Yolo County 4-H Leader’s Council Meeting
Minutes - April 22, 2009
Present: DeAnn Tenhunfeld (WO), Donna Anderson (WO), Cynthia Belgum (GV), Mariah Leal (CC), Colleen Brock (CC), Merrie Bedford (Z), Abigail Berke (Z), Bart Vannucci (CC), Erin Vannucci (CC), Nancy Cannan (SS), Hannah Lomas (WP), Kris Lomas (WP), Anne Pugh (WP), Michael Meads (N), Neil Mathiesen (CC), Frank Muller (CC), John Roncoroni (CC), Andy Timko (Z), Rachel Hazeltine (WP), Sandi Hazeltine (WP)
Call meeting to order – John Roncoroni, President at 7:12 p.m.
Flag Salute, 4-H Pledge – Abigail Berke and Merrie Bedford
Minutes from last meeting – The minutes were passed out as they hadn’t been completed in time to e-mail them to members in advance of the meeting. A vote on acceptance of the minutes was deferred so that council could look at the minutes and send changes/objections to Delynda. I am uncertain when the vote will be held.
Treasurer’s Report: Frank Muller reported that there was currently approximately $45,500 in the account. Quite a bit of money had come in for awards. He felt as though we were doing fine with the awards. Some of the persons who had donated award money had OK’d giving their donation to scholarships if there was a surplus. A change in the signatories to the bank account is necessary at this time, to add Kent Brittan and delete everyone else excepting Frank Mueller and Marcel Horowitz. A motion to that effect was made by Colleen Brock and seconded by Donna Anderson. Voice vote passed the motion unanimously.
Outreach & Community Service Reports
· West Plainfield reported that they built a float and marched in the UCD Picnic Day parade on Saturday 4/18/09 in Davis. They invited Norwood and Golden Valley to participate and members from those clubs accompanied the float as well.
· Willow Oak reported that they sponsored an Easter egg hunt for the Willow Springs preschool and provided snacks and arts and crafts activities to the children.
· Norwood reported that they participated in serving Davis Community Meals on 4/21/09.
Student of the month
· In March Norwood members Rachel Bailey and Jesse Simons were honored.
· Clever Clovers has nominated member Avery Campbell, but hasn’t heard from the Farm Bureau yet.
Old Business
Awards for spring show are being handled ably by Edna Cramer.
Curriculum/resource library: Abigail Berke reported that we are getting some new books for the library.
Spring Show
· Dog Show: Nancy Cannan reported that the dog show is well organized and invited people to come watch it. It will be Saturday morning. There are 14-15 dogs entered with handlers. She will be unable to make it because of a family emergency.
· Community Connection Day (5/1): DeAnn Tenhunfeld reported that she now has time to confer with people and organize the specifics of the event. She has planned meetings for next week to accomplish this. The meetings will be Monday (4/27) 6:30 p.m., Thursday (4/30) at 6:30 p.m. and Friday (5/1) at 8:00 a.m. all in the Dairy Goat barn. She invites those who would like to show animals or provide other support at CCD to show up at those times. Community Connection Day will be held on Friday 5/1 from 10-1. Three schools have indicated that they will bring children, as well as Greengate. Neil Mathiesen said that he thought the preschool and daycares would be more likely to bring children earlier (say 8:30-10:00) as that is when the younger children are awake and active. DeAnn is planning to invite the general community by an announcement in the newspaper. No one knows how many persons will attend. Cynthia Belgum brought up the problem of Hospitality in Waite Hall during that time. We had been told that we needed to provide it from 11-1, not from 10-1. Together DeAnn and West Plainfield’s Kris Lomas, the club which signed up for hospitality at that time, said that they would cover whatever needed to be covered at Waite Hall.
· Creative Arts & Sciences (Waite Hall) Anne Pugh said that things were well under control. She asked for a report about the hospitality and Cynthia Belgum presented the current schedule. We do not have enough active clubs to cover the times we had planned, so she lengthened the hospitality times from 1.5 hours to 2 hours and sent around the revised list. We still need to have Clarksburg and Winters clubs sign up for hospitality. The remaining time slot is Sunday from 3-5 p.m.
· Small Animals (Nancy Cannan). Nancy reported that Barn Clean-up for Rabbits and Poultry would be Wednesday at 6:00. Rabbits will check in on Thursday from 6-8. Poultry will check in on Friday at 4:00, with the exception of a few birds which will come in Friday morning to be there for CCD. Nancy told Neil that she will need 2-3 bales of hay for her animals; most of the bedding is already arranged. Rabbit judging will start on Friday at 4:00.
· Large Animals (Neil Mathiesen). Neil reported that the chief concern is lice and open sores. All of the animals will be inspected as they come in by UCD interns and the veterinarian will be there at the end of the day to check animals about which there are concerns. He and Andy Timko encouraged people to treat their animals for lice in advance. Neil said that he will provide the first bedding for all the animals. He has also located a brand inspector. Andy Timko reported that he has completed pen assignments for all the animals excepting beef. He had been hoping to get head counts from the various clubs, but only 3 clubs responded. The barn chart will go up Tuesday night (for goats, sheep, etc.) and for tack pens.
· Food Vendors at Spring Show (Neil Mathiesen). Only 3 clubs had presented requests to have food booths: Norwood (chili and snow cones), Willow Oak (pizza) and Golden Valley (cotton candy and water). Neil needs to know what facilities each booth will need. Cynthia Belgum told him that GV needs 1 table and electricity and requested to be where the breakfast is usually served. Neil said that the fairgrounds has arranged for outside food vendors to come in as they did last year serving food and drinks which don’t compete directly with the clubs’ offerings. He said that there are several advantages to this: the vendors return back 30% or so to the Fairgrounds (which indirectly lowers our costs). Another benefit is that having food available keeps people at the Fairgrounds rather than forcing them to go out into the community looking for food. He said it would be better if more clubs would have booths. It was pointed out that the clubs pay back 50% of their profits to the Council, which is a direct source of income.
· Buyer’s Luncheon: Michael Meads reported that this was all taken care of.
· Chicken Barbecue on Saturday night. Neil Mathiesen gave some history about this dinner. He told us that there had been a fund called the Yolo County Livestock Fund which was dissolved in 2005 when the state made some rule changes and took away the money. He and some other supporters of the auction came up with the Yolo County Youth Livestock Fund which was created to support the auction by buying animals. For example, last year the 5th steer sold for $1/lb, which is not good for the youth, not good for 4-H, and not good for the auction. If possible, funds from this Livestock Fund will prevent such occurrences. The barbecue dinner is to raise funds for this purpose and for scholarships. He has a volunteer cook (Ken), who will prepare the meal, which should be ready around 5 and continue until 8 on Saturday evening. They will presell tickets. $10/adult, $5/youth 10 and under, $40/family (2 adults and up to 5 children). The menu will include chicken, hotdogs, salad, beans, French bread and water. He encouraged everyone to support the barbecue dinner.
· Spring Show Dance: Mariah Leal (club officer for CC) presented a proposal for Clever Clovers to put on an all county dance on Saturday night from 6-9 in the Beef Arena. There would be no cost to attend but there would be a donation box available. Music would be from a sound system hooked to an I-pod and they had collected a play list which included music which wasn’t objectionable. The dance is intended for the entire family, not just members. Colleen Brock volunteered to be the adult in charge. Concerns brought up were (1) what if non 4-H kids showed up, (2) if the noise bothered the animals, (3) if non 4-H persons from the party which will be held that night in John Rogers Hall (until midnight) showed up at the dance. The answer was no non-4-H persons would be allowed at the dance, it is for 4-H families only. If the music bothered the animals, they would be accommodated somehow, either by moving them or turning down the music. If there was any indication that matters were out of hand, the dance would be ended immediately. Anne Pugh made a motion: To approve the dance provided that the animals would be taken care of and problems with attendance or music would be addressed. Kris Lomas seconded the motion and it passed unanimously by voice vote.
· Spring Show Auction: Neil Mathiesen reported that entries are down in numbers (166). Pigs will be auctioned last. He related that the economy in general is down, though farming is doing well. To provide the auction, there needs to be 20-25K spent (as the auction is supported by the commission charges on the bids). Since numbers are down, the budget for the auction is down as well. He reported that several of the Best in Show from the Creative Arts & Crafts Division will be auctioned this year (if the members want to auction their entries). He needs more help to run the auction and to clean up afterwards. He said he would like 2 adults for each species from each club to volunteer to help assisting with the auction, 2 additional adults for each species from each club to volunteer to load the animals up into the trucks, and an additional 2 adults for each species from each club to volunteer to help clean up afterwards. He stated that he usually spends all day Monday cleaning up, which is too much for him. He will have a sign up sheet available and wants club leaders to speak to adults. Frank Mueller pointed out that some clubs have many animals from a species and others have none. Neil said that it makes sense that those who have the animals do the most volunteering. Neil also reported that we may honor business or individuals who support the auction by putting up banners in the arena. Farm West, which is sponsoring the auction, will have the place of honor banner-wise. Let him know if you want to put up a banner.
· Spring Show Books: Delynda Eldridge reported that problems with the spring show books should be e-mailed to her. Problems have to be presented to her IN WRITING.
Nominations for Vice President – none.
Special Olympics Volunteer Project: Michael Meads reported that the project we will be involved with is a Family Day area adjacent to (south of) Toomy Field. The 4-H Volunteers will be helping families with activities such as face painting. During that time there will be Track and Field Events at Toomy and a fundraising walk on the track, so families may come from those events to participate. The date is Saturday 6/27 and there are 2 volunteer times available: 7-10:30 and 10-2. Paperwork needs to be filled out to participate.
New Business None
Leadership & Event Reports
· All Star Report was given by Abigail Berke. The All Star Breakfast will be held from 6:30-?? (late morning?) on 5/2. The All Stars need judges for All Star Selection. They would like representatives from each club. This event will take place on 5/16/09 from 8-12 at the Farm Bureau. If you can make it, let Jan Johanson know. The All Stars also need new advisors, whose 2 year term would start this summer. Current advisors are willing to stay on next year to help in the transition.
· Cluster Report was given by Abigail Berke. She told about a Tractor & Horticulture Field Day held in Stockton on Saturday 4/18. Her bother Joel went and won. There were several representatives from each county, with the bulk being from San Joaquin County. The kids had a great time and learned a lot.
· National Event Report: Chelsea Pugh went to a National Conference 2 weeks ago. It was a week long conference and she had a wonderful time. It was free for her.
· The Berke’s are putting on a Horticulture Contest for the State Field Day (5/30) from 10-2 at UCD. Joel Berke has made up a rock ID contest. Everyone is invited.
Announcements
· Martin Smith, DMV, has prepared a new curriculum for 9-12 year olds. He would like interested projects to try it out to see how effective it is. Contact Delynda if you are interested or able to do this.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:42 p.m. following voice vote on a motion by Sandi Hazeltine, seconded by Rachel Hazeltine.