November 5, 2024
Meeting called to order at 7:07pm CST by Dan Hanks.
Attendance: Dan Hanks, Destinee Kiel, Emily Ferrans, Wendy Tarlow, Taylor Johannigman, Marie Ralff, Lizzie Hill, Rachel Medina, Dan Bocock, Anna Marmann, Niina Baum
Treasurer Report: IFSS needs to send USFSS entry refunds and send USFSS earnings from Continental Championship entries. October checking balance $4,004.65 and PayPal $7,778.96. Total memberships for the 2024/2025 season is 153. Marie will provide a November report at the next meeting. Dan B makes a motion to accept the October treasurer’s report. Lizzie seconds. All in favor.
Meeting Minutes: October meeting minutes will be voted on at the next meeting.
Review and Approval of Austria Vote: Dan hanks provides an overview that USFSS needs to vote on if IFSS should change the Austrian federation from a full membership to a provisional membership. Lizzie makes a motion that USFSS votes to not change the Austrian Federation. Taylor seconds. All in favor. USFSS decides to vote NO on the issue – to keep the Austrian federation’s full membership.
Austria has asked the USFSS to vote to hold an extraordinary General Assembly. Lizzie makes a motion to vote yes to the extraordinary general assembly. Desintee seconds. All in favor.
Review of 2024 Continental Championships:
- All board members give 2 minute reports on pros and cons of the event
- Wendy: Implementing a guest services space/info desk for people to go to have their questions answered. Both courses to be marked sooner. Vet checks could have processes improved by doing some things online (chip lists and records submitted) and additional intake stations. More channels of communication for racers leading up to, during, and after the event.
- Lizzie: Better use of technology to streamline processes. A better form of communication with other team leaders – a designated chat platform with multiple channels. Better parking structure to better locate people. Have timers on site sooner.
- Taylor: A central point where there will be a vet at all times who is easy to locate. Guidelines on what would disqualify a dog from racing.
- Chris: Having an independent vet on site to review any concerns by mushers separate from the race vet team.
- Emily: Chip timing was really nice and having the screen inside with the live results was cool. People struggled comparing overall times from both days in webscorer.
- Dan B: Parking needed more attention and organizing. For worlds are we doing parking based on countries or types of entries/classes?
- Anna: With only three months to plan the event, it was impressive to see how we pulled it off and seeing board members stepping in to help. Seeing the planning for worlds with a project management structure and deadlines. More professional looking fencing for the event.
- Destinee: Loved seeing how the board was willing to jump in and help where needed. Impressive to see a continental championship, national championship, and ISDRA race all together. A list of recommendations with top restaurants, shower locations, dog parks, amenities, etc.
- Rachel: Lizzie did a great job being team captain. Getting critical information such as rules out to people early. Swedish snaps are not allowed and many people had them.
- Marie: Mikki made an excel sheet for us to organize things – we need to use it. A screen with the start order near the start so people can see who they are behind. A way to utilize ATVs to help teams from further away.
- Niina: Info out sooner, course distances set, schedule set, more volunteers.
- Dan H: Got feedback that the event was the start of something big.
- Proposed method for seeking feedback from US and Canadian athletes
- Wendy brings up sending out a survey to competitors. Wendy will create a first draft of the survey.
Motion to adjourn by Niina, second by Lizzie. All in favor. Adjourned at 8:35pm CST.
USFSS 