President's Report

As a result of both our recent ATVANS and provincial elections we are currently planning our upcoming Board meeting where we will be working on our strategic plan. We have started the engagement process with the new MLAs and deputy ministers. We have received correspondence and the executive director is working on making appointments with the relevant ministers and their staff. Share the Road remains a priority issue. While the Traffic Safety Act reflects many of our concerns the relevant regulations have not been completed. We have given input into these regulations, and we will be suggesting regulatory changes in our meetings.

As is always the case with the president’s position I am interacting with the executive director, staff, officers, and board several times during the week.

I want to encourage clubs to use social media productively. I see many examples of the great work clubs are doing but I would like to see many of these posts include the links for people to join our clubs. We do great things for the sport and so don’t be shy to ask people to join our organization.

I encourage you to create more club events and fun runs this fall, following Covid protocols, as that is how we have grown substantially over the past few years. Have some fun and encourage them to join us and give our members a few perks at these events. Members provide the financial support for our clubs as well as volunteering on many diverse projects.

I, along with board members, will continue to work for the benefit of our members.

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Lombard

Executive Directors Report

It has been a very busy time at ATVANS over the past few months. We planned and held our annual general meeting along with the volunteer appreciation night. By all accounts it was a good day and evening. I want to thank those who attended and congratulate those who received awards.

Volunteer of the Year: Sherm Embree (Shelburne County ATV Club)

Club of the Year: Eigg Mountain Trails Association

Executive Member of the Year: Mike McKinley

Trail Builder of the Year: David MacDonald & Donnie Ross (Eigg Mountain)

Ray Gouthro Memorial Award: Chris Bishop (ACAMUTS)

An election of officers occurred during the AGM, and a full list of officers and directors can be found on the www.atvans.org website. Photo from the AGM with several board members missing.

Our 11-month lottery license for Rafflebox 50/50 was completed at the end of September, and we have since renewed our lottery license for another 12 months. This time the Nova Scotia lottery commission required we provide a template agreement for each club, and that all clubs are registered and in good standing with the registry of joint stocks. We are still waiting on a few clubs but have moved forward with the October lottery with the clubs who replied prior to application submission. Clubs not on the list can be added and emails have been sent to those clubs with required information.

Over the past few months, we have been busy organizing and distributing the 2022 membership books. This is slightly earlier than stated in our policy, however not as early as last year. We still have a few clubs who have not returned the previous unsold books and they have been notified. Online 2022 membership started several weeks ago; members were notified by e-mail and membership renewal online is remarkably busy.

I have been busy meeting with local leaders and large landowners over past few months. We are hoping to announce a major land use agreement with a large landowner in the near future. I also hosted a virtual meeting with HRM councilors to discuss ATV use in the suburban and rural areas and how we can work together. Seven councilors attended along with staff of ATVANS board members and club representatives who were available.

During the past quarter we also had a provincial election, and we once again surveyed the political parties and shared their response with members. In addition, we prepared and distributed to clubs a standard introduction letter to assist clubs in meeting with MLA’s in their area. We have sent request to meet with several ministers and expect replies soon.

We were able to work with leaders in several first nations on youth training and facilitated a course to trail youth from Glooscap first nation and Annapolis First Nation with more to happen in the spring. We have also heard from First Nation band members looking to establish local clubs and join ATVANS. Work is ongoing in this area.

We are working with local riders in under serviced areas and expect to see at least one new club in an under serviced area of Hants County. We have also had contact from a riding group in the Eskasoni First Nation looking to join ATVANS and we expect to meet soon via Teams to discuss next steps and benefits of belonging.

In addition, there has been the routine business of funding applications and reports to funders, insurance renewals, website and social media updates, member and club inquiries, business processes, bill payments, phone calls, e-mails, and Facebook messages. Now with nearly 6000 members the routine business, member and public inquiries is increasing daily.

The coming year will mark our 25th anniversary and we have kicked it off with a special 25th anniversary membership sticker. I look forward to a great year ahead and another record-breaking year for memberships.

Respectfully submitted,

Barry Barnet

Secretary Report

I participated in all officer calls that were held and made notes of what was discussed at each and sent to all on the call, mostly it’s tasks either assigned or status updates from last officer’s call.

I attended virtually the board meeting held in early September and minutes were distributed electronically, those minutes generated another officer call to discuss how minutes are taken. After such meeting their will be a task list made where each board member assigned a task will see the tasks and can then update his or her task.

Minutes will be taken with some detail as to provide a story and flow for clubs to read. If a board member or staff member wishes to not have the discussion in the minutes, he or she will notify the secretary of same by asking to go in camera

I have had no other meetings or participation in committees and nothing else to report.

Neil Mooy

Vice President 1 Report

I don't have a lot to report this cycle as I have only been on the Board since August. However, over the past 6 weeks I have participated in 3 Officers conference call, 1 full Board meeting via Teams, familiarized myself with most of the ATVANS policies and consulted with a number of Board members regarding current issues and initiatives impacting the association. Additionally I have devoted some time to reviewing the past Strategic Plan and preparing input for the new Strategic Plan that will be developed at the Board meeting on 30 Oct 21.

Respectfully

Rocky Pearce

Vice President 2 Report

I’m happy to be back as VP-2.

Even more excited to have the opportunity to have an in-person board meeting.

Since back in late spring, I’ve been working on PSA video with Heather from NS Trails. This has been much longer process then originally planned. With help and ideas from the committee and input from officers and staff I’m hoping we are satisfied with the finished product, and we can move along with the next video.

Looking forward to rolling out the dealership membership program this fall to help grow our membership at the point of sale and strengthen our relationships with dealers across the province. Many dealers are looking forward to the opportunity. The committee would also like to possibly pursue the sale of youth riding courses through our dealer partners at some point as well.

I’m looking forward to a productive next 2 years working with the board and staff to achieve our goals while being the champions of our sport in Nova Scotia.

Tom Arnold

Treasurer Report

The first 9 ½ month of the year are going as planned with no surprises yet and none expected. On the income side Lottery ticket sales over $ 116 thousand. The lottery income has decreased as the months went on. Membership fees $94 thousand, expecting strong results now until the end of the year as members renew for 2022. Our Core Funding application has been applied for and we usually see this income before the end of the year. No Sponsorship income as there were few to no events at this point. As clubs are now hosting Events and we are seeing some funds coming in under Event Fees from online Registration. Online Income for October 2021 has already passed the amount for 2020 and that was a record year. So far for 2021 we have processed just over $85 thousand online payments for membership, Events, and online store sales.

On the expense side, under Lottery Prizes, just under $130 thousand paid out. The winners received a total of almost $74 thousand and the clubs received just over $55 thousand. Under online payments to clubs, just over $36 thousand given to the clubs for online memberships. Meeting expenses and milage is well below plan as few if no meetings took place.

Small Grants

We have allocated almost $85 thousand of the $ 100 thousand for 2021 to Clubs and Community Trail Groups. Hat’s off to the great work they are doing out there.

Respectfully submitted,

Paul Smith

Trails Coordinator Report

Participated in Trails Strategy Coordinating Group zoom call. The group is meeting every four weeks and the sub committees meeting every four weeks to help move things along, more info on the Trails Strategy Coordinating Group can be fund here https://nstrails.com/trails-strategy/

Participation in Team Baseline which is a subcommittee of the TSCG dealing with building a trail data base at the Provincial level this is part of the Shared Trails Strategy. We held an in person meeting to go over attributes and the initial development of the data base which includes hiring a person dedicated to the job.

Participated in the ATVANS Officers, weekly employee, and other Conference calls.

Communication with NSE and clubs regarding trails under agreement in WPAs along with discussions/planning around funding to get necessary upgrades completed.

On trail in the Proposed Island Lake WPA (Ingramport) with NSE looking at the trail network currently in place.

Attended the SANS Trails Committee meeting, very similar discussions, and issues.

On trail with the Ocean Lake Riders ATV Club along with the Trail and OHV Program Officer looking at the work completed by the club along with discussion around issues clubs face doing projects in more remote areas not easily accessible.

Communication with LGS and Eric regarding mapping and updates.

Follow up with ACAMUTS Trails Committee Chair and DNRR regarding their Crown land LOA Application for legal connector trail between the Medway and Halfway area which will connect them and CNATV.

Addressing landowner concerns and verifying we do not have any trails identified on his property in our mapping available to the public.

Communication with North Shore ATV Club regarding funding to address landowners issues and concerns, the trail was closed but the club has reached an agreement with the landowner.

Attended monthly OHVIF meeting and finalized long term maintenance funding for operational rail trail at this time. The goal is to work towards a mechanism that provides stable maintenance funding for groups while at the same time making better use of the OHVIF.

Follow up notice planned to be sent out in Nov reminding the clubs of the OHVIF Funding deadline of November 15th.

Attended the ATVANS two-day planning and board meeting in Debert.

Dealt with small grant requests and final 20% requests from clubs, usual day to day emails and phone calls and helping clubs deal with final 20% requests from the OHVIF along with new applications for the deadline.

Logged 2243km in travel, attended 9 virtual meetings (810 minutes) and logged 2175 minutes on my phone. Much of my monthly business is continuation of long-term projects/items

Respectfully submitted,

Corey Robar

Lottery 50/50 Report

The ATVANS/Raffelbox 50/50 draw has been a huge success. We would like to thank everyone who has participated and supported our member clubs. To date we the combined jackpot total is $169,120.00, the total combined winner total is $84,580.00, and the combined amount raised for clubs is $66,004.00.

Our winners are:

ATVANS has just renewed the lottery license for the Rafflebox 50/50 Draw. As mentioned in the Executive Director’s report there were new requirements from Nova Scotia Alcohol and Gaming before we could renew our license. We are up and running with the October 2021 lottery with most clubs involved. We are still working with the remaining clubs to try and get them added into this license.

All draws were broadcast live on the ATVANS Facebook page, with the draw location being the ATVANS office at 11 Glendale Ave, Unit 3 in Lower Sackville.

We encourage all clubs, and club members to share the link to the monthly ATVANS 50/50 jackpot as much as they can on social media and to fiends and family.

Respectfully submitted.

Marty Jefferies

Zone 1 Report

I'm relatively new back to Atvans and I must admit that I do like most of what I'm seeing. I still need to get a handle of the role and responsibilities of zone director. I haven't really made any real visits to my clubs, I have attended a handful of club meetings in the ACAMUTS, MidValley, and Kings County areas. I did talk to Digby and Sou'West Nova but have not attended meetings in person yet. I did attend the AGM and a few other virtual meetings.

I want to set up a virtual meeting for my 5 clubs, but I haven't got atvans to do that yet. I would love to set one up in person but Covid. Maybe soon, might be spring now.

I am on the trail mapping in my zone, but for the most part most trails are in TrakMaps. I do want to sit down with Eric an do some small mods.

Sou'West Nova is having problems with their grant project, but meetings are being set up, there was talk of cancelling the project but the club wants to continue with it.

Kings County ATV club might be losing part of their Michelin Trail which is extremely important to connect to the rail way. This is because of the old airport run way is being developed. Kings County ATV club are looking at options like rerouting and maybe share the road. I'm confident that something will work out in favour of the club.

Kings County atv club and MidValley atv club did a trail upgrade project in partnership with the local snowmobile clubs. As a whole group this was successful.

Railway societies are busy down here. We just seen new surfacing between Middletown towards New Germany. Railway societies are not connected directly to any atvans club.

In my report I also want to mention ACAMUTS club is the club to watch right now. The feedback I have received and seen from this club is incredible. This is a very strong active atv club.

Quick Club updates for Meeting:

Sou'west Nova ATV Club

has been idle during the covid lock down but now that we are in phase 5 we are starting to get things going again. The bridge over the Wentworth River is starting to see a hope to being done thanks to Ronnie LeBlanc the Clare MLA. Helped the Municipality of Clare with their first Terra Fondo which was a success, they set up for 100 riders and got 79 hoping to double that next year. We sponsored Clare Rail to Trail in a poker run had 220 registered and a person on the route counted 275 atv and SxS go by. Ron Goudey, SWNATVC

ACAMUTS ATV Club

started meeting again in July ’21. Membership for “21 is at a record high for the club. Funs runs resumed with having done 4 so far and 1 more before year end. Our September run was an overnight trip to Bridgewater . With new provincial regulations for covid one can see memberships declining . We have seen one member having to leave thus far and I’m sure there will be more . Our December social is coming along with plans for a turkey dinner with all the fixings and covid regulations followed . Ron Guest, ACAMUTS

Kings County ATV Club

Our club had a somewhat successful year even though Covid-19 put on some restrictions on us at different times though out the year. Our membership numbers increased by 10%. Because of COVID protocols and shut downs we decided not to hold our fall rally this year however some club members headed up some fun runs which were well attended and a good time was had by all.

We successfully completed some trail repairs this year. In October of 2020 we made repairs and upgrades to 1.8 km of trail 101. Then in October of this year we built a new trailhead on Jones Road giving riders a new parking lot and the opportunity to connect to various other trails.

We are hoping 2022 will be a better year as to COVID in that we will be able to hold our rally in the fall. we have a project in line to do some more trail repairs and maintenance. Bruce / Gale Veinot, KCATVC

Mid Valley ATV Club

I did not connect with Rocky. He will be at the meeting.

Digby ATV Club

I think I lost the email, or maybe I didn't receive it.

Jason Calnen