Secretaries Report - Vines -

• The minutes from the November 29, 2005 meeting were reviewed as sent via e-mail. The word "State" was inserted in the beginning of the third bullet point on Shirley's report. "Life" was inserted between tracking and membership in Shirley's review of her roles and duties. The minutes were accepted with these changes. Corrected copies will be sent to Peg Shuffstall for posting on the website.
  
• Jeff requested Karen be given administrative rights to add/subtract members on the listserv. There has been no further communication. Karen will check with Albert and see where this stands.
  
• Newsletter deadline is March 10. Karen will be visiting with Peg Shuffstall later this week to review options for preparing the newsletter in a more "web-friendly" format rather than as a print document turned into a pdf, since our primary audience is receiving this newsletter via the web.
  
• Better photos of award winners were sent with a congratulatory letter last week. Photos should be sent, even those that aren't as good. Michelle will assist with identification of the unknown individual in one of the photos.

Treasurer's report - Bixby -

• The current balance is $5878.06.
• All signatures have been received for the bank accounts. Motion was made and seconded to change this so that only 2 signatures are required - those of the treasurer and secretary. Barring any by-law limitations this change will take place in Fall 2006 with the incoming secretary. Motion carried.
• Currently we have 65 annual renewing members, 4 new members, 1 life member. The sense is that membership is ahead of where it was at this point last year. The list of individuals not paying dues that have in past years was divided among the board members for further encouragement. Dues are $50 for renewal, $30 for new members. They must be received this Friday, January 27 so they can be postmarked to national on February 1.
• Elton Tait returned the check for $350, requesting that the money go to cover the expenses of the Extension Memories Ad Hoc committee. Shirley has credited this committee with this amount. Karen should express the appreciation of the board to Elton for this contribution.
• Shirley will be sending check to York County for expenses related to the newsletter.
• Shirley has received and filed a replacement for the missing CD.

Vice-President's Report - Davis - Committees are filling up nicely. Fred expects to send a list of committee members sometime next week so they can identify a chair-elect where needed. Once committees are set up, he will request that they establish goals as discussed at the previous board meeting.

NE JCEP Regional Meeting -

• Jeff, Fred, Shirley and Karen plan to attend. Cathy Bowen cannot attend as discussed previously due to a schedule conflict.
• Jeff will send Marketing and Membership questions requested for this meeting to board for their response and then to the membership and finally to specific committees. Questions were sent in e-mail on January 23.

National ESP Auction - Rogers -

• Michelle will talk to Peg regarding changes needed to the website related to this event. Contact information needs to be added and officers listed as the auction committee.
• Michelle will provide an auction write-up for the regional meeting regarding what is needed. She is going to e-mail Kendra to see if it can be included in the registration packet.

Website - Karen will be meeting with Peg later this week and will discuss these revisions.

• Update Board list now and committee list once it is ready
• Fred will request reports from Annual Meeting 2005 be sent to Karen so they can be posted on the website.
• We will leave the immediate past year (2005) committee list on the website, but review the previous.
• Fred will check the by-laws regarding terms of membership for committee leadership so we can post this appropriately.

Nancy Wallace has submitted her nomination materials as a NE Region Second Vice President candidate.

The "Extension Reaching Out to Multicultural Communities: At Home and Abroad" diversity training information is being sent out. Board members need to support the training in their region. Jeff will send the information out via the listserv as well as sending it to department heads and extension coordinators via the associate directors.

2006 Goal Review

• Increase in submission of grants and scholarship applications, specifically the:
  
  • Mary Alice Gettings has submitted the application for the $1000 Mini-Grant
  • Jeff is in the process of submitting his application to receive funds to attend PILD
  • Administrative Leaders Scholarship (travel to National Conference) - Michelle contacted Dennis Calvin and will follow-up with him. If he does not join or plan to attend, we will try to find someone else to apply for this award.
  • Chapter Merit and Membership Awards - Fred will contact the membership committee, once the membership is finalized.
    
• Submit article for 2006 ESP Connections (250 Words)
  • January - Michelle has written the article. Jeff is checking to see where it needs to go and will let both Michelle and Shirley know this information.
  • April - Shirley is working with Mary Jo on an article related to the international theme of our annual conference, also highlighting professional development opportunities and experiences of our membership.
  • July - Michelle will prepare something regarding the auction at the national meeting.
• Increase the number of members participating in contributions for the National Endowment. Currently 15% of our members contribute. Need 50% to participate to be eligible for a gold award - Fred will communicate this goal to the committee.
• The board (Fred) will request each committee to establish a goal for the coming year. Some possibilities suggested by the board:
  • By-law revision to match the award practices
  • Membership - There was emphasis at national meeting for states with chapters to allow members in New England states without chapters the opportunity to join as members at large. The board recommends we try to "adopt" three members at large this year.

Jeff will be participating in a conference call to determine the date of the fall meeting soon.

Our next board meeting will be via conference call on March 7, 2006 at 9:00 AM.

There being no further business, President Jeff adjourned the meeting.