Agriculture & Extension

AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE November 1, 2022 Members Present: Ray Soper, Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz, Gregory Knight Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen, Julie Diepenbrock, Michelle Grimm, Art Lersch, Kelly Phillips, and Emily Gojmerac. Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Ray Soper, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Approve minutes of the September 6, 2022, meeting: Metz moved to approve the minutes of the September 6, 2022, meeting; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Approve the agenda: Lemke moved to approve the agenda; Knight seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers : Lemke asked how many copiers Ext ension owned, 1 HP from the County and 1 Konica. The Konica is the only one paying a lease on. Metz moved to approve the September and October 2022 bills and vouchers; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Educator Highlight Reports : Educators gave oral report to supplement written report. Highlights were reviewed and discussed from: Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4 -H Program Coordinator : Diepenbrock reported club financials and charters were due to the State October 1 and November 1 . Soper asked if al l the clubs had checking accounts, Diepenbrock confirmed that they do. National 4 -H week was the 2 nd – 8th of October where 4 -H flyers and poster boards were displayed at county schools and libraries as well as a school wide event at the theater, and wind ow displays at various businesses. 4-H Discovery days hosted 3 stations at Huey’s Children’s Museum to 60 children and 40 adults. Trick or Treat for the Hungry – food will be brought into the food pantry this week. Rib Lake school district invited 4 -H to the school forest to talk about tree and leaf ID. This was a collaborative effort by Julie and Michelle from Community Development. Over 150 kids were at the school forest. Diepenbrock attended the National 4-H Conference in Madison last month with about 80 other 4-H educators from Wisconsin. Youth attending Fall Forum and the State Horse Conference this week. Soper asked how many 4-H members to -date, Diepenbrock mentioned sign up is still in process but close to 120 thus far. Sandy Stuttgen , Agriculture Education/Programming: Stuttgen and NCWCA members toured 3 different beef operations and MI State Research and Extension Center last month. One of the discussions led by Stuttgen pertained to herd antibiotics needing to be prescribed by veterinarians beginning in 2023. Stuttgen and Schlesser, from Maratho n County Extension, presented WI’s program for teaching bovine Artificial Insemination in Arizona last month and spoke to the outcome results and positive reactions from attendees from past AI courses since 2015. Stuttgen will be speaking in Green Bay in February re: PELTR programs and conducting another BQA per a local farm request. Michelle Grimm, Community Development: Grimm noted that StrongBodies first session is wrapping up just before the Thanksgiving Holiday and will kick off again after the new year. Grimm brought in a guest speaker to work with the Town Association Clerks re: A RPA funds. This session was recorded for future use. Community Rural WI team is meeting in November (Gilman/Lublin/Jump River). Grimm to help create an economic plan with Gilman stakeholders. Non -Profit Workshop is coming to an end. Another grant rece ived by the Health Department will focus on reaching the Plain Communities in Taylor County by educating the public via workshop this month. A large donation for the Community Gardens was given for next spring’s garden bed rework and compost. Soper asked about updates re: broadband. Grimm remarked that Bug Tussel is currently working on identifying where towers will be placed . Supply chain issues delayed some equipment meant to be used to help connect businesses. Next PSC grant application will be for residential with WanRack on the Middle Mile. Kelly Phillips, Program Assistant: Phillips talked about how the transformer vs squirrel (City of Medford power outage) took out the Extension office’s new copier and the plan B until parts can be shipped. Phillips noted behind the scenes she is assisting with 4-H financials and charters being reviewed and uploaded; awards with pins and seals for record book completions being purchased via Federation Funds; and creation of a slide presen tation for those awards is complete. Phillips also took care of the Michigan bus tour registration and AI survey results for Ag riculture. Community phone calls and walk -ins have decreased but still remain with fruit and vegetable questions as well as bug ID and soil prep for spring gardens. Phillips handed out the 4-H quarterly newsletter and spoke of other marketing materials that she creates on a monthly and quarterly basis for the office in support of their educational programs as well as informational emails and social media blasts. Phillips noted she tunes in to Madison Horticulture weekly zoom meetings as well as WCA County Zoom meetings to stay fresh on the latest information. Soper asked how we help those that walk in regarding health and food s afety. Phillips and Stuttgen assured Soper that people don’t walk away empty handed, resources and direction are given regardless if it’s supported by Extension or not. Most questions that come into the office are either referred to Extension educators o r specialists if they cannot be answered by staff in house or Extension printed resources are used to provide answers. All Extension resources are vetted, meaning the information that is being provided is evidence – based. 2023 Taylor County/Division of E xtension Contract: Lersch reviewed the terms of the contract and asked for written approval. Knight motioned to approve the 2023 Taylor County/Division of Extension Contract; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Extension/State broadband project work: Grimm and Lersch spoke about a new statewide grant project (BEAD) run through Extension meant to develop resources for counties and other entities looking to expand rural broadband. Grimm has been asked to take a lead role in developing those resources over th e next two years. PSC and State Broadband Committee to hold regional training next year re: what works and what doesn’t; looking at grant cycles and how to apply. Lersch explained that the project will take about 7% of Grimm’s time over the years and tha t the county, if it approves of her involvement, would receive a credit of about $4,200 over that time from the university for her involvement in the project . He requested that the committee formally sanction her involvement or formally disapprove of her involvement. A motion by Knight to approve Grimm working with the State Broadband Committee; seconded by Lemke. Motion carried. Area Extension Director Updates: Lersch noted there is a new Assistant Dean (Jason Hausler) that he reports to and will in time come and meet the Taylor County Ag & Extension Committee. The FoodWIse Coordinator position will be reopened and posted this month and will likely cover a wider area than just the four county Extension offices Lersch manages. The intent is to attempt to hire a FoodWIse Educator position for Taylor and Lincoln following the hiring of the coordinator. Lersch spoke to the situation in Lincoln County re: 4 -H will be the only program along with FoodWIse within the county moving forward. Next committee me eting: Tuesday, January 3 , 2023, 9 a .m. in person at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Lemke moved to adjourn at 10:47 a.m.; Knight seconded. Motion carried. AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE September 6, 2022 Members Present: Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz, Gregory Knight Absent: Ray Soper (excused) Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen, Julie Diepenbrock, Michelle Grimm, Art Lersch, Kelly Phillips, and Emily Gojmerac. Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Catherine Lemke, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Approve minutes of the July 5, 2022, meeting: Metz moved to approve the minutes of the July 5, 2022, meeting; Knight seconded. Motion carried. Approve the agenda: Knight moved to approve the agenda; Metz seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers : Metz moved to approve the July and August 2022 bills and vouchers; Knight seconded. Motion carried. Educator Highlight Reports : Educators gave oral report to supplement written report. Highlights were reviewed and discussed from: Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4-H Program Coordinator: Diepenbrock reported it was a busy Summer. The Summer 4-H programs involved 513 youth contacts with a total of 1725 hours of opportunities to learn and build new friendships with other youth. These include d 4-H programs during the Public Li brary Summer Reading programs, Huey’s Hideaway summer program, Day Camps, Summer Ca mp, Taylor County Fair and other 4 -H activities. “Join 4-H” Displays were set up at all Elementary & Middle School registrations in August with take away information. Lastly, the National 4-H Conference is in Madison this October. Sandy Stuttgen , Agriculture Education/Programming: Stuttgen and NCWCA members will be attending a Bus Tour to Upper MI for WI beef producers to tour 3 different beef operations and MI State Research and Extension Center. This will allow members to see practices to consider f or their own operation as well as learn educational conten t regarding animal handling facilities and herd health management. Tomorrow, Stuttgen will be assisting in an Ag Incident Guide Field Training at the Marshfield Ag Research Station. Future PELTR (Planning for Emergency Livestock Transport Response) cours es have been identified for October and November in the Bonduel and Baldwin areas. Michelle Grimm, Community Development: Grimm spoke about the partnership with BRI and the work they have been d oing throughout the Summer in the Community Gardens. Grimm is part of a state -wide effort to offer Non -Profit Training webinars quarterly throughout the year. Grimm will be hosting an educational session for the Clerks from the Town Associations regarding the rules and recording of spending AARPA funds. The PSC grant came through so broadband will be extending the middle mile to the Rib Lake and Gilman areas. Grimm is also currently assisting Tourism in applying for a Marketing Grant. Another Grant rece ived is to outreach to the underserved in Taylor County alo ng with the Grant the Health Department received – a collaborative effort to ID the health needs of the Latino and Amish communities and how to get better information to them. Strong Bodies is in full swing again for sign up. Classes start September 12 th in 4 different areas offering 7 classes. Foodwise Coordinator and Educator hiring u pdates: Lersch reported that the position for Coordinator is temporarily on hold but expects it to be filled this Fall. Office trends/updates: Phillips handed out the latest 4-H Newsletter and talked about how the calls and walk -ins change with the seasons – horticulture to bugs and skunks , as well as 4 -H questions, Strong Bodies registrations and Plat Book sales. 2023 proposed Extension Budget: Metz moved to appro ve in sending the 2023 proposed Extension budget for review to the Finance Committee ; Knight seconded. Motion carried. 2023 draft contract between the county and Extension: Lersch noted that Page 2 Section 3.2 and 3.3 were new to the contract. Signing will wait until budgets are approved. Area Extension Director Updates: Lersch continues to work on the budgets. Meeting is set with Finance September 21st. Next committee meeting: Tuesday, November 1, 2022, 9 a.m. in person at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Knight moved to adjourn at 9:52 a.m.; Metz seconded. Motion carried. AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE July 5, 2022 Members Present: Ray Soper, Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz, Gregory Knight Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen, Julie Diepenbrock, Melissa Yates, Amannda Szomi, Art Lersch, and Kelly Phillips. Absent: Michelle Grimm (Vacation) Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Ray Soper, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Approve minutes of the May 3, 2022, meeting: Metz moved to approve the minutes of the May 3, 2022, meeting; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Approve the agenda: Lemke moved to approve the agenda; Knight seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers : Lemke moved to approve the May and June 2022 bills and vouchers; Knight seconded. Motion carried. Committee requested just a summary of vouchers paid be presented rather than copies of the invoices/receipts . Just th e summary will be provided for future meetings. Educator Highlight Reports : Educators gave oral report to supplement written report. Highlights were reviewed and discussed from: Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4-H Program Coordinator: Day Camps in full swing along with programs offered in partnership with various libraries throughout the county. Educational programming related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and various 4-H activities are being conducted. Similar programming is taking place on a weekly basis at Huey’s Hideaway. Recent 4 -H program in partnership with the Gilman Library summer program drew about 60 youth. 4 -H summer i ntern Amannda Szomi assists in all educator activities along with working on upcoming fair displays as well as school enrollment materials. Summer Camp had over 100 youth from 7 counties. Soper asked whether the county’s 4-H Federation provides financial support for Taylor youth to attend. Diepenbrock stated yes and explained the typ e of support given, most of which is intended to ensure that no family has to pay more than $50 to send a youth to camp. Sandy Stuttgen , Agriculture Education/Programming: Stuttgen reported that she continues to take on a lead role statewide and locally teaching PELTR (Planning Emergency Livestock Transport Response) . She stated that 2 sheriff ’s officers from Taylor County participated in a recent training . Future class to be held in the Appleton area. Ag Incident training to take place in Mars hfield on September 7 th. Next week is Farm Technology Days where Extension will have a presence focused on breeding beef to dairy cattle. Farm Technology Days on average attract about 40,000 attendees annually. Stuttgen also reported that she attended a BQA (Beef Quality Ass urance) summit in North Carolina and reminded the committee she is the lead BQA Coordinator in the state. Currently working on NCWCA Beef Expo in August and a Beef Bus Tour in Michigan in September. Also attending NACCA in Florida for Ag Educators in July. Michelle Grimm, Community Development: Art spoke and referred to the WanRack flyer in Michelle’s absence and reported that the group was awarded one PSC grant and failed to receive another. He also mentioned that the WanRack project is supposed to b e completed sometime in July. Melissa Yates, FoodWIse Coordinator: working on reconnecting with former FoodWIs e Coordinator Brenda Fierke’s contacts. She and Lersch gave additional information about the intent to reconnect FoodWIse with the county’s Com mission on Aging. Yates also provided an update on area food pantry distribution practices. She mentioned most are still not allowing distribution of food within pantry buildings. Outside/drive up distribution became popular because of the pandemic and still remains for the most part in force . Yates also reported that the plan is still to hire a Taylor/Lincoln F oodWIse Educator sometime in early fall. Area Extension Director Updates : Lersch reported that the new chancellor will begin work August 4. He reminded the committee that the chancellor will oversee the Division of Extension as it is part of UW Madison . The Dean and Director of Extension has already begun to educate the new chancellor about Extension. Lersch also reminded the committee o f a 3% increase in fees to the county in support of Extension for the 2023 budget and that much of that will like ly be absorbed within the budget. He also mentioned that the county Extension budget will be brought to the committee for its review and appro val to the September 6 committee meeting unless the timeline developed by the county Finance Department dictates that it be brought earlier. If that is the case, Lersch will contact committee members to let them know for the intention of scheduling an August meeting. Next committee meeting: Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 9 a.m. in person at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Metz moved to adjourn at 9:51 a.m.; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE May 3, 2022 Members Present: Ray Soper, Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz, Gregory Knight Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen, Michelle Grimm, Julie Diepenbrock, Art Lersch, Kelly Phillips, and Emily Gojmerac/Star News. Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Ray Soper, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Approve minutes of the March 1, 2022, meeting: Metz moved to approve the minutes of the March 1, 2022, meeting; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Approve the agenda: Lemke moved to approve the agenda; Metz seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers : Lemke moved to approve the March and April 2022 bills and vouchers; Knight seconded. Motion carried. Introduction of Melissa Yat es, Area 3 FoodWIse Nutrition Coordinator: Started April 1 1th. FoodWIse is a Snap-Ed funded program to focus on low-income families. Only support needed by the county is for office space. Brief overview of Division of Extension/Taylor Extension: Art reviewed Extension’s funding sources, staff’s key addressed issues and partnerships; reviewed UW -Madison Extension org chart and Division of Extension leveraging funding for impact. Educator Highlight Reports : Educators gave oral report to supplement writ ten report. Highlights were reviewed and discussed from: Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4-H Program Coordinator: 7 active county 4-H clubs with 138 members and 39 volunteers. Hoping to gain another club in the Rib Lake area. Offered/hosted county-wide projects – maple syrup and cake decorating . E ntering a b usy season…presentation on the 6 th to Taylor County 4 th graders -- introduction to WI cheese; May 17 th attending Career Fair to Taylor County high schoolers to represent Extension; summer camp coun selor trainings are underway; county wide day camps are set in 4 locations; summer library Stem projects at 5 county libraries ; weekly education sessions at Huey’s throughout the summer and dog , horse, and fair focused projects underway. Knight asked whether enrollment is up or down from previous years. Julie ex plained it was down due to covid but now increasing. Getting back to normal. Sandy Stuttgen , Agriculture Education/Programming: Provide adult education to farmers, primarily beef (some dairy) to men and women. Along with teaching, provide research. Crossbred data (research) is complete. Partner with beef management, NCWCA since 2007. Holding an event August 6 th at the Rodeo gr ounds. Also educate re: farm management, risk management, succession, etc. New training, Comet, focuses on farm stress and suicide prevention. A 2-year research was published in the Journal of Extension. Went to DC for WI County Association of Ag coun cil where she met with Tiffany and Johnson staff members re: wher e and how Smith -Lever Extension’s federal funding source dollars are being used. Michelle Grimm, Community Development: Census data complete for county – will redo the Data & Economic Profi le soon. Spring Strong Bodies program is coming to an end and will restart in September. This program is self -sustainable. Clean Sweep coming up this weekend; redoing 14 garden beds for the community gardens with the students from alternative (RVA). Se rve as an advisor for the county to: broadband, recycling, town associations, and tourism committee. A resource for Farmers Market. Held a 5-part series on Feed Entrepreneurship. Current instruction to Non-Profits a series assisting with planning, financing, and marketing. Currently w orking on a grant with the heal th department and schools in an outreach effort for the und erserved, Latino population, and finding solutions to address needs. Update on FoodWIse Educator position: Hoping to hire come Fa ll and will be a shared position between Taylor and Lincoln. FY 2023 FoodWIse Agreement Letter : Investment from FoodWIse grant in support of Taylor Extension Nutrition education was explained. Letter needs signatures. Knight moved to approve the letter; Lemke seconded the motion. Motion carried. 4-H Summer Intern: Amannda Szomi will spend 16 hours in Taylor and 16 hours in Price County June 6 – August 28. Extension continues to look for grants to support future 4-H interns. AED Update: Hiring two 4 -H Educators in Area 3 (Lincoln & Langlade) . Internship early J une (UW Graduate student) paid for by a grant from Dean’s office. New UW President in place and a new chancellor will be hired soon. Next committee meeting: Tuesday, July 5, 2022, 9 a.m. in person at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Metz moved to adjourn at 10:09 a.m.; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE March 1, 2022 Members Present: Myron Brooks, Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz Absent: Ray Soper Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen , Michelle Grimm, Julie Die penbrock, Art Lersch, and Kelly Phillips Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Jim Metz, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. Approve minutes of the January 4, 2022, meeting: Brooks moved to approve the minutes of the January 4, 2022, meeting; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Approve the a genda: Lemke moved to approve the agenda; Brooks seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers: Brooks moved to approve the January and February 2022 bills and vouchers; Lemke seconded. Motion carried. Educator Highlight Reports : Educators gave oral report to supplement written report. Highlights were reviewed and discussed from: Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4 -H Program Coordinator: 4-H Clubs are meeting and involved – at a great place compared to last year. Partnerships – Huey’s Hideaway on days students have off from school and summer program – focus on photography and Lego Robotics. Working with county libraries dur ing summer reading programs to share some STEM activities. Working with local talents to fill teachable activiti es like Maple Syrup, Cake Decorating and Woodworking projects. Summer Day Camps set throughout the county. Sandy Stuttgen, Agriculture Education/Programming: Presented at River County Co-op’s Dairy Producer Conference re: neonatal calf care for lifelon g dairy-beef animal performance. PELTR (Planning Emergency Livestock Transport Response) being offering online then in - person training in May. Finished PAT (Pesticide Application Training) certif ications. Cattle Feeder Series on 1 st and 3rd of March via Zoom. Dairy beef cross cattle from birth to harvest webinar series in March. Michelle Grimm, Community Development: End of January, held Maple Syrup course with Program Manager and Dave Lemke Sr. StrongBodies Spring starts up again this month. Plans to upgrade Community Gardens with 4 -H and RVA students from money provided by Master Gardeners. Local youth groups plant gardens then donate to local pantries the end of summer. First Clean Swe ep date May 7 th then chemicals in June. Looking into EBT o ptions with Farmer’s Market. FEED Workshops kick off this month – tips for food and farm businesses. Update on FoodWIse Coordinator & Educator positions for Taylor County: Open position for FoodWIse Coordinator closed on February 23 rd. Several good app licants to move forward with interviews. Once Coordinator position is in place, then move forward with Educator position. Extension office copy machine update: Staying with Bauernfeind and current lease until new copier/lease comes in. New copier comin g from Bauernfeind with new lease. ETA for new Konica machine is TBD. 4-H Summer Intern: Planning on h iring again. Funds to be shared and position with Price County again as well. Balance in account is nearly at $8,000. We have candidate that expressed interest. Job will be posted. This position will run from June – August 2022. AED Update: University is imposing a 3% fee increase to cover rising costs of personnel. This will equate to about $2,700 for the county. New University President, Jay Rothman, starts around the 18th of March. Also hiring a new Chancellor for UW-Madison Extension. Next committee meeting: Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 9 a.m. in person at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Lemke moved to adjourn at 9:57 a.m.; Brooks seconded. Motion carried. AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION EDUCATION COMMITTEE January 4, 2022 Members Present: Myron Brooks, Catherine Lemke, Jim Metz Absent: Ray Soper Others Present: Sandra Stuttgen, Michelle Grimm, Brenda Fierke, Julie Diepenbrock, Art Lersch, and Kelly Phillips Minutes by Phillips. Call meeting to order: Catherine Lemke, Chairman called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. Approve minutes of the November 2, 2021, meeting: Brooks moved to approve the minutes of the November 2, 2021, meeting; Metz seconded. Motion carried. Approve the agenda: Brooks moved to approve the agenda; Metz seconded the motion. Motion carried. Approve bills and vouchers – two months’ worth . A question by C atherine was asked prior meeting and confirmed during meeting by Art re: mileage pa yment for 4 -H Educator. Art stated because the Educator needs to travel from home office to Price County, the milage reimbursement is split between the two counties. Brooks moved to approve the November and December 2021 bills and vouchers; Metz seconded. Motion carried. Educator Highlight Reports Brenda Fierke (FoodWIse): 4 days left until retirement. A collaborative effort to update the Taylor County Food Resource Guide was made and completed. Healthy Homemade Calendars created an d shared with Rib La ke Community Food Pantry, Head Start and St. Paul’s Food Pantry. Head Start is under Northwest Community Action vs Indianhead. All partners/agencies (8) were contacted re: ret irement and new person will contact once in place. Brenda to leave all contact information for new personnel. Julie Diepenbrock, Taylor/Price 4 -H Program Coordinator: Met with Huey’s Hideaway re: upcoming plans to work collaboratively during days that school is not in session (capitalizing on the success from past efforts). Come Summer, Extension will have one session per week at Huey’s during their Summer sessions. The Harvest Day Parade had a great turn -out of 4 - H’ers. Trick or Treat for the Hungry with the older 4-H’ers ended up donating 211 pounds of food for local pantries. Fleece Blankets in Lublin was a great hit with a good turn -out. 4 - H’ers attended the grand opening of Tractor Supply. Julie was able to connect with the Manager and Assistant Manager who does pullorum testing. All clubs are meeting in-person and doing fun activities like bowling, curling, sledding etc. Working on Winter Camp and upcoming Federation Event. Sandy Stuttgen, Agriculture Education/Programming: Pesticide Applicator Training (PAT) to take place in Medford February 22 nd (a 5-year certification process), in -person and via Zoom. Probably Extensions last year having a role in this; DATCP to manage themselves. Planning for Emergency Livestock Trailer Response ( PELTR) course was online in Canvas – 5 people went thru class and in-person instruction in Marathon County. Next PELTR in May (statewide effort) being offered at NTC – Ag Research Farm in Wausau and in-person. Open enrollment to start in March – assignments done by in -person training in May. Cost $50. Farm Tech Days (brochure handed out ): robots going in; putting in H20 mattresses; calf raising pads; plus interactive hands-on activities. Marieke involved as well. Beef/Dairy calves will be highlighted from Ex tension (a display on -site). 2024 Farm Tech will be in Chi ppewa County and San dy will be involved and 2023 in Baraboo area. February cow/calf feeder workshops – beef heifers focus and cattle feeders. Michelle Grimm , Community Development : Spills discus sions taking place in towns association meetings. December – finished Learning for Life series – 10 attendees. New statewide maple syrup specialists – connected Dave Lemke & Association. Broadband continues to meet – proposals, PSC and Federal Grants be ing worked on. Targeting lower lying areas first. Tourism looking at ARPA fun ds. Strong Bodies starts up next week again with 3 locations and on-line offerings: new instructor on board. Brenda Fierke Retirement Recognition : Recognition to happen at Co unty Board Meeting. Metz motioned to send recognition to County Board; Brooks second. Motion carried. Extension office copy machine: Lease is up in February; we are having issues with copier so looking into new copier and additional bids ; Bauernfeind and counties contracted preference , EO Johnson, which the county is helping us evaluate how to proceed. AED Update : Still looking into having a Taylor County Educator back in office; first filing Coordinator Position, then Langlade/Lincoln position before filling Taylor/Lincoln Educator position (possibly first h alf of 2022). Start ing to refill Lincoln County with part -time CD person starting and attempting Human Dev’l in Price County full -time. A few part-time positions trying to fill plus internship. Taylor/Price coming up – hopefully past intern will reapply (Amannda). Moving towards a full staff throughout Area 3 . Chancellor is leaving – process to fill is beginning. President search is ongoing with interim being Tommy Thompson. No changes due to Omicron variant. Next committee meeting : Tuesday, March 1 , 2022, 9 a .m. in pe rson at the USDA Service Center. Adjournment: Brooks moved to adjourn at 9:47 a.m.; Metz seconded. Motion carried.