October 31, 2014 Minutes

The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held a meeting at the Grand Hotel in Minot, ND.

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, Jay Thone (Proxy for Victor Evjen) and Luke Wilcox (Proxy for Perry Brintnell).

Absent Board Members: Brian Sauer – Excused.

Others Present: Keri Wanner-Executive Director, Todd Thronson-Trail Inspector and Tari Norby-Administrative Specialist – SND and Matt Gardner, Erik Dietrich, Mark Zimmerman – NDPRD.

  1. Call to Order – Vice President Sheri Hoffmann called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.
  1. Approve Agenda
    1. Marty made motion to approve the agenda as is, Todd second. Motion approved.
  1. Approve Minutes
    1. September 23, 2014: Shawn made motion to approve, Kristie second. Motion approved.
  1. Financial Reports – September 2014
    1. Registration numbers are at an 8% increase from this time in 2012.
    2. Marty made a motion to file the financial reports, Jay second. Motion approved.
  1. Reports
    1. President Report: Laura appreciates the great job the Board has done this past season
      1. Laura has a new job and it will require her to miss a few events and meetings.
      2. She will still have her President report sent in before the meeting if she is unable to attend.
    2. Office Report:
      1. Sno-Dak News Production & Ad Sales:
        • Total SND Office Sales: $20,547.84
          1. Doesn’t Include the total sales MSPN has sold
        • Currently $3,000 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, will use for next season.
      2. 14-15 Membership Information as of 10/27/14:
        • Renewal information was sent 9/2/14
        • 49 Individual/Family have been sent in
        • 10 Associates have been sent in
  • Safety/Enforcement Program Update: Started to schedule snowmobile classes
  1. Get Registered Campaign/Results: registrations are up 8% as of September 2014
    • We will be awarding Midcontinent Communications with a Special Merit Award for donating air time for the PSA’s
  2. Show Updates:
    • 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
  3. 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: Gained two vacation packages (MT&MN), still looking for 3 more prizes.
  • 13-14 Taxes (SND & SNDTP): Completed.
  1. Foremost Insurance: Discontinued their partnerships with all state snowmobile programs, announcing tomorrow morning to the membership.
  2. Polaris Industries: Received a $550 donation for the Polaris Winning Riders program.
  1. NDPRD:
    1. Nothing new to talk about. Will jump into conversations during the meeting that pertain to NDPRD.
  1. Committee Reports
    1. Equipment Committee:  Meeting will be held after the Board Meetings meeting
    2. Budget Committee:  No Report
    3. Regulations Committee:
  1. Legislation Update: Marty made the comment to the Board that they all need to speak to the legislators in their local area.
    • Keri has spoken with Polaris and they will not support the youth bill the way it is worded.
    • Marty made a motion to include in the legislative change “Between the ages of 10-12 youth can obtain snowmobile certification and ride on the state snowmobile trail with a parent/guardian.” Dale seconded the motion. Motion carried.
  2. Governor’s Meeting: Meeting went really good and talked about the goals between NDNPRD and DOT. Also, talked about the International Ride
  3. Nominations: Byron contacted all officers and they are all willing to serve again
  4. Trailhead Signs: Tari completed a small survey which will be handed out at the annual meeting for members to complete; they can select their favorite type of trailhead sign and include comments on what they want to see on the signs. Comments from the Board of Directors included
    • SND & NDPRD & KNDC logos
    • Association & Club logos
    • “Made Possible by Your registration dollars at work”
    • Shawn made a comment that one sign will not work on his trails and others agreed. Discussion was held on creating a smaller sign that sharing a similar message that can be placed throughout the trail system
    • Keri and Tari will do research on how many signs each system will receive
  5. Old Business
    1. Probation Systems:
      1. Cattail Trail Update: Everything is good; they keep in contact with the office. They do have members that are attending the convention.
      2. East Central Valley Trail – Rural Cass Update: Spoke with Troy Klevgard, everything is going good, they keep in contact with the office. They do have members that are attending the convention.
    1. Awards & Nominations Committee: 
    1. Trail Operations Committee:
  • Sargent Country Trail Update: Keri has reached out by phone and email and has not heard anything back. Kristie mentioned to contact a Bill Beaver.
  1. Red River South Trails – Grand Forks Update: They have not contacted the office. They contacted Perry Brintnell and spoke with him about maintaining a smaller portion of trail. Keri is doing more research on this.
  1. Peace Garden Trail
    1. Community Meeting on Trail Management – Roaring 20’s: The meeting was held October 8, community attendance was not great.
      • There was good discussion at the noon meeting with the city/chamber officials but there were not many in attendance. However, Dave Vad was asked to attend upcoming meetings to inform the different Boards of trail operations and why assistance is needed.
      • Another meeting is going to be held November 12th at the Armory in Bottineau at 7 pm.
    2. Turtle Mountain Snowmobile Club: The Sky Dancer Casino contacted NDPRD in May regarding opening snowmobile trails on the reservation.
      • NDPRD worked with the Attorney General’s office on a resolution for the tribal council to sign. This has not been signed by the tribal council as the time of this meeting.
      • They called and requested left over signs from other associations. Do not give them signs; it is a liability since the resolution is not signed.
      • Todd will be going up and doing Groomer and Trail Signing classes.
        1. Marty made a motion to create a waiver so SND is not liable if anything should happen. Second by Shawn. Approved.
      • In the future if the resolution is signed, Rolla might submit an Emergency Trail Change Form to connect to the tribal trail.
  • Seldom Seen Snowmobile Club: The club will have members at the convention to get certified in the classes.
  1. Mayville-Portland Trail: Keri called Matt Hanson (Trail Coordinator)regarding if a decision has been made on the trail system. The association still has not met.
    1. They plan on meeting in the middle of November
    2. They are considering about closing starting this season
  2. 2015 Convention: No Bids
    1. Keri brought up a couple different options for the board
    2. Shawn made a motion to host the convention on the weekend of December 5, 2015 in Bismarck. Jesse seconded. Approved.
  3. Event Updates
    1. 2014 Convention: Silent Auction is setup and agenda is in board packets
    2. 2015 Pink Ribbon Riders ND Snow Run: Will be January 9-10, 2015 in Grafton, ND
  • International Ride: Working with the Hyatt House in Minot on a social the Friday night.
    • It will be free registration – it will be a pre-registration event since we will need passport numbers to give to border patrol.
    • Vote on which SND logo to use on sticker
      1. Shawn made a motion to vote for the sicker on the bottom page. Marty seconded. Discussion was held. Motion was amended by Marty.
      2. Marty made a motion to pull out the snowmobile rider and add a snowflake in place of the snowmobiler rider. Byron Seconded. Dale, Jay and Mark voted no. Motion approved.
  1. 2015 State Ride: February 7, 2015 in Mooreton, ND
  1. Fall 2014 Regional Trail Meetings (November): Keri, Matt and Todd will be on the road the week of November 17 to hold meetings in all Regions. During the Regional breakout session at the Annual meeting, the membership will decide where the clubs will meet in each Region.
    1. Region 1 will be held at the convention during the regional breakouts
    2. Region 2 and the Peace Garden Trail clubs will meet November 19th, Minot clubs are more than welcome to attend
  • Region 3 will meet Tuesday, November 18th in Grafton
  1. Region 4-5 will meet Monday, November 17th – Keri will host a separate meeting for the Bismarck and Linton club since it will be easier to meet in Bismarck
  1. Groomer Tracking/Software & Mapping Program Update
    1. We have received a $5,000 grant from Tourism for this program
    2. Still waiting to hear from ISMA on the grant
  • Matt spoke with the State Procurement Office and sent out bids. Still waiting for bids for the tracking software and mapping system. Bidding closes November 10th, 2014.
  1. New Business
    1. 2016 Convention Nominations: No Bids
    2. 2016 State Ride Nominations: Two nominations – One from Sheyenne Valley Trail Association for January 29-31, 2016 in Valley City and one from Northern Lights Trailblazers January 9, 2016 in Rugby.
      1. Board voted, with Shawn abstaining from voting, and it was voted to go to Sheyenne Valley Trail Association for the State Ride
    3. Grant & Aid: Received two nominations – One from North Valley Riders and one from Rough Rider Snowmobile Association
      1. Grant total is $1,847.33
      2. Dale made a motion to split the funds between the two clubs, Shawn seconded. Motion approved.
    4. Measure #5 (SND Opinion): Valley City was wondering what the Board’s feelings was on Measure 5.
      1. Shawn made a motion to give the club no opinion, Jay seconded. Motion approved
    5. Museum Display – Valley City: The local club is working with Barnes County Museum to put together a snowmobile display.
      1. The display will last 3-4 months
      2. Want SND to provide materials from the past years
    6. 2014 SND Club Membership Survey Results: looking for more clubs to fill out info
      1. Clubs will be able to fill out the form at the annual meeting
  1. Adjournment: Motion made by Todd to adjourn, second by Dale. Approved.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Tari Norby & Keri Wanner

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