Meeting Minutes

The June 6, 2007 meeting was called to order at 7:03 a.m. at the Bonfire in Litchfield.

President: Dale Steinborn
Vice President: Jim Orn
Treasurer: Tammy Winkels
Secretary: Rebecca Martinson
Chapter Rep: Wendy Steinborn
Sgt. At Arms: Al Salisbury, Joe Martin and Rich Winkels

We had two guests – Erin Nowak and Teresa Nowak, all officers and 25 members.

SECRETARY’S REPORT was read by Rebecca Martinson; motion was made by Charence to accept the minutes, seconded by Lori; passed by hand vote.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Chapter Products by Tammy. Buddy bears are in; they are $6.00 for personal use; there are a couple extra. Tammy asked who would be interested in ordering long sleeved t-shirts.

Gambling by Jim. The balance in the gambling fund is about $700 due to the sale at ABATE U of tickets. We need to continue to sell rally tickets to increase the fund. Mack expressed his concerns about other chapters’ perhaps-illegal gambling activities and warned us to be very careful how we describe our activities.

Ways & Means by Dale, next meeting in Montrose at the Ugly Bar on July 15.

Membership and Retention by Dale. Unknown when the next meeting is. Dale reminded us that we need a chapter representative on the committee.

State Rally by Dale. The next meeting will be on July 14 at the fairgrounds. Our chapter will take a security shift; Wendy read the open shifts available at the rally; we need a head front gate supervisor every day; our sponsorships are down – we’ve lost some but gained a few; if sponsors sign up before August 1, their names will be printed in the rally program. Tickets are $35 until the July board of directors meeting.

Dial-a-Ride by Dale. Frank brought our new trailer over; Mike and Gina are now covering the Spicer area; Dale needs coverage for several weekends in June and July.

Joe Matter Scholarship Safety Riders Course by Artie. Tim Stocker talked about the course he took and recommends it to older riders and younger moped riders as well.

PGR Riders by Wingnut. An upcoming deployment leaves at 5:15 from Litchfield.

STATE REP REPORT by Wendy. Next meeting on June 9 in Cokato and on July 15 at the board of directors meeting.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT by Jim. Jim reported on the meeting with Gov. Pawlenty and the proclamation he signed for motorcycle awareness. He supports the right of adult riders to choose the safety equipment they use based on their own personal choice and experience.

OLD BUSINESS. Charlie will take care of getting the buddy bears to the fire and police departments.
We took in about $1000 total at the Spring Fling and put $500 in the Joe Matter Scholarship Fund. Paynesville merchants were very good to us; we made about $794 on the silent auction.
Charlie thanked the chapter for its support of the DQ/Foundation ride. There were 228 registered riders. He doesn’t have the final numbers yet.
There were 12 people at the ditch cleanup; we need to do it in April as later the grass is too tall to do it easily.
There were about 15 riders signed up for the Memorial Sunday ride.
The Mies Dirt Run was successful; rally tickets were sold.
Artie talked about the Ride for a Cure; it’s about 90 miles, and he needs 18-22 volunteers for road guarding.
Those going to the Wisconsin ABATE rally are leaving on June 15 from Hojie’s.
Thanks to Judy for the fine Dial a Ride pictures.
We decided to continue with the public service announcements on the Hutch radio station; there are two different ads.


NEW BUSINESS: The new owner of the bar in St. Anna asked whether we could put together a bike run for her grand opening and if we would road guard in exchange for reimbursement for two riders for the Scholarship Course. A ride in Little Falls is scheduled for June 9 in Little Falls; we need at least 15 road guards. Dale wants to stop at the Dial a Ride sponsors on the way home to drop off pictures. We need volunteers to man the membership table at the Iowa ABATE rally. Litchfield parade is July 7; meet at 4:30 at the high school. Discussion about the timing for the Wisconsin Twister run. Tickets are available through Wendy. Darwin Days is August 11, we will be setting up the tent and selling rally tickets. Joe and Patty will pay for the booth fee and have their party afterwards. Wingnut made a motion to reimburse Joe for the booth fee and Diane seconded it, but Joe won’t accept it, but will donate to the Joe Matter Scholarship Fund. A discussion about chapter active patches, with Jim modeling the patches.

OPEN DISCUSSION. Please keep track of local celebrations and let the chapter know about them so we can show our support as bikers. Among other things, it’s an opportunity to sell rally tickets. We discussed whether to do a chapter sponsorship and give out the tickets at meetings like we did last year. A $250 sponsorship would give us 5 tickets and $500 11 tickets. Clarence made a motion for the chapter to get a $250 sponsorship and Charlie seconded it. There was a discussion whether we could afford it as a chapter. By hand vote, there were two in favor of the purchase and 24 opposed with one abstension.

At 8:10 Lori made a motion to adjourn with Andy seconding. Passed by hand vote.

Meeting Minutes