P.O. Box 111, Duluth, MN 55801 TEL: (218) 740-3175 FAX: (218) 740-3179 E-MAIL: jeff@MnResponsibleRec.org WEBSITE:www.MnResponsibleRec.org

March 17, 2004

Contact: Jeff Brown, Executive Director, Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation, 218-590-6188

Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation has requested an investigation by the Minnesota State Auditor into potential conflicts of interest on the part of Representative David Dill in his relationship with the City of Orr and Voyageurs Trail Society, Incorporated (VTSI) snowmobile club. Representative Dill is both the snowmobile club "Trail Administrator" and City Administrator of Orr, the club’s local government sponsor and fiscal agent charged with overseeing the club. Representative Dill has received substantial amounts of money as an employee of the club. MRR’s request to the State Auditor includes an investigation into the potential misuse of public grant-in-aid snowmobile club funds disbursed by the city to Dill’s club.

In its request MRR provides "Factual Background Information" supported by public documents including:

• City of Orr provides $80,000 in grant-in-aid snowmobile funds annually to VTSI
• David Dill, "Trail Administrator" of the Voyageur Trail Society, is the chief motivating force of the club and author of most club documents over the past ten years. While he is currently on leave from his role as City Administrator he continues to act as Trail Administrator for VTSI.
• David Dill has enjoyed substantial personal financial gain in payments from VTSI:

MRR’s Executive Director, Jeff Brown says because of incomplete records it is unclear what annual or grand total income Representative Dill might have enjoyed or continues to enjoy as Trail Administrator of VTSI snowmobile club. Brown says that VTSI, like many snowmobile clubs, co-mingles pull-tab gambling revenue with public trail funds, making it difficult to sort out what funds are being used for what expenditures. In Northeast Minnesota over 100 snowmobile and ATV clubs operate using public trail funds and clubs typically have a "Trail Administrator" receiving these funds. Brown says "At the ‘David Dill Trail Administrator’ rate as much as $4 million dollars in public trail funds could being going out the door each year in Northeast Minnesota alone."

MRR initiated requests for information of ATV and snowmobile clubs in St. Louis County in January shortly after the county board voted off the agenda and without public notice or comment, to convert the North Shore State Trail to ATV use. Brown says Representative Dill was a strong force in the board’s behind-the-scenes decision, prompting interest in Representative Dill’s relationship with state-funded trails for motorized recreation. Brown says, "For someone who regularly boasts that he is a snowmobile club ‘volunteer’, it is surprising to see just how much personal financial gain Representative Dill has enjoyed over the years as Trail Administrator of the Voyageur Trail Society snowmobile club."

All snowmobile and ATV clubs that receive public trail funds must do so through a local government sponsor and fiscal agent. The "Trail Administrator" receives and disburses public funds to members and for allowable club activities. It is the fiscal agent’s responsibility to certify that all grant regulations and laws are being followed and that public funds are being disbursed appropriately. A 2003 Office of the Legislative Auditor’s Program Evaluation Report: State-funded Trails for Motorized Recreation found that a gross lack of oversight and accountability exists among fiscal agents and snowmobile and ATV clubs in the distribution and use of these public trail funds. The audit recommends that local government sponsors of clubs should be prohibited from "…assigning oversight responsibility for … trail grants to a government official who serve as officer or bookkeeper … of grant recipient." MRR says David Dill’s dual role as City Administrator of the City of Orr and Trail Administrator of the Voyageurs’ Trail Society constitutes a conflict of interest that identical to the situation the Legislative Audit recommends should be prohibited.

Brown says "millions of dollars in public trail funds have flowed freely to local clubs for more that two decades. Some club members have come to consider these funds a source of personal income." MRR has asked for a State Auditor’s investigation into David Dill’s snowmobile club to address one instance of conflict of interest and potential abuse of these funds. MRR is gathering information throughout St. Louis County, the state’s largest, on the use of public trail funds by other snowmobile and ATV clubs as well. MRR has legislation that will be heard in the Minnesota Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee this Friday. Senate File 2761 provides increased oversight and accountability in the public funding of snowmobile and ATV clubs and trails and implements other recommendations from the 2003 legislative audit.