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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES_August 3_2010 LWCCGRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING August 3, 2010 9:00 a.m. Ag Services Building Lancaster, Wisconsin The meeting was called to order by Chairman Vince Loeffelholz at 9:00 a.m. Present in addition to Chairman Vince Loeffelholz were, Donald Splinter, Lester Jantzen, Steve Adrian, Mark Stead, Marvin Kettler, and Grant Loy. Others present were, Patti Jackson Kelly, Jared Reuter, Craig Hollingsworth, Karyl Fritsche, Kevin Lange, Lynda Schweikert, and Annette Lolwing. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Grant Loy that the Committee was in compliance with the Open Meeting Law. Motion carried. Motion by Don Splinter, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve the minutes from the July 6, 2010 meeting with the change of IRS to DOR in Kevin Lange’s report. Motion carried. Lynda reported a change to the agenda. There will be no County Board Chairman report and Patti Jackson Kelly’s report may be moved up on the agenda. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the agenda with those changes. Motion carried. Bills: Annette Lolwing Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Grant Loy to approve the bills. Motion carried. County Cost Sharing: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning project for Edward Eddy, Fennimore Twp., $500.00. Motion by Grant Loy, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve payment. Roll Call: 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning project for Wilfred Budack, Liberty Twp., $500.00. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for count y cost sharing on a grade stabilization structure project for Carl Uppena, East Cassville Twp., $2,227.59. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve payment. Roll Call: 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a streambank protection project for Quentin Hurtz, Boscobel Twp., $1,476.35. Motion by Don Splinter, seconded by Grant Loy to approve payment. Roll Call: 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning project for Rocky Skemp, Ellenboro Twp., $500.00. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve Rocky’s request. Motion carried. Lynda presented 2 tentative approval requests for county cost sharing for rye cover crop applications for Drew Crubel, LLC, Patch Grove Twp., $700.00 and for Steve Adrian, Glen Haven Twp., $796.88. This is both applicants first time to apply for rye cover crop cost sharing. Motion by Marvin Kettler, seconded by Mark Stead to approve Drew and Steve’s request. Motion carried. Steve Adrian abstained. There were no new 2010 DATCP cost share requests. There are 2, 2009 DATCP cost sharing requests to be completed. A NMP and a grade stabilization structure (dam) will be completed this fall. 2011 Budget: Lynda Schweikert Nancy Scott the finance director had requested the departments submit a tentative budget with certain requirements with only allowable increase in staff and fringe benefits, no across the board wage increases, only step increases, 2011 retirement at 11.6%, and a 12% increase in health insurance. Nancy wanted to know how this would increase our budget. Our budget would show an increase in 4.1%. Lynda noted that the WLWCA has increased their dues from $1,000.00 to $1,364.73 for a $364.73 increase. The LWCC contribution agreement with NRCS will be significantly less this year. We submitted for: EQIP, CRP and CREP. NRCS only has funds for a contribution agreement with CREP. We will have 5 CREP contracts completed, receiving $2,870.00 total. In 2009 the contribution agreement was around $20,000.00. Storage of Tree Planting Machinery in County Buildings: Lynda Schweikert Lynda asked for the updates from Steve Adrian and Vince Loeffelholz regarding the storage of the tree planting machinery. Vince reported that Ron Abing approved us to store the tree planting machinery in the dairy barn at Orchard Manor, free of charge. Lynda will have Craig Hollingsworth go out to measure the doors to see if the equipment will fit. Steve Adrian made the motion that we give approval to store county tree planting equipment at Orchard Manor, pending on the current renter, Ron Abings’, approval, seconded by Grant Loy. Motion carried. TRM Grant Watersheds: Lynda Schweikert Vince asked Lynda at the last meeting if other counties used the TRM Grant in a watershed approach. Lynda requested from the state of the current applications. There were 51 applicants, and it appears that only one county, LaCrosse, used the watershed approach. The Martin, Martinville, and Rogers are the 3 TMDL watersheds in Grant County. SAA Summer Tour: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that Vince, Grant, Kevin, Annette and herself attended the SAA summer tour that was held in Columbia County on July 28th. The composting site was very interesting. We also visited the Sassy Cow Dairy, A grazing system, and the Arlington Research Station where we looked at a sand separator. FSA Report: Jared Reuter Jared reported that he has been working part-time in Iowa County. The CED, (County Executive Director) Ned Johnson, Iowa County, has taken an appointment in Washington DC for a couple of years. Laurie Makos has been hired and will start in a couple of weeks as the CED in Iowa County. The SURE program, the crop disaster program has come out with a deadline of September 30th for the 2008 crop losses. FSA is projecting that the 2009 crop loss program should be available in November. Jared reported that the CRP sign up started on August 2nd through August 27th. Contracts are either a 10 or 15 year contract with fairly competitive rental rates. 14% of all cropland is in CRP. Mid management practices will be required in year 1 and year 6 of the contract. Jared mentioned that FSA is doing an outreach by sending out 2,000 post cards to all landowners announcing the CRP sign up. Jared reported that he has not heard anything on the building lease. There is no solicitation process at this time. District Conservationist Replacement – Patti Jackson Kelly Patti Jackson Kelly introduced herself to the new committee as the Assistant State Conservationist for the Field Operations for the Southwest Area of Wisconsin for NRCS. Patti gave an update on the District Conservationist position to be filled in Grant County. The position has been opened up twice with a limited amount of applicants. The 2nd application process was pretty promising; however she was not able to make an offer because of personnel issues. The application process will be opened up again for the 3rd time, and will now be offered to all US citizens. Brian Pillsbury, who is the state grazing specialist, will be the acting D.C. starting September 7, 2010 running through the month of October. Lynda asked Patti about the availability of funds for a contribution agreement in 2011. Patti was not aware of any funding at this time. 2010 SWRM Reimbursement: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented reimbursement request for $105,409 for staff and support from the state. This is the staffing plan where the state is to fund the 1st position at 100%, the 2nd position at 70%, and any additional staff at 50%. With this $105,409 allotment, it is paying for 100% of the 1st position and a little toward the 2nd position. Motion by Steve Adrian, seconded by Don Splinter approved Lynda to submit this reimbursement of $105,409. Motion carried. Tent Rental for Fair Display: Lynda Schweikert Lynda referenced the combined NRCS, LWCD, and FSA conservation tent to see if the committee wished for us to include a fair display this year. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Steve Adrian to have a display at the fair. Motion carried. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Steve Adrian to approve Lynda $200.00 from the information/education budget to purchase items to pass out at the fair. Motion carried. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin reported that last month we sent out 62 notices of noncompliance letters for landowners that have failed to self certify. There were 31 individuals who have responded and have self certified, with 31 cancellations of those notices of noncompliance. In addition to that there were 2 landowners, William Murray, C/O James Murray, South Lancaster Twp., and Burr Oak Farms, C/O Ivan Bendorf, Liberty Twp., who have voluntarily opted out of the FPP. Kevin reported that he has been working on 4 CRP contracts that are to be expiring at the end of September, and he has now got those 4 contracts into the CREP. Kevin is also working on some continuous CRP contracts that are expiring and are not eligible for CREP. Kevin reported that it is our turn to host the Southwest Wisconsin High School land judging contest and will be working with that. He is looking to host it the end of September or the first part of October. NRCS Report: Karyl Fritsche Karyl reported that she has been working on 4 CSP applications with only 3 that were funded. Karyl announced that this will be her last meeting. Karyl thanked everyone, and mentioned that it has been a pleasure working in Grant County. Call for Agenda Items for Next Months Meeting NONE Other Business Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Grant Loy to adjourn until September 7, 2010. Motion carried. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Grant Loy