usrconline.org

[smorgart]

After everybody had declared their intent to vote, and after everybody had declared that they wanted to run for a position, ANY discussions should have been allowed to continue for everybody to be able to respond for a week. This election process had many holes in my opinion. Michelle suggested that Denise was creating a Financial Report for "the meeting". WHAT meeting? Had she ever created a detailed Financial Report before for USRC (for ALL the members) in all the years she has been treasurer? That's a pretty important part of any organization. How can it be ignored since it hasn't happened in at least a dozen years? The membership should have been made aware EVERY YEAR of every place money came in from and the amount, and EVERY place where money went out, and the amount. That is just ONE of the things that a serious discussion needed to take place on.
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Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[mplatt]

Perhaps you are referring to a Meeting of the Membership, which is different from the odd-year Meeting for elections? Please refer to articles 11 and 12 in the Constitution for clarification on the meetings. You can find a link to the Constitution on the USRC website under Regulations.

The financials for 2024 have indeed been consolidated. The formatting is being amended to allow for upload into the backend of the forum. Liz will then upload the financials, followed by a link to them being made available to the membership.
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Michelle Platt
USRC NW Region Sieger RKNA CH Multi V-1 rated Wu-Tang's Axel CGC, FDC, RN, TDI, CDX, BH, SE, BST, ZTP, multiple x's IPO 3
USRC NW Region Open Select (2x's) multi V-1 Rated Wu-Tang's Nadia CGC, FDC, BN, RN, BH, BST, IPO V

[smorgart]

[smorgart]

HUGE gap between 2014 and 2023 on any financials that I can see. I'll look over the couple that Dana just uploaded. What about our yearly IRS tax filings? It also seems like somebody really dropped the ball because we lost our non-profit status with the IRS quite a few years ago. Why was that?
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Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[dmcmahan]

Skip, these would be EXCELLENT questions to jump in your Time Machine and go back and ask Janay Greenlee, Cathie Soter, or Heather Laubmeier who were all treasures during *those* years.


As you are well aware, multiple Presidents have tried to straighten this out for OVER A DECADE. People have gone non-responsive, documents have gone missing, and bank accounts closed. The paper trail is practically non-existent. Both Wayne and Chuck both were supposedly sending stuff to CPA's. Nobody knows where that stuff is and neither are current club members.


If you have some magic way to sort what happened in the years WE WERE NOT ON THE EXECUTIVE BOARD, please share with us. Or if you would like to donate a large sum of money to pay for the lawyer and CPA we would need to fix this, that would also be welcome. Based on what the AWMA is paying for a CPA, we would need between $2-3K to get started. You can see the dollar amount we have to our name so let us know is it important to find out what happened 10 years ago that we should drain the entire bank account of the club? Because finding out 10+ years of financial ghosting is well beyond the scope of a volunteer position, no matter how this election turns out.

[smorgart]

How many years has this current board been in office? I'll try to keep my questions within that time period. On the 2 financial reports that were uploaded today.... for 2024..... NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT of the money that came in that year was spent. for 2023 EIGHTY-SIX percent was spent. That's in just the last 2 years. I'd like to hear from anybody that can explain to me if they consider that being fiscally responsible in a good way? And it seems the general membership was clueless about any of this.
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Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[mplatt]

You are correct, Skip, the ball was dropped over and over and over. If you go back through the forum archives, you will see a history of the ball being dropped in many instances, be it financial, secretarial, and by the historical standing presidents. So much so that the club was a stagnant shadow. It has been built back since those dark times and continues to gain strength and respect in our country and abroad.

While the current board has fixed a tremendous amount of damage and continues to do so as we speak, we cannot go back and undo what was done in the past. We can build forward, which is what we continue to strive to do. Asking questions is a good thing. Questioning drives innovation. Asking questions and being proactively involved is a great thing. I personally would love to go back to having a newsletter. I loved making them. With time being so prohibitive and having so little help with it, I could not maintain it. Now, if you would like to take that on, it would be a great thing. We all wear many hats and there are only so many that we can wear at once. There is much too do and so few hands to share the load.
_________________
Michelle Platt
USRC NW Region Sieger RKNA CH Multi V-1 rated Wu-Tang's Axel CGC, FDC, RN, TDI, CDX, BH, SE, BST, ZTP, multiple x's IPO 3
USRC NW Region Open Select (2x's) multi V-1 Rated Wu-Tang's Nadia CGC, FDC, BN, RN, BH, BST, IPO V

[dmcmahan]

Yes skip, that is called a balanced budget which I think is very fiscally responsible. If you refer back to the 2013 financials it appears the club as losing thousands of dollars per year.

[mplatt]

[smorgart]

I'm trying to look at the cold hard facts. There's not very much money in the treasury (from what the 2 reports from the last 2 years show). Ninety-seven percent of what came in last year was spent. That's one of those cold hard facts. That was last year. To me that's just crazy. Have there been any board members that have taken trips in the last 5 years where USRC paid a chunk of the bill? If they did, was there any reports given to the membership on how the club benefitted from this?

To me this still looks like a real mess. I know all the positions are volunteer positions, but the organization still needs to show some real progress in many areas. I was glad to see the 3 new clubs, but it's going to need a LOT more improvement to really grow.
_________________
Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[smorgart]

To me, it just seems like the real status of USRC hasn't been communicated to the membership for some time. I think whatever happens in this election, a lot more emphasis has to be done to improve membership, clubs, and events. Get rid of anything that is just for appearances (paper clubs.... any positions where nobody has heard anything from the person in years..... clean house where necessary.
_________________
Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[dmcmahan]

So we presented a *balanced budget* (or as you call it, a "real mess") and now you are accusing the executive board of taking trips on the club's dime and not reporting it? Let me know if I follow this correctly.


The answer to that would be no but it sure shows how you are intent to find something to complain about.

[smorgart]

As far as your "balanced Budget" statement.... with so little money in the treasury, I'd like to see USRC turn around, but we need to find more ways to get more money in. What about other ways to raise money? Auctions... Fund raisers.... seminars or workshops where the presenter could donate their time/fee and all the proceeds go to USRC?
_________________
Skip Morgart

USRC Select '07, 8x V1
(V1 at 2006 Canadian Nationals, 2007 USRC Sieger Nationals, and 2008 USRC Sieger Nationals) Redwood Krest's Shane BH, AD,OB1,SchH/VPG3, IPO3, BST
OFA Hips Good, Elbows Clear, Heart,
Eyes Cert

[mplatt]

[smorgart]