Extension Leadership Tean Meeting Minutes August 21, 2024

October 3, 2024 ELT Minutes, News

Extension Leadership Team Meeting Minutes
Date: August 21, 2024
Time: 10 AM to 2:30 PM
Location: Aroostook County Extension Office – Presque Isle

Facilitator: Lisa Phelps
Note taker: Beth Hawkyard

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

Meeting Focus

Agenda items relate to one of these three goals with corresponding action items and/or priorities.

  • Make Extension a sustainable, equitable, purposeful and enjoyable place to work
  • Work on structural, (county offices, staffing patterns), cultural and leadership issues that will lead to this
  • Focus on employee experience
  • Restructure Extension
  • Right size based on budget
  • Mission delivery that is current, and responsive to changing demographics/community needs
  • Overall efficiency and effectiveness
  • Define focus areas
  • Make PFAS a priority for Extension (define what this means; not necessarily a piece of everyone’s job, but an organizational priority nevertheless).

Meeting Guests and FYIs

  • County staff joined for us for lunch

Check-ins

Hannah

  • BOA on Friday – budgets
  • SRE updates – SRE Themes – Extension & DLL
  • Civil Rights Review Report and next steps
  • UMaine new faculty orientation on Thursday and Friday
  • Libby Hall move September 3rd

 Lisa

  • Doing evals with staff
  • Community First Responder Grant Update- The project has been extended for a third year.
  • Learning Ecosystem Northeast (LENE) project update- 4-H was well represented at a recent two day meeting on the UMaine campus with educators and partners from around the state that are involved with this statewide project. 4-H staff did an excellent job presenting on the 4-H Thriving Model and positive youth development.
  • Working on starting the search for a new 4-H professional in Somerset County.

Melissa

  • Work continues on the website – transition to Gutenberg and restructuring the site navigation. Still developing an overall strategy for the next year which will include an internal communications plan to keep staff updated.
  • Common Ground Fair – great representation of Extension this year with 7 tables and 8 programs; come visit Sep 20-22!
  • Coordinating an itinerary for a photography tour with Edwin Remsberg. Gathering information now in order to determine the exact dates and stops.
  • Writing stories to highlight: Bridge Week at Bryant Pond and Blueberry Cove, SEA BEaRS project (aquaculture with UMaine marine science students), Farm to Table summer camp, and profile of a UMaine student working in food science.
  • New centralized email platform still in the process of being vetted by UMS IT.
  • NIFA civil rights audit recommendations – more diversity in photos, incorporating DEIA statements into marketing materials, update non-discrimination notifications, develop staff training for including required statements.

 Tori

  • York County Office Move Update
  • Background Check Issues (MGVs)
  • Supporting Counties now and as we transition to EDEO supervision
  • Search Updates: Ornamental Hort Specialist, Ag Engineer
  • BFRDP/Crop Insurance Grants
  • Facilities SRE Workgroup
  • Joint NRCS/Extension Position Extensions
  • Penobscot/Piscataquis Ag Coverage
  • Annual Leave: August 29 – September 15

Beth

  • Transitioning most all Staff Coordinator responsibilities!
  • Professional Development opportunities
    • First Aid Training
    • Grants Management
    • Working with Interpreters
    • Counseling Center – Crisis Assessment & De-Escalation
  • Civil Rights Compliance Report recommendations – collaborating with Alisha and Hannah
  • New Employees on Campus Sept 25th
  • Out of office Aug 30 – Sept 9

 Michael

  • Melissa’s Laptop Inventory Update: 1
  • Grants Announcements: See below
  • Huron Consulting Debrief – Procurement Operations
    • Through FY25: Improvements to Come
    • A/P Focus: No more loss of service
    • Industry best software, but not using the potential
    • Procurement Culture: No Mission/Vision – no “why?”
    • Strategic part of SP, not JUST procurement: responsive but not changing
    • Lack of a training culture & options – webinar training method is undesirable
  • Out of office: First week of September
  • FY24 Financial Review (Discussion Item)

Jim

  • ACEA meeting Weds 21st
  • DRL ongoing HVAC issues, wanting to expand – white paper due
    • NOAA moving out December, space will be redesignated to all Extension
  • Last week of IPM scouts
  • Hall of Flags scheduling in progress

Discussion Items

FY24 Financial Review

Michael provided an overview of our FY24 budget.

Communications and Marketing Team Update related to Grants Information

Melissa provided an update on C&M Team activities

  • Add process and expectations to Grant Management Workshop (what would you like to do with the grant, what do you need from C&M, what exists, how does it align with the mission, what are the implications of what you’d like to do, etc.)
    • The workshop is in-person; Melissa will check in with Mari about the possibility of also developing video or online training
    • Can we also develop a checklist for writing grants?
  • The C+M team will develop a general C+M request form once they have a project management platform (Salesforce or Asana). This form will include questions about grants as well.
  • Consideration – sometimes grant timelines are incredibly tight (2 weeks turnaround!) – Can C+M teamwork within that time frame?
  • Michelle does have a master list of websites and admins to track who is responsible for content and updates.
  • We will look to develop a process for announcing grants publicly via releases as well as internally to keep these on the radar for content, program updates, etc. Michael will add the list of new grants to the bottom of the monthly ELT minutes each quarter.

Fall ELT Retreat for Big Picture Programs and Facilities

The ELT will have a 2 day planning retreat October 7 & 8, 2024 in Millinocket.

Philanthropy Thank You Notes

We need an approach to sharing development reports with individuals responsible for programs/facilities that have received funds for the appropriate thank you. We want to ensure that our current donor pool is being appropriately recognized and thanked.

Hannah receives a donation list monthly from the Foundation – if Extension programs are listed, thank you notes should be sent.

We discussed the value of spending more time and energy on securing donations through fundraising; we currently receive 10% from donations.

Extension Emergency Response and Risk Management

We discussed Extension’s approaches to emergency response and risk management.

Next monthly meeting – Sept 16th 8:00am – 10:00am (No ELT meeting on September 18th)

Annual Evaluations first agenda item

Future Agenda Items

Annual Evaluations and Promotion Processes

Annual evaluations and the professional promotions. We continue to hear that some of the evaluation and promotion processes are not consistent across the organization.

Announcements & Congratulations

Quarterly Grants Announcements

Congratulations to Griffin Dill and Dr. Tom Rounsville for the award of $2,021,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the Tick Management Strategies Amid Changing Climate and Regulatory Scenarios project.  This multifaceted project will examine how climate change and the seasonality of the tick life cycle influence the opportunity for targeted management strategies while leveraging evidence-based data to provide individuals and communities with targeted public health outreach on the threats related to ticks and tick-borne diseases.

Congratulations to Kerry Bernard for the award of $18,395 from the Extension Foundation and the US Environmental Protection Agency for the Core Pesticide Education Manual project.  This project’s purpose is to improve applicator learning, effectiveness, compliance, and exam performance by updating the Core Manual with significant changes to regulations and best practices and improving its readability.

Congratulations to Dr. Jason Bolton and Dr. Hannah Carter for the award of $3,000,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the University of Maine PFAS Research: Informing Farm Management Decisions project.  The objective is to fund research proposals that advance understanding of PFAS, which leads to strategy and management decisions to support farmers, citizens, and the Maine economy.

Congratulations to Bethany Pelletier and Nicole Nelson for the award of $13,550 from the ME Department of Health & Human Services and the US Department of Health & Human Services for the DHHS Youth Opportunities 2024 project.  The focus of this project is to Teach teens/young adults about natural resources and healthy recreational opportunities in Maine- fishing, hiking, navigating in the woods, paddling, wildlife identification, and self-confidence in nature.

Congratulations to Dr. Stephanie Shea and Dr. Alicyn Smart for the award of $50,000 from the US Department of Agriculture for the National Plant Diagnostic Network Seventh National Meeting: Adapting to the Challenges of Change.  These funds will support the 2024 NPDN National Meeting being held from September 9-13, 2024, in Portland, ME.

Congratulations to Jessica Decke, Bethany Pelletier, Nicole Nelson, and  Ryder Scott for the award of $88,607 from the ME Department of Education and the US Department of Education for the Maine Outdoor Learning Initiative.  This initiative will increase programming design capacity and the UMaine 4-H Center’s ability to serve youth from Maine communities that don’t typically have access to forest or marine/coastal ecology experiences due to geographic and financial barriers.

Congratulations to Dr. Ellen Mallory for the award of $300,000  from the US Department of Agriculture for the Reducing PFAS Contamination Risk for Forage Producers project.  This project has two objectives: 1) Investigate the effect of species selection, crop type, harvest timing, and cutting height on PFAS uptake by forage crops. 2) Equip farmers with management options for reducing the risk associated with growing forages on soil contaminated with PFAS.

Congratulations to Dr. Stephanie Shea and Dr. Alicyn Smart for the award of $36,845 from the US Department of Agriculture for the ME FY24 PPA Solanaceous Commodity Survey project.  The goal is to survey tomatoes and peppers in New England States to gain information regarding the prevalence and geographic spread of the Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV).

Congratulations to Dr. David Handley and Christina Howard for the award of $243,658 from the US Department of Agriculture for the Insuring Crop Production and Profitability for Long Term Success of Maine Farmers Facing a Changing Climate project.  Through this program, Maine farmers will increase their understanding of crop insurance, what policies they qualify for and how to purchase them, and the role of crop insurance in maintaining a sustainable farm business.

Congratulations to Dr. Kristy Ouellette,  Laura Personette, and Mitch Mason for the award of $87,000 from the US Department of Agriculture for the Maine 4-H Community Central: Thriving Maine Middle Schoolers project.  This innovative initiative aims to create a generation of empowered and socially conscious leaders who will continue to make a positive impact in Maine and beyond.

Other Announcements

 Extension Positions & HR/Payroll Actions in Progress

*accurate as of 8/19/24

Searches

 REQUESTED

  • Admin Specialist CL2 (Education) with Mari’s Team
  • TEMP- Scientific Research Assistant (paused)
  • Early Childhood Program Professional, Blueberry Cove (paused)

 INITIATED / JOB DESCRIPTION & REQUEST TO FILL IN PROGRESS

  • 4-H Community Education Assistant- Part Time- Kennebec
    • This position search has failed twice and is back to try a third round of hiring

WAITING FOR APPROVALS IN ORACLE

  • EFNEP CEA CL1- Somerset
  • EFNEP CEA CL1- Franklin

ADVERTISING, ANTICIPATING APPLICANTS

  • Extension Agricultural Engineer Professional ends 8/26
  • Administrative Specialist CL3, Kennebec
  • Assistant Extension Professor of Horticulture and Ornamental Horticulture Specialist, Penobscot
  • Assistant Extension Professor and Aquatic Animal Health Specialist
  • Administrative Specialist CL3, Cumberland
  • Wild Blueberry Extension and Research Professional, Penobscot (Orono)
  • Temp Lakeside Classroom Educator- Bryant Pond

INTERVIEWING / OFFERING

  • Parent Educator/ Maine Families Visitor Cumberland/Sagadahoc Counties – (Second Round this week)
  • Farm Operations Technician CL1, Aroostook Farm
  • 4-H Community Education Assistant CL2 (part-time), York

2024 ELT Meeting Dates

Dates Facilitator Notes Location
September 16 Prichard Scott Zoom
October 8-9 Carter TBD Millinocket Retreat
November 20 Scott Arndt TBD
December 17 Arndt Bailey Oxford County