(Atlantic) – The Cass County Extension office will again host continuing instructional courses (CICs) for local commercial pesticide applicators this year, but applicators are strongly encouraged to pre-register to ensure admittance on the day of a scheduled show, or when scheduling a re-show. To maintain social distancing recommendations, the Cass County Extension Office will be limiting attendance at CIC trainings. Individuals registering in advance will be guaranteed a seat, or informed if the showing is full and offered another date. Applicators showing up without registering on the scheduled date may be turned away if the meeting room is already at capacity for the day.

Pre-registration can be done by calling, emailing or stopping by the office. Scheduled dates and pre-registration forms can be found online at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/psep/. Applicators needing additional options for no-contact re-shows are asked to call the Extension Office ASAP for information on available formats. As a reminder, all CIC training must be completed by the end of December to keep a license current. To avoid conflicts with year-end scheduling, Cass County Extension will be requiring that all training dates be scheduled by Friday, December 18^th.

Kate Olson, Cass County Extension Director, says “We know year end is a busy time for all, and we don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to attend their annual required training, especially with unique circumstances this year requiring additional safety protocols. We do offer trainings on a first-come, first-serve basis, and our hours will be slightly different as we head into the holidays, so we’d like to remind folks to call and get their classes scheduled before our year-end calendar fills up!”

According to Olson, reshow dates can occur after December 18^th, as scheduling allows, but they must be on the calendar before then to be honored. To ensure a spot on the training schedule, applicators needing to complete CIC for the year are asked to call as soon as possible to register for scheduled dates, or to reserve a reshow time if they have a preferred training date, but no later than Friday, December 18^th. Applicators calling after this date will NOT be placed on the training schedule.

Training dates can be scheduled locally by calling the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or by emailing Office Manager Lori Anderson at lander@iastate.edu. For more information on the Commercial Pesticide Applicator program or the CIC classes, please visit www.extension.iastate.edu/psep/ComAp.html.