Tuesday Morning Notes

May 4, 2004



Nominations for Extension Faculty of the Year and 2004 Extensionist of the Year awards have been extended to May 14. Faculty nomination criteria are located at http://cals.arizona.edu/awards/, and criteria and nomination information for Extensionist is located at http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/pdf_files/nominationformandcriteria.pdf. Please submit appropriate recommendations.

Congratulations to Ed Martin for being selected as Faculty of the Year by the Ag 100 group.

Our new county budget allocation formula will be implemented on July 1, 2004. The 4.4 million dollar reduction in state allocated monies to CALS forced us to reassess how we funded county programs and positions. Our goal was and is to have a fair, transparent process that all faculty, staff, advisory board members, and elected officials understand. When we drafted this plan last year, we did not know whether we would have additional midyear cuts by state government or what the economic climate would be for this year. Now we have a clearer picture of the impact of the new budgeting process and of county needs and we have made budget cuts in the state office and in other areas. Thus, we are confident in making several recommendations for budget allocations in 2004: 1) we are increasing the base funding to all counties to $42,000; 2) for July 1, 2004, we will fully implement the formula with no cuts to any county; and 3) for July 1, 2004, we will increase support for counties with more than 2 agents to $19,000. We hope this will help alleviate some of the county budget stress. The full budgetary formula will be handed out to CED’s tomorrow.

TOOLS TO STRENGTHEN ARIZONA 4-H IN-SERVICE: On behalf of the Strengthening 4-H, Power of Youth and 4-H 101 Initiative teams, I would like to invite all 4-H faculty and appropriate staff, to an upcoming in-service at Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde from June 21-23. Expenses for this in-service will be paid by monies from the initiative team for one car per county, and all the meals for UA personnel attending. We hope you will seriously consider attending this in-service so that all can hear the information and see what these groups have been working on. A new addition to our web site will be unveiled, and will allow participants to experience some of the positive additions vital to "Strengthening 4-H in Arizona." Each county will get a "Toolbox" of materials for use in their respective counties. Registration deadline is June 11. Please contact Larry Tibbs at 602-470-8086 or ltibbs@ag.arizona.edu .

UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 24-25 - Arizona Community Vitality Initiative (CVI) Workshop will be held at the Payson Glo Lodge in Payson, AZ. The CVI Working Group will provide $200 per County attending the workshop to defray travel expenses. There will be a $50 per participant registration fee. For more information contact Barry Bequette plantdoc@ag.arizona.edu , Cynthia Flynn cflynn@ag.arizona.edu , Beth Tucker tucker@ag.arizona.edu or Juanita Waits jwaits@cals.arizona.edu. The link to register for the workshop is located at: http://ag.arizona.edu/yuma/cvwregistration.htmlThe tentative workshop agenda is located at: http://ag.arizona.edu/yuma/community_vitality_agenda.pdf.






James A. Christenson, Ph.D.
(jimc@cals.arizona.edu)
Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Forbes, Room 301
Tucson, Arizona 85721
520/621-7205
520/621-1314 FAX