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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUnApproved MINUTES_September 3_2013GRANT COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING September 3, 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, Myron Tranel, Dale Hood, and Vince Loeffelholz. Others present were, Larry Wolf, Jared Reuter, Joe Schmelz, Kevin Lange, Lynda Schweikert, and Annette Lolwing. 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 Dwight Nelson, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the agenda as printed. Motion carried. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve the August 7, 2013 minutes with a change that the meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. not 9:00 a.m. as printed. Motion carried. Bills: Annette Lolwing Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Myron Tranel to approve the bills. Motion carried. County Cost Sharing Requests: Lynda Schweikert Lynda presented a cancellation request for Fred Kieler, Paris Twp., on a grade stabilization structure. Fred had been tentatively approved for $3,500.00 county cost sharing and $4,750.00 DATCP cost sharing. He will be cancelling $2,045.00 of the $3,500.00 county cost sharing leaving $1,455.00 county cost sharing for his project, also cancelling the full $4,750.00 DATCP cost sharing. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Vince Loeffleholz to approve the cancellation of the county and DATCP cost sharing. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing of $500.00 on well decommissioning #1for Ryan Flesch, Waterloo Twp. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve payment. Roll Call: 7 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent. Motion carried. Lynda presented final approval request for county cost sharing of $413.00 on the well decommissioning #2 for Ryan Flesch, Waterloo Twp. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz 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 for Kieler Farm, Inc., Harrison Twp., $500.00; and for Bollant Farms, Wingville Twp., $500.00. Motion by Dale Hood, seconded by Lester Jantzen to approve both well decommissioning requests. Motion carried. SWRM Cost Sharing No requests or final approvals for SWRM Cost Sharing. Animal Waste Storage Permit Approvals Lynda reported that Todd Fischer, Marion Twp,. applied for a permit to construct a concrete manure storage facility. The facility was designed by MSA engineering and approved by Ralph Hemling. Todd has paid his $200.00 permit fee. Lynda issued the permit on August 26, 2013. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Lester Jantzen to concur with Lynda’s permit approval. Motion carried. Lynda reported that Pat Schroeder, Liberty Twp., applied for a permit to construct a concrete manure storage facility for a 250 cow dairy herd. Pat has paid his $200.00 permit fee. Facility was designed by Ralph Hemling, and checked by Randy Chambers. Lynda issued the permit on August 22, 2013. Motion by Myron Tranel, seconded by Dwight Nelson to concur with Lynda’s permit approval. Motion carried. Lynda reported that the Scanlan Borthers LLC, Liberty Twp. had constructed a concrete manure storage facility about 2 years ago without a permit. Scanlan’s have been working with a private engineer, Greg Evans, to certify that the facility meets standards. It was found that they needed to install clay around and under the facility to be able to meet the technical standards. He has paid his $200.00 permit fee. Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Vince Loeffelholz to approve the permit. Motion carried. Lynda reported that Engbretson Farms, North Potosi Twp., has requested to do a manure storage closure. Jeff has paid his $5.00 permit fee. Lynda issued the permit on August 20, 2013. Motion by Dale Hood seconded by Lester Jantzen to concur with Lynda’s permit approval. Motion carried. Budget Approval Lynda mailed out to the committee members the 2014 joint budget combining the Sanitation and Zoning and the Land Conservation. Reviewed the proposed 2014 joint budget with the committee. The budget has included the 1% wage increase along with the insurance increase. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dale Hood to approve the budget as presented and to move it forward to the planning and zoning committee. Motion carried. NRCS Operational Agreement Joe Schmelz passed around a copy of the Operational Agreement to the committee members. The Operational Agreement is a mutually agreed memorandum that provides guidelines for specialized and technical services, this is reviewed every couple of years between the NRCS and the Land and Water Conservation Department. It is an agreement of the use of supplies and materials. The Land Conservation is required to have an Operational Agreement to participate in the Contribution Agreement. Motion by Myron Tranel, seconded by Dwight Nelson to approve the NRCS Operational Agreement and to postpone the vehicle addendum of the Operational Agreement until more information on the liability insurance has been researched. Motion carried. NRCS Contribution Agreement Lynda was approved for a contribution agreement for the CREP work that the Land and Water Conservation Department has been working on. A Contribution Agreement has not been approved yet for NRCS technical work. Land and Water Conservation Department has incurred $49,138 worth of staff hours. The Land Conservation can only claim and receive half of that amount of money, which is $24,569 for the Contribution Agreement. Lynda has been given approval to sign for Contribution Agreements. Motion by Myron Tranel, seconded by Lester Jantzen to concur with Lynda’s approval. Motion carried. Lynda has also been approved for an extension of the 2012 Contribution Agreement because of the drought in 2012, and the wet spring of 2013. The 2012 projects are just now being installed. Motion by Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dale Hood to concur with Lynda’s approval to file for an extension. Motion carried. Lynda mentioned that if there are still funds available, we still have an EQIP engineering Contribution Agreement. There may be a possibility of receiving $20,994 in a Contribution Agreement for the technical work that is being done. SWRM Staff and Support Reimbursement Lynda reported that we are requesting reimbursement of the SWRM funds that we have expended for the first half of the year. This is paying for 100% of first position which is Lynda’s position, 70% of the second position which is Kevin’s position, and 50% of any subsequent position which includes: Randy, Al and Annette’s position. On July 31, 2013 we had expended $96,155.08 and additional support costs of training and office supplies were $6,375.00. We are asking for $102,531which is our grant amount that DATCP has allocated for us. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Dwight Nelson to request the SWRM funds. Motion carried. Land & Water Conservation Report Lynda reported that we did have a booth at the fair, but seemed to be a very low turnout. Was not much interest in the display. Only handed out 50 reusable grocery bags. NRCS did not have a fair display this year. Lynda and Joe attended the WI Cattleman’s Association with a tour of the Lancaster Ag Research Station, dinner and discussion with Jimmy Bramblet, NRCS State Conservationist, and Pat Murphy, NRCS Resource Conservationist. This was a meeting to voice their concerns. Most of the concerns were with the state and not with NRCS. Lynda just received the ATCP 50 update. Kevin and Lynda attended a NMP training with Sue Porter and she stated that they are making adjustments to the NMP’s in pastures. Lynda reported that she and Kevin had taken the POWTS and soils test on August 20, 2013. Kevin passed the POWTS and soils test. Lynda passed the POWTS test, but not the soils test. FPP Report: Kevin Lange Kevin reported that he has been working on CREP. Kevin reported that Grant County will be hosting the High School land judging contest the 2nd week of October. Kevin presented 8 Voluntary Notices of Noncompliance for FPP. Motion by Vince Loeffelholz, seconded by Lester Jantzen. Motion carried. NRCS Report: Joe Schmelz Joe Schmelz introduced himself as the new District Conservationist who started August 12th. He lives in Belmont, and grew up in Rockville. He was a technician in Iowa County since 2004 and was with the Vernon County Land Conservation for a few years before that. Joe reported that they are working on EQIP sign ups. There are lots of projects under construction at this time. Joe reported that there is no news with the new Farm Bill other than they are still operating under a continuing resolution that will come due in October. FSA Report: Jared Reuter Jared reported that they have been continuing to work on CRP; 50 CREP sign ups, 80 HELI sign ups and18 General CRP sign ups. Did not have near as many CRP haying requests this year as there were in 2012. In 2012 there were over 100 CRP haying requests and this year there were 60 to 70 haying requests.  Just finished up with crop reporting the week of August 26th. Will be sending out postcards in the next couple of weeks for fall reporting. FSA does require that any fall seeded crops and any perennial crops will need to be reported by November 15th.  Getting ready to issue CRP and DCP payments. Payments are usually sent out by the 3rd week of October.  Sue Funk the CRP technician had retired, another technician took a partial retirement, and another technician was promoted to a farm loan officer trainee. Went from 10 technicians down to 7 technicians.  Still have no Farm Bill.  Dave Bainbridge did take a look at air quality, asked for a mold test to be taken in the front by Annette and Sue. There is mold behind some of the baseboard by Annette and Sue. Has been asked to put in better filters in the furnace. The building was measured for carpet and has not been replaced. Trying to balance the heating and cooling on the NRCS and CSZD side of the building.  A measurement was requested to show what square footage they actually have. Motion by Dwight Nelson, seconded by Lester Jantzen to adjourn until, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Lester Jantzen