Please arrive 5 minutes early to be ready to start the meeting at the scheduled time.
1.0 Call to Order
Ask the secretary to take roll call. State where the Open Meetings Act is located in the meeting room; for virtual meetings, ask Lead Educator to post the link in the chat box. Verbally state the information in 1.3. Guests would include the general public, county government, university/Extension personnel not physically located in the county(ies) represented by the Board. Engagement Zone Coordinators are not considered guests.
2.0 Public Comment
The Board should decide on the total time allowed for public comment and how much time is allowed per person. A good standard is 3 minutes per person and max out the time at 9 minutes. The Board President has discretion on the time limit to allow for reasonableness as needed and allowed in the statute.
3.0 Approval of Minutes
Minutes should be provided to the Lead Educator within 9 business days of the meeting, as it is required to be available for public inspection 10 business days following the meeting. This one-day buffer allows for the Extension team to review the minutes and upload on websites. Since the minutes are not approved until the next quorum meeting, Extension ensures the minutes indicate whether or not they are approved or in draft.
If quorum was not achieved at the last meeting, all previous meeting minutes will need to be approved at a quorum meeting.
Meeting minutes do not need to be read aloud, as they have been provided in advance for all to review.
4.0 Financial Reports
The General Tax Fund = County(ies) Extension budget. The Board has responsibility to review and understand this fund/budget to ensure proper stewardship and approve planned purchases when a significant cost. Extension should not read off the line by line spending but rather be available to answer any questions about spending and ask for guidance/input.
If the university/Extension program accounts are shared, this is for informational purposes only. The Board does not have any governance over University funds/budgets.
5.0 Reports & Updates
The Board President and Lead Educator should plan in advance a plan for 10 minutes maximum of reports/updates. Board members will be encouraged to review all reports prior to the meeting and ask questions during the meeting. Keeping this portion to 10 minutes allows for time for deeper Board work on engagement/advocacy, understanding the work of Extension, and professional development. Potential topics for the 10 minutes: Program demonstration or presentation; deeper explanation of a specific program to include audience, goal(s), impact; discuss new or sunsetting program for feedback.
6.0 Board Development
The Board President and Lead Educator should plan this section in advance, preferably for the entire year when possible. Options include but not limited to: Board Members present who they are and their “why” as an Extension Board Member; Board Meeting Modules; Community Intelligence Snapshot; Community Relationship Map; Priority Assessment Worksheet; Recruitment Assessment; Annual Board Self-Assessment; Creation of Individual Engagement Plan.
Strategic Questions (pick 1-2 Questions for Every Meeting):
- What are we hearing in the community?
- What is Extension’s value in our county(ies)?
- Who do we need to expand relationships and/or connections?
- What is changing in our county(ies) that Extension needs to understand?
- What matters most to residents, farms, families, youth, businesses, and communities right now?
- Who is Extension serving well—and who may be missing?
- Where can University expertise add something unique? Where are we duplicating efforts?
- What should be addressed locally, regionally, or through statewide expertise?
- Are our resources aligned with our priorities?
- What changed because Extension was involved?
- What relationships should we strengthen before we need them?
Printable document available on Extension’s Employee Resources Page.