Board of Director Meeting
November 26, 2024
Y’s Men Club
Call To Order: Dwayne Atherton, President
Quorum Met: 4 Executive; 5 Directors plus 14 members and 2 guests
Minutes of last meeting: Donna Carson
Donna read and submitted the October 29, 2024 minutes for approval and with a few adjustments Patty seconded. Motion carried.
Old Business Items:
Elections: Larry Dyer, VP and Lead for nominating committee, read a statement from the Executive Committee and Board of Directors that it was unanimous that they evoked their right, according to Bylaw Article 5 – Terms of Office for Executive and Directors; to extend our current President’ term of office for another two years. The Board reported they have the confidence that this extension of an additional two-year term will continue the leadership; vision and engagement displayed during the past two years by our current President and will be best served by all club members. Therefore, the only position that is open for election this evening will be the Recording Secretary’s position.
Web Site Update: Donna Carson, Secretary reported that the revised bylaws have been posted to
our club web site; new vendor Lakeville Convenience has been added as well as the Board of Directors updated with the addition of Kendall McLean, Trail Manager and Patty Edwards, Vendor Manager.
Town Discussion on Street Access: Don Calhoun and Scott Edwards have written a ‘Street Access’ proposal to be presented to the Town of Woodstock on Wednesday, November 27, 2024; Vance Johnson, QuadNB Trail Coordinator will also be in attendance.
In the meantime, Directors and Project Leads Don Calhoun and Scott Edwards canvased 28 local businesses with a 4-question survey and a copy of the proposed street map. All but 4 businesses completed the questionnaire. ATV’s having access to specific streets in Woodstock is expected to increase tourist traffic coming from other communities in New Brunswick as well as Nova Scotia, PEI and the State of Maine.
These businesses were chosen, as they are located along the proposed ATV route and therefore expected to experience the greatest financial benefit based on the increased traffic. During the one-on-one conversations with the participants, it became abundantly clear that Woodstock businesses are excited about the progressive move to bring more customers to their doors.
The survey questions/responses were:
1) Do they support ATV street access – Yes or No
100% said yes with one commenting they support the street access, however would not want them to go through their drive through
2) $$ impact on business – 1 being none and 10 being significant
67% business rated a 9 to 10 for financial impact
16% rated an 8 for financial impact
13% rated a 5-6 for financial impact
1 business said they were not sure of the financial impact
3) Would they sign a letter of support
22/24 businesses said yes
4) Interested in trail signs
22/24 businesses said yes
2025 – Davesports Sponsor Rally
Scott Edwards will take the lead to great a committee and begin planning this rally. Proposed time is possible mid July, 2025. Don’t want to make it too close to our annual rally which will be June 14th, 2025,
Treasurer Report: Wade McLellan, Treasurer
Financial Report – Wade submitted and Linda seconded for approval of both Chequing and Savings report. Motion Carried.
Trail Permit Sale Report: Patty Edwards, Vendor Manager
Patty will be out in December to pick up any 2024 passes an deliver the gift chocolates to the Vendors.
Facebook Report: Linda McHatten, FaceBook Co-ordinator
Linda reported that we would have approximately 1365 members.
Trail Report: Kendall McLean – Trail Manager
Trail 5001 Bridge Work: Visited construction site and appears to be near completion with a few secondary deck boars left to install. Town end side rails and approach, Red Bridge end approach to be completed.
5001 Bridge Detour: Note that HUP is only good to end of November. Once bridge is completed and DNR gives the OK, detour signs will be removed.
Trail 5002: upgraded arrows to reflective standard, cleared bushes around signs, installed a few new ATV signs, repaired broken/knocked down signposts.
Beavers at bridge near Flemming property; contractor took care of beaver issue and cleared drain block under the bridge.
Beavers at culvert past new bridge, contractor cleared and took care of beaver issue.
Still waiting word on HUP approval to add trail to QUAD app.
Trail 25: Construction not 100% done yet at Reserve. Temporary sign has been installed to help follow trail at Reserve. More permanent signage will be added in the Spring.
Ongoing Work: Trail exploration was done from Centreville to Florenceville with a couple potential trails chartered. Over winter plan is to meet with landowners to discuss usage agreements with hopes to build trail from Centreville to Florenceville Exit 153 fuel access.
Future Plans:
Route 5000 – develop plan to connect with main rail bed from Harland in prep for that future trail
Trail 5001 – Continue trail maintenance both sides of Meduxnekeag bridge prior to Dec 14th
– TIF 2025 from Deerville to Centreville
– Explore and develop Knoxford trail to River de Chute for future tie-in with Victoria ATV
– Closed on app, follow up on HUP application
Trail 5004 – Off Route 23 to Eel River Falls near Benton – signage, brush, parking/turning area, perhaps
develop partnership[ to improve hiking trails to Falls + benches
Trail 23 – Signage improvements and Welcome/Thanks for visiting
Trail 25 – Looks like it has been changed to Trail 23 on the app. To be confirmed with QuadNB.
New signage with permanent signage at Reserve due to some confusion on trail location.
Committee Report: Donna Carson, Secretary
Club Map Update: Project in progress for Spring 2025
2025 Membership Appreciation Event: A committee was created to plan an potentially annual event to show our appreciation for our club membership. Volunteers are Glenn Martin, Terry Flowers and Patty Edwards. Planning will begin this winter.
Correspondence: Donna Carson, Secretary
Member passing – Sadly we had a member of our club pass recently Jamie Durling. Dwayne reached out to QuadNB to ensure the process has started with the execution of the $4,000 live insurance to his family. QuadNB office is in touch with Jamie’s family and the process is moveing forward. Our club also sent a card to the family.
Federation Office: Club HST Reimbursement Ruling: If a club operates solely as an Agent for NBATV, they are not eligible to apply for an HST number. However, if a club has other HST applicable sales (i.e., hats, logo items, etc), then they do qualify for an HST number for the sale of those products (not the tax on the purchase), BUT the only HST the club can reclaim is 50% of the cost of supplying these items only. They cannot reclaim 50% of HST spent on Trail Repairs or other club expenses. A knowledgeable CRA agent confirmed this with a club Treasurer. Patty discussed on whether it is work our efforts of paper work and tracking etc to get an HST number where we as a volunteer group do not have a great volume of sales. The general consensus is that no, we as a club will not be moving forward with this initiative.
New Business: Dwayne Atherton, President
New Club Formation: Dwayne announced that there appears to be interest in a potential Canterbury club formation. Meetings will happen during the winter months so update will come in March 2025.
2025 Snowmobile Races: Dwayne was approached for volunteers from our club to help to work the
canteen during the 2025 Snowmobile races being held on February 14th, 15th and 16th.
Bob Stokes, Regional Director: Bob received a call from Irving who has now confirmed geographical layout
for the Brighton Towers. This will now allow the snowmobile and ATV clubs understand the impact on their existing trails. There will be a future meeting for all of those impacted with this new adventure.
Vance Johnson – Trail 23: Vance advised that there is confusion in terms of permission to travel on the Trail
23 rail bed. Typically our rail beds are considered as Crown Land and are part of the Government and Parks Act; however the trail bed to McAdam is privately owned and not part of Government Parks, so as long as there is no snow on the trail, it is legal to drive.
Welcome new members: Scott Edwards welcomed two members to our club, David and Kim Bencich who
have relocated to our area from Woodstock, Ontario. WELCOME!!
Election: Dwayne called three times for any nominations for the recording secretary. On the third
call for nominations, Scott Edwards nominated Patty Edwards. Patty accepted the nomination. There were no more nominations. Patty was elected to the Recording Secretary through acclimation. Patty will serve as Recording Secretary position along with her Vendor Manager’s position. CONGRATULATIONS PATTY!!
Next Meeting: March 25, 2025 – Y’s Men Club; 7:00pm
Adjourn Meeting: Wade adjourned the meeting.