September 2013 Alliance Minutes

The Sept 24, 2013 meeting was called to order by President Jim Kumbier at 7:33PM at  Oshkosh Lanes.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer’s report was read and accepted with the following balances.

Checking                                              $    3,404.82

Grooming Fund Savings                 $             0.00

Savings Account                                 $    7,333.16

Certificate CD                                      $ 10,691.46

Passbook Savings                              $          25.15

Total                                                      $ 21,454.59 

Directors Report

Mike Giese reported that the AWSC has been working closely with the Governor’s council and the Wisconsin tourism department on  the CAP/STEP bill.  There has been a lot of negotiation regarding the wording of the bill and the process is moving forward in a positive direction.

Mike also noted that Schwartz and Shea will still be working with snowmobile clubs for club insurance.  General Casualty will no longer be underwriting policies, but a division of West Bend Insurance will be writing policies moving forward.

Trail and Grooming Report

Mike and Jim reported that the county did go about $20,240 into supplemental for this past season’s grooming bills.  The state is reporting that supplemental billing will be paid at a rate of 50%.

Old Business

Web Site:  Jason reported that the website calendar has been updated with club meetings for the 2013-2014 winter season.  Jason asked for clubs to share information for anything they would like posted to the County Website.  Jason reported that club trail open status updates  will be sent out to anyone who signs up for the newsletter on the website.

AWSC Fall Workshop:  The fall workshop will be held Nov 1-3, 2013 at the Holiday Inn in Steven’s Point.  Registrations for the workshop are due by Oct 21^st.  Jim, Mike Giese and Mike Thoma all plan to attend.

Vice President vacancy:  Dwight Mason from the Omro Driftbusters volunteered to run for the Vice President position.  A motion was made to nominate Dwight and was accepted and approved.

Sign Orders:  No sign orders were turned in this year to Jim.

Bartending fundraiser at the fair:  The club made $273 in tips operating the concession stand at the Winnebago County Fair.  The Alliance has not yet received a check for its share of the beverage profits.

ISC:  Jason Ollanketo gave a report on the International Snowmobile Congress.  He attended a drag seminar, a groomer maintenance seminar, a presentation from the Clean Snowmobile Challenge as well as a portion of the Midwest Chapter Snowmobile club meeting.

New Business

Grooming Funding Discussion:  There was a very in depth discussion regarding the nature of grooming fund distribution throughout the county.  Discussions centered around setting aside the $30 per mile for marking and finding alternative ways to make the payout of grooming more equal throughout the county.

A major discussion focused around setting a $200/mile cap on all grooming clubs until the end of the season when t he remainder of billing would be paid out or submitted to supplemental.

1)       Clubs would be required to send in bills on a monthly basis.

2)      Once a club reached the cap limit their payments would be frozen until sometime in April.

3)      At that time every club’s bills would be reviewed.

4)      Each club would then receive checks up to the $250/mile limit.

5)      If additional funds still remained they would be split evenly amongst the rest of the billing in the county with the remainder of bills to get turned in for supplemental  funding.

6)      The actual dollar amount to set as a cap was debated and was not determined.

This topic was tabled and will be voted upon at the next Alliance meeting in October.  Please make sure to attend and offer your suggestions to this discussion.

Trail Fund Break Down:  Jim submitted some spreadsheets outlining the billing received from each club for discing, grooming and club trail  maintenance.

Club Packets and Contracts from the Parks Dept:

Club contracts and packets were distributed to all clubs in attendance.  Please note that in light of next months vote on updating the grooming contracts, no signed contracts can be accepted until after this vote.

Ryan Miller will be grooming a portion of the Pickett Trail this year with his tractor.

Jim Kumbier will be bringing Map boxes to the next club meeting and Mike Giese will be bringing some maps for distribution.

Mike Thoma made a motion to join the Lake States Alliance.  This was seconded and approved by all.

Mike Thoma made a motion to roll over the Alliance certificate for a six month term.  This was seconded and approved by all.

8:50 PM, motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded – unanimously approved.

Clubs Attending:  Sno-Scats, Wolff’s Pack, Wolfrunners, Poyganaires, Omro Driftbusters, Cruising Paths,  Sno-Pioneers,

Location: Oshkosh Lanes, 275 N Washburn St, Oshkosh, WI 54904

      Mtg Dates: Sept 24, Oct 22^nd, Nov 26^th, Dec 24^th, Jan 28^th, Feb 25^th, Mar 25^th