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HomeMy WebLinkAboutL & W Approved MINUTES MAY 1 2012GRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING May 01, 2012 9:00 a.m. Ag Services Building Lancaster, Wisconsin The meeting was called to order by County Board Chairman, Larry Wolf at 9:00 a.m. Larry Wolf changed the Agenda to reflect the Open Meeting Law Certification to follow right after the Call to Order, then Roll Call was taken and then the Election of Land and Water Conservation Committee Officers. Certification of Open Meeting Law: Annette Lolwing Annette Lolwing sent the agenda to Karla Schwantes to post in the Administration Building and at the Courthouse, also sent agenda to Bob Middendorf, WGLR, and was posted in the front of the Ag Services Building. Media notices were sent to Karla Schwantes, Herald Independent, Tri County Press, and the Platteville Journal. Roll Call: Annette Lolwing Roll Call for the May 1, 2012, LWCC meeting. Present in addition to County Board Chairman Wolf were; Lester Jantzen, Vince Loeffelholz, Mark Stead, Dwight Nelson, Dale Hood, Roger Guthrie, and Marvin Kettler. Others present were, Jared Reuter, Melissa Bartz, Lynda Schweikert, Annette Lolwing, Kevin Lange, and Bob Middendorf. There was a quorum present. Election of Land and Water Conservation Committee Officers Larry Wolf opened the nominations for the chairman of the committee; Roger Guthrie nominated Mark Stead, Lester Jantzen nominated Vince Loeffelholz. Dale Hood moved to close the nominations, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz. Voting was done by the raising of hands. There were 4 votes for Mark Stead, and 3 votes for Vince Loeffelholz. Mark Stead will be the chairman. Mark Stead then continued on with the election of officers. Nominations for Vice Chair were opened; Lester Jantzen nominated Vince Loeffelholz. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Dale Hood to close nominations and to cast a unanimous ballot. Motion carried. Nominations for Secretary were opened; Roger Guthrie nominated Lester Jantzen. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Marvin Kettler to close nominations and to cast a unanimous ballot. Motion carried. Approval of Agenda Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the Agenda with the changes as listed above per Larry Wolf when he called the meeting to order. Motion carried. Approval of Minutes Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve the April 3rd minutes as printed. Motion carried. Mark Stead opened the nomination for a SW Badger RC&D Representative. Don Splinter was our last representative. Meetings are scheduled quarterly. Meetings are held on the first Friday of the month. Angie Wright is the new Executive Director for the SW Badger RC&D. Motion by Mark Stead, seconded by Dwight Nelson to elect Dale Hood as representative. Motion carried. Mark Stead opened the nomination for a Southern Area Association Representative. WALCE and WLWCA have merged, and are now looking for an LWCC member and an LWCD member to serve for Grant County on the Southern Area Association. Vince Loeffelholz was the LWCC representative the last term. SAA meets quarterly and their next meeting will be on May 31st. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to nominate Vince Loeffelholz, to close the nomination and to cast a unanimous ballot. Motion carried. Lynda sent around an email to see if any of the staff would be interested in the nominations of SAA. Motion by Kevin Lange, seconded by Lester Jantzen to nominate Lynda Schweikert for the LWCD position. Lynda accepted the nomination. Motion by Dale Hood, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to close the nomination and to cast a unanimous ballot for Lynda. Motion carried. Lynda reported that either she or Vince could be nominated to serve on the WI Land & Water Conservation Association Board of Directors. Neither Vince nor Lynda was interested. Approval of Bills Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the bills. Motion carried. SWRM Grant Contract Lynda reported on the acceptance of 2012 Soil and Water Resource Management Grant Contract. We received $93,958 for Staff & Support ($3,124 less than budgeted), $60,242 for Cost Sharing, and $25,000 for Nutrient Management Plans were approved. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the acceptance of the grant. Motion carried. County Cost Sharing There were no tentative or final approvals for this month. Lynda reported that there are 5 landowners requesting extensions until December, 2012. Lonnie Holthaus, Mt Ida Twp., waste storage, $3,500.00; Steve Roling, Paris Twp., grade stabilization structure, $2,100.00; Dan Reynolds, North Potosi Twp., grade stabilization structure, $1,862.00; Mike Schauff, Waterloo Twp., grade stabilization structure, $1,400.00; and Gerald Pitzen, Paris Twp., grade stabilization structure $3,500.00. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Marvin Kettler to approve the extensions. Motion carried. Lynda presented a cancellation notice from Jeremy Reding, Cassville Twp., $3,500.00 for a grassed waterway. Jeremy decided to do the project on his own. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to approve Jeremy’s cancellation. Motion carried. The 2011 DATCP cost sharing amount of $25,617.40 are for projects that were carried over from 2011 and have not yet been installed. These projects have been approved to be carried over for 1 year to get their projects complete. If these landowners fail to do their projects this year, and the money does not get spent, this will go against us in the next grant application. Animal Waste Ordinance Permit Approvals Lynda reported that the LWCD administers the animal waste storage and nutrient utilization ordinance. This means that we provide building permits to construct animal waste storage facilities as well as alter existing facilities on their property. We also issue permits to properly close abandoned structures. Doug Wolf (L&G) Farms are building a concrete storage facility. It was designed by REA (Bob Pophall) engineer. The fee for permits is $1.00 per estimated $1,000 cost of the facility. Their project is estimated to cost $128,000 and they have paid their $128.00 permit fee. Motion by Marvin Kettler, seconded by Roger Guthrie to approve the permit. Motion carried. Kieler Farms will be constructing a storage facility. The estimated cost for this project is $160,000, and they have paid their permit fee of $160.00. This facility will be built underneath the barn. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the permit. Motion carried. Jerry Nolt requested a waste storage closure permit on an old earthen facility. In an abandonment situation they need to make sure that the manure has been emptied properly, and the liner must be removed to see if there had been any manure leakage. Lynda issued a permit on April 4, 2012. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Roger Guthrie to ratify Lynda’s approval from April 4th. Motion carried. Land and Water Conservation Department Report Lynda welcomed the new and returning members of the committee. Lynda handed out an LWCD handout to the new members and an update version for the returning members. Reviewed information in the handout with committee. Lynda reported that she has been working on the LWCD web page. She was asked to see if she could get a count of how many hits the LWCD site has had. Lynda installed a website counter, which sends her a monthly report, and since April 3, 2012 we had 115 visitors. Lynda reported that last month it was decided to keep our existing copy machine. In February 2012 we purchased a maintenance agreement which will continue until February 13, 2013. Lynda reported that on May 31, 2012 will be the spring SAA meeting. Will be voting on the representatives and new by laws for the SAA. All WALCE members are welcome to attend as well, since the combining of the WLWCA & WALCE organizations. Those interested in attending the SAA meeting are; Lynda, Annette, Kevin, Vince, Lester, Mark, Dale, and Dwight. Lynda reported that Annette received the Outstanding Conservation Employee Award of the year at the WALCE convention in February. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin reported that the FPP is a state funded program which is administered by the counties. Status reviews are to be conducted on 25% of the participants each year. As part of the status review process you will occasionally have a Notice of NonCompliance issued. If the individual brings their property back into compliance we then issue a Cancellation of Notice of NonCompliance. Stanley and Patricia Broadbent, Watterstown Twp. was initially found out of compliance as they failed to provide us with a Nutrient Management Plan, in the allotted time, they have now provided us with one, so have requested a Cancellation of Notice of NonCompliance. Kevin also presented 7 Notices of NonCompliance as these landowners voluntarily chose to withdraw from the FPP; David Bailie, Boscobel Twp., Ann Wilkinson, Mount Hope Twp., Eldrid and Alvina Timmerman, Jamestown and Paris Twp., David and Amy Loy, Clifton Twp., William Frankenhoff, Hickory Grove Twp., Ralph Alcorn, South Lancaster Twp., and the Frances Bevan Trust, Lima Twp. Kevin reported that from the 2011 FPP status reviews the individual is given a year to provide us with a Nutrient Management Plan. Currently there are still 32 that failed to contact our office by the allotted date stating they wish to remain in compliance, so they are being issued a Notice of NonCompliance. There were 47 individuals that are working towards their NMP. In 2012 there will be 125 individuals to be spot checked. Kevin reported that April is a busy month with the tree sale. Got rid of the last of the trees this morning. Had around 120-125 individuals that ordered, selling approximately 10,000 trees. Kevin reported that on April 25th he and Annette delivered 618 Activity Books to 4th graders in 12 schools. Every year the LWCD gives away a tree for Arbor Day to any school who requests one. Delivered Red Oak Trees to 17 schools for Arbor Day. Kevin reported that he is still marking out some contour strips and contour lines. Kevin reported that he is working on a CREP contract over by Bloomington and still working on sodbusters, and walk-ins for conservation plan revisions. NRCS Report: Melissa Bartz Melissa gave a review of the programs that NRCS has to offer. NRCS is co-located with the Land and Water Conservation Department and work hand in hand. NRCS administers the federal money that comes through conservation. The largest program is EQIP (Environment Quality Incentive Program). Grant County typically has the largest cost share allocation in the state. There is construction of dams, waterways, manure storage, and the typical conservation practices. The CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program) is another program that NRCS administers. This program pays farmers that are already doing conservation on the farm and encourages them to do an additional enhancement practice on the farm. Working on CRP and CREP contracts with FSA. During the CRP sign up, NRCS may do a contribution agreement with the LWCD. The LWCD assists with the writing of the conservation plans and receives a reimbursement of funds for their assistance. Currently there were 80 offers placed for the general CRP sign up. We are waiting to hear back as to who will be accepted. NRCS and LWCD share the workload for the Farmland Preservation Spot Checks. Conservation Compliance is required to be in the farm programs at FSA. There are a lot of sodbusters and wetland determination requests to assist individuals to stay in compliance with the FSA programs. NRCS has a work study student from UW Platteville that helps out with both NRCS and the LWCD. NRCS has a contract with UW Platteville that Matt Schwalenberg is paid 50/50 between UW Platteville and NRCS. Have also been working on conservation compliance checks. Waiting to hear back from the MRBI Grant (Mississippi River Basin Initiative Grant). All the surveys are complete from the last EQIP sign up. This is a great accomplishment to have all the surveys completed so early in the year. FSA Report: Jared Reuter Jared Reuter has worked for the Grant County FSA since 2009. Jared grew up in Darlington. Started working for FSA in 2002, and trained in Northern Wisconsin. Marvin Kettler is the Chairperson of the FSA county committee and a representative of the LWCD committee. Jared reported on some updates of some programs. Last Thursday there was a 2/3 Ag committee vote in the Senate that passed their version of the farm bill. Will now move to the full Senate. There has been nothing sent to the house. In the upcoming farm bill they are looking at 10 years of over 24 billion dollars of cost savings (cuts); 6 billion from NRCS, and the majority of the rest is coming through FSA and Rural Development. A new ACR (Agricultural Revenue Contract Program) is to take the place of the current DCP/ACRE program and some new dairy policy. It does reauthorize the SURE program, disaster assistance for non insurable crops, and the CRP. It was mentioned that CRP will gradually decrease acres nationally from a maximum of 39 million acres down to 38 million acres in 2008, and by 2017 they want the CRP acres decreased to 25 million acres. Probably not going to see many general sign ups anytime soon. FSA is the lead agency to implement the CRP. The GRP (Grassland Reserve Program) that NRCS implements will be overtaken by the CRP that FSA will implement. Crop insurance will continue to be implemented by private companies but compliance for HEL and Wetland Conservation will be tied to crop insurance. FSA did receive confirmation that they will be accepting a 9th employee. Her name is Leslie Opert, she is from the Rhinelander field office, and will start June 3rd. No word on the general CRP sign up as to who was accepted and who is not accepted. There were 80 offers turned in. Getting ready for the busy time of the season with crop reporting. The leasing situation is at a standstill. FSA did drop the LWCD county government from being on the lease agreement to be included under their umbrella. FSA used to pay the entire lease agreement, and then the LWCD would reimburse FSA. Jared commented on the benefits of being co-located with LWCD and NRCS. There are many items that the departments share including Computer software and IT support; it is a convenience from the producer’s stand point. Still on a month to month leasing agreement. An open solicitation is where you go out for bids for the new space. Dave Bainbridge is the landowner of the building. The old RC&D space is going to be walled off in the near future. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dwight Nelson to adjourn until June 5, 2012. Motion carried. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Lester Jantzen