October 26, 2013

Snowmobile North Dakota

Appeal & Board of Directors Meeting

October 26, 2013

The Snowmobile North Dakota Board of Directors held an appeal meeting with the Cattail Trail on October 26th, 2013 at 10 a.m. in Casselton at the Casselton City Hall.

Present Board Members:  Laura Forbes – President, Marty Malachowski – Past President, Denise Becker (Proxy for Sheri Hoffmann), Kristi Brintnell (Proxy for Perry Brintnell), Shawn Cole (Proxy for Dan Tveito), Todd Rasmussen (Proxy for Brad Rodin), Tonia Dosch, Troy Klevgard and Kristie Thone.

Absent: Brain Sauer – excused, Dale Deibert – excused, Byron Norsby – excused and Mark Shipley – unexcused.

Others Present: Matt Gardner, Keri Wanner – Executive Director, Sheila Klevgard – Rural Cass, Deb Whaley– Ridge Runners, Gerald Buck – Sheyenne Valley Trail, DeeDee Braunberger – Cattail Trail, Dick Kofoid – Cattail Trail, Ben Gullicks – Cattail Trail, Chad Satrom – Cattail Trail, Eric Hanson – Rural Cass, Char Gust – Rural Cass, Todd McMichael– Rural Cass, Joanne Seifert – Rural Cass and Brian Mullenberg – Red River Sno-Riders.

President Laura Forbes called the appeal meeting to order at 10:06 a.m.

Laura reviewed the history on the Cattail Trail informing everyone why this meeting had been called.

Cattail Trail History

2008-2009
Placed on probation on January 30th, 2009 for the following reasons:

  • Land Leases due November 1st
  • First Benchmark Trail Completion form was due on December 15th
  • Submission of memberships to SND

2009-2010
Removed from probation on May 21st, 2010 for meeting trail program requirements

2012-2013
The Cattail Trail was placed on probation due to not meeting the First Benchmark deadline of December 15th.

  • Formal probation letter sent March 7, 2013
  • Trail closure letter sent August 1st, 2013; 2nd notice sent on September 3rd, 2013
  • Cattail Trail appeal letter received September 26, 2013

Cattail Sno-Riders Membership History

Late memberships
Letters are sent to clubs during the first week of February to notify them if SND hasn’t received memberships.  Second notices are sent in March.  Memberships must be on file with SND by April 1st each season for all clubs associated with a state trail.  The following years, Cattail was sent first and second notices that memberships were late but memberships were received by the deadline of April 1st.

  • 2009
  • 2012
  • 2013

Cattail Trail Inspection History

Trail Signing

  • 2008-2009:  Inspection 1/22/09, trail was not signed
  • 2009-2010:  1st Inspection on 1/6/10, the overall signing was good and made the 80% requirement; 2nd inspection on 2/4/10, noted trail was not 100% signed (Clifford to Portland unsigned)
  • 2010-2011:  1st inspection 12/22/10, overall signing was good; 2nd inspection on 2/8/13, noted signs are getting buried from too much snow
  • 2011-2012:  1st inspection was on 12/29/13, needed snow and more signs to open
  • 2012-2013:  1st inspection was on 12/27/13, trail was not signed; 2nd inspection was 1/2/13, 80% was signed but more regulatory, blazers, arrows, chevrons and slows were needed; 3rd inspection was 2/8/13, noted northwest section (2011 ND Snowmobile Trail Application Approved Change) was not signed

Laura gave the floor to the Cattail Trail representatives for the clubs presentation.  The club President Ben Gullicks stated the club has new leadership which has helped create new interest.  The club is still learning the state requirements for the snowmobile trail program.  The following items the club struggles with:

  • Lack of people in the communities on the trail (only 5 communities and 1,500 people total)
  • Trying to get younger people involved is hard when 65% the population in the communities is over the age of 65
  • The past leadership didn’t provide clarification on the state requirements

 

Ben stated the club has 30 members without holding a membership drive.  There are seven committed members out of the Finley area.  Keri mentioned the club does hold membership with SND but the membership documentation only reflects 10 because of the Cattails membership period.  The clubs membership period starts in January and ends in December which doesn’t coincide with SND’s.  Due to this, the club only sent in 10 members by April 1st to meet SND’s membership requirement and held the remaining 20 for the 2013-2014 renewal period.

 

Laura asked the club about its goals for the future.  Ben reflected the following:

  • To meet the benchmark requirements
  • Get younger people involved
  • Hold more meetings
  • Increase leadership involvement

 

To help with club member involvement, the Trail Coordinator Chad Satrom split the trail into four sections to help make things easier for signing.  Shawn stated the importance of signing and the responsibility falls in the trail coordinators hands.  Gary focused on the importance of signing because of insurance requirements.

 

Marty asked how many times the club meets.  Ben stated they have 1 club in the trail system and they try to meet the first Wednesday of each month but maybe changing that date to be more convenient for members.

 

Laura closed the meeting at 10:43 a.m.

Board of Directors Meeting:

  1. A.      Call to Order – President Laura Forbes called the meeting to order at 10:43 a.m.

 

  1. B.      Approve Agenda
    1. Marty made motion to approve the agenda, Kristie second. Motion approved.

 

  1. C.      Approve Minutes
    1. October 8, 2013:  Tonia clarified the deadline for the Project Ride membership renewal to win the vacation package to the Red River South trail was December 31st and not December 1st.  Shawn made motion to approve the minutes with the requested change, Troy second. Motion approved.

 

  1. D.      Financial Reports – September2013
    1. Keri mentioned the registration revenue report hadn’t been completed for September.  As soon as the office receives the information the report will be provided to the Board of Directors.
    2. Keri also mentioned the 2012-2013 taxes are finished and the company is starting the financial compilation on the 2011-2013 biennium.
    3. Tonia made a motion to file the financial reports, Marty second. Motion approved.

 

  1. E.       Old Business
    1. a.       Cattail Trail Update:

i.      Discussion was held on the appeal presentation.  Matt spoke about the importance of the state snowmobile trail program meeting insurance requirements but would support the Board of Directors with its final decision. 

ii.      The following items were discussed:  lack of volunteer support, dedication, appeal process, signing dedication, the March 1, 2012 Trail Meeting and it was questioned why the club didn’t step up sooner. 

iii.      Todd made a motion to place the Cattail Trail on a three year probation and if the trail association doesn’t meet one requirement, the trail association will officially be closed with no further appeals being accepted.  Kristie second.  Laura called for vote:  ayes – Todd, Kristi, Denise, Shawn and Kristie.  Nays – Tonia, Marty and Troy.  Motion carried.

iv.      Keri will get a letter out to the club reflecting the motion and the official start of the probation.

  1. F.       New Business
    1. a.       SND 40th Anniversary Logo:  two options were presented that added the 40th anniversary to the existing logo.  Tonia mentioned instead of moving forward with the existing logo to have a new logo created.  Keri will check with Chelsey on her possibly doing this and mentioned to reach out to companies that might be interested in designing the logo.  The new logo options will be presented at the next Board of Directors meeting. 

 

  1. G.     Adjournment: Motion made by Troy to adjourn, second by Tonia, approved.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Keri Wanner

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