25 members were present. The meeting was brought to order at 10:00 a.m. by President Edie Dunlap with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Presidents Report:  Edie Dunlap,  breezy1@tdstelme.net  

Would like to welcome our members old and new along with any guests to the meeting. Thank you all for keeping with the COVID protocol. 

We have some not so great news on the trails this year. Weyerhaeuser has permanently shut down some of our trails. This does not effect just us, they have done the same with any clubs that have trails on their land. They did not give any reason except that they were no longer going to allow loop trails but just trails that go from community to community. That being said we no longer have the Butler Loop Trail and any trail that goes up by the wind towers. Even though some of the trails belong to AFM if we cannot go on Weyerhaeuser land we cannot connect to the other landowners. If AFM would allow us to use airport road to go to Natanis then Weyerhauser will allow us to go across a small piece of their land to connect. In order to do that we would have to bring the snowmobile trail by Bugeye and along Route 27 up to standards for use by ATV’s. That is a major job and we would have to hire it done. It could cost up to $75,000 or more to do that. Cappie’s bridge was taken over by the state and is slated for repair this fall. If we do a trail up there we would also have to share the cost of rebuilding the bridge with the snowmobile club which is another big expense. I am not sure the club would want to pursue this at this time. We will have more discussion on this at the next meeting. We will also be looking at maybe a connection to Natanis from Tim Pass up around the other side of the Indian Land. The other closure from Weyerhaeuser was a choice between keeping the trail going to Tim Pass and into Tea Pond open or keeping the section of their land going up to the Split Rock Trail open. This was an either or choice, we could not keep both. Looking at the maps if we choose to close the trail to Tea Pond Camps their business would not have any access either in or out with ATV’s. This trail also allows us access to the Sawyer Brook Loop through the Penobscot Indian Land and around Tim Pass. If we kept access to Tea Pond section and closed Split Rock there may be a possibility we can work with another land owner for a trail to connect on their land to Tim Pass on that end. The decision was made to keep the connection to Sawyer Brook Brook Trail and into Tea Pond.  

The bill in the legislature to change the matching amounts for the grants to a 90/10 match was passed. This will give us more money from our grants to work on the trails. 

Rangeley is still working to get their club up and running and have taken over the maintenance part of the trails they will eventually get. 

A reminder that we will have a club ride into Tim Pond on August 14th. Waiting for them to let us know what the cost will be. Will be checking with Red Onion for the opportunity to have a club ride for lunch there. 

The underwriter for our insurance with V & V is no longer going to do insurance for the clubs and ended on May 1st. The new underwriter will not be ready with a policy until July 1st. We were able to purchase the liability landowner policy through ATV of Maine insurance pro-rated for the 2 months we need it to cover the landowners.

We received a letter from Stratton-Eustis Lions Club for the snack pack program. Last year we donated $300.00, there was a motion and passed to raise it to $500.00 this year. 

They will be having Family Fun Days on June 26th. We will to doing our Strawberry Shortcakes and would love to see a lot of atv’s in the parade. The theme this year is Old Hollywood.  I will check with Jeff and Linda to see if they want to do dough boys and French fries. We also received a request for a donation. We usually do a $50.00 donation and there was a motion and passed to raise it to $100.00 this year. 

Vice President: Sandi Isgro, sandi.whitewolf@gmail.com

Discussion was had on all the work and money that was put into trails that are being closed. The best resolution would be to draft a letter from the club and present it to our representatives to see if they could find a solution with the landowners to keep the trails open. 

Trail Master’s Account: Dale Dunlap, breezy1@tdstelme.net

Expenses for 2021: $44.79 to Napa for grease, lens and bulb for tail light. 

$14.73 to Flagstaff General for fuel. 

Treasurer’s Report: Gloria Smith, fredgloria@msn.com 

Income: Grant from last year – $10,101.87, Donations – $421.00, Memberships – $2178.00

Expenses: Post Office Box rent – $48.00, Stamps – $96.00, ATV Club Membership – $30.00, ATV Maine Officers Dues – $50.00, Memberships – $1,290.00

Secretary’s Report: Diane Wyman  

There are 109 regular renewals (includes 12 new) and 25 Business renewals which include 1 new. 

Trail Master’s Report: Dale Dunlap, breezy1@tdstelme.net

The Trails will be opened Memorial Day Weekend as long as we have the permission of all the landowners. Fred and I have done the maintenance on the club’s equipment and they are all ready to go. We will open the gates on the ATV trail going to Quill Hill that same weekend as long as they are open for traffic. 

AFM is going to allow us to go off the Pole Line behind Flagstaff General and use the snowmobile Trail as long as Jim Brochu brings the hill up to the standards for an ATV trail. He will be doing the work within the next couple of weeks. We will need some volunteers to help trim the brush back on the road going off Rt. 16 on Wednesday so he can bring loads of gravel in. Please give me a call if you can help. 

We are also working with the state on a bridge on the Plum Creek Road that goes to the Carrabassett Trail. The water has run down the road and washed out one end of the bridge. 

We are going to ask Jim Brochu to go into Elephant Head (the further end of the Sawyer Brook Trail) and see what he can do with the trail to remove some of the rocks and open the trail up a little bit up by the entrance to the Indian Land.

We do have permission from the Penobscot Indians to use their land for our trail this year. 

The 50/50 was won by Mark Latendresse who donated it back to the club, thank you. The door prize was won by Bob Dennett. 

Our next meeting is Sunday, June 13th, 2021 at 10:00 am at the Stratton Community Building.