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December 15/08 CONTACTING THE GASC: Please appreciate that the GASC Executives are volunteers and have full time jobs. Please do not contact them at their place of work. We now have a direct phone line for the club: 424-5878. This number will be available from December 1 through to April 30/09. There will be a message manager to leave a message and someone will return your call, when they are capable of doing so. You can also send an email to: ganderandareasnowmobileclub@yahoo.ca You can also contact the NLSF at 709-635-4395. NLSF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – MAY 2008 HAPPENINGS: 1. Trail Pass price increase: We have endured 4 years with out an increase in the cost of a trail pass and have introduced a family pass, which provided the user with a discount and the clubs with less revenue to operate. There are a number of reasons for the increase, fuel, groomer repairs, trail repairs, insurance increase, overall operating increase, etc… etc…. I can’t think of anything else that has remained the same price for 4 years. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Please also note that vendors are given maps of our trail system. You should get a map with your trail pass purchase. If it is not given to you, ask for it… 2. Family Pass Limit of 3 passes in total: It was set out originally that the family pass would include one full purchase pass and 2 family discount passes. Most clubs have had difficulty controlling this and there has been some major abuse of this with persons who have the same last name. Some clubs have resorted to restricting the sale of family passes to one vendor only and only after you have proof of ownership with you. Trail passes are mandatory, controlled and audited by government. We must enforce and ensure that the “family passes” are not abused and this will be monitored very closely this year. If you have more than three snow machines in your house hold, you can purchase 3 under the family pass and the 4th one you will have to purchase another regular pass. However, if you have more than 4, you can then again purchase the 5th at the family pass rate. 3. Governance Review and Changes to the Board of Directors: The NLSF under went a governance and board of directors review. From this, there have been some major changes to the structure of the NLSF Board. The old Board of Directors consisted of a position for each club and the board of directors. At our AGM there were 26 persons voting on various issues. This made things very challenging to get addressed and voted on. The new board of directors is now a board of 9 persons, with a clear understanding of NLSF issue and a strategic plan to move forward. This change will allow for a more productive board. The following persons are the NLSF new board of directors:
4. New Day Trail Pass: The 2008/2009 season will see a new day pass. We have a new design and have added a 1 day pass to the 3 & 7 day passes. Day passes will go on sale once grooming starts. Cost break down: 1 day pass $15.00 3 day pass $30.00 7 day pass $50.00 5. Conflict of Interest: There was concern raised by a member of the Gander Club with reference to a conflict of interest issue in regards to related persons involved at the executive level of the club. The Gander Club asked for this issue to be tabled and to have discussion on the issue to ensure that all concerns have been discussed and brought to the attention of the NLSF Board of Directors and minutes to note the same. It was noted that several clubs have related persons within their clubs on their executive. This is not a conflict of interest as discussed with the board of directors at the NLSF. The board structure and the by-laws allow for related persons and a policy of conflict of interest is in place. No one person has control over the operation of a club, as all operations of a club are based on by-laws, policies and a board of director votes. This alone removes the issue of conflict of interest. 6. Government: We have been working very hard with a new group formed with various Government Departments and the NLSF. Over the summer period we have had several meetings and involvement with Crown Lands, Environment, Enforcement, Parks, Justice, Tourism, ACOA, Dept of Innovation & Trade and the NLSF. All of the players it takes to make things work and make decisions. These have been very positive meetings and there has been a lot of things happening. All of the NLSF managed trails, not just the T’Rail, have now been registered with Crown Lands. Letters to Operate and Memorandum of Agreements are all now in place with Crown Lands, which will allow Full Enforcement of a trail pass this up coming season. The Freeloaders, are at a much higher risk of using the trails for free this year. Enforcement will be out in full force this year. There is so much more that can be done when all the government departments are working together and this is now happening and we are moving forward in a positive direction. Gander Local Club News: 2007/2008 Year End: We ended our season with our debt paid off in full and a balance left over of $1,261.46. The financials and records were provided to the NLSF, which in turn provide to a chartered accountant, Todd Lee, for audit and included with the NLSF financials. Just so you understand: Because trail passes are mandatory, passes and the funds collected from the sale of them are controlled and audited by Government. Each club is required to provide full disclosure of all trail pass sale funds and expenses. Each club must account for every trail pass issued to them, sold or unsold. Each club must provide detailed remittance reports, cash flow and expenses. Each clubs finances are then audited and amalgamated with the NLSF and an Audited Financial Statement is prepared by an independent outside accounting firm. The Government then require a second independent outside accounting firm to provide another Audited Financial Statement of the Audited Financial Statements prepared by the first accounting firm to the NLSF, the Clubs and Government. Because we are dealing with Government Funds, all funds must be accounted for and audited. This is a very costly process, but one the Government set the guidelines and policy for. Safety Training for Youths: The NLSF has the ONLY, recognized safety training program by the Government. This year, Gander as a test Pilot will offer a shorter version of this course to youths ages 12 to 16. Oz Fudge and The Gander Boys and Girls Club will be working with the GASC to deliver this course. This will take place on a weekend, towards the end of January. It will be a one day course, there will be a registration fee, with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club. We have meetings with the NLSF Safety Director to put the fine tuning in place and will be out with more information later. This is a great opportunity for youth to learn Safe Snowmobile Practices, as well as winter survival. Parents, I can’t urge you enough to have your children attend. If we get enough interest there will be more courses available, and if things go really well, we are working on providing it across the island. Brush Cutting: One of the issues the NLSF addressed with Government was Brush Cutting. The Government asked each club to go out along the trail and mark where areas were really bad. Tony Geange of our club took two days to ride the trail, GPS the areas and put together a presentation to Government what our area needed. Government were so please with the format of presentation, they are going to use it for all future requirements. At the end of the day, Gander got the biggest dollar and amount of Brush Cutting approved to be done before the season starts. Government issued a tender to cut from Glenwood to Gambo - 52 kms of our trail. But they are not just cutting it… They are removing the alders 3 meters on each side of the trail. Yes, I said removal. We are the only club that got approved for such a large project and a big thanks and hats off to Tony for his work and presentation. We will have a very safe trail this year with good visibility. Brush removal has started, so please be careful while traveling the T’Rail. Fund Raising Prizes & Draws: We sold tickets last year on a Fiberglass Sled and Yamaha Snowmobile Suit. We didn’t have the draw because there were just not enough tickets sold that came any where close to the value of the prizes. It would have been an insult to Platinum Builders and Outdoors Unlimited had we drawn for the prizes and not made any money for the club. We did not have strong support to sell the tickets. The prizes have not been drawn for yet, and all those that did purchase tickets, I can assure you that your tickets are still valid and we will be drawing them this year. Not too worry if you don’t have your ticket, we have the important portion. If you are available to sell tickets for us, please contact us. We would really appreciate the help. We want to ensure the business’s that are donating product to us that it is valuable to us. Central Cycle has donated lots of items that we will be giving out this year, so please keep up on the email and news and watch for this. Club Name: It was noted and discussed at the AGM, that our Club is the Only club that bears the name of a specific town. Many people from outside the area have the misconception that our club is related and services the Gander area only. It was suggested that we come up with a new name that reflects our area of Glenwood to Gambo. Corner Brook is called “Western Snowriders”, St. John’s is East Coast Trail Riders, Grand Falls is Exploits Snowmobile Association. We would like to hear what your ideas for a new name are. Let’s hear your idea’s and should we choose yours, there’s a great prize to be won. Gambo Trail: There was approx 20 kms of our trail washed out and damaged by the flooding in Gambo. Repairs are underway and well be completed before the season start. The cost of the repairs are in excess of $100,000.00. It is a big project. But we have been assured by Government that our trail will be ready for the season. Gambo Pond Access: The Town of Gambo through the beautification program will be clearing this trail and have asked us if we can provide grooming to the trail as a secondary trail this season. It will not be groomed on a regular basis, but it will now be included as a secondary trail for grooming. Groomer Repairs: The groomer is currently being serviced for the season and made ready to go. The groomer is in good shape and has been well maintained and used. This is proven value in having the same 4 operators for the past 4 years. Our drag however, is the original drag from 1998 and it will need approx $3,500.00 in repairs & maintenance before the start of the season. We have allowed for this in our budget and the repairs will be completed soon. Signage: There are several areas that need signs replaced and new ones put up. We have received the signs and the poles. We have been waiting for the brush cutting and repairs to get done to the trail before putting them up. We are also going to be putting up reflective markers on the portion of trail out back of the airport that cause poor visibility and major drifting to improve safety in the area. We will be looking for volunteers to help with this and will send out an email to let you know when. If you know of an area needing safety signage, please let us know. Web Page: We are currently working at getting this updated and running. Our host IPOWER moved their system to a new platform and we are currently working on trying to make things easy access for updates. Currently it is not allowing for instant updates and we did before. We are moving as fast as we can to get this up and running before the season. We only got the ability to send emails out a week ago. If you are receiving emails and do not wish to, please send an email to us and we will have it removed. If you wish to be added to our emails, please do the same. Availability of Trail Passes: Trail passes are available at all the snowmobile and recreational dealers. The dealers have restricted business hours and you may find at times they are sold out of passes. One dealer may go through passes more than the other. We now have an individual for the total control of the trail pass distribution and collection. This is a big job and dealers are not given an endless amount at one time. The cost to print them is very expensive and each club is limited as to what they receive from the NLSF. However, if they are sold out, you can check our web page which will provide you with all vendors that sell them. The dealers are called and checked with on a weekly basis. In addition, Big D’s (North Atlantic Fuel) on the TCH is a vendor and they are open till 11:00pm daily. Trail Passes are no different than a fishing license, you must purchase them with in the operating hours of the vendors and the vendors may not always have them. Don’t wait until the last moment to purchase them. Directors Comments: There is so much work that is done behind the scenes with every aspect of this organization and just the co-ordination and administrative work can be a full time job. Gloria is the driving force behind all of it. She constantly tries to keep everyone in mind and gives so much of her time in getting things done, informing and coordinating and thanking everyone. We just like to take the time to publicly acknowledge and thank her for her hard work and contribution to the club. So, Gloria, Thank you for all that you give. CORPORATE SUPPORTORS AND VOLUNTEERS: We do not and cannot THANK YOU enough. We are so busy trying to get things done and it would take pages to tell you all the things that go on behind the scenes. But that is not an excuse! The dealers and community business have been consistent and long term supporters of this organization. They take on the task of allowing their business to absorb the cost of selling and administrating trail pass sales. Some expense the services fees charged for Point of Sale Purchases and with almost everyone using plastic these days, their costs of doing so have increased in volumes. They are always there, support us tremendously and have become a very valuable component of our organization. We couldn’t do it with out them. They have worked hard to earn your business, please support them and thank them. Their contribution helps keep the cost of a trail pass down. Imagine what the cost would be if Government Services took over the function? I’m sure they wouldn’t do it for free! These are our Supporters…….. Corporate Supporters & Trail Pass Vendors:
Corporate Supporters:
A big THANK YOU to all the businesses that support us. And a very big THANK YOU to all the independent volunteers who give up their personal time to support us. Volunteering is so challenging at the best of times in today’s world. We all have very busy schedules and there are so many organizations that need volunteer support. We thank you for choosing ours as one to give your time to. We look forward to your continued support and we value what you give and do for us! Final Note: There has been so much going on this summer. We have attended a lot of meetings and have gone through many changes and we are moving forward. We have been all over the island and it is challenging to maintain a full time job, meetings, family and personal down time. However, we are working on improving. It’s all been good, lots of it paper intense and political. So please bear with us, it takes time to do up news letters like this and we want to keep you informed. We didn’t have a General Meeting in October because of so many outstanding things that we didn’t have answers on and we had 4 back to back weekends of meetings. There will be a general meeting and we will send out a notice of the same. We are off to another General Club meeting in Corner Brook, Nov 22/23, so as you can see time has been so limited. We thank you for all your support. We are always looking for volunteers and we look forward to a great season… Happy Trails and Safe Snowmobiling. Gander & Area Snowmobile Club Executive PS: Please excuse any spelling or wording errors and if we have missed mentioning any of our supporters, it was by no means intentional. ; January 28/08 Presidents Report: At the Oct 11/07 General Meeting the following Club Objectives were identified and discussed:
This report is to update you as to where we are with reaching these objectives and where we are as a club financially. Payment of the Groomer Debt Account: With the donation of $2,000.00 from Adventure Sales and Services, $1,000.00 from Gander Toyota and $6,110.58 from our General Operating fund, I am please to say that a cheque has been sent to the NLSF and this debt has been paid in full and is no longer a burden on our club… Event Fund Raising: Derick Powell & Frank Davis have taken on this project and have put forth a great effort at working on events and ticket draws. They are to truly be commended for their efforts, as this is no easy quick task and takes a lot of time, energy and help to pull things off. A Safety & Awareness Day was held at the Dominion Parking Lot Dec 1/07. We sold 129 trail passes that day, we were out in the public view and the day ended with the Groomer going in the Santa Claus parade. This event cost the clubs approx $800.00 and we anticipated that. However, the entire day was about exposure for our club. A big thank you to everyone that made this day a success. Derick is currently selling tickets on the fiberglass Snowrunner Sled that was donated by Platinum Builders. Tickets are 3 for $5.00 or 1 for $2.00. The draw for this is to take place Feb 14, 2008. If you can help sell some tickets, please give Derick a call 256-7979 Derick is also currently selling tickets on a Yamaha Snowmobile Suit that was donated by Outdoors Unlimited. The draw for this is to take place Mar 1/08. Again, if you can help sell some tickets, please give Derick a call. There are still things that have been donated to us by Central Cycle that we have to raffle off through out the season, so there is more to come. Winter Fun Fest: Derick and Frank are currently planning another event on Cobb’s Pond. All the details have not been worked out yet. This event is to take place on Mar 1 & 2 at Cobb’s Pond. Saturday will be a poker run from Corporate Fund Raising: To date there has been no movement on Corporate Fund Raising Warming Shelter Mtce & Care: Joe Batt’s Warming Shelter: Tony Foote takes care of this shelter. He has done repairs and maintenance and checks on it’s condition on a regular basis. Butt’s Pond Warming Shelter: Dean Granter, Kevin Keats and some others have been trying to keep the shelter up, but we have had some trouble with “partiers” using the shelter. This shelter has a lot of parties and the club members that are stopping to use the shelter are constantly picking up the garbage and doing repairs. If any one has any ideas on how we can control the vandalism of this shelter, please let us know. This is costing us as members to constantly repair things. Promotion of Safety & Awareness: Our Safety & Awareness Day, along with the Santa Claus Parade brought some awareness to the General Public. In addition there has been constant information provided on the web site in regards to the same. The NLSF has the only Certified, Safety Training Certificate Program in Gary Tuff and myself both took the course. This course is managed and administered by the NLSF and when we do the instruction of the course we are doing in on behalf of the NLSF. Industry must pay for the course, but as a club we can now put off a course in our own area for children from the age of 9 – 16 years of age. This is a total one day course that includes classroom training and practical training on the machines. It is an excellent course for kids to go through. It's very educational. There will be a notice going out to the members as to when and where we are putting the course on and there will be a required registration and limited space. So when you see the notice come out, please respond asap if you would like to have you son or daughter attend. Increased For the 2006/2007 Season our regular trail pass sales were 1060. To date for the 2007/2008 season we have surpassed that and we are at approx 1300 pass and they are still selling. The town of Just remember, when you encounter a machine on the trail without a trail pass, they are using the trail at your expense. On several occasions I have parked my car across a road crossing in order to stop the traffic on the trail and those without a trail pass, I simply ask where it is and then tell them that they must get off the trail, as they are breaking the law. I haven’t been challenged yet, must be because they feel guilty! Gambo Trails: I had a number of meetings with the Town Council of Gambo and the General Public of Gambo. The Town of Brush Cutting: We had some volunteers out doing some at the start of the season and we thank you for all you time and efforts. This is a serious major concern for the entire island. We have been working with the NLSF and Trailways and Government to deal with this issue on an island wide bases. With the snow upon us early, there isn’t much we can do during the winter months, but this will be a priority come spring. Groomer Preventative Mtce, General Mtce & Operation: Last year we operated our groomer a total of 405 hours for the season. This year to date we have operated 305 hours and we are only into January Month. Part of our positive financial position has been the “lack” of expensive maintenance and repairs to the groomer. Tony Geange did a bumper to bumper service on the groomer prior to our season starting. Then continued regular maintenance and regular groomer operators, has kept the machine in optimal operating condition. Touch wood that this will continue through out the remainder of the season. Glenwood Trails: At the start of the season we were requested by the Town of Club Financials: Below you will find an income statement of the current club financials. Increased trail passes, expenses to a minimum have put us in a good financial position for the season so far this year. We have paid off the groomer debt and started grooming early. The donations from Adventure Sales and Services and Gander Toyota for funds towards our debt helped tremendously in accomplishing this. There is still a good 2 months of the season yet, so in order to stay strong on the financial side, we still need more trail pass sales, event fund raising, corporate fund raising & no major repair expenses. Overall, to date we have had a strong year. In Closing: On behalf of myself and the executive, we would like to thank all the volunteers and people that have helped the club meet the objectives that were set out to do in the Oct 11/07 meeting. These people have “bought in” at helping and keeping this club a strong and positive one. It sure makes my job much easier and it is comforting to know I have strong supporters. I know the number of hours that I put into getting things done and there is some truth in “many hands make light work”. Again, a big thanks. Myself and the executive would also like to thank the people that purchase their trails passes. I have been a part of this club for a number of years and there are many that have been supporting it through trail pass purchases as long as I have been involved. Enforcement is important to get everyone on side, but those long time supporters have all participated in building this club. Again, a big thank you. Regards, Gloria Knowlton President 2007 – 2008 Season GASC Club Financials As of Jan 15/08 Revenues: $57,957.20 (trail pass sales, donations, groomer rentals, Net of HST) Expenses: Trails Pass Remittance to NLSF $ 21,820.09 Groomer Operating Expenses $ 4,721.46 Groomer Operator Wages/Expenses $ 4,176.81 Groomer Mtce & Repairs $ 2,908.50 Groomer Hour Fund to NLSF $ 1,500.00 Training Expenses $ 255.00 Trail Mtce & Repairs $ 1,287.87 Warming Shed Mtce & Repairs $ 532.82 Director & Officer Insurance $ 424.93 Membership Dues to NLSF $ 500.00 Meeting Expenses $ 1,779.40 Office Supplies $ 799.59 Web Site Expenses $ 595.40 Event Expenses $ 799.17 Total Expenses: $42,101.04 Total Revenues: $57,957.20 Less Total Expenses: ($42,101.04) NET CLUB INCOME: $15,856.16 Plus 2006/2007 funds carried forward: $ 1,854.49 Total Club Cash Available: $17,710.65 Less Groomer Debt Paid ($9,110.58) Bank Balance: $8,600.07 Revenue figures are based on 1047 trail passes collected and remitted to the NLSF as of Jan 15/08. There are still 250 trails passes that require collection and remittance that will add to the revenues. Expenses are paid up to 300 groomer operating hours. |
