Meeting Minutes:
2011/2012 season:
1/18 - $6179.87 balance in the Credit Union. Need slips in detail for audit coming up.
Scott Verrill has his clipboard. Still needs his membership form before he can groom due to insurance regulations.
$100 from Don Lee, thank you!
Terri will try to get a list together for membership.
Bill got 5' grade stakes. Got some more trail signs. New plywood cut for smaller sizes. Plenty of signs, watch the washers near the bench, or you'll hit your head.
Brandon, Joe and crew got the Wilson Drive pallets down, sharp looking bridge. Still need to get the Blanchard Road bridge. Need to call CMP, Bill will work on calling them.
Hadlock Forest in Falmouth trail system was a mess, blue hiking signs are not the trail signs. Bateman closing on Doane property this week, hope we see a re-route behind teh Town Garage and through the Town Forest over to the trail to Irving/Route 9 soon.
Falmouth has yet to set dates for a cookout.
June 1st incorporation due. Last year it lapsed. $35 to incorporate. Don't want to have to pay $50. Important for tax free number, etc.
Capital grant involves a lot of work. Need to decide if we want to sell equipment to put toward new equipment. Need to get prices, then trade in value, etc. 3 copies made up.
$5 of each machine goes statewide for capital and trail grants. If you get the grant, they allow you a percentage. Warren not sure about 4 wheeler with tracks. (Club had one 10 years. ago and went back to sleds.) Need power steering and a 600cc at least. Joe Higgins talked with Joe. Need to talk to a club who has one. Windham has one. Get three quotes. Brand new, get 3 year warrantee. Bruce going to take a look into it. All belt drive, a four strokes. Warren thinks John Deere and Kuboda not as good an option. Yamaha and Honda may be the best. $20,000 investment with tracks.
Bearcat in decent shape. Polaris needs new front drive shaft bearings, $400-500. 2000-2500 miles, may go another season or so. $700 for an overhaul. Could gear down the Bearcat. Carbides, front bearing, shock change, $200, other two $250-300 each. Linkage might be loose. Warren gives us a good discount, will log his volunteer time. $700-$900 for parts and maintenance.
Joe registered the three sleds, $41 x 3.
State in rough shape financially with slow start.
Plowable storms this weekend?
Feeling good about the club and all the work that's been done. Image you present makes a difference we want to be in good standing.
Bill talked with Harold Stoddard a couple days ago, Bill saw a headlight on a snowmobile. Bill started putting signs out near his house, arrow signs to talk to Bill toward, same as last year. They talked for a half hour or so. Harold told Bill he's not against snowmobiling, would love to have the trail re-opened. We need to have him sign the abutter form. Harold asked about the bypass and how that was coming along. Bill stated again that we have established a good working relationship with CMP, keep up the good work. We'll work with them again when the construction is done. As of now, the powerline is still closed. Members told stories about closed ATV trails, Harold would ride down closed and posted trails, even road down the sidewalk in North Yarmouth. Pole 64 closed, Bill can get out, Harold can not legally go out on his sled.
Terri needs a clipboard.
Business memberships opportunities Cumberland House of Pizza, Irving, J Bros.
Warren will check with NY Variety on a charge account for gas.
1/4/12 - Brandon and Joe priced out a tool box for the big drag, it will cost around $300, it was voted on and approved for purhase.
Bill said the Trail Grant was returned and we will be audited this year, $3750 will be the Grant amount and we'll be audited in April for the 2011/2012 season, so make sure your clipboards are up to date! Our Grant info will be due 4/30.
$85 is our club incorporation fee, Bill checking on it.
Bill handed out magic snow washers. Rub them as often as you can, they need to bring us snow!
Atlantic Regional Credit Union account in Cumberland now active, new checks (with a snowmobile on them) and debit cards from the account for use by Terri and Bill.
Two insurance bills came in for $343 and $650 due 2/9, $71.78 also due for Hancock lumber for more grade stakes.
Another member check came in. Bruce looking for membership forms. Forms also available on website. $33 & $43 are the dues for Family and Business.
North Yarmouth Variety signed up as a Business Member.
Feb 18th Madawaska as a race, their club sent us two passes, which Shawn took.
Feb 11th & 12th there is a free ride into Canada. Terri and Warren are going to ride in from Jackman. They plan on staying one night at Bishops hotel. You need your Passport and proof of insurance, more info on the link below:
http://www.chaudiereappalaches.com/en/activities-attractions/snowmobile/
Tristate reciprocal ride in ME, NH, VT January 27th, 28th and 29th. More info here:
http://www.nhsa.com/pdfs/Tri-State-Weekend.pdf
Need to wait until construction of 102 line is done before we ask for the trail access back, Bill watching it, they will be done soon.
Bill Shane supportive of continuing to work with landowners, he's willing to hold a landowner appreciation meeting.
We may want to build a rack at the clubhouse to organize the trail signs for next year. Greely road extension was discussed, we need to move trail as close to stone wall as possible, away from the new house being built, think we can fix the trail this season.
Bill, Bruce, Joe went to Super Raffle. we should put a push on for next year. Recognized the club at the Super Raffle. Bill brought a MSA hat back for Matt, our VP. Terri was presented a hat and tee shirt. Both well deserved.
Shawn needs to ask Bill Shane about the sled registration money.
Blanchard Road bridge gone again, needs to be put back. Brandon could fix the bridge and move it, call CMP and the Gas Company. Two 20' pallets over in West Cumberland.
Shawn will pull the Rhines Forest cable this weekend, send note to Rec Director.
12/7/11 - We had a good turnout Sunday, 10 plus guys, put up signs. More to do this Sunday at 8am, behind the Town Garage, meet at the clubhouse.
We saw an interesting cargo/dog sled unit that Wayne Birch and Chris Rial from New Gloucester were trying to show local clubs. It had skis and a wheel kit. $2,400 plus the wheel kit which is $410. A nice looking work of art, but too expensive for our club to purchase. If you are interested, give them a ring at 926-5890.
Report on the Coastal MSA meeting which we sponsored at Toddy Brook, only 17 people attended, lower turnout than anticipated (45ish). We did have a winner of the $66 fifty fifty drawing, we split the $33. Food was fabulous, tons of food. We paid out $820.33 for the food and use of Toddy Brook and they worked with us to reduce that cost on what it could have been. We took in $140 of those who paid.
Terri deposited $342, so our current balance is $6566.44. Still need to get $100
to ValHalla to provide them monies to put up the snow fence and guide posts. Terri going Friday to open Atlantic Credit Union account. $221.63 Hancock lumber bill needs to be paid.
Steve had some flyers done up, thank you!
Bruce Crocket selling raffle tix, great job! Drawing the 13th, you could win a sled,
cash or a new trailer! Some members may attend the event.
Another new member from the Regional Meeting!
Trail grant needs to go out by the end of the month, Bill will mail in. $3750 is
our usual grant amount.
Bill mentioned maintenance and administrative clip boards. Grooming sheets also.
Rates $8/hr, $10/hr with truck. We need to fill these in, it will be easier for next season's grant process. Administrative time also counts!
Shawn needs to bring more copies of the map, he'll drop them off at the clubhouse. Probably needs to bring more to the meetings also.
Two more bundles of grade stakes needed, another sheet if plywood to make signs
two sided. More signing needed Sunday. Bill will be there at 8am Sunday tobget signs done. Raven Farms signed for the most part. When CMP is working stay off the powerline please. They may be done by middle of the month. New poles going in. New trail through Bateman down through Town Forest. Need some more signs, stop signs, bridge signs, arrows, etc. Dan called Don Lee, that trail may need to be re-routed. Hope to have the powerline at some point, Bill was unsuccessful in getting a bypass done.
Scott Verrill on Range road may still have one of the drags. (Last year he dragged that area of the Cumberland/Falmouth line.) We need a tool box for back of drag. Brandon will look out for one, keep it under $100 please. There will be a re-route around the Doane project behind the Town Garage. It will go from the Clubhouse, around the back of the mulch piles, to the Salt Shed, then connecting to the current trail. Bateman Associates will cut a trail for us around the rail road track side of the current trail that goes to Route 9/Irving. More to come on this in the next few weeks.
Officers voted in the same folks for 2011-2012, although Terri is pulling double duty, doing Membership and Treasurer, Warren bowed out of the Membership position. Looks like Dan has two posts also, Trail Master and Events.
Next meeting 12/21...we'll see how attendance is, we sometimes skip this one due to Christmas week.
11/16 - Another new member tonight, thank you for all the folks who have paid their dues.
11/20 MSA meeting at Toddy Brook, $10 buffet. Be there at 12PM. Large room outback will be used. Introductions, etc done by MSA. Scott Ramsey won't be here, Joe Higgins will be. Dave Watson head count 50ish people. Setup fee $100 waived by Toddy Brook, thank you! Need someone to take money as they came in, can come in free, if you eat, $10. Terri and Kelly will take the money, sell Super Raffle tix, 50/50 maybe, $1? Jeff going to get some raffle tix Jimmy has a welcome banner.
Steve Richard printed a flyer, will update with website address and "Like us on Facebook". Steve will do 50/50 raffle poster too.
Signing trails will shoot for Sunday December 4th at 8am and the 11th (if needed) also at 8am. Meet up at the Clubhouse behind the Cumberland Town Garage. We still have a charge account at Hancock for signs, stakes, etc. 32 signs for a sheet, 3 sheets 3/8ths inch, 1" screws and grade stakes, 3-4 bundles. Philips screw heads. BYOD drill. Sharpies too. Bill will get the signage material from Hancock for the 4th. Worksheets and clipboards from Bill will be at the Clubhouse to record time for trail grant.
Bill still working on Smithwood Drive bypass, wants entire powerline completely open, CMP willing to move poles. Dan needs to get a request form to Scott Ramsey. Someone needs to talk to Valacci, maybe someone can hook up with Wayne from Falmouth and go together? Cumberland House of Pizza trail? Don Lee Greely Road ext, Dan will call as he has asked to move the trail away from his house lot.
11/2 - Two new members tonight.
Time to sign trails? Decide next meeting. Should have plenty of signs. Need some more
snow fence for the Raven Farms area.
We'll look to print shop the trail map, but will wait till we get closer December to make sure we have our trails updated. 11x17" size, Steve will check.
Whip up a club brochure, Bill liked what he saw from the Pownal Club.
Still need to flip it to the Atlantic Regional Credit Union from TD Bank. Terri
needs Brandon to close out old account and flip it so she can write the checks.
$69970.70 in the account. -$14.95 website bill.
11/20 Coastal Region MSA Meeting will be held at Toddy Brook. Head count from Dave Watson. 1PM. Probably 35-40 folks. Sandwiches, meatballs, bar cash open. Setup fee TBD. 18% gratuity. Maybe a party favor, 50/50 drawing?
Raven Farm all set, was walked with CMP reps last Friday. Dan will stake it out, may need to reroute. Use caution. Can't go under guide wires, or it may be shut down. Rerouting during the year. Can't be within 25 feet of the poles.
1996 bridge may need to be moved at some point. Bill working on a reroute around
Smithwood, CMP would then move the pole closure closer to Smithwood. Possible
Tuttle Road and ValHalla access, Steve will check with local land owners.
Dan will call Ms McCall at CMP about the Valacci Field.
Next meeting 11/16.
10/19 - We had a good meeting with Burns & McDonnell, who are representing CMP in the powerline construction project. The plan is that the powerlines would be cleared prior to snow flying. Then, depending on the poles being replaced, we may have to work through some timing of sections being rerouted or closed.
The three main areas we hope to work toward resolution about:
1) 102 powerline, if we can reopen, or reroute the trail around Smithwood Drive.
2) The possibility of working through the "Vallacci Field" powerline closure from last year.
3) Re-routing around the Raven Farms Substation.
John Titus and Chris McKenney pledged that they would work with us on any possible opportunity to reopen these sections. They spoke of Trish McCall being involved, as she took over for Paul Fecteau. We may have a site visit next Friday, 10/28 to view the Raven Farms area.
Another possible opportunity, brought up by Bill Shane, Cumberland Town Manager, was that Dan Small may be open to allowing us access across Tuttle Road and over to Val Halla again.
November 20th at Toddy Brook will be the MSA Coastal Regional Meeting...we hope that by then we'll have some good info to pass along.
10/5/11 – Toddy Brook
Dave Watson, Regional Director for the Coastal Area MSA (28 clubs) and on the Executive Board, came up from Waterboro (www.OssipeeMountaineers.com), would like us to host the Regional MSA meeting on 11/20, here at Toddy Brook. At that meeting they bring in people from the MSA, DOT, Scott Ramsey, Harvey Chelsea, President of the MSA coming (willing to come to our 10/19 meeting at the Cumberland Town Hall) Joe Higgins, etc. the guys we get the grant money from. 40-60 people attend the meetings, Q&A. Last year, $10 charge at the Tiki Bar, money went to the club, different ways to work out how to handle the food, drinks, etc. Having it on Sunday as most folks would be hunting on Saturday.
Clubs will e-mail RSVP to Dave, provides us two weeks for info and estimate on number of people. Start at 1pm, run about 3-4 hours sometimes. Buffet may be a good option, spaghetti dinner, etc. Folks don’t need to pay to eat, could attend the meeting without paying. Teri will plan it and check it out with Toddy Brook.
We need to elect an MSA Rep to go to the Regional Meetings, could have an Alternate also. If you attend meetings, you get voting rights. Dave stated that Scott Ramsay is not willing to ask CMP to reopen the 102 trail this year, based on the CMP expansion of the powerline. However, we are open to discuss with CMP the situation on 10/19 at the Cumberland Town Hall.
MSA show 10/7-10/9 in Augusta. Calendars available at the show for $12.
Membership, $3 increase to $23 for MSA, we received the membership cards. New membership for family memberships to $33, or $43 for business. Insurance covers dependence, better insurance through that program. The reason for the increase is that MSA needed to make up some finances. No changes in membership for next 10 years is the plan. (See page 2 of the MSA Newspaper for more info.)
Need to ask Bill Shane on 10/19 about getting 100% of Cumberland sled registration fees to put toward the club. (We currently get 50% of Cumberland, 25% of North Yarmouth.)
CMP 3 year renewal on any powerline trails, changes, procedures, etc. Bill has the package. Will have to re-contact every abutter on powerlines. Inspections, etc. Clubs will assume more safety and policing of the poles, etc. Bill has some more homework to do on it. Some of that had to do with an issue with a club, the DOT and CMP and the DOT had to pay $40,000 back to CMP for damage on an underground wire. CMP can close a trail at any time, even with the 3 year deal, but you must sign it every year. CMP wants the clubs to work harder, take more responsibility.
10/19 meeting – Three items: 1) Info Raven Farm CMP substation would like us to possibly re-route trails around the substation. 2) 102 powerline situation and understand the timing of the improvements. 3) Valacci Field/Route 9 area, if there is a chance to gate that and reopen it. Wayne Kenniston will plan on attending from the Falmouth Club. Town of North Yarmouth – E-mails listed? Shawn will take care of. Other State Reps could attend. Zip drive for the meeting, we can put sled trail on the map.
Balance of almost $7,000 in the club account.
8/18/11 - First meeting of the year, good attendance by the "regulars".
Bill checked the mailbox, we received $706 from the Town of North Yarmouth, which is 1/4 of their sled registrations (1/2 the registrations, split between NY/Pownal Club and our club). We now have a $6970 balance in checkbook and still have 2, $100 gift cards that can be used this season.
Bill will bring the work sheets to the next meeting to hand out and review so we can do a better job tracking our efforts this season, which will help Bill put together the grand info at the end of the season.
Shawn will get some dates together from Bill Shane, Town Manager in Cumberland to gather a meeting with the town(s) and CMP - I think the 1st and 3rd Tuesday the Council Chambers may be open? We can ask Cumberland if they would be willing to provide the Club the full registration fees, a we receive 1/2 now and Bill may have been open to providing us the full amount.
Our three main efforts this year, for discussion at this tbd meeting, in which we would invite CMP, the Towns, abutters, landowners, club members, Paul Napolotano, Bill Shane, the State, cross country skiiers, bikers, walkers, etc would be:
1) 102 powerline work start and end of new pole installations? Can we get his reopened this year? CMP may start cutting This fall?
2) Substation in Yarmouth all done and can we reopen that trail this winter?
3) Vallacci field area - Who owns the right of way and can we reopen that trail across Route 9?
Not as big a priority, but we'd also like to get our previous 102 powerline trail back under our club's name, you may remember that was taken from us, without discussion, by the State.
Paul Napalotano - NY
Bill will connect with Joel and Harold, local abutters to the 102 powerline to determine if they are willing to discuss opening the trail again, given the solid efforts we all put in last year, adhering to the direction provided to us from the State.
Clayton has moved into Turkey Lane, maybe he could help with Medley Watson to regain the access from Turkey Lane to Blanchard Road?
Sleds seem to be in pretty good shape, the red sled needs a shock to be put in, Brandon has the shock.
Shawn needs to follow up on the Bateman discussion about the Doane property development behind the Town Garage, down to Route 9. There was some discussion about keeping the existing trails open and if needed, moving the clubhouse down near where the current salt shed is. Ron Copp would move the clubhouse for us if needed. Shawn was provided a white board of the trails and development and will bring that to the next meeting. Bill Shane had also talked about maybe using the building at Twin Brooks if we needed to house our sled there also.
Discussed an early February Club ride and cookout, Bill suggested we maybe do one with the Falmouth
Club and see if they'd want to meet up at their cookout spot across from the new 95 bridge.
Thoughts on a possible placemats for map? Toddy Brook sponsorship? Once we see where our trails are going to be, we can work through this a bit more.
Next meeting in a month (depending on a possible Town meeting) on 9/14.
2010/2011 season:
5/4/2011 - We received our trail grant from the State for $3,750. That will buy a lot of gas for next year, sign posts, bridge repair, etc.!
4/6/11 - Last meeting of the year and a thank you dinner to those officers and members who supported the club. We had a very nice toast from Terri. This was a transitional year for all of us, given our reorganization and efforts to reaffirm our good standing in the community. We had 22 paid members, which is down slightly from the prior years, but we have some good ideas to jump start this in the fall. The bills are under control and we are all balanced up. That was quite an effort Terri made to get our books back in line.
Bill gave a toast and said some closing remarks; A big thank you to Joe and Brandon, the trails were in great shape this year! The Club is alive and going strong, established in 1973 and continued through 2011. We will plan on an August 17th meeting to organize the year. Possible fall meeting at NY Town Office to work with the Town of NY and CMP. The best thing from Bill's perspective on the year is getting to know folks better. Pledge to keep this as a safe activity. Paul Napolatano said the NY payment of the registrations split (1/2 to town of NY, 1/4 to the Pownal Club, 1/4 to our club) will continue to occur between two clubs. Falmouth Sno-Voyagers supported us very well this year, thanks again. Our intentions for the 2011/2012 season will be to get both pole lines (Smithwood and Valacci) open. Bill is planning a Paul Fecteau letter. Thanks from Bill and group, Bill really stepped up this year and kept this thing rolling.
We still have a few signs that need to come out of the ground. Scott Verrill should return dragging sled to clubhouse, Dan, Brandon and Joe will get the other two sleds and drags back. Until later this summer, thanks for your efforts, remember, join your local club and Ride Right!
3/16/11 - Last offcial meeting of the year, one more meeting on 4/6. We had 7 in attendance tonight, there were 12 at last meeting (no notes from the prior meetings.) Warren was in Millinocket, stranded with no clutch on his new Ski-Doo. Trails - We'd like to remove trail and road crossing signs by end of month. Most of ground is soft at this point. If you can bunch them up by location, that will help. Bill will contact Paul Fecteau again about the trail options around Smithwood Drive. The powerline construction schedule is tbd, but you can find construction schedule and facts on CMP's website here, just search for Cumberland, or North Yarmouth: http://www.mainepower.com/construction.asp Possible sign rack was discussed for the clubhouse to put away the signs.
Membership - 22 paid members this year, which is less than the 35ish people we have on Facebook who have "Liked" our page. Terri would like to work on a membership drive and membership package for next season. The packet would include thank you letters, sticker map, info and could be done up ahead of time to mail out upon receiving the membership cards, ect.
Misc - Bill had one of the old decals. Took a pic. Bill did a letter to Wayne and the Falmouth club for the new 495 bridge. Windham Drifters inquired to Bill as they were concerned about registration fees and what we get from Cumberland and NY (1/2 cumberland, 1/4 NY) How many does cumberland have for registered sleds? Windham has 1000 sleds registered. (Shawn will ask Bill
Shane, Joe or Bill will ask for NY for info). Our understanding is that the Pownal club was trying to get more than an even split from NY on the registrations. Time to store the sleds back at the clubhouse, Brandon and Joe will do it. Clubhouse needs to be re-leveled. - Steve will talk to the town and Adam.
Next season - Start date for fall? Mid-August. Bridge work. CMP line 102 and Vaillece field. Brandon had a question about a grooming sled for a four wheeler with lags to drag. Find out about grant process. Bill will call Joe Higgins.
Treasury report - 2, $100 Visa gift cards, Terri has. Purchased for gas. Balance in our account is
$1778.13, which is not bad considering. We still have the 1/4 of NY registrations and 1/2 of the Cumberland registrations (hope to receive the full amount next year.)
Last meeting for the year, reorganizational year, thanks. Look forward to a quicker start.
April 6th, last meeting - dinner 7pm.
2/16/11 - Some notes from the meeting, the prior two meetings were cancelled due to storms. Club stickers handed out. Bill was working on some bridge repair off of rt 9, assuming the 1996 bridge?
Club Insurance due now. Must be member and age 18 unless with member over 18 to groom the trails. Bill went to Falmouth bridge celebration. Treasurer stated $3,500 in the account before these bills above. Steve has action to see what Brian Gilbert can do to better the trail map (although the trail map on this site has been improved a month ago and shows our trails vs other clubs trails). Membership is upwards 35 members. Talk about club pig roast, but if it's going to be done, it must be soon, possibly invite other clubs. Next meeting March 2nd at 7pm.
Need to work on membership package..all to offer ideas for next season
1/19/11 - Snow, sledding and whatever obligations seemed to keep everyone away tonight. Just Shawn and Bill showed up. A few notes:
Trail Report - Trails are in great shape, thanks to Brandon dragging all day on Friday. Groomed from J Bros, through Rhines Forest (remember, can't ride due to logging M-F), over Blanchard, Blueberry/Bruce Hill, etc. Trails were sweet all weekend. A few more inches of snow tonight and more on the way Friday, then a cold snap, we hope to be set for a number of weeks. The Jersey Barrier is still not moved at the end of Turkey Lane and there is a power line down on the Range Road side of Turkey Lane Bridge. (It's "head high" and flagged.) Shawn asked Steve to see if he could contact the town to see what the scoop was and resolution. Bill will order the signs needed tomorrow. Shawn checked the 1997 bridge and the Frankie Lane bridge and although both could use some slats running lengthwise, they are in sound shape. Bill checked the 1996 bridge on the other side of Route 9 and it's fine. He shoveled snow into the approaching trail gully and worked to get it setup for easier access. Although not our trail, Toddy Brook has requested that everyone please stay off the 9th green!
Treasury - $4400 in the account, we are all incorporated as of noon today. Bill looking over the insurance bill and plans, we think we are covered until 2/8/11, then about a $800ish bill due. Need to register the blue sled, Bill said he got it started, Shawn may groom Saturday with it, if it starts and he can register online.
Membership - DId the MSA cards get mailed to the MSA? We won't receive the Maine Snowmobiler newspaper without them in to the State.
Events - Calendar updated, Falmouth Sno-Voyagers Ride In on 1/29 at Highland Lake. 50/50 drawing, vintage sled, Poker Run, etc. 10am start time...would be nice support if we went over.
Misc. - Stickers are available from Brian Gilbert for 95 cents, per 250 minimum run, with no "high hat". $250ish, we can discuss next meeting. LT's other quote was $1.15 for 250.
1/5/11 - Good turnout at the meeting tonight.
Bill - President's report - Bill spoke with Joe Higgins from the State and although we are late, he said we could still get our grant application in, but it is contingent on our incorporation being reset for 2011. Bill needs to get some forms to the state and received a $100 check for the incorporation license. Bill is putting a great deal of effort into taking over the leadership of the club, keep up the good work Bill!
Trail Report - Bill met with Bill Shane from the Town of Cumberland to discuss some options of a re-route around the Smithwood Drive powerline closure. Bill also had a discussion with Joel Fuller, one of the disgruntled Smithwood Drive residents over four young kids who came up the powerline toward route 9 during the last storm. Bill had intercepted these kids, who were not club members and told them about the closure. The issue was that the Pownal/North Yarmouth club had not signed their side of the trail (on the Gray side). (Our side of the trail, the Route 9 side was well signed.) Mr. Fuller was quite upset about the sledders, but Bill did his best to disolve the issue and explain the situation. The Pownal/NY Club then signed their side of the trail within the next few days. Bill had also re-routed a trail right into his back yard with a sign asking sledders to stop in to further understand the "situation" we are in with the closure.
We still need to check out the bridge on 8 Heather Lane (1997 bridge - parallel to Blanchard Road) and also the old bridge on Frankie Lane (off Blanchard Road, near Cumberland Center) that is falling apart and now goes unused due to the house that was built in the trail a few years ago.) We also need to sign Joe Thornton's yard on Route 9 due to sledders going through his horse shoe pits. Due to the Valacci field closure, Bill will check with Paul Fecteau on how we may be able to re-route around this trail. It appears Mr. Valacci is unwilling to work with us, or the Falmouth club to reopen the trail in that location.
Treasurer Report - Terri is still working on our checkbook. The Town of NY recut our $600 check, so that can be deposited soon. Brandon still is signing the checks until Bill flips the incorporation and applications. We had a $657ish balance. +$600 NY check, we have a $1,200 question with Mike Lovering over the Cumberland registrations from last year, as it appears it was listed in the checkbook and never deposited. This check was noted on 1/21/10. It was $100 for the incorporation fee. The trail grant is $125/mile, or max of $3,750. Let's hope this comes through for the coming season.
On a great note, the North Yarmouth ATV Riders Club donated $2,000 to us. They had the percentage of members needed to take the vote, which should help everyone both summer and winter on the trail maintenance. Thanks! Brandon registered one of the sleds for $40. Terri paid Shawn $36 for the website and copies for the CMP/State meeting a couple months ago. Westscott's has been waiting to be paid for 8 months $100. Hancock Lumber bill for $169. Terri and Brandon will still need to flip the checkbook when available. We still plan on donating to a family in need, or some other donation between Cumberland and/or North Yarmouth.
Membership - Warren is working on being "groomed" for the paperwork, cards, etc. Several members paid up tonight, a few more still need to pay up next meeting. We still need to get as many memberships as we can so we can keep the checkbook rolling and membership strong. Not sure of the total membership count, but we must be up to 20 plus by now!
Misc - Bill will put up a couple clipboards at the clubhouse to note any work that is done so that we may receive credit for it.
Bill will provide Shawn Ed McElaney's (spelling?) phone number so that he can provide e-mail questions on the Pownal/North Yarmouth club trails. So far, there have been the following:
"Our home is at 74 New Gloucester Rd. on rt 231 at Dugas/Adams pit...our white pines on our roadside (along the trail route) were recently pruned with out permission and the slash left on the ground...it would certainly benefit your club to ask landowner before doing any cutting as it is illegal not to...I am not against snow mobiling but I am certainly not in favor of any activity that makes more work for me like cleaning up what seems to be YOUR slash. Awaiting your reply,
Scott Cybulski" - This is the Pownal/North Yarmouth's club trail.
"Hi. I live at 47 sweetser Rd. I believe your trail is in our backyard. During the storm Monday a few snowmobiles left your trail and ran down onto our land and down our driveway onto sweetser rd running over 2 of our 5 year old blueberries. You have a marked trail running over our land and we have allowed you to run the trail over our land. Please let me kmow what you can do to prevent this from happening again. Thank you, Paul Peck" - This is also the Pownal/North Yarmouth trail system.
We want to document that these complaints that had nothing to do with our club. Unfortunately, any negative confusion in this area reflects poorly on all of us. Sledders, please use your heads when riding on private property and stick to the trails! We will continue to provide e-mail answers as soon as they come in. Shawn now has Dan's e-mail address and will forward trail questions to Dan and reduce or eliminate the questions to Brandon.
Next meeting 1/19/11, see you then! Do a snow dance!
12/15/10 - Decent turn out tonight, working on getting the new Officers up to speed and straighten out the club needs. Brandon handed the President's book to Bill. Bill handed the checkbook to Terri. Bill is going to call Scott Ramsey on the Officer letter for club renewal. Bill will also check on the grant money with Scott.
Trail report - Trail signs are nearly all up, some signs need to be placed on Range Road, crossing from Turkey Lane into the woods and Rhines Forest. (Cable also needs to be pulled down at the crossing.) Six members showed up two weeks ago on the Saturday work detail, thanks! The Falmouth Club was going to check with Dan Vallaci and see if we could sign off a corridor from Route 9 to Winn Road to get field trail back open. Brandon took photos of two Four Wheeler signs that were placed on the power line poles and were not put there from the snowmobile club, nor the ATV club. Last year's signs were piled up in the woods near Harold Stoddard's backyard, near Smithwood Drive. Steve will inquire with Bill Shane to swing the Jersey barrier/baracade on Turkey Lane over a bit for winter.
Finances - We have somewhere around $732.09 in the checkbook, plus $600 NY check, plus recent membership applications, plus the $200 balance and $129 on the two gas cards. Terri is going to have to figure out the checkbook and what is outstanding. Wescott and Sons has a bill for $109 that we still need to pay. Shawn made a motion to move the account to Atlantic Credit Union,from TD Bank, which was approved. Brandon will need to close out the other account. Steve was going to hook Terri up with the head of the CU. Once Terri figures out some of the finances, Shawn made a motion to provide MSAD 51 $150 to have them donate for some Holiday presents for local kids. Brandon made 3 keys to club house and was paid $16 for misc. supplies. We still need to register sleds, $40 x 3. It also appears our insurance has run out, so Terri will need to figure out if we can get this renewed.
Misc - Steve is going to check on reproducing the sticker that is in the top left hand corner of the website. Some of the new members wanted stickers.
12/1/10 - Late posting of the notes, but this almost became our last meeting ever, based on the 102 powerline being closed by CMP and the State. We decided to try and keep the club going against these odds and now based on the trail system being cut in half. Anyone who lives on the Yarmouth side of Route 9 can no longer access any other town's trail system. The listed reasons can be viewed on the "News and Updates" page to the left on the letter from the MDOC. For some reason, the Pownal/North Yarmouth Club was given a portion of our prior trail also. Even with all this turmoil, our goal is to ensure that all local snowmobilers use proper judgement and ride safely only on marked trails. However, without your support, it is hard to keep this club alive. Thankfully, some folks recently stepped up...
New Officers for 2011; President - Bill Brazier (of the Smithwood Drive area) will work to ensure the closed 102 powerline trail is not traveled and will continue to work with the Smithwood Drive residents on a plan to reopen the trail in the coming year or so. Treasurer - Terry McDonald, Membership - Warren Whitney, who is working to update the club membership info and e-mails, Trail Master - Dan Sheehan (prior Activities, which remains open, but may be something we leave open). The remaining Officers are in place, find out more in the "About Us" page. Glad to see so many folks volunteer and we had a great turnout. (Thanks for the Falmouth guys attending!)
We had a work detail on Saturday to work on getting some signs up, still many more to put up around town. Please check the "Project List" to the left for things that need to happen before we can ride. Also, Shawn needs to update the map with the 102 closure and we need to properly sign on both sides (Pownal responsible for other side heading toward Blueberry Hill.
Membership cards coming in the mail, please mail them back with your check, $30 for a yearly membership for families, $40 for a business, which you will be posted on our website and also in the MSA Maine Snowmobiler monthly Newspaper. Our hopes are that we can support your business that supports us!
Next meeting 12/15 with an update on what else we need to get done prior to the white stuff coming down!
11/17/10 - We are currently in a holding pattern, waiting to hear some positive news from CMP regarding the 102 powerline. Next meeting is in two weeks, at that point, if we receive the positive news and if the ground is not frozen, we will then determine if the club is going to continue. Turnout tonight was light, which is disappointing. Please view the Project List page to the left to see the items that have been identified as needing to be fixed, should we continue for this year.
11/3/10 - We had a passionate and productive meeting with the State tonight. We'll have to work on the entire minutes at a later date, but we heard another perspective on this matter and one that we need to adhere to and work together to keep the club moving forward and maintain the ability to ride around town. We're holding a special meeting on Wednesday, 11/10 at Toddy Brook at 7pm to draft a pledge together to help get us all moving forward in the right direction, you are all invited to attend. More to come...Thank you for the strong attendance on this important matter.
11/2/10 - We had a positive meeting with the North Yarmouth Selectmen tonight in an effort to gain support from North Yarmouth as we have from Cumberland. They provided support and guidance and asked that we try to resolve the issues with the land abutters. (They are invited to the meeting tomorrow night at Toddy Brook at 7pm.) Based on our meeting tomorrow they will then possibly work on our behalf to support getting the trail re-opened. One thing that was discussed was that on Smithwood Drive there is a 30' stretch of road that is a private section. This will not allow anyone to drive up Smithwood to access the powerline with a snowmobile.
11/1/10 - We were provided a letter from the North Yarmouth Rec. Committee this evening from Paul Fecteau stating that CMP is unwilling to even consider re-opening the 102 powerline trail. As now it's a matter of public record, you may view the complainants listed in the letter. This letter was not sent to the club, but sent to the NY Rec. Committee in response to their intentions to support of the club. The letter is listed below. We had not been made completely aware of the total of these alleged incidents until now. We hope to have resolution on Wednesday night, 11/3 at 7pm at Toddy Brook in North Yarmouth. If you have any plans on snowmobilng in Cumberland or NY this year, you need to attend this meeting.
The column mentioned in the above letter as "evidence" is posted below. There will be copies of these at the meeting on 11/3. As you can see, there is quite an over embelishment of the "truth" in this editorial, making it almost comical in some instances.
10/28/10 - We had a good meeting today with the Town of Cumberland, discussing current and future trail access. The Town continues to show full support for the club and what we have offered to the town as a solid partnership. We appreciate Bill Shane's support of the club.
10/20/10 - First meeting at Toddy Brook, limited attendance. We discussed the June 9th letter informing us of the CMP closure of the section 102 powerline from pole 63 near Route 9 to pole 124 near the 374. We were informed of this closure from Scott Ramsay, Off Road Vehicle Division Director. Obviously, we have not had sleds on this trail since the end of January. Our plan is to invite Scott and Paul Fecteau, the MSA, Warden Service and others to the next meeting on 11/3 at 7pm at Toddy Brook to resolve this alleged dispute with an abutter(s). We have not had any formal issues raised by this abutter directly to the club and it's now going on a 2 year dispute. In every case, we have complied with what CMP and/or the State has asked us to do. Please view the letters below:
Scott's quotes in his letter to us that we have serious concerns with:
"...continued behavior of individual ATV/snowmobile riders..." (No snowmobile riding since January, 2010.)
"...has repeatedly caused complaints to be addressed at CMP, law enforcement agencies, the town (assuming North Yarmouth), as well as our office." (We are aware of one complaint in 2010, which occurred in January where we were told to move the trail to the far side of this abutter's side of the powerline, which we complied. See trail report and picture from 1/31/10. We are not fully aware of repeated complaints. The Maine Game Warden that has dealt with this issue has no issues with the snowmobile club, it's members, nor it's trails. The Cumberland County Sheriff's office has one logged complaint on that line from 2009.)
"Unfortunately, attached to this letter is a letter from CMP that closes authorized trail for the first time in the history of the program, on CMP ownership." (Again, we were never notified of these individual complaints, nor had the chance to refute these alleged issues.)
"If in fact there are club members continuing to irritate landowners in your area through enethical/illegal behavior we strongly suggest that behavior immediately cease, specifically in the area of "Smithwood Drive" on and off the utility corridor. If closure is not done we may have to terminate all support of the clubs on all fronts." (Smithwood Drive is the only area of concern, no other areas in North Yarmouth, nor Cumberland were presented to us to discuss.)
"We have no choice but to completely support this landowner in any way we can..." (We understand the State's need to support the other 98 clubs on CMP Property.)
Our direction given two years ago by Joe Higgins, Recreational Safety & Vehicle Coordinator and Jeremy Judd, Game Warden, is that this is a "personality conflict" not a club issue. There have been no laws broken, no rules violated by this snowmobile club. We intend to ask why we have not been provided a fair process to refute this action.
For further reading, please review the notes below, specifically 3/17/10 - Joe Higgins, 3/18/09 - CMP permit process, 2/18/10 - DOC ride recap, 1/21/09 - "Damage" to the sidewalks, 12/3/08 - Jim Brown visit, 11/19/08 - Royal River ATV club (donated $1000 previously to that club). These notes and minutes provide all the information to get up to speed with this saga. The "between the lines" discussion will occur at the meeting.
10/4/10 - We had a nice meeting with the Town of North Yarmouth Recreation Committee regarding trail access. More to come...next meeting with them on Monday, 11/1 at 6:30pm.
2009/2010 season:
3/17/10 - Last meeting of the year, no more snow, not much to talk about, fairly limited attendance. Brandon had not yet checked on the Rt 9 right of way with CMP, maybe we'll investigate this next season. Time to pick up the signs. Please drop off any signs to the clubhouse. Anyone can pick them up. Shawn will get Tuttle Road through Range Road on the Falmouth Side. Matt can get Harris Road, Tuttle and Greely, Joe will get the signs between Range Road and Bruce Hill (large signs) and we'll work on getting the rest.
Joe Higgins recently left a message for us to close the wood "gate" where the powerline runs across Rt 9. Where this is the responsibility of the ATV club to keep the multi-use trail closed in the Spring and where there is no snow and 0% chance of anyone snomobiling, we'll defer to the ATV club on if they wish to do this. The ATV club had put these placed on the trail in the first place.
Brandon and Joe were recently using their ATV's to put up some of the signs along the powerline that had fallen down due to the snow melting and the Game Warden was called in to stop them and inquire why they were using the trail. Another waste of taxpayer money, the Warden had no concerns once they explained the situation and went back to being available for real concerns. Also, Joe and Brandon had to put up no parking signs on Smithwood Drive where it crosses the powerline due to a complaint of "so many people unloading their sleds and riding from the road". (In five years, I've never seen anyone unloading sleds there.) The assumption is that these "complaints" continue to come from the one individual located near the powerline.
The powerline changes look to happen sometime in 2011's Spring/Summer, this line runs from Route 9 across the railroad tracks to the substation in Yarmouth.
Brandon bought a belt and switch ($216) for Arctic Cat, The 5th wheel welds ($347) were done to improve how the drag connects to the Arctic Cat. The checkbook remains at $1932. North
Yarmouth appears to still owe us the money from the registrations? The strobes still need fixing.
The club will pay for dinners for the officers at the new Capt Newicks in South Portland (where TGIF used to be, beside Bugaboo Creek in South Portland) on 3/26 at 7pm. The club will pay for entrees and some appitizers as a thank you for the efforts this year.
The sleds need to go back in clubhouse and be put away for Summer. Brandon may get the Arctic Cat oil changed.
Next meeting we'll figure out officers in Novemberish for the 2010/2011 season.
2/17/10 - No meeting the prior week. Not much attendance this week either. The shock needs to be replaced in the Arctic Cat, the drag hitch is also being rebuilt and Fieldstone's is fixing the small drag that was broken a few weeks ago. Brandon needs a check ($500ish?) to pick up the parts from Auburn. (Belt, gear reducer, etc.) The Falmouth Highland Lake ride in may be postponed until 3/13. The Blanchard Road bridge that's been out all year we hope to have put back across the stream within the next few days. Brandon is going to call CMP to start the communication process. He is also going to inquire about the Route 9 powerline right of way. The field between Bruce Hill Road and Range Road was re-signed today to keep the sledders closer to the tree line and further away from the farm house. Please slow down when crossing this connector trail, or it may be lost. Lots of signs were put out in the last few days, now we just need some snow!
1/20/10 - Not many folks showed up to this one, kind of a bummer compared to last meeting! A few folks rode over for the meeting, the trails were looking good with the foot of fluffy powder we received. The guys are still dragging toward J Bros. on the powerlines and are keeping up with the trails pretty well. We need to repair the small drag, after Shawn broke the rear 20% off and cracked a center post. Brandon will send the pole number of the CMP discussion from Paul Fecteau and the continued "issue" on the 102 line with a resident. We got $600 in gas cards, NY Variety has one for us at the register. We received $1200 from Cumberland (1/2 the registrations) and we are still waiting for NY. Our balance is $3214. Paid Shawn $16 for filling up the Center sled. Motion carried for a $500 debit card for parts, we'll need to bring receipts to Mike.
1/6/10 - Meeting - Lots of folks there, could have been our biggest crowd in quite some time! Thanks for all those attending!
Trail Report - Brandon dragged West Cumberland, NY to Toddy Brook tonight! Woods are still soft, nothing is frozen over, lots of open water. He had a minor mishap with putting the sled on it's side, but no harm done. Blanchard Road bridge is still out, unclear of the date to get it fixed. The Haskell Road gate is open from Pownal Club. Slight Range Road deviation from Turkey Lane, stay to the left when you cross over Range Road. Scott Verrill, the land owner on the other side of Range Road may want a drag. We voted to give him the small one, if he plans on dragging that side of Town, that would be a big help. (Note, on 1/10, Shawn broke a section off the small drag, we may not want to give him one, as we may need a backup.) We pulled the cable for Rhines forest trail a couple weeks ago, not sure yet on the logging operation. In North Yarmouth, near Dougas's Pit - keep on the trail, please do not ride up the driveway. There will be a Loring Lane bypass on right in North Yarmouth, Hodgdon road trail closure has effectively closed the Dessert Road loop in Freeport. That was a nice ride, it's a shame, as the landowner closed it due to ATV damage, claiming the snowmobile clubs own the trail, so it's our fault. We have nothing to do with what occurs in the summer.
Misc - Need real lights for sleds, beyond strobe lights. The Right of Way Rep for Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline would like to become members of the club. Part of the trail runs along the pipeline. They would like to attend a meeting, maybe January 20th, and give a short presentation (15 min) about riding safely on the right of way and be available for any Q&A. There was a recent issue where the Town of Cumberland decided to place the rescue snowmobile (housed a the Cumberland Center Fire House) down at Twin Brooks to drag for the cross country skiers. (Snowmobiles are not even allowed to ride at Twin Brooks.) The Club donated this sled to the Town for rescue purposes only. Luckily, the Town determined that it was not big enough to drag the trails for the skiers and it is back where it belongs in the Firestation trailer. Think of the issues this would have caused, if there were additional delays to the rescue of one of your loved ones injured on our trail system, or any other local town. This piece of equipment is not to be used to drag ski trails!
Treasury report - Balance was $3602, -$900 for insurance, 3, $250 gas cards, misc. expenses will bring us down to about $2000. We expect about $2000 back from Cumberland and North Yarmouth. We have bills for $180 in parts to Ames from Wayne for the Arctic Cat dragging sled gears. 1/2 of reimbursement to Shawn for Topo8.0 was $36. $59 for an electric drill to be kept at the clubhouse for putting together signs, sign holders and drill bits. Also had a receipt for screws and staples for $14, each dragging sled has extra staples for signs now. Mike will work on submitting the capital for the Cat sled last year, hope to see a check in June from the State. We need a belt or two for the Bearcat, $125 or so each. There is no battery for red sled (stolen?) which will probably be $60ish.
Events - Dan is working on the first weekend in February (5th, 6th, 7th) for the Stratton club trip, he will get details on a location. The Falmouth Club would like to put together a multi-club ride to Highland Lake on 2/20. May do a fishing derby, motorcycle races, etc.
12/16/09 - This meeting is always hard to make, but we cancelled due to low turnout. One new member showed up, sorry! We'll get back on schedule first Wednesday in January. Any info you want to pass on, do so by clicking on the "contact us" page. We'll get the e-mail.
12/2/09 - Toddy Brook meeting. No notes from prior two meetings.
Finances - $$3965 balance in our account. Mike paid Shawn $14.95 for the website annual bill. We plan on getting three gas cards, one for each of the three sleds at $250 each.
Trail Report - The logs are still on the Route 9 powerline, but will be gone by first snow or 12/15, whichever comes first. Removal will be done by the ATV club. Shawn and Steve spoke to Russ Theriealt and Joe Hamilton a few weeks ago about the public right of way coming down the powerline from Harris Road to Route 9, near Falmouth. A couple days later, Someone in a white Jeep drove illegally down the powerline, through Joe's yard and got stuck. Joe is putting up a fence on the Harris road side of his property, but will open it for snowmobiles when it snows. Thank you!
Shawn and Steve and two other young men fixed up the Abby's Way wet area with the existing pallets that were displaced when it flooded. There are changes to the Val Halla/Greely Road crossing as the prior crossing is now not able to be used. However, now it's nearly .2 miles to the crossing. Mike is going to ask the Town if they will "shelf" plow the right side of Greely Road, heading down toward the rail road tracks. Brandon is going to visit with Toby Young at Val Halla, as we are going to reimburse them $225 in supplies for signs, posts and fencing material, as they have signed the golf course very well.
The 1996 bridge is not yet done, we still need to build a ramp, as one side is about 2' off the ground, We'll need some 2x4's, etc.to fix it up. The Blanchard Road bridge (across from the Fairgrounds) needs to be placed across the stream. Mike will call CMP, so that Brandon can use his equipment to move in the bridge in place when the ground is frozen. The Town sent out a letter to snowmobilers from the Rines Forest Committee reminding us to stay on marked trails this winter.
We still need to put up the remaining signs. We still need some more plywood squares and stakes.
Misc. - The big drag is being moved to Brandon's house from Bruce's. We need a power drill and a circular saw for the clubhouse. (We're hoping for a donation.)
9am work detail on Sunday 12/6, meet at the clubhouse behind the Town Garage.
10/21/09 - Not many notes, but here they are: We are going to install 2 new strobe lights on the drag, Bruce has them. Will put one on each of the other dragging sleds. $71 each for two lights.
We still want to get a Winch for the big drag. Need roll of reflective tape for drags $1/foot.
Switch "thumb" rocker to be installed on the Cat to raise and lower the drag, $60 estimated cost.
Need to weld brackets for shovels. Might have some culverts coming to help with wet spots with a combo with the ATV club.
North Yarmouth and Cumberland tax maps were discussed to bring to the meetings. West Cumberland brush cutting possible, near J Bros. Dan stopped by and there could be a Stratton club trip - last week in January? 11/1 - Sunday after Halloween - meet at cluhouse at 9am to fix Blanchard road powerline bridge and do some brush cutting. Shawn and Steve (thanks for coming to the meeting) will try and fix up Abbey's Way in the wet area.
10/7/09 - First meeting occured this past Wednesday at Toddy Brook.
Trails - Shawn is going to try and put together a checklist for what needs to be done prior to the season, signs, bridge checks, etc. We most likely still need to fix the 1996 bridge. There could be logging going on in Rhines Forest, if so, we'll properly sign it on either end. Looks like the ATV club had an "unamed abutter" to the powerlines shut down the trail until snow time. The trail will be opened upon first rideable snow, or December 15th, whatever comes first. We might keep one sled at Clubhouse to drag center area, the other two sleds will be kept near North Yarmouth for the powerlines, like last year.
Misc - There might be no power at clubhouse? Shawn might create a Moonlite Twitter account. Not sure if anyone else but he and Brandon had interest? We have MSA Superraffle tix for sale $2 each, or 6 for $10. 1/2 the money goes to the club, the other 1/2 to MSA.
Memberships - We have had a few folks send in their memberships, Mike got those all in the mail a couple weeks ago. Please send in your "large card" portion back via mail and please fill in your e-mail address. Without the big section of the card, we can't send into the MSA. If you have paid your membership and come to the meeting, you will get a complementary safety kit for your snowmobile, provided by Atlantic Regional Credit Union. Thank you very much for providing our members a safety kit. Members, should you need financing, please keep them in mind, they will be neighbors in Cumberland soon. Mike will try to get some MSA pamphlets at the Cumberland Town Hall.
Finances - We paid Bruce the $1000 from last year to complete the dragging sled transaction. We had $308 at the end of last season, got $1061for our capital purchase grant for the drag. $3750 received for this year's trail grant. $4096, now in the checkbook, after paying our incorporation fee, which is $60. $4096. Plus some recent membership dues. The 4 stroke needs oil change. We also owe Wayne $100 for prior service. We might gear down Arctic Cat for this season. Probably need some new carbides. $14 for website bill, Shawn will bring in a receipt.
Next meeting, Wednesday, October 21st at Toddy Brook.
Last season:
4/15/09 - Last meeting of the year, small group, knights of the "round table". If there are any signs still out, (West Cumberland), let's pick them up and get them to the clubhouse.
Treasury Report - No money until May? Trail grant will be the end of september, should be $3700. $3k in April/May for new drag. $734 was received from North Yarmouth. Now a line item in their town budget. Paid Fieldstone Welding for the drag repair, $480. $308 total now. $258 credit on gift cards. Owe Westscott'ss $165, that leaves a $402 balance.
Misc: Polaris' are beomg stored in clubhouse, Artic Cat is at Warren's.
Trail Report: Greely Road ext. driveway looks like it's going through. This would extend the road, we will work to cross the new road for continued access up Blueberry Hill and over to the powerline.
Have yet to hear from RRATV club.
First meeting for 2009/2010 is Wednesday October, 10/7 then first and third Wed, check calendar.
4/1/09 - We had about 10 members tonight, one of the lowest turnouts of the season, but the snow is gone until next year. Without speaking for Mike, we decided to keep the same officer group as this year, for next season.
Equipment - The four drags went down to Fieldstone Welding - $400-$500ish to fix them up for next season. Joe will remind them to get loops on top of drags. We still need to get the sleds to Warren's to get them preped for storage. Joe got the two at his place ready to move. Brandon has one at his house that is ready to go.
Treasury (no Mike) We believe we got the North Yarmouth check, some $700ish. Discussion about NY sidewalk maint. as a possible budget item.
Trail Report - The trails are officially closed for the season. Joe and Brandon picked up trash and signs the other day from the powerline. (North Yarmouth would not allow them to place the trash they picked up in the town dumpster, but did provide them a town trashbag. Need to review fixing 1996 bridge. Powerline from 231 to Penny Road was closed down in New Gloucester due to someone messing around in a field.
Misc - $50 registration fee next year possible? Brandon mentioned that the Jo Mary club is supporting it. The principal is more money would go back to the snowmobile clubs. Club house listing to it's side behind the Town Garage? Think about moving it to North Yarmouth? Relocation possibilities?
Work detail - Please pick up any road crossing signs this weekend and drop them off to the clubhouse behind the Cumberland Town Garage.
Last meeting is in two weeks on Wednesday, April 15th. (We're hoping you pay your taxes by then and we get our grant money by then.)
3/18/09 - We had about 10-12 people at the meeting, the "usual suspects".
Trail Report - Trails are getting soft, ride them while you can. After this week's warm temps, the snow is leaving quickly. One more positive from the new groomer is that hardly a water hole has opened up early. The new groomer just packs the snow in and it freezes solid in the usual water hole areas. Joe stated they did some recent grooming. The drags all need to be fixed and we'd like to do this prior to storage, but with the financial situation, we may need to wait until fall. Both sleds are in good shape. Have Warren service them for the summer prior to put away. New drag rocked! It needs a new up/down switch. Maybe a thumb switch. Need new drag straps/Tow straps. Need two new hooks on top. There is a hole near Smith's old RR bed across from North Yarmouth Variety. The washout is by Marks. This may assist the North Yarmouth/Pownal Club to keep the trail. Possible work party coming up. We'd need some 3x5's (Bruce has some) and a yard of dirt. We may store the new drag at Bruce's for summer, so we can get all three sleds stored in the club house behind the Town Garage.
CMP Permit Process - Mike left Joe Higgins a message about the CMP process. Cumberland gave 97 labels for landowners, 27 North Yarmouth, Yarmouth has about 35 landowners. Mike can put in the letter and and send them. Close to sending in paperwork for this year. Towns helping out very well. No response from ATV club. Mike going to ask State for guidance.
Misc - We owe Dan for a tow strap. Insurance papers need to be looked at by Mike. He'll call our insurance company, as he was not sure if he received a "scam" bill from another company.
Treasury Report - Same total as last meeting, $163.42. The spindle on one of the sleds is fixed, $110 bill due to Westscott's. We should use the remaining ATM gas card to pay bills. Mike attended the North Yarmouth Selectman's meeting, there was an issue with the repaying of the 1/2 of the sled registrations to the two clubs. Ther was no prior paper trail. The registrations go to the State, 26% of this money comes back to the town. In the past, NY gave 1/2 to club. They have created a "misc fund" and will split 2 ways. When Debbie comes back about $700 will be paid to us. (1/2 of that will go directly to Bruce as we still owe him $1000 on the Bearcat.) We should be back to $8000 when the cash comes in. The town of Yarmouth does not reimburse our club, but Cumberland does.
3/4/09 - We had about 10 people at the meeting.
Treasury Report - Hey, we made 12 cents in two weeks! We had $163.32 last meeting and we paid some bills and got two new members, paid our MSA dues, etc and ended up with $163.44! We're still working with the Town of North Yarmouth as they still have not decided to pay us the normal, historical monies from snowmobile registrations. Seems like it may take an act of congress, or the Selectman's Meeting. It may be an agenda item on the meeting two weeks from now. If so, the suggestion would be that many members attend. It would be Tuesday, 3/17, we think. Pownal has also not been paid. We're still waiting for our $3,000 grant money from the State. We think when we submit our CMP info, we'll get it. If not, game on!
Misc - Mike got a letter out to the ATV club for the dual purpose trail. There were 37 landowners in North Yarmouth alone that we need to do a mailer to. Mike is working on the Cumberland and Yarmouth tax records for more info.
Trail report - Brandon and Joe did some dragging Wednesday. He also cleared a lot of the snowbanks and cut them back from the road way. Watch out, these are a hazard, watch for traffic please! With the warm temps this weekend and possible rain, it could be the last good weekend for riding. We might sneak out a couple more weeks around town.
Elections - Brandon would like to hold 2010 elections at the 4/1 meeting. Last meeting of the year is 4/15.
To do: Get our $3,000 for the grant from the groomer and get the $3,000 grant for the purchase of the Bear Cat from Bruce. (We still owe him $1,000.) We are hoping to also get our normal $3,700 trail grant money, depending on how we shake out the trails going forward.
Toddy Brook Comedy - Not that it's not funny enough to just hang out there, but on 3/9 at 7:30pm Steve Guilmett and Tom Hayes will be doing a show. Dinner is from 5:30 to 7pm. Tickets are still available for $25. Call 829-5100 for more details.
2/18/09 - Club meeting - Toddy Brook - We had about 12-15 folks there for the meeting.
DOC recap - Our ride with Joe Higgins from the State's Off Road Division and Jeremy Judd, Game Warden went very well on 2/9. They had some great things to say about our trails. We are working on getting approval from CMP on the powerlines. There are some things we need to work on with the ATV club that Mike is going to address. We had to take down the signs on the powerpoles, as they workers who climb the poles don't want to get stapled. That was done on the afternoon of 2/9.
Membership - Higgins Carpet is a new business member, be sure to support them, thank you. Bill Brasier is a new member who came to the meeting, thanks for joining.
Treasury Report - We have about $163.32 in our account, close to going into the red. The Town of North Yarmouth is still holding the registration monies from us, due to a meeting hold up. We still have yet to see our grant from the State of Maine, due to a complaint that our trails were not being groomed by our new groomer. As you can see from the picture on the front page, that thing is kicking butt. Time to settle up please State of Maine. We owe Bruce $1000 on the Bearcat that was purchased, which we will pay him when we get our grant. We owe $37.88 to Westscotts for oil.
Activities - No more planned trips for the year, we should get something together local. Warming hut maybe?
2/4/09 - Club meeting - Toddy Brook - We had about 15 people there for the meeting.
"Issues" - We are riding our trails with Joe Higgins and Scott Ramsey from the Dept. of Conservation, the Wardens and whomever else Monday, as they have had a member of the club report that our groomer is not able to drag our trails, our trail milage is not accurate and there are some issues with the 102 power line. The DOC will begin the process to work out the licensing needed, although we have had a 30 year handshake agreement with CMP. We will continue to answer any questions the State has regarding our club. It's unfortunate that one "nameless" person is appearing to try and sabotage the club and the hard working individuals that are trying to keep snowmobiling alive in Cumberland and North Yarmouth. Please meet at Bruce Crockett's house at 154 Cumberland Rd at 9am on Monday and show your support for the club.
Editorial - Any sportsman who read the "My Column" from Patricia Nelson in the 1/27/09 edition of The Notes, must have found it as humorous as we all did. In another attempt by a member of the club to sabotage relationships with local government and landowners and misinform the public. Here were some of the quotes used in her column. Most of the column centered around ATV usage (why during the winter, I don't know), but it did not shed any real positive light, nor support for snowmobiing. "(ATV's have)...damaged bridges, toppled building foundations, tore apart underground piplelines, aboused, tortured and killed wildlife..." "Will North Yarmouth allow its town to be held hostage by criminals who damage trails and private properties-simply because they can? Or will it actively seek a demonstration of the town's will to preserve the community and regard for its peoples labors, thus aggressively seek to bring these trail criminals to accountability?" Patricia seems to be a bit misinformed on these "issues". The column centered around some $400,000 needed to "catch its trail criminals. Certainly from the snowmobile club's view, we are responsible citizens, trying to enjoy the outdoor sport we all love. It's too bad a member of our club continues to work against this process. Any negative press, negative reports, negative misinformation to the DOC, the State, the MSA or anyone else is not helping anyone, snowmobiles or ATVs.
Trail Report - We bought two new $250 gas cards, as we have about 200 hours in grooming so far this year, most of it with the new groomer, which is working great. Warren said it fills in holes a foot deep and does a great job on the trails. Warren is still looking for more folks to groom. The trail behind the Fairgrounds has been resigned and reopened. The bridge on the other side of Blanchard, across the street from the Fairgrounds is passable. Ed, the President of the Pownal Club gave us some updates: There have been some complaints on the trails, namely a late night rider, 1am-3am in the morning, with a loud pipe near the Freeport Loop near the Desert of Maine. Loring Lane had someone hit the drain sump pump at high speed. The club is working to make sure folks use the bridge and not go across this section that was broken. Stay on the trail near the water district. They are still working on the suspension bridge and a replacement option.
Activities - If you are not in Bingham by now, you are missing the club trip. Some 8-10 folks will be up there this weekend.
Treasury Report - The town of North Yarmouth has not yet sent us 1/2 the registration monies for snowmobiles, as they have in years past, due to an issue regarding "riding on the sidewalks". It's unfortunate that this same member of the club mentioned above, continues to try and cause issues for the entire club. (Does anyone else see a pattern here?) That's $598 that we will not receive due to the mis-information the Town of North Yarmouth has received. We did purchase Bruce's Bearcat for $2,500 and will pay him the remaining $1,000 when we get our grant money from the State. We paid our normal $1,200 for the insurance for the sleds, etc. Peerless gave us a cancelation notice, prior to the bill being due. Mike took care of it.
Membership - We have 29 Family Memberships and 7 Business Members. Not bad...could use some more.
Misc - Mike still needs to order and purchase the Winch for the sled.
1/21/09 - Club meeting - Toddy Brook
Great turnout tonight, several folks sledded over to the meeting. About 20 folks in attendance. Two new members also showed up, thank you for attending.
Media Relations - Read the minutes from last week. Mentioned the new map added to the website. You need to save it on your computer and then print it as a picture. We still have some 10-20 visitors per day on the site. Mentioned the AAA and Ethenol e-mail from the MSA, as well as the Landowner Liability Laws that are strong on the State of Maine.
Treasury Report - We have about $2,500 in the checkbook. We have $3,436, plus a few dues received, but have $980 in bills for insurance and grade stakes. We are still waiting on the Cumberland and North Yarmouth town money, the North Yarmouth check has been sent, around $500 estimated. We approved, pending funding, to purchase Bruce's 2005 Arctic Cat Bearcat 4 stroke for grooming. It was estimated at around $6,000 book value from Warren. Bruce would take $3,500 for it. $2,500 up front and $1000 after our grant comes in. We have had three sleds for grooming in the past and gave away the older sled last year to Yarmouth. Bruce has let Warren, Brandon and Joe try it out and they all agree the 4 stroke power works well. It also has an 18 gallon tank and uses about 1/2 the oil of the other sleds. It was unanimous to purchase the sled and will look at this again in 2 weeks at the next meeting. We paid Harry for his 4x6 we used to brace up the 1996 bridge. Mike planned on ordering the Polaris $350 winch at Westscotts.
Trail Report - We've used up the two gas cards, doing about 25-30 hours in grooming, about 125 miles. Two more $250 gas cards are going to be purchased by Mike. Warren was asking for more folks to groom. Several folks gave their license number for the insurance purpose. Warren is moving the grooming sleds from his house to Joes. Peter repaired one of the pipe drags and it was $35, in exchange for a membership. The trail behind the Fairgrounds is closed. We'll need to place a bridge on the powerline next year. You also can't get to the Pizza Joint anymore. Mike said the Storey Bros. were going to go look at the Blanchard Road bridge on the other side of the road, opposite the Fairgrounds to put it back in place.
Activities - Dan stated the Bingham Motor Inn trip is for February 7th. $75 per room for two, $65 for one person.
Misc - The daughter of one of our members complained to the North Yarmouth Selectmen about sleds being parked on the sidewalk and causing "damage" to the sidewalk. The Maine Law states that you can go down a road up to 300 yards when there is no trail available. We had to sign an agreement that stated we would go across the sidewalk at a 90 degree angle. It's unfortunate that this concern was not voiced at one of our meetings for resolution, prior to the complaint. There was also a note sent to the website about the Smithwood Drive property. There was some discussion with the Town about this and Mike was going to speak with the owner. Mike will talk with Scott Ramsey about our options.
Thank you - Tailgates gave us a $35 donation. They are located on Rt 100. Stop by and say thanks.
1/7/09 - Club meeting - Toddy Brook
Limited folks tonight, might be due to the first meeting of the year, maybe due to the snow. About 8-9 folks there in total.
Media Relations - We were in the Forecaster during the 12/25 issue. Link is here. Sarah did a good job capturing most of what I had relayed to her. The old website is officially blown up. We continue to see about 7 new visitors to the website a day and about 3 repeat visitors per day.
Membership - We got two memberships paid tonight and three more in the mail the other day.
Trail Update - Need some snow! Mike is going to talk to Brandon or Storey Brothers to drag the Blanchard Road Bridge near the powerline back to it's correct spot. (See Project List link for details.) Aspen Crest temp. bridge was holding up as of the last snowstorm. Trail maps were sent to MSA.
Treasury Report - Bank account is about $3,500ish. Last balance was $3,580.97 prior to some payments and membership dues coming in. Trail grant should be around $3750, as long as we get out paperwork in by 4/30/09. Work orders need to be updated by Mike. 20% of the snowmobile clubs in Maine may be audited this year, so we need to keep our stuff in line.
Activities - Bingham Motor Inn still is the club trip for February 6th and 7th. Rooms are limited, so call ahead.
Misc. - Warren is going to purchase some good tow ropes for the grooming sleds and affix the rotary light to the groomer. The groomer was tested during the last storm and it panned nicely. He may also setup a set of backup lights for the groomer. Owls Head Transportation Museum sent us a memo about the February 14th and 15th WinterFest. They have antique sleds, plows, ice boats, etc. on display. There will also be a "used snow vehicle marketplace" where you can buy or sell your winter items. There will be a parade at noon on Runway 17. Jeff McAninch provided a discount on Liberty Mutual Insurance. If you are interested, call him at 871-9000 x 50186 for details.
12/17 - No minutes
12/3/08 - Club meeting - Toddy Brook
Another good turnout of members at the meeting, probably about 20 people there. Shawn read the prior meeting minutes (below these). We were pleased to have Jim Brown, Recreational Trail Coordinator for the Department of Convservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands, Off-Road Vehicle Division of the State of Maine at the meeting for observation and input. His role is to assist with all the clubs in keeping private and public land open for recreational use. (Which is all our goal as well.)
Media Relations - The old website will be officially dead as of 12/16. We continue to have some 8-10 hits per day. Starting to get a few hits from the Town of North Yarmouth and Cumberland Rec page links. Most links to our site are from Sledmaine.com and Mesnow.com. Shawn put up a sign on the Toddy Brook bulletin board pointing folks to the website.
Membership - No new info to report. We probably should update the "who has not paid yet" spreadsheet. Shawn and Mike can work on this together. Shawn needs to get the business membership info so he can put them on the website under the Business Sponsors link.
Trail Update - Prior to the meeting, Shawn asked Joe Jordan if he could "shore up" the area down on the backside of Aspen Crest. They wanted to make sure we signed that pole line side better, as they get some folks coming down the backside of their driveway, not knowing where the trail was. Joe mentioned he put in a new culvert (somewhere?). He said it was ok to do "whatever we needed to" to maintain that trail and get something across the stream. (This was a huge hazzard last year, with several folks getting stuck up to the waist in water and muck.)
As last meeing there was a lot of question and debate surrounding the ATV club and how it may effect the trails in the winter. Progress appeared to be made on this front, with Harold Stoddard, also member in the Sno-Skimmers as well, defining the efforts of the Royal River ATV Club. Harold described the municipal grant (I hope I have the majority of this correct in the notes) with $61,000 going to Robert Anderson for work done on the 374 power line (from Rt 100 to the 102 line), $3,900 in materials purchases, $9,400 in donated materials and 592 manhours put into the ATV trail system. work was also done on on the 102 line (Rt 9 to the Gray Plaza). On the 374 line there was 3 miles of work done of the 9 miles of trail and I believe line 102 was referrenced at being 3 miles long.
Harold talked about the ATV contract with CMP and the some 80 manhours of meetings regarding parking lot placement, trail updates and approval, etc. Shaw Brothers worked on the Long Hill rockwall at the request of a Judge due to litigation stemming from 4x4 damage. There can be no trespassing on this area until the litigation is resolved, or CMP opens it back up. There is a 14' fence up, with a 60" access gate. There was concern about the new groomer/drag barely being able to fit, but it needs to be no wider than 60" so 4x4's can't access the trail. There was also a fence put up near Rt 100. However, due to running out of time and man hours, many of the projects were not completed this year:
- Wild Turkey gravelpit was not completed.
- Pownal area trail closed.
- Suspension bridge was taken apart by the Pownal snowmobile club and Ed McElaine (spelling?). No news on if it will be repaired.
- The 166 line (where is that?) will be repoled by CMP with some major work going on coming up.
- CMP plans on some 15-20 new poles on the 102 line.
- There is a new crossing at the pole line near Chadsey Road (spelling?). There were berms removed keeping the trail down one side of the pole line.
- Other bridges 95% done? (Don't remember where, but this was a question from the prior meeting.)
There was a lot of discussion and concern regarding the multiple dirt and mulch piles still on the ATV trails. The club was nervous that not only are these a hazard and hard to see at night, covered with snow, these may become "ramps" and the concern was that some kids could be injured with either rolling over their sleds on these piles or trying to do a jump and landing on a pole. We stated we would assist the ATV club and take care of these and either push them off to the side, or smooth them over so they were no longer a hazard for the winter. I believe this will be done this week, or during the work detail on Sunday, depending on if they have frozen or not.
There were comments regarding the alleged inappropriate use of some of the trails this fall by ATV riders. There was a video that Jim allegedly had (never provided to su) that may show ATV riders urinating in view of a resident. It was mentioned in today's world of technology, cell phone cameras and video cameras, if you see someone doing something wrong, get a picture and report it. It was stated that there is an inability for the Sno-Skimmers or the Royal River ATV club to police renegade riders. Harold stated that in the CMP contract, it does state a stipulation of reporting damage and trespassers to the trails. The Sno-Skimmers view overall is we all have ownership of this, but when it comes to policing, we need to call either the Warden Service or Cumberland Police and have them work it out. However, as with Val Halla or any other area that is looking for an excuse to close the trails, we should do our part to speak to those individuals not following the rules and work toward getting them to join the club and use the trails as intended. Keeping ourselves organized and unified is a key to our survival.
Harold stated several times that the ATV trails will be open for snowmobiles upon the first snowfall and that the Sno-Skimmers would get a key to these gates within the next week. CMP, Royal River ATV club and the Sno-Skimmers would all have a key to the locks. It was assumed that Joe would be the key holder. It was discussed that on 12/15, ATV's can no longer travel on the snowmobile trails. Mike stated he believed that this date can be sooner, if there is "groomable snow" which means when the first track hits the snow (but does not have to be "officially groomed") this ATV closure starts.
Although the discussion did get "heated" a little bit, everyone remained fairly calm overall and it would appear this is a good first step to combining the efforts of both clubs that needs to continue. Communication between the two clubs is key! Brandon kept us in line and on task, thank you. Both clubs are trying to do the same thing, in a town where private trail access continues to shrink, we all want to work toward keeping the trails such as the CMP powerlines open to all so we can enjoy the outdoors. There may be some personality conflicts involved and some prior history, but we are all going to try and treat this as a very positive step in the right direction. Harry thanked Harold and Jim for attending the meeting, thank you Harry.
There was a question about the trail across from North Yarmouth Variety and the possibility of gaining access to this trail again. (I was not sure as to the update here.) Mike gave Shawn an update on where he believes our trails are located. We may need to call Scott Ramsey to see where other clubs have stated their trail system begins and ends and if there are gaps, however we will most likely still be reimbursed for the same or similar number of miles, up to the limit (which is $3,600?). Shawn will work to color code the map to define these trails. There may be work needed to define more of the trail system with the other area clubs, depending on the notes above from the ATV club.
Sunday, December 7th at 9am - Work detail, please meet at the clubhouse. See Project List page for possible projects this Sunday. Bring your tools and your time.
Treasury Report - $4428 in the account after paying MSA dues. Lee Auto Mall made another nice donation this year, thank you!
Activities - Bingham Motor Inn appears to be a club trip for February 4th? (That's a Wednesday, did you mean February 7th, as Saturday?)
Safety - Jim reminded everyone not to drink and drive.
Donations - Mike is going to work with the schools to donate the $500 and if I've got this right, $200 will go to North Yarmouth Elementary School, $200 to Mable I Wilson School and $100 to Drowne Road School. Whatever Mike is going to do is fine with us. (Can't remember now if it was $600 or $500.) Thank you Mike for handling this.
Misc - The sleds are at Warren's place and there is still some wiring to be done, but the preseason checkups have been completed.
11/19/08 - There was a good turnout at the meeting tonight, 17 people were at Toddy Brook.
Media Relations - Shawn has signs up at the North Yarmouth and Cumberland Town Halls. The Rec. Dept. in Cumberland also has handouts for the website link to pass out to folks looking for maps, info, etc. The website had 29 visits today and is starting to get quite a bit of visits. North Yarmouth linked out website on the town site. The Cumberland Rec. Dept. has also linked our website on their page. The Falmouth Forecaster Reporter, Sarah Trent, will be invited to the 12/3 meeting.
Membership - No new info, a couple new folks joining. Need to get membership checks back to Mike.
Trail Update - Mike Creamer talked with Medley Watson and he has decided to close his field for good. He has it signed on both ends, cutting off Turkey Lane and Blanchard Road. It would appear the closure may be due ad a direct rebuttal to the Town fixing the Turkey Lane bridge this fall. This is unfortunate, as the club can not police the field from "renegade" riders. The entire point of the club is to maintain organized trail systems and signage. Mike is going to talk with Dick Anderson in hopes that he does not post his field also. That closure will cut off the Mobil Station and the new Turkey Lane Bridge. Folks would have to run the road in the right of way to get to Turkey Lane, with the blind hill on Route 9, this would be quite dangerous. Joanne reinforced friendly partnerships with landowners. The topic came up of identifying our trail network and where the trails start and end. Shawn can then mark those trails in a different color on the GPS map when it is determined.
There was a lot of discussion about the Royal River ATV club and what it is currently doing with the power line/CMP multi-use trails. It seems that there are gates and boulders going up "closing the trails" until snow. This was due to the club trying to prosecute some 4x4 drivers. It is also undetermined at what point the trails will be reopened to snowmobiles by the ATV club. The boulders blocking the trail may be on the Gray club's trail, near Long Hill Road. The suspension bridge across the Royal River was taken apart by the ATV club, as it was determined it was "unsafe" for ATV's. There are two other bridges that are 95% done, but the ATV club may not open them, it is undetermined at this time. The individual in charge of these decisions for the ATV club will be asked to come to the next meeting 12/3, to provide us understanding of the trail closures, etc. This weekend is supposed to be the last weekend for ATV club trail work to be completed. We are hoping the dirt and mulch piles in the middle of the trails will be taken care of. We may need to call Scott Ramsey at the MSA to provide some insight to the grant, etc. and work with North Yarmouth and Cumberland to assist us with what appears to be a difference of oppinion with one member of the ATV club. It would appear there may also be some confusion around the grant money the ATV club is working with North Yarmouth on.
We are hoping the Planning Board will contact the club depending on the development of the Route 100 strip mall plans and potential trail changes. There was an inquiry about doing trail work after 8am. Brandon was going to consider it and determine if there was going to be a work detail this Sunday, 11/23. There is a bridge in that area of the strip mall that needs to be assembled and the 1996 bridge still needs to be leveled. There are also signs that can be put up.
Treasury Report - Mike is still looking for the Royal River ATV Club to provide a receipt for the $1000 we donated last year to assist with the dual use trail work. A motion was made and approved for the purchase of a wench, up to $300 for the new groomer to assist if it were stuck. Mike took in $120 in membership monies. We now have $4,536 in our account.
Activities - Calls will be made to see about reservations for the proposed club trip dates. Mike Lovering will contact the North Yarmouth town rec folks about a potential multi-club ride in and BBQ. Robert Anderson will open the warming hut anytime for a ride in and BBQ.
Donations - Joanne will check with North Yarmouth, grades 4-5 and Mable I Wilson, grades K-3 to see if there are some families in need. In years prior, we have donated $250 to each town to go towards assisting families for Christmas.
Misc - The dragging sleds did get to Warren's for a tune up.
11/5/08 - There were a few more faces at the meeting tonight, thanks to all that attended.
Media Relations - Channel 2, Cumberland Local Access is up and running with our reminders of meeting dates, web link, etc. The website has had 60 visitors over the last week or two. Still looking for feedback. Shawn is going to try and put some info at the Town Halls. We're linked up to mesnow.com, sledmaine.com and will be linked up to some other local clubs and Kenistons site, etc.
Membership - Mike stated we'll have either the now combined individual/family memberships for $30 or the business memberships for $40. He passed out membership cards, please bring your checks to the next meeting so he can process your MSA membership. $12 of the individual/family goes to MSA, $20 of the business membership goes to the MSA.
Trail Update - There will be another work detail on Sunday, 11/9 at 8am. Meet at the club house behind the Town Garage. Mike had talked with Bill Shane, the Town had cut back the trail from the club house to the Town Garage. We voted last year to spend the $450 to widen out the trail from the clubhouse to 8'-10' wide. As we already approved this, John Daigle will brush cut this once the ground gets a bit more solid. The Town is supposed to fix the mud holes they created. As a reminder, folks can print the trail maps out from this website. Mike Creamer is going to talk with Medley to see if he can determine what his needs are in an effort to keep that trail open.
Treasury Report - We have $4,434 in the checking account. Joanne is turning over the checking account info to Brandon and Mike so they are the authorized users of the signature card and the account. Anyone who had check writing priviliges prior will not be able to write checks going forward. We should see our grant money from the drag in May of 2009. We need to get a receipt for the $1000 donated to the Royal River ATV club so we can submit that this year or next.
Activities - Nothing solid yet, but some possibilities. Once they are determined, we'll put them on the calendar here on the website. Possible local ride ins - North Yarmouth and maybe the warming hut that the club built a number of years ago behind Toddy Brook. Club trip could be to Bingham, possibly February 6th, 2009. There is also an option of a Poland trip to Oxford. More info to come...
Misc - The dragging sleds and drag will be headed to Warren's sometime in the next week. He'll tune them up for the season and fabricate the hitch for the new drag. (We'll get a picture on here soon.) That's it for now...if anyone heard anything else, let me know. We hope to see you the next meeting, Wednesday 11/19 at 7pm at Toddy Brook.
10/22/08 - First meeting of the year...
Mike was going to speak with Bill Shane, Cumberland Town Manager about who may have done the brush cutting on the club trail from the club house to the Town Garage trail, heading toward the RR tracks. There at two huge mudholes there now:
The Town did an excellent job on the new Turkey Lane Bridge. Rails are supposed to go up this week:
We talked about keeping the new drag on one side of town, with one of the snowmobiles. The other snowmobile and pipe drag may stay in the club house.
There was discussion about the $1000 we provided to the Royal River ATV club, however there was some confusion as to what we may see out of that donation. Our understanding is that some of the ATV trail on Route 9 was "shut down" this summer. There are still chip piles on the snowmobile trail that will have to be taken care of.
There was talk of trying to re-open the Warming Hut trail near Toddy Brook.
Shawn talked about (this) upcoming website and the chance to put our info on the Cumberland Town Access Channel 2. He had placed an article in the last edition of the Maine Snowmobiler, but missed the November issue (due to lack of new article info). We'll get it back again for the December issue.
Mike said he would hand draw a map to provide to the State. That would satisfy their demands. Shawn said he can estimate the milage on the GPS program if Mike provided him the trail sections to look at.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head...who took notes anyway?