By Sara StrongUniversity of Minnesota Extension services in Rock County are up in the air, and will be until November.That’s when the Rock County Board of Commissioners will decide what it will fund for its own office, at 100 percent cost.The new system of Extension means Luverne’s regional office is in Worthington, but educators will be in short supply.For example, the closest livestock specialist will be in Rochester.There will be a total of five employees in the Worthington regional office, with current Rock County director Holli Arp serving as director there. The Worthington regional office will oversee counties in the region. Depending on the service area (4-H, food, family relations, etc.) the regional office could work with up to six counties."It seems to me that Extension has not been fair to the counties," Commissioner Richard Bakken said Tuesday, "and it certainly hasn’t been fair to its employees." The Board of Commissioners discussed Extension at their regular meeting, but made no decision. Two educators with strong agriculture backgrounds, Jim Nesseth (Jackson) and Phil Berg (Pipestone), attended the meeting. Their positions have been cut by Extension because the new regional model won’t focus on local programming. It will remain as a free resource center, however.Nesseth and Berg asked that the county consider hiring them on a part-time basis, meaning someone local would be available specifically for Rock County about once a week. They hoped that other counties will join in the part-time agreement and the counties will be able to share educators.A part-time position would be about one-third-time, and would be called a technical advisor. The county would pay $24,000 annually for that position. For the first year, Extension said there would be a discount in the salary.Nesseth said, "We like what we do; we believe in Extension."That’s getting difficult, he said, when the state is putting long-time employees out, and hoping counties will pick up the bill.County resident Mark Willers said the services Extension officers are enhanced by having a "go-to" person locally. Commissioner Ken Hoime said the practical, common sense programming was the intent and functional part of Extension. Gary Overgaard spoke as a former member of the Extension Committee. He said, "I definitely think we don’t want to eliminate Extension in the county. … I would hate to see that."The unbiased information Extension provides can be more valuable than information which seed companies, or others with an interest in sales, can give. Overgaard said Extension is important as a reference source for agriculture, the major industry in the county.Arp said, "The funding streams have changed."Counties used to pay a portion of all Extension services, but the new system changes that.Only federal and state money goes to the regional offices now, so the goals of that office can be set at those levels. Nobles, Cottonwood and Redwood Counties have said they won’t support Extension programming beyond 4-H.Even counties that do, will have a different Extension than before. There won’t be the personal contacts, field calls or full-time presence that people have known before. Extension supporters hope the core of the service will remain, though.The county can buy what it wants and set the priorities for its local services. Locally, 4-H has been named a priority. It has 198 participants in Rock County and to keep it going, will cost about $80,000 a year for staffing.Arp said 4-H programming includes more than the registered members, so measuring its local impact may be difficult when only looking at membership numbers.Extension won’t collect 4-H membership fees in 2003-2004 program year, but has given counties the authority to do so. Extension has said the county fees couldn’t be more than $20 per youth or $40 per family.For the 2004-2005 program year, Extension will start the state and county fee system, after hearing local input.The board will decide by early November at the latest what the county can afford and what it will keep of Extension. Chairman Ron Boyenga reminded the board that it had to cut $500,000 from this year’s budget and a projected $125,000 from next year’s. Bakken said, "We don’t really know how it’ll work. Will a [technical advisor] one a week be enough? There’s a whole lot of questions and there’s no money to experiment."
