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Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Iowa Association of County Extension Councils
January 27, 2007
Those members present: Sybil Soukup, Pat Griffin, Ron Fransen, Connie Cannon, Russell Kurth, Brian Waldstein, Tori Grantz, Cindy Shelley, and Tom Ullrich. Others present: Jack Payne, Mary Holz-Clause, Don Nitche, Chuck Morris, Lois, Hunt, Alan Ladd, Laurie Gustafson, Jane Ann Stout, Sherry Glen, Mark Settle, and Julie Baumler.
President-elect Sybil Soukup called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. No additions or corrections were made to the agenda.
Pat moved to approve the minutes from the September 11, 2006 meeting. Ron seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Pat Griffin presented the treasurer’s report. We have a balance on hand of $14,058.28 in checking, plus $10,000 in CD. Brian moved to approve the treasurer’s report and expenditures of $1,539.22 since the last meeting (checks 2939 through 2945). Russ seconded the motion. The motion carried. He reported that dues have been received from 99 counties for the 2006-2007 year.
Sybil noted that minutes from the executive committee are in the meeting packet.
Laurie Gustafson, Director of Budget and Finance gave a budget update. State and federal portions of the budget have continued to decrease. We are leading the nation on our revenue generation. This has allowed us to continue to grow and to maintain our programs. For FY06, grants were 22% of our budget and user fees were 21.9%. The trends for county budgets are very similar. The county tax portion has increased in dollars, but decreased as a percentage of the county budgets.
Budget Challenges for 2008: Appropriations funding for the regents has gone from 77.4% in 1981 to 48% for the FY07 budget. For this budget year, we have a $700,000 shortfall to the operating budgets ($325,000 permanent & $375,000 one-year) that will be distributed among the Extension units. In addition, the University has a shortfall from the FY07 salary/benefits increases (funded in part by one-time funds). President Geoffroy has asked all ISU divisions and colleges to plan for a 2 percent permanent reversion (approximately $6.3 million) in the FY08 budget. ISU Extension’s portion of the 2% reversion will be approximately $665,000. We will not know if this will actually occur until after the Iowa Legislative Session has ended this spring. However, the Extension budget reversion will happen regardless. We are also facing a loss of federal targeted monies.
Jack Payne, Vice President for Extension and Outreach, talked with the board. He handed out a new piece that highlights some of the economic development efforts that have been made by extension throughout the state. The primary audience for this is legislators and members of the board of regents, as well as other statewide leaders who may be interested. Jack also talked in more depth about the budget issues. He highlighted Extension’s role in preparing for the bioeconomy.
Pat Griffin, Tori Grantz, & Sybil Soukup shared their suggestions for issues that should be considered in the next Partnership Agreement, to start in FY09: · Agreement to allow one adjustment for housing Field Specialists on November 1st of each year. · Extension Councils will pay the agreement quarterly – with no prepayment penalty · Remove maximum Partnership Share (currently at $75,000) · Agreement should state that the Partnership base will be increased proportionally (for ISU and the Extension Councils) each year for merit increases, new hire salaries at market & inflationary costs. Stipend cost ($4,000 x 8 = $32,000 in FY07) to be included. · FY09 Partnership amount to be reviewed to possible include FY08 Federal, State & University budget increases or reversion(s) · Agreement could have provisions to account for future Federal, State and University budget adjustments as they occur annually. · Length of agreement – propose 2 years (due to new Iowa State University Budget Model)
Pat moved to appoint a new committee which will consider the the suggestions. Brian seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Sybil reported for the executive committee. Board nominations are due March 15, 2007. Nomination committees should be formed for each area consisting of the AEED and the two board members from that area who will remain on the board.
Sybil also reported that Julie Baumler will serve as the liaison to the board in the future, as Mark is taking on new responsibilities of Director of Communications and External Relations.
Brian reported for the Finance & Policy Committee. Brian moved to set the dues for 2007-2008 at $100. Cindy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
The Finance and Policy committee reviewed a new procedure manual for the Board. Brian moved to have a vote of the membership to amend Article 8, by-laws to change the terms of office from beginning July 1 to begin at the June meeting. The vote of the membership will be set for June 23 in Ames prior to the meeting of the board of directors. Connie Cannon seconded the motion. The motion carried.
The board discussed changing the amount that the executive committee can dispurse between meetings. It was decided that no change was necessary.
Tom moved to clarify the expectations county liaisons to read “Each county shall select one member of their extension council to serve as a lisaison to the Board of Directors to increase communications with IACEC. Each area’s liaisons will meet at least 2 times each year.” Cindy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
The board discussed the policy for scholarships and awards that determines board members and their children ineligible for each of these opportunities. By general consensus, it was decided to leave the policy in place so as not to give the appearance of favoritism to board members.
Ron moved to retain the memorial policy. Tom seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Pat moved to adopt the amended policy manual. Cindy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Sybil gave the Legislative Committee report. IACEC Legislative Day is set for March 14, 2007 at the Botanical Center. A bus will shuttle participants between the Capitol and Botanical Center.
Cindy moved to support the Board of Regent’s budget request. Ron seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Connie reported for the Marketing Committee. Nineteen applications were received for the mini-grants. Recipients are Black Hawk, Crawford/Ida, Monroe, Audubon/Cass/Shelby, and Story Counties. We have had a lot of good response with this. Checks will be sent to those counties following this meeting. The committee would recommend doing this again next year.
Discussion of the IACEC Award Program took place. This past year, there were no applications for the program award. There was also not a lot of interest in the Distinguished Member Service Award. The committee proposes that we give the program award at the CEED in-service in December. That would give us a prescence with them. We should still present the member service award at Annual Conference. Connie moved to give a $200 award and a certificate to each the program award and to the member service award – to be given back to the counties to be used for programming and also to approve $2,500 for the mini-grants. Brian seconded the motion. The motion carried.
County concerns/issues were discussed by the Board. The Cougar Mountain bookkeeping system continues to be an issue for our member counties. AEEDs acknowledged that they need to listen to county concerns. They are working to design trainings to be more user-friendly…and really work for bookkeepers. They are trying to discern what can be standardized and what can be flexible. Four counties are 100% Cougar Mountain. 9 – 12 are currently on a side-by-side use of Quicken and Cougar Mountain. One thing they have done is link some bookkeepers in counties to help each other. Priorities have been established within Laurie’s office to determine steps to move the process forward. Jerry Chizek, CEED from Calhoun County, and Joyce Johnson, OA in DesMoines County, are on the committee and have done a good job helping administration understand the issues. Additional questions addressed: Is there a time when a county can no longer get support/training for Cougar Mountain? There may come a time when a county cannot manage the system and they may need to send in a person to ‘clean up the books’. If this happens, it might cost a council for this service. Are there other public entities using Cougar Mountain that we know of? There are other non-profits that use it. If our OA doesn’t catch on, will we have to outsource our bookkeeping? There are concerns about the impact of this on county budgets. Some counties are seeing this as an opportunity to highlight the strengths of their OAs (and use a bookkeeper, while reserving OA time for tasks which they are more proficient). A set of instructions has been developed as a “cookbook” to help counties through the process. Some counties are seeing this as an opportunity to outsource a bookkeeper’s time, as well.
To continue the communication between the IACEC Board and ISUE Administration on the Cougar Mountain issue, Sherry will add the board members to the Cougar Mountain communications list
Ron moved to approve board member travel expenses of $960.76. Russell seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Connie moved to approve postage to mail the upcoming Network Newsletter. Cindy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
The next meeting date (with the newly elected board members) is set for June 23, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Pat moved to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise Maier, Secretary
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