President-Elect Lenny Rogers, Presided.
The minutes of the 2004 Annual Business Meeting have been available on the NCACAA web site and resent as an E-mail on 6/3/2005. Thanks to John Dorner. (Board minutes are posted after being approved by the Board) President-Elect Rogers asked for motion to approve the minutes as they have been sent out over Email and posted on web site. MOTION was made and SECONDED, call for discussion and MOTION PASSED with no votes against.
2004 - 2005 Board Activity Summary - Ben Chase - This year the NCACAA Board met four times including Tuesday of this week. The year started off in Orlando at the 2004 National NACAA meeting with North Carolina being voted to host the 2008 NACAA AM PIC in Greensboro.
In Orlando NCACAA also successfully ran Fred Miller as NACAA Secretary. Under the leadership of President Mark Tucker NCACAA Board took the following actions for 2004 - 2005: The Trust Fund Committee now would be Walter Earle, Marjorie Rayburn and Ray Harris since Johnny Hensley is retired, President Tucker appointed Ray to serve.
| Executive Committee | Chair |
|---|---|
| Facilities | Sam Groce |
| Finance and Budget | Ken Bateman |
| Fundraising | Walter Earle |
| Meals/Events (Banquet) | Lenny Rogers |
| Secretary/Publicity | Barry Foushee |
| State President (2008) | |
| Transportation | Marjorie Rayburn |
Barry passed out Treasurer Report (Green Sheet) and NCACAA Membership (Yellow Sheet) Treasurer's Report (Green Sheet) 1/1/2005 - 6/16/2005 - Total Balance (checkbook & savings) - $11,206.21 Have not gotten any funds out of Trust Fund yet but will before Buffalo to pay delegates, DSA's & AA's. Taxes this year were sent in on time. We are shopping for a new accountant, if anyone knows of one please let us know.
Membership (yellow sheet) has increased since last Board meeting in April - Total Membership in NCACAA 2005 - 261 members (1 more Voting Delegate) There are more members now than the same time last year.
Lenny Thanked Barry for his hard work and dedication.
Allen welcomed everyone and the only complaint at the meeting during the week was that there was not an elevator to the second floor, so we want to make sure that this doesn't occur next year. For this years meeting there were 234 registered (Agents 176). Budget - had requested $9,480, took in $10,120. Total expenses $20,367 listed in Budget, looks like the total expenses are $20,777, difference of $410. We had asked originally from the NCACAA $11,174, looks like we will only need $10,657 for a savings of $517. Good job done by Southwest District. Ray Harris - Collection of sponsorship have received $15,099. Worked out well. Please look in program and write a Thank you note to NCACAA Sponsors. It really goes a long way. If you know of any future sponsors, please let us know.
(Passed out Report) The value of our investments in both the Charlotte '88 Trust Fund Account and the NCACAA Board Savings Account continued to recover during 2004. Hopefully, this trend will continue during the coming years. NCACAA maintains two (2) separate trust accounts, each with specific purposes and goals. The Bylaws and Policies of NCACAA provide that the three (3) immediate past presidents shall make up the Trust Fund Committee which shall be responsible for overseeing these investments, make recommendations as needed to the Board of Directors about the use of these funds, and counsel as necessary with financial advisers about the management of these investments. Everett Davis, 1993 Past President, was appointed by the Board of Directors as ongoing chair responsible for coordinating the activities of this committee and to provide continuity from year to year. Johnny Hensley, Past President, 2002, has retired and is no longer an active member of this association. James Cochran, Past President, 2001, continued to serve during this year to fill Johnny Hensley's vacancy.
Over $100,000 surplus from the Charlotte '88 National Meeting was invested to provide income stability for support of our association's awards programs, professional development of our members, and financial support for officers and eligible members to participate in official regional and national activities. These funds are invested in mutual funds primarily for growth and secondarily for security.
On June 14, 2004 $5,000 was withdrawn from this account and transferred to Barry Foushee, NCACAA Treasurer, to support 2004 professional development activities as approved by the Board of Directors and to provide funds needed to support the awards program of our state meeting. During the 2004 fiscal year, the value of all investments in this account increased in value by 10.43 percent.
At the Winter Board Meeting in Raleigh on January 7, 2005, Rick Wolfe, Financial Adviser for Raymond James Financial Services met with the Board of Directors at which time the board instructed him to reinvest all Charlotte '88 funds into investments that would provide some protection against drastic weakening of the stock market. Mr. Wolfe made these changes with several transactions during the month of January.
NCACAA BOARD TRUST FUNDS - NCACAA, over time, has surplus funds resulting from earnings from state meetings, excesses from election campaigns, sponsorships, et cetera. These funds are invested similar to the Charlotte '88 funds and are also managed by the Trust Fund Committee. However, these funds are available to the Board of Directors to be used at their discretion.
These funds are invested in mutual funds primarily for security and secondarily for growth. As appropriate, a small balance is maintained in a money market account. During the 2004 fiscal year, the value of these investments increased 14.74 percent. On June 14, 2004 $1,000 was withdrawn from this account and transferred to Barry Foushee, NCACAA Treasurer, to provide funds for the association to carry out activities approved by the Board of Directors.
TAX REPORTING
All income statements and tax documents resulting from these accounts during 2003 were properly transferred to Gayle Smith, CPA, on February 8, 2005 for accounting and income tax reporting.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM TRUST FUND COMMITTEE
The Trust Fund Committee continues to encourage the NCACAA Board of Directors to reconsider its current policies of allocating Charlotte '88 funds as have been done in past years. Committing financial support based on what has been done in recent years for awards, recognition, and professional development during times the stock market is doing poorly will continue to deplete significant funds from this account. We also encourage the NCACAA Board of Directors to aggressively develop strategies that will either fund or partially fund anticipated expenses; and to restructure the amount of funding for awards and recognition programs. Efforts should be made to replace some of the funds that have been withdrawn from the Charlotte '88 Trust Account and the NCACAA Board Trust Account.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS
Due to the sensitivity of financial information, detailed financial reports and information will not be posted to the NCACAA Annual Report web pages. Any member requesting it will be provided detailed financial and investment information by the Trust Fund Chairman.
Everett Davis, Trust Fund Chairman, Marjorie Rayburn, Past President, 2004 Walter Earle, Past President, 2003, James Cochran, Past President, 2001
Past History - Ed Nolley, Past 88 National Meeting Chair - Shared many of the experiences from 88 and the many benefits. Brings the Association closer and came out a lot stronger as an association and financially. Learned each other's strengths and weaknesses. Built the financial basis for the awards utilized by NCACAA today. Get you committees put together. Fund raising needs to be done early. Very Important. Get agents involved and committed. Agents should give first before asking others. Fund raising effort was a Book on NC Agriculture, each county and commodity had page in the book. Meeting raised about $100,000. There were some hard days, one big problem was letting a sponsor use there caterer with China and the works, the caterer staff wasn't aware of the deal and walked out after 1st serving, we picked up slack but came close to being a bad deal. Plan for long hard days. THIS WILL TAKE EVERYONE, RETIRED AGENTS INCLUDED. Work hard on the professional tours. Develop a theme & Logo, important but don't spend a lot of time, get one or two people and go with it! When this meeting is over you will be glad its over but you will be proud about it.
Fund Raising - Walter Earle - Ask those agents who had contributed towards 2008 to fill out paper for door prize. Closeout Report from Charlotte 88 - fund raising started at 26 months out from meeting. We have set some lofty goals - Ask each Agent to raise $1000 - 1. This can be a personal contribution. 2. Solicit completely local funds. Have set the same goal for Retired Agents $1000. Will be sending out a list of Sponsors we will be going after. Look at list that will be emailed to every one of these sponsors. Criteria will be set (by us) for Trade show/Trade Talks, (how much $ to participate in trade show and alike) Those who sign up today for payroll deduction, will be eligible for a drawings.
Reagon Ammons, Extension Foundation - Greetings from Keith Oakly. 40 Agents are participating in payroll deduction. A lengthy discussion followed about confidentiality and who contributors were.
Mark sent a list of the 22 committees set up for the 2008 meeting for folks to sign up on. These are listed on the web.
2008 National Meeting Tours - Norman Harrell - These tours set tone for the National meeting. Passed Professional Improvement Tour proposal form. It is going to take all of us to do this, and all types of tours (Industry and Points of Interest). Please give suggestions and Include estimated cost and time suggested tour will take and distance away from Greensboro. Will have all day and half day tours. If you follow example it would be awesome. Lunch provided or not. Need tour contact person (would like 2) Committee would like to plan about 35 professional improvement tours. Will be emailing out these forms.
Logo and Theme - Barry Foushee - Presented some of the current logos or concepts. Some discussion was held but the committee will work on and decide this later.
States Night out Tuesday night.
Passed out NACAA Report.
Summarized Report - 2004 Annual Meeting, Actions in Orlando, Futuring committee met and looking at future direction of NACAA, a committee called NACAA AMPIC Review Committee was formed to encourage more states in the bidding process and to encourage attendance. DSA & AA Recipients - recognized this years award winners. Committee Appointments, these are the lifeblood of this organization. Thanked John Dorner and Barry Foushee for their work at National level. Elmo encouraged young agents to be involved in the Association. There are many opportunities and benefits such as scholarships for members. National Young Farmer Award Program, Donor and Sponsorship for NACAA. Important Dates. Encouraged NCACAA about benefits of putting on the 2008 Meeting and praised for planning already done. Voting Delegates - Southern Region has 1,932 members with 66 voting delegates other 3 regions have a total of 62 voting delegates. NACAA is in good financial position. Elmo express his gratitude to NCACAA and to Fred Miller, Marjorie Rayburn, Walter Earle and Mark Tucker for their support.
Brian Beer presented committee report for Richard Melton
President - Lenny Rodgers
President Elect - Ray Harris
Vice President - Gary Pierce
Secretary - Ben Chase
Treasurer - Barry Foushee
Past President - Mark Tucker
(Nominating Committee Members - Richard Melton - Chair, Royce Hardin, Kathy Bunton, Chris Talley, Brian Beer, Allan Thornton, Heather Lifsey, Jerry Simpson)
MOTION was made for Nominations to be closed and was SECONED, MOTION PASSED.
MOTION was made to accept nomination report by acclamation, SECONDED, MOTION PASSED.
Lenny - Since Barry is serving his last year as Treasurer, please let any of the officers know if any of you have a interest in being considered as a candidate or if you know someone who would make a good candidate.
Set goals for 2008 meeting and seem to be off to a good start. Started Scholarship Auction in conjunction with 2008. We made a mistake last year in promoting the annual meeting to our retired and life members and but we have discussed this at almost every Board meeting. Another Goal was to involve more folks about the 2008 meeting and this was done partly by sending out summaries of the Board meetings to the NCACAA membership. Mark Thanked Association for the honor of serving as President of NCACAA as well as expressing appreciation to Board Members, Officers and Fred.
North Carolina State Winners:
| CATEGORY | FIRST PLACE WINNER | SECOND PLACE WINNER |
|---|---|---|
| Radio Program | Karen Neill | Diana Ashburn (Team) |
| Published Photo and Caption | Linda Blue | Kevin Starr |
| Slide Set, Transparencies | Marjorie Rayburn | Arthur Bradley (Team) |
| Direct Mail Piece | Heather Lifsey | Marjorie Rayburn |
| Personal Column | Karen Neill | Kevin Starr |
| Feature Story | Wayne Batten | Darrell Blackwelder |
| Newsletter, Individual | Diane Ashburn | Allen Caldwell |
| Newsletter, Group | Chris Talley | George Stancil (Team) |
| Video/TV | Linda Blue | Karen Neill |
| Factsheet | Heather Lifsey | Karen Neill |
| Publication | Linda Blue | Brad Johnson |
| Web Page | Karen Neill | Ken Bateman (Team) |
| Learning Module | Arthur Bradley | No Second Place |
State Winners must be at the State Meeting in June to receive the awards. The Southern Regional Finalists Winners were: Linda Blue in Published Photo and Heather Lifsey in Direct Mail Piece Categories. We had two National Finalists this year. They were: Linda Blue in both in Video (Receives $250) and Publication (Receives $250) and Karen Neill in Home Page (Receives $250).
Again these Regional and National Finalists will be recognized at this Year's National Meeting in Buffalo, New York. The entries this were a lot better and the committee had a tough time judging the applications.
CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and those who entered.
Fewer entries this year, but high quality applications. Encouraged applications and to look at impacts & evaluation
Presentations made this morning. Encouraged all Agents to have a 4-H audience. First Place - Ron Hughes, Second - Ken Bateman
Encouraged participation. No entries this year.
Winners this year: DSA's - Craig Adkins, Ray Harris, Billy Little, David Morrison, and Richard Rhodes. AA's include Al Cochran (district winner), Mike Carroll, Diane Ducharme, and Gary Pierce.
The Young Agent Scholarship Award winner is Amy Andrews. This award is provided through an endowment by Life Members of this association.
Senator Charles Albertson is the Service to Agriculture Award Winner.
These winners were selected by a dedicated group of their peers who often times responded to deadlines with short response times. Special thanks to Retired Agents/Life Members for Contributions to make this happen and to the following members of this committee: Kenneth Reeves, Rhett Davis, Mac Gibbs, Mike Miller, Nelson Brownlee, and James Parsons.
Encouraged folks to apply for a scholarship next year through NACAA you need to have $40 in by June 30 of year prior to the year applying for a Scholarship. Applications must be in by June 1 of the year you are applying. To find the Criteria for this Scholarship, go to page 19 of awards book or go to http://www.nacaa.com/prof_imp.htm and click on Scholarship Application Form.
Please donate items towards Scholarship Auction at National.
This year North Central District sent a check in this (as indicated in treasurers report) for $525 in individual's names. One Application was sent in this year to National from NC.
NC has most surely benefited and received a bulk of these professional improvement scholarships. We need to continually increase our contributions as well as the number of applications for next year.
Current Issue- The NC scholarship contribution records do not agree with the National records. This has been a issue for some time and is being addressed. Years ago a couple of contributions were made from North Carolina to the NACAA Scholarship fund but not given in any ones name, and we do not have the names that the check was written for. The intent was contributions were to be placed under that list of names for which it was intended but that was not sent in to National with the check so it was simply dealt with as a contribution from North Carolina. For Betsy Greene (National Chair) to make changes, there must be documented records to justify the change. This is due to this scholarship money being subject to audit.
Now, these records include almost everyone that has ever contributed and has not been properly updated in the past on the National level. This list requires constant up-dating since at this point in time Life Members, Retired, Unknown, non active, active NCACAA members and those that may have quit or left extension. This is a massive list and after spending a lot of time going through these list I asked the Board that from this point on, if someone leaves Extension, and then returns that they will be back at a zero balance as far as scholarship contribution status due to the complexity of the record keeping and my focus is to try to remove those who have passed away or who have left Extension. This request will be forwarded on to National and ask that Retired, Life and Deceased Agents be grouped under North Carolina Contributions to cut list down even further. Since only NACAA members are eligible, why keep the records of the other contributors.
We must move on with this and if we don't have the documentation, then individual is at a zero balance. This may sound cold, but it has been going on for YEARS and it is time to get things on the table and move forward. Since Betsy has to justify changes and is open for Audit, these steps should be taken.
Board consensus is to go with these suggested changes. Efforts are being made to get the Scholarship Contributions list corrected and in agreement with the National Scholarship Contributions list.
Lewis Howe Scholarship - This scholarship was started after the Death of Lewis. The scholarship has never been endowed. After joint work with Horticulture and Scholarship Committees it was decided that with all fund raising efforts it was decided that in the best interest of NCACAA that this $500 scholarship will be given until depleted, what funds remain will go into a scholarship fund, like the scholarship auction that was started last night.
In 2005, a total of one County Agent from North Carolina submitted one entry in the NACAA Horticulture Awards Program. The entry was of exceptional quality that demonstrates the yearly efforts of County Agricultural Agents.
One entry was received for the NACAA Pre-AM/PIC Horticulture workshop and tour. It was sent to the regional chair and finalists will be notified.
In 2005, one entire for the Lewis Howe $500 Professional Improvement Scholarship was received. All Agricultural Agents working in horticulture are encouraged to apply for these awards.
Encouraged all to apply. Barry also encouraged everyone and briefly mentioned up coming Pre-Animal Science Tour in New York.
Tried to update the list of Life Members with corrections and those deceased. Districts meet 2 to 3 times a year; busy with activities but keep us informed and we will certainly try to support the National Meeting.
Six Deaths
A Moment of Silence was in Memory of these former members.
Benevolence Policy for the NCACAA is as follows:
The county extension faculty will notify the District Benevolence Chairman of illness or death of an active or retired NCACAA member or family member.
The District Benevolence Chairman will utilize email and other appropriate means to notify NCACAA members (including the State Benevolence Chairman) of illness and death.
Upon the death of an active or retired NCACAA member, the State Benevolence Chairman will coordinate with the NCACAA treasurer to arrange for a $50 family designated memorial such as the NCACAA scholarship fund or flowers.
Upon the death of an NCACAA member's spouse, child or parent, the District Benevolence Chairman will send an appropriate card extending sympathy and will pay for such.
The NCACAA Benevolence Chairman will arrange for appropriate cards of sympathy to state level Extension Faculty in the case of serious family illness or death.
Each year the supply of sympathy cards on hand will be transferred to the in-coming NCACAA Chairman who will supply cards to District Benevolence Chairmen.
Lenny informed all those attending National meeting in Buffalo that we will be hosting a hospitality suite, Barry is heading that up and if you can assist let Barry know.
Southeast- David Barkley - 2006 NCACAA PIC & Annual Meeting Will show video from tourism bureau tonight. Would like to recognize committee members that have assisted with meeting. Rooms will be $89/night on the river at the Wilmington Downtown Hilton - June 27 - 29 2006. Provided official visitors guide for everyone. Rates have been extended before and after. Please come and enjoy fun on the river.
Ed Jones - Thanked everyone for hard work for the disaster program. Have got a lot of name recognition from it. New Leadership Steven Leath, Director - North Carolina Agricultural Research Service (NCARS), and Sam Purdue, Poultry Science. Pick up packets to go back to Counties. Thanks for Tom and myself for being apart of this meeting. Tom will be going to Buffalo, So Thanks!
Marjorie - Folks need to get straight with her about the auction held last night, She needs your money!
Meeting Adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted
Ben Chase
NCACAA Secretary