8576-R1_MSA_December2023_Newsletter

The Maine Snowmobile Program An insider’s viewpoint on how and why it works By Mark Chinnock

T he MSA and the Snowmobile pro gram are just complex enough in design to be somewhat confusing and cloudy when trying to put together the hierarchy of the several elected and appointed positions. Along with the many different committees, and then partner us up with the Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and For estry Bureau of Parks and Lands the Snowmobile Division (D.A.C.F.), as well as a paid legislative lobbyist at the State house and things can get rather involved. I like to break things down in my own small mind into four branches, three of which are under the umbrella of the MSA and the other is the snow mobile division of the D.A.C.F. Which is in no way a part of the MSA but is a dept. within IF&W and a State oper ated agency, and one that the MSA works hand in hand with almost on a daily basis. The first branch under the umbrella of the MSA we will call the executive branch and consists of the President, Executive Vice President, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Secretary, these positions are elected positions and are voted on annually. The Vice President has under him 5 Regional V.P.’s being the Northern, Western, Eastern, Central and Coastal Regions, as well as there are several directors in each region which serve at the pleasure of their respective V.P.’S, all of which are elected posi tions. There are also several commit tees and chairs within the executive branch, for instance the hall of fame committee, the scholarship commit tee, hospitality chair among others and are appointed each year by the President. The second branch as I like to call it within the MSA is the Trails Com mittee, which consists of 40 or so well-schooled and passionate snow

mobilers who are the “boots on the ground” people. This committee is responsible for overseeing and assist ing individual Clubs with proper sig nage and grooming protocol, as well as the overall safety of approximately 4,000 miles of ITS snowmobile trails, and nearly 10,000 miles of Club trails. The Trails Chairman, with Vice Chairs within each region, heads up the Trails Committee. The committee is contracted each year with D.A.C.F. and works with them very closely throughout the year. TheThird part of the equation within the MSA we will call the Legislative Branch and a Lobbyist was put in place to keep eyes and ears on all Snowmobile related business at the Statehouse level. James Cote with Bernstein Shur Law Firm contracted by the MSA to represent the Asso ciation, its 285 clubs and its mem bership. James communicates with the Association on a regular basis, advises and gives us proper direction when anything snowmobile related comes before the Legislature. James also sits on our Legislative Funding Committee, which helps with ideas from a little different perspective. The last piece to the puzzle is the partnership that we have with D.A.C.F. The MSA works very closely with this Dept., which we regularly refer to as Joe Higgins Office. D.A.C.F. is a dept. governed by the state and is directly responsible for ALL of the funding for Club and Municipal grants, as well as the Capitol Equipment Grants and any disaster relief funding if available. This dept. also provides the clubs with all needed trail signage, and as I men tioned above solicits a contract with the MSA Trails Committee to assist D.A.C.F. in the overall well-being of all snowmobile trails and their clubs throughout the State. I might add

that Joe’s office is truly a great part ner for the MSA; they are an invalu able resource and are a pleasure to work with. The MSA, its officers, committees, and outlying partners are some of the most passionate people when it comes to snowmobiling that you will find in our industry and truly give back above and beyond to our sport. There are times when it is hard to understand from a Club’s window what is going on in the big snow mobiling picture and can be frus trating at times for everyone. I can tell you firsthand not only from the MSA’s eyes but from the president of a small-town club’s eye, that every single person from the current MSA President all the way down through to the active member of any one of the 285 clubs, nobody is more passionate and works harder to insure the future of our sport than WE do! Kudos and big thanks to everyone involved for making our sport happen each year. I absolutely do understand that it is sometimes hard to remember that we are all volunteers, right from the MSA President, down through all the ranks of the officers and the commit tees. We all Love what we do and are working hard to do our best, trust me when I tell you that by and large we are all volunteers. We all work 50 plus hours a week, there is no one sitting behind a desk at the MSA office in a suit and tie... that’s right it’s just you and me, so let’s work together and make this the best that we can so that WE ALL can ride! The point of this article was to hope fully bring some clarity to how it all works so that we can all try and understand ways to grow and make it better each year, work together and help each other. #lovethissport

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