NCCESA – WEST DISTRICT 

 

FALL MEETING MINUTES

 

YANCEY COUNTY EXTENSION CENTER

 

BURNSVILLE, NC

 

AUGUST 15, 2008

westdistrictassocfall2008minutes.doc

 

Susanne Winebarger, president, called the fall meeting of the NCCESA-West District to order at 10:05 am.  She welcomed everyone to meeting.  She recognized Cindy Williams as new secretary in Henderson County.  Susanne also thanked Norma Chrisawn and Brenda Wilson for hosting our fall meeting.

 

Susanne recognized Denise Baker, Yancey County Extension Director, who brought greetings.  Denise gave a short history of Yancey County.  Denise also commended the Extension secretaries and indicated how valuable we are to the organization.  Susanne then recognized Kerri Rayburn, Jackson County, to give the Thought for the Day.  Kerri read a poem entitled “Fog on the Mountains” which was written by one of her friends.

 

Janice Dotson, secretary, called the rolls with the following secretaries being in attendance:

 

Gail Saye, Debbie Sparks, Deanna Jordan, Karen Ball, Elaine Clamser, Ivy Olson, Kerry Rayburn, Debbie Goforth, Magen Caldwell, Jane McDaniel, Cheryl Mitchell, Maryann Mickewicz, Susanne Winebarger, Norma Chrisawn, Brenda Wilson and Janice Dotson.

 

Dot McClintock, secretary in Polk Co., called Susanne indicating that Barbara Meyers, also secretary in Polk Co., had fallen recently.  A get well card was passed around so everyone could sign card wishing Barbara a quick recovery.  Also, Valorie Welch is back at work after having surgery.  We welcome Valorie back.

 

Minutes of spring meeting have been placed on the West District association website.  A motion was made by Cheryl Mitchell, McDowell Co., and seconded by Ivy Olson, Henderson County, to accept the minutes.  Motion carried.

 

Elaine Clamser, treasurer, distributed the treasurer’s report and reviewed it.  A motion was made by Jane McDaniel, McDowell Co., and seconded by Cheryl Mitchell to accept the treasurer’s report.  Motion carried.

 

Susanne asked each committee to meet for 10-15 minutes.  She reminded everyone what committee they were on. 

 

After discussion in each committee, Susanne asked if any of the committees wanted to report.  They were:

 

Nominating Committee - Deanna Jordan, chair, recommended the following slate of officers for the 2008-09 year: 

 

President – Norma Chrisawn

1^st Vice President – Jane McDaniel

2^nd Vice President – Karen Ball

Secretary – Janice Dotson

Treasurer – Deanna Jordan

 

Susanne asked for a motion to accept this slate of officers.  Ivy Olson made the motion to accept slate of officers, Magen Caldwell, Madison County, seconded the motion.  Motion carried.  Susanne thanked everyone who agreed to serve.

 

Rules and Bylaws

 

 

Debbie Sparks, chair of Rules and Bylaws Committee, distributed recommended changes.  They are designated in red and they follow:

 

Section 1:        The membership of the Association shall be composed of:

 

A.                All office support staff working in county offices; and

 

B.                 NCSU Research Station field locations that support Cooperative Extension programs, regardless of the employee’s source of salary funding. (who have partial or full Extension funded salaries.)

 

 

ARTICLE VIII – DUES

 

 

Section 1:        The annual district Association dues shall be state dues plus $15 for district per person.  State dues will be paid from this amount.

 

Section 2:        Dues shall be paid to the District Treasurer at or before the fall meeting.

 

 

ARTICLE IX – COMMITTEES

 

 

Section 1:        The standing committees of this Association shall be:

 

                        1) Membership

 

                        2) Public Relations

 

                        3) Nominating

 

                        4) Rules and By-Laws

 

                        5) Goals and Aims (Recommend deleting this committee)

 

                        6) Hospitality

 

                        7) Finance

 

                        8) Professional Improvement

 

Section 2:        Appointment to committees shall be made by the Executive Board.

 

Section 3:        The Chairperson of each committee will make a report of committee                                           activities at each meeting.

 

Section 4:        Any committee shall have the privilege of functioning by e-mail.

 

Section 5:        A majority of the members of any committee shall constitute a quorum.

 

 

Susanne asked for a motion to make these changes, Deanna Jordan, Buncombe County, made the motion, Brenda Wilson, Yancey County, seconded and motion carried.

 

 

Finance Committee, chaired by Elaine Clamser, discussed the funds needed for the upcoming state meeting which the West District will host in 2010.  It was suggested that we contact other NCCES associations, and also businesses in each county requesting funds.  If you receive funds for the state meeting, please ask vendors or associations to make checks payable to:  WDCESA.

 

 

Professional Improvement Committee – Magen Caldwell, Chair

 

Our district website is up and looks great thanks to Jane McDaniel.  Also, if you have any helpful hints which you find helpful in your job, please send to Jane McDaniel and she will post on website. 

 

 

Reflections – Amy Holder, Chair

 

Please send any pictures, news articles, etc. to Amy for our district scrapbook.

 

 

Benevolence – Elaine Clamser, Chair - No Report

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

 

2008 4-H Scholarship was awarded to Buncombe County.  The funds will be used to assist 4-H’er in attending the State Council Meeting in Raleigh in November 2008.  The 2009 4-H Scholarship will be awarded to Avery County.

 

 

District Meetings – Susanne asked for discussion regarding spring meeting – are Fridays still good for members?  Everyone indicated that Fridays work good.  Susanne did have a request from a CED asking that not all of the district association meetings be held on Fridays.  Susanne asked for a motion requesting that all of our meetings be held on Friday – Cheryl Mitchell made the motion, Ivy Olson seconded it and the motion carried.

 

Our spring meetings will be held in March and Susanne asked if the fall meetings should continue to held in August.  After discussion, it was decided to hold the August meeting during the last week in August.  The 2009 meeting will be held August 29, 2009.  We will re-evaluate the fall meetings each year.

 

 

Association Website Update

 

Jane McDaniel is the NCCESA-West District Webmaster.  Everyone agreed that the website was great and thanked Jane for her hard work.  Jane discussed the items on the website and also asked everyone to send any pertinent information to her and she would post it.

 

 

2010 State Meeting Update – Magen Caldwell and Jane McDaniel, Co-Chairs

 

During the spring meeting, the group decided to check on having the 2010 meeting at Harrah’s on the Cherokee Reservation.  The committee visited the site May 30.  Karen Ball reported that plans for holding the meeting at this location did not work out due to the fact that we were not able to get enough rooms (they only wanted to let us have 20 rooms).  The planning committee thought it best to have all attendees under one roof and not scattered.

 

Magen indicated that it was suggested to hold the meeting in Asheville.  Three places suggested were Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville, Doubletree in Biltmore, and the Bohemian Hotel also in Biltmore.  This hotel is still under construction.  Janice will check with the 3 hotels and get some dates so the committee can visit these locations.

 

Committees for the state meeting were suggested.  They are:

 

Theme, Door Prize, Decorations, Registration (others may be added at later date).  A sign-up sheet was passed around asking which committee the members would like to serve on.  Magen and Jane will let us know the outcome.  It was suggested that all of the members of the  Finance Committee for 2009-2010 serve on the Registration Committee.

 

Raffle(s) - 2010 State Meeting

 

Janice reported that she had gotten a one-night stay with breakfast gift certificate from the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville.  There was discussion on possibly having Biltmore House tickets and bottle of Biltmore Estate wine to go along with this package.  Susanne had sent a letter to Biltmore House Ticket office asking them to donate 2 tickets. 

 

Jane suggested having two raffles for the 2008 state meeting.  It was agreed that we would sell ½ and ½ tickets (winner receives ½ of money collected and district receives ½ half).  Susanne has requested a table for us to sell tickets for these 2 items at the 2008 meeting in Wilmington.

 

Plans for the May 2009 Retreat – Karen Ball, chair

 

Karen asked the membership if we would like to pursue plans for this retreat.  It was decided by members present that we would focus on our upcoming 2010 state meeting.  Once this state meeting is over, we will look at having another district retreat.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

 

2008-09 Proposed Budget – Elaine Clamser, chair

 

Finance Committee  proposed the following budget:

 

 

INCOME

 

29 members @ $15/person = $435

 

Silent Auction = $115

 

State Meeting Raffles = $100

 

TOTAL = $650

 

 

EXPENSES

 

Secretary of the Year Award = $100

 

4-H Camp Scholarship = $250 (can be less)

 

State Association Meeting = $100

 

State Association Board of Directors Meeting = $100

 

Benevolence = 100

 

TOTAL = $650

 

 

Magen Caldwell made a motion to accept the 2008-09 proposed budget; Norma Chrisawn seconded the motion – motion carried.

 

State Meeting Expenses

 

The ones who will be attending the state meeting in September did not need assistance from the association this year. 

 

Secretary of the Year Award – Debbie Goforth, chair

 

The recipient of the 2008 West District Secretary of the Year Award is Elaine Clamser, Henderson County.  She received a plaque and $100.  Congratulations Elaine!!!!

 

Installation of Officers – Deanna Jordan and Susanne Winebarger

 

A fun officer installation was held.  The 2008-09 officers are as follows:

 

President – Norma Chrisawn

1^st Vice President – Jane McDaniel

2^nd Vice President – Karen Ball

Secretary – Janice Dotson

Treasurer – Deanna Jordan

 

Other New Business

 

 

Susanne asked Deanna Jordan and Debbie Goforth, who represent the West District on the Postage Committee, to share with us information learned from this meeting.

 

Envelope Orders – Envelope Order request deadline will be March 15, June 15, Sept.15, and Dec. 15.  The notification of the order will be sent approx. 2-3 weeks before deadline.  The company printing the envelopes will not send out the envelopes until all orders are printed.  Make sure you have at least a 6-month supply of envelopes so you will not run short.

 

Postage Machines – May not go with BMI.  Don’t have a lot of suppliers.  The committee will meet in Feb. 2009 to meet with vendors – Tom Mease hopes to have BMI, Pitney Bowes and a couple of others at meeting.

 

A survey will be posted on NCCE WIKI regarding using some of the postage funds on equipment.  Please be on the lookout for this survey.

 

Effective October 1, 2008, Vicki Pettit will be our postage contact instead of Tom Mease.

 

 

Susanne asked Jane McDaniel to report on Staff Senate.  The tuition waiver request for family members of NCSU employees did not go into effect.  The newly elected senators are on board for this year.  Staff Senate will be getting results from well-being survey.  The chair of Staff Senate this year was a county secretary (now works on campus) and she will help in making sure Extension is better known.  Dr. Zublena will speak at the November Staff Senate meeting.  Staff appreciation was discussed.  If you have any concerns regarding staff appreciation, please email Jane.  Next year will try and make sure Extension is recognized better – maybe have more give-a-ways.

 

 

It was decided by the group at our spring 2008 meeting that we would ask the county which would be hosting the district meeting to choose an organization and ask that organization what they needed such as clothing, food, cash, etc.  We would ask members attending that meeting to bring items that were suggested.  As a community service project, our host county, Yancey, secretaries chose The Reconciliation House.  The Reconciliation House is a store where folks donate money, clothing, food, and items that can be resold at a very low price for needy families.  They have kind of like a flea market inside where the items are donated.  Anyone can shop there if they choose, and the money goes toward Reconciliation House expenses.  The food is distributed, a box at a time for a needy family.  The money is used for their fuel fund whereby they can assist folks with purchasing fuel in the winter.  A family can get $100.00 worth of fuel every 12 months, but Sam's will not deliver less than 100 gallons.  Last year they had to give $300.00 worth of fuel at a time  in order to be able to deliver the 100 gallons of fuel.  Therefore, a family can only get fuel assistance once every three years because of the cost of fuel now.  The Reconciliation House has guidelines that have to be met before they give out any assistance.  Their clients are interviewed to see if they qualify.  They are given vouchers for clothing and can come back to get clothing with the vouchers.  The food is given out one box at a time up to 5 times per year per family."   There were many items of food and some cash was given by the West District members.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Gail Saye announced she will be retiring effective October 1, 2008.

 

Melissa Vaughn in Swain County is expecting a baby - due in February 2009.

 

Erin Freeman in Haywood County is expecting a baby - due in November 2008.

 

Honorary Memberships are due to the state president before September state meeting.

 

2008 State Meeting – Wilmington – September 18-19

 

2009 Spring Meeting Location will be Watauga – if the site for the 2010 state meeting has been chosen, the spring meeting may be held at that hotel.

 

Spring Meeting door prize – Swain County responsible

 

SRERSSA Conference – Nashville, TN – Nov. 12-14

 

 

 

With no further business, the meeting adjourned.  The group toured the Mountain Farm.

 

 

Submitted by:  Janice Dotson, Secretary