City Hall  
400 La Crosse Street  
La Crosse, WI 54601  
City of La Crosse, Wisconsin  
Meeting Minutes - Final  
International Committee  
Monday, December 4, 2023  
5:00 PM  
Hedgehog Conference Room - City Hall/Zoom  
Call to Order  
The meeting was called to order at 5:08 p.m.  
Roll Call  
8 - Irene Barmore, Michael De Yoe, Art Marson, Karolyn Bald, Chris  
Woodard, Mindy Wiesjahn, Jerry Berns,Thomas Monson  
Present:  
Absent:  
4 - Melissa Giefer, Alyson Glenz, Lynn West,Dana Young  
Mission of the International Committee  
Read by Art Marson  
Welcome and Introductions  
Approval of Minutes  
A motion was made by Bald, seconded by Wiesjahn, to approve minutes of  
September 25, 2023 with a correction clarifying that a group was going to  
Bantry and not a group coming to La Crosse. The motion carried  
Treasurer's Report  
No report.  
Agenda Items:  
Budget Review  
23-1402  
No new items expended, still over $4,000 in budget. We will have $5,000 in our  
budget again for 2024.  
Requests for funding  
23-1403  
Thanks to others for their donations for the float.  
Discussion on purchase of a display case in International Gardens. Needs to be  
investigated with Friends of the Gardens.  
Motion by Bald, seconded by Monson, to approve up to $500 for delegation  
travel in Bantry. Carried unanimously.  
Motion by Berns, seconded by Barmore, to pay our Sister City dues of $810.  
Carried unanimously.  
Motion by Bald, seconded by Monson, to pay Viterbo Media $27.19 for parade  
unit expense. Carried unanimously.  
Election of Officers for 2024  
23-1404  
23-1405  
23-1406  
23-1407  
Will be done in January. Need a chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. Tom  
volunteered to be the treasurer in January. Especially need a Vice Chair.  
Oktoberfest Parade review  
Good turnout of people to walk with our unit. Float looked good. Appreciation to Ron  
Schlicht for use of his truck and donation of boards and magnets.  
Global Initiatives Week  
Several activities took place including Fulbright presentations, international luncheon,  
Eagles at night, etc.  
Website/brochure discussion  
Art met with Kerry from the City IT Dept. and she indicated the city is willing to host  
our sister cities site. Plan to do this instead of printing new brochures. Need to  
agree upon a standard format for each sister city’s information. Each committee  
member needs to look at their page and make suggestions on the format. She will  
also develop QR codes for each sister city and for the international committee.  
Need to decide on contact information on each page. We need to look at calendar  
information ability for the site.  
We also decided that we need to print some posters as discussed at the previous  
meeting. The proposal from Viterbo was reviewed. It was decided we should  
replace the Russian flag with the Dubna City Flag, adjust the locations of the flag  
placement on the map, and correct the spelling of La Crosse. It was reported that a  
Dubna City flag was on its way to La Crosse for placement in City Hall.  
Motion by DeYoe, seconded by Monson, to approve up to $200 for printing the  
posters (approximately 50 posters). Carried unanimously.  
Cultural Center idea  
23-1408  
It was suggested by Linda Pfaff representing Bantry and by a few others that with the  
southside library closing we might check into its use as a cultural center for our sister  
cities and other cultural groups in the area. Several cities have a location to highlight  
their sister city relationships and to locate information and items regarding these  
relationships. Our gifts and records are stored in many locations, the mayor’s  
conference room and city hall, in person’s homes, storage, etc. Several issues need  
to be considered -whether the City will keep or sell the building, other possible uses,  
how it fits in with the neighborhood, potential partnership opportunities (Historical  
Society, Ho Chunk), ability to use for research, etc. Also cost considerations and  
staffing.  
Next meeting date (January 29, 2024)  
23-1409  
23-1411  
It was decided to have our next meeting on January 8 at 5:00 at City Hall.  
Sister City and School Reports/Announcements: La Crosse School  
District, UW-L, Viterbo, Western, Luoyang, Kumbo, Friedberg, Forde,  
Epinal, Junglinster, Dubna, Bantry.  
UWL – Meeting with elementary schools.  
Kumbo – Had a visit by some Sisters from Kumbo and they toured the international  
gardens.  
Friedburg - Committee met at the Sparta Christmas market.  
Forde – Have a delegation interested in coming to Oktoberfest next year. Tom will  
be going to Forde next summer.  
Epinal – 2026 will be their 40th anniversary. Interested in acquisition of a large  
painting. New fundraiser next year. There is a new student group coming next year.  
Junglinster – Recovering from delegation of students who visited in September.  
Setting up guidelines for students to visit Luxembourg next summer. Had a St.  
Nicholas Day pot luck. St. Francis had the first Christmas crèche 800 years ago and  
they are helping with Viterbo’s celebration of this event.  
Dubna - Chess tournaments are still ongoing. Dubna flag is in route to La Crosse.  
They will have a concert to celebrate Tchaikovsky’s 800 birthday in May.  
Bantry – They had a successful delegation visit to Bantry in October furthering their  
relationship. A $1,000 check was presented to Hairy Henry Organization from the  
proceeds of the Coulee Hoolie Caeli.  
Adjournment  
Motion by Berns, seconded by Wiesjahn, to adjourn at 6:33. Carried  
unanimously.