March 31, 2003 ESP Board Meeting

Minutes of the
Epsilon Sigma Phi Board Meeting
March 31, 2003
(Via Teleconference)

Call to order: President Ina Linville called the conference call to order at 10:00 a.m.

Present: In attendance were: Ina Linville, Bev Coberly, Bob Schultheis, Pat Snodgrass, Eileen Yager, Wilma Jean Lower, Barb Casady, Rebecca Travnichek, Jim Ollar, Nancy Flood, Georgia Stuart-Simmons.

By special request, Wilma Jean Lower made her Memorials/Courtesy committee report. She read the names of retirees who had passed away in the last year and requested that board members notify her of any additions. Pat Snodgrass added Roy Haden, retired 4-H/Youth and Farm Management Specialist. Bob Schultheis said that of those listed, four were life members of ESP. They will be recognized at national meeting. They were Edith Lusk, Fredericka Plummer, Katherine Hill, and George Nickolaus. Wilma Jean also reported from the 75^th Anniversary Committee. A banquet is being planned for Galaxy Conference in Salt Lake City. They are uncertain how many will attend, but there may be up to 250 tables. Wilma is responsible for table decorations and will be requesting help from other association members, as well as ESP members who attend Galaxy.

Minutes

Nancy thanked Barb for taking the minutes at the last meeting and noted that they were e-mailed to the board in advance. Bob Schultheis moved that minutes be approved as sent. Rebecca Travnichek 2^nd and passed.

Treasurers Report

Bob reported the balance in the regular checking account is $715.14 and the Commercial Money Market account is $2224.31 for a total of $2939.45. He stated that the ESP budget is available on the EXCEL spreadsheet he e-mailed the board members. The budget is based on 50 members.

The current membership for the 2003-year is at 30 active members and 115 life members.

Bob also said we could review current and non-paid members on the website. All members of the board reviewed the site and agreed to contact those who hadn’t paid this year. Responsibilities are as follows:

Eileen Yager – UMSystem & UMSL Barb Casady – UMC Campus

Beverly Coberly – CM Nancy Flood – NE

Georgia Stuart-Simmons – WC Ina Metzgar – SE

Rebeca Travnichek - NW Pat Snodgrass – SC

Bob reminded us that dues are $50 for a continuing member --- $30 goes to national; $200 for life membership --- $150 goes to national. Due to our membership numbers on March 1, we will have only one voting delegate at Galaxy.

Anyone who has been on staff for 3 years is eligible for ESP membership.

Eileen volunteered to get a list of staff eligible for ESP membership and make it available for recruitment.

Rebecca moved to approve the treasurer’s report. Pat seconded. Motion carried.

Committee Reports

Awards – Rebecca is chairing the committee and forming a committee. She has a 2002 brainstorm file of potential nominees. She will forward it to board members for suggestions.

Loan and Fellowship – Pat reported that she had attended a Loan and Fellowship Committee meting on March 5. They had reviewed the criteria and decided that it would remain the same for this year. Employees with 2 years or more employment with UO/E are eligible. Two applicants have been approved for $1450 this year. Last year there were four awards totaling $2950. The lifetime maximum of $1500 is being reviewed. Jim suggested that a report be prepared for Weekly News regarding how much had been added to the account in the past 6 months. Eileen will contact Rhonda Gibler for the information. A question has been raised to the committee re: using Loan and Fellowship funds for group events, as well as individuals. The committee is looking into the restrictions on the fund.

Membership – Eileen Yager is looking for ideas to increase membership. Bev suggested we come up with some incentive for membership recruitment. The board will consider this. Nancy suggested that a membership committee be made up with representatives from each region. At staff conferences they could report on ESP activities, such as Loan and Fellowship, and recruit members. Eileen will recruit a committee. Bob stated that there is an ESP recruitment flyer on the web page under the member section. Nancy also suggested adding a button on the ESP front page for Loan and Fellowship. Bob will do this.

Professional Improvement - Barb Casady has agreed to chair this committee. She noted that one of the benefits of ESP membership is professional improvement. She is putting together a committee to plan a professional improvement activity. UMEA meets on Thursday and we will discuss partnering with them at that time. They are considering the 3^rd Tuesday in October a possible date.

Retirement – Jim Ollar reported that he is gathering information for the next newsletter to communicate with retirees. Eileen asked Jim to do an article for “Life After Extension.”

Old Business

JCEP – Bev and Bob attended the JCEP meeting in Kansas City earlier this year. Bev reported highlights in the newsletter, outlining the main goals of ESP. She noted that in other states with large ESP memberships, ESP provides a social role for retirees, as well as a professional improvement role. Bob said there was a score sheet to determine how active your ESP chapter is. It might be a springboard of ideas for us. Ina asked Bob to forward it to her.

PILD – Registration for PILD was due March 28. Nationally, registration is down and the board is meeting this week to determine if they will go forward with PILD. We did not budget for anyone from our chapter to attend. The dates are May 4-7 at Arlington, Va.

Endowment Campaign – Barb reminded the board that nationally, ESP is working to raise $500,000 by the Galaxy conference to support professional development for ESP members on the national level. She will contact Bev about sending out brochures to retirees with the newsletter.

75^th Anniversary – Ina challenged the board to consider how to recognize new members in lieu of annual conference --- perhaps at a professional development day. We also need to think about awards and recognition without annual conference. Rebecca said that she had discovered several nominations for awards from last year that had not been processed. The board agreed that they should be put into the pool of nominees for this year. Rebecca will contact the nominators with an apology, explaining that the confusion came about because there was no annual conference.

New Business

National Awards Nominations Ballots. These are due May 15. Ina will forward to Rebecca.

04 Budget Meetings Update – Ina and Bev are sitting on this committee. The committee is recognizing that field faculty are UO/E’s most valuable resource and they have agreed to try to protect those positions. They are looking for new avenues of funding. The budget will be allocated by program priority focus.

Newsletter – Everyone is reminded to get information to Bev for the June 12 and Sept. 12 deadlines. Bob asked about removing the names of those who are not current with dues from the newsletter list. This was tabled until the June 10 meeting to give us time to do more recruiting.

Announcements

Galaxy Conference will be September 21-25 in Salt Lake City
Ina will attend the UMEA board meeting on Thursday and pursue joint projects.
Our next teleconference is June 10 – 10:00 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

Submitted by Nancy Flood, Secretary

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