April 25, 2015 Minutes

Snowmobile North Dakota

Board of Directors Meeting

April 25, 2015

The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held a meeting at the SND office in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Members Present: Dale Deibert, Reily Bata, Jeff Seifert, Joanne Seifert, Kristie Thone, Mark Forbes, Shawn Cole, Todd Rasmusson, Laura Forbes, Sheri Hoffmann, Jesse Fritz

Members Absent: Perry Brintnell and Marty Malachowski – Excused, Nick Parslow – Unexcused

Others Present: Keri Wanner – Executive Director, Todd Thronson – Trail Inspector, Tari Norby – Administrative Specialist, Matt Gardner – NDPRD

  1. Call to order at 10:04 AM by President Laura Forbes
  2. Approve Agenda
    1. Laura added an item to New Business to discuss the Hay Days booth
    2. Sheri made a motion to accept the updated agenda, seconded by Dale, approved by all members present
  • Approve Minutes
    1. The minutes of the February meeting were e-mailed to all board members prior to the meeting.
    2. Shawn made a motion to accept the minutes as written, seconded by Mark, approved by all members present
  1. Financial Reports
    1. The financial reports were e-mailed to all board members prior to the meeting
    2. Keri noted the snowmobile registration report was handed out with the board meeting packets; registrations are currently down 2% from this time last biennium
    3. Dale made a motion to accept the reports as written, seconded by Kristie, approved by all members present
  2. Reports
    1. President’s Report: Laura gave an update on the results of the legislative issues. This will be discussed in detail later in the meeting.
    2. Office Report: Keri provided a written update on the marketing statistics, Sno-Dak News, membership information, safety/enforcement program, Get Registered Campaign results, Sled ‘N Snap and the 2015 Convention
      1. Dale made a motion to send each youth participant, who passes the snowmobile safety class, a one year subscription to the Sno-Dak News to encourage getting involved, seconded by Sheri, approved by all members present
      2. Two clubs that have not sent in memberships will be addressed later under New Business
    3. NDPRD Report
      1. Matt briefly reviewed the legislative updates which will be covered in depth later in the meeting
      2. NDPRD has $11.75 million for capital improvements to all the state parks
  • NDPRD acquired the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Matt will be their interim manager; he will assume these duties on top of his position as Recreation Division Manager
  1. May 1 is the kickoff for the 50th Anniversary of the NDPRD celebration at all state parks
  1. Committee Reports
    1. Equipment Committee
      1. RTP update: 2013 grant is closed with all the signs purchased, 2014 will be used for a groomer and sign posts, 2015 & 2016 grants are approved but waiting for the Federal Highway Bill to pass before use of the funds is pursued
      2. Inspections of the groomers used on the trails that were able to open this year has been completed with no major issues identified
  • Tucker is not taking any trade-ins on groomers right now but is willing to handle the trade paperwork if the association finds a potential buyer; the 2004 Tucker will be traded and the trade-in value is $60,000-$65,000; discussion was held on advertising the 2004 Tucker, Matt and Keri are checking on requirements to see how this should be handled
  1. Contract grooming dollars were discussed and have not been increased since 2003. Dale made a motion to increase the contract groomer rate from $10 to $13 per mile, seconded by Jeff, 2 nays (Shawn Cole and Mark Forbes), motion carried
  2. Discussion was held on the wage for groomer operators, which has not increased since 2008. Jesse made a motion to increase it to $10/hour, seconded by Shawn, approved by all others present
  3. The sign post order was reviewed and it was decided to order more rods and fewer U-posts which will result in a cost savings; this direction has been provided to the office to complete the bidding requirements; the purchase will take place possibly at the close of this biennium and if not, for sure once the new fiscal year opens July 1st
  1. Budget Committee
    1. The proposed SND budget was reviewed, the new budget is $4,000 less due to a drop in revenue sources and reallocations of some areas
    2. Discussion was held on the raffle tickets about having guns as the prizes not cash to see if sales would increase. Shawn made a motion to do a gun raffle with 20 guns up for win at a cost of $20 per ticket and a production run of 1500 tickets, seconded by Mark, approved by all members present
  2. Regulations Committee: Legislative Updates
    1. The Youth Rider bill passed and takes effect August 1, 2015. Riders who are 10 or 11 years old will be allowed to take the safety class and if they pass they can ride on public property, including the state trails, with a parent or legal guardian present
    2. Bars on the trail system in a town of less than 5,000 and that serve food out of a true kitchen (not just a pizza oven) can have minors in them until 9:00 PM at the discretion of the bar owner
  • The registration fee for in state sleds has been raised to $50 for two years, non-resident registration is $25/year
  1. The gas tax has been raised to 40 gallons per registered sled
  2. The transfer of registrations from DOT to NDPRD did not pass due to concerns with the funding for the computer program required to implement it. The $310,299 in funding which is needed for the computer program is still included in Senate Bill 2019, NDPRD budget bill; 2019 heads to the floor for final voting next week; if the funding remains intact, next session we will ask for a carry over to utilize those funds. They will mirror the sled registration program after the boat registration program and not require titles, just a registration card. As long as the program stays with DOT a title will be required. This will be further addressed at the Annual Meeting in December to get direction from the membership if SND and NDPRD should still pursue the legislative change.
  1. Awards and Nominations Committee
    1. Associate of the Year – Harper Oil in Rugby
    2. Groomer of the Year – Marty Malachowski
  • Family of the Year – Tyler and Tonia Dosch & Family
  1. Snowmobiler of the Year – Joanie Bruggeman
  2. Scholarships of $550 each were awarded to Aaron Trenda and Cassidy Rasmusson
  3. No nominations were received for Dealer of the Year, Youth Rider of the Year, and SND Hall of Fame
  1. Trails Operations Committee
    1. The signs are here but will need to be divided out then distributed to the clubs
  • Old Business
    1. Probation Systems – all are in good standing at this time
    2. Peace Garden Trail
      1. The City of Bottineau wants to know what to do to keep the trail system running, meetings continue in that area
      2. Turtle Mountain Snowmobile Club did not sign but ordered signs at their own expense through the same vendor the state snowmobile program has been working with
  • Seldom Seen Snowmobile Club have been communicating well with the office and can come off the agenda
  1. 2016 Convention – no bids to date
  2. Groomer Tracking Software & Mapping Program Update – the company is tweaking it to our parameters and it should be ready June 1. The Equipment Committee set the parameters to include: grooming report delay will be set for 8-12 hours, the geofence will extend 120 feet to allow for turns, the tracking and data reporting will stop if the machine is idle for greater than 60 seconds and resume when the machine resumes moving
  3. Trail Association Update – Keri distributed a report showing the status of all the trail systems with regards to first benchmark form, signing completion, trail inspection, insurance form, and total trail miles
  • New Business
    1. Raffle Ticket Winners & Final Payouts
      1. Tony Schmitt – South Dakota – $1240
      2. Cory Heilman – Rugby – $1240
  • Nick Paulsrud – Valley City – $2480
  1. Nathan Britnell – Fordville – $620
  2. Dave Ward – Whapeton – $620
  3. Convention Payout – $620
  • Grant & Aid Payout – $310
  • Scholarship Payout – $310
  1. Ridge Runners – $620 – Club sold the most raffle tickets
  1. 2015-2016 Raffle Tickets (see prior section VI. B. under Budget Committee)
  2. Manitoba Reciprocity Request
    1. Manitoba wants to establish a reciprocity for Canadian riders coming down here and our riders going up there
    2. NDPRD manages the non-resident program and it would take legislative action for full time reciprocity so this likely won’t happen
  • Could look into a weekend ride of reciprocity from Thursday to Sunday once a year – Dale made a motion to pursue that possibility, seconded by Jesse, approved by all members present
  1. Membership Numbers – 2 clubs have not sent in memberships (Ransom County Driftskippers and Walsh Coulee Cruisers)
    1. Discussion held that if no memberships are sent in the whole association will not receive their benchmark checks
    2. Jeff made a motion to give the clubs an extension and to notify the clubs that they must send in their memberships by May 15 to be in compliance, seconded by Shawn, approved by all members present
  • Ransom County proposed dropping their miles from Fort Ransom to Lisbon to Englevale (40 miles) for one year to see if they could get more participation and memberships while keeping the 27 miles from Fort Ransom to Verona. They would need to submit an emergency trail change form next year for this. Board members present were in favor of this.
  1. 2015 Snowmobile Trail Applications
    1. East Central Valley Trail Association submitted a request to change their contract groomer miles to state groomer miles. Mark made a motion to accept this trail change, seconded by Shawn, approved by all members present.
    2. Keri reported there are currently 2632.6 miles allocated of the 2800 miles available due to some trail changes and trail closings. That leaves 167.4 miles of unallocated trail including the temporary trail system for the International Ride. Each board member will take this number back to their associations to see if anyone wants to apply for more miles to complete a loop or add a new loop to their systems.
  2. SND Trail Program 2nd & 3rd Benchmark Payments
    1. Due to the end of the biennium and not all trail systems being open to groom there is money left in the budget. The Budget Committee recommends paying all expenses to the clubs that were able to groom except for those clubs that were out of compliance. Shawn made a motion to follow the Budget Committee recommendations, seconded by Mark, approved by all members present
      1. Northeast did not have their entire trail system signed before their first grooming. The penalty for this is 2 years’ probation. They also had winch mounts repaired which cost more than $250 without board approval.  This bill will not be paid.
      2. Sno-Trails had blade damage repaired without the warranty, did not take pictures, did not notify SND. This bill will not be paid.
      3. Peace Garden Trail (Rolla) groomed without approval when their trail system was not open. The penalty for this is 1 year probation.
    2. The eligible and ineligible expenses were reviewed by the board and no additions or deletions were recommended.
  • Dale made a motion to increase the payment for groomer storage to $500 per year, seconded by Mark, approved by all members present
  1. SND & NDPRD Contract for 2015-2017
    1. Matt and Keri distributed a sheet detailing all of the changes to the contract for the new biennium including some clarification of wording and dates that needed to be changed; once the new draft is developed a copy will be emailed to the board
    2. Shawn made a motion to accept the changes as written, seconded by Todd, approved by all members present
  2. Trail Program Budget
    1. Keri distributed the current and proposed Trail Program Budget for review by the board.
    2. Kristie made a motion to accept the budget as written, seconded by Sheri, approved by all members present
  3. Hay Days Booth
    1. Laura proposed moving the SND trailer to a more populated area at Hay Days which would increase exposure. Dale made a motion to fund a more expensive spot not to exceed $2,000, seconded by Kristie, 1 nay (Shawn Cole), motion carried
  4. Adjournment
    1. Todd made a motion to adjourn, seconded by all members present, meeting adjourned at 12:57PM

Respectfully Submitted By,

Joanne Seifert

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