Minutes of the Board of Directorsof The

Minutes of the Board of Directorsof the

Iowa Extension Council Association

January 20, 2018

The Board of Directors of the Iowa Extension Council Association met in Ames on January 20, 2018. President Don Moore called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Board members present include Don Moore, Mary Giese, Michael Ryan, Barb Sauser, Al Ralston, Mike Stocker, Jayne Lupkes, Pam Olerich, Joy Prothero, Lori Donahoe, Jamie David, and Connie Casson. Laura Sievers and Peggy Sparrgrove arrived at 10:50. Also present were John Lawrence,Bob Dodds, Cindy Gannon,Terry Maloy, andJulie Baumler.

Mike Ryan. moved to approve the agenda. Jayne seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Barb moved to approve the minutes from Sept. 30, 2017. Mike Stocker seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Lori gave the treasurer’s report. The checking balance is $19.692.43. We also have $105.00 in savings. The following bills were presented by Julie Baumler: $93.00 for copies and $48.75 for office supplies. Lori moved to approve the bills. Mike Ryan seconded the motion. The motion carried. We’re getting EAP checks right now. About 50 counties have paid so far.

The group discussed our tax filing status. Mary Giese moved to proceed with filing an EIN under the Iowa Extension Council Association name, file for 501c4 status, and to work with CPA David Rogers from Carney, Alexander, Marold & Co. in Waterloo. He does a lot of work with non-profits. Al seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Dr. John Lawrence, Interim Vice President for Extension and Outreach gave an Extension and Outreach update including the following items:

• The Land Grant Legacy story is being featured in ISU’s Visions magazine for alums this month.
• A new ISU fact book was distributed. It highlighted Extension’s reach to more than 1 million people last year.
• President Wintersteen took on the role of ISU president in November. She was featured on Iowa Press last night. In her letter to faculty, staff, and students, she reported that we had the largest fall graduating class this year. The Board of Regents is working to make their tuition recommendation. ISU and U of I had talked about a 7% tuition increase earlier in the fall to really cover the need. They are now discussing a 3% increase.
• Extension’s 2017 annual report was handed out. John noted our federal funding remains level since 2012-13, state funding has reduced slightly, grants and contracts have declined (primarily due to CIRAS moving out of the Extension unit), and county funds increasing (likely due to increased assessed values).
• John noted that Extension and the Experiment Station have always been a separate state budget line from the Iowa State University. The upside is that we can be insulated from the cuts, but we also tend to get ignored with raises. Dr. Wintersteen is starting the discussion to see if we would all benefit from being more integrated with the University’s budget – we sink or swim together. Looking back through the past several years, both Extension and the Experiment Station would have benefitted overall had they been included with ISU.
• So far we have been able to absorb the cuts that Extension took from our reduced state appropriations. We are watching the state legislature closely to see what they do this year. There have been discussions about a full review of the 3 Regents institutions, similar to what was done in the 1990s.
• Many counties have now signed the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iowa State University. Terry said he has heard appreciation for leaving the support service fee the same. John suggested that the association start working to form a new MOU committee next fall.
• The county fair partnership agreement template has been released and is being discussed. The committee that put the template together is scheduled to meet on Feb. 1 to review any feedback that has been received and make adjustments. Al noted that counties may need to review their risk management with fair judges to mitigate liability while traveling to and from the fair.
• Human Sciences Extension has decided to run all of their program registrations through Registration Services. Don noted that he heard some frustration with the quick roll-out and lack of communication about how it would all work with staff reimbursement for time, etc. They also were confused with regard to some of the limitations in amounts of reimbursements, as well as a request to reimburse via supplies. Al said this will actually help their cash flow out in their county. Human Sciences is hopeful that this will save county time and overhead, as well as allow them a centralized list of clientele that might benefit from their programming and services.John also shared that, at this time, Ag and Natural Resources Extension will continue to run their program registration through the counties, as before.
• Extension and Outreach will be doing statewide needs assessment in 2018. This is a continuation of the 5 year cycle as has been done in the past. The leadership team met to discuss it yesterday and developed a committee to work on it. There will be opportunities for counties to weigh in locally, as well. County staff and councils may be asked to help identify participants and be involved in other ways as well. John does not anticipate a major restructuring as a result of the needs assessment. We need to consider both WHO we listen to, and HOW we gather the information. We also need to explore how we deliver our programs and services. What is the role of county offices, field staff, and state staff?
• Mary Greiman is on the search committee for the next Vice President for Extension and Outreach. There are several candidates for the position. First round interviews will be Jan. 29-30. After that the committee will reconvene for second round interviews at the end of the February or the first part of March. They will give their committee recommendation to Dr. Wintersteen sometime the middle of March. There are 13 or 14 people on the search committee.
• John noted that they are also doing a search for a Dean of Veterinary Medicine as well as Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Mike Ryan asked Dr. Lawrence about the potential of software to assist with program evaluation. Bob said that they have been working on the shared database to collect data to be able to evaluate it. John said that they have money set aside this year to either develop their own system or buy a system. There is a software product called Salesforce, a customer relationship management (CRM) system that is being used by extension in other states. Penn State and New Hampshire have used it to allow clients/customers to sign up for services and programs that they are interested in and also to help with cross-marketing programs. They could also identify customers by legislative district to lobby for specific contacts. The shared database committee has identified the specifications of what they are looking for and met with the software company several times. They are waiting for a quote at this point.

Bob Dodds, Asst. Vice-President for County Services gave an update from the County Services unit including the following items:

• They are working with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) to provide training to local farmers who participate in the farmers’ markets. The farmers’market WICK program provides vouchers to families with young children to be able to purchase fresh produce. This training has been provided over ICN in the past, but it would now be able to be provided in local county extension offices. In Des Moines and Lee County, they boosted the redemption rate of coupons from around 40% to 70% by changing hours of the farmer’s market and providing close parking. Additionally, the Rising Stars interns helped promote the program with young families to raise awareness. Bob sees one of his key responsibilities as working to identify groups we can partner with.
• Human Sciences Extension is working with IPERS to partner to deliver retirement planning and financial management programming with their members at local offices.
• County Services has been working on a new template to help councils with the program planning process. Jerry Chizek, Regional Director, has been working on this and will be presenting at one of the breakout sessions. They are also working on the program catalog to make it more user-friendly. The template will allow councils to look at the programs across the board in their county.
• Through the background screening process, IECA has helped Extension and Outreach work to define what a volunteer is. Because of this work, we can provide medical insurance for accidents for our volunteers in the course of their work with us. Unfortunately, unscreened volunteers are not covered under this insurance. Therefore, this underlines the need to screen volunteers and to use volunteers that have been screened. Terry and Bob have been working with the purchasing unit to explore using an “excess” policy (rather than a “primary” policy) that would go into effect after the personal insurance is used. They have put out an RFP to see if we could increase the coverage for the same premium (currently $1/volunteer or $2/horse volunteer).
• A new timekeeping system for county employees is being piloted in about 30 counties. It should help staff keep track of time and should also allow them to track time by project, if they desire. Staff can also electronically sign their timesheet, which eliminates the need to be there in person to submit hours to bookkeepers. Bob would also like to use this system with the regional directors to help track what they spend their time doing. County Services will be paying for the service for the first 2 years at $25/employee. This program can accommodate 100 different vacation and sick leave policies. However, Bob would like to discuss some way to have more of a uniform policy across the state eventually, which would be helpful for employees who work in more than one county. The pilot is starting on March 1. They will try it for a couple of months and then invite other counties to participate.

Cindy Gannon noted that the “Faces of Iowa State” exhibit is touring the state. It’s another way to get ISU out into the counties.

An update on the extension council conference was given by Pam. We have 19 people registered for the conference so far, along with 5 displays for the Idea Fair.

The standing committees met over lunch and reported back to the group.

Jayne reported for the Finance, Policy, & Legislation committee. The Legislative Day is set for Feb. 28 and will include 4-H programming again this year. Jayne has contacted the coordinator of the pages and they areconfirmed to come, unless their schedules don’t permit it that week. Terry has confirmed tours for the afternoonand has sent a request to the governor’s office for her to speak, if her schedule allows.

The group discussed advocating for a change in Iowa Code 176A.8 to change the wording concerning filling vacancies on the council from “the next pending election” to “the next general election.” This would save extension districts money preventing them from being assessed partial costs of a special election. Additionally, we would advocate changing the publication date of the annual report from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1 to allow it to be done outside of county fair season, as well as in recognition of more newspapers being weekly publications, being printed less frequently. The committee will work with some of the legislators to see if we would have support for these changes.

Jayne moved to hire Mark Settle to consult with our group on legislative issues at the rate of $50/hour not to exceed 10 hours per year. Joy seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Lori moved to offer reimbursement of $50 per carload of 3 or more people attending the legislative day (or mileage at .545/mile if it is less). Joy seconded the motion. The motion carried.

The committee reviewed the financial projections for the conference. The County Services unit is committed to pay up to $2,500 for facility rental for the conference. Terry will approach LMC and our other vendors to see if they would be willing to sponsor. Mary Giese moved to have the following contribution levels:Supporting contributor – up to $500, Contributing Sponsor – $500 - $749, Cardinal - $750-$999 and Gold - $1,000 and up. Mike Ryan seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Lori moved to try the Italian pasta bar for the lunch menu. Mary Greiman seconded it. The motion carried. For afternoon snack, the committee recommended a sheet cake in celebration of IECA’s 20th anniversary, along with a veggie tray.

The Human Resources & Member Services committee worked on refining the topics of the breakout sessions. They recommended a “finance boot camp” option with a basic section in the morning and a more advanced session in the afternoon for next year’s conference. For the county success stories session, they would like to include the Small Talk program from Region 8 and Appanoose County’s Pick a Better Snack program using local foods. Cindy Gannon will help identify another one or two programs from the county stakeholder reports that we can invite to present at that session. We want them to each answer the same 3-4 questions about their program and to include a council member as presenter. Handouts should be encouraged for all breakout session and uploaded to the website after the conference.

The Communication & Networking committee would like to have Don start the opening session with introductions. Dr. Wintersteen will be asked to speak for 10 minutes in the opening session of the conference (pending the status of the men’s basketball team at the Big 12 Tournament) and Dr. Lawrence would be invited to give a 10-minute Extension and Outreach update. For the conference closing, Terry will preside. Bob has agreed to give a county services update. Prizes for the get-acquainted scavenger hunt will be handed out, as well as a grand door prize.

The participant packets will be similar to last year. Joy moved to purchase 1,000 pens at $1.78 each and 1,000 notepads at $1.24 each, as well as 2 years-worth of the nametag ribbons (identifying board members, staff, and presenters). Mary Greiman seconded the motion. The motion carried.

It was decided that if we need to cancel due to weather, we will ask Conference Services to send a message to registrants by Friday afternoon. Our cancellation insurance will kick in if we need to cancel for weather.

With our 20th anniversary, we will decorate using a birthday theme and will contact Dave Turner to make balloon animals.

All board members should contact the counties in their region to remind them of the conference and the legislative day.

Julie will send out links to the conference flyers and also include a page of breakout sessions, as well as council chair contact information.

An executive director report was given by Terry Maloy. He noted that we will be having board elections in regions 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, and 18. We also still need a board representative for region 1. Julie will email nomination forms to the current board members in those regions.

County concerns and issues were discussed. Terry shared that last year the legislature passed a law that employee records could become public record if an employee is terminated, resigns by mutual decision with the employer, or a payout occurs. Whitfield and Eddy is working to help us come up with some guidelines for how councils should handle notifying their employees and documenting that notification. Once they have put this together, Terry will share this with all of the councils.

Terry reported that counties are still continuing to use Whitfield and Eddy. He usually gets 2-3 calls per month. Jackie (from Whitfield and Eddy) is going to give him an accounting of our usage again soon.

Mary Giese suggested that minutes from the exec committee be sent out to the full board.

Mike Ryan moved to approve board member travel expenses of $1,808.31. Joy seconded the motion. The motion carried.

The next meeting dateis set forJune 23. Jayne moved to adjourn the meeting. Mike Stocker seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Ryan, IECA Secretary