May Meeting Minutes

The last club meeting was held on May 14th, 2025, at Melgeorge’s Elephant Lake Lodge in Orr. Vice President

Mike Koski, Secretary Amy Cherrywell, Treasurer Gretchen Janssen, Deputy Treasurer Jeanne Schuck, Board

of Directors Members Mike Cherrywell, Tom Baumchum, Kurt Kennedy, Trent Bak, Kevin Hoffman, Tom

Dougherty, Scott Birnie, John Harris, Randy Holman, and Trail Administrator Steve Koch were present.

President Mark Anderson, Board of Directors Bobbi Malecha, and Shad Murray were absent. The meeting

began with Mike thanking everyone at Melgeorge’s for using the establishment for the meeting.

Secretary Report (Amy Cherrywell)

Amy sent out the minutes from the April meeting. She noted one correction under the Trail Administrator

report; Tom Doaugherty’s name was misspelled. She noted that if anyone has any other corrections, to let her

know. There were none pointed out at this time. The meeting schedule is as follows

● June 11th-Frontier – Ash River

● July 13th- Nelson’s Resort- Crane Lake

● August 13th- Myrtle Lake- Buyck

● September 10th-Scott’s Crane Lake Bar and Grill- Crane Lake

Amy mentioned there was no update on the current number of members from ATVMN yet. Jeanne noted,

however, that we did pick up some members at the Spring Ride. Additionally, Amy stated that she received an

email from ATVMN asking us to remind our membership that if they send in a check, it will need to be made

out to ATVMN rather than Voyageur Country ATV.

Furthermore, she wanted to ensure that thank-you cards were sent out to those who helped with the raffle prizes

and donations for the spring ride. Beth Bak and Traci Bak noted they were working on them.

Mike Cherrywell motioned to accept the secretary’s report. Traci Bak seconded it, and the motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report (Gretchen Janssen/Jeanne Schuck):

Jeanne started her report by thanking Amy for doing the past two updates in her absence. The current balance

in the main checkbook is $100,616.51. The club did have a few large payments come out this past month. The

SEH payment was $42,000, Udovich Enterprises payment was $54,000, and we paid Tome Dougerthy for the

PA system. Jeanne noted we have two outstanding invoices, one for 3,300 for Jason Long Trucking for the April

work on Holmes Road, and a second one for SEH for the final payment for work on the EAW. There were

some deposits this month as well. We got a $122,000 credit from St. Louis County as part of our grant and

27,743 in general funds. We got a $50,000 donation for work to be completed in Koochaching County as part

of the match we would need.

We discussed determining the best way to differentiate our donations from some of the other funds we are

receiving. Tom Dougerthy suggested looking into another checking account, but we are unsure if that will

impact our tax status. We would need to discuss this with a CPA and could use the one we did last time. Tom

Dougerthy made a motion to explore the idea of adding a checking account with the CPA before moving

forward and report back to the club with an answer. Steve Koch seconded, and the motion passed.

We did have someone step up to head our Grant and aid in the Southern half of the system.

We have not heard about the FEMA funds yet. We have submitted everything but are waiting for them to

process it. We will hopefully know more in a few weeks.

We are working on putting together a list of all the expenses the club has. We need to develop a spreadsheet and

budget to know where the spending is happening and plan for different things.

Steve Koch motioned to approve the Treasurer’s report. Kevin Hoffman seconded it, and the motion passed.

Trail Administrators Report (Steve Koch)

For our Highway 53 project, we are still waiting for the state and the county to finalize the cooperative

agreement to transfer the funds for the project. We still believe this is a summer or fall build. It will go out to

bid once the funding is figured out.

Steve updated the club on what was happening with the Molpus land and the state. This will impact the club in

a few different ways. It might affect the use of a couple of trails, and we will have to pause working on the

alignments that were discussed in December with Molpus. Tom Dougherty noted what was happening in the

legislature regarding this matter.

Jason Long has been working on the Holmes logging roads near Winchester Lake, doing some brushing and

prep work to repair the washouts from last summer’s damage. Then maybe move to the Vermilion Falls trail

and the Rollick Road after he is finished there. Additionally, he will do the standard grading. We will not be

doing any brushing this year.

Project updates

● The Gypposhack boardwalk got a railing this week to replace the snow fencing. There is a little left to

finish, but it will be completed soon.

● After June 1st, we will go in with Steve Udovich to finalize the work on the Pelican River Road.

● The roof at Military Crossroads is finished.

● The Blackduck Overlook has been delayed but should be completed by the fall ride.

North Directors

● Kurt Kennedy noted that the club got the final report on the EAW for Phase II. It was all positive. We

do not need to do an environmental impact study. We can now work on permitting, wetland delineation,

and material purchasing. During their ride with Jason Chopp, the club learned that we would need to

build a bridge over the east branch of Rat Root River. We would like to have this project engineered as

much as possible, so we can know how much funding to seek.

● We are waiting for the legislature to see about the bonding funding.

● We will also have some work done on some Molpus property by the club.

● Tom Dougherty contacted Brad Dekkers and Joe Unger about using the roving crew again on the Blue

Ox. There is material, and we have additional funding to work on it.

● We came up with a name for the section of the trail that will connect to the Blue Ox, Jonasson’s

Junction.

Trail Committee Update (Tom Baumchum)

● Tom Baumchum noted that not much is happening with the Joint Powers board until we know what the

legislature is doing. The State Master plan for the northeast, which has been worked on for the past

three to five years, is nearly finished. It will look at connectivity, where the trails are, and the overall big

picture.

● Tom mentioned that we would have to sign a maintenance agreement with the Forest Service for the

toilet at Myrtle Lake and the work on the Rollich Road. We will need to reach out to Tim Engrav about

this matter.

● We discussed finding a way to get more volunteers out to work on projects. Steve suggested that maybe

we get some people to sponsor segments of the trail and help maintain those segments. It was suggested

that we create a form for people to sign up to help with things so that we could get a list together and

send out more specific emails.

Other Business

Elections: Everyone on the board was asked if they would run for their positions again at the last meeting or on

ride day. We had a member, Jerry Stanke, who stated he would be willing to run for one of the board seats in

Orr. Gretchen is stepping down as Treasurer, so Jeanne noted she would be willing to become the Treasurer

rather than the Deputy Treasurer. We have one open seat in Crane Lake. Mike Cherrywell made a motion for a

white ballot with the addition of Jerry Stanke in the Orr area, after hearing no objections three times. Randy

Holman seconded this motion. The motion passes.

Beth provided an update on the spring ride. We were down, but this could be due to the beautiful day. For the

raffle at the ride, we made $8,888, lunch $3605, and clothing $3836. Giving us $16,329. We spent $802 on

supplies, so our total for the ride was $15,527. We started the Ranger raffle as well and deposited $2880.

Jeanne gave Beth a special thank you for all she did for the spring ride.

Other funding

● Map advertising is happening. We have brought in $6300 thus far.

● We did some clothing sales after the ride, $280

Communication Update:

● Nothing new on Facebook

● We will work on putting together a newsletter explaining how to join/renew and what we have been up

to. Marilyn is willing to help with the newsletter.

● Putting Membership forms at the picnic sites

● We need to do some updating on the website.

● We want to promote the Frontline Wall of Honor at the Military Crossroads.

Events

Joint Powers Board Update: They are working on putting together a regional event on June 16th that the club

could be involved in. We will update everyone once we know more.

Highway Clean Up:

● Orr Section: Bobbi and Randy will set something up

● Buyck Section: Mike and Marilyn will set something up

The next meeting will be on June 11th, 2025, at Frontier Resort in Ash River, Minnesota, at 6:30 pm. Kevin

Hoffman motioned to adjourn at 7:50 pm. Trent Bak seconded it. The motion passes.