RUMFORD POLAR BEARS SNOWMOBILE CLUB

 

MINUTES

Date:  October 23, 2003

 

 

  • The regularly scheduled meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Rob Cameron.  There were 29 members present.
  • The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Ron Russell and accepted as read.
  • The Secretary’s Report was presented by Bob Stickney and accepted as read.
  • The Trail Master’s Report was presented by Gordon Phillips:

1.  The excavation work has been done from Black Bridge (Route 120) to Isthmus Road.  Hay mulch still needs to be applied.

2.  Work is nearly done on the High School trail.  Another 3 or 4 hours will finish it.

3.  Gordon reported that nearly 900 volunteer work hours have been put in on the trails by a small core of Club members.  He said these members were getting worn out and would appreciate some help from other Club members.  A lot of brushing remains to be done.  In particular the following places need to be brushed out:

        a. The trail from the club house to the Black Mountain X-Country trails.

        b. The Red Hill trail from ITS 82 westward to Abbott’s cottage.

        c.  Corridor 17 from the Mt. Zircon eastward to the ledges.

        d.  Corridor 17 from Teena’s field to Zinck’s air strip.

        e.  Trail 12 from Kimball Road southward to Andover Road.

        f.  Trail 12 from Milton Road to Thornton’s farm on Route 232.

4.  A work party has been scheduled for Sunday November 2nd to brush out Trail 12 from the Milton Road to Thornton’s farm.  Volunteers should assemble at the rear of McDonald’s Restaurant at 8:00 a.m.  This info will be placed on the web site. 

 

 

  • Old Business:

1.      A motion was approved to finance the remaining $25,000 for the new groomer with Cook’s Equipment since the local banks couldn’t match Cook’s 6.5% interest rate.  Bob Stickney will call Cook’s to take care of the financing contract.

2.      Abbott’s garage – The Abbott’s responded to Ron Russell’s letter whereby he proposed that the Club purchase the land beneath the garage, and the Abbott’s donate the building to the Club for tax write-off benefits.  The Abbott’s are not interested in selling, but they proposed that we meet with them in November to see if an affordable lease arrangement could be worked out, which we will do.

3.      Clubhouse fund-raising update – We presently have $2,387.85 in the building fund.  There have been 17 fundraising suggestions to date.  See the next page for a status of these fundraising ideas.  Additional ideas are welcome.

4.      Ron Russell reported that the Super Raffle tickets and 6-area club tickets are selling well.  Proceeds from the Super raffle will go into the building fund. 

VI.              New Business:

1.      Marie Cote gave a brief presentation regarding new telephone services for this area.  She offered a bonus payment to the Club if Club members signed up.

2.      Louise Stickney proposed that the Club purchase some pewter snowmobile pins as a fundraiser.  A motion was approved to purchase 100 snowmobile pins.  We will sell the pins for $8.00 apiece.

3.      We decided to give some wire cable to the club that purchased our old groomer.

 

Louise Stickney won $15.00 in the 50/50 drawing and she donated it to the building fund.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Status of Clubhouse Fundraising Ideas

 

  1. Have a fund-raising booth along the trail at the rear of the Big Apple convenience store:

This fundraiser is a go.  We’ll place a booth several weekends during the season.  Members expressing willingness to volunteer at the booth were Sally MacFawn, Rob Cameron, Ron Russell, John and Sue Olsen, Bob and Louise Stickney, L. J. Blais, and Marie Cote.

  1. Have an ice-out raffle for chances to guess the date the ice goes out of the Androscoggin.

It is not likely that we’ll be able to get this one going this year, but Rob will check out licensing requirements, if any.  He’ll also check to see if there are any environmental obstacles.  This one is worth working on because it has the potential of being an annual fundraiser that raises a lot of money.  

  1. Sell advertising space on the new drag.

We’re going ahead with this one.  Rob will work on getting a billboard structure to place on the drag.  Sally MacFawn volunteered to sell advertising space.  We also decided to place the drag with the billboard at a conspicuous spot with a sign saying, “This space available for advertising”

  1. Linda Phillips said she will donate $5.00 for each Polar Bears sweatshirt sold.

This one is on-going.  Sweatshirts will be on display at Club meetings and whenever we have the booth set up.  The sweatshirts are available for $20.00 apiece.

  1. Have poker runs.

We’re going ahead with this one.  Bob Stickney will organize the poker runs.

  1. Have an event involving eggs in a celebrity’s snowmobile suit.  Each egg will be worth a specific money amount.

We decided to table this one for this year.

  1. Hold a Longaberger basket raffle.

We’re going ahead with this one.  It’ll be a “Longaberger Easter Basket” raffle.  John Blais’s wife will advise us on how many baskets are appropriate for an Easter season raffle.

  1. Sponsor a bass fishing tournament in the summer (after the Clubhouse is built.)

This one was tabled until after we get our Clubhouse built.  

  1. Ask for donations from Club members.  Recognition will be made by a prominently displayed billboard in the new clubhouse.

We decided to do this one but we’ll wait until we’ve built up a fair amount of money in the building fund.  It was also suggested that we have a concept drawing (or perhaps a scale model) of the structure that we’re planning to build before going out to members for pledges.

  1. Place the Mead donations into the building fund.

This one is on-going.  It has the potential for being close to $2,000 annually.

  1. Conduct on-going bottle drives.  Gene Knox agreed to provide plastic bags.

We decided to do this one and we’re going to call it the “Bottles to Build” campaign.  Gene Knox passed out plastic bags at the meeting for Club members to collect their bottles and cans in.  This will serve as a memory jogger to members that we have an on-going bottle drive whereby they can donate their bottle refunds to the clubhouse building fund.  Bob and Louise Stickney will also check out the local bottle depots to see if they’ll agree to collect money from any patrons expressing a desire to donate their refunds to the Polar Bears Snowmobile Club. [Note: All area bottle redemption centers have agreed to keep a tally of bottles turned in to benefit our Club.  Just be sure to tell them who gets the money when you drop your bottles off!  Ralph’s Bottle Depot and the Mexico Bottle Depot have agreed to give an extra 20 percent because we are a non-profit and IV Corners Redemption Center has agreed on an extra 10 percent for the same reason].  Marie Cote volunteered to make Bottles to Build signs to post at the bottle depots letting people know that they can donate their refunds to the Polar Bears.  On a trial basis, Bob and Louise also volunteered to set up a trailer near their garden spot at the corner of Porter Avenue and Franklin Street as a drop-off point.  The bottles must be in plastic bags and tied.  We’ll also experiment with bringing the trailer to Club meetings as a drop-off point to see how it goes.  (Perhaps the back of a pickup truck will do.)  We’ll also bring the drop-off trailer to the Landowner Appreciation Dinner on Thursday, October 30.

  1. Ask businesses for donations.  Recognition on a billboard in the new clubhouse will be used as an incentive.

We decided to do this one but we’ll wait until we’ve built up a fair amount of money in the building fund.  As was the case with member donations, it would be a good idea to have a concept drawing (or perhaps a scale model) of the structure before going out to businesses requesting donations.

  1. Start up a buck-a-week club.

We decided to table this one for the time being.

  1. Place donation buckets at convenience stores near the trails.

This one is on-going.  Ron Russell volunteered to take the lead on this one.

  1. Sell snowmobile pins.

We decided to do this one.  We’ll purchase 100 pewter pins and sell them for $8.00 apiece.  Louise will take the lead on this one.

  1. Set up a tent for a Casino day.

This was a suggestion by Chris Dickson at the end of the 10/23 meeting, and due to the lateness of the hour we didn’t discuss it very much.  No decision was made.

  1. Conduct a grass drag racing event.

This one was tabled due to liability insurance concerns.