Agriculture & Extension Education Committee


Members present: Borleske, Cassity, Wiese, Zowin

UWEX Staff present: Dietmann, Nagelkerk, Erickson, Jens

Guest: Kathy Schauf

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 AM by Chair Wiese.

Certification of the Open Meeting Notice

Requirements of the open meeting law were met.

Approval of Agenda

Motion by Borleske, second by Zowin to approve the agenda. Motion approved.

Approval of Minutes from the Last Meeting

Motion by Cassity, second by Borleske to approve the minutes from the September 29, 2005, regular meeting of the Ag & Extension Committee. Motion approved.

Correspondence

No correspondence this month.

Bills and Financial Report

Motion by Zowin, second by Borleske to approve the September bills. Motion approved.

The financial report shows that the office income is a little above budget due to increased office services and increased prices.

Appearance of Kathy Schauf, Interim Administrative Coordinator

Kathy talked about the opportunities to use extension's research based services and Department of Commerce funds program. We are working at a stronger relationship with county administration.

Responsibility Based Culture

Building an atmosphere of trust is one of the goals of this initiative. We feel that we are already there. Most extension employees are. 10 days of training seem to be costly, in terms of staff time.

Agent Presentation

Civil Rights Review:

Extension review in case we ever had a review. Chances of a federal review in Sauk County are nil. The office passed the review, with recommendations to improve documentation. Next month we will present our power point.

WNEP:

The program vision and direction was discussed by the group. There are challenges that we hope will be addressed in the upcoming months as a new 100% time coordinator will be hired. An educator will be hired into the year. The position will be split with Richland County.

Jenny:

Prepare for Your Future Now! A survey was given to 200 small business owners in Baraboo, Reedsburg and Wisconsin Dells. The survey was also distributed by the Sauk County Development Corporation. 80 surveys were returned. Work ethic and reliability came out on top. 600 results were printed out and given to Baraboo parents.

SCIL (Sauk County Institute of Leadership) Jenny builds the capacity of the board to function independently. Some goals have been:

  1. the class sessions
  2. the annual report
  3. the leadership focus

Department Update

Jessica is working with older youth to organize the Southern District Fall Youth Leadership conference at Great Wolf Lodge. She also taught a youth leadership session at the September Jr. Leader Council meeting. Work with YEPS continues.

The next regular meeting of the Ag & Extension Committee will be held Thursday, December 1, 2005, in the ETN Classroom at 9:00 AM.

Adjournment

Motion by Borleske, second by Zowin to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 11:05 AM.

Respectfully submitted: Paul Dietmann