Region 5 Trail Meeting Notes

Region 5 Trail Meeting
Snowmobile North Dakota
Casselton, ND
October 26, 2013

President Laura Forbes called the Region 5 Trail Meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. at the Casselton City Hall in Casselton, ND.

Attendance:  Laura Forbes – President, Marty Malachowski – Past President, Troy Klevgard – Region 5, Kristie Thone – Region 5, Matt Gardner, Keri Wanner – Executive Director, Sheila Klevgard – Rural Cass, Eric Hanson – Rural Cass, Char Gust – Rural Cass, Todd McMichael– Rural Cass, Joanne Seifert – Rural Cass, Jerrica Thone – Red River Sno-Riders and Brian Mullenberg – Red River Sno-Riders.

1. Laura opend up the meeting and had Keri present about SND’s 2013-2014 programs.
   1. Sno-Dak News Club Special:  $100 business card ads with full color or 25% off all other ads in the magazine.
   2. Foremost Insurance Partnership:  Spoke about the insurance program and benefits.
   3. Project Ride:  Reflected what members can win if they are renewed by December 31^st and what clubs can win for recruiting and renewing members by April 1^st, 2014.
   4. Sled’N Snap:  The program is a social media contest that encourages North Dakota snowmobile registration.  ND residents that register a snowmobile and signup to be a part of the program can win trailer prizes.  ND Residents and non-residents that purchase passes can also win additional prizes like helmets, vacation packages, fuel cards and guide packages for registering a snowmobile in ND and signing up for the program.

 

1. Trail Signing Requirements
   1. Corridor:  A minimum of two blazers are required to sign the corridor, including on approaches.  The two blazers must be visible from the opposite side of the approach.  If the Trail Inspector determines they are not visible from the opposite side, the association will be notified to add blazers to the approach.  Please remember trail associations receive points for trail signing; using correct signing methods will receive higher points to earn additional funding.
   2. Sign Inventory:  The sign inventory will change for the 2014-2015 season.  The changes will be taught at the convention on December 7^th.

 

1. Events
   1. 35^th Annual State Convention:  December 6-7, 2013 in Grand Forks, ND at the Howard Johnson Inn
   2. 5^th Anniversary Pink Ribbon Riders ND Snow Run:  January 13-14, 2014 on Lake Metigoshe at the Twin Oaks Resort

(Free Registration for Raising $200 in pledges by December 1^st)

1. State Ride:  February 8, 2014 in Walhalla, ND – Northeast Trail Association
2. International Ride:  February 15^th, 2014 – Sno-Trails Association

i.      The date was selected in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association.

 

1. New Trail Funding Program:  Matt and Keri reviewed the new trail funding program.  The following suggestions were made:
   1. To change the term Grooming Length to Trail Open
   2. To change the meetings section to the delegates versus 1 member
   3. To change the term ratio to costs per mile
   4. In the 2^nd benchmark, don’t use the word final before payment
   5. Focus on the term rewarding and to add the word point value in the 3^rd benchmark

 

1. Additional discussion was held on the Sno-Dak News.  A suggestion was made to only produce the e-magazine or to produce the e-magazine with a newspaper making it cheaper for SND.  This will be brought up for discussion at the annual meeting.  Additional discussion was also held on enforcement.  There is concern more enforcement needs to be done to help with snowmobile registrations.

 

1. Matt reviewed the updated snowmobile definition.  The new definition has a maximum width of 48” and maximum weight of 1,200 lbs.

 

Respectfully Submitted,
Keri Wanner
Executive Director – SND