8369-R1_MSA_May2023_MaineSnowmobiler

From The Executive Board

replacements for our departing office staff. As many of you already know by now I can’t even begin to tell you how many pieces there are to the “MSA Puzzle” and what it takes to make an association like the MSA work and flow. After several months of learning as we went, meeting weekly, falling down I don’t know how many times and getting back up only to realize that there were more challenges in front of us. And then to add to one more stumbling block, something nobody could have predicted Covid hit and things stopped and suddenly changed the rules of the game. The transition team suddenly became the MSA Steering Committee. The Steering Committee along with the Executive board and all 280 some clubs rolled with the punches, never gave up and made it work and moving forward we were put in place to run the association indefinitely. Although this was a challenging and sometimes dark time in our lives it ultimately made us stronger and forced us all to be more flexible in our daily routines and with that it was a chance to make change within the association, hoping that the changes and decisions that we were making were good ones, I can honestly tell you that all the decisions that we made in the last three plus years, good or bad had the best interest of the MSA in mind first and foremost. For the remainder of this article I’m going to use the word “WE” and by this I am not referring to myself in any way but to all of you, the Steering Committee, the Executive board and all clubs in the association and their members. Three plus years ago we were a very stale association and here are a few things I believe we have done to make it better and bring us into a better place. • We have used new computer programs to streamline office duties and to communicate with our clubs. • We have implemented Quickbooks accounting software into the office for easier and faster bill paying etc. • We have brought the association back to being fluid again and have worked in the Black for three years straight and have NOT had to touch the credit line once. We have also had a balanced budget for the last three years. • We have created a completely new, more interactive and user friendly Website. • We have produced the best Maine monthly meetings last August in Augusta, traveled from one end of our state to the other. Held a successful Golf tournament, a great snowmobile show in October and the super raffle went on from early summer to the end of its time in December. We snowmobiled with some old friends and made many new ones. The crew did an outstanding job in Caribou with the Northeast Chapter folks. Thank you to you all that made it a memorable experience. A few of the riders even came back within a few weeks because they loved it here so much. We have a special place to ride. With destination points in every piece of the state, we offer the best riding in the Northeast. And it all comes down to the landowners in which over 95% of our trails are on. We cannot thank them enough without them we’d be riding around in circles at Mt Blue State Park! The business owners who are go above and beyond being generous, my biggest

Snowmobiler Newspaper (I would dare say ever) With great articles, more color pictures and tons of club news. • We have streamlined our membership processing to be quicker and more accurate. • We have hired an amazing office staff with Liz running the day to day in the office, putting together and coordinating all of our events, and putting up with her sometimes very needy bosses! And then there’s Al, not only is he instrumental in keeping the office together and making sure that all of the events go off without a hitch but he is busy every single day with being our president, he has literally driven the wheels off of his truck. Both of these individuals are invaluable to the success of the association. • We have more than ever made a special effort to involve ourselves with our clubs and visit as many of their events and meetings as possible. • Along with that we now have the ability to zoom people in to the monthly Director’s and E board meetings for those that cannot make the meetings in person. • We have on the Trails Committee side, a few years ago, developed an all new “Trail Signage Program to help educate plaques showing our gratitude to their accomplishments. Businesses, landowners, youth, photo, the clubs with the most memberships. And of course a big award went out to Matt Stedman for Snowmobiler thank you goes out to the volunteers who devote so much time and energy and create a trail system that is known worldwide! The clubs are hard workers doing whatever they can do to make money to support their system. It could be a chicken dinner pig roast a bake sale or an auction they do an outstanding job! The Annual Banquet was a good feeling day! We had many folks from all over the state attending along with a silent auction, a great early morning breakfast buffet and an incredible lunch buffet that was delicious. Jeff’s Catering is a cut above. Excellent service great atmosphere excellent hospitality and the food was tasty! Thank you Jeff’s Catering. Many snowmobilers received

ourselves and our clubs on proper and better ways to sign our Trails to keep them safe, and have traveled across the State putting on Trails Workshops to help promote this. • We have also implemented through Formstack a computerized ITS Inspection form for the Trails Committee to use, which makes it instantaneous in getting the Inspections to Joe Higgins office, the Trails Chair and the club’s. • Lastly we have recently hired a legislative Lobbyist to monitor and represent the MSA with any snowmobile related bills at the State house. All of this is in no way to toot our own horns but more to give you an idea of what we ALL have accomplished and to help you to answer the question (and it will come up) what has the MSA been up to lately? Thank you to ALL the volunteers that make up and help run the association in one way or another, from the President of the MSA right on down to all of the 280 some clubs and their members. With that being said we will call it a day, I sincerely hope that everyone has a safe and fun filled summer and we will see you right back here in a few short months. Thank you again, Mark. I cannot thank you all enough for your dedication and passion for our sport. From the smallest club to the largest you all are very important to me and the Maine Snowmobile Association. Without every one of you we’d be in trouble. I know we’ll have challenges ahead but I have the confidence that we will succeed. Next up is the golf tournament in June we’ll keep you posted on this. More information to come on the Super Raffle and of course the show in October. Our new lobbyist is hard at work watching the state folks for new laws that will help us also. I hope you all have a great off season. Please email, or email if you need anything. Be safe, AL of the Year! His family showed up to his surprise. Mike McNulty received the President’s award for his continued passion for promoting The County with his Sledding In The County TV show which is now in Central Maine.

From the President

H ello Everyone, It’s been quite a season, lots of ups and downs. But, I’m proud to say with the team we have we did a fine job. We started our Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com

From the Executive VP

Mark Chinnock, Vice President 207-754-9874 544 Plains Road, Poland, ME 04274 napadude66@hotmail.com

H ello Everyone! Yes, this is a sad time of the year for me when I know that I must sit down and compose the last article of the season, but I have faith that most of our snowmobiling community had at least a few chances to get in some seat time and enjoy a little throttle therapy. I myself had a few chances to get out and put on some miles, although it never really seems to be enough. We without a doubt had a very busy year at the MSA, which afforded me the chance to travel to some beautiful spots to ride and meet some really amazing people along the way. Many times we get asked “How is the MSA doing and what have they been up to lately” So here is a brief overview that hopefully answers some questions. Over time the MSA has seen countless changes, setbacks and improvements, very few of which can compare to the challenges faced in the last few years. No one could have predicted three and a half years ago what we were about to face. The transformation all started in the summer of 2019 when a diverse group of eight individuals was brought together in preparation of our Executive Director, and the office manager of 24 years was about to depart leaving us with essentially an empty MSA office and a completely new system for all of us to learn from the ground up with little guidance. This group of eight people would be known at the time as the Transition Team, this team would see the association through the transition process of re-staffing the office and finding suitable

MSA MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS Let us know when your USPS mailing address has changed - so you won’t miss an issue of the Maine Snowmobiler Members Name: ______________________________________ Old Mailing Address: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ NEW MAILING ADDRESS: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Mail to: Maine Snowmobile Association, PO Box 80, Augusta, ME 04332 fax: 207-622-7669 or e-mail info to: msa@mesnow.com

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