St. Croix Valley Riders

General Meeting Minutes- October 12, 2014

Call Meeting to Order -Sargent at Arms: Dwight Smith

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call

President: Mark Koon, Vice President: Randy Holland, Secretary: Julie Rice Treasurer: Beth Franz, MN Legislative Director: Shane Murphy, WI Legislative Director: Dan Hren, Directors at Large: Norm Pollard, Mike Hammett

President’s Introduction: Mark Koon

Be careful out there. We have 7 motorcycle/deer deaths, 39 fatalities, 53 last year at this time.

December 20th - 12-3 will be the Children’s Christmas Party at the Legion. If you would like to help, contact a BOD member.

The Chili Feed went well. We are still getting a few bills coming in to pay off. There are rumors going around that this was the last one, we aren’t doing any more, NOT true. We do have an offer from a camp ground to hold the Chili Feed. The Board will check it out next week. We need to change the dates for upcoming meetings due to conflicts with the Legion.

November 16th: Motion was made to change the date. It was seconded, voted and approved.

January 18th- Motion was made to change the date, it was seconded, voted on and approved.

May 3rd- due to a conflict with Mother’s Day. A motion was made to change the date, it was seconded, voted on and approved.

Secretary’s Report: Julie Rice

Motion was made to waive reading of the minutes and approve as written. There was a second to the motion, it was voted on and approved.

Treasurer’s Report: Beth Franz

The financials are on the tables. Overall so far this year’s income is $145,795 and total expenses of $134,841. Most of the budget is right on, but the lobby which is $3000 MRF contribution, which has already been paid. Rider’s Education is under budget. The RBR has been finalized and we lost a lot on that event. Chili Feed has not yet been finalized, since a few invoices have come in. I feel we did a bit better than last year. I hope to have a final profit next month. Available Funds on 8/1 were $46,917 and on 10/1 were $87,616. Motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s report as written subject to audit. It was seconded, no discussion, voted on and approved.

Merchandise Report: Therese Hammett

I want to thank all the volunteers that helped when I was crippled up. I gave Mark notice that I have to step down for a few months to heal, so if you would like to take over, that would be great.

Membership: Judy Gebhardt:

We had 46 new or renewed and we are at 1146 members, just one less than a year ago. There will be a $5.00 increase for membership dues. It was added that we will be donating to a PAC fund and the dues increase needs to be voted on. A motion was made to have a $5.00 increase and that $3.00 will be elected to go to the PAC fund if member chooses to do so. It was seconded, voted on and approved. The increase will happen immediately.

Rider’s Education: Ron Lischeid:

We budgeted $5000 for education classes and used only $1000. We encourage you to take classes and get reimbursed your fee. We encourage WI members to take the classes and they are cheaper here than WI. April 15, 2015, will be the first Road Guard training. It is $30 for the class, good for 4 years. The certification will start in October of 2015.We could request a special class for SCVR members only if there is enough interest .If you have a DWI within the past five years, you most likely won’t be able to take the class. There was a question about having the 3 yr membership reduced to 2 yrs, for having it reimbursed. It may be discussed by the BOD. Take a class and get more experience.

Road Captain: Randy Holland

I am working on a new calendar. Thanks for everything. Watch for deer and follow at a safe distance.

MN Legislative Report: Shane Murphy:

They are not is session and elections are coming up, so they are out campaigning. I will put a link on FB where you can find out where you vote. I went to Meeting of the Minds and talked to the other state’s members. If we have our PAC, we can direct money to candidates who support us.

WI Legislative Report: Dan Hren:

Nothing new. Get to know who you are going to vote for. There are 28 open seats for incumbents not running. We need to let the new ones know about motorcycle rights.

?- After going to the Meeting of the Minds, how do you feel we rank with the other states?

Mark- I think MN and WI are above most. Missouri and Nebraska are struggling to get helmet law overturned.

Dave Woodruff, who is the Sargent at Arms ABATE, from the state of Georgia, attended the meeting. He is also a member of SCVR. He stated Georgia is a helmet state for 40 yrs. We aren’t enjoying the freedoms that you are. We are trying to find out who is motorcycle friendly.

Public Relations: Jeannine Maurer: absent

Newsletter: Penny Nielsen- absent

Newsletter went to print and having trouble with printer.

Webmaster: Sheila Sumner- absent

Sheila is stepping down and Shane will take over on January 1st

Adopt-A-Highway: Julie Rice

Meet at the Bungalow after meeting. Pizza and drinks at the Beach Bar after.

MRF: Beth Franz:

Elections are on Nov 4th. If you go to govtrack.us, you can research bills and get voting records. If you would like sign up to be a member of the MRF, I have applications here.

Sunshine Fund : Marissa Peterson:

Plaques were sent to members Diana Berbich-father passed, Rhonda Lindeman-daughter passed, and Penny Oslund-mother passed.

Old Business:

At the Meeting of the Minds Jim Dahling won a Certificate from the Association of Independent Riders for his work. He was also presented a trophy for the President’s Award. It was presented to Jim in front of the membership.

Whitey thanked us for the gift card he received after his accident.

Bill F. stated two members who were in a motorcycle accident and Larry lost a limb, need help from our insurance company. Mark will get the info to Bill.

Susie would like us to be in a parade on November 29th in Cannon Falls. It is called Deck the Falls, and it will be a night parade with lights. It will start at 5:00.

.New Business:

Jim Dahling gave a presentation on the PAC fund and what it means to the members of the SCVR. A PAC is a Political Action Committee. We have a treasurer and money. We have hoops to go through to donate money to representatives. It is a great opportunity for SCVR. John Illing was in charge of this, but before he died, he asked me (Jim), to take over this position and make this go to an organization to help donate to politicians. He didn’t want it to go to ABATE. The BOD voted to help with the PAC fund, with the help of membership dues, $3.00 per member. This is an optional donation. Our freedoms depend on this. We will donate to those who help our cause. The PAC will be a separate organization to that of the SCVR. We will be prudent in where we put the money. There is about $21,000 in the fund. This will only go to the state level for now, not the federal. For now, only this money will go to MN reps.We will let you know what money comes in and where it goes. It will be represented as the Motorcycle PAC of MN, but associated with the SCVR.

A motion was made to support and donate to the PAC Fund that Jim Dahling will be running. There was a second. Discussion: Can this be started immediately? Yes. Jim: We may have to have the membership names and addresses for this.

This was now voted on and approved. We now have a PAC Fund to support.

Reo: We have two members from Amber Alert to present SCVR with a plaque, thanking us for our support. Dave Trejo stepped down and Elena (?) and Ronnie Trejo, will co-chair this.

New Members: none today

Member Contributions: $80.00- Won by Julie Rice

Adjourn: The next General Meeting will be November 16th SPP Legion…

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