Winnebago County Snowmobile Alliance meeting Minutes
January 28, 2020  – Tanners Bowl Bar and Grill 

January 2020 Alliance Meeting Minutes 
The January 28^th, 2020 meeting was called to order by President Jason Ollanketo at 7:35 PM at Tanner’s Bar and Grill.  The December minutes were read by Jeff Miller.  Minutes were accepted with a correction to add Berlin River Riders to the list of clubs in attendance. 

Clubs in attendance were: Springbrook, Wolff’s Pack, Sno-Pioneers, Drifters, Waukau Driftskippers, Sno Scats, Omro DriftBusters,      Poygainaire’s, Berlin River Riders, Winneconne Wolfrunners, Eureka Belt Busters

Treasurer’s Report  
The Treasurer’s report was read by Treasurer Lisa Breu and accepted with a motion by Marice Conklin and seconded by Paul Villwock with the following ending balances. 
Please join the Alliance to see a copy of the Treasurer’s Report.

Director’s Report 

• Winter directors meeting was held in Cable.  The cable area had the most rideable snow in years.
• Pres Dave Neuman said thanks for all of the help in this challenging year, with the wet weather and storm damage.
• The Drifters Bison road trail was accepted as a funded trail.  This provides a funded route to Waupaca county.
• 3000 more passes were sold this year compared to last year
  • The $10.00 pass sold 2180 over last year as of 12/31.
  • 24,430 trail passes were sold in December
  • The year end total is 51,914.

• The Military ride happened this year.  34 veterans were taken on the military ride.
• Mike asked how many people use the commercial sponsors section in the magazine.  Reducing the number of times published from 3 times a year to once a year is being discussed.
• VP Lori Heidemann spoke about Silent Sports people trying to pass a bill only allowing silent sports on state lands.  This failed miserably.
• Safety instructors – Discussed bringing back the snowmobile ride part of the test.
• Exc Dr – Sam Landis – Sam walked Blue Mounds State Park.  He discovered the park mowed the grass on the trail down to 2 inches.  Yet some people are worried about the snowmobile trail destroying habitat.
• The Wolf River Bridge was all set to go.  Now the Blue Mounds attorney has gotten involved.  They are going after technicalities.  The DNR cleaning up the language.
• Support is still needed at meetings
• The Legislative committee talked about the 40 ft rule.  The current rule is that on any US, State, County letter or numbered highway snowmobile trails must be 40 ft off the edge of the pavement.  There is discussion about changing this to 10 feet or closer, and ok for two way traffic.  10 feet or closer with permit from maintaining authority.
• Stormy at the AWSC office mentioned keeping names updated.  The name at the club level needs to match the DNR database.  This can be checked on the gowild site.
• GPS and SNARS –   There are 120 GPS units in groomers.  This is generating a lot of data.  A plan needs to be put in place to process all of the incoming data.
• AWSC membership – If any club has an increase in membership of over 10% their name will get thrown into a drawing for $500.00.

Trail and Grooming Report 

• Trails were open for 43 hours from Saturday noon and closed at 7 am Monday.
• The website was updated on Monday.
• The Travel Wisconsin website is typically updated on Thursday.  Mary who works for Rob Way sends the updates.  
• The official source of county trail status is the phone number.
• The WCSA website refers to the phone number.
• The March 7^th trail closing date has been removed from thewebsite.
• It was suggested Rob Way record a shorter more concise phone message.  Put the Village of Winneconne update first

• Winneconne update – Matt Krueger
  • The trail through the Village of Winneconne is closed for the season
  • After putting matts out, additional snow fence, adjusted the matting, and threats to close the trails. There have been more complaints of people riding off the marked trails. 
  • Violators are going around no snowmobile signs, and riding around in Marble Park.
  • The club received another list of problem areas from Police Chief.
  • A decision was made at the club level to shut them down for the season. 
  • Rob Way has been notified.
  • The Winneconne administrator was upset it was closed. 
  • Moving forward – The situation is in a cooling off period.
  • This may be put on the agenda to be discussed at a Village meeting.
  • Sam Landis from the AWSC suggested discussing at a village meeting so everything is recorded in the minutes.  Sam thinks the club is in a good place to open up negotiations.
  • It was suggested to work with the chamber of commerce to get the businesses on the side of the club.
  • Signs have been made and placed on each end of the town informing that the village is closed.

Map Committee Update

• Mike had a box of 400 maps at the meeting.   Need to log who takes the maps.
• Map prices are $2.00 each.  Clubs get all of the revenue from map sales rather than returning $1.00 back to the alliance.  This was changed years ago.
• UR here maps are here.  Paul Kuehnl showed them to everyone.   The maps look great.  Recommended replacement is 2-3 years.  Cost is $40.00 to recover them. 

New business

• Duane Luker read a letter from the Berlin River Riders – The letter voiced concern about trails in Winnebago County not opened.  Zone 4 was closed which kept the Mascoutin railroad grade in Winnebago county closed.  This railroad grade connects Green Lake and Fond du Lac county.  The Berlin would like a say if Zone 4 is open or closed.
  • On the day the trails opened Zones 1, 2, 3, and 5 opened initially.  There was a 3 hour delay in opening Zone 4 until all of the trail bosses could agree to open.  Some trails in Zone 4 were not marked due to unharvested crops.  The unmarked trails were marked in the ditches.
  • Jason and Mike suggested that the Berlin club talk to Rob Way to see if there is an option to open the Mascoutin railroad grade separately.

• Lisa Breu talked about Spring Brook Poker Run Books.  Cost of the books is $10.00.  The Poker run party at Spring brook Tavern on March 7^th.

Motion to adjourn was made by Debbie Beyer, and seconded by Scott Hall.

Next meeting is Tuesday February 25^th, at Tanners Tap at 7:30 pm.

Respectfully Submitted, 

Jeff Miller 
WCSA Vice President
WCSA Acting Secretary  

Location: Tanner Tap, 207 W Main St. Omro, WI 54963.   
2020 Meeting Dates: Feb 25, Mar 24