I attended the NEA meeting today in Exeter, NH. I wont go into the gory details but here are the highlights.
Treasurer's Report:
Money is tight. NEA is watching every penny in their funds.
Access For All Jeep:
NEA is looking for monetary or parts donations from clubs to better outfit the Access for All Jeep.
Side note: Anyone thought of looking into grants to fund this project? Anyone up for the challenge?
Land Use:
Mass –
Gremlin Graveyard is a newly acquired private property in Sturbridge. It is a stock trail with room for about 15 vehicles on a run. It is about 280 acres. This will be a pay to wheel trail.
MaBell – No update
Gutter – No update
Old Florida Rd – No update
New Hampshire –
Exploring NH, a snowmobile group is trying to close a Class 6 road in Barrington to OHV’s. There is a town meeting on March 23. Lots of back stories on why. NEA will be attending the meeting.
Field and Forest – No update
Carnage Hill – The power line trail will be flattened by the power company by the end of the summer to replace the poles.
Swansey Property – No update
Springfield (Moose Mountain) – new property, has lots of potential but is in the middle of no where
CT – NO REPORT
ME – NO REPORT
RI – No update
NY – No update
NEA is in the final stages of a trail patrol program. The program is meant to educate all users of trails about tread lightly, the NEA, and basic trail etiquette. There will be training sessions in the future which will include basic first aid and CPR.
Old Business:
The Snow Run exceeded expectations and was a huge success.
Provisional Clubs seeking full membership:
Ocean State Jeeps – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor
Underground Jeeps – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor
SEMA 2009 – November 3 to 6. NEA does not feel that there is a benefit to sending a delegate to SEMA with their current financial situation. Any volunteer that is planning on attending using their own funds can use NEA’s membership to access the SEMA show. NEA is considering sending a delegate to the Land Use round table that is also held at the same time. This was tabled to the August meeting.
Insurance:
NEA pays $3300 in insurance premiums. These are paid quarterly. Then there is a $333 additional fee per “event”. Prior to this meeting, the club holding the event was responsible for $150 per day per event with a cap at $333. On one and two day events, the NEA picked up the rest of the cost of the insurance for the event. Due to the current financial situation, they can no longer afford to do this. Clubs will be able to piggyback multiple locations and trails as well as share the costs between two back to back events.
Motion was made to make the clubs responsible for the entire $333 regardless of the length of the event. Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
Waivers must be signed for all persons at an insured event and turned into NEA ASAP after the event. It is also a good idea to use the waiver at any run regardless of insurance. Waivers can be obtained from Pat of the NEA.
New Business:
New clubs seeking provisional membership:
• Vermont Expedition Society – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
Organization Renewals:
• Blue Ribbon Coalition - $100 annual dues – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
• Tread Lightly - $100 annual dues – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
• UFWDA - $100 annual dues – Voted and rejected – YT voted against renewal. UFWDA has serious financial management problems. They were given two years to correct things and still have not gotten their act together. NEA will re-consider membership with UFWDA if things change. NEA clubs and individual members are still urged to join if they feel the need.
• Massachusetts Land and Forest Association - $50 annual dues for a supporting membership– Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
FALL CRAWL
Fat Bastard Café to do food again for the event.
Raffle prizes are already coming in
Lessons learned:
Dumpster is a good idea
Bouncy House for kids kept them entertained
Portable radios for staff worked well
Will be adding a PA system for the raffle
One price per person format will remain.
NEA had worked out a flat fee for camping with Field and Forest of approx. $1000 for 250 people camping. YT needs to look at something similar for Fall Gathering if it reduces our camping costs.
Deep Woods Xtreme allows the Fall Crawl to use their two huge tents. This is another thing to consider for the Fall Gathering.
Volunteer Raffle: Every time someone attends a trail cut, their name goes into the raffle. The more you volunteer, the better chance you have to win. Our own Jason Shumate won the last raffle prize. Congrats Jason.
Upcoming Meetings:
May 2 Meeting will be at the Mass Maritime Academy, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay Cape Cod.
August Meeting will be at Field and Forest.
November meeting will be in Long Island.
OPEN discussion:
Treasurers Report will now be posted on the NEA forum for all to view.
Any changes to club contact information MUST be submitted to the NEA ASAP. The NEA will not chase clubs for their info. Send updated info Pat.
Meeting closed at approx. 1400.
Thanks for the opportunity to represent Yankee Toys. I saw some old friends and met some new ones.
Treasurer's Report:
Money is tight. NEA is watching every penny in their funds.
Access For All Jeep:
NEA is looking for monetary or parts donations from clubs to better outfit the Access for All Jeep.
Side note: Anyone thought of looking into grants to fund this project? Anyone up for the challenge?
Land Use:
Mass –
Gremlin Graveyard is a newly acquired private property in Sturbridge. It is a stock trail with room for about 15 vehicles on a run. It is about 280 acres. This will be a pay to wheel trail.
MaBell – No update
Gutter – No update
Old Florida Rd – No update
New Hampshire –
Exploring NH, a snowmobile group is trying to close a Class 6 road in Barrington to OHV’s. There is a town meeting on March 23. Lots of back stories on why. NEA will be attending the meeting.
Field and Forest – No update
Carnage Hill – The power line trail will be flattened by the power company by the end of the summer to replace the poles.
Swansey Property – No update
Springfield (Moose Mountain) – new property, has lots of potential but is in the middle of no where
CT – NO REPORT
ME – NO REPORT
RI – No update
NY – No update
NEA is in the final stages of a trail patrol program. The program is meant to educate all users of trails about tread lightly, the NEA, and basic trail etiquette. There will be training sessions in the future which will include basic first aid and CPR.
Old Business:
The Snow Run exceeded expectations and was a huge success.
Provisional Clubs seeking full membership:
Ocean State Jeeps – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor
Underground Jeeps – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor
SEMA 2009 – November 3 to 6. NEA does not feel that there is a benefit to sending a delegate to SEMA with their current financial situation. Any volunteer that is planning on attending using their own funds can use NEA’s membership to access the SEMA show. NEA is considering sending a delegate to the Land Use round table that is also held at the same time. This was tabled to the August meeting.
Insurance:
NEA pays $3300 in insurance premiums. These are paid quarterly. Then there is a $333 additional fee per “event”. Prior to this meeting, the club holding the event was responsible for $150 per day per event with a cap at $333. On one and two day events, the NEA picked up the rest of the cost of the insurance for the event. Due to the current financial situation, they can no longer afford to do this. Clubs will be able to piggyback multiple locations and trails as well as share the costs between two back to back events.
Motion was made to make the clubs responsible for the entire $333 regardless of the length of the event. Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
Waivers must be signed for all persons at an insured event and turned into NEA ASAP after the event. It is also a good idea to use the waiver at any run regardless of insurance. Waivers can be obtained from Pat of the NEA.
New Business:
New clubs seeking provisional membership:
• Vermont Expedition Society – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
Organization Renewals:
• Blue Ribbon Coalition - $100 annual dues – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
• Tread Lightly - $100 annual dues – Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
• UFWDA - $100 annual dues – Voted and rejected – YT voted against renewal. UFWDA has serious financial management problems. They were given two years to correct things and still have not gotten their act together. NEA will re-consider membership with UFWDA if things change. NEA clubs and individual members are still urged to join if they feel the need.
• Massachusetts Land and Forest Association - $50 annual dues for a supporting membership– Voted and accepted – YT voted in favor.
FALL CRAWL
Fat Bastard Café to do food again for the event.
Raffle prizes are already coming in
Lessons learned:
Dumpster is a good idea
Bouncy House for kids kept them entertained
Portable radios for staff worked well
Will be adding a PA system for the raffle
One price per person format will remain.
NEA had worked out a flat fee for camping with Field and Forest of approx. $1000 for 250 people camping. YT needs to look at something similar for Fall Gathering if it reduces our camping costs.
Deep Woods Xtreme allows the Fall Crawl to use their two huge tents. This is another thing to consider for the Fall Gathering.
Volunteer Raffle: Every time someone attends a trail cut, their name goes into the raffle. The more you volunteer, the better chance you have to win. Our own Jason Shumate won the last raffle prize. Congrats Jason.
Upcoming Meetings:
May 2 Meeting will be at the Mass Maritime Academy, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay Cape Cod.
August Meeting will be at Field and Forest.
November meeting will be in Long Island.
OPEN discussion:
Treasurers Report will now be posted on the NEA forum for all to view.
Any changes to club contact information MUST be submitted to the NEA ASAP. The NEA will not chase clubs for their info. Send updated info Pat.
Meeting closed at approx. 1400.
Thanks for the opportunity to represent Yankee Toys. I saw some old friends and met some new ones.
