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