February 8, 2025
Thurman Connection Snowmobile Club
Monthly Meeting
February 8, 2025
Tavern 16
Call to Order: 7:03pm
Reading of the minutes
Treasurer’s Report: $40583.69 beginning balance….. Withdrawals: $1305.64
Deposits: $11707.40 Ending balance $50985.45
Sue looked into accounting software. Patriot Software OR Money Minder. Patriot
Software - Sue uses this for Stony Creek Library and is familiar with it. $15 per month.
Sue will ask if we pay for an entire year, will we get a discount. Money Minder is $299
per year. Kathy Garrow does all of our tax work, this software would benefit the club and
make giving Kathy reports much easier.
Patriot Software: Motion Joe, Second Scott. All in favor Yes.
Trail Committee: Received VSA from State. Nate contacted Dan Stec’s office to get
that moving February 7th and VSA arrived shortly after. Anyone that does work on state
land has to fill out an individual volunteer application before doing the work.
Trails that need this application are: Arrow Trail, Trail to North bend, Dog-N-Pup bypass
trail, etc.
Chainsaw course: April 12th or May 11th (Mother’s Day) – Max of 10 students $150
per person 4 hour course. Can be done at our Groomer Barn. We can combine with
North Warren as they have people that need that course as well. Ian showed interest in
taking this course on April 12th. Nate and Jeff Thomas took an online version of this
course already. Sue will check with BOCES to see if they can offer the course cheaper.
Other Trainings: CPR, First Aid, Bloodborne Pathogens Course – Nate can teach
those courses.
Grooming – approved with tracked ATVs with drag okay (VSA) for grooming purposes.
ATV/UTV are okay to use August, September, October (3-4 machines) for trail work
“Official Work Vehicle” Plate required. We are allowed an 8 ft wide 12 ft high tunnel on
the State Land. They want it to look like a tunnel.
May 30th of each year - forms have to be sent in showing what was done with
grooming.
Sign and Safety: Ian and Jason have been out working on signing trails. More signs
have been ordered and should be shipped out. Voss signs.Fundraising: Vintage Ride (1999 and older is considered Vintage) – Special event
March 15th - $20 per person, $10 for passengers. Poker Run – Stamps. Paul Thomas
said he will buy the food (Adirondack Audio and Video). Heather will work on getting
some baskets donated and asked if we can purchase items to make baskets. Yes, to
purchase items to make baskets for Basket Raffles. Sue will call insurance for a rider on
our insurance. No alcohol. Scott will contact Barb Baker to inform her of Vintage Sled
Ride. Poker Run: 9 stops total. Stamp at each location. 5 or 7 card poker hand. Nate
and Heather will work on getting more sponsors. Nate created buttons and stickers for
the event. Jeff and Carol will work at the barn. Groomer Barn, Tavern, 1000 Acres,
Thurman Station, Hickory, Cody’s Cabin, Bridge, Arrow Trail Sign, Hamilton County Line
(5 Card Hand) Sue from Hickory wanted a fee for a warming hut - Nate told her not this
year.
Business Sponsors for each stop. Adirondack Audio and Video $250, Hoffman Stamped
Concrete $250.
Same Weekend - First Day of Thurman Maple Days – Advertise and make flyers to post
at Stewarts.
Super Raffle Tickets: John Watson sold 150 tickets.
Insurance: Value of the building (estimated) as cold storage pole barn - $173,376.00.
Property Insurance: $2210 per year that will protect the building. Verifying VIN Numbers
of equipment. We need to fix the corrections for the equipment before signing the policy.
We were paying ~ $3500 for the old policy which only covered $40,000 for the building.
Insurance company will do a full walk through in the Spring. Total Policy would be $5499
per year. Motion Paul, Gary Second. All in Favor – Yes.
Website: We need to contact Smarter Trails to see if we can have the URL
(ThurmanConnection.Club). Would have email addresses for officers. David Hughes
can create a more updated and attractive website. New website would be easier to use
and more user friendly. Need to contact Smarter Trails to see if we could get a partial
refund for unused time this year. (We paid $300 for this year). Joe@SmarterTrails.com -
contact him to see if we can make changes to our current website to make it more user
friendly. Update our photos on the current website. Is there any tracking information
from our current website to know how many people have clicked on our website? New
Website would allow us to have 5 admins that could log in and change any details at
any time. The new website would also allow us to sell shirts directly from the site. Nate
will get more information and will report back at the next meeting. $23 per month x 12
for a new website.Equipment: Tucker 2000 and drag – Scott proposed selling the drag and the groomer.
Purchase 2 Tracked ATV or Tracked Side by Side with groomers with the money the
2000 sold for. A lot of discussion about thoughts and ideas. Decision is to keep it for
now. Woodchuck is working on the drag.
South Warren said they would groom Hickory for us. John Higgins said absolutely not
and he does not want South Warren on that trail. Excavation work needs to be done this
summer so that Hickory Trail can be opened up enough to get the side-by-side
grooming that trail.
Thurman Town – Scott will talk to Deb to see if they will give us funding again to help
pay for trail maintenance.
Maps – Advertisers should pay enough to cover the cost of maps. We will also ask for
Occupancy Tax to help build Kiosks and print maps. We have the architectural designs
for kiosks, just need volunteers to build. Paul will work on pricing for
sponsors/advertisers.
Portable Toilet - Lots of thank you’s for having that available at the groomer barn. Just
have to make sure to spray paint the area we want, if we do it again next year.
Jeff Thomas is going to bring the old bridge out from the arrow trail on Sunday at
9:30am. (Untamed Creek Bridge)
Meeting Adjourned: 8:19pm Motion Paul, Second Scott.
