Thunder Bay Nordic Trails
Annual General Meeting – November 2nd, 2023
Kamview Nordic Centre plus Zoom
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| Attendance | 24 TBNT members and 3 staff were in attendance.
Ross Johnston, Pam Dawes, Laura Darby, Shawn Allen, ,Cheryl Cameron, Janice Ryan, Kim Armstrong, Alan Cranston, Shanna Cameron Picard, Frank Pollari, Karen Davis, Rick McMullen, Alison McMullen, Ron Lappage, Lorne Morrow, Michael McKenzie, Gavin Freitag, Nancy Lukai, Tiffany Moore, Frank Wilson, Stephanie Barnes, Lisa Patterson, Keith Hautala, Trevor Kobe Regrets: Cheryl Cameron, Jiska Westbroek, Lisa Bowes Staff: Dave Suttie, Lis Salmon, Tina Lewandowski Recorder: Peter Gallagher |
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| Welcome and Introductions | Ross Johnston, TBNT Board Chair, welcomed and thanked those in attendance. The members of the Board of Directors and staff were introduced. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minutes | The minutes of the November 9th, 2022 AGM were reviewed and approved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finance | Derek Tycholas of LCPS accountants presented the audited financial statement for May 2021 to April 2022.
The audited statement and appointment of LCPS as 2022/23 auditor were approved. |
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| Sleeping Giant Loppet Report |
First full event after the pandemic Thanks to organizing committee Linda Browning Morrow, Alison Hart, Alison McMullen, Greg Stewart, Olivia Clarke, Kassandra Rossi, Launi Weber Thanks to TBNT staff Peter Crooks, Dave Suttie, Heather Kivi, Lis Salmon 200 volunteers – including LU Outdoor rec students 150 skiers from out of town Surplus of $12,000 – savings of $5,000 from bibs and awards not used in 2022 Largest participation event in any Ontario Provincial Park Loss of Christian Carl SGPP Superintendent Loss of Thunder Bay Timing but Rod Somppi very helpful
Next Event 2024, March 2nd |
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| Manager’s Report | Dave Suttie (Manager’s Report) for AGM 2022 – 2023 Season
– Thank you everyone for taking time to attend the AGM, my name is Dave. – The choicest part of the 22-23 Season was the lifting of the COVID restrictions! – It was amazing to have people back in the chalet laughing, talking and enjoying themselves with perhaps a coffee, tea, cookie, soup or chili! The way it should be! Off Season Work – Off season work did not start until after May 5th in 2022 because that was the last day in the groomer for the season, close to a record! – Once things dried out regular maintenance started – Clean up around buildings, grass cutting, brushing & fallen tree removal and getting equipment ready for the next ski season. – A lift was rented, all light-fixtures and connection boxes were inspected and repaired where needed. Rental Trailer Revamp – Gutted the old rental trailer and tore down the old snowshoe storage building, saving the floor. – We kept one wax room and used the rest of the space to setup an organized rental shop with better flow. We reworked the boot, ski, and pole racks for easier access for employees and added benches for boot fittings. Then set up a work bench to service & wax skis, moved the snowshoes into this space and best of all replaced the oil heater for gas. – With the saved floor from the old snowshoe trailer we added a new room to house ski patrol and some storage. – So now we have a choice organized facility to house all of our rental equipment and ski patrol.
– More drainage ditching has been done and some manual brushing. – A feller buncher was brought in to open up the canopy on the Roadway Ramble, Jackrabbit, Lynx and the Beaver trails. – The amount of work done with the feller buncher in a week would have taken me and a crew of 4 or more with saws and a chipper 3 seasons. Plus, it is safer! Chalet – Not a lot of work was required in the chalet. – We removed all the COVID restrictions, and it was back to pre-COVID business. New Equipment – With the help of a Trillium grant of $150,000.00, the sale of our old Piston Bully for $100.000.00 and money saved we were able to purchase a brand new Pisten Bully. It’s Super Choice! – New Sled – New Lawnmower – New ticket scanner and had some computer upgrades were done. – Finally got our new boots & skiis in the rental fleet. Parks partnership – Sadly 2022 – 2023 saw the end of the Thunder Bay Nordic Trails and Parks Ontario partnership. Parks Ontario is going in a different direction. – However, this hasn’t affected the Sleeping Giant Loppet – It was a learning curve for them but things seem to be working out.
Summer Events – With COVID on the down swing summer events started coming back. We hosted: o LU Kinesiology with chalet rental o Shower and a wake both with chalet rental o Hunter Safety courses o Return of Tuesday Fresh Air Fun Runs o Up-River running High Noon event o LU & Confederation College Forestry Students o School X-country running o Fall Colours walk o Successful Ski Swap o Off Road ½ Marathon Ski Season – Early November brought record breaking warm temperatures in the high teens & 20’s making me wonder if winter will ever come. – But on November 15th things changed and we got a “lake effect” dump of snow, approximately 25cm of the wet stuff. – Even with the wet and warmish conditions we had pretty choice skiing on the Roadway Ramble and Beaver trails for both skate and classic. – As it often does at this time of year on November 23rd, we shut down because of warm weather. – By November 30th things cooled down and we got more snow therefore the Roadway Ramble, Beaver, Lit Loop (with lights on) and the chalet were open. – Again, on December 16th Mother Nature said “no” and it warmed up and we had to shut down! – By December 18th we were open again and grooming with the Pisten Bully. Chalet was open and lights were on! – By December 24th the whole trail system was Pisten Bulley groomed, and we were fully open. – As the season went on it kept snowing. The weather was very pleasant throughout the season. – December 30th the new PB was put into action. There was a learning curve but what a choice machine. – Staff was happy with how the revamped wax trailer worked and that the chalet was back to pre-COVID operation. – The winter over all went super choice with only a few minor hiccups. An electrical problem with the new PB and a little trouble with one of the sleds that were fixed in a timely fashion. – Now that things were opened up again, we saw the return of: o Normal Jackrabbits & Jackrabbit games o Cadet Biathlon o Steps & Strides o Masters o Skiing in the schools o 55 Plus o Kamview Tour o Candle lit skis and snowshoe; it was NUTS! o Underground gym – The 22-23 Season ended on April 10th not quite as long as the 21-22 Season which ended in May. It was a super choice Season! I would like to take a moment to recognize the awesome Staff we have here at Kamview. They give 110% and this place wouldn’t be what it is without them. Thank you to all of the Volunteers who take time from their busy schedules to make Kamview the place it is! The trail system is looking choice for this up coming season. More trail work has been done this summer and fall. Aspen and Lookout are going to look a lot different this season have more snow! Membership sales are up this year, trails are in super choice shape, I am predicting “2 thumbs up” for this season and more to come! |
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| Chair’s Comments
Ross Johnston
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Forest Management Statement:
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| Election of Officers | Five members nominated for three positions:
Cheryl Cameron, Jiska Westbroek, Lisa Paterson, Al Cranston, Lorne Morrow
Elected Cheryl, Jiska, Al |
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