2008 Board of Directors Minutes
VAST BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
June 23, 2008
DIRECTORS, ALTERNATES, OFFICERS & STAFF PRESENT: Conrad Stewart-Addison; John Perkins-Bennington; Ken Gammell-Caledonia; Jeff Fay-Chittenden; Dave Page-Essex; John Ross-Franklin; Bill Oakes-Grand Isle; Brian Currier-Lamoille; Larry Trottier-Orange; Brian Cook-Orleans; Merritt Budd-Rutland; John Lynds-Washington; Roone Gibbs-Windham; Bruce Murray-Windsor; Pat Poulin -President; Jim Hill-Vice-President; Mark Ellingwood-Treasurer; Bonnie Holbrook-Recording Secretary; Bryant Watson-Executive Director, Alexis Nowalk-SSTP Trails Administrator; Kent Gardner-VAST News Editor
GUESTS: Star Poulin, Mitzi Oakes, Jim Holbrook, Ed Hebebrand, Mike O’Hara, Dave Pastula, Don Glover, Roberta Stammers, Josh Nelson, Ted Chase, Joe Cicia, Sandy Woodbeck, Scot Daniels, Jessica Leach, Crystal Currier, Howard Smith
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by President Pat Poulin.
AGENDA: Jim Hill moved and John Perkins seconded to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried.
10a move to the beginning of new business
8b Annual Meeting Report from Essex County
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Conrad Stewart moved and Larry Trottier seconded to approve the minutes of May 27, 2008 Board of Directors meeting. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Bruce Murray moved and Roone Gibbs seconded to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented. Motion carried. We had a positive cash flow for the month of May and for the year-to-date. We did better than we had projected for TMA sales.
CONSENT CALENDAR–EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT and TRAIL ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT: Roone Gibbs moved and Larry Trottier seconded to approve the Consent Calendar as presented. Motion carried.
COUNTY REPORTS: Champlain Valley; Addison County and Chittenden County both reported that all is quiet.
Central Vermont; Orange County is quiet. Washington County is working on bridges and culverts on Corridor 2.
Northeast Kingdom; Caledonia County is still doing well. There is a bridge that crosses Route 2 that needs work. Essex County is busy doing trail project requests and some landowner requests on Route 114. The Town of Canaan is trying to assess a property tax to property that has snowmobile trails. This is NOT a good thing. There have already been landowners that have closed their land until this is resolved. It’s being contested and hopefully will win. Orleans County reported all is well.
Northwest Vermont; Franklin County reported that all is quiet. Grand Isle County is coming along pretty good. They are working on debrushing. Lamoille County is quiet and no major flooding “yet”.
Southeast Vermont; Windham County has not heard of any flood damage so far. Windsor County reported that “the trees are in bud” and they are doing well.
Southwest Vermont; Bennington County is working on getting chainsaw certification for folks to work on the GMNF (Green Mountain National Forest) land. Rumor has it that there will be a requirement for ATV training certification to use ATV when working on trails on the GMNF in the future. Rutland County reported that Corridor 4 through Proctor may be closed this coming season between West Rutland and Chittenden. There is some bridge work going on.
COMMERCIAL SNOWMOBILE STUDY – JESSICA LEACH: Jessi has been working on the study for us since November and has prepared a written report and a slide presentation. Everyone on the Board received a copy of her report. Jessi presented her findings and then answered several questions. She did random testing in several areas that has snowmobile tour traffic. She could not link bad trail conditions and moguls to tour traffic. She did conclude that tour operations should work very closely with the local club and partner with them on the section of trail that they use. This is already happening with some tour operations but unfortunately not all of them. Jessi also reported that during the times that she observed tour groups, she did not see erratic behavior. The counters that were placed on sections of the trails picked up all traffic including hikers, skiers, dogsledders and animals so the counts were not just snowmobile traffic.
DISCUSS TMA TYPES AND FY 2009 BUDGET: Last month we reviewed the proposed FY09 budget and normally we would review it again tonight. The TMA committee is still working on the recommendations for the TMA types and how we can improve the system, and then the Budget Committee will need to meet prior to next month’s Board meeting. Next month the Board will need to review the proposed FY09 budget. The committee reviewing the TMAs met last week (June 18th). The committee has representation from 3 different areas (northern, central and southern) of the state. The representatives that were selected deal with a large volume of TMAs for their clubs. So far the committee thinks they want to continue the same categories but restructure them. They think we should keep the Classic category but not differentiate between resident and non-resident. For 5-day passes they are looking at 3-day passes and again not differentiate between resident and non-resident. The booklets caused much discussion. They think they are going to propose that we go to one booklet and have a “check off” for the type of TMA being sold. The other major problem from this year was the Early Bird TMAs. They are suggesting that the Early Bird TMA process only be done through a renewal process through the VAST office and not send the Early Bird TMAs to the clubs. The software would be written to have the club that the TMA was purchased last year would be the default club to renew with. There would be some programming and equipment charges associated if we do this. The costs for printing TMAs this year should be significantly less than last year. There was a problem with the large amount of TMAs that some clubs requested because of having multiple selling avenues causing us to run out of categories. There were literally thousands of unsold TMAs then returned to the VAST Office causing a lot of waste and expense. Essex County had a county meeting last night and they voted unanimously not to support the proposed Early Bird process of only selling Early Birds through a renewal process through the VAST Office. The whole purpose of having the TMA committee is to try to streamline the process and make it easier for the clubs and volunteers. There were several suggestions put forth. The committee will need to meet again to bring a proposal to approve next month which impacts the budget. The proposed FY09 budget will be presented also.
ANNUAL MEETING REPORT FROM ESSEX COUNTY: The 2008 VAST Annual meeting will be September 20th at Burke Mountain Ski area. There will be the mini workshops. The schedule for the day is the same time schedule as last year. The entertainment has not been decided yet.
APPROVE LOAN FROM GF TO LVRT: Bryant Watson distributed the preliminary budget and gave an overview for the LVRT budget. The committee is asking for approval from the Board for the preliminary budget and a loan from the VAST General Fund to the LVRT budget. They are also looking for approval for the Engineering Firm. Jim Hill moved and Jeff Fay seconded to extend the meeting pass 9PM by 15 minutes. Motion carried. Bryant Watson explained the process for receiving the federal funds allocated for the project. Ken Hoeppner has obtained interest from several resources that are waiting for us to break grown. It was noted that we still have not received any financial support from any of the other user groups of this trail. Ken Gammell moved and Bruce Murray seconded that we approve a $100,000 loan from the VAST General Fund to LVRT project with no interest. Motion passed with 9 yes and 5 nay with Dave Page asking that we note that Essex voted nay.
REVIEW LVRT PRELIMINARY BUDGET: Larry Trottier moved and Conrad Stewart seconded to approve the proposed preliminary budget. Motion carried.
Jeff Fay moved and John Perkins seconded to extend the meeting for another 15 minutes. Motion carried.
LVRT APPROVE ENGINEERING FIRM: Dave Page moved and John Perkins seconded to approve the engineering firm. Motion carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: The Personnel Committee is still working on their committee charges. The Marketing Committee is working on the VAST 40th Anniversary celebration on July 26th. The Board received flyers and was asked to put them up. They are suggesting a donation of $20 to ride from the Montpelier High School starting point to the Hartland Recreation Center. The committee also reported that they donated $5,000 to the Make-A-Wish event from the event this past winter.
The next Director’s Meeting is July 28th, 2008 at 6:00 PM with refreshments provided by Orange County. Roone Gibbs moved and John Perkins seconded to adjourn at 9:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted by, Bonnie Holbrook, VAST Recording Secretary
