Board of Director Meeting
October 29, 2024
Y’s Men Club
Call To Order: Dwayne Atherton, Vice President
Quorum Met: 4 Executive; 4 Directors plus 12 members
Minutes of last meeting: Donna Carson
Donna read and submitted the August 27, 2024 minutes for approval; Linda seconded. Motion carried.
Old Business Items:
Bylaw Article 5 – Donna read the proposed changes for Article 5 of our bylaws, Terms of Office and made a motion to accept the revisions as read, Brian seconded the motion, motion carried.
The executive will sign the official document and Donna will have posted to our web site.
October 19th Fall Rally – Dwayne reported that the fall rally was another successful event this year with 63 units participating. Corey Rec who supplied prizes and food for the bbq sponsored the rally.
The fire pit raffle raised $905.00, which will be deposited into the club’s Savings account. There was no registration but rather a donation at the bbq raising $887, to be donated to the Carleton County Animal Shelter.
A 50/50 draw was held which raised $280.00, however the winner never claimed the prize. Brian made a motion, seconded by Kendall to put the unclaimed 50/50 funds into our Savings account. Motion carried.
Scott made a motion, Ralph seconded to add $113 from our Savings account to round up the donation to the Animal Shelter to $1,000. Motion carried. Wade and Scott will present the donation to the Animal Shelter next week.
Kendall shared that Charles Kater from Chanco Mobile Wash was on site for the rally with the intent of donating any monies he received to the club which was approximately $70-$75.00. Learning was that based on where he was set up, not a lot of participants knew he was there so going forward there will be signage and placed in a more visible location.
Regional Meeting: Kendall provided a detailed report on the Regional meeting held on October 16, 2024 at the Masons Lodge, Woodstock. Highlights are:
Regional Director Election:
Robert Stokes was re-elected by acclimation to continue as Regional Director for our area.
Operations: Vance was appointed as acting General Manager for QuadNB and remains as Trail Co-coordinator.
Strategic Development w/Tourism NB
Online Tourism Survey is coming soon. Asking as many club members as possible to participate to be able to draw more funding from Tourism Department for future trails, maintenance, etc.
Provincial Election:
Be advised everything submitted to government will be delayed until the new Government is sworn in.
TIF- Trail Infrastructure Funding:
Due date end of October. Early April for funding approval; end of May funds in account.
WAWA (Watercourse and Wetland Aleration – takes 5 days for approval; must pre inspect; not typically required to divert field run off along trail.
ORVA-Off Road Vehicle Act:
Most NB ATV accidents are not on managed trails
ORVA Department is asking for changes to the act; anyone requesting a change can submit through local club to QuadNB; due to elections, next setting will most likely be next Fall
Trust Fund:
This fund is money from registrations – formula per club is based on kms of trail. Trail is any trail that we have agreement in place. 8,000 increase in plate registrations; 2,000 membership increase.
QuadNB President Comments: Canada Quad Council Conference – Quebec Particulars
– $390/trail permit
– Volunteer enforcement officers – authority to fine
– No mods to ATV/SXS
– High fines – for instance: closed cab and no goggles = $300 fine; no driver license on person = $350 – NOTE: QuadNB appears to be model of interest for other provincial federations; NS and PEI following model quite closely. Points of interests are price, growth, increase of sport etc.
2025 Jamboree:
Will be hosted by 5 clubs: Dieppe, Tantramar, Memramcook, Shedia, Cap Pele
Scheduled for October 10th to 12th, 2025. More details to follow.
2025 Permits:
Out for purchase; SNB to add temp permits in 2025; another choice for one day or one week pass; SNB working with ORVA on accepting printout as sufficient
Federation By-Laws:
Any recommendation to change by-law needs to be submitted 90 days to bylaw committee – end of December. Next AGM: April 5th to 6th, 2025 in Miramichi, Rodd Inn and Suites.
Round Table Club Info:
Skiddaddle – support 70kms bed Perth to Newburg. River Valley News reported municipalities moving forward with request.
Grand Lake: new trails opening towards Sussex
Regional: Trail heads are government assets, however clubs responsible for maintaining
On agenda to discuss government funding maintenance assistance; kings Landing has approved access and parking
New Business:
Based on a previous incident at a Jamboree evening event; a new bylaw is to be introduced relative to harassment of QuadNB employees.
Upcoming Elections: Both President and Secretary positions are up for elections in November, 2024. Anyone interested in these positions should contact Larry Dyer, Vice President and head of Nominating Committee.
Club Map Update: This is a project that will be worked on during the off season. Committee lead is Kendall McLean along with Brian McHatten and John Carson.
Town Discussions: Don Calhoun reported that he and Scott Edwards have finalized a proposal for the Town on street access and have run that document for feedback through the Federation office (Vance). They will be doing a few more tweaks over the next couple of weeks in preparation of presenting the document and map to the Town Mayor. So far dialogue has been open and encouraging.
Treasurer Report: Wade McLellan, Treasurer
Financial Report – Wade submitted and Ralph seconded for approval of both the last two months Chequing and Savings report. Motion Carried.
NOTE: The bridge repairs on 5002 towards Debec went over budget due to the structure being in worse condition than expected.the decking was removed it was discovered that the sills were in rough shape and had to be replaced with 6×6 hemlock, which increased the cost. Dwayne gave a shout out to Glen Martin who was the lead Master builder. Along with members of our club, the trail makers had 12-14 of their members on site to rebuild the structure. Dwayne, Wade and Donnie looked after the lunch for the workers. The build out was a great success and we now have a beautiful long-term structure.
Trail Permit Sale Report: Linda McHatten, Year End Patty Edwards – Current
Linda gave the year end status report:
2022 – Permit Members 425 Passes sold 589
2023 – Permit Members 546 Passes sold 689
2024 – Permit Members 511 Passes sold 565
Note if your family has 2 machines and 2 drivers, you can put each machine in the two names, which will give the club another membership vote.
Note: 2024 is somewhat down from last year as some have retired from sport and people have gone from two machines to one side-by-side.
Patty reported that she and Linda have distributed the 2025 passes and that she won’t be visiting the vendors again until spring. In the event they need some additional 2025 passes, they have her contact number. SNB will have their recent report to Patty next week so we will give that report in November.
Also Patty advised that we do have a new Vendor which is Lakeville Convenience. The new Vendor is excited to be on board and looking forward to the new traffic coming into his location. Donna will arrange to have Lakeville added to our web page.
Dwayne led a discussion on having a Vendor available that would be able to sell day passes going forward. After discussion, the decision was to have Patty set this option up with Petro Can as they are currently open 7-days a week, 24-hours and are currently selling snowmobile day passes. Dwayne will post on social media. We should update our sign for that location stating that they also sell day passes.
Facebook Report: Linda McHatten, FaceBook Co-ordinator
Linda reported that we continue to grow with currently 1360 followers.
Special Presentation: Dwayne Atherton
Dwayne presented Linda and Brian McHatten a certificate of appreciation and gift from our club for the years of contribution they gave to the club as Board Members plus Linda, Vendor Coordinator and Brian, Trail Coordinator.
Trail Report: Brian McHatten/Kendall – Trail Coordinator
2024 Summary: Brian
Debec trail 23 to the 4-lane brought up to standard any low spots and graded 7 kms of trail
Carr Siding Trail 5000 to McKenna Rd, brought low spots up to standard and graded 11.4 kms
Brought low spots up to standard on Canterbury (Russell Store) and below Scott Siding trails
Crossing at Hodgen Road Trail 23 – the angel slope of both sides of road was changed due to safety reasons. Cost was shared with Woodstock Trailmakers snowmobile club.
Trail 5001 from the 4-lane and to the sewage lagoon had gravel hauled and graded. We cost shared with Town of Woodstock and Trail Makers snowmobile club.
Worked on TIFF for Trail 5001 and filled in low spots from Lindsay to Redbridge Road.
Route 560 towards Woodstock (1Km( removed stumps from trail- brought in and levelled 26 loads of gravel. Installed culvert in ditch with permit from DTI to reroute off private property.
Current: Kendall
TIF 2025: submitted October 28 from 560 Deerville to Centreville for grading, gravel, bushing,
ditching and signage
5001 Bridge Work: All work completed. Contractor was able to extend grading from McBride
Rd to Red Bridge Rd and stay within budget for intended work from Lindsay to McBride.
5001 Detour: Multiple signs have been stolen along Simcox Rd, Plymouth Rd and Martin
Property. Only ATV symbols…no arrows or detour signs.
5001 Twin Bridges to Grant St: New sign and posts due to wrecker breaking them from accident recovery.
Trail 25: Arrows have been erected at the Reserve to indicate where the trail goes. No word yet on final completion of construction. Still require some signage on trail and at
5001.25 intersection but waiting for construction update to avoid sign damage.
Trail 23: New post in Benton to replace Stop sign broken.
Note: Final handover from Brian to Kendall of signs, equipment is completed. Plan is to provide a complete inventory list to Wade after December when all signs are removed for the season. A plan will be made over winter to order signs we will require for next season’s kick off.
Ongoing Work: Map planning for future trails beyond Centreville to tie in to Florenceville in the future with the rail bed from Perth down. Also map planning for a possible trail to Harland. This is based on the possibility of river crossing at either location. Also explore current draft trails to Houlton/Bridgewater crossings and examine other options.
Future Plans: 1) November: continue to plan signage requirement; see idea/input for future planned trail possibilities; plan for future trail maintenance and upgrades; explore 5002 and follow up getting it online on QuadNB App; consider upgrades/signage for 5004 at Eel River Falls
2) December: seasonal sign removal as required
Winter: update paper maps; meet with landowners to discuss potential property agreements; ID volunteer to report back on trail conditions, maintenance requirement, actions taken, etc for designated sections of trail based on where they live, trails most commonly travelled.
Ideas:
picnic sites along our trails where points of interest exist
future possible POI based on historical stories of locations important to the history of
railway, early settlers, aboriginal lands, etc
WELCOME TO and COME AGAIN signs on our managed trail system
post and laminate story/photos of historical POI
identify Ambulatory points, cell service/no cell service point/areas
explore possible winter trail area to get an idea of cub interest in winter trails
explore ideas to get new people involved in volunteering for trail work, attending meetings, etc.
Committee Report: Donna Carson, Secretary
No committees to report
Correspondence: Donna Carson, Secretary
Federation Office:
Advisement that Natasha is out of the office for an extended period and JosiAnne Rousseau
is currently doing work-term in the QuadNB office and will cover her correspondence.
TIF application submissions going forward are an online and will likely require some tweaks to
the process, so if we encounter any issues to reach out to Federation office.
If we have any changes or update recommendations for the Federation bylaws, we are to summit
them to the Federation Office no later than, January 03 2025.
On behalf of President Ray Croft, he is requesting to have input for presentation on Saturday
afternoon at the AGM and ask for input before Friday November 29.
Reminder: This is a reminder. Clubs can now access the online form for submission of 2025 Trail Infrastructure Fund applications. We must submit our online application by October 31, 2024.
New Business: Dwayne Atherton, President
Dwayne and Scott met mid October with Davesports who have expressed an interest to sponsor a rally in 2025. More discussion on what it would look like or when.
Also, Dwayne had notice that Club 58 West Charlotte out of St Stephen had planned to do a rally coming to Woodstock. After he and Rob, President of Club 58 had more discussion it was decided to go to the River for lunch. Dwayne and Wade met the Club 58 participants on the trail and took them to the snowmobile’s building where they parked their machines. Donnie Atherton stayed on site while Dwayne and Wade walked the visitors to the River. There were 26 machines on their rally and approximately 46 participants went for lunch. Dwayne took them to the Reservation for gas and they headed back home. Great successful day and experience with our Club members acting as hosts.
Bob Stokes, Regional Director – spoke about the Regional vision of setting up theme trails throughout our region, which would compliment our vision of setting up rest areas as Kendall has spoken.
We welcomed two new members Linda and Stephen Graham. WELCOME!!!
Kendall mentioned that the August minutes were not posted on our web site, Donna will check into it. There was no meeting in September. We also need to update our Directors on the web site, so once the November elections are over, Donna will bring that up to date.
Next Meeting: November 26, 2024 – Y’s Men Club; 7:00pm
Adjourn Meeting: Scott Edwards adjourned the meeting.