176A.8 - POWERS AND DUTIES OF COUNTY AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION COUNCIL.
176A.8 POWERS AND DUTIES OF COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION COUNCIL.
The extension councils of each extension district of the state
shall have, exercise, and perform the following powers and duties:
1. To elect from their own number annually a chairperson, vice
chairperson, secretary and a treasurer who shall serve and be the
officers of the extension council for a term of one year, and perform
the functions and duties as herein in this chapter provided.
2. To serve as an agency of the state and to manage and transact
all of the business and affairs of its district and have control of
all of the property acquired by it and necessary for the conduct of
the business of the district for the purposes of this chapter.
3. a. To and shall, at least ninety days prior to the date
fixed for the election of council members, appoint a nominating
committee consisting of four persons who are not council members and
designate the chairperson. The membership of the nominating
committee shall be gender balanced. The nominating committee shall
consider the geographic distribution of potential nominees in
nominating one or more resident registered voters of the extension
district as candidates for election to each office to be filled at
the election. To qualify for the election ballot, each nominee shall
file a nominating petition signed by at least twenty-five eligible
electors of the district with the county commissioner of elections at
least sixty-nine days before the date of election.
b. To and shall also provide for the nomination by petition
of candidates for election to membership on the extension council. A
nominating petition shall be signed by at least twenty-five eligible
electors of the extension district and shall be filed with the county
commissioner of elections at least sixty-nine days before the date of
the election.
4. To enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the extension
service setting forth the cooperative relationship between the
extension service and the extension district.
5. To employ all necessary extension professional personnel from
qualified nominees furnished to it and recommended by the director of
extension and not to terminate the employment of any such without
first conferring with the director of extension, and to employ such
other personnel as it shall determine necessary for the conduct of
the business of the extension district, and to fix the compensation
for all such personnel in cooperation with the extension service and
in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding entered into with
such extension service.
6. To prepare annually before March 15 a budget for the fiscal
year beginning July 1 and ending the following June 30, in accordance
with the provisions of chapter 24 and certify the same to the board
of supervisors of the county of their extension district as required
by law.
7. To and shall be responsible for the preparation and adoption
of the educational program on extension work in agriculture, home
economics and 4-H club work, and periodically review said program and
for the carrying out of the same in cooperation with the extension
service in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding with said
extension service.
8. To make and adopt such rules not inconsistent with the law as
it may deem necessary for its own government and the transaction of
the business of the extension district.
9. To fill all vacancies in its membership to serve for the
unexpired term of the member creating the vacancy by appointing a
resident registered voter of the extension district. However, if an
unexpired term in which the vacancy occurs has more than seventy days
to run after the date of the next pending election and the vacancy
occurs seventy-four or more days before the election, the vacancy
shall be filled at the next pending election.
10. To and shall, as soon as possible following the meeting at
which the officers are elected, file in the office of the board of
supervisors and of the county treasurer a certificate signed by its
chairperson and secretary certifying the names, addresses and terms
of office of each member, and the names and addresses of the officers
of the extension council with the signatures of the officers affixed
thereto, and said certificate shall be conclusive as to the
organization of the extension district, its extension council, and as
to its members and its officers.
11. To and shall deposit all funds received from the "county
agricultural extension education fund" in a bank or banks approved by
it in the name of the extension district. These receipts shall
constitute a fund known as the "county agricultural extension
education fund" which shall be disbursed by the treasurer of the
extension council on vouchers signed by its chairperson and secretary
and approved by the extension council and recorded in its minutes.
12. To expend the "county agricultural extension education fund"
for salaries and travel, expense of personnel, rental, office
supplies, equipment, communications, office facilities and services,
and in payment of such other items as shall be necessary to carry out
the extension district program; provided, however, it shall be
unlawful for the county agricultural extension council to lease any
office space which is occupied or used by any other farm organization
or farm cooperative, and provided further, that it shall be lawful
for the county agricultural extension council to lease space in a
building owned or occupied by a farm organization or farm
cooperative.
13. To carry over unexpended county agricultural extension
education funds into the next year so that funds will be available to
carry on the program until such time as moneys received from taxes
are collected by the county treasurer. However, the unencumbered
funds in the county agricultural extension education fund in excess
of one-half the amount expended from the fund in the previous year
shall be paid over to the county treasurer. The treasurer of the
extension council with the approval of the council may invest
agricultural extension education funds retained by the council and
not needed for current expenses in the manner authorized for
treasurers of political subdivisions under section 12C.1.
14. To file with the county auditor and to publish in two
newspapers of general circulation in the district before August 1
full and detailed reports under oath of all receipts, from whatever
source derived, and expenditures of such county agricultural
extension education fund showing from whom received, to whom paid and
for what purpose for the last fiscal year. Section History: Early Form
[S13, § 1683-j, -m; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 2930, 2933, 2938;
C46, 50, 54, § 176.8, 176.11, 176.16; C58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77,
79, 81, § 176A.8] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 123, § 77, 209; 87 Acts, ch 43, § 5; 90 Acts, ch 1149,
§ 4--6; 91 Acts, ch 129, §22; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §64; 99 Acts, ch 133,
§2, 3; 2001 Acts, ch 56, §10; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §70
Referred to in §176A.9, 331.427