President Ken Storms held the January 2013 membership meeting at Club DeNoyer. A highlight of the meeting was the introduction of Michelle Schaetz as our new Miss Sno-Eagle and Derby Queen. Michelle is a senior at Northland Pines High School and is planning on attending UW – Whitewater to obtain a degree as a dietician.
Treasurer Fred Rockafellow gave the financial report and stated the club received $1,169 from the county side of the trail map, and that the club received about $3,100 in business support. Audrey reported the club currently has 139 members, and she is hopeful that we end up with about 170. Trail Boss Tom and building maintenance volunteer Brian Scheid were not at the meeting but attending an ATV/UTV meeting in Three Lakes.
Vilas County is working to get all eleven snowmobile clubs trails on GPS this year. Fred had 27 members signed up for Weekend Away but with the lack of snow the event may be cancelled. The Weekend Away is planned for the Comfort Inn in Ironwood, MI. Members were told in February to view our website as Holly is putting the trail conditions on the website daily.
At the March meeting, Fred reported the Take Pride and Ride raffle brought in $3,439. It was also reported that the club had fuel donations from Nobbe’s North and D&S this year. Holly reported that the club did get to the snowmobile grooming cap of $750/mile this year. Dave and Sonja Mroczynski are new members as well as Jim and Margot Bowman. During the elections, the club had re-elected Steve Linn as VP, Fred Rockafellow as Treasurer, and Dick Matkin and Dan Weidner as directors. Bob Stencil and his brushing crew were thanked for putting in countless hours of trail maintenance.
By April, the club was reported to have 154 members. The club announced it won a new Triton snowmobile trailer at the AWSC convention raffle. The club will receive bids at a silent auction to sell the trailer. The summer picnic will be held at Riverside Park with members bringing a dish to pass, and the club sponsoring the hot dogs, hamburgers, beer, and soda.
The August Brat & Bake sale held at Trig’s brought the club $330. The annual budget was approved in August for the upcoming year. This October, Scott Linn will be assisting with the Snowmobile Safety Class and will be taking this project over in future years. Thank you to Scott Linn, and Chris and Tiffany Kloiber for putting the class together. The club also paid the last groomer payment for the 2009 Prinoth. The club will begin the year with nearly $80,000 in several bank accounts.
Bob Stencil and his crew began fall brushing on September 12.
The board decided to stop hosting an Appreciation Dinner this year.
At the September membership meeting President Ken Storms informed the club that thanks to the efforts of many, the City of Eagle River will now allow snowmobiles to utilize city streets to access a snowmobile trail. Great news for residents.
Holly announced the state is looking into GPS tracker units for each groomer. Last year the state spent $190,000 to audit groomer time sheets. This is a cost savings and will halt falsification of records by some snowmobile clubs.
Hahn Printing informed the club that the 2014 trail maps are printed. AWSC sent a letter to clubs stating that they cannot send raffle tickets or money through the mail. This became a Federal Law in 1880 and is still in effect today. Rev. Chuck Sheffler joined the club as he has relocated to St. Germain from North Dakota. Chuck attended high school with President Ken.
In November, Ken established an Equipment Replacement and Maintenance Committee. Jim Fabish will chair and have Fred Rockafellow, Dick Matkin and Tom Tomlanovich as committee members. Brian Scheid asked the Sno-Eagles to form a clean-up committee to pick up trash on Dollar Lake after Pond Hockey. The club would receive a $500 donation. Carol Radloff will chair a committee to conduct bell ringing for donations for Salvation Army this year.