On Monday, November 2, 2009, the Coldbrook Snowmobile Club held its third
monthly meeting of the 2009-10 snowmobile season at the King Phillip Restaurant
in Phillipston, MA. The attendance of the membership was tremendous and
appreciated.
The first order of business was brought up by club president Gerry
Balchuinas who requested that the meeting minutes submitted by club secretary,
Mike Roy, be approved. A motion was made, seconded, and a verbal vote
unanimously accepted the minutes.
The next item on the agenda was a detailed presentation of the club's
funds and expenditures for the past month by newly elected treasurer, Ben King.
An itemized report was distributed for members to see who were present at the
meeting. A motion to accept the treasurer’s report was made by Vern Lussier and
seconded by Dave Eklund. Gerry then asked for the clubs outstanding bills. After
an explanation of said bills a motion to accept the paying of these mentioned
bills was made by member Chris Ferragamo and seconded by Louis Brassard with a
verbal vote following allowing Ben King to pay these bills.
The next item reported by club president Gerry Balchuinas was the repair
of the club's pole saw. The cost of repair by Mike Chownowski was ninety
six dollars which was far less than the proposed replacement cost of
approximately $700. Gerry then advised the members of some known upcoming
bills. Mike also expressed the need for the Pisten Bully and determined it needs
two tires along with routine maintenance to ready such for the upcoming season.
Due to the length of the October meeting coupled with a motion at the end
of the meeting to adjourn without further review, the club's new by-laws were
re-presented to the membership at this time by club president Gerry Balchuinas.
Member, Mike Chownowski proposed that a new by-law be composed changing the
annual club meeting to the end of the season in April rather than in October.
Member, Bob Cox, supported this position and offered a suggestion that the last
meeting of the season be a gathering on a Saturday in the month of April.
Club president Gerry Balchuinas added to the proposal by including the idea of a
landowner's appreciation dinner at the same occasion. This would change
by-law article five number three which will now read as follows;
The annual
meeting shall be voted on in February and held in April
The fiscal year of the club would
then begin on May first of the calendar year with no changes in the deadline for
club membership dues which would remain December first with the same late fee
implied for registering afterwards. A motion was made to put this change
to a show of hands vote by the present membership which unanimously approved the
proposal. This by law will now read as follows;
The fiscal
year of the club shall commence on the first day of May, and end on the last day
of April. The dues shall be payable during the months of October, November, and
December. After the December meeting club dues will increase ten dollars ($10)
Dues must be paid to be considered an active voting member of the club in good
standing.
Member Bob Cox,
suggested that Article four in the category of officers, specifically as it
pertains to the treasurer's report be amended to reflect that the treasurer be
required to submit an itemized report to the membership at each monthly meeting
of the club's expenditures and bills. Bob Cox read a quote from the minutes
reporting on the board of director's meeting held in October 2008 which voted on
this type of report being submitted to the membership for their perusal during
the monthly meetings. Club president Gerry Balchuinas thoroughly explained
the results of the meeting in question and described the type of report which
has been submitted by the club's previous treasurer, Chuck reed, and the current
treasurer, Ben King. The change in the by-law would remove the "if
available" language and make the submission of the itemized report mandatory
within the guidelines and categories described within the clubs existing bylaws.
A show of hands vote to approve this change was requested by club president
Gerry Balchuinas and the change was unanimously approved by this method of
democracy.
The updated terminology found
within the bylaw, is shown here in different text. This is not the full bylaw,
and will read as follows;
A
treasurer’s report shall properly be prepared and submitted at the annual
meeting
and each monthly meeting
the report shall consist of the following.
Member Bob Cox requested a clarification of article two regarding the gas
expenses for club officers/delegates attending the SAM monthly meeting in
Springfield. Club president Gerry Balchuinas informed the membership that he
does not submit an itemized mileage for this meeting. Much discussion was had
and members received a clear explanation of how these expenditures were handled.
No change on these expenditures was made. Mailing costs were brought into the
discussion at this time and were explained. Bob Cox asked about gas expenses
exceeding one hundred dollars for the past month. Club president Gerry
Balchuinas and club vice-president Dean Zuppio explained these expenses
separately, commenting $85 alone was for fuel for the bulldozer. A full
description to all expenses was given to the members and all sides were
discussed on the matter. Club member Jay Wrightman then pointed out in the
bylaws where these expenditures were allowed. No changes were suggested and no
more questions or concerns were expressed at this time, which resulted in no
vote needing to be taken on the matter and all such dealings will remain the
same.
At the end of
the discussion on the bylaws a motion was made by member in good standing Nick
Bellino to accept the newly modified bylaws as re- read to members by president
Balchuinas and to have all other bylaws remain the same with no changes. This
was seconded by member in good standing Dave Piragis to accept the newly amended
bylaws. At this time Club President
Gerry Balchuinas asked if anyone had any further discussion or concerns as to
any of the items that had been discussed before a vote shall be called. After a
moment to check every person in the room to see if anyone had a concern, club
president Gerry Balchuinas seeing no other concerns or discussion on the
previous mentioned items concerning the bylaws, called for a vote on the motion
on the floor. A vote was asked for all in favor, and it was passed unanimously
with no one objecting and no one abstaining from the vote.
Gerry then thanked members for their patience with getting through this
process.
Club president
Gerry Balchuinas reported to the membership of the progress made in the past
month with the repairs to the bridge which is to be placed over the Otter
River. This project was headed by Jeff Hill and his crew and their hard work is
appreciated. They replaced all of the track guards as well as the ski runner
boards and new fencing and side rails. The project took two weekends to complete
and came out great. Gerry reported that the repairs came in way under the
prospected costs of approximately $1200. This was due to the fact that the
lumber was only $150 for Gerry cut the trees and sawed out the lumber himself.
The only bill was for the $150 for the sawmill fee. A heartfelt thank you was
offered to all that helped out on this project and for coming in under the
estimate.
The
bridge is ready for installation and the club is waiting for the approval by the
Army Corps of Engineers, and the DCR. The clubs paperwork for the bridge was
sent in to the respected offices in September. Gerry will inform the club when
approval arrives.
Trail Work
Gerry reported
all of the trail work that has been going on within the Coldbrook area. There
has all ready been a large amount of work that has been done on trails in the
Baldwinville / Templeton area. This work would not have been possible if not for
the generous assistance from Glenn Hines who donated his time and his equipment.
Glenn spent 10 hours running his backhoe and also using his dump truck to fix
problem areas. One such area is the gate right next to rte 2. This gate has been
moved back and the hill has been widened and leveled out. Glenn then built a
stone wall from the gate to the existing Jersey barriers that are there. Dave
Eklund delivered and set in place, the blocks donated by Graves Concrete. The
blocks were to eliminate unwanted vehicle traffic on this private landowners
land during non use times. Glenn also filled in a problem washout area in the
sand pit section of the trail. Using his truck to haul fill to fix the problem
and fix the culvert under Templeton Conservation Committee guidelines. He then
trucked some stone to the work site in Baldwinville and helped replace and
install a culvert that had been washed out in the Back Bay area.
The Back Bay area was worked on by Derek Anderson and looks great. Derek
used a Bulldozer donated by Mickey Wilson and was able to use a truck donated by
Ray Sawyer to move the machine. Derek and his son Kyle spent 6 hours regarding
and widening the area from the Otter River Bridge to the old tar road (Old Elm
St.) in Lake Dennison. Gerry thanked
Glenn Hines and Derek Anderson for all of their time helping the club. Then
Gerry thanked his helpers Louis Brassard and Jay Wrightman for their help for
both days work and giving up an entire weekend for the benefit of the club.
Gerry then thanked his wife and his daughters for making breakfast for the guys
and bringing it to them on site. He also thanked helpers Chris and Sophie
Ferragamo, Dave Balchuinas, Ryan Grant, Chuck Briner, Randy Balchuinas, Jackie
Battone, and a special thanks to Chris Richards who with a last minute call
loaded up his tractor and came down and put the finishing touches on the work
area. A round of applause was given for
all who helped.
Club member Mike Chownowski sold tickets during the
meeting for a 50/50 raffle. The drawing was held at this time and the winner was
Dave Piragis.
At this time, club president Gerry Balchuinas asked for donations of hay
in order to complete some trail work. Donations of 4X4 pressure treated
posts are needed for an upcoming trail project for signage purposes among other
uses. He stated that a list of materials needed will be put up on the clubs web
page and to please look to see if you may have any of the items that are needed.
Gerry informed
the membership that he walked the Wetmore Trail in the Lake Dennison State Park
and announced that Sunday November 8, 2009, will be a trail day. A request
for members to volunteer in helping to prepare this trail for the season was
made at this time. The proposed meeting place will be the boat ramp at
9am. Please check the club website and be prepared to receive a message
regarding the same from the club's all call phone system this week.
At this time a member asked if we could
use the automated system to announce earlier in the week. Gerry explained that
sometimes he does not receive permission until Thursday or Friday from DCR. He
said he would do the best he could. At this time Bob Cox asked that maybe
someone else could do the announcement. Gerry again said that it was not the
problem of sending the message, as this only takes a few minutes it was the
approval from the DCR that needs to be received first.
Club
president Gerry Balchuinas will be meeting with Mike Travaglini from the DCR to
determine the work needed for the "washed out" trail area near the
Hubbardston/Templeton town lines as well as Glenwood Kitchens. This detail will
take place on November 4, 2009. (As of the writing of these minutes the washout
at Glenwood Kitchens has been repaired)
Club vice-president
Dean Zuppio has been notified that a certified letter exists from the Barre
Conservation Commission regarding a pipe located on a trial that had been washed
out. Chris Higgins, Tom Donahue, Alex Allen, and Jeremy Kelley were
acknowledged for their dedicated work on this project. Tom Thanked Jeremy for
the use of his excavator to get the job done.
Club president
Gerry Balchuinas asked for members to become part of the volunteer "trail boss"
system being headed by Chris Ferragamo. People interested can contact Chris from
the clubs web page. Look for the “adopt a trail” tab.
At this time,
a proposal to purchase a gift certificate for the very generous land owner
George Paul was made by club president Gerry Balchuinas. This proposal
does not need to be voted on until one of the last meetings of this season.
Gerry described Georges continuing support of our club and Gerry explained how
important his section of land is for our club.
Trail work and the
wearing of the newly purchased safety gear and lime green shirts, was the next
topic of discussion. The cost of the shirts was less expensive than if the
club purchased safety vests. Member, Steve Balchuinas, displayed the
safety t-shirt and its message to the membership. Thanks to Tom Donahue for
getting the shirts and saving the club a lot of money. Along with the t-shirts,
two pairs of Chaps and two safety helmets were purchased at a minimal cost from
Higgins Power Sports in Barre Mass. Gerry then explained the expenditure to the
clubs members and how it was presented in the treasurer’s report. All members
seemed satisfied with said explanation. Gerry
again thanked Higgins and Tom Donahue for their support.
Groomer repairs
and maintenance will be started in south Gardner at the garage of Jandris Block
located in South Gardner. Directions can be given to those interested in
helping after the meeting and they will be posted on the club website. The
ASV is ready for the upcoming season as far as routine maintenance is concerned.
As far as the other groomers are concerned, Cook's Equipment was found to be the
least expensive parts supplier after an extensive computer search by club member
Chris Richard. Gerry gave Chris all of his contacts and Chris called all of them
and Cooks Equipment of Newport Vermont was found to be the cheapest of all of
them. The owner Bill Cook was called with a minimal order by Gerry.
While on the phone Bill stated to Gerry that he would like a complete list of
parts needed to fix the groomer problems we have. Gerry stated that at this time
in the season the club was short on funds for not all members have signed up yet
so he was only ordering what we had money for. Bill stated that he knew how our
grooming payments were received after extensive discussions with Gerry and Dave
Balchuinas and he said that he wanted us to get our parts and he has agreed to
work out a generous payment plan in order for the work to be done now rather
than later. This deal was made because of the club's previous dealings
with this parts supplier. At this time, club president Gerry Balchuinas
thoroughly explained the mechanical intricacies of the inner workings of the
groomers and their suspension and track systems. Bill Mucha reported the needs
for the Bombi in the southern section of the club's catchment area. Club
vice-president Dean Zuppio reported that the club's Skandik will be in need of
regular maintenance which will include a twelve volt battery for one of the
machines. A member informed the membership that he would donate a
working battery that he has at his disposal.
Club president
Gerry Balchuinas reported that after researching start-up costs the proposal to
build a "cook" trailer for events during the season will be put on hold until
further research can be completed. A brief discussion among members took
place about this proposal. Gerry
said with all of the trail work and meetings going on he did not have time to
investigate this area right now.
Club president
Gerry Balchuinas informed the membership that the monthly club meetings will be
held at the King Phillip Restaurant in Phillipston for the remainder of this
season as the owner has been very generous in booking the lower room for these
meetings. This meeting was held in the main dining room but the remainder will
be held in the function room down stairs.
A proposal to hold the annual supper event, usually a spaghetti
supper, was made by club president Gerry Balchuinas at this time. The
possible date would be January 16, 2010 with a place to be determined.
Any upcoming radar runs will be posted on the club website as they are
subject to ice thickness.
A member, Vern
Lussier suggested that the club take advantage of donations to be made by Red
Apple Farms in the form of several gallons of apple cider as such could be used
as raffle items or for club usage at events. Bob Cox mentioned that the cider
should be preserved as Vern mentioned and used for a beverage at the spaghetti
supper.
Club vice-president
Dean Zuppio explained the TV raffle and plugged for the need to sell tickets for
this fund raiser for the club.
Dave Piragis from Higgins
Powersports in Barre reminded the membership of the November 15, 2009 deadline
for registering snowmobiles at the dealership in order to take advantage of the
Ski-Doo promotion. The promotion from Ski-Doo is promising to donate ten
dollars to the club for every member registered at the dealership where an
informational document is completed. This promotion was energetically
promoted by Dave and accepted as a good fund raiser for the club.
The last SYMMS grant for
the club to purchase a multi-purpose tractor was approved and the club is
waiting for instructions on where to place the gates on the locations determined
by the DCR.
A proposal to change
the time of the club's monthly meeting to 7pm instead of its current time of
7:30pm was made by member Bob Cox. It received verbal support from club
president Gerry Balchuinas, but a show of hands vote defeated the measure by a
tally of 17 to 16 of the voting members.
Member Jake
Lyman proposed and was ultimately named to head a finance committee to support
newly elected treasurer, Ben King, and to oversee the club's spending.
Jake Lyman will chair this committee with members Bill Mucha and Dave Eklund
sitting on the same.
The last item
for this meeting was a discussion started by club president Gerry Balchuinas and
the topic was the club's handling of the filing of its taxes. A person
skilled in this area for non-profit businesses has been contacted and is willing
to take on this endeavor for a reasonable fee. A motion was made by newly
appointed finance committee head, Jake Lyman, to pursue this matter further.
Member Jake Polito seconded the motion and a verbal vote approved this matter to
be further researched. There was one noted objection during the verbal
vote with no acknowledged abstentions.
The meeting adjourned
at 9:37p.m.