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HomeMy WebLinkAboutU.W. Extension Committee - Minutes - 1/12/2022Page 1 of 5 Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting – 01-12-2022 BAYFIELD COUNTY Agriculture and Extension Education Committee Meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. Online via Teams Minutes 1. Call to Order The Chair, Jeff Silbert, called the meeting to order at 4:01. Members present online via Teams: Jim Crandall, Steve Sandstrom, Jeff Silbert, Tom Snilsberg and Fred Strand. Others Present: Mary Pardee, Stephanie Bakker, Jason Fischbach, Tracy Henegar, Mary Johnson, Theresa LaChappelle, Ian Meeker, Kellie Pederson, and Marisa Perlberg. 2. Approval of Minutes of November 10, 2021 Meeting (action item) Motion (Crandall, Strand) to approve the minutes of November 10, 2021 Motion approved. 3. Public Comment No Comments 4. 2021 UW-Extension Budget Update Report Discussion on remaining amount left in budget at the end of the year. Noted that there are still some 2021 expenses being processed. Due to Covid related reasons (less travel, less in-person activities) there was less money spent than budgeted. 5. 2021 UW-Extension Budget Resolution Chequamegon Go First Farm (action item) Discussion on using some of the remaining 2021 budget monies to fund the overage spent on the 2021 Chequamegon Go First Farm project, in the amount of $2,216.00 Motion (Crandall, Sandstrom) to approve the Chequamegon Go First Farm budget resolution to go forward to the County Board for approval. Motion approved. 6. Area Extension Director Update a. State and Area Updates i Mary Pardee is in her new office, the former supply room. ii The Agriculture Educator in Douglas County is retiring soon. Extension will not be co-funding the Agriculture Educator position for Douglas County as they have done in the past. Extension will be moving forward with the State Specialist model as more Agriculture Educators leave. Extension has have hired 2 Statewide Outreach Specialist with 1 more to be hired. They have also hired 1-Water Quality Specialist with 2 more to be hired. As well as having hired 1 Farm Management Specialist with 2 more to be hired. Page 2 of 5 Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting – 01-12-2022 iii. Community Development – Critical Thinking –Carl Greene-LaCrosse County will be the contact for local government resources. iv. Master Gardeners – There are changes taking place this year at the State level for the Master Gardener (MG) program. MGs will no longer be considered volunteers of Extension. The term “Master Gardener” will be a certification designation. To keep the Master Gardener designation, MGs will still get their training and certification through Extension The volunteering that MGs do will be done through the organization of their choice, not through Extension. Any liability is then with the volunteer organization not with Extension. v. Professional Development – Black History Month is being promoted through virtual presentations on Wednesdays. vi. Martin Luther King, Jr Day – This is a State Holiday on Monday. The State staff will be off that day. County employees are having an In-Service Day. Mary Pardee and Lori Baltrusis, AED-Area 2, will be presenting a Real Colors training in the County Board Room as part of the County In-Service Day. b. COVID-19 i Masks- Extension County offices will receive KN95’s from the State ii Rules – Extension offices on a campus will follow campus rules. County Extension offices will follow their own County’s rules. Pardee noted that Bayfield County is very proactive with guidance and that it is appreciated. c. ARPA Fund Ideas that will Advance Extension Programming i One idea is to use the Build Back Better funding for improved Youth Education by upgrading the VFW building. ii Mary Pardee should be contacted with any other ideas. 7. WEXA Update – Jeff Silbert a. Jan 27th 8:30 12:00, WEXA Meeting. Silbert will check if non-extension committee members can attend the meeting. 8. Staff Reports a. Kellie Pederson, Community Development i. Housing - Working on the Housing reports as they need some additional supporting documents. ii. Organizational Planning and Support - Reassessing which organizations that she will continue to work with. She is receiving requests from a variety of organizations asking for more support. Pederson has also just started a course on learning to collaborate more effectively online. iii. EMS Advisory Committee- Pederson has been facilitating the EMS Advisory Committee. Steve Sandstrom noted that Kellie has been extremely helpful with Page 3 of 5 Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting – 01-12-2022 this committee. Jeff Silbert noted that he has heard compliments on how well Kellie facilitates difficult, complicated issues and that she is appreciated throughout the community. b. Ian Meeker, 4-H and Youth Development i. CANSKI – Just over 150 participants in the CANSKI program. The VFW building has been a life saver during the past few years to get the gear stored and handed out. ii. Superior Adventures - Kayaks have been purchased. iii. Superior Days- It has been decided that there will not be a youth delegation for Superior Days this year. There are seven youth who were interested in attending. If they are interested, Meeker may set up some local training with the Bayfield County Board, and other local leaders. iv. 4-H Clubs - 4-H has lost a club (Whittlesey Creek) and gained a club (Penokee Home School). Whittlesey Creek was having an issue finding club leadership, so they disbanded. The leaders and member have since joined different clubs. The Penokee Home School will become a 4-H archery club. v. ARCH - Accountability, Respect, Compassion and Honesty (ARCH) Program. Planning on working with the Washburn 6th grade, and which will lead up to a spring outdoor adventure. Bayfield and South Shore School programs are on hold for now. b. Stephanie Bakker /Marisa Perlberg, FoodWIse i. Introduction to Marisa Perlberg- Marisa Perlberg started in August 2020. She has been teaching in the Bayfield School, Great Apple Crunch, and Pizza Days are just two examples. For “Pizza Days” small groups used the Bayfield School’s Outdoor Education Center, including the outdoor oven. Perlberg has collaborated with Larkin-SNAP ED Educator from Red Cliff, and Kat Rakowksi, Education & Agriculture Coordinator, and has attended Mr. Erickson’s alt ed classes. The February 24th, Wisconsin Chili Lunch will be a project in the Bayfield School. ii. Harvest of the Month Campaign with FoodWIse. Bakker noted that Marisa has set up a FB page for the Ashland, Bayfield, Iron Counties Harvest of the Month with FoodWIse. A similar Harvest of the Month has been used in the past by the Food Cooperative. The Food Coop, Red Cliff SNAP-Ed, Bayfield, and Washburn School Gardens are interested in participating with the Harvest of the Month in the future. iii. Red Cliff Boys & Girls Club – Bakker presented to participants over winter break. iv. Strong Bodies – 20 people have signed up for the online class that starts next Tuesday, via Zoom. v. 2023 Fiscal Year Budget – Bakker is working on the 2023 Fiscal Year Budget for the tri-county FoodWise program. Page 4 of 5 Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting – 01-12-2022 c. Jason Fischbach, Emerging Crops Specialist i. Go First Farm – 2021 was a good crop year. It is currently hazelnut processing at Northland. Let Jason know if you would like to see this. He is expecting to expand the Go First Farm in 2022. More plants will be available to plant in the fall of 2022. Fischbach is in the process of looking for private entities that may be willing to invest in this project. Approximately, $8,000 to $10,000 is needed for additional plantings, and about $15,000 for permanent fencing. ii. BioChar – Sandstrom noted that he had listened to a TED Talk regarding BioChar, sequestering carbon and soil improvements. A short discussion followed. d. Mary Johnson, Financial Education Specialist i. Encouraging Financial Education program - finishing up this program. ii. Financial Classes at Red Cliff Housing – Due to Covid cases increasing in Red Cliff, in-person classes are on hold. iii. Rent Smart program – Reviewing the materials, especially the ones that have been adapted for youth and teens. iv. Financial education for young children – Looking at finding approved financial education materials with storytelling and finding avenues to teach this. e. Tracy Henegar, Human Development and Relationships Educator i. Virtual Programming – Henegar is seeing more people attending virtual programs. Because virtual programming allows participants to be from other counties, this has allowed her to offer programs that she may not have been able to due to low participation numbers in a single county. ii. Literacy Link – Henegar is working with the Red Cliff Library on hosting the TeleStory program. This program engages the child and the incarcerated parents with an online visit centered around reading. Henegar is hoping to have this program up and running in the next few months. This free online visit may be the only/best option for a child to visit with the incarcerated parents. The video visits from the jail to the home are expensive. Waiting room visits are available but may be hard to fit into a schedule and may be difficult for the child. iii. Mental Health – The Washburn Schools have reached out regarding Mental Health training. The school has seen a significant increase in anxiety and depression in youth even before COVID. Through COVID they have seen much higher rates of self-harm, anxiety, and depression. It has been taking 9 to 12 months for a youth to get in to see a therapist. Henegar is looking at bringing in the Youth Mental Health First Aid program for staff who work with Youth. She did provide this training at the Bayfield School this last fall. She is also looking into bringing Teen Mental Health to 10th 11th & 12th graders. This class empowers teens to reach out for support and to provide peer support. Tracy is looking into funding from the State to bring to the Washburn school. Page 5 of 5 Bayfield County Extension Committee Meeting – 01-12-2022 f. Theresa LaChappelle, Office Manager i. Living Well in our Best Years Newsletter – Discussions with Carrie Linder, set up schedule for the year, ii. Reorganizing office spaces – Moving, reorganizing, recycling, cleaning, and putting a cabinet together to create an office space out of the storage room. 9. Next Meeting Date and Time March 9th at 4 PM, in-person or online to be determined closer to the meeting date. 10. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:18 pm