Meeting Minutes: November 2024
Officers: President: Spencer Feldt (2025),Vice President: Jim Berg (2026), Secretary: Kevin McNutt (2025), Treasurer: Frank Sommerfeldt (2026)
Board of Directors: Rhett Larson (2025), Cyndi Sommerfeldt (2025), Kirk Johnson (2026), Chris Shermach (2026)
Trail Bosses: West: Brad McGuiggan & Jason Raska, East: Scott Carlson, Dresser West: Arik Mahler, Dresser East: Kevin McNutt, Stower Trail: Jeff Jonas & Rick LeRoux, Trail 30: Frank Sommerfeldt
Council Reps: Eric Hallen, Jim Berg
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*Meeting called to order on 11/5/24, 7:01pm at Pottsie’s by Spencer.
Secretary’s report:
- All past month meeting minutes are posted on our webpage. No additions or corrections.
Treasurer’s report:
- Membership renewals coming in.
- Expenses in October for new grill (for the fair food stand) and post cards & stamps for trail signing notification for landowners.
Old Business:
- No old business to discuss.
New Business:
- Extra funds. Discussion on what to do with excess funds currently available.
- Recommendation to move $5-10k into an investment CD or money market account.
- Motion made by Kevin to allow up to $10k to be moved into an investment to be determined by the Board of Directors after further discussion. Seconded. Unanimous approval. Motion passed. Frank to provide a recommendation to the Board and get their alignment and approval.
- Memberships due.
- Landowner memberships. Discussion on whether the club should continue to pay for $12 AWSC memberships for landowners that have snowmobiles. Agreement that we should continue doing this. Each trail boss to confirm which landowners would be included in this. Frank will then submit the memberships.
- Corporate memberships. County Snowmobile Council is suggesting that each club try to get local businesses to become AWSC Corporate Members. The membership gets them listed in the AWSC magazine. Suggestion includes adding these businesses to the Polaris Ride Command app as a point of interest (POI) on the map. Combined fee of $100 would cover both the AWSC fee and POI. Discussion agreed we should do this. Frank to add a new form to the website that allows businesses to submit the corporate membership on-line. Kevin to add the business POI’s to Ride Command.
- UW Wanderoos Deer Hunting Party is scheduled for November 21 (Thursday) starting at 6:00pm. Proceeds this year will be split between three clubs: Osceola Valley Sno Goers, Amery snowmobile club, and the Southern Polk County ATV/UTV club. Please try attend and show support!
- Youth Snowmobile Safety Training was held October 21-24 in Osceola. 19 students in the class. Our club paid for those registration fees.
- This was Duane Wolter’s 45th year teaching the class. Motion was made to spend up to $100 to recognize Duane’s contributions in some way. Unanimous approval. Kevin will take the lead on getting something done.
Council Report:
- Suggestions to not over-sign trails thru the woods. Council is spending a LOT of money on posts and signs. Use common sense to mark trails appropriately.
- No updates on the Stower trail. Jonny B is still keeping us informed.
- Bridge repairs by Luck will be getting done.
- Some potential issues north of St Croix Falls where the trail crosses into Minnesota. May need to run the ditch some more.
- Amery restroom facilities keep getting vandalized. Council approved paying for a port-a-john by the trail head. The building might get demolished.
- The new ATV park is now open year round.
- Council is discussing a potential new site in Centuria and reviewing building plans. This would be presented to the Village council. Centuria may sell the lot to the snowmobile council for low cost with the agreement being the village could use the building on occasion.
KAOS Youth Club:
- Meetings are the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm at McKenzie Lanes in Centuria.
- Trail signing is planned for this Saturday at 9:00am at McKenzie Lanes. Anyone interested in helping can just meet there.
Committee Reports: Reminder to all club members that committees were formed at the December 2023 club meeting to establish designated missions, leaders, contributors, and budgets for each. This is intended to allow progress to be made within each committee without requiring votes for actions so long as the committees operate within their allotted budget and mission. Anyone is welcome to join a committee(s) to get involved. More help is always appreciated! Questions can be directed to committee chairpersons.
- Fair Revenue Committee:
- Chair: Cyndi Sommerfeldt. Mission: Maximize fair revenue by providing food and drink to the participants of the Osceola Fair at a reasonable value. Budget: $500
- Updates:
- Bought a new grill in October to replace one that is no good any more.
- Need a LP tank for it. Kirk J to donate one.
- Other Revenue Committee:
- Chair: Kate & Chris Shermach. Mission: Generate additional revenue to the club to close any budget gaps that may happen. Possible streams could include donations, raffles, poker run, clothing store, etc. Budget: $300
- Updates:
- Tentative date for the Second Annual Fun Run is February 15.
- Committee members to start gathering corporate sponsors again.
- Landowner Appreciation Committee:
- Chair: Donna Berg. Mission: Show appreciation to our 110+ landowners for allowing our trails to cross their property. Budget: $5,000
- Updates:
- No updates.
- Scholarship / Donation Committee:
- Chair: Angel Olson. Mission: Give back to the community by donating to worthy causes like college scholarships to our local graduating high school seniors and donating to the local food shelves, fire departments, rescue squads, etc. Budget: $1,500 (plan 2x $500 scholarships and $500 donation to food shelf)
- Updates:
- Meat raffle will be February 7 (Friday) at 6:30pm at Pottsie’s.
- Social Committee:
- Chair: Spencer Feldt. Mission: Show appreciation to our members for all the work they do to ensure we meet the needs of our landowners, trails, and community. Budget: $750
- Updates:
- Club Safari trip will be January 16-18 at Grand Pines near Haward. Call Mandy (715-462-4006) to make reservations. Club sponsoring dinner for all attendees on Friday evening.
- Club member appreciation party will be held on December 8 (Sunday) at Eric Hallen’s shop at 2:00pm (or before if you want to come early).
- Social Media Committee:
- Chair: Jacque Bonneprise. Mission: Maintain our website, Facebook, and other platforms to ensure our by-laws, meeting minutes, activities, trail information, etc are readily available to our members and community. Budget: $25
- Updates: No updates.
- Trail Committee:
- Chair: Kevin McNutt. Mission: Work closely with our landowners to ensure our trails are safe and fun for all our members and visitors. Document all trail work in SNARS. Collect and save land use agreements and send to the county rep. Budget: $800
- Updates:
- Trail 30 updates are in the works.
- Trail 12 getting a culvert replaced and rock fill by Kevin’s place.
- New landowner “courtesy of” signs on order. Should arrive in 2 weeks.
- Remember to keep track of time spent working on trails. Turn into Kevin for submittal to the county.
- Finance Committee:
- Chair: Frank Sommerfeldt. Mission: Create and oversee a budget that will be sufficient to appreciate our landowners, maintain our trails, recognize our members, and contribute to our community. Budget: $300
- Updates:
- Investment plans discussed in new business.
Next Meeting: December 3, 2024 at The Friendly in Star Prairie at 7:00pm.
*Motion to adjourn approved at 7:56pm
Osceola Valley Sno-Goers 