Held at Countryside Motor Inn
In Attendance: Cathy Kazimer, John Kazimer, Michel Paquette, Andrew Rowaan, Mark Meilleur, Bev Bratton, George Landry, Robert Bertrand, Fran Pilon and 10 other non-executive members of the club.
CALL TO ORDER and WELCOME at 7:03pm.
ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Michel Paquette moved to accept minutes and Rob Bertrand seconded. Carried. It was noted that going forward all meetings will be documented.
FINANCIAL REPORT – John gave the following summary of the financial budget:
o Estimated revenue $50,600 including our share to cover District spare groomer and District office.
o $56,264 budget for 2020 season, $5,660 over budget.
o French River Snowmobile Association (FRSA) has approved to pay groomer operators for the 2020 season – first time ever.
o #2 groomer repairs at TSI was $10,393 plus new tracks for total of $35,552 (tracks $23,249).
o #1 groomer repairs at TSI $15,573.
o Club had to forfeit $7,213 back to District to help offset cost of the groomer repairs. These were funds set aside as we previously did not pay our groomer operators.
o New furnace for the groomer shed required for an approx. cost of $3,400 which was not in the budget.
o Used $2,000 from the club funds to cover the repairs to our two suspension bridges over the French and Pickerel rivers. Municipality of Killarney gifted our club $2,500.
o Permit sales up from this time last season:
§ 2020 – 361 seasonal, 27 classics
§ 2019 – 326 seasonal, 37 classics
§ 11% increase in permit sales for our club
§ Our District is reporting a 6% increase in permit sales
o $7,744 in our fund account, $12,306 in our restricted account for a total of $20,050.
FUNDRAISING (signage and clothing), club clothing available for sale and trail maps are available
MARKETING (SOCIAL MEDIA), social media is working great for us, we have approx. 10,000 viewers and our posts get shared quite often to other feeds.
TRAILS
o C trail @ Estaire, (CP and MTO), CP will not renew our land agreement, so we lost that trail as a result. The site was surveyed to see if a reroute could be done. We now must go on the road which is a problem because MTO doesn’t want us to run the road. For this season we will have to run down the old Hwy 69 in this area. It is approx.3 km. We will try and groom on the side of the road if possible.
o C trail French River to Key River - reroute in Nov. done, now we can take the groomer down to Key River. Also allows us to gas up.
o Proposed C105D reroute - Argyle Club is pushing us to come down to Lost Channel instead of grooming to Dollar Lake. The reroute won’t be done for this season, need to plan the changes and see what we can do. South of Key River could be a problem because the trail goes over the railway tracks so getting an agreement signed will be an issue.
o Local trails update on brushing, we haven’t been out much to date, starting now to check out the trails and see how much brushing needs to be done. Clubs north of us have a lot of trees down so we are hoping we don’t have the same issue.
GROOMERS and GROOMING OPERATORS, both of our groomers are back from TSI after getting repairs done.
RISK MANAGEMENT/HEALTH & SAFETY , this program has been rolled out this year so many volunteers are completing the course. This training is mandated in Ontario so if anyone wants to do volunteer work on the trails or work in the groomer shed then the training needs to be completed first. If you are interested in volunteering let us know so you can get the necessary training done, then you can get out and volunteer. The Ministry will also be conducting checks to confirm that the necessary training is done.
VOLUNTEERS, we have a huge territory to maintain so we break it down to 4 different areas. Each area has a trail captain, who in turn will arrange to have volunteers to assist in what work is required.
o John Kazimer oversees, French river, Key river and a large section of the C trail.
o Bob Bertrand oversees the Estaire area.
o Andrew Rowaan oversees Noelville area.
o Rob Bertrand and George Landry oversees Monetville area.
o Looking for people who have heated garages to store our groomers at different sections of our trails since it is not always feasible for them to return to our Groomer shed daily. If the groomers and Argos don’t stay in a heated garage this causes problems and results in breakdowns.
MEETINGS AND/OR SOCIALS, we were asked if we want monthly meetings and if so, we need someone to organize for the club. The monthly meetings will keep everyone in the loop and feedback from the monthly District meetings can be shared with the club.
o The attendees mentioned that they don’t want monthly meetings, bi-monthly meetings would be best for them. If something comes up that is important from the District, then that information should be shared via social media or emails.
o It was suggested that we have a social in February, maybe a sled run then meeting after. After the family day weekend would be best. Michel and Fran will organize, they will come up with ideas and present to the board.
OLD BUSINESS - nothing to report
NEW BUSINESS
o culvert in Nadon field. This will be done after this season and the owner will complete in the spring. The club will provide a culvert. One part of the trail needs to be backfilled with snow to get through this season.
o Hwy 607 and 69, the trail will be the same as last year, there is a better ramp this year. The other side of the road maybe a bit rough. The gorge, between French and Pickerel. 90-degree bend is very difficult for the groomer, so we had to stop grooming down in this area last year. MTO has done some work on this section and we may need to put in some fill, groomer must go through gorge to continue down to the south end of our trail. Groomer may have to go down without the drag, but the groomer can’t get up the big hill with drag. Could be issues when the 4 lane hwy opens, we need to work with MTO further to determine where the trail will go. Mark will try and get out there to check it out soon.
NEXT MEETING DATE, Saturday, February 22, 2020
ADJOURNMENT at 7.53pm