ELT Minutes, February 22, 2013

 Extension Leadership Team Minutes

Friday, February 22, 2013

UMA – Jewett Hall, Room 124, Augusta

9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Present:   Dennis Harrington, Fran Sulinski, Lisa Phelps, Jon Prichard and John Rebar.

Guests:     Aileen Fortune, Mark Hutchinson, John Jemison, Susan Jennings, Bethany Pelletier, and Ryder Scott.

Facilitator: Lisa                           Note taker: John

Please note: Due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of some agenda items, these ELT minutes do not represent the full content of each meeting.

Announcements:

Attendance for the Organizational Meeting is at 149 registrants.  This is a strong turn out and the ELT thanks the planning committee for their effort.  The meeting will be a terrific opportunity for co-workers from across the state to connect with each other and to have updates from UM & UMS leaders.

For the past two classified payrolls, all supervisors have approved time without additional reminders.  This is a first-time occurrence for our organization.  It is wonderful that employees and supervisors are entering time and approving time within expectations.

Lisa will be attending the National 4-H Program Leaders meeting in New Orleans, LA.  John is attending the National Extension Directors Meeting in San Antonio, TX.  John and Jon will be attending the Hall of Flags event at the State House on February 26.  Seven displays with Extension staff will participate and the theme is 4-H youth development with a focus on 4-H Science.

Agenda Items:

Updates regarding Caribou Hall, 4-H Foundation, the camping facilities and programs, diagnostic facilities:

• Caribou Hall (Penobscot County Extension Office) bids are being accepted for a new 30-space parking lot.  Construction should begin by the end of May and be completed by the end of June.
• The Maine 4-H Foundation is leading the effort for the centennial fund raising campaign with a goal of $100,000.  Chancellor Page will be serving as an honorary fundraising chairperson of the campaign.  The campaign banner is being displayed widely.

Personal Sustainability Project:  Aileen Fortune, John Jemison and Mark Hutchinson joined the meeting to discuss the personal sustainability project and share a preliminary report of the committee’s findings.  The committee is going to analyze the data by employee type and gender.  These filters will be very revealing regarding what are actionable items that the ELT and the organization can address.  The effort is a “mirror” where the organization can see itself and each employee will be encouraged to see how they can make their work and career more sustainable. The different employee groups within Extension and the contractual flexibility that each works within can lead to a perception of inequality.  This research is shining a light on issues that are problematic but not always discussed out in the open.  The group is going to provide an update at the Organizational Meeting that will be broad and brief and a concurrent session that will begin to address recommendations for the organization and for individuals.

University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Bryant Pond:  Susan Jennings, Ryder Scott and Bethany Pelletier joined the meeting to provide an update of the 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Bryant Pond.  The camp is aspiring to be an educational center for all ages.  The current emphasis is youth education with a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focus.  The effort is to be a sustainable environmentally focused learning center.  Teacher training and staff development is being offered, and Susan is working with UMaine resources to augment what can be offered locally.  The camp has acquired access to land that was across the road from the camp (9 acres).  That land will be used for agricultural education.  The camp intends to partner with the Oxford County Extension Office with the Harvest for Hunger program.   The camp has a plethora of collaborations with area school districts and they are connected to state agencies (Inland Fisheries and Wildlife [IF&W], Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry [ACF], and Department of Education [DOE]).  Nine hundred (900) youth participated in the 2012 summer camp season.  Camper and staff retention are both up.  The classroom and day and afterschool programs reached 3,500 youth.  This work involves many successful partnerships.  Bryant Pond is part of the ELLMS collaborative that has raised more that $500,000 to support schools to send students to camp.  The camp wants to be involved in the Maine Food System.  CYFAR has 15 schools involved in service learning projects.  Tech Wizards is a prevention program that targets high-risk youth to provide a mentoring program with a technology focus.  The partnerships have been successful and the program will be part of a national assessment process.  Shooting Sports has expanded with greater financial support from the Dept. of IF&W.  The long-term goal is statewide education and the work to be done is connecting with county Extension colleagues.  Over 60% of summer residential campers are on some form of scholarship support.  The online registration process is helping customers commit to the camping program.  Grant revenue is an important part of the income for the camp.  There is a concern for the sustainability of programs that are grant funded and the camp is being invited to submit grant proposals.  The STEM experiential education effort has produced outstanding results.  The pilot programs were very positive and now the effort has grown dramatically. The Bryant Pond Board is engaged in fund development and is very enthusiastic in their support of the camp and facilities.

Federal Budget Update:  The FY 2013 federal budget is completely uncertain.  The continuing resolution that is funding the federal government expires on March 27.  The sequester of $85 billion is predicted to happen on March 1.  The cut to UMaine Cooperative Extension is expected to be $220,000.  No FY 2013 federal formula funds have been released.  We have been working with carry-forward funds from FY 2012.  Funding for Smith-Lever 3(b&c), EFNEP, RREA and IPM remains uncertain.

Legislative Update:   LD 294 is a bond bill for $8 million to fund the Animal and Plant Diagnostic Laboratory.    Later in the legislative session, all the bond bills will be addressed by the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Finance.

ELT Meeting Dates

2012 — 2013

Meetings are from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm – unless otherwise noted

Anyone wishing to participate in an ELT meeting should contact the facilitator for that date.

 

                  Dates                                      Facilitator                       Notes                              Location

March 14	Rebar	Prichard	Orono — 102B Libby Hall
April 4 *Agenda Item – more calendar dates TBD	Prichard	Harrington	Orono — 102B Libby Hall
April 24	Harrington	Sulinski	Augusta — TBD
May 15	Sulinski	Phelps	Orono — 102B Libby Hall
June 4	Phelps	Rebar	Orono — 102B Libby Hall