Youth/4-H agent vacancy to be filled

Youth/4-H agent vacancy to be filled

By Alexa Zoellner azoellner@dailyunion.com | Posted: Tuesday, May 15, 2018             

JEFFERSON — With one of the largest 4-H programs in the state, having a chartering authority to lead those involved is critical to Jefferson County.

Since the resignation of Interim 4-H/Youth Development Educator Bruce Jones at the end of January, the position leading the 29 4-H clubs and roughly 676 youth members has been vacant. The program is run through the University of Wisconsin-Extension Cooperative Extension.

Despite some “barriers” and initial concern that the state wouldn’t allow the position to be filled, the go-ahead has been given for Jefferson County to move forward with hiring a positive youth development Extension educator. The central focus of the position is to be 4-H oversight.

Chrissy Wen, area Extension director for Jefferson, Rock and Walworth counties, informed the Jefferson County University Extension Education Committee of the state’s decision Monday.

“I’m well aware that 4-H is a very important part of this county and the communities and the youth that are here,” Wen, who now serves as the hiring authority for the county’s UW-Extension, said. “So, we’ve been working on this for a long time.”

Wen’s post was created as part of UW-Extension’s reorganization process known as nEXT Generation, which began in the fall of 2015 in response to a $3.6 million cut in funding in the state’s 2015-17 biennial budget.

“I’m not going to say that there haven’t been barriers, but the barriers aren’t with the county,” Wen said. “The barriers are, as we work into this (nEXT Generation) model, all of our pieces aren’t there yet. So we’re working though some layers that aren’t even in place yet for us to get these positions filled.”

She explained that Jefferson County has funds appropriated in the 2018 budget for a full-time educator and that a position description, which had input from the committee, is ready to be posted in the UW Systems Human Resource Department.

“There’s another part of this,” Wen noted. “We have an educator that was in the counties and is now in special projects at the state and who we may be able to transition into this position. With that being said, I’m working with the state to determine if that’s a good fit for the county.

“I wouldn’t want to not go through a hiring process (without talking to the county),” she continued. “I wouldn’t just hire someone without making sure that it’s a good fit for the county, the staff, the office. All of those sorts of things have to fall into place. So we’re engaging in those conversations.”

If that person is found to be the best choice, that transition can begin, according to Wen. If not, she has the “green light” to hire the position normally.

It’s a win-win for the county, she said.

Jefferson County Administrator Ben Wehmeier told the committee members that a realistic start date for the position would be mid- to late-August, right around the start of school and new season of 4-H.

It was noted that the position likely could be filled faster if the person from the state is hired as opposed to the county undergoing a traditional hiring process, but Wen was hesitant to take that step just yet.

“Part of me is like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it (hire the person),’ but I really don’t want there to be turnover in this position, so I really want to make sure they fit,” Wen said. “There’s a lot of pieces I need to understand yet.”

In other business, the committee:

• Elected a chair, vice chair and secretary Monday as it was the first Jefferson County University Extension Education Committee meeting following the April elections.

District 10 Supervisor Lloyd Zastrow was elected chairperson. District 21 Supervisor John Kannard was elected vice chairperson and District 6 Supervisor Dan Herbst was elected secretary. District 29 Supervisor Mary Roberts and District 2 Supervisor Mike Kelly also are members of the committee.

• Heard an update on Wisconsin Farm Technology Days 2019. The Jefferson County show will take place July 23-25, 2019. Mike and Sarah Walter of Walter Grain Farms in Grellton in the Town of Milford were announced as the host farm in January 2017.

As part of the update, committee members learned that preparations were picking up speed and that the collectable farm model to be sold will be a 1/16-scale Oliver tractor and mounted two-row corn picker.

Only 1,000 of the collectable models will be produced. The cost will be $185 plus shipping and handling.