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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAg & Extension 04-02-02ST. 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: April 2, 2002 TIME: 12:30 p.m. LOCATION: FSA Conference Room, Agricultural Services & Education Center, Baldwin 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 Personnel Study Department Head Conference —Mary Lestrud 4 -H YOUTH DEVELOPMENT REPORT + 4 -H Summer Assistant Position •:* 4 -H Camp Counselor Selection ❖ WI River Adventure Celebrating 100 Years of 4 -H WAE4 -HYDP Association Awards: Successful Program Award —Team for Family Camp Distinguished Service Award PLANNING DEPARTMENT REPORT ❖ Earth Day Observance ❖ DNR Grant Annual Report - Legislative Update 1 . j AG AGENT'S REPORT ❖ Ag Lenders Conference ❖ Dairy Marketing Workshops ❖ Pesticide Applicator Training •:• Pasture Management Meetings ❖ Cattle Feeder Seminar ❖ Farm Business Analysis Program ❖ Women In Agriculture Conference ❖ Dairy Promotion Committee ❖ Calf Health and Management Seminar ❖ Silage Management Seminar ❖ Farm Business Arrangements Program ❖ Milking Parlor Equipment Analysis RESOURCE AGENT'S REPORT ❖ New Richmond Business Market Analysis ❖ Small Business Management Counseling Comprehensive Planning Education programs NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order.) SUBMITTED BY: Kim Reaman DATE: 03/21/02 COPIES TO: County Board Office County Clerk News Media/Notice Board Committee Members 2 AG & EXTENSION / RESOURCE & EDUCATION / PLANNING COMMITTEE April 2, 2002 Agriculture Services & Education Center Convened: 12:45 pm Baldwin, Wi. Adjourned: 2:30 pm Present: Leon Berenschot, Ronald Raymond, Art Jensen, Chris Bethke, Lois Burri, Dave Fodroczi, Lee Milligan, Jim Janke, Kimberly Reaman, and Mary Lestrud The meeting was called to order by Chairman Chris Bethke. Date of next meeting was set for May 7 Berenschot moved that the agenda be adopted as presented. Burn seconded the motion. Motion carried. Jensen moved that the previous meeting's minutes be approved. Berenschot seconded the motion. Motion carried. Berenschot moved that the vouchers be approved. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Administrative Report Federal Budget Update —No report. State Budget Update —Due to the budget situation, the University System has implemented travel restrictions. Faculty are to document what work has not been done or how work has been done differently due to the travel restrictions. The University is also looking at an early retirement option as a way to manage the budget shortfall as well as critically reviewing the "2 agents in one program area" counties. County Budget —After the last County Department Head meeting, Reaman met with Rich Loney to discuss the options for purchasing a copy machine. Since the outright purchase of a copy machine was included in the 2002 budget, Loney's recommendation was to purchase rather than lease for 5 years. WACEC Update — Berenschot is the Vice - president of the state WACEC organization. The discussion points of the meeting included marketing the value of UW- Extension programs to County Boards and the general public; the status of the budget; and the 2002 State WACEC Conference to be held in Wausau. The conference will include a gubernatorial panel. Personnel: Horticulture Position —Polk County Ag and Extension Education Committee has gone on record supporting the hiring of a person on an interim basis to fill the horticulture position. UWEX is affected by the state hiring freeze, however, the counties are able to use their budgeted funds to hire someone on an interim basis into open positions. The desire is to hire someone from the end of May to sometime in mid September to help cover horticultural concerns over the summer. Berenschot moved to hire a person to fill the horticulture position on an interim basis not to exceed the 2002 budgeted amount. Bethke seconded the motion. Motion carried. Milligan will contact Mike Perkl, UWEX Western District Director to initiate the process. Personnel Study —Reaman reported that the data gathered by each department has been forwarded to Springsted and they are in the process of synthesizing and reformatting the information so that it is arranged in a consistent manner. Department heads have had the opportunity to review and revise what Springsted has done to date which includes the mission and the business responsibilities. Department Head Conference Report Lestrud discussed the 1 %2 day Department Head conference which she attended during March. She learned new techniques for coaching colleagues on a variety of topics. The Dean discussed the state budget as well as a final national study report, "The Extension System: A Vision for the 21 Century". Extension colleagues also shared templates which were developed to share the monetary value of local Extension programs 4 -11 Youth Development Agent's Report 4 -H Summer Assistant— Tiffani Calmes has been hired as the 4 -H summer assistant. Tiffani will bring a wealth of experience and relevant background knowledge to the position. She will begin in St. Croix County on May 29. Burn and Bethke participated in the interviews. 4 -H Camp Counselor Selection —The Lead on the Edge 4 -H Camp for freshman, which Reaman developed two years ago has increased the number of older youth applying to be a camp counselor. Each county, in the three county camp association, had many more youth apply than can be selected. In the future, Reaman would like the camp association to look at additional ways to increase meaningful leadership opportunities for youth so the more counselors may be selected. WI River Adventure Celebrating 100 Years of 4- H— Twelve St. Croix County participants have registered for this centennial celebration. Reaman is chaperoning the trip segment from July 1- 5 will begin in Tomahawk and end at Stevens Point. WAE4 -HYDP Association Awards: Reaman will be recognized by WAE4 -HYDP (professional association) at the Awards Banquet, April 10 with a Successful Program Award, which is a team award with Mary Lestrud and the Distinguished Service Award. Planning Department Report Earth Day Observance: Fodroczi indicated that Mary Barney would participate in an Earth Day exhibit at County Market in Hudson from 10:00 AM to Noon on Saturday, April 27 She will present a mercury reduction display on loan from the Midwest Recycling Association. The display was developed with a mercury reduction grant from WDNR. WDNR Grant Annual Report: Fodroczi reported that the preparation of the 2001 Annual Report was underway. Staff established an April 8 th deadline for municipal reports, and about half were in. Grant amounts will be based on a prorated amount of our 1999 award and should be received in early June. 2 Legislative Update: Fodroczi reported that companion bills to ban mercury thermometers that were introduced by Representative Joe Plouff and Senator Judy Robson of Beloit were unanimously recommended for adoption after public hearing on March 5th. The bills were not considered by the full legislature before adjournment of the general session, but might be added to the budget repair bill. Senator Sheila Harsdorf and Representative Joe Plouff cosponsored SB488 to authorize a study of used oil filters and oil absorbent materials. It was not considered before the end of the session. Resource Agent Report Business leaders from New Richmond have expressed interest in Extension's retail/service business market analysis program. The committee would like to contact other communities that have done this analysis and to see their written reports. Another meeting is scheduled for April 23. The bi- monthly Business Counseling Session on April 9 has filled all available time slots. UWRF administrators have told Janke that they plan to have the Small Business Development Center become a full -time office after the new fiscal year begins on July 1. The results of the Town of Baldwin's land use survey were given to town officials on April 1. The response rate was 46 %. The survey was sent to all households and non - resident landowners. The Town of Hammond survey results will be presented on April 8. The response rate was 42 %. Janke will be leading the Town of Stanton's Issues Identification Kickoff Workshop on April 4. A promotional flyer was sent to all residents and landowners. Erin Prairie's Plan Commission has scheduled a similar event on April 23. Janke and the Resource Agents from Dunn and Pierce Counties are arranging a series of training workshop on comprehensive planning. The first session is scheduled in Baldwin on May 28 and will focus on how to get started with a comprehensive planning process. The six St. Croix County towns involved in the Heartland Comprehensive Planning Project met together on March 25. They expressed a strong interest in learning more about a series of topics and issues. Janke and the staff from the Planning Department will be organizing training sessions focused on those topics of interest. Aa Agent's Report Milligan coordinated the 2002 Ag Lenders Conference in Menomonie. Topics, focused on the Farm Bill Debate, 2002 Dairy Price Outlook, and 2002 Crop Price Outlook. Approximately 110 ag lenders attended. Two beginner dairy price risk and one advanced dairy price risk workshops were coordinated and taught by Milligan. Eighteen dairy producer participated. Three pesticide applicator training programs were taught by Milligan and Greg Andres, Pierce County Ag Agent. Over 130 producers participated. Several graziers have asked Milligan to help resurrect the grazing group. Sixteen graziers participated in an educational and planning meeting. Two pasture walks have been scheduled for this summer. 3 There are 18 farm business analysis participants in 2002. Data collection is almost completed. Educational programs will be held this summer. Several producers are using the data for planning purposes. Milligan helped the St. Croix County Dairy Promotion Committee develop their 2002 plan. Forty -two dairy producers participated in a calf management seminar coordinated by Milligan. He also taught a section on the costs of raising dairy replacement calves. Over thirty dairy producers participated in a silage management seminar coordinated by Milligan. The participants requested Milligan write a paper on his topic for their use. Milligan has attended a couple of English As a Second Language committee meetings. There are a growing number of farm workers who do not speak English and have a desire to learn to do so. Milligan is meeting with several people to find resources that may help the workers learn English. Farm visits and other types of contacts focused on farm business analysis, dairy facility design, expansion, budgeting, land rental rates, a sheep dairy plan, a plan for on -farm dairy processing and marketing of dairy products, dairy nutrition, and other questions. In April, Milligan will be developing a Milking Systems Analysis Workshop. This is a pilot project and it may grow to a series of workshops held in St. Croix County for dairy producers in surrounding counties. Milligan is helping coordinate the St. Croix Dairy Banquet. Milligan attended the Professional Dairy Producer's of Wisconsin annual conference in March. Milligan will be working on one or two calf management tours in the area. These will be scheduled for the summer. Berenschot moved to adjourn. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, O.-�/G Art Jense Secretary Pmh 4