October Newsletter

Present: 6 Members

Mike Bellinger, Dave Beyer, Stan Miller, Ralph Miller, Faron Cronk, and Kevin Helinger

The October club meeting was held at the Adams American Legion. Prior to the meeting several members were present to review some of the photos taken from club events, the photos needed to be reviewed to determine which ones the club wanted to post on the website.

The meeting was called to order at 7:11 by Mike. There were six members present. The turnout from the meeting was less than expected. It was mentioned that being a holiday might have kept some people from attending. For those who hadn’t been to the Adams Legion before the small room off to the side is available to the club for meetings, just not on Wednesday’s. There is a larger conference room available for $50 a night, it would have to be reserved. It may be a good option if the club decided to do a Christmas party.

Mike had spoken to the Beldingers in Adams about having this months meeting there as originally scheduled. However in order to have a meeting there they wanted us to either have a buffet or pick from several dinners. They were not interested in allowing us to use their room if the club did not want to eat dinner there. Since this was not the arrangement originally mentioned to Mike, it was decided to move the meeting to the Adams Legion.

The club can also meet at Lacona VFW, and The Hotel Martin in Sandy Creek. Dave also mentioned that Waite had offered for the club to meet there, if it was a small group. If the meeting were going to continue to be small they could also be held at someone’s home. It is also a possibility not to have meetings in January and February. For December there are enough funds the club should be able to put on a Christmas party or at least a pizza party. Members should start to look at their calendars so that at the next meeting a date for the December meeting can be picked and plans arranged. There could even be a possibility of a ride depending on the date and weather.

Minutes from the Last Meeting:

An abbreviated summary of the last meeting was read. No corrections or additions were made. Ralph made a motion to accept the minutes, and was seconded by Faron.

Treasure’s Report:

Dave made the motion to accept the treasure’s minutes, Kevin seconded the motion.

Stan opened a discussion about keeping some petty cash so that not all of the clubs transactions would have to have a check written out and a deposit made. The amount of petty cash would be kept around $100, all of the transactions would still be documented and receipts would still be required for any transaction out of petty cash. The petty cash and checking totals would be combined for the treasure’s report. No one present objected, and Stan was willing to keep track of the extra paperwork. Mike made the motion to accept Stan’s request for a petty cash fund, Faron seconded the motion and it was passed. Currently the petty cash fund is at $57.00, using the current deposits on hand.

Communications

Membership: Current membership includes 42 Family memberships and 21 Single memberships, for a total of 140 members. All members not current on their dues have been dropped from the membership. Several members have indicated they will renew for next year. Memberships run from May 1^st to April 30^th.

Region 6: Ralph had some news back from the last Region 6 meeting. The state is starting to plan a spring ride. It may involve an overnight stay. Region 6 so far is the main active region in the state. Region 7 is represented by Oswego County Club, and Region 1 in Long Island is organized. They are also working on getting a website up. The next meeting is Monday October 24^th at 7:00pm at Ridgeview. Mike also brought up that NYSORVA made an announcement that at meetings members were not to say they represent or are speaking on the behalf of NYSORVA or Region 6 without prior permission from the organization. This is just to make sure one persons opinions are not placed on the entire organization.

Councilwoman Deedee was in Sandy Creek, several of our members went down and spoke with her concerning doing something for hobby. She has cosponsored a bill to encourage handicapped accessibility and access to trail for them. However it seems flawed since it allows ATV access to trails for the handicapped, but those accompanying them must walk and cannot use ATV’s. She mentioned Sheldon Sliver is some of the hold up regarding ATV legislation.

There was a write up on St. Lawrence country and the amount of good ATV riding in that area, it may be a good opportunity for a ride next season.

NYTRO Annual Meeting: Mike and Faron attended the NYTRO annual meeting in Syracuse. There were some changes made in the bylaws, there will be new copies made. Additional money for lobbying was also discussed. There will be an extra mile club for those members who donate an additional $5.00 voluntary donation with their membership. These funds could go to a paid lobbyist such as Hank Ford who has many connections in Albany and already supports our hobby. NYTRO has renewed the Blue Ribbon Collation on a state level. NYTRO is also working up a list of all the area clubs.

Joanne has stepped down as Executive Director to act as Assistance Director. Pam Burns is acting as the Executive Director, XX stays treasurer, and currently they are looking for someone to act as the Secretary.

NYTRO is looking into doing a state wide 50/50 raffle. For the prize the 50% will be broken down to 25% for first prize, 15% for second, and 10% for third. Out of the other 50%, 25% will go to NYTRO and the other 25% will stay with the club. They are looking to have the drawing the 1^st of November, tickets will be $1 each with no specials.

Trailpass had also been brought up at the NYTRO meeting. Apparently two people had received paperwork on the coverage, but lack of the right paperwork was a common complaint. Hopefully other insurance companies can see what Trailpass is doing and see the report that in NYS there are 1,800,000 motorized off road users. Politicians and business should realize how much money and influence ATVers have.

Barry VanBrocklen has mentioned an interest in being involved in legislation. Mike mentioned he would like to see a legislation committee for our members who regularly attend meeting and get involved with our elected officals.

DEC UMP Meeting: There was a good turnout by club members for the DEC’s Unit Management Plan for the Winnona Forest. A summary letter will be sent out by the DEC to everyone who signed in. Unfortunately since the state’s usage policy is still in the works, it will dictate how ATV’s can be included in the UMP. If ATVs are excluded in the usage policy ATVs will have to wait 5 years to get into the forest. It was announced that the truck trails are open to ATV’s but none of the ski trails are open for ATVers.

Stan brought up the idea of having the club join the Winnona Forrest Recreation Association. Everyone agreed this seemed to be a good idea, as well as encouraging members to join individually if interested. This will allow our club and members to have our opinions included in the forest. Our club could also volunteer to do trail work in the area and let others know what we can bring to the association. Dave made the motion to pay the $25 fee to join the association, and Ralph seconded it.

Tug Hill Survey: Stan and Faron attended the meeting held concerning the Tug Hill survey many of us received. The results seemed very disappointing. There were 450 responses returned, and 294 trail intercept surveys. Some surveys were out of the area. There was a slide show that was presented that will be available on their website. The results seemed to underestimate the amount of money spent in the area from ATVing. It also grossly over estimated the amount of money needed to build, maintain, and supervise any trails. The survey failed to consider that a large portion of the trail building and maintenance would be from clubs with no labor cost. The best comments out of the survey came from the DPW, stating that they would have no added costs incurred from adding ATV trails. Data is still being put together for the survey and the final results are going to be distributed in December.

The clubs membership for Community Park was also up for renewal. Mike suggested this be a yearly renewal every year to include the $10 membership fee and a $15 donation. Dave made the motion to accept Mike’s suggestion, and it was seconded by Faron.

The motion to adjourn was made by Dave at 8:45, and seconded by Kevin.

Mike has since found out that the Watertown Christmas parade will not take place this year.

Upcoming Meetings:

November 14^th Club meeting 7:00pm Adams Legion

October 20^th Jeff. County ATV Assoc, 7:00pm DPW breakroom in Brownville

October 24^th Region 6 meeting 7:00pm Ridgeview