February 6, 2015 Minutes

Snowmobile North Dakota

Board of Directors Meeting

February 6, 2015

The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held a meeting at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Wahpeton, North Dakota.

Members Present: Marty Malachowski, Dale Deibert, Perry Brintnell, Reily Bata, Jeff Seifert, Joanne Seifert, Kristie Thone, Mark Forbes, Shawn Cole, Gary Buck as proxy for Todd Rasmusson

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

  1. Call to Order – Director at Large Marty Malachowski called the meeting to order at 8:00pm
  2. Approve Agenda – approved as written by all members present
  3. Approve Minutes – Minutes from December 6, 2014 – Kristie made a motion to accept the minutes as written, seconded by Dale, motion carried
  4. Financial Reports
    1. Registrations have dropped due to no snow
    2. Mark made a motion to accept the financial reports, seconded by Jeff, motion carried
  5. Reports
    1. President’s Report – Marty read a statement from Laura Forbes, President
      1. Hi everyone, I hope you have fun at the State Ride; too bad there is no snow or very little. There are still SND raffle tickets left to sell. I hope we can sell them all. I would like the opinion of the board in reference to the raffle tickets: is this something we want to do next year? Does someone have another idea?  I have had people ask why NDPRD wants to take over the registrations.  Another concern the public has is in reference to showing NDPRD their snowmobile before it can be registered.  I have had many state they won’t license their snowmobile. I explained to them we are working on the bill.  There is controversy in reference to lowering the youth’s age to ride snowmobile. Some of the news stations are not giving out the right information and the public thinks these kids are going to be able to go ride snowmobile without any parental vision. We need to educate the public! Everyone that I have spoken to is in favor of raising the registration fee for snowmobiles. Lastly I have been thinking of ways we could get the snowmobiling community together in the summer.  In January we were in Grafton for the Pink Ribbon Ride; even though there was no snow we had a great time.  There were not many people at the event.  I believe the cost of the event, hotel and no snow didn’t help. What would you think of doing a 4-wheeler run in the Pembina Gorge area sometime during the month of June and proceeds go to the Pink Ribbon Ride and SND? Do remember we have to get this approved through insurance and NDPRD. Even if you don’t have 4-wheelers you can still be part of the run.  I would like your thoughts. You have a nice weekend and pray for snow, President Laura Forbes
    2. Office Report
      1. Facebook has been very active with a total of 1805 likes on 2/5/15 with a weekly reach of 22,000 for the SND Facebook page and 1306 likes on the Sno-Dak Facebook page.
      2. Trails are the most viewed page on the website; monthly we’re reaching 13,296 viewers.
  • Constant Contact reaches 1515 contacts with the most viewed e-mails dealing with the legislative information.
  1. Membership is down due to no snow. Registrations were up 4% in January though. So far we have 743 individual/family memberships, 43 associate members and 4 clubs that have not yet sent in their memberships.
  2. The simulator will be at upcoming winter events.
  3. Tari has started scheduling OHV classes, contact her to schedule a class in your area (Jamestown 2/7/15, Bismarck 2/22/15, Devils Lake 5/2/15)
  • $12,360 of raffle tickets have been sold which comes out to 618 tickets. ND Trail applications are due 4/1/15 if anyone wants to put in for more miles for their system.
  1. NDPRD Report
    1. Matt provided legislative updates that the bills for registrations to be transitioned to NDPRD and increasing the snowmobile registration fee have been passed by the senate and are now going to the house.
    2. Parks Day will be Thursday 2/12/15 for the 50th Anniversary of NDPRD from 8:00am to 3:00pm. It will be held in the chambers building at the State Capitol.
  • The RTP application for 2016 for a groomer purchase is likely to get approved. Need to await congress to pass the highway bill before funds are secured.
  1. Committee Reports
    1. Equipment Committee: RTP grant has been submitted, this committee will meet immediately following this board meeting
    2. Budget Committee: no report, will start up in April for the new biennium and new contract with NDPRD for 7/1/15
    3. Regulations Committee: reviewed the legislative updates
    4. Award and Nominations Committee: deadline is April 1, 2015 and applications are online
    5. Trail Operations Committee: Discussion held on trail head sign purchase using the 2013 grant from RTP. We need to spend up to $27,500 total on any kind of sign (trail head or regular). Looking to get a 2-sided hanging sign like realtor signs from Voss signs. Dale motioned that we get 18”x24” 2-sided trailhead signs and order 195 signs to be distribute to clubs as needed, seconded by Reily the motion carried. Shawn made a motion to NOT put the maps on the trailhead signs, seconded by Marty, motion carried. Kristie made a motion to get the white realtor-like signposts, seconded by Gary. Jeff made a motion to get the plastic map holders on each sign, seconded by Mark. Shawn made a motion to spend whatever money is left over from the trailhead signs on regular trail signs, seconded by Mark, motion carried.
  2. Old Business
    1. Probation Systems: The following trail systems are communicating very well with the office and all requirements have been met; Cattail Trail, East Central Valley – Rural Cass Trail, Sargent Country Trail and Red River South – Grand Forks Trail
    2. Peace Garden Trail – local meetings are still being held with minimal attendance likely due to low snow conditions. They are looking for assistance from the City of Bottineau for trail assistance including funding and volunteering. The Lake Metigoshe Family Snowmobile Club is still in the process of incorporating.
    3. Turtle Mountain Snowmobile Club – Sky Dancer Casino and the Turtle Mountain Snowmobile Club held a trail dedication ceremony on 12/30/14. They eventually hope to join up to the Peace Garden trail system connecting to the portion maintained by the Seldom Seen Snowmobile Club. The trail system is about 50-60 miles. No state funds go to the maintenance or grooming of this trail system. The riders on the reservation can purchase a tribal registration for their sled which is accepted on the state snowmobile trail system
    4. Seldom Seen Snowmobile Club is trying harder to communicate with the SND office to assure they are meeting requirements and have finished signing the last 20% of their trail system.
    5. Mayville Portland Trail is closed and the club is disbanding. A press release was sent out in December 2014 and the office hasn’t heard any negative feedback. This was approximately 74 miles and their insurance was not renewed.
    6. 2016 Convention Nominations – none so far. The Rough Rider Snowmobile Association has agreed to host the convention in conjunction with SND. 2015 convention will be December 4-5, 2015 at the Ramada in Bismarck.
    7. Groomer Tracking Software & Mapping Program Update: Automated Logistics Solutions has developed an online automated program to help snowmobile programs with trail status reporting and online submission of expenses. SND received a $5,000 tourism grant to help purchase the program. The SND office also saved on expenses during the 2013-2014 season to help fund the program. This will allow clubs/associations to do online bill submission and provide online grooming reports. We are the only state in the Midwest to have this program.
    8. 2014-2015 Action Plan results – based on the board member survey we have developed objectives and goals in six focus areas: trail management, membership & volunteer recruitment, program administration, safety education & enforcement and legislative recommendations. The office has a handout available for anyone who wants more specific details of each focus area.
    9. 2014-2015 Trail Association Update – A report was provided to the Board of Directors regarding when all of the trail associations completed paperwork for the season.
  3. New Business
    1. Drawing of the first name for the raffle tickets was done. Remaining raffle winners will be drawn at the State Ride tomorrow.
  4. Adjournment: Shawn made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Mark, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:52pm.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Joanne Seifert

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