Board members present: : Joan Petzen, Keith Severson, Beth Spaugh, Paul Westfall, Les Hulcoop, John Ameroso, Steve Hadcock, Ed Staehr, Monika Roth

Excused: Charlie Mazza, Mike Baker, John Thurgood

Meeting called to order 6PM, July 16-adjourned 9pm, continued July 17, 8am-2pm.

Notes are arranged according to topic, and do not follow the exact order in which topics were discussed.

• Joan reported that a NYS Flag for National meeting was donated by Assemblyman Pat McGee.
• Nate & Burniese Herendeen's daughter died unexpectedly on July 3. Joan suggested that a donation be made on behalf of the association to Lead-NY in memory. Motion made by P. Westfall that donations solicited from NYSACAA members be made to Lead-NY in memory; second by B. Spaugh. Discussion: donations should be forwarded to Treasurer Charlie Mazza who will forward contributions to Lead-NY. Aug. 10 set as deadline.
  
  Joan will write up and send (via Beth) to membership. All in favor.

• Western-Paul reported on a district meeting on Exhibit Design held at the Buffalo Museum. Planning to use video-conferencing (3 locations) for their Sept. meeting; goal is to help people become comfortable with technology.
• Southeast-June 11 held a joint meeting with Capital District, toured organic farms-produce, composting, dairy goat cheese and dairy farm. Farewell for Lucy Joyce. Next meeting, Sept. 3 touring NYC Greenmarkets. Shirley is planning to retire.
• Northern-Beth reported that Northern District held together by the Pro-Dairy program team and Northern NY Ag Development program. Aug. 6 meeting at Millsboro Farm.
• Capital-April toured National Weather Service Bureau in Albany. Joint meetings with SE planned.
• Souther Tier-No meetings planned, no leadership. Members include Watershed group who find it hard to participate since they have so many meetings already. CCTTS staff also meet regularly.
• Central-working to recruit new agents to join. Have not met. Ed Staehr back working for Onondaga County so plans to help revive group.

• 1 new member, Dave Bradstreet

• New Agent dues: proposal to pay partial/National dues for new agents, first time assoc. members.
• NYS dues may need to increase $10-15.
• Bylaws change needed to remove dues amount.
• PREPARE RESOLUTIONS FOR ANNUAL MEETING TO DEAL WITH DUES INCREASE, NEW MEMBERS, AND BYLAW CHANGES.

• NYSACAA Annual Meeting: Keith is working on Awards presentations. NYSACAA contributed $500 towards meeting (profits to be returned to participating assoc.). CCE Conference programs have been distributed to counties.

• need to appoint delegates (3 plus alternate): Motion by Thrugood, second by Severson to appoint Joan Petzen, Ed Staehr, Les Hulcoop as delegates to national conference, John Ameroso as alternate, all in favor.
• Suggested PA/NY or Northeast Hospitality since NY group of attendees may be small

• Committee Chair Tom Maloney joined us to present a plan for an improved process for selecting DSA & AA winners (distributed handout). Discussion: key is to improve communication and get process back on track. Regional groups need to be supportive of candidates, it=s not a competition among regions.
• Need a running list of past winners and eligible candidates (put on webpage) - check DSA books from meetings for list. Need guidelines on what is to go into a nomination packet. Selection criteria need to be written up so everyone knows what they are. Nice to keep nominations a secret, however, this depends upon the regional chair doing their homework in gathering info to develop nomination packet. Question about AA nominees: 10 years or less employment as of when-hiring date or paid dues (need to check with National).
• Regional Recognition and  Awards Chairs need to be appointed by August 20. Get names to Tom and Joan. Nomination packets due by Nov. Ag Inservice, decision on candidates to be made there. Announcements by Dec. 31. Individuals need to pay their dues by 12/31.

Reviewed list of priority items (sent via email).

• Issue #2 - Suggestion that a committee be formed to look into feasibility of faculty or equivalent status
• Issue #6- Computer Training Needs-hardware/software purchase, operations, maintenance; use of computers for teaching tools; increasing competency in computer use; learning plans; lending libe for training videos/CD=s.
• Issue #18-Soils Lab: results need to accessible electronically; future of lab?
• Issue #4 & 13-Salaries, losing staff to ag industry jobs which pay considerably more. Barriers to moving in system.
• Issue #9- Ag Econ Development. CCE needs to establish a leadership role in this area.
• Issue # 11-Collaboration with sister agencies
• Issue # 10- Faculty positions-Dean to provide update.
• Issue #3- Inservice Training coordination is needed

Other questions: University outreach, what connections to CCE? Need for communication in counties. Accomplishments since last year:

• reappointment process
• Fred as liaison to NYSACAA board
• staff training/competency
• Lead-NY for agents

Thanks to Diane LaLonde in helping to arrange this meeting.

Others joining us were Dave Smith, Fred Fladd, and Rod Howe.

President Joan Petzen opened the meeting at 10 am, followed by introductions. We appreciate the opportunity to meet with the Director and welcome him to his position. Joan reviewed that the goals of this meeting are to identify key areas of need and to seek means to resolve this concerns. We appreciate the accomplishments that have been made since our last meeting with Director Lacy and Dean Lund. Specific accomplishments include: guidance to CE staff on how to provide meaningful input to faculty tenure process; designation of Fred Fladd as liaison from CCE admin. to NYSACAA; Lead-NY program plans for CCE staff; and efforts to improve staff capacity via inservice training in conflict resolution.

Director Ewert stated his goal is to implement the CCE Mission through stonger linkages between community educators and faculty that address problems and to identify successful models for and barriers to carrying out our mission. Key areas of focus are: 1) connectivity 2) technology use for teaching and communications 3) building capacity of staff. A system-wide audit will provide the information necessary to develop a strategic plan for CCE.

Issues raised by NYSACCA on behalf of agricultural extension educators:

• It is the concern of ag staff that CCE be the lead agency at the county level for ag information. Ag development is a key need emerging from Ag & Farmland Protection Plans. CCE is not always taking an active role in this process hence losing a leadership opportunity. Ag development is a new role for some CCE staff and involves new relationships with the development community serving other sectors. We need to build capacity in this area for leadership
• Rod Howe, new Ag Vitality Issues Program Leader, reported on the Ag & Food System Viability Working Group he has called on campus for ensuring greater communication about relevant research. Other initiatives include Ag Business and Retention Training; Ag Development Study Tours this fall. Rod asked for input on inservice needs in this area. Some suggestions: How to do an Ag Impact Study; Ag Fast Trac; Models for Communicating Ag=s significance; Understanding the players in Economic Development (state & local agencies); Ag Census data evaluation and presentation
• Dave Smith mentioned that some lessons are to be learned about how CCE can maintain it=s leadership role rather than playing catch-up.

1. need for staff competency in computer applications
2. use of computers and distance learning as teaching tools
3. need for competency in helping farm community integrate technology into their businesses
4. helping farmers evaluate quality of information on the internet that may influence business decisions.

• Director Ewert indicated the need to prioritize what training we can outsource vs. offer better in house. Basic computer competency is an expectation and BOCES or other educational institutions do a good job of offering these courses; staff who need training should be encouraged to take advantage of these training opportunities.
• Understanding the potential of technology and integrating it into CE program delivery is a potential CU support role. Field staff also need info on budgeting for technology use (for grant applications, etc.).

[Dean Lund joined the group.]

• Field staff are concerned about the future of the lab given that soil testing is a key component of AEM initiative. One need of field staff is for electronic access to the soil test results to provide faster returns. Marketing of the lab may help increase volume which has dropped in recent years.
• Dean Lund and Dave Smith responded. Discussion at the college has centered on whether public funds should be used to support the lab or whether it should be privatized. Need to assess the role of the Cornell soils lab. There will be a need for a lab for research support. Soil testing provides a database for mapping soils and monitoring soil quality. Does testing and recommendations need to be integrated? No further discussion or decisions have been made. Dave will follow-up with Ronnie Kaufmann and update the Board.

• Field staff are limited in their ability to serve as principal investigators on USDA and other grants because they do not have faculty status. That has limited our ability to initiate new programs and access funds. Additionally the OSP overhead requirement is a deterrent to funders and field staff. Working relations may improve if field staff were to have departmental status.
• Agreement to appoint a group to review current policy and investigate models for faculty status in other states be investigated. Joan will assign a NYSACAA rep to work with administration on this.

• Ag agent salaries are often not competivite with agri-business, hence industry will recruit ag field staff. Makes it harder to recruit good CCE ag staff when salaries do not compare. We recognize that a monetary solution to this problem rests largely with the Counties but perhaps therre are non-monetary means of compensation that could be investigated. One need is to be able to move from one county to the next without loss of accumulated sick time or vacation benefits. Having a means of recognizing staff for providing leadership in subject areas (i.e. field staff are the technical experts who are called upon in reference to a particular subject) where there is no college back-up would be beneficial. Having departmental/faculty status would also add to the attractiveness of ag field staff positons. Questions on what policies are negotiable when moving within system need to be resolved.
• Director Ewert reiterated the benefits of having a stable staffing system that builds on accumulated knowledge and relationships and the importance of attracting and keeping good people. Barriers to keeping people in the system need to be identified and addressed; this may mean fewer better paid staff overall.

• Given the broader outreach mission of the University, there is a need to inform non-CE faculty that County CE offices be contacted when research or other activities are being carried out in the county. This is important because the public doesn't differentiate between Cornell U. and Coop. Ext. and hence expects that we are involved in county-level CU research or know about it. At least, we should know about it as this does impact our credibility.
• Information on approved research projects could be/is being sent out monthly; annual update/inventory of University Outreach would be helpful.

• CCE is not receiving recognition or funding for program leadership in Ag Environmental areas, yet we provide the research content, training and technical back-up to our sister agencies. One challenge is that education is a less tangible concept compared to technical assistance. We may need to change the way we market our programs to get recognition for our contributions.
• Dave Gross and Dave Smith have been working to maintain/improve relationships at the state level. Significant progress has been made in identifying a means of accessing EQIP funds for educational programs. CCE staff are urged to become active partners in AEM and take a leadership role for education. A paradigm shift for CE is that we need to become more politically and publicly pro-active in taking credit for our accomplishments (other agencies do). Extension accomplishments could become more visible at State level via CALS lobbyist, Charlie Kruzanski.

• Field staff are pulled in many directions and must make decisions for inservice training based on limited budgets and priorities in learning plans. Inservice programs need to be responsive to these constraints.
• One concern of Director Ewert is to avoid Aadhocracy@ in our approach to inservice training. Faculty become discouraged when training is offered that only attracts a handful of participants. Core competencies are needed which form the basis of a learning plan and agents need to make a commitment to participate.
• Dave Smith encouraged field staff to take charge of the inservice program if needs are not being satisfied.

Items from priority list which were not addressed due to lack of time:

• Faculty positions
• Regional programs
• Follow-up on all the above items to be coordinated by Joan Petzen.

1:00 PM Meeting Adjourned for Lunch provided courtesy of Director. Thanks.