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Minutes

Herkimer County Soil and Water Conservation District

Board of Directors

USDA Service Center

5653 State Route 5, Herkimer, NY 13350

Organizational Meeting

January 9, 2018

4:00 p.m.

I.Call to Order/Roll Call: Vice-ChairmanPeplinskicalled the meeting to order at 4:00P.M.

Directors:SWCD/NRCS Staff:

Peter Campione, LegislatorDebra J. Michael, Secretary-Treasurer

Linda Coffin, Member at LargeRachel Radicello, Soil and Water Resource Conservationist

Mitch Hooker, GrangeGerry Smithson, District Manager

Bernie Peplinski, Vice-ChairKatie Whitcomb, Natural Resource Cons. Technician

Bill Zaleski, Chair

II.Nominate temporary chairperson: Moved by Director Coffin, second by Vice Chair Peplinski appointingBill Zaleski as temporary chairperson. Motion approved.

III.Nomination and election of Officers:

  • Moved by Director Coffin, second by Director Campione appointing William Zaleski as Chairperson, Bernard Peplinski as Vice-Chairperson and Debra Michael as Secretary-Treasurer. Motion approved.

IV.Appointment of Committee Persons:

  • Moved by Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Hooker appointing Committee Persons for 2018 as follows:

Education: W. Zaleski, B. Peplinski

Audit: L. Coffin, B. Peplinski

Tour: P. Campione, M. Hooker

Program Development: W. Zaleski, L. Coffin

Motion approved.

V.Minutes:

A. Movedby Director Coffin, second by Director Campioneaccepting the minutes as written of the December 12, 2017 meeting. Motion approved.

VI.Cooperating Agencies:

A.NYSSWCC - Written report for January 2018 provided. (Appendix #1)

VII.NRCS Report: No report

VIII.Treasurer’s Report:

A.Moved by Director Coffin, second by Director Campione, to approve the Financial Reports for December 2017.Motion approved. (Appendix #2)

B.Moved by Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Coffin to approve Abstract # 1-18, Claim Nos. 250 – 258, and 1 preapproved for payment$8,999.86, Claim Nos. 2–11 totaling $16,864.16approved for payment. Total amount approved $25,864.02. Motion approved. (Appendix #3)

C. Timesheets for Pay Period #25, 26were reviewed andsigned.

D.Bank Reconciliations for December were reviewed and approved by Vice Chair Peplinski.

E.Schedule Annual Audit – Linda and Bernie will schedule at a later date, probably after a meeting.

F.Assisting Otsego County SWCD – Michael reported that Otsego County had requested her assistance for approximately two days at their office with completing Annual Reports.

Moved by Director Coffin, second by Vice-Chairman Peplinski approving Michael to provide assistance by phone or email and sending a letter explaining the circumstances. Motion approved.

IX.District Employees Report:

A.Katie Whitcomb, Natural Resource Conservation Technician’s Report:

Katie reviewed his written report. (Appendix #4)

B.Rachel Radicello, Soil and Water Resource Conservationist’s Report:

Rachel reviewed her written report. (Appendix #5)

C.Gerry Smithson, District Manager:

Gerry reviewed his written report: (Appendix #6)

D. List of landowners assistedduring the month of December2017 was provided for review. (Appendix #7)

X.Old Business:

A.Employee Contracts/Salaries for 2018: Tabled from December 2017 meeting:

Vice Chair Peplinski and Director Coffin have been working on establishing a system for evaluating employees; includingupdating employee job descriptions, performing job evaluations, and tracking employee development.

Gerry and Deb will prepare new job descriptions for the Manager and the Secretary/Treasurer positions. The job descriptions for Rachel and Katie’s positions were recently updated. Gerry was asked to do performance evaluations for all three employees before the May meeting. In the future job evaluations will be on a six month basis in preparation for job performance review and considering salary increases.

Moved by Director Coffin, second by Director Campione to increase the base salaries of D. Michael, R. Radicello and K. Whitcomb by $1000 effective January 1, 2018, and to increase the base salary for G. Smithson by $2500, effective January 1, 2018, pending the implementation of a performance system in May or June. Motion approved.

B.Legislative Appointments for 2018:

D. Michael reported that resolutions were received from the County Legislature reappointing Director Coffin as Member at Large and Legislators Peplinski and Campione.

XI.New Business:

A.Review and Approve SWCD Policies and 2017 Amendments:

1. Freedom of Information Law Policy (New)

2. Workplace Violence Prevention Program Policy (New)

XI.New Business: (Cont’d)

3.Attendance Policy for District Board of Directors.

4. Fiscal Management:

I. Internal Review

II.Separation of Duties

III.Payments Not Requiring Pre-Audit

IV.Petty Cash and Change Fund

V. Investment Policy

VI. Credit Card Policy:

Item #3: Credit card purchases/expenditures of less than $1000 will require approval by the District Manager.

  • Moved by Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Campioneto adda line to the Business Card Voucher for the DistrictManager’s signature, signifying his approval of all purchases and/or expenditures under $1000.Motion approved.

VII. Procurement Policy

VII. Availability Period for Revenues

5.Records Management Policy

  • Moved by Director Campione, second by Director Hooker approving all of the policies from the District Policy Handbook and the 2017 amendments. Motion approved.

B.Review and Approval of Required Items from 2018 Annual Plan of Work

  • Moved by Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Campione to increase the price of tile layout from $0.07 per foot to $0.10 foot. Motion approved.
  • Movedby Director Coffin, second by Director Hooker approving all required items from the 2018 Annual Plan of Work. Motion approved.

C.Designate the depositories for District funds and authorized signatures for funds and accounts:

  • Movedby Director Hooker, second by Vice Chair Peplinski designating NBT Bank as the official depository and G. Smithson and D. Michael as the authorized signatures for funds and accounts. Motion approved.

D.Designate principal print media source:

  • Movedby Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Coffin designating The Times/Telegram as the principal print media source. Motion approved.

E.Resolution setting date, time and place of regular board meetings:

  • Movedby Vice Chair Peplinski, second by Director Campionesetting the second Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. at the USDA Service Center, Herkimer for regular board meetings. Motion approved.

F.Cooperator’s Dinner:-Moved by Director Coffin, second by Director Campione to hold the Cooperator’s Dinner on the last Monday of March (March 26th) at Francesca’s in Ilion. Motion approved. Gerry will check on the availability.

G. Water Quality Symposium –Moved by Director Coffin, second by Director Hooker approving all employees to attend this year’s Water Quality Symposium if they so desire.Motion approved.

XII.Next Meeting: The next regular meeting of the SWCD Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. at the Herkimer County USDA Service Center.

XIII. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned by Vice-ChairPeplinski at 5:25 p.m.

______

Debra Michael, SecretaryWilliam Zaleski, Chairman

January 16, 2018 February 13, 2018