2018 March
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Minutes
[Note: Decisions in bold italic]
Call to Order: Katy called the meeting to order at 5:35pm.
Members Attending: Anne D., Anne R., David, Katy, Ken, Mary Ann, Matthew, Samara
Members Absent: Anna, Jodie, Sam, Theresa, Eric
Staff Attending: Rick, Viña
Minutes of February Meeting
On a motion by Matthew, seconded by Ken, the minutes were approved unanimously with the addition of David, Samara and Liz to the Rural Living Day Committee.
Financial Report
On a motion by Matthew, seconded by Samara, the financial report was approved as presented.
Educators’ Report Highlights
Rick’s report was reviewed with little discussion. Viña confirmed that Food Corps administration would not be done by Extension so her job would be changing. In addition, John Rebar has announced his retirement so a high-level search is being initiated to replace him as Director in Orono. With still no knowledge on when or how the SnapEd program administration contract will be awarded, it will be timely in April to discuss future staffing needs for Waldo County, including but not limited to Viña’s position. It was agreed to make future programming and staffing needs a focus of the April meeting, with a focus on youth development where both Association membership and staffing is relatively weak at present. Jodie will be asked to lead that discussion. Rick will prepare a chart of duties that are covered by all staff including Caragh and Liz for Waldo County to help identify the gaps.
Ag Plastics Committee
Dave reported that the committee would be meeting following the Association meeting. All are welcome to stay and participate.
Growers Potluck After Action Report
Anne D. circulated a detailed report on how the event was prepared and conducted with notes to guide future events. All agreed this was a step up in best practice that WCEA should endeavor to make a standard operating procedure including for Rural Living Day. It was asked where such documents should be stored for easy access by association members. Staff recommended against using the UMaine web site.
It was agreed that a WCEA Dropbox account be set up to house all WCEA documents, including working documents not normally posted for the public on the web site. Matthew offered to create a file structure and work with staff to get this accomplished.
Scholarship Update
Staff shared that the scholarship opportunity has been publicized at high schools. The application deadline is April 20. The award will be made in May at the Maine 4-H Foundation Annual Meeting. It was again requested that Association members receive copies of all press releases that go out so we can be fully informed to help spread the word.
Rural Living Day
Assignments were made as follows:
Registration Table: Anne R., Katy and staff will cover.
Set up and take down: Ken, Mary Ann, Anna (via Rick), Samara and staff all agreed to be there beginning to end to do whatever is needed. Staff plans to arrive at 7:30 AM. Rick felt that 8am was early enough for volunteers to arrive. While advertised to start at 8:30am, the first session is not until 9am. Several members indicated they would arrive at 7:45 AM to be sure we were ready.
Workshop Liaisons: A member should be assigned to each workshop to help with room set-up, timely start and ending, access to tech support and anything else. Viña passed out a workshop schedule and members present took assignments. Others would be asked via email to fill the gaps.
Tech support: Staff are working with presenters to get as much done as possible up front and will be available to help with technology. Dave offered to ask Heather to also be available for this role.
Food: Mount View is taking care of all food set up including morning coffee.
Evaluation Survey: Sonia had sent the draft survey link to Mary Ann to review format so that workshop-specific comments could be clearly aligned. She had not yet done it. Matthew’s offer to join in on this review was gratefully accepted.
Poster Distribution: Members present took 11×17” posters to distribute with general commitments as follows:
- Unity/Troy/Thorndike: Mary Ann
- MOFGA, Vassalboro & Palermo: Samara
- Brooks & Belfast Co-op & Hannaford: Matt
- Belfast YMCA: Anne R
- Monroe: Ken & Anne D
- Dixmont & Jackson: Dave
Next Meeting
April 10 was identified as having several conflicts. Vina offered to send out a Doodle poll to reschedule that meeting. [April 9 was subsequently selected, 5:30 PM].
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 7:00 PM.