February 7, 2014

Snowmobile North Dakota
Board of Directors Meeting
February 7, 2014

The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held a meeting at the Forest Service Office, in Walhalla on February 7, 2014.

Present Board Members:  Laura Forbes – President, Sheri Hoffmann – Vice President, Dale Deibert, Mark Shipley, Jesse Fritz, Brian Sauer, Perry Brintnell, Tim Bubach (Proxy for Todd Rasmusson), Shawn Cole, Kristie Thone and  Jay Thone (Proxy for Troy Klevgard).

Absent Board Members: Marty Malachowski and Byron Norsby – Both Excused.

Others Present: Keri Wanner-Executive Director & Tari Norby-Administrative Specialist & Todd Thronson-Trail Inspector – SND, Matt Gardner, Erik Dietrich & Mike Duerre – NDPRD, Andrew Horsley, Joan Tongen, Chase Heck, John Kelly, Jon Iverson, Randy Bata, Ryan Girodat, Tod Soeby.

  1. A.     Call to Order – Vice President Sheri Hoffmann called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m.
  1. B.     Approve Agenda
    1. Dale made motion to approve the agenda as is, Shawn second. Motion approved.
  1. C.     Approve Minutes
    1. December 6, 2013:  Kristie made motion to approve, Jay second. Motion approved.
  1. D.     Financial Reports – December 2013
    1. Brian made a motion to file the financial reports, Kristie second. Motion approved.

 

  1. E.      Reports
    1. a.      President Report:  President Laura took control of the meeting.  She reviewed the membership survey that was distributed in December at the annual convention.  She asked the Regulations Committee to discuss the items requiring legislation.  The committee needs to bring recommendations back to the Board of Directors on if SND should pursue legislative changes to lower the youth riding age allowed on the state snowmobile trails and allowing youth accompanied by a parent/guardian in age restricted businesses that serve food till a reasonable hour. 
    2. b.     Office Report:

i.     Keri stated there are 9 trail systems that are open. A few systems are only partially open based on snow conditions.

ii.     Keri reminded everyone to make sure to have groomer operators call the office before going out to complete the first grooming.

iii.     Todd and Keri talked about the new trail inspection reports and how during the 1st inspection Todd is looking for trails to be 80% signed and on the 2nd inspection it must be 100% signed.  During the 2nd inspection, if a section of trail is inspected that previously hadn’t been inspected; this will be noted on the trail inspection report and the trail system will have two weeks to correct the matter per the SND Trail Program Guidelines.

iv.     Marketing Statistics:

  • SND Facebook:  Total of 1,072 likes on 2/4/14 (weekly reach 1,339)
  • Sno-Dak Facebook:  Total of 683 likes as of 2/4/14 (weekly reach 1,100)
  • Issuu:  Weekly reach 900 
  • Website:  Weekly reach 3,794
  1. Most Viewed Pages:
    1.                                                                                                                 i.     Trail Conditions
    2.                                                                                                                ii.     Peace Garden Trail
    3.                                                                                                               iii.     Northeast Trail
  • Constant Contact:  1,165 Contacts
  1. Most Viewed Emails:
    1.                                                                                                                 i.     January Sno-Dak News (31%)
    2.                                                                                                                ii.     January Newsletter (27%)
    3.                                                                                                               iii.     Trail Conditions (26%)
    4.                                                    v.     Sno-Dak News:
  • Total SND Office Sales:  $20,375.96; Total L.B.L. Printing Sales $1,794.38 (L.B.L. Printing 25% = $448.59, SND’s 75% $1,345.79)
  1. L.B.L. Printing and MSPN are going to help with closing sales for the 2013-2014 season and presell ads for the 2014-2015 season
  • Product Trade valued at $4,000 for convention silent auction table
  • Special Edition E-magazine:  May 2014
  1.                                                   vi.     13-14 Membership Information as of 2/3/14: 
  • 752 Individual/Family Memberships
  • 91 Associate Members
  • Missing membership from 4 clubs:
  1. Minto Area Joy Riders
  2. Ransom County Driftskippers
  3. Sargent County Snowmobile Club
  4. Sheyenne Sno-Drifters
  5.                                                 vii.     Safety/Enforcement Program Update:  Update from February 7th Safety Program Meeting
  6.                                                viii.     Trail Map Update: Todd, Chris and Tari have been working on the map updates
  • Links updated on the website to include the new maps
  • Chris is completing the new regional maps and statewide map for printing
  • Chelsey will start designing the new map in late February/early March
  1.                                                   ix.     Get Registered Campaign/Results:  registrations up 6% as of August 2013
  2.                                                    x.     Pink Ribbon Riders 2014 Event:  Raised over $30,000 and 45 participants
  3.                                                   xi.     Track, Inc. Request:  Last spring Track, Inc. reported to the Equipment Committee that a couple Tuckers in ND’s fleet were showing signs of wear and tear outside of the norm.  Track, Inc. submitted pictures and information on these machines to Camoplast.  Camoplast is now requesting additional information on these machines.  Track, Inc. provided all this information to the office and the office is working with the Trail Coordinators in these areas to complete this task. Any information not obtained will be gathered during the spring equipment inspections. 
  4.                                                 xii.     Social Media/Websites:  Please make sure to communicate with the office grooming and trail openings plans before posting this information to social media.  There have been several instances of clubs promoting trail systems being open before the trail system is officially open with the office. 
  5. c.      NDPRD:  Matt reported the Department is still waiting to hear from several companies on donated air time for the snowmobile PSA’s produced last year.  Midcontinent in the month of December donated over $40,000 in air time.  The Department helped the snowmobile program and mailed a postcard to the registered snowmobilers in January.  Snowmobile registrations have increased 6%.  Discussions are being held with ND DOT regarding the snowmobile registration process.  As more information is received, this information will be passed onto SND.
  1. Committee Reports
    1. Equipment Committee:  The new SND Region 5 Director, Victor Evjen, has been added to the Recreational Trail Program committee that assists in awarding grants for recreational projects.  Victor has been added because of his motorized and non-motorized interests.  The committee will meet on March 4, 2014, to discuss the 2014 and 2015 grant applications.
    2. Budget Committee:
  1.                                                     i.     No Report
  2.                                                     i.     No Report
  3.                                                     i.     April 1st Deadline for Awards.
  4.                                                     i.     No Report
  5. G.     Old Business
    1. a.      Cattail Trail Update: 
    1. Regulations Committee:
    1. Awards & Nominations Committee:
    1. Trail Operations Committee:

i.     Cattail club members have been communicating with the office and have done a great job signing the trail.

ii.     Went out and test groomed and didn’t have good enough snow to open.

  1. b.     SND 40th Anniversary Logo:

i.     Keri contacted different companies and all companies wanted money up front.

ii.     We brought back the two designs that was shown at the October meeting and had Chelsey create a new one with the ideas that was mentioned at the December meeting.

iii.     Shawn made a motion to use the new logo with “SND” written smaller and email out other color options for board to vote, Jesse second. Motion approved.

  1. c.      2013 SND Trail Program Guidelines – Review December 2013 Updates

i.     No Discussion

  1. d.     2015 Convention – No Bids

i.     Sheri spoke with Steve Renslow and she said he sounded interested in hosting the convention. Steve has not contacted the office.  There has been no other interest in hosting the event.

  1. H.     New Business
    1. a.      December 2013 Membership Survey Results Review

i.     Suggestion on how to release information to Membership:  Please refer to the President Report.

  1. b.     Raffle Ticket Sales/Drawing

i.     Dale mailed some raffle tickets to the office the weekend before the drawing and the office never received the tickets before we left for the meeting.

ii.     It was decided by the Board to hold off doing the drawings until next week and wait for the missing tickets to come in the mail.

  1. c.      International Ride Updates

i.     There is no snow in Saskatchewan and Sherwood, ND.

ii.     Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association met and decided to postpone the ride.

iii.     Keri met with Tourism to see what will happen with the grant money SND received to help advertise the event. Tourism understood the snow conditions and will provide approval to postpone the event till a later date.  Based on the Board of Directors decision, Keri will email Tourism the new plan so the grant is in good standing for the new event date.

iv.     Shawn made a motion to postpone the International Ride until next season, Brian Second. Motion approved.

  1. d.     13-14 Trail Association Updates:  The office provided the Board of Directors with the annual trail association report reflecting form, trail opening dates and additional comments.

i.     East Central Valley (Rural Cass): 1st Benchmark:  The Rural Cass Snowmobile Club did not meet the signing requirements for the 1st benchmark.

ii.     Red River South (Grand Forks): 1st Benchmark:  The Red River Snowmobile Club did not meet the signing requirements for the 1st benchmark. 

iii.     The SND Trail Program Guidelines state trail a 40% penalty can be assessed for not meeting the first benchmark requirements.  This will be reviewed at the end of the season when grooming paperwork has been submitted.

  1. I.       Adjournment: Motion made by Dale to adjourn, second by Shawn, approved.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Tari Norby & Keri Wanner

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