile Administrators) Sign plan is finally competed and was approved by IASA in June 2014. The United States Forest Service has not completed their sign plan at this time.
    • The SND Sign Guidelines has since been updated with the new changes.
  2. The committee members were emailed research on Chevrons; the committee will need to discuss this at a later date.
    • Other snowmobile jurisdictions are unanimously removing the chevrons from their inventory.
    • The argument is that chevrons are designed for engineered grade roads and snowmobile trails are not engineered grade roads.
    • Dale made a comment to keep the chevrons.
  • Trailhead Signs: At the last meeting Victor Evjen made a comment to look in to trailhead signs.
    • Keri and Tari found a few example pictures of trailhead signs.
    • We will bring these pictures back to the board meeting in October.
    • Keri will reach out to Voss Signs to get a few quotes on different types of signs.
  1. Old Business
    1. Cattail Trail Update:
      1. No new update
      2. Cattail has been communicating with the office.
  • The office will report how they communicate once the season starts up.
  1. New Business
    1. 2015 Convention: No Location
      1. Reminder to the club that hosts the convention gets $1,000 from the raffle ticket sales and for every membership through SND the hosting club receives $1/membership.
    2. Event Updates:
      1. 2014 Convention: Sent out e-newsletters about the convention and the online registration. We have had a couple bugs with the online registration but we are working them out.
      2. 2015 Pink Ribbon Riders ND Snow Runs: January 9-10, 2015
        • Going to be held in Grafton, ND
        • More information to come
  • 2015 International Ride: January 31, 2015
    • Possibly looking for a different hotel this year.
  1. 2015 State Ride: February 7, 2015
    • Flyer and information on SND’s website.
  2. Fall 2014 Regional Trail Meetings (November):
    1. It was discussed to do Region 1 at the convention in Minot
      • Will have more about it as it gets closer
    2. Plan to schedule the meetings back to back
      • Give regions information about legislation to have communities show support
      • Answer any questions they may have about trail management, land leases or anything they are having problems with.
    3. Groomer Tracking/Software & Mapping Program Update:
      1. Have applied for two grants to help cover the cost of the units. Possibly might apply for a third grant through Yamaha, still waiting on criteria.
      2. Have been meeting with NDPRD’s IT person to make sure we will have the technology for the tracking units.
  • RFP will be sent out once we have the final specs on the tracing units.
  1. Peace Garden Trail:
    1. Community Meeting on Trail Management – Roaring 20’s:
      • Keri will meet with the Bottineau City & County Officials, Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Center at noon on October 8th; this meeting is being held to discuss how the snowmobile program operates and key components that are needed for local trail management
      • A public meeting will be held on October 8th at 6:30 p.m. at the Armory in Bottineau to talk about the future of the Peace Garden Trail System.
      • Anyone is welcome to attend
      • Will be discussing the snowmobile program, volunteer assistance and funding.
    2. Turtle Mountain Snowmobile Club: Club wants to reactivate with SND
      • Sent in 10 memberships a month ago
      • Members will be attending the convention to gain knowledge at the classes
      • The Attorney General’s office has completed the Resolution document and it has been submitted to the Tribal Council for review. Still waiting to hear from the Tribal Council on whether they approved the document.
  • Seldom Seen Snowmobile Club:
    • Will be attending the convention and the community meeting on October 8th
  1. Mayville-Portland Trail: Trail Coordinator, Matt Hanson, called the office and talked about not having enough volunteer effort so they club is considering closing the trail.
    1. The club has not met yet and won’t be able to meet until November.
    2. Keri offered to hold a community meeting in the area to help spark interest.
  • The club is reaching out to the local men’s club to see if they would be interested in assuming management of the trail
  1. Keri mentioned that the online Trail Signing and Trail Grubbing class certification is available on SND’s website.
  1. Adjournment: Motion made by Shawn to adjourn, second by Marty. Approved.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Tari Norby & Keri Wanner

On October 7, 2014   /   Minutes   /   Leave a comment
Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.