Present: Jerri Lindquist, Ira Krupp, Van Varner, Mike Score, Dean Krauskopf, Stan Moore, Phil Durst, Mark Longstroth, Paul Wiley, Bruce MacKellar, Jim Zook

1. Approval of Agenda.
   Agenda approved with additions from board
2. Secretary's Report.
   Lindquist moved to approve minutes of  March 6, 2001 Spring Conference meeting, Wiley support, motion approved.
3. Treasurer's report
   Wiley discussed cash flow report of March 1 through May 1; budget report of October 1, 2000 to May 1, 2001; and balance sheet as of May 1, 2001. Spring conference was close to break even with expenses of $2993.79. Wiley gave corrections of totals on reports. Motion by Varner to approve report, Zook support, motion approved.
4. Regional Reports

UP- no report

North- Durst reported regional meeting scheduled for June 11 and 12 at Grayling. Trustee Don Nugent is invited for the evening program. A fly fishing demonstration is scheduled, along with association business.

Discussion of unexcused absences at board meetings. President or past President to contact board members to check status.

East Central- Zook reported on Mark Seamons’s recent hospitalization, and that he is recovering at home. Personnel changes: Rich Hodupp has moved to Ag Agent position in Gratiot County. They are working on revitalizing regional activities and scheduling some meetings. Jim LeCureux will be moving to the Tuscola office.

West Central- Lindquist reported on regional meeting at Big Rapids on April 26. The minutes of the meeting from Kara Griffith follows:
The West Central MAEA members met Thursday, April 26, 2001 in Big Rapids. There is a Small Fruit Agent Position open. The position is housed in Ottawa County. Dave Guikema and Chuck Pistis are starting the process to fill the position. Ira Krupp provided an update on Spring Conference. Overall, the evaluations were positive. Most people favored the breakout session format that covered a wide range of topics rather than a conference that had a narrow focus. A strong recommendation was made that more coordination and communication exist between MSU and other agencies to avoid program conflicts. Monday and Tuesday offered too many programs to choose from. One solution offered suggested that Spring Conference start with the Dean’s luncheon in order to avoid competition with other programs. The possibility of reviving the summer MAEA conference was also discussed. The members were open to this idea but strongly urged the coordination between MAEA and the AoE Teams. Is there a possibility of folding any summer time AoE activities into the conference? There is a definite need to bring Extension agents from across program areas together. It was suggested that Spring Conference be skipped if a summer conference is planned. The subject of Michigan bidding for the 2007 NACAA Conference was discussed in great detail. Since MSU Extension’s mission is about improving the lives of the citizens of Michigan, MAEA needs to carefully scrutinize whether or not the extensive financial and personnel resources will be used in accordance with the mission of MSUE. Do the benefits outweigh the costs? It was suggested that we wait until we have a Director of Extension in place, since the Director needs to fully support this effort. The West Central Region did not express overwhelming support of this initiative. The members requested an updated list of retired MAEA members and that it be placed on the web site for easy access. Also, many of them have e-mail. Including them on the MAEA list serve will keep them up to date. The issue of the MDA Restricted Use Pesticide Certification courtesy fee waiver was discussed. The group expressed a need for administration to update the policy on whether or not Extension agents are required to have the RUP certification if they are giving pesticide recommendations. The RUP certification and CCA were strongly recommended at one time, but is there a liability issue if agents are not certified? The certification may not even be necessary otherwise, unless agents are involved in test plots. The membership recommended that the MAEA board strongly demand that the MSU Extension web site be updated. It is an awful example of how to market Extension. The demand should also be made that the bulletin system be updated. Publications that are 10 years old are too old. More bulletins should be made available on-line. It is also a poor example of marketing when Extension Agents refer clients to the web sites of other universities to obtain current bulletins.

Longstroth discussed NACAA national meetings. He reported that Iowa is interested in bidding at the 2003 Wisconsin meeting. Durst reported next national meeting bid opportunity would be 2012 when the NC region would be eligible again. A decision needs to be made by November, if we are bidding for 2007.The membership would need to make the decision, and discussion needs to be taking place now. There is a session at the national meeting that we need to attend for more details if we are interested, and we need to consider organizing our delegates or those attending if we want to seriously consider making a bid. Moore stated that the board should take a stand on this before this fall.

South West- MacKellar reported that a meeting is planned for August at KBS. Swine position in Cass is still open. Beth Clawson is the new Resource Recovery agent in Van Buren. A new position of Home Horticulture agent will be housed in Kalamazoo and will cover four counties. Jackson CED is changing, Les Schick is becoming the Community Development agent. The new CED will be chosen from among the agents in Jackson County. Surrounding county agents is covering the Kalamazoo field crop agent position. St. Joseph county interviews for CED are scheduled.

South East- Score reported that there will be a new Ag Agent position in Lenawee which is to be funded 50% county, 25% private sources in county, and 25% GREEEN funds which covers the benefits. They hope to have the position filled by fall. Last regional meeting was held at Thornhill Golf Course. They are working for a February meeting on grain marketing that will be a marketing simulation for 150 people that will be an exercise in creating an actual grain marketing season scenario. This will give hands on experience using marketing tools that potential participants are not using now. Next meting will be in June possibly in the Detroit metro area.

5. Committee Reports:

Ira Krupp Professional Improvement:
There were 65 that attended Spring Conference, 40 plus attended full time. Conference broke even. Considering competition of other meetings attendance was good. Ira sent out evaluation survey and reported on findings. "Tips for Office Organization" session was highly rated. Everyone liked idea of input into the topic selection, and they liked having many sessions to choose among. We did need more to offer in the Natural Resources area. No clear choice of time was suggested for making a change to for the future. We need to get information of details out sooner in the future to encourage more attendance. Final outline is needed by the first of the year, so the committee needs to start earlier. Most felt attendance was worthwhile, and felt the information was relevant to their needs. One suggestion was to move to a Tuesday and Wednesday in the future. Krupp commended the great support from the committee: Charles Gould, Coleen Boyer, Jill O’Donnell, Mary Dunckel, and Roberta Dow. Longstroth requested that the carryover committee members meet soon, select their chair from the carryover members from the North region and get nominations for UP committee members to serve next year so they are ready to go by September first.

Moore is to check on recognizing Agent Awards at Dean’s Luncheon. Durst suggested that we consider cash awards at the State level award winners for discussion at a future board meeting.

6. Old Business

NACAA Business
Wisconsin Meeting- Longstroth reported that Wisconsin has requested that we let him know what facilities we need for the meal we are doing. He has discussed the fish boil with Chuck Pistis who is willing to be involved. A committee needs to get started. Moore, Durst, Lindquist, Kinnunen, McKinney, Kalchik, and Pistis have volunteered or will be contacted to serve on the committee. Durst to be acting chair until the committee decides on a chair.
NACAA Regional Vice Chairs have been announced, several are from MAEA - Chuck Pistis, Aquaculture; Brian Hines, 4-H and Youth; and Phil Durst, Livestock
Delegates to National Meeting: Longstroth, Durst, Moore, Krauskopf and Smucker. Varner, Pioch, Birkey, MacKellar, Pistis and Hines are alternates.

7. Durst moved that we do an auction at Fall Conference to raise money for the National Meeting if we can get on the schedule. Support Lindquist. Discussion as to if we could possibly combine with Epsilon Sigma Phi. This is to be investigated. Motion approved. Jim Zook was suggested as auctioneer also to serve on committee. Lindquist and Durst volunteered to serve on committee to pursue the possibility of an auction.
   Moore suggested National Association is looking for sponsors for continuing sponsorship support for National meetings. Any ideas of potential contacts should be forwarded to Moore.

9. Longstroth reported on PILD conference.
   Marketing discussion included how the University of Georgia is using their reporting system to report to support groups. Break out sessions included a discussion with a Bush staff member, and a session on the new Farm Bill. Visited Senator Carl Levin's office and invited his assistant to legislative tour, also visited with Senator Stabenow and staff person, who was very supportive of Extension. Also Smith and Stupak were visited.
10. Associate Members
    Wiley discussed the problem in our bylaws caused by our creation of Associate Membership which we put in place last fall, to make available memberships in our association at a reduced rate to members of other recognized associations. We need to clarify the MAEA bylaws regarding this matter. The bylaws category of Associate Member is for administration and supervisory staff. The new category we created has full rights of membership.
    Membership dues are due to the treasurer on December 31 and can be paid up to February 28. It was effective to put unpaid member list on e-mail, and helped to bring in dues. Durst moved to establish a late fee of $15 after February 28. Support Lindquist. Seven for, four against, motion passed. We are to use postmark date. Only Associate Members are the bylaw category as it now exists. Longstroth will work on bylaw clarification.
11. Newsletter
    The deadline for the next issue copy is May 25. Smucker will send out notice to list. Wiley will send Smucker his current member list to make sure new members are on the newsletter mailing list.
12. E-mail list/Mailing lists
    Longstroth has set up an e-mail list through campus. He plans to have it up by the 25^th of May. He needs the first and last name and e-mail addresses for the list. Smucker to send Longstroth retirees address list to post on the web site.
13. New Business
    Citations for November meeting:
    These are due by August 23. Regions are encouraged to have their nominations to the board by then, to be considered for selection.
14. Bob Driscoll Memorial
    It was requested we consider a contribution to the memorial fund set up for Bob Driscoll, a long time farm broadcaster who was very supportive of Extension agents and Extension educational programming. Varner moved we contribute $150 from MAEA and encourage agents to add their personal contributions to the association contribution. Supported by Moore. Motion carried. Article to be placed in the newsletter. Smucker to let Wiley know where to send our contributions.
15. MAEA Records
    Moore just received two large boxes of MAEA records. Bruce Smith told him we did not need to keep financial records for more than three years. We should keep such items as board minutes, annual treasurer's reports, and we encourage historical awards to be posted on the website.
16. Fall Conference
    Moore reported we have from noon on Tuesday until 3 PM for association business meeting. Discussion that this is not enough time for our association business meeting needs. Wisconsin dinner, NACAA Annual Meeting, by-laws, election of officers, awards, bid for national meeting including detailed information on what is involved in putting on a meeting, and spring conference or summer meeting are agenda items for this meeting.
17. MDA RUP rules: Krauskopf suggested we talk to Dan Wyant to see what they are thinking regarding charging agents for private pesticide recertification. Mackellar suggested that we need to be able to see the test to be effective teachers, and we need to state our case. Motion by Mackellar to charge $15 for pesticide tests we facilitate for MDA. Supported by Score. Wiley suggested we need a designated person from board contact Wyant. Moore moved to table. Support Lindquist. Score moved we send delegation to meet with Wyant to discuss. Vote on motion to table; motion carried.
18. Motion to adjourn Krauskopf, second Wiley; motion carried. Next board meeting is scheduled for August 23.

Respectively submitted,
Don Smucker, Secretary