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Home My WebLink AboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 9/12/2018 BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, September 12, 2018 – 4:00 p.m. Human Services Conference Room A Bayfield County Courthouse, Washburn, WI Minutes 1. Call to Order The Chair, Fred Strand, called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm. Committee members present: Fred Strand, Jim Crandall, Jeff Silbert, and Tom Snilsberg Committee members absent: George Newago Others Present: Ian Meeker, Donna Ganson, Theresa LaChappelle, Liz Lexau and Kellie Pederson. Matt Cogger phoned in. 2. Approval of Minutes of July 18, 2018 Meeting (action item) Motion (Crandall, Snilsberg) to approve the minutes of July 18, 2018. Motion Carried. 3. Public Comment There were no public comments 4. Out-of-State Overnight Travel Requests (action item) There were no Out-of-State Travel Requests presented. 5. UW-System Transition Update Mary Pardee, Area 1 Extension Director, was unable to attend this meeting but had sent this update by email to the Committee members and staff regarding the UW-System Transition: • Dean Karl Martin reports that in the past year, we have hired 73 new educators (65 of those in counties), and about 30 more are in-process. With the building up of our staff across the state largely accomplished, he feels that the changes brought from the “nEXT Generation” project are completed, and his focus is on the transition into UW-Madison. • There will be a review and evaluation of our geographic model (having Areas with Area Directors) within the next 6 months that both staff and stakeholders will have an opportunity to participate in. • We are currently searching for a new North Zone Assistant Dean, as Dave Berard retired on August 1. I applied and received a preliminary interview but am not moving further on. • Regarding the UW summer intern program that Karl Martin had mentioned to Mark and Fred: it is a “potential” program whereby UW-Madison students would work in county Extension offices. It is only in the idea phase currently and is not a funded program. If it happens, it likely would not be in place for summer of 2019. Committee Chair, Fred Strand, allowed Matt Cogger to present his programming updates, since Cogger was on his cell phone. Issues and Ideas discussion Matt Cogger noted that he is currently working on curriculum for a “Plants Plus” workshop which would be a Level 2 Master Gardener class. Extension Week programs schedule are an “Introduction to Gardening” class and a “Hay Buying and Selling” class. Cogger also included a summary of his weekly update reports from July forward. Two articles were also included in the Committee member’s packets; one was on spiders and the other was on weeds. Strand stated his appreciation of the details that Mat includes in his reports. Bayfield County UW-Extension Committee September 12, 2018 Page 2 of 3 6. Potential Outdoor Adventures Through 4-H Update Ian Meeker noted that the Potential Outdoor Adventures Through 4-H was a pilot program this year and he did not do a great deal of advertising the program. Meeker stated he wanted to keep the participation numbers relatively small to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Determining how many more youth can participate before there are too many depends on a few variables. Transportation is an issue to consider; the county van holds 12, plus a county car can take an additional three youth. Meeker presented the numbers of participants per adventure and the survey results from the parents of the participants. The survey did point out two items of interest. The lesser attendance numbers were usually because of the participants unavailability and not because of non-interest. Also, that it helped to have two people and both genders on staff for each of the adventures. The biking adventures with the most numbers were the Washburn Summer School and the Red Cliff Bike Rodeo. Meeker noted that there are five to seven adults who are interested in being leaders for a youth bike club. These adults have kids that would most likely ride. Mt Ashwabay has recently built mountain bike paths that could make it easier for this program to take off. A Northland College Outdoor Education major, who is a Senior would like to make it the Potential Outdoor Adventures Through 4-H program her capstone project. One of the items that she would look at is fining different ways to expand the program. (A Capstone program is a course where the student takes what they have learned in school and they put it into practice into the community.) There may also be another student interested in working on the Potential Outdoor Adventures a capstone project also. Discussion on budget numbers and stipend for an intern for the capstone project. Consensus of the Committee is to offer a modest stipend to the person doing their capstone project with the Potential Outdoor Adventures Through 4-H program. 7. 2018 UW-Extension Budget Update The Temporary Employee and FICA line items will be lowered as these charges are covered by grant funding. 8. 2018 Budget Amendment for the WI DATCP 2017 Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program Contract “Expanding North American hazelnut production through the hedgerow hazelnut system”. (action item) Motion (Silbert, Snilsberg) to approve the 2018 budget amendment for the Hazelnut grant. Motion Carried 9. 2019 UW-Extension Budget Update Mary Pardee had noted that in her email (referred to earlier) that the Administrator had removed the additional requested hours for the bookkeeper position. Otherwise, so far, the additional funding for Potential Adventures remains. LaChappelle would like to see the increased hours for the Clerk 3 position put back in the 2019 budget if possible. 10. Extension Week Update Kellie Pederson, Community Educator presented the information regarding Jason Fischbach’s idea of holding an Extension Week. A poster showing the scheduled events, workshops, and programs was included in the Committee member’s packets. There are a variety of topics being covered and specialist confirmed to speak. 11. Staffing and Extension Contract Mary Pardee’s email (referred to earlier) noted that the Administrator signs the contract with Extension, which she will ask him to do after the County budget has passed. Pardee wanted to let the Committee know that the contract will be the same for 2019 as it was in 2018. This includes a discount of $10,000 (which will go away for the 2020 contract) for a total of $167,404 (same as 2018). Regardless of what happens with the Ag educator position, the Bayfield County percentage stays the same (75%). Therefore, the contract will be for: Bayfield County UW-Extension Committee September 12, 2018 Page 3 of 3 • Youth Development Educator – 1 FTE (Ian) • 4-H Program Coordinator - .5 FTE (Donna) • Agriculture Educator - .75 FTE (Jason or some combination of Jason and Matt) • Community Development Educator – 1 FTE (Kellie) • Human Development & Relationships Educator – 1 FTE (Liz) 12. Issues and Program Ideas Discussion Meeker – Teen Court: Discussion as to whether Teen Court will continue. There were not any cases this last year for Teen Court. The Human Services Juvenile Intake worker and the DA provide the cases to Teen Court. 4-H Clubs: Verne Gilles, leader of the Woodland Workers 4-H Club, is retiring and the club will fold. The current members will join other active clubs. Lexau – Information on the following programs was included in the Committee Member’s packets: Money Management Coach training, showing of the Resilience film in Red Cliff, and ACEs-State wide report and local responses. Pederson – Information on the following programs was included in the packets: Working Effectively with Tribal Nations, Housing needs, Local Foods, and Local Elected Officials workshop for new candidate. She will also be attending a Small Community Forum being held soon in Hurley. Ganson: 4-H re-enrollment will be happening soon. The 4-H Awards banquet is being planned for Oct 27th at the NGLVC. Ganson will be working with the 4-H Ambassadors on setting goals for the new year. LaChappelle – Mainly working on coordinating a wide variety of items for Extension Week programs. Douglas County Extension - Discussion on the news reports regarding budgeting meetings in Douglas County and potentially what this could mean for UW-Extension. 13. Next Meeting Date and Time 2nd Wednesday November 14th, at 4 pm Conference Room A 14. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 5:35 pm. Minutes submitted by: Theresa LaChappelle, UW-Extension Office Manager