Reform, Re-org, and Renew

In an effort to keep every member of EC4WDA Northeast Region (D) informed and up-to-date on the activity of your Association, we started this blog back in the spring. Well, it got away from me and instead of keeping the updates coming; I lost the focus of it. While I’ve heard from clubs outside of our Region express the blog was informative and motivational to them, the primary goal for you, the members, got lost. So let’s get back to business!

Trailfest 2008: It came together finally and proved to be a big hit! Special thanks to Don Roy of HV4W. He worked extremely hard zipping it all together into one event and we all learned a great deal from it. Thank you to ALL our Region volunteers for coming together for this, and thanks to ALL the participants for coming! 2009 planning is underway and we’ll be that much better as a result. We’ll definitely have an easier registration, a pricing level that will be more affordable, more t-shirts, and more raffle items!

Newsletter: Our newsletters have been going out during the month of the Region meetings. I’d like to bump it up to at least two weeks prior to make distribution easier (and cheaper!). Therefore, the October newsletter will be printed by the end of September, with articles and advertisements due no later than September 15th. Please spread the word, and if your business is interested in advertising in the Trail Register, email me at the address listed here on the “profile”.
The newsletter format is set, most content is driven from outside the Region with some from member clubs, and advertiser rates are posted. What we need now is an editor to pull it together and print it. If you’re interested in giving back to your clubs and your Region (not to mention you get a seat on the Region BOD as Region D Editor), please let me know. I’ll be sure the transition is seamless and you won’t get left “holding the bag”.

October Region Meeting: The October meeting is just over a month away (October 19th), but this meeting will be the foundation to start building into 2009 as January is the “action” month. The tentative agenda will be posted on our members’ forum in the next few weeks, so if you or your club has something to add to it, send it in so we can allocate sufficient time to address it.
We’re moving the meeting to EVB in Danbury CT. (EVB is an active supporter of OHV recreation and a proud sponsor of our Region.) While our meetings have been set at 4 hours for as long as I can remember, I’d like to see it expanded to 5 hours (10am to 3pm). Having it at the EVB building will allow us more flexibility if we decide to do this, and also allow us to have a much more productive meeting where important decisions can be thoroughly discussed AND ACTED ON. The October meeting will only run 4 hours however.
In anticipation of 2009, I need each club delegate to work out what they’d like to see from the Association and the Region. Since this meeting is a precursor to our November Association meeting, it allows me a chance to take some of our Region concerns and comments to the national level. I know what I’d like to see from above, but I need your input to make it work of you. Outline your goals and critiques and give us all a chance to make it happen.
We’re already planning Region-sponsored trail work for next year. This will be in place by the time your club schedules start forming, so please make sure to check Region events before you fill in the dates. Of course it’s not required, but it’ll make volunteering for these “parties” much easier to plan for.
Also, our private property “policy” regarding inter-club rides will be undergoing a reform to allow easier scheduling with fewer conflicts. One idea being floated is a calendar “lottery”, whereas each POC will release open dates and clubs will pick which ones they want. Then depending on if a date has multiple clubs wanting it, we’ll select it from a hat in January. We certainly don’t want the POC’s to feel like tour guides all year, so please don’t expect an enormous amount of open dates for each trail. We’re looking to make it fair and equitable for all the clubs involved. Perhaps even an “auction” for desired trails and dates?

During the course of the next few months we’re also going to be seeing the Land Use re-organization mentioned in an earlier post be implemented, as well as instill an aggressive public relations branch.

We need to fill the Community Service position also. Please send in your name if you're interested.

On a final note, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it), EC4WDA Northeast Region (D) has a NO ALCOHOL ON THE TRAIL policy for Region events.
Please do not drink on the trail. It’s a bad idea.

So there's a snapshot of your Region this month. You can reach me anytime at my email address! I need to hear what you need to say!