MINUTES KASCOE DIRECTORS MEETING

Transcription

1 February 17, 2106 Residence Inn Lexington, KY MINUTES KASCOE DIRECTORS MEETING The KASCOE Board of Directors met on February 17, 2016 at 6:00 PM EST at the Residence Inn (Conference Room) in Lexington, KY prior to meeting with the FSA State Committee on February 18, Present: Dana McKinney, Kay Barton, Laura Howell, Coy Higdon, Kevin Whitaker, Adam Haggard, Karen Evans, Micki Crider, Diana Dunn, Runita Rice, Lindsey New and Patti Karn. Visitors: David Gilland, Jason Issac, Gary Crenshaw, Donald Dunn, Jennifer Blandford, Marcinda Kester, Amanda Robertson, Debbie Beehn President Dana McKinney called the meeting to order. The minutes from the last meeting (September 23, 2015) were presented as submitted by Patti Karn, Secretary. Runita Rice stated that she did attend the meeting on September 23, 2015 but her name was not included as being present. Lindsey New made a motion to approve the minutes with the correction made. Karen Evans seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by all Directors. Patti Karn, Treasurer, gave a Financial Report. Kay Barton made a motion to approve the financial report as submitted. Coy Higdon seconded the motion. The report was approved by all Directors as submitted. The Membership Report was given by Dana McKinney stating that 228 working employees are members which would be 82% on board. Coy Higdon as to who is reaching out to these unpaid members and what are some reasons that they are giving as to why they are not joining. There was a discussion as to

2 ways to improve membership. Coy Higdon made the motion to approve the Membership Report as submitted. Micki Crider seconded the motion. All Directors approved the report. Dana McKinney gave the Scholarship report that she received from Meghan Edwards. There have been 6 applications made with 4 being for the Traditional Scholarships and 2 for the Open Scholarships. Luke Estes was the winner of the Traditional Scholarship winner for KY and Kassandra Hamilton was the winner of the Open Scholarship for KY. Karen Evans made the motion to fund all 6 scholarships at $ each. The motion was seconded by Adam Haggard. All Directors approved to fund all 6 scholarships at $ each. Meghan Edwards will notify each for information needed to receive their payment. Micki Crider, Awards, Scholarship & Emblems Committee Chairperson for NASCOE, stated that beginning next year Scholarship forms will be available on Google website. For 2017 at the National level Associate member scholarship will be available for persons that have paid their Associate dues. Thru NASCOE there will be the following types of scholarship available: Open Continuation, Grandchild, Adult Members scholarships. There have been 2 DSA Nomination from Kentucky already submitted and that NASCOE is working on new policy for Scholarships. The Associate Member Scholarship was discussed and Directors were informed that dues money paid does not pay for the scholarship. Currently, Southeast Area (SEA) only sends state winners to NASCOE and all applications were sent this year to the regions to be reviewed. Kevin Whitaker suggested that there be an Associate Scholarship for KY established for $ paid each year. There was also a discussion that it the scoring of the applications are tight then all applications should be sent and not just the state winner. Much of the scoring of applications are made on the judges thoughts and we don t know how much that is on the judges part. Lindsey New made the motion to maintain KY as NASCOE and to have a separate Associate Member Scholarship. Micki Crider seconded the motion. The scholarship would be for $ a year and if the budget allows to increase it to $ a year. All Directors approved this motion. Kevin Whitaker stated to look at the National level first and then make KY s scholarship for Grandchildren the same. KY s should follow the same eligibility of the NASCOE scholarship. Micki Crider encouraged Directors to also encourage membership to apply for these scholarship whether they are for full membership due or associate dues. Lindsey New made the motion to follow National (NASCOE) regulations for the Grandchild Scholarship. Kevin Whitaker seconded the motion. All Directors approved this motion. Micki Crider also discussed the upcoming Legislative-Leadership Conference in September Donny Green wanted the Directors to discuss if KY would support the Conference, Send representatives and or possibly contribute money to the Conference. Jackson Jones is the Chairperson of the Conference. Kevin Whitaker stated that it is as important as the NASCOE convention. Micki Crider stated that it is a HUGH thing. It is a great way to see how things really work in Washington DC, on the hill and with NASCOE. There could be a stipend for 1 st time attendees is possible. Lindsey New made a motion to pay

3 expenses for 2 representatives to go from Kentucky. Kay Barton seconded the motion. All Directors approved this motion. Dana McKinney stated that the KASCOE Directors would be meeting with the State Committee the next day and she had asked Diane Dunn to speak on back filling of PT positions, Micki Crider would speak on Scholarships, Lindsey New would speak on Publicity and Kevin Whitaker would speak on KASCOE activities done in recent training meetings across the state. Some items of discussion with the State Committee include: Delay in STC review of ARCPLC contracts of Committee members and getting back to county offices Temporary Employees status and how long will they be on the roles Key PT for GIS-when will it be filled since the Key PT for that position moved to Key PT for CRP What about the Key PT for Farm Loan section Marcinda Kester, Farm Program Specialist, talked about the new CRP Specialist will begin soon and he is from Kentucky and is transferring from Forestry Department. Concerning the Committee member applications, the State Committee will NOT redelegate that back to the county office. For 2015 the contracts will be in the State Office sooner and approved prior to payments being issued and for 2016 they will be uploaded thru SharePoint site. She did agree that some contracts have gotten lost in the process and that there was some delays because the State Committee missed a couple of months in meeting. Lindsey New stated that there are few Mesonet weather station in the eastern part of the state. She felt that this should be addressed through Strikeforce. Marcinda added that several more stations are being added but more were definitely needed. Jason Issac stated that there is a $20,000 up front cost with Rural Development funding. There is also a $5,000 to $6,000 a year cost in maintenance to be paid also. There are no grants available for maintenance payments through RD. Coy Higdon stated that there is a website available for specific farms for you to mark your own farm to receive amount of rainfall for that site. Marcinda Kester stated that working with Farm Bureau to collect weather data and also lightening strikes. Marcinda stated that she would mark her calendar to add it to the Communication Plan with other agencies to increase Mesonet sites. Jennifer Blandford stated that she thought that FSA should sponsor a Retirement training for new employees instead of using Dillard Financial to do the training. It needs to be more of a basic training by agency personnel. Karen Evans agreed with Jennifer in that new employees need to know basic information in the beginning and not later in their career. David Gilland stated that the PT Meetings with Mark Stivers had an overwhelming response from PTs. There was also a concern that that presentation was too over most PTs heads that it needed to be more basic. Lindsey New stated that there should be 3 targets on Retirement benefits new employees, mid-career employees and ready to retire employees. According to handbook regulations there should be retirement training every other

4 year for various employees in different stages of their careers. If it is in the handbook regulations to train employees then it needs to be done. Gary Crenshaw stated that he understands that Temporary Employees will remain on the roles through March 31, The funds are released quarterly therefore it depends on the amount released as to how long Temps are kept. Marcinda Kester stated that Guy Perry, Aaron Lowe and??? are going to National GIS training and then will come back to train employees. There was discussion of the upcoming County Committee Orientation that will be held throughout the state. The Agenda shows: Debbie Wakefield will discuss Adm/Performance/NAFC and Hatch Act. Marcinda Kester will discuss Appeals. Mitch Dunn, John McCauley and State Committee members will also be present. The State Committee will also have a Question/Answer session for County Committee s questions. State Committee determined that no CED is to attend. Directors determined to have the Basketball Brackett again for the 2016 NCAA basketball tourneyment.kevin Whittaker will set up the bracket challenge and employees will be notified as to when to begin their selections. Last year s prizes were NASCOE gift certificates in the amount of $80/$40/$20. Kevin Whitaker made a motion that Dues Refunds would be the prizes this year. Either dues will be paid for the upcoming year or dues would be refunded in the following amounts. 1 st place $ nd place $ rd place $20.00 Runita Rice seconded the motion and All Directors voted in favor of the motion. Donald Dunn asked to address the Directors next. NAD is working to have a possible 2018 Convention with all Associations at the same time (NASCOE, NAD and KACS). National Leadership Training is approximately 50% or more completed and will continue till all are trained. PASS training for PTs is coming soon. Hats Off to Lindsey New for being an Associate member of NAD. Dues are $20.00 a year and all are encourage being members. NAD is having an Association meeting and going to WDC the same week as Legislative Conference. It should be a good thing going the same week and hopefully will be on the same page on several topics. On the subject of Mesonet Sites, in District 2 12 counties out of 17 counties have a site. Jason Isaacs invited everyone to the KACS Zone Meeting in Lexington in March Val Doncine will be speaking on Friday. Discussion went back to Retirement sessions and Directors were reminded that Dillard s Financial is the Exclusive NASCOE representative. Kevin Whitaker stated there should be two separate meeting buy dividing the new employees from the older employees. Lindsey New stated that Dillard s was not

5 helpful to her. Coy Higdon stated it is better to have one-on-one sessions because they can be more specific to the employees. Karen Evans stated that the individual meetings were more beneficial to her when she met with Mark Stivers. Kay Barton stated that she preferred Mark Stivers over Dillards Financial. Laura Howell stated that we should wait to see if the State Office will conduct meeting before we contact someone to conduct the meetings. Micki Crider stated that Dillard s Financial will donate money to NASCOE to speak. Coy Higdon stated that Benefits Planning (Mark Stivers) has contributed money also in the past to the organization. Karen Evans stated that there are several AgLearn courses that are good and beneficial. Kevin Whittaker suggested that we wait and see what the State Office will present first and to table this discussion for now. The employees across the stated could be polled to see what type of training that they want to have. Coy Higdon reminded everyone that CEDs need to work with PTs concerning retirement benefits also. Dana McKinney stated that volunteers are needed to work at the KACS Zone meeting in Lexington for March 10 thru 12 at hospitality and/registration table. There was discussion of the SEA Rally and delegated needed to be selected. The Rally will be in Savannah, Georgia April 7 9, Micki Crider made the motion for Diane Dunn to be a delegate and Runita Rice seconded the moti9on. All Directors approved. Diane stated that she would be attending the Rally but would not be present all the days of the Rally. Micki Crider amended her motion for Dana McKinney to be a delegate to the SEA Rally and Kay Barton seconded the motion. All approved. Raffle Tickets for the 2016 National Convention are available and also raffle tickets are available for the SEA Rally. Both Micki Crider and Dana McKinney have tickets with them State Convention with FANKASCOE has not yet been planned. There are two new hotels in Owensboro down on the river by the new Convention Center. Suggestions for sites were Owensboro, Bowling Green, Lexington and Cave City. Adam Haggard stated to look for best prices and availability. Runita Rice will check the prices in Owensboro, Louisville, and Lexington. Preferred weekends are September 29-30, 2016 and then September 8-9, Runita will report back to the Directors at their next meeting. Lindsey New stated that for Benefits we have $15.00 of tickets at KY Kingdom and discount tickets for the Louisville Zoo. More information will be forthcoming on these and other benefits to all employees. Lindsey also suggested that we as Directors should engage all Committee Chairpersons to make sure they feel involved and become mentors to them. Reminders were: Directors Election will be in September 2016.

6 Next Directors meeting will possibly be in June 2016 with further details later. Directors were reminded that we are meeting with the State Committee tomorrow and to meet at the State Office at 9 AM EST tomorrow and that the State Office is now on the 2 nd floor of the building and codes have to be used to enter. With all business concluded, Kevin Whittaker made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Karen Evans seconded the motion. The Meeting adjourned at 8:11 PM EST. Respectively submitted: Patti J. Karn KASCOE Secretary