MINUTES OF THE

FREMONT SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

COMMISSIONERS’ MEETING

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010, 7:00 P.M.

 

 

 

 

CALL TO ORDER:  

A meeting of the Fremont Soil & Water Conservation District Commissioners was called to order by Chairperson Phil Wing at 7:10 p.m. on September 7, 2010 at the USDA Building, Sidney, Iowa.

 

PRESENT:   

Commissioners: Mark Kilpatrick, Harold Mitchell, Sheryl Sanders, and Phil Wing

 

Staff:                   Kevin Brannen, Tammy Grebert, Brian Gross, and Seth Moore

 

ADOPT AGENDA:  

The agenda for the September 7, 2010 meeting was adopted with the following addition:

·         A200 Watershed

·         Visitor Center

·         Personnel

·         EQIP Project

 

APPROVAL OF AUGUST 3, 2010 MINUTES:

65-10     The minutes of the August 3, 2010 meeting of the Fremont Soil & Water Conservation District Commissioners were approved as presented. The motion was made by Sanders, seconded by Mitchell and passed with all in favor.

 

APPROVAL OF TREASURER’S REPORT:

66-10     It was moved by Mitchell and seconded by Sanders to approve the Treasurer’s report of the Fremont Soil and Water Conservation District. Motion carried with all in favor.

 

Cost share application requests, application approvals and application amendments/cancellations were accepted as follows:

               

Cost-share requests:

 

Cost share approvals:

                                               

Cost-share amendment:

 

2011 Bonding approvals:

               

2011 Bonding approvals:

               

REAP P approvals:   

 

REAP P cancellation:

               

REAP FNG approval:

 

REAP FNG cancellation:  

 

 

 

BUSINESS:

 

Ø  Farm Bill IX Report

67-10     The Farm Bill IX report for the period August 2, 2010 – September 1, 2010 was presented. Mitchell made a motion to approve the report as printed. The motion was seconded by Sanders and passed unanimously.

 

Ø  Yearbook Advertising and After Prom Donation

68-10     A motion was made by Mitchell, seconded by Sanders to purchase a one block advertisement in the school yearbooks of Fremont County schools that contact the district to purchase advertisement; and to donate $25.00 to Fremont County schools that request a donation for their after-prom activities.     

 

Ø  Cooperative Agreement – LHA/Fremont SWCD/Mills SWCD

69-10     Kilpatrick made a motion to accept the Cooperative Agreement between Loess Hills Alliance, Fremont SWCD and Mills SWCD as presented. The motion was seconded by Mitchell and carried unanimously.

 

Ø  Maximum Cost-share Allocation

                 Maximum cost-share allocations were discussed. Also discussed were procedures used to allocate cost-share (waiting list/ranking). Gross will bring the ranking used in the Mills County office to the next meeting.

 

Ø  Commissioner Vacancy

                Two commissioner positions will be vacant next year. One person has filed papers to be on the ballot in November.

 

Ø  Walnut Creek

                Gross met with Bob Waters and Dan Case regarding the Walnut Creek project. There are still funds available for analysis in the watershed. Gross will get information on what needs to be done to receive the funds.

 

Ø   Waubonsie Watershed

                There is concern regarding a structure in the Waubonsie sub-district in Mills County. The beavers have plugged the tube and the water level is extremely high. A sub-district special meeting will be held on Friday, September 10, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. in Malvern.

 

Ø  A-200 Hound Dog Watershed

                There is potential that the A-200 maintenance repair project could be higher than the $5,500 previously approved. A meeting between the contractor, tenant, Brannen, Gross and Fremont SWCD will be held Wednesday, September 8th at 8:30 a.m. to review the A-200 site maintenance repair. The repair needs to be completed; therefore, Mitchell will be present at the meeting to make decisions on behalf of the board and will report back to the board at the October meeting.

 

Ø  Visitor Center

                The dedication of the portal will be held Saturday, October 2, 2010 at the Southern Loess Hills Interpretive Center.

 

Ø  Personnel

                Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by all SWCD’s and Division of Soil Conservation (DSC), the NRCS district conservationists should not be signing or initialing state and/or district employee timesheets or leave requests. State and/or district employees should be consulted before leave is approved by DSC or the District so the district conservationist knows when the non-NRCS employee will be gone.

 

                It is also outside the NRCS’ responsibility as defined in the General Manual and the Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the interview and hiring process. It is permissible to be present during the interview when engineering approval authority or our field office technical guide information is the topic of discussion, but when the conversation pertains to the hiring, NRCS staff should exit the interview process.

 

Ø  EQIP Project

A landowner expressed concern about his neighbor’s terrace/tile project dumping water at the property line. The project was reviewed.

 

SIGNED APPROVALS

 

Conservation Plans

 

Thomas Demory

JAR Farms Ltd

James Baylor

William Ditmars

Grudle Farms Inc

Southwest Farms Partnership

 

 

 

Contracts/Contract Modifications

 

 

John Whipple et al

 

 

John Whipple et al

 

 

Steven Penney

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Cost-share Certification

                Southwest Farms Partnership

                Dennis Shannon

 

        Maintenance Agreements

                Southwest Farms Partnership

                Dennis Shannon

               

        Group Planning Request

 

        Buffer Initiative

 

        Buffer Initiative Maintenance Agreements

                                               

        LWPP Application/Amendment

       

        WRP Long Term Agreement

       

        Stewardship Initiative

               

        Cooperator Agreement

 

        Statement as to Soil Conservation Refund

               

        Application for Impoundment Structure Property Tax Exemption

                Carolyn Scott

               

        Information Items

 

 

MEETING ADJOURNED:  9:15 p.m.

 

 

 

/s/                                                                                                                            /s/                                                                           

Secretary                                                                                                               Chairperson

 

Date Approved    October 5, 2010