MERCER COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2016 BOARD MEETING
The Mercer County Soil & Water Conservation District board of directors held their monthly board meeting September 20, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. at the USDA Building, Aledo, IL. Chairman Cirks called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m.
Those in attendance were:
SWCD DIRECTORS:
Brian Cirks, Steve Staker, Gordon Vrana and Ken Reinhardt.
SWCD EMPLOYEES
Bill Joseph, Resource Conservationist
NRCS PERSONNEL:
None
Call for Public Participation
Brian called for public participation. There was none.
PODCAST
At the beginning of the meeting Bill requested that the board listen to the 3rd podcast recorded by Steve Steirwalt, President of AISWCD. In this presentation the board viewed slides and listen to Steve discuss the 3rd meeting of the AISWCD Board in preparation to present an additional proposal to IDOA and GOMB. They plan with legislative support to once again request all $5 million to be used for operations with the fall back option of proposal 3 in which 4.2 million would be used for operations and $800,000 would be used for cost share. After the presentation there was a short discussion and Brian summarized that we are in a wait and see position.
MINUTES/FINANCIAL REPORT:
The August minutes and financial reports were reviewed by the Board. Gordon made motion and Ken 2nd to approve both.
MOTION CARRIED
Bill noted that Brian needed to sign the Troxel survey for the D.O. coverage. Brian reviewed and signed.
EMPLOYEE TIME SHEETS:
Time sheets for Bill were submitted to the board and reviewed. Ken made a motion to approve the time sheets as submitted, Gordonseconded. MOTION CARRIED
PAID/UNPAID BILLS:
Bill presented a bill for $1154.00 for the Directors and Officers Insurance and the Henry County Advertiser for $1050.00 for the most recent newsletter. He also presented a bill from AISWCD for $31.46 to cover the cost of an audit performed by them for the workman’s compensation coverage.And a bill form $195.42 to pay the workman’s compensation and general liability coverage for the October-December quarter. Finally he introduced a bill from Montgomery County in which they would like compensated for their A.C. processing the insurance coverages for all offices in the state. They requested $162.19 to cover an estimated expense of $15,083.00 in staff time divided by the 93participating districts. The board questioned the equal billing for coverage when our district does not participate in the Health Insurance program but does use the life, disability on dental plans. Steve made motion to approved paying all bills except the $162.19 to Montgomery County, 2nd by Ken. MOTION CARRIED
In that motion the Board directed Bill to discuss the cost with Melissa Cauble and bring it back to the next meeting for possible approval.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Bill attached Ivan Dozier’s report to the packed. Bill also reported sending out the alert from Kelly Thompson on GOMB turning down the proposal of the AISWCD funding plan. It was e-mailed to all directors.
Council II
Brian reported on the Council II meeting. He shared that the meeting room was flooded and we met up in the restaurant. It was difficult to hear with the bowling alley in the next room. Steve Steirwalt, Kelly Thompson and Kaila Long were in attendance. They discussed the AISWCD work on getting funding from GOMB and IDOA.
Funding
Bill referred back to listening to the podcast. Bill raised concern of the associations continued effort to push GOMB into giving all $5 million in operations when they have already come out against that idea. This simply reflects how desperate some field offices are in getting more money to fund their existing staff. Brian felt that they push from the Association is good.
FISH ORDER
Bill shared that the order forms went out.
NRCS REPORT
Jason left his report. He included an inventory of bird populations on our CRP from Scott James in which he found better bird inventories in our county than surrounding areas. His report included a Business Plan put together by Joe Gates. It includes Mercer, Henry and Rock Island Counties and represents most of the ideas or activities that were already in the works. Toolkit training is going the next 2 days.
Bill also mentioned that FSA had a teleconference the other day. In that meeting the national office brought up that they are bumping up against some national totals and may be reducing the number of new offers getting accepted.
Administrative Sub-agreement
Bill has been checking out 2 year old seedings which is in keeping with our seeding agreements. It also affords him opportunity to do the clerical reporting which keeps our Administrative Assistant program eligible for the monthly payments.
NEW BUSINESS
AFR REPORT
Bill presented to the board that we’ve received the Annual Financial Report from the Office of the Comptroller. We are waiting for an additional report from the Department of Ag. These reports are submitted annually and reflect the use of State funds. It will be interesting how this will fill out when we received no funds this past year. We have till December for the AFR report but the IDOA report is sometime sooner.
ASSESSMENT REPORT
We received from the Assessor’s Office the report on Brownlee Cemetery in which it shows our exempt status from property taxes. The interesting situation is that they don’t list our Chaffer Marsh property as well. This will be checked to find the status.
DORMANT SEEDING CRP
Bill reported that we have dormant seedings for Marc Conway and WJ Albertson. This is a little over 40 acres with burn buffers included. We have most of the inventory on hand and I’ve checked with Jason and Paul to get their blessings on the seed blend so we can clean up our inventory. We cannot beginning seeding until November 1st based on the technical guide.
Bill also reported that he has been checking out some of the 2 year old seedings. Most look very good. Some concerns are; 1. Little Bluestem should be seeded on all sandy soils. It has had excellent response. 2. Virginia Wildrye in the high organic soils is a concern. It is out pacing all other species and may suppress the development of a diverse blend. We will adjusting accordingly on that species.
LISA BAKER
Lisa is on board as the new full time position with FSA.
REPORTS
Bill reported that we received an electronic transfer of funds from the Mercer County Collector for the 2nd installment of the tax levy. The total was $928.92. Bill reported that he is running way behind in his CCA credits. He will be making an effort to catch up through webinars this next 3 months. The Upper Mississippi River Conference is October 13-14, Bill will plan to attend. He also finished by describing Steve Steirwalt’s interest in NREC. He feels that the Nutrient Research and Education Council, who receives 75 cents per ton of fertilizer is the group rising to the top on putting together a team to address the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. They have a staff of planners and organizers who are capable of introducing a professional plan to include Universities, Agri-business, Ag Organizations and SWCDs to put a state plan together. Steve Shared that the leadership of NREC views SWCDs as the only group who had technical staff on the ground in every county of Illinois and that these groups need to support districts and work with them to make this plan work. This can come in the form of financial assistance from groups like corn growers, NREC and soybean association who have checkoff dollars to spend. Also, we would have one larger voice speaking in Springfield for state funding for Districts.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be October 18th at 8:00 a.m., in the USDA office.
ADJOURNMENT
ADJOURNMENT
Steve moved and Gordon 2nd to adjourn. MOTION CARRIED
Submitted by:
______
Gordon Vrana, Secretary