The meeting was called to order by President Gail Carlson at 10:10 a.m.

Present: Gail Carlson, Wilma Jean Lower, Roxanne Miller, Brenda Procter, Bob Schultheis, Georgia Stuart-Simmons. Barbara Froke, Tom Henderson, Joan Hickman, and Rex Ricketts arrived as meeting was in progress.

Absent: Pat Snodgrass, Karla Spencer. 

Review and update agenda. Gail Carlson added an item to the agenda to discuss a possible ESP donation in memory of Don Fancher, who recently passed away. Gail announced that Tom Henderson would be arriving late, and that the agenda order would be changed to permit Tom to report later in the meeting.

Minutes of 9/5/2000 meeting. Minutes of the September 5, 2000, board meeting were distributed by Roxanne Miller, new board secretary. Former board secretary Bob Schultheis explained that he usually sends minutes to board members by email following meetings. Then when reviewed and any corrections made, he posts the minutes to the ESP web site. Brenda Procter moved, Joan Hickman seconded that the minutes be approved. Approved.

Minutes of 10/24/2000 annual business meeting. Minutes of the October 24, 2000, annual ESP business meeting were distributed by Roxanne Miller. Bob Schultheis explained that the minutes were for information only. They will be reviewed and considered for approval at the next ESP annual business meeting in October 2001. Gail Carlson asked that any corrections to the minutes be sent to Roxanne Miller. Gail asked Bob Schultheis to go ahead and post them on the web.

Membership update. Gail Carlson announced that ESP membership in Missouri had dropped drastically, affecting the projected chapter budget. She mentioned that as of the last update from Tom Henderson, only 48 had submitted dues, a drop of 18 members from the 66 membership total last year. Gail said she had previously asked Rex Ricketts to notify Jim Ollar to identify eligible members. Brenda Procter mentioned that the chapter’s decision in October 2000 to reduce membership requirement from 5 years to 3 years should help recruitment. Gail voiced concern that declining membership could affect the Missouri chapter’s qualification to have 2 voting delegates at the national ESP annual meeting. The number of chapter voting delegates is determined by the membership totals submitted to national ESP as of March 15, 2001. Discussion was postponed until Tom Henderson’s arrival.

Professional Improvement Committee Report. Joan Hickman reported that 56 individuals attended the November 30, 2000, downlink from the national ESP conference, “Anticipate Excellence—Pathways to Success.” Although 11 sites had participated, Joan had received reports from only 8 sites. Of the 56 attending, 31 recommended the downlink to others, and 28 reported the program content was useful. Joan also reported that video quality was good at 7 of the 8 sites, and audio quality was not good at 5 of the 8 sites.

Joan said ESP originally had reserved 14 sites, but 3 sites did not downlink the program. Bob Schultheis pointed out that ESP has to pay for any sites reserved. Gail Carlson said the UOE System contributed $300 to help cover costs of sites, and that ESP had added another $150 to add more sites, for a total cost of $450 for the program.

Awards Committee Report. Brenda Procter said she would be determining the Awards Committee membership in the next few months. Anyone interested in serving on the committee should contact Brenda. Gail Carlson said that national award nominations are due March 1, 2001. She said Beth Burke is the only one eligible for submission for the mid-career award. Gail asked Brenda to send the nomination to Linda Cook at national ESP.

Courtesy and Memorials Committee Report.  Wilma Jean Lower asked that board members let her know if they become aware of the death of present or past members. Joan Hickman said that June Stigall, who previously worked in Buchanan County with FNEP, died this week. Georgia Stuart-Simmons asked for clarification on who is included in the memorials. Wilma Jean said memorials are limited to present and past ESP members. Bob Schultheis pointed out that member lists are not all complete. He said he has used the MU memorial list as a source to learn of past members’ deaths. Gail asked Wilma Jean to check with David Lindell, last year’s chair of Courtesy/Memorials Committee, to determine who received cards from ESP. Gail said she thought he sent only ESP memorial cards. Roxanne Miller mentioned that the Missouri ESP memorials list read at the ESP national meeting in December 2000 was incomplete. Wilma Jean said she thought the treasurer was responsible to send the list of memorials to national. Gail asked that the treasurer be sure to send in the list this year. Roxanne mentioned that the national meeting this year has been moved up to September, instead of December.

Loan and Fellowship Committee Report. No report.

Annalist Report. Bob Schultheis said he has received 4 boxes of ESP records from Eldon Cole and other records, dating back to the early 1990s, from Jan Clark. He reported that, after initially sorting through the boxes, he noticed the presence of ESP member cards dating back to the 1950s. He asked the group what should be done with these records. Gail Carlson explained that it used to be the annalist’s job to keep member lists updated annually, but this had not been done for many years. Bob suggested the board decide what to keep. He noted that the web site contains the list of officers dating back to the 1930s, as well as minutes, financial reports, board minutes, and award recipients.

Barb Froke said the board had discussed this for several years. She suggested the board give clear directions to the annalist as to what to keep/discard. Barb mentioned that the ESP board could turn over historic information to campus archives. Joan Hickman suggested that it might be a good computer project for a student. Gail Carlson suggested the topic be added to the next board meeting agenda. She asked Bob to check what materials he has and to bring a few samples to the next meeting. Bob suggested the board look over information on the Missouri ESP web site to determine if anything should be added (http://outreach.missouri.edu/esp).

Barb Froke mentioned that Eileen Bennett edits an annual Life After Extension newsletter. Barb suggested that we could add a service to ESP retirees if we added more information to that newsletter. She said she would bring a sample to the next meeting.

National ESP Meeting, Salt Lake City, Nov. 29-Dec. 2, 2000.  Gail Carlson and Roxanne Miller attended the meeting as voting delegates for the Missouri chapter. Gail said the meeting was valuable, providing networking opportunities to learn what others are doing around the country. Roxanne said she thought the conference was excellent for professional development. She said the presentation by John G. Miller, author of Personal Accountability, was especially helpful.

Treasurer’s Report.  Tom Henderson reported that as of 11/30/00, the savings account balance was $2,576.82, and the checking account balance as of 12/22/00 was $3,429.67. After writing $2,934.45 in checks to cover various national and chapter expenses, the balance as of 1/4/01 is $495.22.

Tom said the balance is declining. He said he paid fees to national ESP for 6 new Life Members (@$80 each), 4 new members and 44 renewals. Tom pointed out that our chapter does not currently receive any portion of the national Life Member fee, but we receive $11 for each member. He suggested our chapter options are to increase membership, do some fundraising, or reduce our budget. Gail Carlson said members who did not renew for 2001 should be contacted.  Bob Schultheis mentioned he has heard extension staff say they don’t know what ESP membership provides. Gail handed out a new national ESP brochure and said it is available.

Bob Schultheis moved the treasurer’s report be accepted, Brenda Procter seconded. Approved. 

Membership Committee Report. Rex Ricketts said that last year’s membership numbers moved from 66 up to 90 members by the end of the year. He suggested we send out a “forgot to pay” letter to those who did not renew. Gail Carlson asked what has been done to publicize the change from 5 to 3 years in the membership requirement.  Brenda Procter suggested the change be publicized in the Weekly News. Rex suggested we need to create a list of people in the 3-to-5-year range who are eligible for membership; he said he would ask Jim Ollar for that list. Tom Henderson mentioned that secretaries on campuses are considered extension appointments, while county secretaries are not.

Gail pointed out that “Membership” is defined in Article III, Section 1 of the by-laws:  “Qualifications:  A person having an Extension appointment who has performed satisfactorily for three or more years shall be eligible for membership. Years of service shall be reckoned as of August 31 of the current year. For purposes of this Fraternity, Extension personnel shall be defined as one with an Extension appointment of 50% or more.”

Gail said she needs to clarify the national membership requirement relating to an extension appointment. Barb Froke asked why our chapter doesn’t receive any portion of the Life Member fees. Gail responded that many states to add a fee to the national dues to bring in some additional funds to the local chapter treasury. She said Missouri has one of the lower fees for dues. Gail also pointed out that the national Life Member dues just went up from $80 to $150, and that the next opportunity for the chapter to vote on dues changes would be at the next annual meeting in October 2001.

Rex suggested two approaches to proceed:  1) send a letter to those who have not renewed this year, and 2) notify Extension staff who came on board as of August 31, 1997, that they are now eligible for ESP membership. Gail also suggested we reach out to Lincoln University employees. Brenda Procter suggested that Rex put an article in Weekly News.  Rex said we could also market through regions. Tom Henderson said there were 95 paid members in our chapter in 2000, and that we currently have about 125 Life Members in our chapter.

Goals for 2001. Gail Carlson distributed a handout stating 1999-2000 goals and a list of 2000-2001 board members. The board reviewed each of the following past goals and discussed if/how each goal should be changed for 2001. 

a.  Continued communication between all members and other associations regarding professional improvement and upcoming meetings.
Discussion:  Decided to keep goal for 2001.

b.  Improve membership recruitment, especially in light of a diminishing membership pool due to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program (VERIP).
Discussion:  Decided this needed revision.

c.  Hold at least one professional development activity during the year.
Discussion:  Gail Carlson said she assumed national ESP would offer one downlink program for professional development this year, but she asked if our chapter would want to do some other type of leadership training, possibly through PIE/PDE or leadership development. We could use ESP mini-grants (up to $1,000) to sponsor. Barb Froke said such a program could serve a dual role as both professional development training and recruiting effort.

    Bob Schultheis said he has noticed that staff members don’t have time to attend more training sessions. Brenda Procter suggested we might offer a different type of professional development approach. Barb said staff reluctance to attend more training might be a good reason to offer training without any strings attached. The group discussed various options of offering training either before or after Annual UOE Conference in October. Joan Hickman said she was willing to work on it in her Professional Improvement Committee, but she would need help.  Tom Henderson said he thought the biggest barrier to a training event would be the finances. Possible training topics were discussed, including customer service, conducting effective meetings. Gail Carlson asked Joan Hickman to convene the Professional Improvement Committee to discuss options and make a proposal to the board.

d.  Publish three issues of the ESP newsletter via e-mail.
Discussion:  Georgia Stuart-Simmons said this is what she had planned. The group decided to keep this goal.

e.  Continue to upgrade the Web site, including addition of committee members serving with the committee chairs, and adding past minutes and newsletters for archival purposes.
Discussion:  This goal was not discussed in any depth due to shortage of time.

Goals Summary:  Gail Carlson recommended that the officers (Gail, Georgia, Roxanne and Tom) work out the details of the final goals, using input from the various committees. Gail set a deadline of February 5 for all committees to develop an action plan and submit to her.  Roxanne offered to adapt the national ESP goals to reflect the Missouri goals discussed and submit to Gail by Feb. 5 also. Then Gail, Georgia and Roxanne would rework the draft goals and send out to the board for feedback in February.

2001 Budget. Tom Henderson distributed a 2001 operating budget draft. He said he would need to figure collecting $11 per member if we don’t plan a fundraiser, but that he needed a projected number of members. Rex Ricketts suggested a goal of 100 members, but that 80 members would be realistic to project the budget. If 80 members paid, it would bring in $880. Member recruitment was briefly discussed. Brenda Procter suggested using regional and campus contact persons to talk with past members, as was done in the past. Bob Schultheis suggested checking with regional contact persons to see if they’re willing to continue in that role. Gail Carlson said various committees have had regional contacts, but that the Membership Committee hasn’t in the past. Barb Froke suggested increasing dues for Life Members by $11.  Other options were discussed, including exploring additional funds for professional meetings from the UOE Fellowship Award fund.  Rex offered to talk with Jim Ollar about the Fellowship Award funds. After group discussion, Tom Henderson said he would develop the 2001 budget based on 80 members (@$11 each).

Newsletter. Georgia Stuart-Simmons announced she plans three newsletters:  one soon (winter), one in spring (early June), and one in fall (by Oct. 1 to meet by-laws requirements). She set the following article deadlines:

                        * Winter issue:    January 31, 2001
                        * Spring issue:    May 15, 2001
                        * Fall issue:        September 15, 2001

Georgia said she would send deadline reminder by email. Board members should let her know if they have anything. She said she would get a mail list of Life Members from Laura Ward.

Email addresses for national ESP. Gail Carlson said national ESP has requested email address for all members.

National Public Issues contact person. Roxanne Miller said the National ESP Public Issues Committee, of which she is a member, wants to identify a public issues contact in each state. Roxanne was designated the Missouri contact.

Future dates:

                        ESP Board
                        Wed., April 18, 2001   10 a.m. – noon        ESP Board teleconference
                        Wed., July 18, 2001    10 a.m. – noon        ESP Board teleconference
                        Wed., Sept. 5, 2001    10 a.m. – 2 p.m.      Meeting in Columbia

                        Regional
                        Feb. 25-27, 2001                JCEP Central/North Central Region Leadership
                                                                Workshop, West Des Moines, IA

                        National
                        Apr. 29-May 2, 2001          Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD)                                      
                                                                Conference, Crystal City, VA
                        Sept. 20-22, 2001              National ESP meeting, Albany, NY

JCEP Regional Workshop. Gail Carlson asked if anyone wanted to attend. Roxanne Miller indicated interest. Gail mentioned that national ESP pays $300 reimbursement to defray chapter expenses.

PILD Conference. Roxanne said she plans to attend if she receives approval for the UOE Fellowship Award.

Don Fancher Memorial Donation. Rex Ricketts moved that a $25 check be sent in Don Fancher’s memory to the Missouri 4-H Foundation. Bob Schultheis seconded. Approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 1 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Roxanne T. Miller, Secretary

| Home Page | Officers | Committees | Members | Benefits | Loan & Fellowship | Awards |
| Minutes | Newsletters | Photo Gallery | Bylaws| Handbook | Associations | Archives |

Web Manager:  Bob Schultheis Webster County Extension Center Email comments to: schultheisr@missouri.edu Last revised: 11/05/09