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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 02-02-10 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY AGRICULTURE & EXTENSION COMMITTEE ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE February 2, 2010 — 9:00 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 19608 th Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL REVIEW OF AGENDA 1. Vouchers 2. Minutes of previous meeting — January 5, 2010 3. Date of next meeting — March 2, 2010 OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: • Personnel - Ag Agent Position - Discussion with Deb Jones - Summer Intern LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT CONSENT AGENDA (Unless separation of an item is requested, all will be adopted in one motion.) 1. Vouchers: LWCD, Parks 2. Minutes of previous LWCC minutes — January 5, 2010 Agency reports — FSA, NRCS, DNR, RC &D, WEST CENTRAL AREA NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Wildlife Damage Program — Claims Public hearing comments — NR -151 Discussion - TMDL/Lake Mallalieu/Willow River Discussion - 2010 Special Assessment WLWCA Truck bids Agricultural Enterprise Areas - AEAs OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bids - truck, lawn mower OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Pete Kling, Robert Heise DATE: January 20,2010; amended January 26, 2010 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections DRAFT ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI February 2, 2010 Members Present: Dan Raebel, Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, Land Specialist -Rural Steve Olson, Land Specialist -Urban Tammy Wittmer, Land Specialist - Watershed Kyle Kulow, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Forrest, John Lantz -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Cindy Blonk- Wildlife Damage, County Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, UW- Resource Agent Pete Kling Committee reviewed the LWCD and Parks voucher lists. Peavey made motion, seconded by Luckey, to adopt the consent agenda approving the (1) Land & Water Conservation and Parks vouchers, (2) January 5, 2010 amended meeting minutes. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) No report. FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Forrest -County Executive Director reported: John Lantz, who is a dairy farmer near Ellsworth, has been hired as a County Operations Trainee with FSA. Jon will train for 12 months to become an FSA Office Manager. Throughout the next 12 months, Jon will be training in Barron County and Dunn County, as well as St. Croix County. Farmers can visit the FSA Office now to enroll into the 2010 commodity programs. The signup for the 2008 crop disaster program has begun. In most cases, farmers who suffered qualifying losses would have had all of their crops covered by a crop insurance policy to potentially qualify for disaster program benefits. Forrest stated that he has been asked how soon the Ag Agent position would be filled. He said Lee was a tremendous resource. Steve Olson commented that not only from FSA's standpoint, it is also from LWCD's standpoint. He had 3 or 4 projects that he was working on with Lee. Discussion on the status of hiring an Ag Agent to replace Milligan. Luckey commented that there is a void now without an Ag Agent and that has to be addressed. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: Six new contracts have been completed for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) covering over 3,000 acres. Producers can sign up for the next round of 2010 contracts. NRCS is taking sign up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) until February 19, 2010. There is a fair amount of interest in the Organic and Hoop House practice in this program. There will be a special Organic EQIP sign up until March 12. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported to committee: • Updated Committee on the Greenway Energy Inc. (treating whey and converting to methane) financial status. • Financially, RC &D is doing well. Another employee (grazing) is being hired. They are getting more requests for service. • Elk Creek Watershed - They are making a big push along with NRCS and the Land & Water Conservation Department. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that he will attend the next meeting which will be held in Dunn County on Thursday, February 18. Dan Raebel plans to attend the meeting to replace Ruetz who will be unable to attend. Director's Report • Heise reported on the recent drinking water program (Stevens Point Lab) for the town of Troy. We also will be working in spring with the lab at Colfax doing the water test program with the towns in the eastern part of the county. Our goal is to finish the entire county in 2011. • Lake planning grant application was submitted to the WDNR for the Squaw Lake District. • Springstead Study — There are many details that have not been answered. County Board will be meeting February 23 (special meeting) on the study. Chuck Whiting presented information but did not have all of the answers to questions. Wildlife Damage Program — Claims Blonk presented a list of the 2009 Wildlife Damage Program claims: Gary Heinbuch — corn/soybeans, - damage by deer and bear; Bob Keatley — organic corn, organic soybeans - damage by deer and turkey. Both met their requirements. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to approve the two claims which total $9,390.55 (after deductible). Carried. Public hearing comments — NR -151 Olson reported to the committee the proposed agricultural and non - agricultural revisions to runoff rule NR- 151. Staff suggested the committee provide any comments on the proposed revisions to staff by Friday, February 19. This would provide staff one week to draft a letter for the committee to review at the next committee meeting on March 2 and forward to DNR by the March 12 deadline for comments. Discussion — TMDL /Lake Mallalieu/Willow River Kulow reported: Two lake planning grants were submitted to WI DNR — the grants are referred to as Phase 1 and Phase 2. The deadline for application was February 1. Phase 1 will be directed toward the lakeshore owners and residents who live close to the lake while Phase 2 will concentrate on the City of Hudson, Village of North Hudson, and Town of Hudson. Phase 1 will plan for best management practice installation along the lake's shoreline and Phase 2 will address stormwater management issues. The grants will each run for approxi- mately one year and will compliment a grant our Department has already received. This grant will be used in the upper reaches of the Willow Watershed and concentrate on the agricultural portion of the watershed. A stakeholders group is being put together and already has the following members: Lake Mallalieu Lake Association, Upper Willow River Rehab district, St. Croix County Alliance of Sportsmen's Clubs, St. Croix River Association, City of Hudson, and St. Croix County Land and Water Conservation Department. Discussion — 2010 Special Assessment WLWCA Heise referred to an e-mail from Julian Zelazny, Executive Director- WLWCA, sent to counties. The issue was discussed at the annual meeting in LaCrosse which he and Ruetz were unable to attend due to weather. Budget wise, the association has been short last year. The director worked part time and some of the staff had to take time off. The association determined that if each county was assessed another $800, there would be enough budget to staff everyone. Approximately $2,000 will have to be budgeted in 2011 for our annual dues. This issue will be discussed towards the end of the calendar year to determine if the department has money in the budget to support the $800.00 assessment for 2010. Truck bids Heise reported that we have worked with our county procurement officer on the bidding process for a truck. He reviewed the two lowest bids received. Raebel made motion, seconded by Luckey, to accept the $22,752.62 bid from Badger Truck Center for a 2010 Ford F -150 (4 X 4 extended cab) truck with the condition that the state bid of the same vehicle does not come in less than the $22,752.62. Carried. Agricultural Enterprise Areas — AEAs Heise reported that we have landowners in two areas of the county that wish to submit an application to establish an Agricultural Enterprise Area. One is in the Squaw Lake Watershed, parts of St. Croix County and Polk County; the other is in the towns of Rush River and Pleasant Valley. Considerable work must be completed by local landowners before the grant submittal date of February 26. One requirement is a letter of support from the county. Since the Chairman of LWCC and Planning and Zoning Committee will be out of the state for several weeks, staff asked the committee for the Vice Chair signature on the letter. The Vice Chairs of each committee would sign the letter as well as the County Board Chairman. Pete Kling also presented information to the committee. Letters of support for the petition must be submitted from a minimum of five landowners, the towns, and the county for the petition. Committee approved letters of support for the two Ag Enterprise Areas with the understanding that landowners are allowed (not required) to participate. PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise's written report named the winter projects that are being worked on over the next few months: • Removal of trees — Kinnickinnic forest (bark beetles) • Burn wood piles — Homestead Parklands • Fish cribs — Glen Lake Bids — truck, lawn mower Larson presented the committee with the bid results for both the lawn mowers and truck. The Parks Department worked with the county's procurement officer to develop a Request for Bid (RFB) on both. Four vendors submitted lawn mower bids. All bids received were over Parks 2010 budget for lawn mowers. Discussion. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to table the lawn mower bid award until the March committee meeting. Motion carried. Eight truck bids came in from five vendors. The low bidder was Ewald Hartford Ford, Lincoln, Mercury on a 2010 Ford F -150 (4 X 4 extended cab) truck; $24,742.00. The Parks budgeted $25,000.00 for a truck. Discussion. Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Raebel to rebid the Parks and LWCD trucks under one bid. Motion failed. Discussion. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Luckey, to award the Park truck bid to Ewald Hartford Ford, Lincoln, Mercury (Franklin, WI), the lowest responsible bidder. Raebel opposed. Motion carried. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 1:39 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary