DED Meeting, State Congress
July 22-23, 2015
Judy Ashley
LPJ
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LPJ gave update on budget request (4 specialists, 20 agent positions, 5 M for cabins and 5 M for Experiment
station upgrades)
ANR program leader position has been offered to a candidate and waiting on a written acceptance.
Dean Angle is meeting with the Provost to determine a plan for after he leaves.
Becky Griffin has been named School and Community Garden Coordinator.
LPJ’s two areas of focus: Making traction in the urban area and finding good ANR crop agents
Greg
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New name for Program and Staff Development is Office of Leadership and Organizational Development. Will be
rolled out at Program Planning Week. Melanie Biersmith facilitated a discussion to iron out job descriptions.
Sunshine moving from HS to ABO. She will still be in charge of data reports from GA Counts Todd will step up to
oversee GA Counts. Greg will provide leadership for OLOD.
DED Retreat agenda items; Performance Review, County gov’t relations (budgets), and staffing for our districts.
Denise and Keisha
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Provided report on the plan for FACS Foundations Training that the FACS PDCs developed. All DEDs agreed with
the proposal. Handouts provided.
Jule Lynne
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Gave a report on the Small Flock Team concept. All DEDs agreed with plan.
Angela Rowell
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County Pubs packets have been distributed to counties. Asked if we have gotten any comments.
UGA Extension store is up and running. Marketplace Store (ugaextensionstore.com) DEDs suggested that Angela
resend message to PDCs so they can promote by program area. DEDs will check with CECs to see if pub packets
were beneficial.
Taste of Atlanta will be held Sept. 26-27, same weekend as S. Campus Tailgate. Budget is coming from media
dollars. CAES will have a booth along with time on the demonstration stage. Angela needs 8 agent volunteers to
help in booth over the 2 days. Sheldon would get these spots filled.
General Discussion
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Discussion was held about budget transparency among districts. Greg going to remove passwords from our
salary budgets.
Greg will send out link and notes regarding personnel data base.
Greg will visit with Sadie about the monthly accountants meeting.
Career Fair Assignments
UK
Sept. 16
AU
Texas A & M
AAMU
Clemson
UT
UGA CAES
NCSU
UF
Berry
FVSU
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Sept 24
Sept 29
Oct. 1
Oct. 7
Oct 7
Oct. 7
Oct 27
Feb ?
Feb ?
?
Jule Lynne and Scott Utley
Judy and Bobby
Greg
LPJ
Joann
Judy and/or Greg
DED Retreat RE Aug. 3-5. Mon night dinner @ RE, Tues night off site. LPJ will be in attendance Mon and Tues.
CEC to CED not an option because of the perception of too much administrators in the department.
New federal law regarding minimum salary is under discussion and will be receiving more information to come.
Remind CECs about the 6 months “lapse in service” guideline in regards to volunteers. Greg will seek out
clarification from Arch on what this means. What does “contact with” entail?
DEDs will remind CECs abut new UGA incident report process. Greg will ask Debbie Gausvik for a one page flyer
regarding direction on filling out incident reports.
Class “C” licenses a non-issue.
GESA – Judy will attend to represent DEDs at Nov. 6 meeting in Macon. Mike will go if Judy not able to go.
Greg will turn over the details of the SNAP Ed Collaborate training to FACS PDCs to be worked out with Judy
Hibbs.
Sadie and Greg will train accountants on the new 5 sub accounts for the travel budgets w/in the next two weeks.
LPJ and Greg encouraged OIT to develop a file sharing system and they have done so. Greg will demonstrate
during PPW and will send something out to PDCs sooner. LPJ has a folder in there for Greg and Mike. Several
EXTEND students will be using this site for their projects.
District Director Meeting
June 23, 2015 (actual meeting on June 22, not 23)
Recruiting County Agents
We want to continue to travel to college recruiting events. Our priority is to send Greg or DED along with a PDC. If this is
not possible, we will send agents.
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Clemson – Wednesday, Oct 7 from 10am-2 pm. Judy will coordinate. She and one PDC will attend.
Auburn – Thursday, September 24. Greg will coordinate. He will ask Scott Utley and Jule-Lynne to attend.
Tennessee – Wednesday, Oct 7 (according to website). Greg will coordinate, possibly ask Paul Pugliese to attend.
Florida – date unknown – Joann will coordinate with Wade.
Greg will investigate:
 Dates for North Carolina and Texas A&M
 What about UGA career fair?
Greg will put on the project list the development of a database and process for tracking and courting potential
applicants.
District management of travel and operation funds
Agree to set up subaccounts under each district. One account for 4-H, ANR, and FACS.
Agree to set up subcategories for additional tracking to be used when appropriate.
 In-service training
 Conferences
 Events
 Service (maybe a better name – committees, projects, mentor visits, etc)
 Professional Association Activities
MMR Checks Discussion
Discussed educating everyone about the class D driver’s licenses. It was noted that CAES ABO updated handout with
this information but it is not on the 4-H site, only county operations. Everyone goes to the 4-H site for information.
SNAP Ed Training for secretaries
DED approved recommendation from Judy Hibbs. The DEDs requested two collaborate sessions on August 18 & 19.
DEDs request that all educational extenders for distribution be delivered to the district office before August 10 th for
distribution to counties.
Interns
We will not be accepting any interns for Fall semester.
Judy will contact Jeff Buckley to offer their 4-H intern an opportunity to work a few weeks with a NE ANR Agent.
DED approved new language for job announcement:
 Enrolled (or within one semester post-graduation) as an undergraduate or graduate student in a degree
program that would qualify the participant for employment as an Extension agent and
 Interested in pursuing a career in Extension
Sea Grant Collaboration
Mark Risse and Gary Hawkins shared ideas for collaboration and co-funding of county agents with Sea Grant
programming. This would mostly be water management. We would target counties and cities that have educational
mandates through federal requirements. We help them meet the educational part of their requirements for a fee.
Mark will prepare a more detailed plan and budget. He will present this to the August meeting of DEDs.
Mark also updated DEDs on structure of his programs in PSO.
Handouts are attached.
District Retreat in August
DEDs want to have retreat in Athens. Greg will find a location.
Agenda:
County funding options (invite Sadie and Bill)
County performance reviews (invite Debbie)
District Staff review of responsibilities (invite Sadie)
Sea Grant Proposal (Invite Mark and Gary)
DED Minutes held June 2, 2015
Important Items and Decisions
Tim Gray -- Discussed how we can help agents understand the different roles of Tim: Assistance and Auditor. How can
Tim better switch between roles without confusing agents.
Tim will set up trainings for each district office as requested to help 1)PDCs understand how QuickBooks can be used for
budgeting and 2) help support staff understand how they can best review documentation coming in from the counties.
Sheldon will serve as the lead DED in helping all district transition to a standard budging process for counties.
Angela -- Discussion of county signs. We are 98% finished. She shared process of ordering signs with FVSU. DEDs will
visit with impacted counties to make CECs aware of this. If signs are ordered by FVSU, the designed should be reviewed
by Angela to make sure they are compatible with our signage. Remember the CEC should coordinate any signage for the
local office including FVSU.
Susan -- Shared information about the Environmental Conference on August 26-28 at Jekyll Island. She is coordinating
agent participation with the ANR PDCs. Four agents have already been selected by the ANR PDCs to present. Susan will
cover registration and lodging. Districts will cover mileage.
SNAP ED/ Judy and Debbie -- The new SNAP ED program will include four delivery methods: Direct Education, Online
Modules, Childcare Project (Clarke), Social Marketing Intervention campaign.
Educational Extenders (package of goodies) will be made available through the county office for clients completing the
online module. Judy is working on a plan to distribute packets to the district office for county distribution.
Much discussion on where we will put future resources. Do decisions were made in this meeting but several DEDs
shared they understood they had more funding coming that it was now appearing. Discussions to continue.
Elements vs GA Counts -- All PDCs must engage at a higher level in GA Counts if they do not use Elements.
Promotion -- Greg is going to rewrite the promotion charge. In will include language about the new rules impacting Rep
to assistant. Greg will add a chart to the charge with timelines for going up.
Only State and NE have any senior candidates so Greg will handle all Senior Candidate voting in Athens.
As a guide for cover letters we are going to stay at two pages except for Senior which could go up to three.
PLN – Adele will identify people who would like to car pool to Orlando. Sheldon will pay registration fee for other DEDs.
April DED Meeting
Lake Blackshear
March 31, 2015 1:00 – 4:30 pm
April 1, 2015 8:00 – 11:30 am
Attending: Greg Price, Laura Perry Johnson, Judy Ashley, Sheldon Hammond and Joann Milam.
Travis Zetterower – Year‐End IT Equipment (Dr. Johnson said each district will receive $25,000 for IT needs
that should be matched with County funds)
Travis passed out sheets to send to CEC/discussed process.
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE DEADLINE
Travis will email these forms to us to send to our CECs.
Travis
ASAP
Each DED will get information out to CECs; we set our own
district deadlines.
DEDs
ASAP/completed by
May 1, 2015
Greg – Federal surplus items; let CECs be aware of this and compile list of county needs.
ACTION ITEMS
Compile list of surplus items; send to DEDs
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DEADLINE
Greg
Greg – Extension Interns, need to make decisions regarding who we are hiring. There is a possibility of hiring
more than the original 8.
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DEADLINE
conduct phone interview with Craig Cheesborough and report to Joann – have Phil do this
Greg
Judy – have Bobby do this
ASAP
Give Greg choice of an intern to use in NE office and state 4-H
Judy
office.
ASAP
Select 3rd & 4th choice of interns and send names to Greg
Joann , Sheldon and Judy
ASAP
Ask D. Murray for funding for interns
Greg
ASAP
Laura – internal mics, speaker and camera for computers
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Send email to Travis and Janet Sylvia to get information on cost,
Sheldon
etc.
DEADLINE
ASAP
Laura and Stanley Culpepper - Implementation pals for off-target spray drift education
Presentation/discussion
Others present: Phil Torrance, Bobby Smith, Jule-Lynne Macie; Wade Parker and Scott Utley.
ACTION ITEMS
Consensus to move forward with plan
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DEADLINE
LPJ and Dr. Culpepper
Greg - Secure CAES online file sharing discussed
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Greg will send link to DEDs
Greg
DEDs will give Greg feedback
Joann, Judy and Sheldon
DEADLINE
Greg – 4-H Gala clarifications:
 Individuals use personal funds to pay registration/tickets
 Travel/hotel – we can use district travel funds
Greg – Promotion candidates
 DEDs accountable for sending outstanding books forward
 PDCs should also be working with agents/DEDs to read and assist with books.
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ACTION ITEMS
Talk to Paul regarding viewing books, cover letters
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DEADLINE
Greg
Have Adele send out spread sheet as a file to DEDs to make any
Greg
corrections
ASAP
Double check years in rank and all information on spread sheet
Joann, Judy and Sheldon
for accuracy
ASAP
Greg – FY16 Budget and Hiring
 Will need approx. $20,000 for benefits package for any new positions
 If a position has been vacant for more than a budget cycle, benefit funds are no longer available for
that position. They must be reallocated based on available by Laura.
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ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Working to share various district offices spread sheets, finding a
Greg
solution to get all processes on paper.
DEADLINE
Spread sheet of next 10 positions/counties/etc. that you would
Joann, Judy and Sheldon
want to hire if dollars were available
ASAP
Greg and Laura – Retire/rehires
 Working on plan to significantly reduce in all areas.
Greg – DW Brooks Awards
ACTION ITEMS
Have nominees to Dean Angle’s office June 1, 2015
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Joann, Judy, Sheldon and
Greg
DEADLINE
6/1/15
Greg – Foundations Trainings
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Marcie should have all training plans including instructors set for
remainder of 2015. All instructors should have on their
Greg
calendars.
DEADLINE
ASAP
Greg – ACCG
 Laura, Greg, Sheldon, Judy and Joann will register and attend all sessions appropriate.
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ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DEADLINE
Register online for full conference ($400); you can use P-card
Laura, Greg, Sheldon, Judy
and Joann
ASAP
Confirm hotel reservations with credit card. Information sent
3/31 by Adele.
Laura, Greg, Sheldon, Judy
and Joann
ASAP
Laura – CECs communicating with elected officials and other critical officials.
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ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Get list of the following and county of residents:
Dean’s
Advisory Board
4-H
Foundation Members
State
Laura
Board of Education Members
Board of
Regent Members
Once list is compiled; disseminated to CECs
DEDs
DEADLINE
Miscellaneous:
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ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Check on reimbursement concerning first and last day of travel
Greg
(75%) and tips (can we get reimbursed?)
J Milam 4/6/15
DEADLINE
DED Minutes for March 3, 2015
Present: Greg Price, Sheldon Hammond, Joann Milam, Judy Ashley. Guests: Angela Rowell, Tim Gray, Sadie
Brown and Josh Paine. Minutes recorded by Adele Shiver
2015 GEORGIA 4-H GALA, AUGUST 8 AT LOEWS ATLANTA HOTEL
Dr. Bo Ryles is recipient of Lifetime Achievement
Laura to investigate cost of reserving a table
TO DO: Greg will reach out to everyone once he has more details.
Those who attend pay for their own travel and registration (No travel reimbursement, period, not even
on state dollars)
LEGISLATIVE BUDGET
Greg reported: Received 6 of the 20 county agent positions.
TO DO: Adele to set up two-hour budget meeting with Greg and DEDs; Greg will travel to the districts.
PRINT ON DEMAND INTRO PACKETS – ANGELA ROWELL
Angela has created starter kits/packets for internal use by county offices to have on hand when clients
come in the office. Purpose is to encourage counties to use POD services. See handout highlighting popular
publications per season and year round etc. with costs included and a refresher on how to order from POD.
DEDs should have their PDCs look over the list and choose which publications to include in packets.
Quarterly, plans are to send copies of new publications to give counties a sense of what the publications look
like if ordered through POD, again, to encourage POD services.
She would like to send out in next few weeks
There was discussion on ways to handle POD billing. Counties should keep up with POD expenses; if a
county goes over their allotment, then district will invoice county for the amount over allotment.
ACCG EXHIBIT – ANGELA ROWELL
Angela reports all is well and plans are moving along. She has met with PDCs and is meeting with
Melody on Friday. Angela arrives Savannah on Friday; Angela has a list of attendees and their arrival dates in
Savannah.
UPDATE PDC MEETING – GREG
Greg is rewriting Associate job description and is working with PDCs; PDCs prefer four separate job
descriptions, but DEDs disagree with having four different ones. Greg will pursue original plan.
A 4-page job description could be intimidating; prefer individual job description.
Suggestions: Add a general section that includes ...”other duties assigned” (Applicants need to know
what they apply for but sometimes the job could be more.)
Judy suggests that descriptions should match up with performance appraisal tool.
Discussion held that an Ag Associate has to have an ANR county agent assigned to them but not
necessarily in same county; CEC assigned to Resource Manager; assignments do need to match program area.
COUNTY PROGRAM BUDGETS AND PDCS
Goal is for PDCs to become experts on county program budgets and standardized reports.
Trainings will be given to all PDCs.
DEDs to come up with ways to make the goal happen.
SNAP-ED EVALUATION FORM
DEDs approved the form and is ready to post.
PROMOTION UPDATES -- GREG
Greg reviewed and discussed pertinent changes in the promotion guideline book. (These changes will
be outlined in the “Change of Notes” and should be released by the PSO Office this week.)
TO DO: Greg to work on new offer letter for those w/BS degree.
CEC AGENDA FOR UPCOMING MEETING
TO DO: Greg will share SWD CEC agenda and quiz with the other DEDs. SWD CEC training’s theme is:
Policy and Procedures. Sadie will present a 30-min presentation about ABO and will talk about Tim’s role as
auditor and how he works for Extension. Her talk to include top 20 things found in an audit. Later in program
Sadie will do a 45-min talk on the “dark side,” 10 scenarios of personnel actions in the past 3 years.
Judy suggest emphasizing CEC ownership of money and how that comes into play.
My ID AND ACCESS TO UGA SYSTEM BY COUNTY EMPLOYEES
TO DO: DEDs are to check one more time with counties to ensure there are no employees that cannot
access UGA system that need to. If so, let Greg know.
Greg has this on hold until DEDs reconfirm.
Judy mentioned Annie in Morgan County and to say there is a voice and ways to address concerns.
Video conferencing through Collaborate now available for UGA Staff Council meetings.
TO DO: DEDs make personnel aware of UGA Staff Council meetings via video conference, maybe
mention this at upcoming CEC trainings.
INTERNSHIPS – SUMMER SEMESTER
There are 37 applicants to consider for a summer internships.
Deadline, end of March for districts to know who will be hired -- sooner the better.
DEDs will delegate task to PDCs on who to interview; interviews can be in person, via phone.
Three options for funding internships: 1) Dr. Broder funds 4 but must be enrolled in CAES college, 2)
Extension funds 4 from state budget and 3) additional ones can be hired by DED and paid thru district labor
funds.
HIRING PROCESS, CHECKING REFERENCES AND OTHER AVENUES
Greg met w/ Bill -- college-wide message is we’re not doing a good job checking references. Make sure
you are checking references and past employers of applicants; make sure you’re asking.
TO DO: Greg to develop a reference / questionnaire form and to check with Steve Gibson to see what
he uses
TO DO: Greg will ask Steve Gibson to do presentation on how to ask the hard questions.
URBAN AND HEALTH CONFERENCES
TO DO: Greg contact Jed Mathews on best way to register agents for health conf.
CREDIT CARD MACHINE AND PCI COMPLIANCE – TIM AND SADIE
Tim Gray is developing protocol for districts to check reports each month to include written guidelines,
what to look for, what’s a redflag; reconciliation as well as looking at QB online reports. Need a system in
place so Extension does not depend solely on Tim. Greg says for Tim to do whatever he need to do to get us
all where districts need to be.
Tim will schedule visits with each district accountant and DED together (maybe ½ day) to give one on
one time. After Tim has met with everyone he will report / share with all of us the best plan.
PCI is not law and not mandatory. However, highly encouraged for places that process credit cards. If
not PCI compliant and there is a breach, minimum fine $50,000, regardless of size. It’s for our protection and
a PCI plan needs to be in place. Tim will draft a generic PCI plan that can be drafted and adopted. PCI plans
are reviewed annually. Because of the type credit card machines counties use PCI plans are not that involved.
CREDIT CARD MACHINES:
Credit card holders should present a photo ID. In cases of over the phone can take other information
to confirm ID. We don’t want to be overly rigid.
Question asked: statewide, how many credit card machines are there? 25-30, maybe. Tim will check
on this.
County office credit cards should have a name associated with the card. Should be EIN# on checking
account and signature card. (Name associated with the credit card is the only one who can use the card.)
Tim -- Credit Card Machine Policy Guide – change title on document
CEC Agenda Item worthy – Mention at training that county office can get a corporate credit card for
the office using EIN#. Do not get credit card in personal name using SS#. Debit cards are not recommended.
Credit card account reconciliation is needed, just like checking acct.
Sadie says developing a protocol similar to the UGA P-Card policy is needed.
OTHER ABO INFO Reported by SADIE
IPAWS is converting temps to regular position and carries a new title, CLRTX, which means no benefits.
Make sure district staff and/or financial people that deal with positions need to communicate and be
on same page. Rule of thumb question: Depending on position, what’s the earliest pay period to start?
Contact Amy or Steve for help when needed.
TO DO: Greg will develop a county procurement policy. (This falls under County Funds Policy.)
DEDs TO DO: Think about other updates that may be needed to Co. Funds Policy. Updates are done
annually, July 1.
ELECTRONIC LEAVE FORM
DEDs were unaware beforehand of new electronic leave form emailed statewide. Asked if in the future
new information could be shared with them first.
The form, however, does not work. The form is optional. Sadie says Sunshine is sending out Qualtrics
link and she will ask that she email it only to the districts and let DEDs disperse the info. The Qualtrics link to
the form is better.
CEC MARKETING PLANS AND RESOURCES – JOSH PAINE
DEDS discussed ideas w/Josh to share at upcoming CEC trainings. Judy suggested he categorize his
presentation
Prompt CECs with the questions. For example, what did they do last year? And what’s their plan for
next year? How are county offices using logo and branding? Local networking w/BOE, chamber. How many
times did you go to meetings?
Address communication stakeholder plan and how to communicate with stakeholders.
Target advertising to ensure they are promoting events and programs
Judy suggested that Josh refer to section “Public Relations and Marketing” on the performance
appraisal form to help explain why this is on the form.
Josh will cover statewide level marketing overview of goals (ads last year).
Sheldon suggested a share session of new innovative techniques to market programs that are being
used; He also suggested creating a depository for new ideas that people could access.
DEDs recommended good marketing examples: Paula Burk’s Facebook page; Telfair County does a
good job with county page; Floyd County calendar; Mary Carol Sheffield in Paulding Co; Bacon County
Josh will draft and come up with a written list of questions to help CECs develop a marketing plan and
share with DEDs.
OTHER – GREG
E-Newsletter – Laura no longer will include classified personnel information in her newsletter. Any
communication of classified personnel changes is responsibility of the DEDs. However, county agent
personnel changes will still be included in the newsletter.
So to help our office maintain a current running list of county agent personnel changes please forward
all official memos to county agents that pertain to: 1) letters of offer, 2) letters of resignation and 3) CEC
appointments and any changes, including interims to Greg at coopext@uga.edu.
TO DO: Greg to resend CEC spreadsheets so we have a starting point and ask DEDs to review for any
updates and confirm w/Greg.
DEBRIEFING AFTER TRAININGS
TO DO: Greg wants to work on this.
JUNE DED RETREAT PLANNING AND AGENDA
All agree and are holding June 23-25 for a DED retreat (Location TBD)
TO DO: Greg to get Laura’s feedback on her 1-hr evaluations w/o document. (DEDs find the
performance appraisal form useless.)
PROPOSED AGENDA items for retreat:
Performance appraisal form – (devote ½ day to redo form)
Staffing plan for 2016
CEC training evaluations (nit-pick)
May invite guests in for ½ day if needed, i.e., Marcie, Debbie G.
More to items to follow
DED MINUTES FOR FEB 3, 2015 MEETING
Present: Greg Price, Sheldon Hammond, Judy Ashley and Joann Milam (Adele recorded minutes.)
Guests: Judy Hibbs, Debbie Murray, Tim Gray, Todd Hurt and Steve Gibson
SNAP-ED PERFORMANCE REVIEW FOR PROGRAM ASSISTANT (FORM)
Judy Hibbs and Debbie Murray were present. DEDs was given a copy of the performance review form for SNAP-Ed
program assistant to review and approve. Once the form is approved it will be given to program assistants to help them
know what they are being evaluated on. Judy conveyed that this is similar to the EFNP form but that she made it more
relevant to SNAP-Ed program but basically the forms are the same.
Expectation of SNAP-Ed program: Reach 100 with 80% graduating, and by graduating meaning they attended and
completed. Suggested a six-month checkup for new program assistants and that they need to work closely with CEC.
There’s no formalized way to do this but it was suggested that the 3-month, six-month review forms were online.
(Sheldon states the importance of a 3-mo review for those program assistants not doing their job.)
Debbie Murray states that EFNP and SNAP should work the same, with overall expectations similar. The more similarity
there is less confusion.
DEDs state that Judy’s monthly SNAP updates are helpful. Judy taught an initial SNAP training in Athens, covering every
single less and lesson model and components and procedures. FACS agents will support SNAP-Ed program assistant.
It’s the FACS agent who will develop relationship with agency, not SNAP program assistant.
Judy and Debbie appreciate the DEDs support.
TIM GRAY – UPDATES ON TRAININGS AND TAX QUESTIONS
Tim reports great feedback from PDC and other participants from his trainings. PDC want step-by-step QB trainings and
expressed an interest in his coming to the districts. Tim plans to do more online trainings. Greg encourages the online
trainings with best approach of targeting one topic, keeping it short (lots of short topics). Tim has been recording the
trainings in Collaborate and posting them to his webpage.
Judy asks about program area budget trainings and who is responsible for this. Answer: Comes from PDCs. This is a
major job for a PDC.
TO DO: Greg suggests develop a budget training at PDC meetings, devoting 2 hours until everyone is up to speed.
There is a video online already on how to create budget. Have PDCs watch video before meeting. Next “all” PDC
meeting is Feb. 17. Greg needs to get this on Lori’s agenda, and if nothing else for them to talk about it and to come up
with a plan.
TO DO: Add to upcoming CEC meeting agenda – IRS tax questions / calls / anything should be forwarded to Tim Gray for
handling.
Greg encourages Tim to do more online trainings and to even repeat some of the long trainings. Goal is to have Tim’s
office as the one-stop shop. Tim and Arch are meeting Friday. DEDs are encouraging Arch to let Tim be more engaged.
Maybe monthly meetings with Tim and Arch, or whatever is needed, so that Arch feels comfortable giving Tim a bigger
role.
Todd Hurt – Report on Spring ANR Conference
Currently 100 are registered and looking for 60 to 80 more to register. Registration site open till 2/14. (Todd passed out
registration and roster information.) DEDs are responsible for registering and selection of tours. If you have not done
so, Todd encouraged everyone to go ahead and do so and secure lodging.
DEDs decide to meet at the ANR conference on Tuesday, March 31, after lunch, and Wed, April1, that morning. Todd
will secure a meeting room for eight.
Greg, Laura and Judy plan to attend full conference; Sheldon departs Wednesday evening; Joann departs Wed. at noon.
(Dean Angle wants to know everyone’s plans, per Greg.)
Districts pay for mileage. Hotel and registration will be direct charged to the districts. Laura will cover costs for
specialists who attend. Districts say optional for retire/rehires to attend.
Todd asked for advise on how to handle CEU credits for webinars. Todd thinks E-xtension will give us a classroom with
5% we collect; webinar quality is better. Todd feels we should charge more.
Posed Concerns/Suggestions: Sheldon asks do dollars stay local or go to state? E-xtension only charges in-users and
submits invoice and transfer out of account. Do we want Urban Ag to manage? Todd suggested that maybe dollars
could be used for agents to write grants for projects or for anyone doing webinars. Live webinar vs. archived webinars?
No way to tell if person stays the whole time; Todd says a time limit can be established on the computer. How would
the Dept. of Ag feel about this? Need to open up for discussion. Are private companies doing online stuff? Yes, they
are. What learning platform do they use? This is CEU credit to keep the license, not to issue the license. Main thing:
how do the agents feel? Are we competing against ourselves? We’ve got to charge a significant fee. We cannot
undercut.
Greg says big difference is liability. What is our liability?
DEDs are not saying “no” but recommend an in-depth discussion with PDCs. Then carry to Laura for her approval and
then bring back to the next DED meeting. Come up with a list of pros and cons.
ACTION ITEM FOR DEDs: DEDs to have discussion with ANR PDC and then have ANR PDC discuss with ANR agents.
STEVE GIBSON – CONVERT SECRETARY TO ASSOCIATE POSITION – PROCESS
Steve reports “still in process of converting and mainly being done when there’s vacancies.”
Steve handed out “UGA Reclassification Request” checklist.
There is now a committee that reviews all reclassification requests. It’s more of a legal case than it’s ever been and
more complicated on individual basis. “Would HR prefer us do a constructional change?” Greg asked.
Feedback on how to reclassify was discussed. An option would be to rank by size of office and responsibility. (Associate
description was written for a county that doesn’t have an agent.) Is there anything on that description that does not
apply to a county that does have agents? If that’s the standard one, can we just the same job description every single
time?
Steve states that Extension should not have hourly employees in county office.
Greg wants to have same message, “because of increased responsibilities occurring over time specifically…” when
reclassifying secretary position to associate or resource manager.
TO DO: Greg will look at budget and work on job description on secretarial upgrade and get a snapshot of where we
are. Too, he may need to revisit Bobby – adding an ANR or FACS component.
TO DO: Greg to go over “associate” position again with PDCs at upcoming meeting (Add to Lori’s agenda.) Maybe give a
general description following up with a bold section listing the designated assignments.
Working titles are 4-H Associate and Resource Manager or we can change to something entirely different. Extension
Associate is what HR knows. (Again, resource manager is our working title.)
TO DO: We will keep “Resource Associate” until a better title is decided on. Greg will redo “Associate” job description
so it’s clearer and repost. (Note. Even in the general description 4-H is mentioned.)
Other Topics from Agenda B:
Georgia Farm Bureau Foundation Gala – Judy will share the invitation with other DEDs. She asked if she should attend
and Greg says no. If anyone attends, they will need to pay out of pocket.
ACCG theme for directory advertisement -- It may be a better idea to put our money in the directory; 3 x cost in
magazine. Theme suggestions? Greg suggests a generic theme that just talks about county Extension and the
connection to UGA and do the exact same thing for all events. Judy suggests use logo and put “your county name”;
Sheldon suggested “your return on investments” and “your connection to UGA in every county.”
Greg says ACCG has same marketing theme from last year. Would we want to tie into ACCG’s theme? Extension is really
not represented with anything. The house icon that’s in ACCG, can our office image match logo?
Issues with CEC data up to date – Do we keep a master list of CEC and Sunshine be the keeper of the official list
and then update ACCG? A big shocker is ABO cannot give us the CEC information. The printout Sunshine gave
came from the training system database
ACTION ITEM FOR DEDs: DEDs are asked to go to their district person (keeper of district’s personnel database) to be
sure all CEC changes are being made and are in the personnel database. Then we will run another report and run by the
districts.
TO DO: Greg will run another report on Friday and give to DEDs for review to see if it matches up.
TO DO: Greg / Adele – Monthly run a report and see what changes there are.
TO DO: Greg to get back w/Angela on ACCG theme. AND Greg will visit with Sunshine about CEC data.
PROMOTION WORKSHOP -- Will use Collaborate and the session will be archived. The workshop in Athens is being
moved to the Georgia Center. Greg asked how important is it that your candidates come into the district office?
DED are good with this; it saves travel dollars. Districts also have their own individual promotional workshops schedules.
TO DO: Greg to ask Paul who workshop presenters are. Greg will encourage an Extension person i.e., Judy Hibbs.
DEDs to decide on a case-by-case basis if a candidate comes to Athens. However, Judy will encourage her folks attend in
Athens because PSO may want an audience.
ACCG Annual Meeting – Redone exhibit. It’s going to be good.
Who’s attending ACCG: DEDs agree that it is best PDCs attend. (Others attending: Debbie, Arch, Todd)
TO DO: Greg to put on Lori’s agenda to ask PDC subcommittee on 2/17: Ask subcommittee to decide on two PDCs per
program area to attend ACCG.
Middle Managers Conference – Greg will not attend. Marcie is going entire time and presenting on Foundation and
New Agent trainings. (Greg may need a DED to fill in for him on panels.)
Funding for other conferences –
Greg says districts should have enough money for FACS agents to attend health conference but limit 2 from each district.
Same with urban conference, if you have one or two then tell them they can attend.
TO DO: Greg to send a formal email approving funding for other conferences.
TO DO: Greg and Sheldon to look at urban budget.
COUNTY GUIDES -- $7 per book. (Actual cost $35) Do you recommend buying one per county? Judy thinks not enough
copies. (We no longer supply extras to county administrators.)
TO DO: Greg will confirm price, ask for a discount, and then confirm an option for counties to buy extra county guides.
Development of CEC and Secretarial Agendas
CEC agenda items and talking points for upcoming district CEC meeting
SWD CEC meeting – March 6
NED CEC meeting – May 18
NWD CEC meeting – April 14 & 15
SED CEC meeting – March 24
Computer dollars – Had a lot of dollars last year, but not this year. Still have computer $$ in budget. (DEDs be prepared
to respond.)
County Guides – One free. If county wants extras may want to look at county dollars to buy extras.
Tax Filing Time -- Talk about taxes and that it’s time to file. May 1 deadline for filing. Ask CEC to do a “gut” check: “Do
you feel you have the info you need?” Ask and talk about last year’s filing experience. Remind them to contact Tim
Grey for info or questions regarding tax questions.
Raises: Remind CECs that Extension promotes raises every chance we get. However, raises are decided by overall UGA
system. This year it’s top priority with President Morehead.
Archway: Talk about Archway and how non-archway counties can be supportive.
DO NOT SHARE CEC LIVING IN COUNTY ISSUE.
#1 Budget point: Bottom line, we’ve never had positions in the governor’s budget. They’ve always been added in the
house and senate. That’s a positive thing.
Budget update: We gave OPB our 20 top positions but did not rank list. (There were 5 from each district). OPB took the
first six – alpha – off list. We still think we’re going to get 20.
SED invited Sadie to talk on what ABO does and give scenarios on fiscal management.
SED – Brent Allen to give a presentation on his India trip.
FACS to talk about national framework of health and wellness
From PLN meeting, the Andy Goodman presentation. Maybe include a one-hour presentation?
TO DO: Greg will visit with Marcie and Todd, or Angela, about co-teaching a part of the Goodman presentation.
TO DO: Greg is working with Bill to come up with scenarios. Greg will give list to DEDs at March meeting.
Action item for DEDs: Need “real live” management scenarios. Send them to Greg. These will be incorporated into
New CEC trainings. Some scenarios given were: ENFP assistant falsifying reports on graduating numbers; county agent
with no travel authorization and volunteering UGA property to USDA w/o permission; no cuddling services.
Action items for DEDs: As you put final agendas together for CEC and secretarial training, share with everyone.
Secretarial agenda items and talking points
SWD secretarial training – April 9
NWD secretarial training – Feb 18
SED secretarial training – Feb. 26
NED secretarial training – May 12
People Skills in the workplace -- Debbie Gausvik
UGA memo handling sensitive information
Sheldon asked secretaries to bring different office forms they use and share with others.
Sheldon will give district update – ins and outs
In the past NWD asked UGA police to come and talk on safety in the workplace
Sheldon will walk through print-on-demand.
STATE OF SOUTH SURVEY
DEDs support sending this out. However, need to talk to contact person to know if we’re to encourage participation or
are we waiting on a national request? Adele to follow up on when he plans to send link. DEDs will be happy to follow
up.
TO DO: Adele follow up on email and let DEDs know what action to take.
Final Minutes -- District Extension Directors Meeting
January 5, 2015
Present: Greg Price, Laura Johnson, Joann Milam, Judy Ashley and Sheldon Hammond (Minutes recorded by Greg.)
●Non-Program Area Orientation Training Standing Committee, Marcie Simpson, Brian Watson and Angela Rowell and
Sadie Brown proposed a “Virtual Support Unit” conference. Brian wants a venue to get out a constant message for years
Extension does not have a winter conference. Sadie wants to get a message out beyond Tim and Debbie about what
ABO can do to support County Operations; Angela values any time OCCC can be in front of county agents. Overall goal is
to have better and consistent time with county agents.
Approved: DEDs agreed and approved to support an annual “virtual support unit” conference.
Action Item: Marcie will propose a date and put together a list of training avenues to reach county audiences. (A better
job of using program planning week to plan support unit trainings may be in order.) Survey counties for support units
needs assessment training needs.
●Resource Manager and Secretarial Trainings – Marcie: After March 1 any Resource Manager / Secretary will be
required to attend two-day training in Athens. Training will be offered every six months.
Action Item: Marcie will set up dates for trainings.
●Mentor Training Program – Marcie just returned from a national conference and learned that some states have three
types of mentors and suggested Georgia consider as well. They are: 1) specialist mentor, 2) peer mentor and 3)
experienced agent.
Action item: DEDs will discuss and take advice under consideration.
●QuickBooks – Tim Gray gave a report on QuickBooks Management and DED’s approved new chart of accounts, which
Tim will upload to the County Operations Fiscal Compliance webpage:
http://www.caes.uga.edu/intranet/coextopr/fiscalcomp/index.html
Action Item: DEDs to invite all 4-H PDCs to participate in Tim’s QuickBooks Training scheduled: January 12 for
Secretaries and January 14 for CECs.
Action Item: DEDs to send a note of encouragement to people taking QuickBooks.
●Ag Business Office – Bill Cheesborough -- Discussion was held on current management issues in County Operations.
Action Item: Greg will ask Marcie to review non-programmatic trainings for consistent management content. Greg will
also work with Bill to create a list of failed management scenarios we can use in training.
Action Item: DEDs to discuss if Extension should do more program audits or program reviews. We need a plan.
●UGA CAES Water Team – Gary Hawkins -- Wants to develop a UGA CAES Water Team and looking for 10 – 15 county
agents, younger and along with experience. DEDs recommend Gary take his proposal to the ANR Program & Staff
Development committee. The ANR PDT team will bring it to the PSDT meeting on March 4.
DEDs support the concept and DEDs will ask ANR PDC committee to flush out details of the proposal.
●Professionalism of agents in training – Greg All PDCs are in charge of professionalism, statewide, for all agents.
Action Item: Greg will visit with PDCs to encourage them to enforce professionalism at trainings.
●Urban Conference – Sheldon -- Planning to attend Urban Conference are 23 agents, including committee members.
Action Item: DEDs are asked to send Greg 2 lists: 1) Urban Conference attendees and 2) Health Conference attendees.
Send list now so Greg can put lists together by end of week.
●Mentor Expectations –
Action Item: Judy will develop talking points for DEDs to use at mentor trainings. She will send the talking points to
DEDs.
●GAC Legislative Breakfast – Wed., February 4 – Two tables will be purchased (16 seats total). Reserve 3 seats for
legislators and 3 for county agents.
Action Item: Sheldon to invite 2 legislators and Judy 1 legislator; DEDs to decide the other 3 county agents to invite.
Need to do this now.
Action item: DEDs should let Adele know immediately who will attend GAC Breakfast and if lodging is needed.
●National Conference attendees – Sheldon cannot attend NACAA and Greg will go in his place. Sheldon will attend ESP
conference.
●DEDs to continue moving all secretarial and CEPA positions to Associate as positions become vacant.