CITIZENS ADVISORY NETWORK
OSU EXTENSION SERVICE, POLK COUNTY
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
5:00 p.m.
Academy Building, Room 108
Agenda
5:00 – 6:00pm – Finalizing committee structure, function and outcomes
 Introductions
 Steering committee update
 Communications/Outreach Committee – members, discussion of possible outcomes, set next
meeting date
 Strategic Plan Framework – presentation of possible framework
 Budget/Funding Committee – members, set next meeting date and outcomes for the meeting
 Program Focus Teams – members, discussion of focus group meeting format and outcomes, set
next meeting date with relative faculty
o 4-H and Youth Development
o Family and Community Health
o Horticulture (including Master Gardener)
o Agriculture (Commercial and Small Farms)
o Forestry and Natural Resources
6:00 – 7:00pm – Extension program presentations –Garry Stephenson, Extension faculty leader for
statewide Small Farm program, will deliver presentation on Polk County Small Farms: defining
issues/challenges and identifying potential education programs.
Program Focus Teams
 Each program area group will meet with faculty before December 17th to plan a Focus Group
meeting.
 The faculty and PECAN members will brainstorm invitation list, date and time of meeting. The
meetings should be held by January 14th. The meetings should be no more than two hours.
 Derek would like to attend all Focus Group meetings and is willing to help facilitate if needed.
 Announce meetings to I.O. (Jolene Guzman) and Statesman Journal (Justin Much).
The meetings should be informal and consist of the following discussion items:
1. Question for Focus Group– What do you think are the biggest issues and/or challenges facing
Polk County related to this program?
2. Presentation from faculty – His/Her view on the biggest issues and/or challenges facing Polk
County? What Extension programs is he/she delivering to address these issues?
3. Question for Focus Group – What could Extension do to further help address the issues and
challenges that have been identified (audiences, training/information)? Answer this in terms of
investing $0 - $50,000 to help? ($0 represents using existing resources in a different way.)
4. Question for Focus Group – Are there additional organizations/people that could help with these
efforts (new partners)? Are there additional funding mechanisms (grants, donations, etc.) that
could help?
PECAN members who attend the Focus Group meetings are expected to submit the notes/input of
the four discussion topics to Derek and then discuss results at our January meeting.
4-H and Youth Development – plan with Judi Peters and Suzi Busler. This will probably involve several
meetings around the county to reach the variety of groups. We can use other existing groups to gather
information on needs (like the Service Integration Teams). These meetings will probably not be finished
by January 14th.
Family and Community Health – plan with Debra Driscoll. Her dates in which she is NOT available are
November 17-19, 22, 24-29; December 3(PM), 6 (PM), 7 (mid-day), 9 (AM), 15 (AM), 21(PM)
22(mid-day)
Community Horticulture – plan with Neil Bell and Gail Miles.
Forestry and Natural Resources – plan with Brad Withrow-Robinson and Derek Godwin. Brad is not
available until April due to a sabbatical leave. Maybe Derek can set up a meeting with clientele?
Agriculture – there are a lot of faculty that serve Polk County and the Willamette Valley. Top priority is
to meet with Gene Pirelli (Livestock and forages). He has said that we could also meet with Troy
Downing (Dairy) at the same time. Do not meet the first week in December. Other faculty groupings
could be Field Crops (Nicole Anderson, Tom Silberstein), Vegetable Crops (Dan McGrath), Xmas trees
(Chal Landgren), Tree fruits (Jeff Olsen), Nurseries (Jim Owen), Vinyards (Patty Skinkis), Berries
(Bernadene Strik), and Small Farms (Garry Stephenson, Melissa Ferry and Nick Andrews). You could
also add topic meetings, such as organics and agri-tourism.