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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAg & Extension 01-02-02R ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Tom Dorsey, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Chris Bethke, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Extension Ag Committee/Resource & Education Committee DATE: January 2, 2002 TIME: 12:30 p.m. LOCATION: Agricultural Services & Education Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES ACTION ON VOUCHERS UNFINISHED BUSINESS: ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT • Federal Budget Update • State Budget Update • County Budget Update • WACEC Update • Personnel - Horticulture Position - Shared Leadership for Office Chair Roles /Responsibilities PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S REPORT • Legislative Updates • Mercury Exchange Project • Newsletter Printing Contract 4 -H YOUTH AGENT'S REPORT • St. Croix County Plat Book • 4 -H Cultural Arts Day • 4 -H Shooting Sports Program 1 AG AGENT'S REPORT • Ag Lender's Conference • Ag Marketing Session • PEPS Yield Contest • Midwest Dairy Herd Health • Other Educational Activities RESOURCE AGENT'S REPORT • Small Business Management Counseling • Comprehensive Planning Education FAMILY LIVING AGENT'S REPORT • Parenting the 2nd & 3 rd Year Study Results • Family Resource Center Study NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order.) SUBMITTED BY: Kim Reaman DATE: December 19, 2002 COPIES TO: County Board Office County Clerk News Media/Notice Board Committee Members 2 AG & EXTENSION /RESOURCE & EDUCATION/ PLANNING COMMITTEE January 2, 2002 Agricultural Service & Education Center Convened: 12:30 pm Baldwin Adjourned: 2:15 pm Present: Leon Berenschot, Ronald Raymond, Art Jensen, Chris Bethke, Lois Burn, Dave Fodroczi, Lee Milligan, Jim Janke, Kimberly Reaman, Martha Mabis, and Mary Lestrud The meeting was called to order by Chairman Chris Bethke. Date of next meeting was set for February 2, 2002. Burn moved that the agenda be adopted as presented. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Jensen moved that the previous meeting's minutes be approved. Berenschot seconded the motion. Motion carried. Raymond moved that the vouchers be approved. Bum seconded the motion. Motion carried. :administrative Report Federal Budget Update —No report. State Budget Update— No report. 2001 County Budget —Moved by Burn to make a line item transfer of $300 from Ag Contractual Services to Office Supplies. Seconded by Jensen. Motion passed. District WACEC Conference — Berenschot and Burri reported on the demographic presentation made at the District WACEC Conference. Personnel: Horticulture Position - -There is no new information regarding the Horticulture position. Shared Leadership for Office Chair roles/Responsibilities -- The administrative responsibilities, and expectations with that role, continue to increase making it more difficult for one person to manage given the existing program responsibilities each agent has. A list of administrative meetings, which the office chair attends, was generated and the time spent in just the meetings equaled 21 days. That does not include time preparing for the meetings or follow up after the meetings. The staff met to discuss the situation and possible solutions to alleviate the increasing time demand. As a result of that meeting, the staff indicated an interest in trying a shared leadership concept where each agent would assume responsibility for part of the administrative role. The Office Chair stipend of $1,200 would also be equally distributed between the agents involved. The shared leadership proposal developed by the staff is attached. Moved by Raymond to approve the shared leadership proposal as presented by the staff. Second by Bum. Motion passed. 4 -H Youth Agent's Report St. Croix County Plat Book —The St. Croix County 4 -H Leader's Association has contracted with Farm and Home Publishers from Belmond, Iowa to produce the 2002 Plat Book. The 2002 Plat Book will include plat maps for each township in addition to a directory which will identify homestead placement and ownership. Another new feature will be the addition of a phone and address directory for landowners. Leader's Council members and other 4 -H adult volunteers will officially sell ads for the plat book beginning on January 23 and ending February 20. A letter was mailed to each business /organization that purchased ad space in the last book informing them of the reprinting for 2002 and many ad contracts have already been returned to take advantage of the 2001 tax deduction. The target date for the new book is September 2002. 4 -H Cultural Arts Day —The new Cultural Arts Committee has planned a day for 4 -H members and leaders to learn how to make an assortment of cultural arts projects. Sessions in jewelry making, sand art, ceramics, foam art, leather, rubberstamping and plastic canvas are being offered. Participants will be able to select S different sessions to attend and each session will have projects the participants actually complete before the day is over. This is the first cultural arts day for members in many years. 4 -H Shooting Sports Program — Another new program in 2002 is the 4 -H Shooting Sports Program which will consist of archery. We have had several responses to our "call for help" People have come forward with offers of archery equipment for youth and potential bow and arrow ranges to be used for practice and competitions. The next step will be to meet with the Archery committee to finalize plans for the educational program. Ag Agent's Report Milligan taught, eleven ag educators how to interpret AgFA farm analysis reporter. These educators will be using the program to analyze farm records. Milligan coordinated the collection of the narrow corn grain plot at John Schottler's farm. Yields ranged from 128 – 143 bushel per acre. This data will be added to the state narrow row corn yield database. Milligan developed a power point presentation on managing transition cows for Brad Afdahl to present at the Midwest Dairy Herd Health Conference. The presentation highlighted Afdahl's transition cow management practices. The panel discussion was noted as a highlight by several. Milligan attended the Fertilizer Dealer meeting. Milligan participated in the LESA meeting. Milligan completed planning for the Ag Lenders Conference scheduled for January 3, 2002. Milligan attended a milk quality in- service program. He is considering incorporating milk quality into programming efforts. Farm visits focused on farm financial management, milk quality, beef production, manure management, dairy nutrition, dairy marketing, water quality, farmland rent, and free stall design. 2 Milligan completed the yield contest checks for 2001. Ken Peterson. Wayne and Jane VanBeek, and Richard and Mike Kamm had corn and/or soybean entries this year. Yields ranged from 160 to 195 bushels per acre for corn and soybeans ranged from ;; — 40 bushels per acre. Educational activities scheduled to date are Ag Lenders Conference, Seed Dealers Meeting, Beginner Dairy Marketing, Advanced Dairy Marketing, Pesticide Applicator Training, and Forage Management. Farm visits and telephone calls focused on beef feedlot and housing, dairy nutrition and herd health issued, manure management, financial management, custom rates, land rental rates, and pasturing issues, water quality, free stall design, and milk quality. Educational activities in farm management, farm buildings, and grain marketing are being planned. WHEP Educator's Minutes Mabis shared information regarding the Food Resource Collaborative and distributed copies of the Food Resource Directory to committee members. Te collaborative members compiled the information for the directory which was printed with United Way funds. Resource Agent's Report Small Business Counseling resumed in Hudson on December 19. All appointment times were filled, and there is a waiting list of four clients. In addition Janke counseled two clients over the telephone. In December Janke met with the Plan Commissions of Baldwin and Hammond to work on their citizen surveys. Janke will meet with them again in January to finalize the survey instruments. Janke will coordinate the mailing of the survey with the UWRF Survey Research Center when the survey design is approved. In addition Janke met with the Stanton Town Board to assist them in the development of their Plan Commission ordinance and to discuss future assistance with their public participation activities. The Town of Kinnickinnic invited Janke to their December meeting to discuss how to get started with their Comprehensive Plan. Janke and Dave Fodroczi will meet with the Cylon Town Board on January 9 to help them begin their planning process. They will also give presentations on January 21 at a public informational meeting sponsored by the Richmond Town Board. Planning Department Report Fodroczi reported that he had no December vouchers to present. He said he expected to receive a final billing from Midwest Recycling Association for 2001 staff services, but it was not yet received. Raymond moved to authorize Fodroczi to sign and submit the MRA bill for payment as long as charges were consistent with the terms of the 2001 contract. Burri seconded the motion. Motion carried. 3 Legislative Update: Fodroczi reported that the resolution passed by the County Board that supports AB 636/SB 319 to restore recycling funding for UW research and technical assistance was distributed to area legislators. He will monitor the legislation for any public hearings. Fodroczi also updated the Committee on a lawsuit filed by the solid waste industry against the new State recycling fees. A federal judge in Madison denied an injunction and set a trial date for April 19` Mercury Exchange Project: Fodroczi summarized staff efforts to organize a pilot mercury exchange program. County residents would be able to exchange outdated mercury thermostats and thermometers for safer non - mercury household thermometers or digital health thermometers. The mercury products would be recycled through our clean sweep contractor. Fodroczi indicated that implementation was pending review and concurrence of our procedures from the DNR. Newsletter Printing Contract: Fodroczi reported that staff have distributed bid requests for the next four issues of the newsletter to area printing firms. Bids are due January 15 Staff will have a recommended contract for Committee action at the February meeting,. Family Living Agent's Report Lestrud shared the results of two evaluation studies which she has worked on during the past year. The first study was called UW Extension ... A Leader in Developing Wisconsin's Family Resource renters. The study showed the many benefits to parents who participate in resource centers throughout WI and also the critical support provided to centers by UW Extension. The second study was an evaluation of the Parenting. The Second and Third Year newsletters which are distributed to all parents Nvho give birth in St. Croix County hospitals. Parents in the study reported that reading the newsletters led them to change their child- rearing behaviors in six key areas, each of which is predictive of child development gains. The impact of the newsletters is greatest for those most in need of parenting advice. namely, at -risk parents. Jensen moved to adjourn. Berenschot seconded the motion. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned Respectfully submitted, Art Jensen Secretary pmh n