Cedar County MU Extension Council met on the evening of April 3 at 7 p. m. at the Cedar County Memorial Hospital Health Complex Classroom in Stockton.

Members in attendance were Tom Bryant, Cory Dawes, Nedra Fox, Ben Francis, Gary Glover, Amy Hedrick, Kelly Hendricks, Jordan Richner, Joy Rutledge, Rachel Stauffer and Kelly Wrenn. The report of the meeting is adapted from meeting minutes provided by council secretary, Rachel Stauffer.

Council Chair Kelly Hendricks called the meeting to order and after approval of the minutes and treasurer’s report the council discussed committee reports. Members present at the meeting that had not signed up for a committee were asked to sign up for one.

The budget, finance and audit committee completed the audit on March 15 and discussed the results. Furthermore, all new officers completed the signature cards at Simmons Bank and are now official signers for the council checking account.

The election committee discussed the resignation of one of the council members in the north district and the appointment of a person from the north district to fill that council position. Council member Ben Francis was going to check with potential candidates that were discussed to fill that position about their interest in doing so and report back to the council at the next meeting.

The equipment committee had no business to discuss. During the program committee discussion, Patrick Davis Regional Livestock Specialist and Cedar County Program Director reviewed the programs of the past month as well as upcoming programs that are going on in the county and local area.

Old council business involved discussion of the youth program assistant position. The position was approved by University of Missouri Extension to be filled and it is a 20 hour per week position with no benefits. The Cedar County Extension council will pay 50% of the position cost through funding received from Cedar County Commissioners. The council approved to advertise the position in local papers and application deadline is April 26. Based on that deadline we hope to interview applicants in early May. The council approved a council member to the interview committee.

New business began with discussion of the Missouri State Fair Farm Family representing Cedar County at the 2017 Missouri State Fair. The extension council with input from members of the Cedar County Farm Bureau Board selected one family and an alternate family. The information of the family representing Cedar County at the upcoming Missouri State Fair will be released at a later date closer to the Missouri State Fair. Other new business included the collection of evaluation data on Patrick Davis. This data will be compiled by council chair Kelly Hendricks and office secretary Heather Burns and submitted to regional director to be used in the annual evaluation process.

Patrick Davis presented the reaching out report which outlines MU Extension programming and activities going on in Cedar County. In addition, council members received information from Julie Spink, Cedar County MU Extension Nutrition Program Associate in regards to the Missouri SNAP – Ed Program FY 2016 Report. Council members received University of Missouri Extension State Annual Report for 2016.

The next meeting of the Cedar County MU Extension Council will be held on May 1 at the Cedar County Memorial Hospital Health Complex Classroom in Stockton at 7 p. m.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Cedar County MU Extension Center at 417 – 276 – 3313 or by email at cedarco@missouri.edu.