Our March meeting was called to order Sunday March 3rd at 11:04am by VP Nate Merle. Currently we have 357 members.
This meeting was our annual roundup of the season’s events so it took a little longer to discuss everything.
The February minutes were read and accepted. Michelle handed out the Treasurer’s report and answered any questions members had.
Long time club member Dick Blankenship passed away a couple of days ago. Dick will be greatly missed and his calling hours are Tuesday March 4th 10-1pm at Weeks Funeral Home in Warsaw.
Brian Bartron gave us the details of our recent February Daily Raffle and thank you Brian for overseeing another successful money maker for OVSA. It is important for us to raise funds every year as we constantly seek to upgrade our equipment for a better sledding experience.
Trail Coordinator Steve Cox also spoke on the success of our recent Dice Run. 93 raffle baskets were donated and we thank the volunteers who worked hard on this event. Steve’s daughter Marina also suggested writing handwritten thank you cards to the basket donors. Marina brought cards to the meeting and members were writing them out. What a great idea to show our appreciation for the support so many people show us. We will endeavor to run this event next year. Thank you to the Bliss Hotel for being our rendezvous point and host.
Steve reported that at this time the DEC is not pursuing an extended hunting season for deer. This would severely damage our sport by shortening our season significantly.
Our trails are the best because we have excellent equipment in great shape and because of the dedication of our groomer guys. Our trails were open for 33 days this year with lots of hours of grooming and repairs being made as needed. Fuel tanks have been topped off in anticipation of summer use for trail maintenance. Lights inside the groomer barn are being installed and one end is complete. The improvement was mentioned and certainly appreciated.
Dwight Hess spoke on the importance of OVSA being a member of Farm Bureau and we will certainly continue to do so because of the close ties we maintain with our farming community. Our landowners are the key for us being able to continue our sport in the safe, fun manor we’ve worked hard to promote.
There was a fair amount of discussion whether our next purchase should be a tracked UTV for trail work or another Trail Paver which would make our 4th one. Trail Pavers do the best job of building a trail which holds up and yields a significantly better ride. Points in favor of the UTV are that the unit will certainly be utilized a great deal each year. These are handy and versatile units. An idea was floated to buy a UTV and maybe put a down payment on a Trail Paver to lock in the price and pick it up next fall. We tabled the discussion until next meeting while more figures are being gathered.
A motion was made to adjourn the regular meeting at 12:20pm
Subsequently we held our board meeting to discuss any leftover items although most everything had pretty much been covered during the regular meeting. A motion was made to add Dwight Hess to our board and was approved.
The board meeting was called to order at 12:25pm and ended 12:45pm.
Thanks to all our members and everyone who helped to make this season a great one.
President Chance Vogt OVSA
