8843-R6_MSA_September2024_Newsletter

From The Executive Board Secretary’s Report - Betsy Watson Directors Meeting - Sportsman’s Alliance - Augusta, Maine - August 20, 2024

Northern Region Vice-President: Nick Morrill – Not on tonight but some stuff going on in the northern region with trail work and getting ready for the season. Some trails closed because of logging and things like that. Don’t thing that you have to solve problems on your own, don’t know exactly the right person to call, or the right way to ask somebody, reach out to your regional directors or reach out to the regional VP, reach out to the office. We might not have all the answers to all the problems going on but we can work together to help find a solution. President: Mark – There are a couple of things that we have been working on. I’m going to steal some of Matts thunder. Matt is the head of the Funding Committee and one of the things that we have been focusing on is different ways getting funds back to the clubs. One of the things you will see on the back of your packet is a letter that talks about the $30 million Trails Bond. The trails bond will be voted on in November and what this is will spread out over motorized and non-motorized recreation, over 4-years so $7.5 million dollars a year. At this time we do not have any figures or how it will be distributed. If it’s passed, we will have a significant sum of money coming our way. If James Cote was here he would be able to tell you all about it. To insure that it has the best chance to pass, the legislature has put together a steering committee to get the word out there for YES on 4. They are looking for $100,000 for the advertising to help pass this bond. MSA on your behalf has put in $5,000 seed money. Any questions on the Trail Bond, ask Matt or myself. The best thing that you can do is get all the information about the bond and pass that information on to your clubs. The $100,000 is going to be used for advertising the bond to the public to get it passed in November. The good news is that James Cote is sitting on the committee to help us pass this bond. By us putting the in the $5,000 it gives us a seat at the table when they are making decisions. It puts our foot forward and not just for a hand out to work at getting this done. Al Swett – Raffle – Fryeburg has a box of 10,000 tickets for the fair. Posters are out back if you need them. If you want the sleds to display at your place let us know. Alcom trailer is not quite ready. The show is coming up in October 18, 19, & 20. We just started taking volunteers. Aileen and Larry will talk about some changes in the volunteer schedule. If you want to sell tickets it is on the MSA website under forms. Registration list – we used to be able to get the registration list from the State for free but now the State is charging for them. We do have some lists from a few years ago in the computer system. It can help send letters out to those in your town. This is something that we want to get into legislation to get this list for free again. I’m on a committee, Government Land Use Committee, that was appointed by the government and its members are from all walks of recreation. E-bikes are the new thing now. These bikers are going on the snowmobile and ATV trails. Some landowners do not want them on the trails so keep that that in mind. State Reparative is trying to get the weight restrictions changed. This would mean that the trails and bridges would need to be wider. I used to work for Sappi paper and I still know people that work there. A friend has dropped off 6 rolls of conveyer belts to use on your bridges. If you need some of the belt call Joe Higgins. If he does not get back to you, call me at the office and I will make stuff happen. Safety – we want more safety checks this year with IF & W. We are trying to get those guys to get out and make sure that they don’t have loud exhausts, up to date registrations, and just to say hi to people and let them know they are there to help not hinder. Snowmobile safety classes at schools. If there anything at

the back table that you need just go on and take it. I will be ordering more supplies soon. We did a DVD in the early 2000 and we want to update this. Maybe we can put this DVD on You Tube to get it out there for most people to watch. Funding Committee: Last year we sent out a questionnaire asking the membership where they saw the directions of increasing our trail funds. In the past years we wanted to raise the registration fee to put the increase into the trail fund but that is not the direction the membership wanted to go. So how do we put me money into the trails fund? The short term is the trails bond fund. If it passes that’s 4 years of money for the trails. Not a long term solution. How do we mimic the automobile gas tax going into the road fund? We are going to pursue this quite hard with James. Snowmobile rentals sales tax, how do we get some of that for the trails fund. Questions: -- Do like NH snowmobile systems. There are three parts, mandate that you join a club, repair fund on capital equipment, and maybe a Non trail registration for your snowmobile. WE will need to do our homework on these ideas. Membership Report: Eileen Lafland: All the packets are done. If you are a membership chairperson get the stuff back to the office ASAP. Send them in so people get there paper. If the person has been a member before, they do not need a new membership card. They are already in the system. Enter them on a blank card because we have them in the system and we will update that number. If you have any questions contact Liz or Eileen. Every club needs to go the website under membership and fill out your officer update forms. They need to be done every year. Trail Committee Chair: Brent Spalding – The big order of business is the Maps. We are way ahead of schedule. We already have a contract signed with the engineer for the overlay. Lori has been working on the back of the maps and has already done a full revamp of the front perimeter thank you for that. I have a quote from Franklin Printing. The final review should be done on Thursday for the edits to date. Friday or Monday going to S.W. Cole for the overlay. We should be able to have this to franklin printing in about 10 days from now. A Reminder to everyone that if you want a trails signing workshop in your area I have available dates contact me. Scholarship Committee: Harvey Chesley (not present) Read by Barry Ryan: We are putting a nice write up in the MSA paper, for the rest the season. This is the future, we talked about getting young folks involved in the clubs this is one way to do that is to educate them so they can make the most money for them for school. We will have different fund raisers at different clubs. Reach out to the committee if you have any questions about the scholarship fund. If you would like to make a donation through your club, you can make the check out to MSA Scholarship Fund and send it directly to the office. Bring this information back to your club. Question on the floor is “who is responsible for getting this information out to the guidance counselors out to the schools?

The local clubs will help you out with that. Community clubs can join in on the assembly at the school. Our Scholarship application is on the MSA website for any and all to print out. Eileen proposes that the 50/50 that we do at the directors meeting, for this year only, that the proceeds go towards the scholarship fund to help build that fund back up. We are trying to raise enough money to pay the two $1,500 scholarships for this year without touching the CD. I would like to make a motion that with the E-Board approval that the 50/50 money from all of the directors meetings for this year only (thru April 2025) be placed into the scholarship committee. Seconded Jerry Major, Motion passed. Hall of Fame Chair: Gail Ryan – looking for committee members. I am looking for one person from each region. Hospitality: Gail Ryan – cards have been going to some of the members for different reasons, both happy and sad. As always, Gail tells a good joke. Announcements & Events: T-bone Trail and BBQ Cook-off on 8/31/24 at 2 PM. If you want to participate in the cook-off you can reach out to Matt Baron. Proceeds are going to the MSA Scholarship fund. Rangeley: January 30-31 and February 1st, Thursday through Saturday Rangeley Snodeo, more info to come. Lexington: Chicken BBQ on September 1 st , it’s a Sunday. At the Long Falls Dam Road at the Happy Horseshoe Campground Ashland: Big Woods Grass Drags, September 14 &15, in Ashland. This is the Ashland & Portage snowmobile clubs main fund raiser. It is a two day racing event. Andover: Is having a Landowner Appreciation and Fund Raiser on September 14 at the Lone Mountain Riverfront Campground, 439 S Main St, Andover, ME. Kingsbury: On August 31 st , Kingsbury Barnstormers Snowmobile Club is having their Annual Pig Roast in one of the hangers Eustis: on August 31 st Eustis is have their cookout. Larry would like to make a couple of amendments to the show – there were two motions to modify the time slots for the clubs to work at the show to sell the tickets. The 1 st motion is the change the time slots to ~~ Friday 3-8; Saturday’s 1st slot is 9-12:30, 2 nd slot is 12:30-4, 3rd slot is 4-8; Sun 9-3. There is a motion on the floor to modify the times to sell tickets. We have a second. Motion carries. The 2 nd motion is about the clubs selling raffle tickets at the show and the drawing. You have to go to Formstack if you want to be in the drawing. The motion is that the clubs that signed up last year but were not chosen will get two tickets and everyone else will only get one that will be drawn at the September meeting. We have a second. Motion carries. 50/50 Drawing – Paul from Rangeley won the 50/50 and donated it all back to the scholarship fund. Thank you so much Paul! Pot of Gold: $400 back to the clubs September Director meeting is at the T-Bone Trail Kitchen at 92 Emery Corner Rd in Limerick on September 17, 2024. Motion to adjourn, motion carried.

P resident’s opening comments: Mark shared his committee appointments for the 24-25 seasons, the following committee chairs are appointed by the president. So the Trails Chair I picked Brent Spaulding; Funding Committee – Matt Stedman; Hall of Fame – Gail Ryan; Finance Chari – Lori Hemmerdinger; Safety Chair – Al Swett; By Laws Chair – past President, Bob Flagg; Membership – Eileen Lafland; Hospitality Chair – Gail Ryan; Scholarship – Harvey Chesley. Secretary’s report: None The treasurer’s report was read by Barry Ryan and placed on file at the office. President: Mark Chinnock – Summit was held in June and it was successful; our Golf Tournament was held in July and it was a success. So the expenses were $8,767.82, the income was $13,145.00, so our revenue was $4,377.17. A successful tournament. Great venue Herman Meadow was awesome. Now turning it over to the VP, Matt Stedman. Thanks for coming, it’s a great turnout. Get your membership packets; if you do not have your membership packet, reach out to your regional VP. Last year we did not have a stellar year last year but you will need to reach out to your district warden to get them to help with your Trail inspections safety check like we used to do. Work with your local warden or district warden to set up a safety check with your club. Check registrations, pipes, good interaction between the clubs and the game warden and riders in your area. Eastern Region Vice-President: Eileen Lafland – Starting to get moving. Gary Dowling, Craig Lemieux, Barry Ryan, Paul Bolstriddge, Larry Lafland, Charlie Huntington have gotten all of their packets for the Eastern Region. Clubs are looking at their trails, some landowner stuff going on, fund raising stuff, and some of those clubs have received their capital equipment grants. Western Region Vice-President: Jerry Major – Impressed with all the work that everyone has been doing on the trails and fixing bridges. All the work that has been done together with the ATV and Snowmobile clubs. I’m hoping that in October I will be having a Western Regional Meeting in probably in South Paris. In January the monthly showcase ride will be held in the Western Region. I would also like to nominate Brad Barker as a Western Region Directors. It was seconded. Motion passed. Central Region Vice-President: Ron Nunes – There is some stuff locally like trail work being done as well as bridges being fixed. We will be having a meeting in October Place and details are still being worked out. Coastal Region Vice-President: Matt Baron – Busy preparing for the cook off. Having great talks with my clubs, going around and meeting people, and trying to get them pumped up and ready for the season. It’s been a struggle dragging the younger crowd to get them involved. Betsy Watson, Secretary 207-205-1559 412 Roberts Ridge Rd, East Waterboro, ME 04030 watson.betsy29@gmail.com

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