The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutLand and Water 03-03-09 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE March 3, 2009 —10:00 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 19608 th Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING — April 7, 2009 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Vouchers Resolution approving Farmland Preservation Program Applications - Donald & Jeannine Rachner - Lucille Krig 2009 SWRM (Soil & Water Resource Management) Allocation Plan — update OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. Sec. 19.85 (1) (c) to consider performance evaluation data of an employee over which the Land & Water Conservation committee exercises responsibility; reconvening into open session. Position to be reviewed: Director, Land & Water Conservation and Parks Department PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Bills /vouchers Bid Award — Electrical work — Glen Hills campground OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives Bid Award Eleetr4eal work Glen Hills eampgr-ound ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: February 23, 2009, amended February 27, 2009 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 March 3, 2009 Members Present: Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Dan Raebel, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Ken Graf - excused Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, County Technician Jeff Lueck, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA, Steve Pemsteiner -NRCS, Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting Ruetz called the meeting to order at 10:39 a.m. Action on Previous Minutes: Peavey made motion, seconded by Luckey, to approve the February 3, 2009 meeting minutes. Carried. Adoption of Agenda: Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Peavey, to adopt the agenda. Carried. Date of next meeting: April 7, 2009 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Hendrickson - County Executive Director introduced Randy Cook -FSA District Director for DD1 and reported: • Staff is informing CRP producers to have them plant /replant food plots. Also, they may have to do some mid - management practices (burn the CRP or maybe disk their fields depending on what their CRP plan requires). • DCP (Direct & Cyclical program) signup is underway. Signup deadline is June 1. Approximately 2,300 producers /farms sign up. • Signup for the new ACRE program has been delayed until late March or early April. No fact sheet available yet. • Producers should come in and tell us what new land they have rented so re -cons can be done. • Approximately 80 -85% of our producers have already signed up for the MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) program. There is no rate for January 2009. It looks like there will be a February rate ($1.65 -$2.00 per hundred depending on how the feed cost comes in). March 2009 could be the highest month for MILC payments. • It could be 1 -2 months until we have a new State Executive Director or a new State Committee. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: Sign up for the 2009 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) will now end on April 17, 2009. This will mean contracts won't be able to be approved until early May. We have received about a dozen applications for EQIP so far. NRCS has been busy working with producers in the Conservation Reserve Program -State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (CRP -SAFE) program getting ready for spring planting. We have seen a little more interest in CRP now that crop prices have fallen from last year. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) No report. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that the budget is being prepared. Financially, RC &D is in fairly good shape. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that he and Marzolf attended the meeting on February 25 at Menomonie. Marzolf gave a detailed report on the meeting. Dunn County is sponsoring the summer tour to be held in June. Heise reported that the Working Lands Initiative is proposed as part of legislation in the new Governor's budget. No dollars are attached to it directly. In 2010 there will be about $500,000 for counties to start updating their Farmland Preservation plans. Our Farmland Preservation plan was developed in the early 1980's. We are one of the counties that are first to have our plans updated. NEW BUSINESS Director's report Heise reported: • He presented the Land & Water Resource Management plan to the state Land & Water Conservation Board on February 3. We received approval that day. On March 16 he will be at County Board to present the plan to the County Board of Supervisors. • Willow River TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) — Is in Madison making decisions on how they want to distribute loading on some of our point sources. They want to be consistent throughout the state. • Minnesota is taking the lead on TMDL for the whole St. Croix Basin. It is a very large project. The planning effort will begin shortly. Bids are being received from contractors on that project. Marzolf announced that there will be a Land Use Management and Water Quality Conference on March 31, 6:00 p.m, at the Stillwater Public Library. Vouchers Reviewed the voucher lists. Peavey made motion, seconded by Ruetz, to approve the March LWCD voucher lists (2008 budget — total $1,124.40, reimbursable $794.20), (2009 budget - total $15,132.51, reimbursable $10,491.17). Carried. Resolution approving Farmland Preservation Program Applications (1) Donald & Jeannine Rachner, (2) Lucille Krig Lueck presented information on the two applications. They both are in compliance with the soils and water conservation standards. Peavey made motion, seconded by Marzolf, to recommend approval of the two applications and forward resolution to County Board. Carried. 2009 SWRM (Soil & Water Resources Management) Allocation Plan — update Heise reported that the 2009 joint allocation plan for staffing dollars is fine. We plan to receive approximately $61,000 for cost - sharing BMP's (Best Management Practices); this is the GPR (General Purpose Revenue) fund. We were cut from our segregated dollars used for cost sharing of certain types of soil & water conservation practices, specifically nutrient management plans. This year we expected to get $20,000 from the state and it was cut to $6,000. In 2010, we will lose Kinnickinnic Watershed funding. OLD BUSINESS 2008 Strategic Initiatives No report. Committee took a break 11:36 — 11:46 a.m. PARKS DEPARTMENT Members Present: Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Dan Raebel, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, Operations Manager Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Staff completed building 17 fish cribs with assistance from WDNR fisheries staff on February 10. • The Troy registration building has been completed. • Pine Lake — Staff received a response from Xcel regarding the auxiliary parking area. Staff conferred with the Risk Manager and Corporation Counsel regarding the county's position in responding to Xcel. A letter was sent to Xcel offering amendments to their positions. Vouchers The March bills list for Snowmobile and Parks was presented. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Raebel, to approve Snowmobile bills in the amount of $16,940.84 and Park bills in the amount of $4,715.96. Carried. Bid Award — Electrical work — Glen Hills campground Larson provided the Committee an overview of the Park Improvement Grant and the campground electrical project. The project is included in the Parks budget and Capital Outlay Plan. This Request for Bid completes the campground electrical master plan and brings it up to code. Larson then presented the Committee the bid results. Discussion. Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Peavey, to award the bid to Killmer Electric Company. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 2008 Strategic Initiatives No report. Closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. Sec. 19.85(1)(c) to consider performance evaluation data of an employee over which the Land & Water Conservation Committee exercises responsibility; reconvening into open session. Position to be reviewed: Director, Land & Water Conservation and Parks Department Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Raebel, to move into closed session at 12:04 p.m. Roll call vote: All "Yes ". Carried unanimously. Reconvene into Open Session. f Motion by Marzolf, seconded by Luckey, to come out of Closed session at 1:35 p.m. Carried. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 1:36 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary