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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAg & Extension Committee 08-03-1999 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: August__3,1999 TIME: 12:30 p.m. LOCATION: 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 • St. Croix County UWEX 2000 Budget Review • Picnic at Chris Bethke's 4-H& YOUTH AGENT'S REPORT • County Fair Report • 4-H Summer Assistant Report RESOURCE AGENT'S REPORT • Groundwater Programs • Small business management Programs • Y2K Education Program PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S REPORT • Clean Sweep Final Report • Update on Funding for Recycling • CMA 2000 Contract for Services • 2000 Budget HORTICULTURE AGENT'S REPORT • Master Gardener Volunteer Training • Gardening on the Internet • Share the Bounty Program • UW-Extension Mission to Nicaragua NEW BUSINESS: 1 UNOFFICIAL Extension Ag Committee/Resource & Education Committee Meeting August 3, 1999 Agricultural Service and Convened: 12:30 p.m. Education Center Adjourned: 2:30 p.m. Present: Leon Berenschot, Ronald Raymond, Art Jensen, Chris Bethke, Lois Burri, Dave Fodroczi, Jim Janke, Kim Reaman, and Tom Kalb. The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m. Date of next meeting was set for Sept. 7 at 12:30 p.m. Jensen moved that the agenda be adopted as presented. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Berenschot moved that the previous meeting's minutes be approved. Raymond 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—State Budget is in a stalemate. It will be several weeks before we know what the State Budget will be. Creates difficulty in developing the county budget because the salary increases are not determined. St. Croix County 2000 Budget —Reaman distributed a copy of the 1999 St. Croix County UWEX budget. Three additional items will be included in the 2000 budget: laser printer, $500 increase in the summer 4-11 assistant stipend and a copier. A new laser printer was originally included in the 1999 budget but other recommendations were made to increase the memory in place of a new printer. Those suggestions were incorporated but the laser printer continues to break down and doesn't not meet the needs UWEX staff have for printing. Computer services has been logging the time required in fixing the existing printer for documentation. The 4-H summer assistant position currently pays $2500. Recently, we have had difficulty hiring individuals because of the stipend. Surrounding counties pay $3000 to $3,200. The $500 increase would bring St. Croix County up to $3000. The existing copier has 6 million copies on it. Reaman is waiting for the maintenance history from EO Johnson to review the copier production. There has been discussion with LWCD to purchase a copier jointly since the copier they currently uses belongs to NRCS and it is not functioning well. When the NRCS copier quits, it will not be replaced. NRCS will be expected to share the copier in FSA. !; The union contract for county employees has not been settled so those figures are unknown. Also, one of the biggest obstacles in the 2000 budget will be health insurance for county employees. Picnic at Chris Bethke's—Bethke will host a picnic to welcome Tom Kalb, the new Horticulture Agent on Sept. 7"'. It will give Extension Committee Members and staff a chance to get to know Tom. Strategic Planning—UW-Extension is involved in strategic planning for 2000-2004. Reaman distributed copies of surveys being conducted in Dunn and Polk Counties as examples. St. Croix County UWEX staff will utilize a similar survey mailed to 500 random households. 4-H Youth Development County Fair Report—Reaman is waiting for actual exhibit report to compare the number of exhibits to last year. The extreme heat made it necessary to release the milking dairy cows immediately following the dairy show on Saturday and the ver also released the Angora Rabbits. It seemed like attendance and exhibits were down largely due to the heat. All of judging went very well and the exhibits were displayed the best they have ever been. 4-11 Summer Assistant Report—The summer assistant will be conducting two day camps for Cloverbuds and Explorers. The sites will be in Baldwin and New Richmond. Currently, she is coordinating a history study of Northern Wisconsin for 5- 7`h graders. This history tour replaces the County to County Exchange. Horticulture Educator's Report Big news! Master Gardener Volunteer Training will be offered in St. Croix County this fall. The focus will be on Landscaping. Speakers from the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and other regional experts will participate. This is the first time ever that Master Gardener training has been offered in the St. Croix Valley using teachers instead of videotapes! Training will be conducted from September 22 through October 26. This is a major step in strengthening our Master Gardener training program. An article on"Internet Gardening"was published in Green Side Lp, the magazine of professionals in Wisconsin's landscaping industry. Press releases on controlling cabbageworms, watering lawns, controlling mosquitoes and selecting native trees ,vere sent to local media. The Wisconsin Gardening and Commercial Horticulture Web Page was updated. Over 13,000 persons have used this web page during the past year to gather information. _ r Tom led a"chat"among gardeners on the Internet as a guest of the Wisconsin Gardener Television Show on Wisconsin Public Television. Tom spoke on the Share the Bounty Program at the Pierce County Hunger Prevention Coalition and St. Bridget's Church in River Falls. This Master Gardener program is encouraging gardeners to share the harvest from their gardens with the hungry in their communities. Over 100 persons received educational assistance on the telephone. Most problems concerned blights on trees. Tom joined a team of UW-Extension faculty on a mission to Nicaragua. The goal of the mission was to meet leaders of agricultural universities and extension in Nicaragua and identify areas for future collaboration. Several potential initiatives were identified, including backyard gardening projects that improve family nutrition and support the role of the woman in the family. Resource Agent's Report Janke reported that small business management counseling sessions were held in Hudson on July 28. Another date is scheduled for August 31. A meeting has been arranged on August 25 at UW-River Falls to discuss the new Small Business Development Center(SBDC) on the campus. St. Croix and Pierce Counties will be placed in the service area for the new SBDC beginning in January 2000. Representatives from NSP and St. Croix Electric gave presentations at the July meeting of the County Y2K Contingency Planning Committee. Janke hosted a Y2k satellite videoconference on July 29 sponsored by NACO. Janke met-with the Director of Public Health to review any possible duplication of services regarding drinking water testing programs. The program the Extension and LWCD are coordinating is much more targeted toward specific geographic areas of the county and has a strong educational component beyond testing the water. Janke has contacted other Wisconsin counties to learn how they deal with retail sales of agricultural products directly from the farm. He presented an overview of the findings, which has been sent to the Zoning Administrator and Committee Chair Ron Raymond. Berenschot moved to adjourn. Jensen seconded the motion. Motion carried. Planning Department's Report Fodroczi reviewed a list of July vouchers totaling $10,262.74. Berenschot moved that the vouchers be approved as presented. Raymond seconded the motion. Motion carried. Clean Sweep: Fodroczi reported that staff are still awaiting the final report and billing for the May 22"d collection from Northwest Regional planning. Preparations are almost complete for the September 25" collection in New Richmond. Update on Funding for Recycling: Fodroczi indicated that State funding for recycling for 2000 and beyond is still pending completion of the State Budget by the Legislative Conference Committee. WWRA 2000 Contract for Services: Fodroczi reported that he is working with Dean Swenson of the Western Wisconsin recycling Association to prepare the 2000 Contract for Services. Contract terms will be finalized for development of the 2000 Recycling budget. Respectively submitted, ArtJensen Secretary mh i