December 7, 2021
Annual January Organizational Meeting
The beginning of the calendar year signifies the time for the local Extension units to organize and prepare for the upcoming year. Also referred to as the Joint Board Meeting, held as the first meeting in January, duties and responsibilities are transferred from the outgoing board members to the incoming members.
This is the time to review laws, policies and other procedural requirements such as open meetings and records requirements, Memorandum of Understanding, designate a bank for Extension funds, adopt a GAAP waiver and holiday schedule, and to elect officers for Extension districts. Elections for county Extension councils and executive board members will have been conducted this past fall.
The Joint Board Meeting is loaded with information and obligations for new and returning board members. In order to assist you with the meeting, there is a Board Leadership Module, “Board Organizational Meeting,” that includes a PowerPoint presentation that can be used to help the board as they organize for the year.
Several handouts for board members can be viewed, printed or projected for all to see through the course of the meeting: http://www.ksre.k-state.edu/boardleadership/board-leadership-modules/board-organizational-meeting/Index.html. There is much information here and providing these documents to board members ahead of time could be useful. I’ve also seen many units supply a binder with all these documents to new board members that they can bring to regular board meetings.