{"id":102747,"date":"2017-11-18T19:56:25","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T02:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/csu-extension-gets-new-advisory-committee\/"},"modified":"2017-11-18T19:56:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T02:56:25","slug":"csu-extension-gets-new-advisory-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/csu-extension-gets-new-advisory-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"CSU Extension gets new advisory committee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jan
Jan Sennhenn discusses the role of a newly formed advisory committee she was appointed to that will support the CSU Extension office.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As part of a restructuring effort, the Montezuma County Commission has appointed an advisory committee to help support the county\u2019s Colorado State University Extension office.<\/p>\n

Jan Sennhenn, Don Bane, Eleanor Kuhl, David Temple and Keandra Elliot will serve on the new committee. The will serve staggered terms of one, two and three years. A few of them were interviewed by commissioners on Nov. 13.<\/p>\n

Sennhenn is a former CSU Extension director for Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving devoted 32 years to this program, I feel obligated to help keep it moving forward,\u201d she said. \u201cOne role of the advisory board is to take feedback from the community on local needs and issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuhl served on the previous CSU Extension advisory committee. In the past, they mostly communicated with the Montezuma and state extension offices, she said. They met infrequently and advised extension staff on difficult issues when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a lot of time advocating the state to fill the vacant consumer education position,\u201d she said. \u201cThey tell us we are at the top of the list for a new hire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 4-H Club program is operated by the CSU Extension office. Elliot is the council president of the 4-H club and said her \u201crole is to be the voice of 4-H participants.\u201d One spot on the committee is reserved for the current 4-H council president.<\/p>\n

Bane said he will work toward clearer definitions of the separate roles for the 4-H organizers and the Montezuma County Fair Board. Interpretation of who is in charge of what during fair events has led to confusion and frustration within the program, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ground rules need to be re-established,\u201d Bane said. \u201cRules keep getting added, then interpreted differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

On that front, the fair board and extension office are drawing up a memorandum of understanding that clearly defines roles of the different agencies. A draft is expected by January.<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong MOU defining roles, and enforcing those roles is key for running a smoother program,\u201d said commissioner James Lambert. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to line out responsibilities and revitalize the 4-H and extension programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the advisory board to look at ways to improve the extension office, fix problems and not kick them down the road,\u201d said commissioner Larry Don Suckla. \u201cI feel the 4-H program has too many rules for the kids to follow, and it\u2019s causing them to lose people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advisory board was instructed to meet monthly and give regular updates to the commission on CSU Extension activities.<\/p>\n

A main event for the 4-H Club program is held at the Montezuma County Fair. Andrea Jeter, the 4-H director, said one of the challenges is that the fair board is a separate entity from the extension office and sets its own rules on how the fair is run.<\/p>\n

The CSU Extension office has been in upheaval since the commissioners voted to defund the program Oct. 2, saying they were dissatisfied with the way it was run. Suckla later admitted it was a \u201cfake news, negotiation tactic\u201d to get the attention of CJ Mucklow, the Western Slope director of the CSU Extension, who traveled to Cortez meet with county and extension officials in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are making progress,\u201d Mucklow said Thursday. \u201cIt was poor communication all the way around, but with a new advisory board and MOU, the programs should improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the restructuring, Mucklow said another extension manager is being sought to temporarily oversee the Montezuma County program to give advice and direction.<\/p>\n

Regarding the $108,000 in funding needed for the extension office, the county commissioners have not reversed their vote to defund the program. They will make a final decision on funding the CSU Extension when the final county budget is approved in early December, Lambert said.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

developed with Montezuma County Fair Board<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[281,1724,21,6350,13,60,109],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-102747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-agriculture","tag-budgets-and-budgeting","tag-cortez","tag-from-the-extension-office","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-county-commissioner"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102747"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=102747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}