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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUnApproved LWC MINUTES_March 5_2013 (2)GRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING March 5, 2013 9:00 a.m. Ag Services Building Lancaster, Wisconsin The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mark Stead at 9:00 a.m. Present in addition to Chairman Stead were; Dwight Nelson, Lester Jantzen, Roger Guthrie, Dale Hood and Vince Loeffelholz. Others present were, Jared Reuter, Kevin Lange, Lynda Schweikert, and Annette Lolwing. Myron Tranel arrived at 9:30 a.m. 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 an agenda to Bob Middendorf, WGLR, and was posted in the front of the Ag Service Building. Media notices were sent to Karla Schwantes, Herald Independent, Tri County Press, Platteville Journal, and the Muscoda Progressive. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the agenda as printed. Motion carried. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the February 5, 2013 minutes with a correction to Wednesday, April 3rd for the ATCP-50 public hearing. Motion carried. Bills: Annette Lolwing Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to approve the bills. Motion carried. County Cost Sharing Requests: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented a cancellation notice for county cost sharing of a streambank protection project for Kent Okey, Cassville Twp., $1,276.00. Project is too costly. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Roger Guthrie to approve Kent’s cancellation request. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing on a well decommissioning for Dustin Kopp, South Lancaster Twp., $344.38. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve payment. Roll Call: 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for county cost sharing on a closure of waste impoundment for Jeff Engebretson, Potosi Twp., $3,500.00. Motion by Dale Hood, seconded by Roger Guthrie to approve Jeff’s request. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for county cost sharing on a grade stabilization structure for Doug Schauff, East Cassville Twp., $1,984.00. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve Doug’s request. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for county cost sharing on a grade stabilization structure for Marvin Ludwig, Jamestown Twp., $670.00. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve Marvin’s request. Motion carried. SWRM Cost Sharing: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that as of yet we haven’t officially received our SWRM contract from DATCP. It has been approved by DATCP and the Land & Water Conservation Board, but has not been signed off by DATCP. The amount of money that we were allocated is $61,741.00. We will not officially obligate any SWRM cost sharing funds until the contract has been signed off with DATCP. Burr Oak Farms and Ron Kunkel are requesting SWRM cost sharing. If approved, the tentative approval dollar amounts for these 2 landowners will be earmarked for their projects. Once we receive the SWRM cost sharing money we will then have Burr Oak Farms and Ron Kunkel sign a DATCP contract with the LWCD. Lynda presented tentative approval request for DATCP cost sharing on a streambank protection project for Burr Oak Farms, Liberty Twp., $5,278.00. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to approve Burr Oak Farms request for SWRM cost sharing upon DATCP signing the cost sharing contract. Motion carried. Lynda presented tentative approval request for DATCP cost sharing on a streambank protection project for Ron Kunkel, Hazel Green Twp., $1,638.00. Motion by Dale Hood, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve Ron’s request for SWRM cost sharing upon DATCP signing the cost sharing contract. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for DATCP cost sharing for a nutrient management plan for Leary Fischer, Millville Twp., $4,816.00. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Roger Guthrie to approve payment. 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda reported that this year EQIP has increased their flat rate, therefore there was not the big demand for piggy backing the county cost share, and DATCP cost sharing to help off set the cost of the EQIP projects. They were able to fully fund all the cropland projects through EQIP, only half of the pasture applicants were funded, and both manure storage applicants got approved. Chapter 37 Ordinance Update and/or Approval: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that last month she handed out the ordinance with the proposed changes and updates for The Animal Waste Storage and Utilization Ordinance, Chapter 37. Lynda surveyed state ordinances on the minimum size requirements on manure storage facilities before the ordinance kicks in. She handed out the results from 52 counties in the state that have manure storage ordinances. Over ¾ of the counties have no minimum size requirements; therefore any pile of manure is classified as storage. Motion by Myron Tranel, seconded by Roger Guthrie to increase the minimum size to 7,000 cubic feet. Motion carried. Motion by Myron Tranel, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to present the updated ordinance to County Board for final approval on March 19th. Motion carried. Land and Water Conservation Report: Lynda Schweikert Lynda reported that the copy machine maintenance agreement expired in February. The yearly maintenance agreement fee is $304.94. We own the copy machine and we are not tied to a contract agreement. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the renewal of a 1 year maintenance agreement. Motion carried. Lynda reported that the WLWCA Conference is March 11 – 13. Those attending are: Dale, Vince, Lester, Mark, Lynda, Annette, and Kevin. Sloan Implement donated a John Deere Sweatshirt to the silent auction. The Spring SAA meeting will be combined with the WLWCA Conference. Lynda reported that the ATCP 50 Public Hearing for the new performance standards will be held on April 3, 2013 from 2:30 to 4:30 at the Ullsvik Hall, UW Platteville. ATCP 50 is how we hold the landowners to the Farmland Preservation Program. DATCP is now incorporating 4 new items into the Farmland Preservation Program: 1. No tillage set back is that no one can till within 5 feet of a stream, unless the LWCD can technically prove that more feet is necessary. 2. All pastures will need to be soil tested along with the cropland for the NMP. 3. Feed storage/leachate. 4. TMDL’s - where the PI index is tied to the NMP. The PI phosphorus index must not be over 6 throughout their crop rotation; the new standard will not allow the PI to exceed year 12 in the crop rotation. All these factors will play a role within The Land & Water Resource Management Plan of changing how DATCP distributes their funding for staff and support. Lynda received a Thank You note from Grow SW WI for her participation. Lynda handed out an end of year report on FPP. This list is from the 5th year of completing spot checks. There were 734 landowners to spot check. In 5 years there were 533 landowners spot checked, 250 of those landowners are 100% in compliance, 73 landowners are working toward being in compliance, 7 landowners have agreements, and 203 non-compliant, dropped out of the FPP. There are 201 participants that need to be spot checked in the next 2 years. Lynda reported that Dennis Presser, a DATCP employee who is responsible for the LWRM Plan (Land & Water Resource Management Plan) and Ordinance updates had passed away at the age of 54. Lynda reported that we had 2 posters that went on to the state level and won. However, there was only 1 student that was able to go on to the National competition, there is no Special Needs division at the National level for the other student to participate. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin reported that he has 1 Voluntary Notice of NonCompliance for James March; Mt. Ida Twp. James did not want to do a Nutrient Management Plan. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the 1 Notice of NonCompliance. Motion carried. Kevin has been working with many landowners that wish to get back into compliance with FPP. Kevin completed a certificate of compliance for Leon Loy. Kevin reported that he has 7 Cancellations of Notice of NonCompliance; John & Carol Fecht, Potosi Twp., Dennis & Debra Dixon, Ellenboro Twp., Larry Brandemuehl, Liberty Twp., Gerald & Julia Reuter, Paris Twp., Mark Ashmore, Hickory Grove Twp., Cletus Vondra, Platteville Twp., and David & Peggy Cauffman, Mt. Ida 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. Kevin has been receiving questions from these landowners asking if they are able to collect the 2012 FPP tax credits. He is encouraging them to contact the Department of Revenue for their answer. Kevin reported that the tree sale ended February 22nd. Have 141 customers, ordering 12,790 trees. In 2012 we had 119 customers, ordering 9,440 trees. Kevin reported that the LWCD always sponsors some stewardship and Arbor Day activities. The stewardship program is where we offer Litanies to the churches. Had 10 churches participate and had ordered 2,200 litanies. The requests for Arbor Day Trees and activity books deadline is March 8th. Usually have around 20 to 25 schools participate. The Arbor Day tree this year is a swamp white oak. NRCS Report: Rick Lange, Acting DC No Report FSA Report: Jared Reuter Jared reported that March 1, 2013 was the deadline for the sequestration. FSA just received there notice on March 4th that they are going to come up with some kind of plan for FSA. Should be minimal, as Wisconsin has been doing different things with the staffing and budgets to try to prepare for this. It will be less than 5 days that they would have to furlough, but may be more like 1 or 2 days.  March 27th is the deadline for a budget resolution. Hoping to come up with a resolution to cover the remaining fiscal year.  CRP has announced that there will be a general sign up from May 26 to June 14. There are 20 million acres nationally in CRP, 319,000 acres in Wisconsin; 3.3 million acres nationally are expiring, and 73,000 acres in Wisconsin are expiring. Letters will be sent out to those landowners that will be having their CRP acres expiring September 30, 2013. In the last few CRP sign ups only about half of the landowners renewed their CRP contract. More land is coming out of CRP for cropping.  Doing the yearly signup for DCP and ACRE. All payments are due to be paid out in October.  January rate for the Milk Program was .11 and for November and December it was .00. Will be making the January Milk payments.  Jared mentioned that there is a new loan program; it is called “micro loans” and is targeted for smaller producers, specialty farmers, and vegetable producers. It is a simplified loan process, loaning $35,000 or less. The current interest rate is 1.375, very low interest rate. If it is for an operating loan for seed and fertilizer it is expected to be paid back in that year. Equipment can be purchased and can be amortized out to 7 years. If a producer already has a loan above the $35,000, they would not be eligible for the micro loan. There is a lot of flexibility with this loan.  Jared went to a program called “Innovators Kitchen”. It is a type of market for vegetable producers to add value to their product and take it to this kitchen in Mineral Point and turned it into Salsa. Items are sold on the shelf with their own Salsa mix, their own label, and there product is advertised as a Ma & Pa business.  The landlord has been offered a 2 year lease to extend the USDA portion of the building for the same price. He is negotiating; don’t know if he will be signing anything.  A heating and cooling firm was in and has offered some recommendations as to how to balance the heating and air conditioning.  Trempealeau office had landlord come in and gave them 30 days to move out and find another facility.  Lynda mentioned to Jared of the possibility of having the consistency of having only 1 FSA representative attend the monthly meetings instead of a rotation of 3 FSA representatives taking turns. Discuss Placing Public Comments on Future Agendas: Lynda Schweikert Vince spoke with Todd Infield and it is up to the committee to have “Public Comments” on the agenda. Committee decided to not have “Public Comments” on the agenda. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dwight Nelson to adjourn until April 2, 2013. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Lester Jantzen