The Genesee Sno Packers President, Rollie Scroger, is the new Executive Director of the NYS Snowmobile Association. The Association is made up of 220 clubs throughout New York.
Scroger was hired in November, a paid position usually held by politicians. Scroger comes from a business background, working 18 years at Genesee Farms and the last 22 years at Upstate Milk in Sales Management.
“I hope to bring the business side to this organization,” says Scroger.
Scroger has been a lifelong snowmobiler and lives in Oakfield, where he grew up.
“I’ve been a club member (at Genesee Sno packers) for many years. I’ve been a safety director all the way up to the present. I’ve run groomers and have marked trails. I understand what goes into putting trails out there.”
The NYS Snowmobile Association promotes safety and facilitates a lot of the functions for the clubs.
“All of the club members run through the NYSSA System. We do the trail insurance in bulk and then all the clubs are under one policy. We work on lobbying in Albany and legislation that affects snowmobiling.”
(Right) Nate Fix/Vice President of the Sno Packers with Tony Johnston (File photos December 24, 2022-Submitted)
After the Christmas Blizzard in 2022, many clubs were noticed when they were put into action to assist during the storm that left many stranded in vehicles with no way for emergency responders to get to them.
The Genesee Sno Packers took the lead in Genesee County during the Blizzard in 2022 and were able to use their groomer to rescue those stranded in feet of snow on impassable roads.
(File photo December 24, 2022-Submitted)
“We have four machines that we use to groom with. Two are fully enclosed with blades. One of them just happened to still be here, normally they are in Alexander.” Scroger says it was just luck that the machine was in Oakfield during the Blizzard.
“The state is looking at doing more, taking advantage of us, but like with anything else there’s complications with insurance and who’s going to do what and who is responsible, but their working on it.”