March 30,
2013, and it appears that the 2013 season has come to a
close. This year proved to be very successful, after a
slow start, Mother Nature came on side and we managed to
get the trails in good shape for several weeks. One of
the main topics of discussion at our club’s board
meetings was providing value for the membership this
season and for the upcoming seasons.
With a
longer season than many riders have seen in a couple of
years we know everyone got value for their permit
dollar. Hopefully everyone got in as much riding in the
PTBSC area as they possible could. The more
adventuresome riders might have taken advantage of big
time early season snowfalls in the northern areas of the
province. That’s the beauty of an OFSC permit; it lets
you go anywhere the snow falls in the province. This
been said we’re quite sure everyone was happy to enjoy
the long PTBSC 2013 season.
We would
like to say a big thank you to our valued volunteers and
employees for a job well done; and also explain what our
club did with the revenue from permit sales this year.
First thing
we did was operate the club for another year. This
brings on many fixed costs that remain constant and we
have each year. This includes the costs to sell permits,
attend trade shows, produce newsletters, provide a
website and open and close the trail system. Groomer
repairs and trail maintenance for the 2013 season were
much more extensive than normal and took a big bite out
of our funds. Additional trail maintenance is still
pending for the 2014 season and dollars need to set
aside for that. Variable costs each season include the
money that we spend grooming. We did groom over 1600
hours this year despite the early lack of snow. This is
close to a normal season, and is a lot of seat time in
our 5 groomers. Thanks again to our operators. We had
less snow to work with in the early season which meant
our grooming equipment banged over a lot more rocks
which in turn led to more repairs.
2013 season agm
sunday May 5, 2013 12:30 pm to 3:00pm
Cardiff Community Centre
Our club
also invested heavily in health and safety this winter
putting our employees through more training than we have
in past years. Finally when we were able to move ahead
with several bridge refurbishment projects. This
included the completion of the new trail E107 bridge
over Eels creek. In total this winter we spent over
$60,000 refurbishing bridges. At the end of the day we
are anticipating the club will be coming out of this
season very close to breaking even financially. What we
have done is invest in the future of the trail system by
bringing several bridges and trails back up to
standard. Just like having the 2013 season last to the
end of March, we’re quite sure that future years will
have above average snowfall. By investing in our
infrastructure now we are avoiding those costs in future
years when our grooming budget will be at or above our
average annual cost for grooming. So when looking back
at what you got out of your 2013 season permit realize
that not only did you get some good riding in this year,
you also made an investment in the future of the PTBSC
trail system which will be open and ready for you to
ride in future years.
Lastly we
would like to invite everyone to the clubs Annual
General Meeting. This year it is being held in Cardiff
at the Community Centre on May 5th the
meeting will be from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm and everyone is
welcome. Please plan on attending to discuss the future
direction of the club and voice any comments you may
have. We will be holding elections for the clubs board
of directors at this meeting.
If
volunteering or joining our club’s Board of Directors is
something that would interest you please contact our
office or any of the current directors prior to the
meeting, so we have an opportunity to explain what is
involved with being on the board. We are always looking
for new enthusiastic business minded volunteers and
would love to hear from you.
Have a
great summer!!!
Terry
Post
President
