County will fund 4-H coordinator positions through county, state fairs
UPDATEDIf Washington County 4-H clubs need paid coordinators to remain viable in the future, they will, as of mid-September, need to look for funding sources other than county government.
By: Hank Long, Woodbury Bulletin
- 4-H supporters pack 'em in
- A posted plea
If Washington County 4-H clubs need paid coordinators to remain viable in the future, they will, as of mid-September, need to look for funding sources other than county government.
That was the message county commissioners delivered Tuesday when they voted to terminate funding for two area 4-H coordinators effective Sept. 15. This would allow county 4-H activities to continue up to and through the county and state fairs this summer.
The board voted 4-1 to approve a revised proposal from county staff to continue funding the 4-H coordinator positions through the end of the fair season and then terminate its contract with the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
County staff had initially recommended the county terminate its services contract with the Extension Service effective July 1. This suggestion drew the ire of supporters of local 4-H clubs, who said such an action would lead to the cancellation of the Washington County Fair and leave the future of the organization in turmoil.
Commissioner Lisa Weik was the lone dissenting vote in the action. Weik said at the Tuesday meeting she supported a recent recommendation from the county’s extension service advisory board that would have funded the two 4-H coordinator position through the county fair and one position through the end of the calendar year.
Weik added she believed the advisory board’s recommendation was a more fair compromise that would allow local 4-H volunteers more time to develop a sustainable business model into 2010.
“I am concerned youth would start to leave the (local) programs right at a time we would need them to help us develop a new business model,” Weik said, referring to the fact that some local 4-H members may decide to join 4-H clubs in neighboring Anoka and Dakota counties, where county funding for 4-H coordinators still exists.
Dozens of supporters in attendance
Several dozen 4-H supporters filled the county boardroom in Stillwater March 24 — just as they had in recent weeks leading up to the board’s decision. The board's action was a result Washington County Fair Board member David Olson said was disappointing to many.
Olson acknowledged the commissioners’ vote to continue funding for the 4-H coordinator positions through the fair season was a compromise from an earlier position to end funding July 1, but said “it’s still not a good solution.”
“It’s not a good long-term plan,” said Olson, a Woodbury resident and father of two 4-Hers.
Olson said the Washington County Fair’s board of directors and volunteer leaders of 4-H clubs would have preferred the option that would have funded at least one coordinator through the end of the December.
“That would have gotten us through the fair and given us continuity until 2010, at which point we would have the opportunity to do some more fundraising or find other funds within the county.”
The difference in savings between the two options was about $10,000, which led county fair board president Dan Dolan to question the motives behind the county board’s vote.
“All I can conclude is that it wasn’t a budget issue,” Dolan said. “It’s some other issue. I don’t know what it is, but (commissioners Myra Peterson and Bill Pulkrabek) are obviously dead-set against 4-H.”
Peterson has repeatedly said she recognizes the benefit of the 4-H program in the county, but said she does not believe it is an activity the county can continue to fund, given the economic climate that the led the county board to include the funding for the 4-H coordinator positions, which amounts to nearly $131,000 annually, on the chopping block of nearly $3.2 million in cuts it has made to its 2009 budget in the last month.
Earlier this year the county announced it would make at least $3.2 million in cuts to its 2009 budget because of a loss in state aid and projected fee revenue shortfalls.
“The unfortunate issue is that this year is tough, next year will be tougher, and the following year will even be more difficult,” Peterson told 4-H supporters at the meeting.
During an open forum where many 4-H supporters asked commissioners to continue to fund the coordinator positions, one supporter, Amy Enter of Stillwater, praised the county for its record of fiscal conservatism, but said 4-H is not an expense as much as it is an investment.
Commissioner Gary Kriesel said he and other commissioners are committed to helping 4-H find the funding the local clubs would need to continue to remain sustainable active in the county.
“4-H and the fair board have some serious challenges ahead,” said Kriesel, who has been meeting with fair organizers over the last several weeks to discuss the future of the organizations. “We’ve been talking how better we can get folks to support not just 4-H but the county fair. And we think that answer may lie in support from some of the businesses and local governments that have (vocally) supported continuation of funding.”
Kriesel reminded the crowd that the county originally had included funding for the 4-H coordinator positions in its budget, but had to take it out, along with dozens of other non-core services items when the state made a decision early this year to slash its local government aid for cities and counties.
Looking for new solutions
Several representatives of the University of Minnesota Extension Service were in attendance at the March 24 meeting. Although counties fund the 4-H coordinator positions, the coordinators for each county are managed by the extension service.
Coordinators help organize local 4-H chapters for with the county and state fairs, and also help organize volunteers and site-based activities. The coordinators also organize off-site outreach programs for at-risk youth who are not members of 4-H.
The loss of funding for the two 4-H coordinators in Washington County represents the third county in the state that does not have a contract with the extension service to fund local 4-H coordinators, said Aimee Viniard-Weidemann, communications director for the U of M Extension Service. Ramsey and Cook counties do not fund local 4-H programs, but both counties do have contracts with the extension service for other programs like master gardening, which Washington County cut funding for last year.
“This is a new situation for us,” Viniard-Weidemann said, regarding Washington County’s decision to eliminate funding for 4-H. “We are working closely with the leaders in Washington county, the 4-H families and youth leaders to look at what are the options for Washington County 4-H families.”
Some of the options already discussed are the possibility of fundraising, raising membership fees and obtaining financial support from local businesses and city governments.
Viniard-Weidemann said the extension service has already determined that at bare minimum the local 4-H clubs would have to find enough funding to cover 75-percent of one full-time coordinator, which would be nearly $50,000.
“4-H leaders in the county have been asking questions such as can if they do fundraising, or find other funders,” she said, “and those issues we’re definitely working on exploring with them.”
County fair organizers said they too, plan to help find a solution to keep the local 4-H program viable.
“We’re going to keep working every avenue we have,” said Dolan, the county fair board president. “We’ll keep grant writing, try to work with the communities and with the foundations.
“There’s no guarantee, but we’re not going to give up without some effort being put behind this. That’s for sure.”
Tags: news, 4h, county, washington, eliminate, services, county, fair, state, cut, budget, coordinator, weik
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