August 2007
Minutes for North Dakota JCEP meeting
August 23, 2007
Carrington Research Extension Center
Members Present: Macine Lukach, Jackie Buckley, Vanessa Hoines, Peggy Anderson, Willie Huot, Steve Sagaser, Randy Grueneich, Gerald Stern, Randy Wald, Dave Rice, Terry Gregoire
Members Absent: Ellen Bjelland and Marcia Hellandsaas
Meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. Association reports began the meeting. Each of the member association's gave an update on the latest activities including involvement at national meetings, individual membership, and general comments about organizational activities.
Unfinished business from last meeting was discussed: Director Duane Hauck commented on several agenda subjects. SBARE redirection activities are ongoing as of this writing they are in the midst of series of meetings discussing redirection. They met in April and June and they will meet again in September. Meetings have focused on future direction, individual goals and aspirations of SBARE members, how they would get information from the public and discussing themes before budget.
Duane then commented on legislative funding. Everything went well during the legislative session. Particular discussion ensued on Parent Resource Centers. Duane explained about the new dollars appropriated, the distribution of funds and how additional funding from state appropriated dollars was used in addition to new money. Discussion then centered on new staff, new positions and new hires. The nature of the positions, whether they are tenured track, and where the position is located all influence the hiring process. Discussion on how 2007 salary raises were decided then ensued. Duane explained that the North Dakota State University policy is to allocate new salary funding based on an across the board adjustment of 2% or $75 for adequate performance and the rest to be basically expended upon merit with some equity considerations. The group felt that perhaps a little bit more discussion, despite the fact that it has been explained several times, would still be good in that there seems to be some questions about how the money was allocated.
The summer Chapman tours were discussed. It was felt that they went very well, President Chapman was pleased. Perhaps future initiatives along this line might involve a selected number of locations every year or two that would have a visit from NDSU administration and be located in units with emphasis on county programming.
A proposal for North Dakota JCEP involvement in new staff development and professional development training was reviewed. Macine will follow-up with Mike Rose on this topic. Mike was developing a paper that would serve as a basis for discussion for this, but it was not available at the time of our meeting.
A general discussion of communication took place. Dealing with increased Spam was discussed. Communications concerning the new concept of interns and their placement, agents-in-training, and new implementation of new programs were discussed. Duane explained that the agent-in-training as well as interns depend on off-budget capacity. If dollars are available for support, then new agent-in-training or internships can be considered. Other numerous factors are considered when choosing a particular location for internships. First priority, though, for agent-in-training is back-up support, 2nd priority is to prepare an agent for a future in extension. Mentoring was also discussed. Gerald commented that the mentoring program has been structured a little bit differently in the past year. Items such as stipends have been added along with progress reports and Gerald felt the program was improving.
New business concerns: FNP program was discussed. A shortfall of funding and why this occurred was explained by Director Hauck and Gerald. It was a very complex situation. The result is that they would like staff to be hired at 40% or at least 75 percent of FTD.
The next item on the agenda was the Center for 4-H and Youth Development. Staff responsibilities were discussed. Gerald will follow-up with Brad Cogdill on the distribution of responsibilities outlined for staff.
The 4th item under new business involved state financial support of trips to national meetings from associations. Director Hauck passed out a handout from the web page and discussion ensued. Dave Rice will make a spreadsheet available on the Web for use by association presidents to help with allocation of state financial support.
Shooting sports training and certification for shooting sports was discussed. Jackie will contact Brad Cogdill about the concern of availability of trainers at particular times, particularly for extension staff.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for October 15th over lunch at Fall Conference.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Gregoire
