BURNETT COUNTY AG/EXTENSION COMMITTEE
February 16, 2004
Minutes

I. The meeting was called to order by Chair, Doug Dewing at 9:32 a.m. in Room 165 of the Burnett County Government Center on Monday, February 16, 2004.

II. Notice was posted according to open meeting law requirements.

Present: Doug Dewing, Charles Peterson, Maury Miller, Marilyn Kooiker, Mike Kornmann, Missy Olson, Julie Yezek, and Wanda Larson.

III Motion to approve the January, 19, 2004 minutes was made by Peterson, seconded by Miller. Motion carried.

IV. General Business

A. Department Head Report

The 2003 Finance Report through January 2004 was distributed and discussed.

Update from the Dean's Wisline (Feb. 2) - There was a computer virus alert. The state has upgraded the detection software and were able to catch most of the worms in the system.

Update from the District Wisline (Feb. 9) - The Dean is continuing his county visits. Burnett County will probably be visited by the Dean in late April. InfoSource update - 715 area code had the highest usage so far. Extension is being encouraged to promote InfoSource usage through posters and news releases.

Doug Stubbe Update - Doug is home from Iraq. Marilyn will be meeting with him in the near future to make plans for his return date to the office.

WACEC winter meeting scheduled at Schwan Center, Trego, on March 4-5. Everyone should have received registration packets. Charlie Peterson and his wife will attending the conference. Marilyn will attend March 5 only. Dean Arlen Leholm will be there.

Agent and staff evaluations will be completed before the end of March.

The summer Hort position is requesting an earlier start date due to the absence of Bill Saumer. The cost will be about $400 per county extra for each of the three counties (Washburn, Sawyer, Burnett). John Preissing was given a verbal OK to go ahead with it after talking to Doug Dewing. Lee Daniels will again fill that position.

The Public Issues Leadership Development conference will be held May 1-5 in Washington D.C. this year. This will be combined with WACEC Lay Leaders conference. Marilyn will be attending as a representative of WEAFCS (Family Living Association) with expenses paid for by the Dean's office.

Upcoming Department Head Activities:

March 2-4, Statewide Department Head Conference, Wisconsin Rapids.
March 4-5, WACEC District meeting, Trego (Schwan Center).

B. Agent Reports

1. Missy Olson, 4-H/Youth Development - The first teen court hearing went well. Lance Horozewski, a social worker for the Health and Human Services Child and Family Unit, was pleased as well. Their second hearing scheduled for last week was post-poned due to weather and is rescheduled for March 3. Missy is waiting to hear back from Lance on using HHS's 501(c)(3) non-profit status, to apply for grants to help fund Teen Court.

The Junior Leader's meeting was held Tuesday, January 20 with five youth attending. They are planning on helping with the Cultural Arts Festival and Cloverbud Day Camp.

Missy and two Superior Day youth delegates attended a meeting in Superior on Thursday, February 5. The rest of the youth are excited and will join them, along with Jason Tadlock, a teacher from Webster schools, and will travel to Madison on Tuesday, February 24, returning on Thursday, February 26. They will join Mike Kornmann in Madison for the event.

The Leaders Association met with Cloud Cartographics at the Leaders meeting February 10 to discuss the plat book contract. There have been problems, but hopefully everything has been resolved.

Missy met with the AODA committee last week. Post prom has now been moved to Frederic. Possibilities for the upcoming Kick Butts Day were discussed.

Missy will be attending the Northern District In-service with the rest of the agents on February 18-19 at Bad River near Odanah, and will be speaking at the Grantsburg Fair Board meeting on March 4.

2. Marilyn Kooiker, Family Living - Marilyn conducted the WNEP interviews on January 22 and the position was offered to Julie Yezek. She began work on February 9.

Met with United for Students steering committee members and with Grantsburg Middle School teachers to evaluate this project and to determine where to go with it. Scott Nelson, a teacher from the Middle School will encourage teachers at the end of the school year to help identify non-participatory parents and give the information to the next grade teacher.

Marilyn completed the United for Students Project at the Superior Middle School with Douglas County Family Living Agent. She attended two of the three scheduled partnership meetings (Jan. 12 & Feb. 9). One meeting was cancelled due to weather and one she was unable to attend.

The First Book project at the Head Starts is going well. Marilyn read to both Hertel Head Start and Mina Copeland Head Start in February. The First Book Family Workshop was held at Mina Copeland for parents and children at their regularly scheduled parent meeting in January. This was very well received.

An Early Brain Development Program was held at Hertel Head Start this past week with 13 staff members attending, including four from Washburn County Head Start. A video was shown and brainstorming done to identify resources in the communities which promote safety and early brain development. Evaluations were very positive.

Marilyn participated in the Wisline-web program on how to write a Program of Work sponsored by the Department of Family Development and Family Living Liaisons.

The HCE sponsored program, A Wok Through the Orient, was presented by Gladys Packer at the Webster High School on February 12. It was so well received, a second class will be offered in March.

Marilyn attended the Odds 'N' Ends HCE Club's 30th birthday party meeting on February 10.

Positive Parenting of Teens class has been postponed until later this year, due to scheduling conflicts. Marilyn will apply for a grant from Safe and Stable Families to help support the costs of this program.

Upcoming Family Living Activities:

-District Inservice will be February 18-19 at Bad River (Odanah) for agents.
-Community Ed babysitting class for 5th graders is scheduled for March 16 and 18 at Grantsburg Middle School.
-Continue to participate in monthly or quarterly meetings for Safe and Stable Families Steering Committee, Coordinated Community Response Team, HCE Executive Board, State Association and Department of Family Development committees.
-Marilyn shared an article on Henry Ahlgren, age 95, Madison, originally from Frederic, who recently passed away. He was a one time Chancellor of UW-Extension.

3. Julie Yezek, Nutrition Educator - Julie started her job with Extension on Monday, February 9, 2004. She met with her supervisor, Grace Gee, Nutrition Coordinator for Douglas County and Burnett County in the Siren office. They met with Lois Taylor, Aging Director for Burnett County and with Becky O'Brien from Economic Support. They all discussed what role Julie would play in the future with their departments. They talked with Sarah Fry from the WIC program about receiving money from their program to use for food samples to distribute to WIC recipients as they pick up their vouchers. When Julie returns to the office she will be working on the March display for WIC.

On February 10 Julie made phone contacts with the county nutrition sites to establish her presence. Two teaching appointments, one with the Dairyland site and one with the Siren site were scheduled. Julie learned from two sites, the seniors were not that receptive to spending time after the meals discussing nutrition. Discussion was held about the future of spending time educating the seniors or whether it would be best to concentrate on our youth in the county.

An attempt was made to contact the administration of each county school. She is waiting for a reply.

Julie will be training in Stevens Point for a couple days this week and will return to the office next Tuesday, February 24.

A discussion was held with Sarah Fry about the role the Nutrition Educator will have with the WIC program. When Julie returns to the office she will be working on the March display for WIC.

In March, Julie will travel to Superior and job shadow Lori Ballentine, Nutrition Educator from Douglas County Extension.

More discussion took place on the future role of the Educator with the senior population in the county.

Mike Kornmann, Community Resource Development - The Rural Living Guide is near completion. A few changes (building codes) are being made. Discussion took place about building codes and zoning in the townships. A site should be added to the Burnett County website where people can find out about building codes/zoning for each township/village.

Mike followed up on the JEM grant for the Great Wisconsin Birding Trail Festival. The review committee had some additional questions regarding the application. Locally, the event is co-chaired by Lisa Hobbie and Sandy Eng.

An update on Superior Days was given. Ten youth and seven adults are participating in this year's event. They will be leaving for Superior next week to present their topics in Madison. They have a meeting set up with Senator Sheila Harsdorf.

Mike continues to be a liaison with the proposed WITC tech college and local businesses. A meeting with Candace Fitzgerald, County Administrator, will be set up to discuss Extension introducing a resolution to support the efforts to bring WITC to Frederic.

Ultra Tool, a county manufacturer, has closed its doors. In response, Hans Hanson, Area Business Development Agent, has been holding workshops on starting your own business. NWCEP implemented a rapid response program helping the families of Ultra Tool obtain information on adjusting, applying for and getting the necessary help when suddenly faced with an unemployment situation.

Mike will be attending a four-day workshop on Strategic Planning in Madison.

Mike attended the Northern District Agent Sharing In-service and was named the District Liaison for CNRED.

Burnett and Polk County will be partnering in efforts to start a Leadership program in the area. Mike is working on developing materials for a brochure on the benefits of a community leadership program.

A lengthy discussion was held about the present and future state of BCDA. The organization is comprised of twelve committee members who are chosen/appointed from the area banks, county board, village boards, the utility companies and GIDC. Mike's role is to guide the organization through a strategic planning process to develop a direction and familiarity with a planning process they can use in the future.

V. General Business

Doug Stubbe has returned home. He is still officially on active duty until the end of February. A welcome home reception and recognition will be planned in the near future. Doug is not required to return to work until 90 days after his active duty ends.

Marilyn Kooiker presented a short program on Early Brain Development.

Doug Dewing opened a discussion on the Sheriff's report and the possibility of more classes with inmates than the AODA classes. There was talk about civics classes and what it means to be a good citizen. Marilyn suggested parenting, cooking and independent living classes as a plus. More discussion followed about the possibility of a new jail facility. Maury Miller suggested research be done on the background of prisoners; who has high school diplomas; who are repeat offenders; etc., as a possible tool in developing future programs and education to implement in the county as a means to reduce crime.

VI. Set Next Meeting Date

Next meeting will be held on Monday, March 15, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 165 of the Burnett County Government Center.

Adjournment - Motion to adjourn the February 16, 2004 meeting was made by Peterson, seconded by Miller. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 11:38 a.m. by Chairman Douglas Dewing.