A) Call to order:

Meeting was called to order at: 9:08 am
B) Roll call:
Members present: Bill K., Norm C., Kenn M., Geoff W., Mike M., Doug L., Kevin M., Tom C., and Sheri Y.
C.) Approval of Minutes:

The minutes from the August 14, 2011 OMTA meeting can be found on the website at www.ohiotrails.org. Several copies were passed out to members in attendance for them to review. Norm C. made the motion to approve the August 14, 2011 meeting minutes. Sheri Y. seconded the motion. All members in attendance agree. August meeting minutes were approved.

D) Officer’s Reports:
1.) ATV Chair: Kenn M.,
Kenn lives next to the Perry parking lot and will put membership brochures on the windshields of cars he sees in the lot.
2.) Treasurers report: Scott L.
Scott L. was unable to attend today’s meeting. Bill K. passed out a two page financial report for the members in attendance to review.
Profit/Loss January 1, 2011 through November 1, 2011

Office supplies: $XXX
Secretarial Services: $XXXX
Property rental: $XXXX
Banners: $XX
Other Expenses: $XXXX

Approximate Checking Account Balance: $XXXXX
Kenn M. made the motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Norm C. seconded the motion. All members in attendance agreed. The treasurer’s report was accepted.
3.) Secretary’s report:
Membership Totals:
Individual Membership: 16
Individuals from a Club Membership: 1
Club Memberships: 5
Family Membership: 8
Sustaining Memberships: 2
            Membership totals remained the same from the August 2011 membership meeting. One thousand membership brochures were printed on heavier and glossier paper. The only concern that I have is the darkness of the writing on the inside of the brochure. It is my opinion that the writing needs to be darker or the background picture lightened to make the writing stand out more. I choose a company out of Lancaster to print the brochure at a cost of $.215 a piece. Kenn M. suggested a company in his area to use called Somerset Commercial Printing. He will drop off a brochure and see about getting a quote for us.
     Norm C. put forth the motion to accept the secretary’s report. Geoff W. seconded the motion. All members in attendance agreed. The secretary’s report was accepted.
4.) Webmaster Report: Geoff W.
     Norm C., Bill K., and I recently met and made some discussion about what direction we want to take with the new site. I have been soliciting, by word of mouth, to find a graphic designer to build the new site. The search has not been very successful. I have had several people say that they were interested in taking on the project, but at this time no one has called to set it in stone. My next step is going to be to draft a request for proposals.   I will share the request with the board members for review prior to issuing it to the general public.
5.) Legislative Report: Matt M.
     Matt had some issues that came up and was unable to attend the meeting. He emailed Bill K. the legislative report for him to read to the members in attendance.
His report stated:
     Good morning everyone, unfortunately I am unable to be at this meeting, so I have sent this report to Bill.
First, the ongoing effort to fix the title loophole for APV registrations created in House Bill 2 in 1999 is ongoing. When Representative Balderson was appointed to fill out a Senate term, moving him from the house to the senate, the process was set back and we had to start over. I have been working with his aid, Joshua Eck, and about a week ago Josh called to let me know they had two bills picked out as potential vehicles to add this as an amendment. To refresh your memories, the loophole created allowed the registration of certain year APVs without presenting a title, even though a title exists.
Second, at the last SRV Fund Advisory Board meeting, we asked the leadership at ODNR to support us in creating a grant process to access funds from the SRV Fund. Currently there are no defined rules or procedures for how the fund may be used. I have been researching how to set up the grant system, including looking at Minnesota's system. I do not yet have language to present, as I was surprised by some things I found in the Ohio Revised Code while researching this that have added to the burden. Here are the main goals I will seek to accomplish when we create the grant process:
•           The grant system will be created by legislative process; this makes it far more permanent than creating it by order of the ODNR administration. Anything created by this administration could be reversed by a new director and staff. Legislating the grant program prevents that.
•           The grant program will provide a clear mechanism for accessing the SRV Fund for projects not on ODNR property.
•           Any disbursement of funds will require the approval of the SRV Fund Advisory Board.
Please forward me any other suggestions for the grant system.
While doing research for the grant system I was looking through the online version of the Ohio Revised Code and could not find the code section that enacts the SRV Fund Advisory Board. So I went back through my old emails from when we were working on HB2 back in 2009, which contained the language that created the board. The section of code that was created in the legislation was 1519.20:
Sec. 1519.20. The director of natural resources may create an Ohio all-purpose vehicle advisory board for the purposes of providing advice and receiving input regarding all-purpose vehicle trails and trail maintenance.
However, the section is NOT in the Ohio Revised Code. I then looked up the Ohio Legislatures Legislative Service Commission analysis for HB2 as it was passed in 2009. The LSC report can be found here:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/analyses.cfm?ID=128_HB_2&ACT=As%20Enrolled
Here is the very disturbing part of the bill analysis that explains why the section of law creating the board is missing from Ohio law:
The act permits the Director of Natural Resources to create an Ohio All-Purpose Vehicle Advisory Board to provide advice and receive input regarding all-purpose vehicle trails and trail maintenance. The act states that such authority and such a board cease to exist two years after the provision's effective date unless the General Assembly reauthorizes the authority and the board.
Obviously, someone did something very sneaky, and we need to include a permanent fix in the legislation that creates the grant process.
Again I apologize for not being able to attend today's meeting, but I am still hard at work on these issues.
6.) MC Chair: Tom C.
     We have had an RTP fund advisory board meeting. Recently the AMA sent out a press release on the possible elimination of the RTP fund. The current legislation and highway bill are looking to eliminate the funding for RTP money. The Recreational Trails Program was originally known as the Sims Act and it was put into place where off highway vehicles pay for gas which includes a highway gas tax. But, these types of vehicles do not use the highways. They were able to take an estimate of the amount of fuel used by off highway vehicles and it was then dispersed back to the states in the way of a recreational trails fund. To get unilateral support it was set up to give some of the money to non-motorized trails. In fact, a big portion of the fund goes towards non-motorized trails. Trails to Trails programs and hiking trails are just a couple examples of non-motorized programs. It is mandated that at least 30% of the fund has to go towards motorized trails. That has been a good amount of money for the last several years. The RTP fund is run with a grant system. Every couple of years the fund seems to be up in the air because of the Highway Bill. The latest report from the AMA is a proposal to cut that fund so that all of the money stays in the highway fund. On the AMA site they have a link to write your representatives to let them know you support keeping the fund in place.
     The RTP fund is a huge percentage of the funding for APV trails and trails maintenance in Ohio. Both the state and the Wayne National Forest have stated that this year they approved $400,000 for a private entity in Guernsey County to develop an off road riding park. I do not have all of the details for this new riding area. The initial stage is purchasing the land. The land is an old strip mine land. The seller has made an agreement with them that if they buy x amount of acres then they will include access to several thousand acres more. It could be a pretty large area. I do not know much about the developers of the park but I know that they scored high on their grant application.
     While the Guernsey County project is backed through the county it does not have to be backed for existing state trails projects. Anybody that is providing public access can apply for a grant. The grant application is scored and they start at the top scores and work their way down until the funding funs out. The state automatically gets and amount for its own trials. The Wayne has been a major recipient of the funds. The Wayne got hit pretty hard this year because of the Guernsey County project. The Wayne’s user permit sales are down and funding from the federal government is less than normal. This caused the Wayne to depend pretty heavily on the RTP fund. The board went back and is working with Damian Shipley to get them some money, but they are not getting anywhere close to the amount they applied for. It is important that we get support out thee for keeping the RTP fund ongoing in the new highway tax. It would be a major blow to off road recreation projects if the fund went away.
5. President’s Report: Bill K.
·         I have spoken with the interim director of the ODNR, Scott Zody, about our desire to make the SRV fund advisory board legislatively enacted and legislatively empowered. I have known Scott for about 20 years. He is behind it and says the department is in favor of it also.
·         I have recently traveled to the Pike ATV area and participated in a trail ride with members of the ODNR. Pike has a great set of trails, but they are just way too short. This was an area that was supposed to get expanded during the last administration but it did not happen. The current administration does want to work toward expanding the area. Since the trail ride I have talked to Nate Curt about Region 5. I discovered that he is originally from here and is an avid ATV rider. Nate also runs the Shawnee State Park. The Chief of Forestry, Bob Boyles, was a motocross rider in high school and still enjoys riding. The interim director of the ODNR is an avid hunter and fisherman. We now actually have people within the state who enjoy outdoor and off road activities.
·         Burr Oak State Park is going to be an activity park. They want to have zip lines and are looking at laying out at least 20 miles of APV trails. I have given the state information on landowners in the area. They are currently working with the commission to get certain roads designated APV friendly. The activity area it still in the planning and layout phase. There are some outstanding issues with the lodges needing updates and maintenance. The cabins in the area have been updated and are ready for use. Two other things that may cause problems for the activity area are: First, the Buckeye Trail goes through that same area. The Buckeye Trail organization is a tight and well organized operation and it is not known, at this time, how they will react to having APV trails next to their existing trails. Second, is the discussion with the Wayne about connecting roads to the area. Currently there are a couple of options for a connection to the area available. They are leaning toward a road more north in the area of where the New Straitsville loop comes out onto Rt. 216.
·         I received some information form Dennis W. about a place up by Cleveland that is a motocross park that has 300 acres. The area has an opportunity to get some additional acreage beside it. The area is family owned. They do 4x4 recreation there as well as motorcycles. The area has a track and trails. LCOR had one of their events here and enjoyed the experience. The owner passed away and his family does not want to see it go away, but do not have the means or time to keep up with maintenance. The family is interested in leasing the area. Dennis and I spoke with the family to try and see what price they were interested in to lease the area. I contacted the state and they jumped right on the opportunity. I gave the state the contact information for the family and they are now handling the issue.
·         Muddy Buddies has a show and glow event recently that I attended. This event is like a car show. Unfortunately for them some of the dealers did not show up and attendance was down this year. They did a limited raffle and gave OMTA approximately $50 from the proceeds. They plan to take the remaining raffle items to another event and will send OMTA the proceeds.
·         OMTA is in almost daily contact with the ODNR to stay involved in what is going on regarding off road trails and trails maintenance.
·         Norm C. and I went through Stone Quarry Rd with Bob Boyles, the head of the Division of Forestry. The forest manager of Zaleski State Park will be handling the Stone Quarry road issues. The Vinton County Engineer sated that wherever we say the road is he would make it official. We went out with a couple cans of marking paint and a GPS and marked where the road should be. They stated that any straightening or work that needed done would be taken care of by them. The road is approximately 7 miles long.
·         Bill K. will put OMTA membership brochures at the travel and tourism center and the Welcome center in Logan, Ohio. Bill will also put brochures at the Wayne National Forest and will see if any other state agency would be willing to display the brochures.
E) Old Business:
§ At the last OMTA meeting the question was raised about whether we can use a teleconferencing system instead of face to face meetings. OMTA’s attorney stated that yes by Ohio statue we could hold meetings this way. Bill K. will send board members the email he received from the attorney.
§ Regarding printing logo on pop-ups and banners:
The OMTA secretary found a local company, Logan Screen Printing, to complete the project. The company had originally stated that they would be able to complete the project for a little over $100 for each of the logos. Including the cost of the pop-ups the total cost for each pop-up would have run approximately $300. However, the company realized that in fact they would not be able to print directly onto the canopy fabric. They are currently looking around to see if another company in the area can complete the job. Four back drop banners and four small banners have been ordered through Logan Screen Printing and should be ready shortly.
·         Regarding Bar Hangers:
The secretary found a company called uprinting.com that has a program for non-profit organizations. If OMTA places the uprinting name on the hanger and puts a link to the company on our website then they will give us a $250 printing credit. The hangers will be 3 ½ by 8 ½ inches and will cost approximately $.15 each for 2500 copies. At the last meeting it was suggested that we contact the AMA or BRC to see if they would like to advertise on one side of the hanger. This would cut OMTA’s cost in half. Another question regarding the hangers is; what should the hangers say? A concern was raised that we should not use any specific brand name on the hangers. It is believed that this would cause dealerships to resist putting the hangers on the sales floor.
·         Regarding cost of conference calls:
The secretary looked at 3 different companies that offer the service. The companies were: Gotomeeting.com, conferencecall.com and bestconferencecallprovider.com. Each company offered services for around $.10 a minute. I found one company that stated their service was “free” for up to 15 callers. This service cannot guarantee a meeting time will be available. They also do not use toll free numbers so members out of the area would be charged long distance charges by their particular carrier. Bill K. suggested that the teleconference meetings should be used for board of director meetings and not general membership meetings. A teleconference meeting will be set up within the next couple months to test out the service.
·         Dennis W. and LCOR have stepped up and stated that they will put on one of the OMTA open houses. It would be nice to put on at least 3 more open houses around the state.
·         Regarding OMTA Magazine:
Jane Crystal is willing to help us with seeing what it would take to put out a yearly OMTA magazine. Unfortunately, due to prior commitments she was unable to attend the meeting today.
F.) New Business:
·         OMTA needs to look into an event that takes place at the end of October each year at Crow Canyon. A lot of people attend this event each year and it would be an excellent place for OMTA to have a presence. Crow Canyon is in Uhrichsville off of 250 past Coshocton.
·         It was decided to go back to using and distributing yearly laminated membership cards.
·         Kenn M. brought up an idea to pull in more membership. Take next year and open membership up to clubs for one year for free. There would be some requirements for the club to receive the free membership. First, they would have to agree to take the pop-ups an educational information regarding OMTA to one event during the year. Next, they would have to encourage their membership to join OMTA as individual members. Next, they would have to provide OMTA with their membership mailing list. This would allow OMTA to capture more names and contact information for off road enthusiasts. Lastly, the club would have to put a link to OMTA’s website on their club’s website. The clubs joining under these conditions would only receive information electronically. This would be an excellent way to build membership and get OMTA information out to more people. Kenn M. made the motion to make club membership free for 1 year depending on completion of above requirements. Tom C. seconded the motion. All members in attendance agreed. The motion was passed.   The motion will be reevaluated at the end of the 2012 calendar year.
·         It is important for OMTA members to forward information on upcoming events to Bill K. or Sheri Y. This will allow OMTA to contact the organization about allowing us to set up at the event.
·         OMTA will look into getting new member stickers. OMTA will look into getting stickers to pass out at events.

The next meeting date is:
The next meeting dates will be discussed and decided on during the upcoming teleconference call meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at:
11:33 am

Last Updated ( Friday, 09 December 2011 )