Panel

recommends

$95,000 budget

for Extension

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- With a 12-2 vote, the Brown County Extension Service Advisory Committee decided to recommend a $95,000 budget for the Extension Service in the coming year.

The vote follows two presentations and much discussion among Brown County Extension Service staff, county officials and representatives of the University of Minnesota.

Included in the recommended budget are a customized program package for Bridging Brown County, a part-time technical advisor for agriculture, food and the environment and a 3/4-time 4-H program coordinator.

The county board will take a vote on the committee's recommendations this morning. Whatever the board may decide is likely going to be preliminary because the county's 2004 budget is still in draft form.

The committee discussed several issues related to the shifts made by the university as a way to recoup monies lost in the state's budget revisions. The Extension Service recently announced its regional offices and the staff who will serve in those locations.

Many committee members voiced dissatisfaction with the university's decision to cut a number of area educators that specialize in agriculture, saying that portion of the Extension Service is the one most needed in the area because of Brown County's heavy reliance upon the agriculture industry.

One addition to the university's offer to counties is an option that will allow counties discounts on positions that are only purchased at the local level using a candidate that isn't wasn't offered a position in a regional office. Dave Werner, regional director for the service, said the university is willing to reduce fees by $30,000 for technical advisors, educators and program directors hired into exclusively local positions. The contracts will only last one year, Werner said.

Committee member Lora Rahe said a lot of farmers were shocked to learn that Brown County is only thinking about the one-third-time position.

James Berg, a committee member and Brown County commissioner, said he hasn't had any phone calls on the issue.

"I do have a problem with the regional centers, though. What are they actually going to do?," he asked. "There's no clear-cut answer."

Tim Dolan, a Sibley County educator, brought up the idea of counties working in clusters together. Dolan, who specializes in agriculture, said clustering would allow educators to focus their expertise on one particular area..

Berg later said that he thinks the budget for Bridging Brown County could be cut in half in order to pay for agricultural programming.

Donald Wellner, chairman of the Brown County Board and head of the Extension committee, said he was extremely disappointed by the fact that many of the educators assigned to staff the regional centers specialize in areas outside agriculture.

"I think it's irritating that the staffing is so short," Wellner said. "I thought it was going to be strongly ag."

Rahe later said that the decision might have been made as a kind of future vision for greater Minnesota.

Berg answered, "I know why that was done. The university wants the county to hire ag people."

But with Berg and Marlin Helget dissenting, the committee later voted to do just that.