Members present: Borleske, Cassity, Wiese, Zowin
UWEX Staff present: Dietmann, Erickson, Nagelkerk, Olson
Advisory members present: Clavadatscher, Leopold, Neuwirth
The meeting was called to order at 9:03 AM by Chair Wiese
Requirements of the open meeting law were met.
Motion by Cassity, second by Zowin to approve agenda. Motion approved
Motion by Cassity, second by Zowin to approve the minutes of the last meeting with a wordage change recommended by Bob Cassity. Motion approved.
Paul Dietmann read a thank you note that was received from Melissa Mateske, Summer 4-H Intern, thanking the department for her experiences during the summer.
Motion by Borleske, second by Cassity to approve the August bills in the amount of $1,808.17. Motion approved.
The department is over projected revenues as was reported previously. Expense line items are within the budget except for Relief Worker Charges and Educational Supplies, both of those being explained at previous meetings.
There will be an addition of $11,800 flow-through grant money to the UW Extension Department budget in revenues and expenditures.
Paul Dietmann reported that the budget process went more smoothly than it has in the last ten years. He credited that to Kathy Schauf as she had explained what she was looking for before the process began.
As reported at the August Ag & Extension Committee meeting, Kerry Beghin had felt that the contract between Sauk County and the University of Wisconsin for UW Extension Agents' contracts needed to go to a County Board resolution. Paul met with Kerry to discuss this topic and they went over the Wisconsin State Statute that covers this issue. Paul also had done an informal survey of how other counties go through this process, and after final consideration, the decision was made that this does not need to have a resolution, therefore, no committee action was required.
The draft copy of the Advisory Committee policies was brought back to the committee for discussion. Donna Neuwirth asked the question, in regards to the representatives that serve on the Advisory Board, what has greater value: Finding someone who has an outside frame of reference or someone who is already onboard and understands the respective UW Extension program area and is ready to move programs forward, acting more as an ambassador for UWEX?
Paul Dietmann would like to see members of the Advisory Committee be persons who would make sure that UW Extension is serving all clientele with their programming. He also asked how Advisory Board members should be selected for program areas that do not have well-defined user groups such as 4-H and HCE. The suggestion was made to send a letter to the Chair or President of all organizations associated with that program area notifying them that we are looking for a representative to the Ag & Extension Advisory Board and/or releasing a newspaper press release that states that a representative is needed, but present it in a way that makes people see it as an opportunity to serve.
Discussion followed on developing an informational page to be given to interested parties outlining the responsibilities of serving on the Advisory Board and stress the importance of serving Sauk County in the policies. The committee would also like to see all four program areas listed or defined on the Policy Guidelines.
This item was tabled until next month for further discussion.
As a follow-up to last month's discussion regarding whether a resolution will be required by the Sauk County Board to amend our budget to accept and spend the Ag Diversification and Development grant funds, Paul talked to Kerry Beghin to discuss the process that needed to be taken. She did not feel that a separate budget amendment resolution needed to be drafted for the Board, that the Ag & Extension Committee could move forward with the project.
Paul presented the committee with the proposed contract from VandeWalle and Associates for the feasibility study that was discussed on August 24, 2006. Motion by Zowin, second by Borleske to approve the contract with VandeWalle and Associates for a feasibility study for the Dairy Grazers group to be paid under the Ag Diversification and Development grant, not to exceed $6,875. Motion approved.
Jenny Erickson is working with John Exo and Joe Van Berkel on the planning and design of a map of the Baraboo River from Union Center to its confluence with the Wisconsin River over by Portage. This map will feature approximate canoeing time, access points, restrooms, historic points of interest along the river, the natural resources and scenic points of interest, and other attractions that lie along the river. This project is being done in conjunction with the Cities of Reedsburg and Baraboo as well as the Chambers of Commerce of Union Center, Reedsburg and Baraboo. The GIS maps of the river and graphics are being done by the UW in Madison. Five (5) organizations have agreed to fund the printing of the map, therefore, there will be no cost to Sauk County. The map will be ready for distribution for next summer.
Agent Presentation by Sue Nagelkerk Sue gave the Power Point presentation on Mackinac Island which she had presented to Columbia County HCE for one of their leader trainings.
Norma asked the question, "Are we serving the minority groups in Sauk
County?" Some discussion ensued regarding the Hispanic population
and the proposed project that the UW Extension department is currently
working on to possibly help build a soccer field at Bluffview.
Norma reported that the Wisconsin First Book program will have
a new name as of the first part of 2007. The program will now
be called Wisconsin Bookworms™ due to a trademark violation.
Donna reported that the Neu-Earth Wormfarm will be featured
in a book entitled "Renewing the Countryside - Wisconsin".
Donna also reported that she would like to phase out of her
Advisory Committee responsibilities sometime soon.
Bob reported that the Sauk County Dairy kids at the Wisconsin
State Fair received the top blue award for herdsmanship
for the second consecutive year.
The 4-H Sr. Leader Banquet will be held on October 14th.
The 4-H Open House is in Reedsburg this year.
The Livestock Committee will be seeing a major change in its structure - they will be going to four youth and two adult voting members on its board. This will place more emphasis on what the kids want, not the adults.
This is the last meeting for Bob and he gave some final comments regarding how 4-H has affected his life and the lives of his children.
Bob was given a round of applause for his involvement with the Advisory Committee. Bob Cassity asked whether the Ag & Extension Committee does something for service to the Advisory Committee and suggested that they do. It was also suggested that recognition be given to Bill Jaquish as well.
There will now be two openings on the Advisory Board to fill.
The UW Extension department had a staff meeting and luncheon
with the new interim Dean, Tom Pleger, from the UW Baraboo/Sauk
County campus.
Jessica is back from maternity leave on a part-time basis.
The Pasture Walk at Borleske's earlier in September was
very successful. Linda gave some of the details of the happenings
from that day to the committee.
The next regular meeting will be Thursday, October 26, 2006, at 9:00 AM in the ETN Classroom.
Motion by Cassity, second by Zowin to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned
at
10:46 AM.
Respectfully submitted: Paul Dietmann