The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 11/13/2019 BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, November 13, 2019– 4:00 PM Human Services Conference Room A ~ Bayfield County Courthouse, Washburn, Minutes 1. Call to Order Fred Strand, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. Committee members present: Jim Crandall, Larry Fickbohm, Jeff Silbert, Tom Snilsberg, and Fred Strand. Others present: Stephanie Bakker, Jason Fischbach, Donna Ganson, Theresa LaChappelle, Liz Lexau, Ian Meeker, Mary Pardee, Kellie Pederson, and Paige Terry. Introductions The Committee members and Paige Terry introduced themselves to each other. Paige Terry is the new part-time Extension support staff personnel. 2. Approval of Minutes of September 18, 2019 Meeting (action item) Motion (Fickbohm, Silbert) to approve the minutes of September 18, 2019. Motion approved. 3. Public Comments There were no public comments. 4. Out-of-State Overnight Travel Requests (action item) There were no Out-of-State Overnight Travel Requests 5. 2019 UW-Extension Budget Update Report LaChappelle added an updated version of the Budget Report to the DropBox and had printed copies of the Report available. Overages in some line items will be covered by the intentional under-usage in other line items to balance the bottom line of the departmental budget. 6. Staffing Updates a. FoodWIse Educator Hire Bakker noted that interviews have been concluded and there has been a verbal acceptance for the position. Unfortunately, she can’t announce who this candidate is until the official paperwork has been signed. They are looking at a start date of January 2, 2020. Bayfield County Extension Minutes November 13, 2019 Page 2 of 6 b. Clerk hire Paige Terry is the Clerk 1 hire and had been introduced at the beginning of the meeting. c. Literacy Link Assistant hire (grant funded) Ashland & Bayfield Counties Literacy Link group was given a grant to hire a 10 hour a week Literacy Link Assistant position (to split between both counties). Melissa Kummerow was hired to fill this position. She has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Policy & Procedure from Concordia University-Mequon with a Minor in Writing. d. 80% Ag backfill position for 2020 The 80% Ag position has been posted by UW-Madison, as well as having been posted locally. The applications will be accepted online until November 18, 2019. Pardee noted that she, Fischbach, Abeles-Allison and Lissa Radke will be making the recommendations to determine who will be interviewed. It is hoped that this hire will be able to start in January 2020. 7. Hazelnut Grant Update Fischbach is putting together a meeting for the Lake Superior Growers Cluster. Currently the meeting date, time & place are tentative. This informational meeting will provide logistics on planting; including costs, spacing, genotypes, etc. Draft flyer handed out. A representative from the WI Economic Development Association will be meeting with Fischbach in the near future to discuss various potential hazelnut related projects. Processing is the current activity with Hazelnuts. Processing is happening twice a week at Northland College. This processing prepares the nuts, so they are ready for market. The hazelnuts leave Northland and go to American Hazelnut Company. If you would like to see the hazelnuts being processed at Northland, please contact Fischbach. 8. CWD project and intern update The UW-Madison based Bayfield County CWD Intern, Courtney, has been doing research, marketing, articles, posters, FB posts, etc. on CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease). Her efforts have been included as part of the local CWD team, which includes the Bayfield County Administrator, the Bayfield County Land & Water Conservation Director and the Bayfield County CWD Intern, Matt D Bayfield County Extension Minutes November 13, 2019 Page 3 of 6 9. Electric car study project using funds from 2019 salary savings There were salary savings that were realized by not being able to fill the summer Ag position. These funds are now being used to fund an electric car project study. Lissa Radke, Community Development Extension Educator Ashland County has been chosen to work on a study regarding group buys on electric vehicles and charging stations. Extension Ashland & Bayfield County Offices (Fischbach & Radke), CheqBay Renewables and Renew Wisconsin held an electric vehicle informational meeting on November 4, 2019. Ian Meeker also attended and recorded the meeting. Links to the recordings are available on the CheqBay Renewables website at cheqbayrenewables.org. Fischbach presented a hand out showing the costs of various electric cars, incentives, etc. Radke should be ready to give a report in early January. She will be asked to present at the next committee meeting 10. Extension Week follow up The 2019 Extension Week was held the October 7-111. Various workshops and events (sponsored by Ashland & Bayfield County Extension Educators) were held in multiple places and online. Overall attendance was good, some events were better attended than others. More people are becoming aware of the variety of programming that Extension can bring to the community, which is the goal of Extension Week. 11. Literacy Link at the Board of Regents meeting The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents held its October meeting at the University of Wisconsin – Superior. President Ray Cross invited the Ashland & Bayfield County Literacy Link Chapter to do a presentation at this meeting explaining the reasons for the Literacy Link program, some of the activities, etc. It should be noted that it is considered a great honor for any person or group to be asked to present to the Board of Regents Liz Lexau, Extension Bayfield County, Heidi Ungrodt, Extension Ashland County and Mary Huser, Division of Extension Human Development & Relationships Institute Program Specialist presented the Literacy Link program presentation to the Board of Regents on Friday, October 11, 2019. Bayfield County Sheriff Susienka was also present and spoke in support of the Literacy Link program at the Bayfield County Jail. The Literacy Link presentation was well received. The Regents asked many questions regarding the program. The original 15 minutes allotted for the presentation and questions extended into 45 minutes. Pardee, who was in the audience, noted that when the presenters finished, they received a standing ovation from the Board of Regents. 12. 4-H Recognition/Awards program A copy of the Awards Banquet program was included in the meeting packets, as well as printed copies being available at the meeting. This was the first time the banquet has been Bayfield County Extension Minutes November 13, 2019 Page 4 of 6 held at the Iron River Community Center. The facility worked out well and will be in the rotation for hosting the banquet again. Please note that Jim Crandall was the recipient of the 2019 4-H Supporter Award. This award recognizes an individual (other than a 4-H leader), a group, or a business that is considered a strong supporter of the Bayfield County 4-H program presently or in the past. 13. Issues and Program Ideas Discussion Stephanie Bakker – FoodWIse • Extension Week – Held the Great Apple Crunch in collaboration with the Bayfield School’s Farm 2 School program at the Bayfield School garden. • Attended an event with Bayfield Head Start and Red Cliff Early Childhood Center at the Bayfield Library that was hosted by Lorie Erickson. The topic was trying new foods, families got to sample kefir. • Attended an event called the Sioux Chef. The event was a live cooking demonstration by Sean Sherman, caterer and cookbook author. Chef Sherman teaches how to cook with Native American foods. • Attended the Tribal Nutrition Educators Group conference in Wausau. This was a great resource sharing event with participants from FoodWIse, WIC, GLITC and other people all working with tribal nutrition. Liz Lexau – Human Development & Relationships • During Extension Week o Partnered with Red Cliff to teach a Basic Budgeting Class at the Elderly Nutrition site. o Presented AARP’s 7 Smart Strategies for 50+ Job Seekers at the Washburn Public Library o Co-facilitated the Parents’ Connect On-line class through zoom. • Tentatively have set up a collaboration with Red Cliff Chippewa Housing Authority on presenting the Extension Rent Smart program which teaches responsible renting and financial knowledge. Kellie Pederson – Community Development • During Extension Week presented the Virtual Villages for Seniors at Bayfield, Washburn, and Cable. • Housing –The quest for support for the proposed housing survey is moving along. NW Regional Planning is planning to submit the grant request by the end of the year. • The WI Center for Community & Economic Development, Division of Extension is home to the EDA University Center. The EDA holds an economic summit in various areas of the state. Before an Economic Summit is convened, the EDA completes an issues identification, does research on these issues and then they present their findings at their summit in the area. Pederson recently facilitated a meeting with the Bayfield County Extension Minutes November 13, 2019 Page 5 of 6 group to get started on identifying issues. An Economic Summit has been set to take place on April 23, 2020 in our area. • Pederson has applied to be on the Red Cliff Business Board. • She has joined the Mt Ashwabay Outdoor Education Board. • Pederson will be hosting a running for office workshop on December 5, 2019. The “Run for it!” workshop will be held in the Bayfield County Board Room in the Bayfield County Courthouse • Transportation issues are still being discussed and refined. • Silbert noted that a few of the Northern Lights Board members were quite impressed when they recently attended a Non-Profit Organizations workshop in which Pederson was a facilitator. Jason Fischbach – Agricultural Educator • Fischbach noted that this fall has had troublesome weather for those growing Spinach in their High Tunnels. • Travis Tulowitzky, Bayfield County Land Conservation Department Conservation Tech & Fischbach have been working on Nutrient Management Plans with local farmers. Ian Meeker – 4-H & Youth Development • Meeker noted that the Bayfield County 4-H Leaders’ Executive Board met for the first-time using Zoom software via the internet. All who used it thought it worked very well and are planning on using it again in the future. • Meeker has had recent discussions regarding starting Teen Court again. • Superior Days is not being handled by Douglas County Extension at this time. It is being handled by the Office of the Mayor of Superior. At this time, there has not been any word as to whether there will be a youth component built into Superior Days. Meeker noted that Doug Liphart, Ashland County 4-H Extension Educator, Mark Abeles-Allison, Bayfield County Administrator and himself are discussing bringing youth down to Superior Days to experience the event, even without a built- in youth component. • Meeker and Liphart will be showing their Outdoor Education presentation next week at the State Extension Conference. • Meeker would like some discussions to begin on possibly using the Pigeon Lake Field Station to run outdoor education programs out of it. Currently the buildings are not winterized, and there is no beach. • Meeker stated that CANSKI will begin in December. There had been an effort to have the Washburn & Ashland school districts recognize CANSKI as a High School Sport and co-sponsor a team. Washburn was willing to recognized it as High School sport, but Ashland was not. After much discussion it was decided that CANSKI will continue as a club. Bayfield County Extension Minutes November 13, 2019 Page 6 of 6 Mary Pardee –Area Extension Director • 2020 Contract for Extension Fees is ready for the Administrator to sign. • Next week is that All Institute Meeting in Madison. Extension Educators from around the State will be meeting. • Douglas County will not be hiring an Extension Community Development Educator. 14. Next Meeting Date and Time and 2020 dates The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 4 pm in Conference Room A. The Committee would like to continue to hold their meetings on the second Wednesday of each odd numbered months starting at 4 pm, in Conference Room A. 15. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 pm. # # #