[CED/CD/EAT] Summary of 14 April CED/EAT zoom session

Tue Apr 14 17:17:06 MST 2020

CEDs/EAT:

Rick Gibson sent the following summary of our discussion during this morning's zoom session to Gila County Cooperative Extension personnel.  He did a nice job summarizing some of the basic points of our discussion and with his permission, I am sending this out to all of you.

Best regards,

Jeff

////////

All,

This morning at 11 am, the CEDs met through the Zoom platform. Below are the key elements.

1) University senior administrators are considering and discussing the possibilities of using furloughs as a means of helping to balance the budget. The emphasis here is on the words considering and discussing. At this time, that is all it is and no known decisions have been made. There has been absolutely no information what, if any, such furloughs might look like in actual practice.

2) There was a note published in the Tucson papers about the possibility, which makes sense because the University makes up a lot of the economy of the area, but there has been no report that I have seen in the Phoenix or Pinal County papers. I am not sure about the Gila County papers.

3) During the economic crises of the previous decade, the use of furloughs then might, emphasis on might, be one way to approach any furloughs in the future. In short, the furloughs were usually for one day a week, day to be chosen by the individual. For that one day, the employee was not paid or allowed to take it off as vacation or sick leave, since that would have been a paid benefit. No one knows if that would be the process now, if it even happens.

4) As soon as we know anything more, I will be letting you all know about it. At this time, there are no plans definite for any furloughs in the future, but all of that is pending any final decisions on campus. Those decisions are above any pay grade in the division, including the director of Extension and the vice president. At this time we wait and see.

5) Likewise, there are no instructions or time tables for a transition back to open programing. It is still too soon to tell, but there are many anxious to get back to work. In some counties, the CED is having to tell people to go home. Unfortunately, Arizona does not still appear to have peaked in its infections and until the threat is mitigated and it is safe to resume work, we will most likely stay shut down, except for electronic interactions.

6) There was a general discussion about the need to maintain cleanliness in the offices when we go in to pick up items. It was suggested that if we touch anything while we are there, door knobs, surfaces, printers, etc, that we should sanitize them after use so that the next person coming in will be safe. If we can locate the appropriate chemicals, perhaps we should leave a container and some wipes or paper towels in each office for each person to use while they are there for a temporary visit, for example, to pick something up or drop something off. There should be no long term working or congregating in the offices.

What is the latest in COVID-19 infections in Gila County? Is the infection level still fairly low? How about the San Carlos? I understand that there have been some reported infections there.

Hope everyone is well. Our deepest sympathies to Teri and her family at this difficult time.

Rick

--
Richard Gibson
Extension Agent, Agriculture
University of Arizona
Pinal County Cooperative Extension Office
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

820 E Cottonwood Ln, #C
Casa Grande, AZ 85122
Tel: (520) 836-5221 ext. 227
Fax: (520) 836-1750

Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Director of Extension and Economic Development
Division of Agriculture, Life, & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Forbes 301
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona          85721-0036
520-621-7205

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/ced/attachments/20200415/368f9721/attachment.htm>