DRAFT
January 9, 2008 Conference Call Minutes
Action Items
Chuck Otte moved to approve
the agenda as presented. The motion was seconded by
James Devillier and the motion passed.
Phil moved to accept
Jerry Warren, Chair and Bruce Barbour, NE Vice - Chair for Administrative
Skills and Leadership Development Committee. The motion was seconded
by Chuck Otte and the motion passed.
Michelle Infante-Casella,
NJ National Chair (2009) and Vice-Chair NE region (2010); Vance Haugen
WI, NC region Vice-Chair;(2010); Julia Gaskin, GA Vice-Chair Southern
Region (2009) and Milt Green WY, Western region Vice-Chair (2009)
Phil Pratt moved to accept the above terms. The motion was seconded
by Chuck Otte and the motion passed.
James Devillier moved to accept the contract of A&T Photo as presented. Chuck Otte seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Call to Order
President Fred Miller called the conference call meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. EDT. Members present were; Paul Wigley, Dirk Webb, Scott Hawbaker, Allan Galloway, Chuck Otte, Rick Gibson, Fred Miller, Phil Pratt, Leon Church, James Devillier, Paul Craig, Chuck Schwartau, Michele Hebert, Betsy Greene and Scott Hawbaker.
Approval of conference call agenda
Fred Miller asked the board if there were any additional items that needed to be added to the agenda.
Chuck Otte moved to approve the agenda as presented. The motion was seconded by James Devillier and the motion passed.
Review of Winter Board Actions item A
Leon Church, Secretary discussed the action items from the winter board meeting. The board was emailed a copy of the actions. Those items are attached as item A. Discussion was held on the wording for how to handle NACAA money/profits from Galaxy. The motion to use those funds for NACAA programming at Galaxy should indicate all profits rather than just money from registration. Fred Miller thanked the board for the dedication and hard work they had performed at the winter board meeting in December. He stated that the number of action items was an indication of that work.
Executive Program Committee Report item B
Phil Pratt, Vice President reported that the Executive Program Committee met via conference call with the following items were discussed.
1) Phil reported that he had emailed the policy regarding national chair or vice chair replacement approved at the winter board to the Council Chairs. He noted that based on that policy chance Mike Heimer, Extension Programs Council Chair submitted Jerry Warren, TX to fill the remainder of the term of National Chair or Administrative Skills and Leadership Development Committee and Bruce Barbour, NJ to fill the remainder of the term for Vice Chair NE Regions. He reported that both had filled out the required paper for the positions. Phil moved to accept Jerry Warren, Chair and Bruce Barbour, NE Vice - Chair for Administrative Skills and Leadership Development Committee. The motion was seconded by Chuck Otte and the motion passed.
2) Phil then reported that he had reviewed with the Council Chairs the policy concerning reimbursement of AM/PIC expenses for NACAA members. He stated that he had sent a letter to Dan Downing, Chair of Ag Issues regarding this policy.
3) Phil gave an update on the Awards Edition of the County Agent Magazine. He noted: a.) Council Chairs reported they completed their updates soon after winter board and sent to Scott, and b.) Council Chairs were reminded that updates were to be completed by Winter Board meeting each year. Scott report that the Awards edition should be sent in 8 to 10 business days. Scott Hawbaker reported that Norman Nagata from Hawaii had requested that the County Agent Magazine be sent first class rather than bulk mail due to the long delay arriving in Hawaii. He noted that he had done that for 1 year and had basically forgotten about it. Scott noted that Michele had been sent a letter and discussed the problem that bulk mail takes two months. He stated that he will send the magazine via an electronic versions; he will also send it in regular mail. Phil Pratt asked the board if we should put into policy that the council chairs need to update the awards magazine.
4) Phil reported that he had asked the Council Chairs to review Section 6 in the NACAA Policy Manual. James Devillier asked about the current situation in light of the duties that are being handled by our Executive Director. He felt that we need to consider these duties and how they are cover for this policy update. Phil will set up a conference call to discuss this section with the policy review committee.
5) He noted that the Program Recognition Council progress report was emailed to the board and will be apart of this report as Mike Hogan was not able to attend the winter board.
6) Phil reported that Tom Benton had developed rotation for the Sustainable Agriculture Committee and asked for it’s approval. Michelle Infante-Casella, NJ National Chair (2009) and Vice-Chair NE region (2010); Vance Haugen WI, NC region Vice-Chair;(2010); Julia Gaskin, GA Vice-Chair Southern Region (2009) and Milt Green WY, Western region Vice-Chair (2009) Phil Pratt moved to accept the above terms. The motion was seconded by Chuck Otte and the motion passed.
7) Phil reported that Committee Chair/Vice Chair openings for 2008 had been determined and is a part of item B. He noted that he had asked the Council Chairs to begin the process so that the process can be completed by Spring Board Meeting. James asked if Phil would bring this up at the Regional Leadership Workshops. Phil noted that he would and asked the Directors to do the same at any time appropriate. Michele asked for clarification as to who would be at the San Diego Leadership Workshop. It will be Rick Gibson. It was also stated that we are looking for applications to fill these openings.
8) Phil reported on an excel spread sheet survey form for the 2008 AM/PIC Programs evaluation. The council chairs have accepted it to use during this coming AM/PIC. He additionally reported that he had talked to folks in Pennsylvania who had used hand held units to evaluate programs. The costs were estimated at $7000 to $8000. Phil was not sure we would cover the cost benefit ratio. Phil noted he was working with Scott and Paul Craig and are proceeding with the potential to have this company become a sponsor and conduct this as a demonstration during the AM/PIC. This might be a trade out situation where they come and perform the evaluation and we provide a booth or something in that manner. This will be looked at further.
9) Phil reported that the EPC will have a Computer Conference using CENTRA on February 8th. He invited the Board to attend, if interested board was asked to let Phil know.
10) Phil noted that after our Winter Board conference call with Mahlon Peterson and his statements about the lack of communications with State Chairs, he asked the Council Chairs to remind the committee National and Vice-Chairs to communicate with the state chairs. He additionally noted that he had asked the council chairs to have the national chairs contact the state contact as soon as possible asking them for AM/PIC program suggestions or what ever to increase contact and communications.
11) Phil reported on the status of the Listing of State Committee Chairs – as of 1/7/08 every state had at least a partial listing of state chairs. James Devillier asked who he had been contacted in Mississippi. Phil stated that he was contacting Judd Gentry. Phil reported that a Recognition and Awards committee name was needed who had access permission in-order to submit DSA & AA nominations electronically. Fred Miller stated that this was a reason we are having problems with the electronic applications process. The way the process is set up the application once submitted will automatically go to the state chair. If there is no state chair the applications can’t be made. Fred thanked Phil for a great report and the professionalism shown.
JCEP Regional Workshop Update
Chuck Otte reported that registrations for the workshops are going on. He noted that early bird signup are about to end. Chuck stated that there are 182 people registered as of a few days ago. He stated that JCEP had built the budget for the Regional Workshops for about 200 attendees. James Devillier asked about the deadline for early bird registration. Chuck stated that the early bird deadline was January 10th, after the 10th registration will be $25 more per person. Fred Miller reminded the board that James had presented a program/agenda to the directors during the Winter Board Meeting. Michele Hebert asked to have the State Relations Committee report be added to the program. Fred reported that there has been an issue expressed in regards to breakout rooms, he will be working with local arrangement folks to resolve the issue. Fred will cover in his presentation the proposed By-laws change and the officer candidates. James and Fred will discuss this and determine when and what will be covered. The above information will be for information only.
Galaxy III Update
Chuck Schwartau, North Central Region Director reported that the Galaxy Educational Planning Committee of Paul Craig, Mahlon Peterson, Pat Hogue and he have two confirmed speakers for the program. He noted that a third had been invited. Chuck stated that one program will be on climate change in regards to agriculture, the presenter will be Mark Sealy of Minnesota. He noted that the second was a presentation, by a person from the National Ag Statistics on the Changing Face of Agriculture. Chuck reported that a couple more presenters had been approached but had not confirmed. Chuck asked if the committee should go ahead with using a panel of NACAA members discussing their experiences with natural disasters. He asked can we pay for member’s xpenses to present at Galaxy. Fred Miller stated that we might get some negative feedback if we do this. Fred asked how soon the committee needed a decision. Chuck felt it should be very soon so they can go ahead. Dirk Webb strongly felt that we should not pay expenses for our members. Chuck Otte agreed that we should not. Chuck Schwartau will work with that process in mind. Chuck noted that we want to put information on Galaxy speakers out to the NACAA committee chairs so we can either have complementing programs or different. He felt it probably would be okay to have same type programs at each event. Dirk Webb wanted to have Galaxy information available for the JCEP Regional workshop to share with the state people. Fred thanked Chuck, Paul, Mahlon and Pat for their efforts in moving this forward.
Potential By-laws Change
Fred Miller stated that we will fully discuss the proposed by-law changed that was proposed at winter board during our Spring Board Meeting. The proposed change is as follows:
Article 7, section 1a – the NACAA board and associated committees are authorized to conduct official business electronically as long as the technology used allows for all persons participating to hear each other at the same time allowing the opportunity for simultaneous communication among all participants.
Fred asked the board to take this proposed by-laws change under advisement for discussion at the Spring Board Meeting.
Photographer’s Contract item C
Scott Hawbaker reported that the contract for Photographers was much to same as last year. He noted that the main change is an increase in base by $100 from $1500 to $1600. Fred asked for commits from the board. Chuck Otte stated he had not gotten any comments from Grand Rapids. James Devillier moved to accept the contract of A&T Photo as presented. Chuck Otte seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Scott then gave an update on donors. He stated that we now have $64,200 approved with another $29,000 worth of proposals out. He reported that there is only $8000 that he was not confident about. He noted that Ag Knowledge was not returning his requests. Scott reported that National Farm Credit Foundation has given a verbal commitment to re-up for another 4 years. Scott reported that dues received at that point were only 22 states have sent in money, of those 22 states they are down 220 people from last year. He noted that it is hard to know if this was simply a particle payment or what. Fred asked Scott to keep updating us at the February conference call in regards to dues payments.
Spring Board Reminder
Fred Miller stated that the
Spring Board Meeting will be April 3-5. He noted that April 2
will be a travel day. The headquarters will be in Myrtle Beach,
SC at the Crown Reef at South Beach Resort. Fred noted that Bruce
Johnson from South Carolina had 3 potential tours. Those potential
tours are 1) Brook Green Gardens, Boat Tour wildlife, rice patties;
2) Indigo Farms, 3)Baruck Research and Education Center. All options
include a low country boil. Fred will notify the committee in
South Carolina that number one tour was the first choice of the board.
Fred noted that the February
conference call will be February 12th at 3 p.m. EST.
Betsy Greene asked about the
survey and wondered why other members had not received the survey on
membership. Michele Hebert stated that that had been taken care
of. Betsy asked if presenter at Galaxy had to be members or could
they be non members. Chuck Schwartau was not sure. He suggested
contacting Andy Landau, GA as that is a program concern for the general
Galaxy program.
Paul Wigley stated that we
are $14,000 behind where we were a year ago; $10,000 was our investment
account. Fred asked if we understand those figures. Paul
stated we are really doing well with our investments.
Meeting adjourned at 4:05 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted
Leon J. Church, NACAA Secretary