USFSS Board Meeting
May 6, 2025
Meeting called to order at 7:05pm CST by Dan Hanks.
Attendance: Lizzie Hill, Dan Hanks, Emily Ferrans, Wendy Tarlow, Marie Ralff, Rachel Medina, Niina Baum, Destinee Kiel, Chris Speers, Anna Marmann, Dan Bocock, Ron Klepadlo
Meeting Minutes: April 2025 meeting minutes: Motion to approve by Lizzie. Destinee seconds. All in favor.
Treasurer Report: Marie states Quickbooks is having an end of the year sale for $17.50/month. Niina makes a motion for USFSS to sign up for QuickBooks at the $17.50/month plan. Lizzie Seconds. All in favor.
WCh Race Committee: Dan H states he and Niina had a discussion with IFSS in regards to adjusting lengths of the course. The official invitation went out. Niina has almost finalized room blocks. Niina is waiting to hear back about DOT approval for doing a parade in downtown Minocqua. A parade will cost about $7,000 to cover fees of additional law enforcement and blockades. Niina brought up building a spreadsheet to connect mushers with extra dogs with mushers looking to borrow dogs for World Championships. Lizzie will create a linked spreadsheet for us to disperse. Lizzie and Niina brought up looking for a couple board members to help with compiling a history of mushing/IFSS timeline that could be used for a display at WCh. Anna added on doing a digital version with videos. Wendy, Rachel, and Destinee volunteer. Marie will provide historic Mushing Magazine for use. Lizzie shows the WCh jersey design to the board – feedback included adding paw prints, a RNB dog, and footprints. Destinee brings up working with Kohler as a major sponsor for the event. More details to come soon.
Athlete Selection Committee: Lizzie stated we got about 15 applications on the first day it opened. Just waiting until the deadline for applications. Marie stated she could provide a list of people who have signed up to be USFSS members and applied for their DIDs.
Race Results Audit Committee: Marie stated that there have been inconsistencies with results especially in regards to DNS and DNF statuses for racers, and the 1-dog scooter class since at local events it is net gendered but for IFSS results it needs to be.
Sponsorship/Fundraising Committee: Dan B stated the committee met last month. Dan had a meeting with Nutramax about sponsorship and they are potentially looking at a point dog sponsorship. Dan is talking with Scherrer Construction and Interstate Roofing Company about potential sponsorship. Niina got a contact for Trek and is reaching out. Lizzie brings up the need to schedule an accountability session where a group gets together to reach out to potential sponsors. Niina worked with the local chamber to apply for a marketing grant and was notified that USFSS received the grant for $28,250 from Travel Wisconsin. Discussion of the potential fundraiser raffle for a scooter, 3-wheeled rig, and 4-wheeled rig from Wolftrack carts took place. It was brought up if the board would like to have the frames built up for the raffle. Dan B makes a motion to include a 4-wheeled rig in the raffle with a minimum number of tickets needing to be sold and allotting $750 to build up the scooter and 3-wheeled rig. Lizzie seconds. All in favor.
USFSS Congress: Dan has created a folder for congress documents. Wendy has submitted a bylaws change proposal and Dan encourages the board to review it. One person is not running again for a current board position. USFSS needs to post a call for applications for open board positions.
Continental Director Update: Anna resigned as continental director a couple weeks ago due to meeting conflicts for work. Anna would like to see Canada put forth a Continental Director candidate.
Motion to adjourn by Niina, second by Lizzie. All in favor. Adjourned at 8:25pm CST.
USFSS 