Call to Order: President Diane Ducharme called the meeting to order at 10:12 am.
Diane announced the new officers for 2004 - 2005: Diane Ducharme - President; Chris Talley - Vice-president; Sarah McClellan-Welch - Secretary; Diane Ashburn - Treasurer, and commented that terms are 1 year appointments except the treasurer position is 3 year term.
Attendance: Diane Ducharme, Chris Talley, Sarah McClellan-Welch, Diane Ashburn, Tammara Cole, Jeremy DeLisle, Steve Duckett, Jeff Vann, Stanley Holloway, John Dorner, Linda Blue, Ross Young, David Kendall, Elizabeth Tolley, and Frank Bolick.
Reading of the Minutes:Copies of the minutes from last meeting were distributed. (They were also posted on the web site). Chris Talley moved to dispense with the reading, Steve Duckett 2nded.
Treasurer's Report: [During lunch] copies of all bank transactions were distributed. Diane Ashburn made the Treasurer's Report stating account balances as: $174.93 in checking, $32.56 in shares, and $5,060.11 in the money market account.
2004 National Meeting Diane Ashburn received the Young Agent Scholarship Award, Ross Young was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award, and Cliff Ruth received the Achievement Award. Chris Talley was the voting delegate.
2004 State Meeting: Diane Ducharme gave a review of the meeting including some suggestions for improvements.
Concern for notifying life members about the meetings: The District is responsible for notifying life members about state and district meetings. Our Life Member's Committee agreed to notify all life members about future events and meetings. Tammara Cole volunteered to serve as a liaison for the Life Committee. She will serve as the co-chair with Frank Bolick. The list of Life Members was reviewed. Frank Bolick suggested adding Life Members to our listserv.
Committee Appointment Updates: By-laws state that every member will be on a committee. District and State committee appointments were discussed and assigned as follows:
Benevolence - Diane Ashburn & Christy Bredenkamp.
Communications - John Dorner - Chair, Jean Harrison, David Kendal, & Skip Thompson.
Constitution & By-laws - Bill Skelton - Chair, Marvin Owings, Alan Durden, Ken McCaskill.
Extension Programs - Steve Duckett & Elizabeth Tolley
4-H & Youth - Jeff Seiler - Chair, Sarah McClellan, & Diane Silver.
Life Membership and Retired Agents - Co-chaired by Tamara Cole & Frank Bolick, Johnny Hensley, & Steve West
Membership Services - Tony McGaha - Chair, Jerry Moody & Silas Brown
Nominating - The current Vice-president serves as Chair: Chris Talley & Eric Caldwell
Public Relations - Ross Young - Chair, Linda Blue, &Jim Hamilton
Recognition and Awards - Kenneth Reeves - Chair, Alan Durden, Bill Skelton, & Johnny Hensley.
Resource and Program Development / Professional Training / Professional Excellence - Diane Ducharme - Chair, John Dorner, Chris Talley, Jeff Vance, Rob Hawk & Jeremy DeLisle.
Scholarships - Stanley Holloway, Cliff Ruth & Randy Collins.
All of the above committee chairs shall serve as representative to the state committees. Additional committee are listed below with respective chairs:
Professional Improvement - Agronomy & Pest Management- Stanley Holloway.
Agricultural Economics - Kenneth Reeves
Animal Science - Chris Talley
Forestry & Natural Resources - Jeff Seiler.
Horticulture - Linda Blue.
Aquaculture - Skip Thompson.
Public Relations and Agricultural Issues -Ross Young
Early Career Development - Jeremy DeLisle.
Adminstrative Skills Development - Bill Skelton.
Teaching and Educational Technology - John Dorner.
It was suggested to revise the definition of this committee for our District. Diane Ducharme and Chris Talley agreed to review the current definition and redefine it to reflect our needs.
The Benevolence Committee will send a card to John Vining for his recent hospital stay.
David Kendall was introduced. He is the new Agent in Madison County focusing on agri- tourism and alternative crops.
John Dorner suggested a Social in 2005. The last one was in July at Lake Chatuge. Families were invited. The suggestion was made to hold it during the week, in the summer months (June, July, or August). Another suggestion was to tie into agritourism, or have a picnic and softball game at Jackson Park in Hendersonville. Another idea was to get group tickets to a NC State football game.
2008 National Meeting - NC made a successful bid for National meeting. It will be held in Greensboro in July 2008. A resolution regarding Galaxy was made by the NACAA. NACAA will participate in the planning process and donate $4000. Galaxy will be in Indianapolis in the fall of 2008.
Federation Forum - December 3rd. Concerns that are to be brought before administration in the forum need to be submitted to James Cochran. Issues discussed and to be submitted will be:
Specialist Membership - Agents are asked to encourage Specialists to participate in the NCACAA. Good to network with them. Membership services are asked to send a letter to officially invite the Specialists and point out the benefits of being a member.
Howe Scholarship - Still in a holding pattern to set up this up to earn interest through the Ag. Foundation. Cyndi Lauderdale is the most recent scholarship recipient.
Membership Dues - Dues are due March 15th to Diane Ashburn: $50 national , $23 state, $7 district. Diane Ashburn will send an invoice on-line to listserve.
2005 State Meeting - Hickory Holiday Inn, June 14th-16th, contact Lenny Rogers.
2008 National Meeting Committee and Pledge forms - If you have an interest in a particular area, please volunteer: John Dorner - Registration & Computer room, Ross Young - Registration, Chris Talley - Hospitality, Steve Duckett - Bar-be-Que, Frank Bolick - Door Prize Committee.
Each member is also asked to contribute monetarily to the National Meeting. Would like to have a good match for the sponsors. Donations are tax deductible. Life Members also can contribute. The donation form is on-line at the State website and was also distributed at the meeting. Pay roll deduction is an option min. of $10/mo.
Softball Rules - Administration wants to reduce the competitiveness of the games. There was also concern for the substitution rule and pinch hitters. Chris Talley will serve on a committee from each District to address these issues.
The business meeting continued during lunch at a local restaurant.
Disaster Assistance for Counties - Agents shared their impressions of the crop damage in their counties due to flooding. Discussion included the need for better communication and information in times of disaster such as the recent flooding. Questions were raised about if farmers should contact FEMA. Agents received inconsistent information from agencies such as FEMA, NRCS, FSA. A suggestion was made to have a list of agencies and what they do to share with farmers. Chris Talley said the crop testing facility in Fletcher is waiving the fee to have grains and silage tested for aflotoxins and mycotoxins.
Next Meeting Time & Location: The next meeting is scheduled for March 17th in Henderson County. Cherokee Reservation offered to host the fall 2005 meeting.
Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.
A tour of the Bombardier factory was held following lunch.
Respectfully submitted by Sarah McClellan-Welch, Secretary.
Posted on 11/01/04
Please send comments and suggestions to John Dorner.