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News & Notes August
2007
PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference
Was Electric
The conservation district community and its partners met in Scranton
from July 15-18, 2007 for the 60th annual PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference.
This year's theme was "Conservation is Electric."
During the opening session, Bradford County Conservation District (BCCD)
Manager Mike Lovegreen presented Promoting District Programs.
Lovegreen, who has been with the District for thirty years, explained
the BCCD's vision of total community integration. BCCD becomes involved
in the community from the county government to churches, schools, and
virtually everything in between. The number of ways the District involves
itself in the community is astounding. The District also gets the community
integrated into their programs such as Envirothon and the poster contest.
This conservation district is a model of promoting district programs
because the district makes being an important part of its community
a priority.
The second speaker on Promoting District Programs was Roger Spotts,
environmental education coordinator at Monroe County Conservation District
(MCCD). Spotts discussed the District's highly successful school programs.
MCCD provides educational programs at its own environmental education
center for schools and other groups. Spotts explained how a successful
school program can promote your district and its other programs. He
said, "When the children in the community know who you are and
recognize the District logo and uniform shirt, they will tell their
parents all about it." Spotts provided details on how to start
a school program and offered advice such as: show the schools that you
can meet the education standards; focus on local issues; and be involved
in the school meetings when the science curriculum is re-written.
The leadership development session was also interesting and informative.
Michael McDavid, northeast regional director for Cooperative Extension
and Outreach, presented Measuring Your Resilience. This workshop
helped directors and staff understand the growing importance of resilience
for more personal and organizational effectiveness. McDavid explained
the eight characteristics of resilience: self assurance, personal vision,
flexible approach, proactive, organized, problem solver, interpersonal
competence, and socially connected. Participants then took a resilience
quotient assessment and scored themselves on the eight characteristics
to determine what areas to focus on to learn to deal more effectively
with change and stress. More information on this tool is available at
http://russellconsultinginc.com/docs/change%20resilience.htm.
Attendees also enjoyed tours and other sessions on topics such as acid
mine drainage, renewable energy, and farm bill proposals. In addition
to these sessions, other conference activities included a silent auction
and raffle (see Thank You Silent Auction Donors
article on page 4), three hospitality suites showcasing Pennsylvania
products, the annual PACD/SCC Awards Luncheon (see Conservationists
Honored at PACD Awards Luncheon article on page 3), and PACD
committee meetings. The committee meeting minutes will be posted on
the PACD website as they become available.
At the conclusion of the conference, a number of actions were taken
at the PACD Executive Council Meeting including:
I. PACD officers were elected.
(back row, left to right) 2nd Vice President MaryAnn Warren (Susquehanna),
President Larry Kehl (Berks), Secretary Andrew Gilchrist (Montgomery),
(front row) 1st Vice President Dr. Irvil Kear (Schuylkill), and Treasurer
Patricia Powley (Dauphin).
II. The following changes to the PACD Bylaws were approved:
1. The NACD Director is being changed to a non-voting member of the
Executive Board.
2. Voting on the Executive Board is being changed so that each conservation
district represented on the Executive Board will have only one vote.
3. It was the intent of the previous Bylaws Committee that the voting
delegates for each district be determined in descending order of preference
at all PACD meetings where voting is conducted. Wording has been added
to clarify this section.
4. The number of PACD regions is being reduced from seven to six.
As a result, the Central Region is being eliminated and these conservation
districts are being moved to other regions. Bradford has requested
to move to the North Central Region. Conservation districts may change
regions if a specific request is submitted.
5. The quorum for region meetings is being changed to consist of the
conservation districts in good standing in the region.
6. The Order of Business section is being changed to clarify that
the Order of Business is for the Executive Council meetings. The Executive
Director's Report and Reports from Partner Organizations are being
added as new items of business.
7. A committee may elect a Vice-Chairperson from the appointed members
of the committee. Committee members will serve two-year terms with
the ability to be re-appointed. Committee members' terms will begin
on the first day of January with half of the committee being appointed
each year. The Executive Board may remove a committee member or committee
chairperson for missing three consecutive committee meetings.
8. The compensation section is being changed to include all members
of the Executive Board and not just officers.
9. A Conflict of Interest section is being added based on recent changes
to the IRS form 990 and general public interest in non-profit operations.
III. Approved Motions from PACD Committees
Education and Outreach
- PACD supports the inclusion of "Environmental Education"
in state and federal legislative acts.
- By December 2007, PACD will develop a product to help define the
scope of conservation district education programs.
Legislative
- PACD requests that the practice of engineering be added to the end
of Section 9 (19) on Page 19 of SB 1020 (Printer's Number 1278).
- By December 2008, PACD will expand the organizations role in government
relations and policy; PACD will continue PACD Capitol Day with increased
legislator and conservation district participation.
- PACD supports legislation to institute a flood control revolving
loan program.
- PACD will pursue a surcharge on all bought and sold fertilizer in
PA to supplement the CDFAP. This surcharge should be an addition to
current state and county funding levels for conservation district
activities.
Operations
The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts enters into a
cooperative agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection to establish an Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) Abatement Technical
Assistance Program. Funding drawn from the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML)
fund will be distributed to the districts and other local organizations
in order to design and engineer on the ground AMD abatement projects
through a grant process created and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection.
IV. PACD Policies were approved as presented at the PACD Winter
Meeting in January for inclusion in the PACD Policy Handbook. See
the February 2007 issue of News & Notes for details: http://www.pacd.org/news/February07/default.htm.
V. PACD Operational Policy
A new PACD Operational Policy was approved so that effective July 1,
2007, members from conservation districts that are not in good standing
will no longer receive member benefits from PACD such as participation
in the awards program; discounts for PACD meetings, workshops, or trainings;
and other non-communication related items.
VI. 2007 PACD Strategic Planning Goals
The 2007 PACD Strategic Planning Goals and Corresponding Action Plans
were updated and approved. The Action Plans are available on the PACD
website at http://www.pacd.org/about/strategicplan/planning.htm.
PACD would like to thank all the individuals, conservation districts,
agencies, and organizations that helped to make this meeting a success.
The 2008 PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference will be held July 27-30 in
State College, PA. Contact PACD Administrative Assistant Molly Burns
at 717-238-7223 if you are able to serve on the planning committee.
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