Oregon Association of Conservation Districts

Executive Board Meeting Minutes April 28-29, 2010

Executive Board Meeting

April 28-29, 2010

Sunriver Resort- Sunriver, Oregon

April 28, 2010

Executive Board Meeting Minutes April 28-29, 2010

Present (Members):

Charles Boyer- President
Jan Lee- President Elect
Bill Renwick- 2nd Vice President
John McDonald- Past President
Barbara Niedermeyer- Secretary
David Simmons- Treasurer
MartinKerns-HighDesertBasin
RogerBrown-NorthCoastBasin
RossShumway-SnakeRiver Basin
Jim McElligott- John Day/ UmatillaBasin
TomHatfield-SouthwestBasin
DonaldGuttridge-LowerWillametteBasin

PaulReed-UpperWillametteBasin
Mel Omeg- Deschutes/ HoodRiver Basin
JaneKeppinger-OCEAN President

Present (Visitors and Partners):

Dottie Morisette- Crook SWCD
Pat Fitzgerald- Yamhill SWCD
Brian Lightcap- West Multnomah SWCD
Meta Loftsgaarden- NRCS
Yenie Tran- NACD
Shannon Baughman - OCAPA

Executive Board Meeting Minutes April 28-29, 2010

President Charles Boyer called the meeting to order at 1:05pm

Agenda:

The following items will be added to the agenda:

MOU- OACD & Clackamas- website maintenance
NACD Representatives at the Annual Meeting
Hit list of topics to bring to WashingtonDC this spring
Logo/ Envirothon update- Keppinger

McDonald moved, with a McElligott second, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carries unanimously.

Reed moved, with a Guttridge second, to adopt the minutes from the February 9-10, 2010 Executive Board meeting. The motion carries unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Simmons presented the following financials for review:

Balance Sheet- $143,667.22
Actual to Budget
Revenue & Expense by Funding Source

Profit & Loss statement as of March 31, 2010
Still waiting on McDonald’s airfare receipts

Niedermeyer moves, with a McElligott second to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented.

Simmons listed the districts that are current on dues. A reminder was made that in the April 28, 2010 Board of Districts meeting, the budget was approved. It was not unanimous, but it still passed.

The motion carries unanimously.

Lee reported that there was an in-house audit done in February. The audit was good and all records are in order.

Status of IRS Form 990:

Guttridge moves, with a Lee second, to adopt the 3 IRS templates on the policies:

Conflict of Interest
Whistle Blower
Documentation Retention

The motion carries unanimously.

OACD Budget & Work Plan:

Due to the lack of an Executive Director, some projects are not listed on the presented work plan, such as a monthly newsletter. Focus work on bulk of commitment for OWEB funding to improve the relationship between OWEB, the Basins and OACD. Complete business plans as agreed upon at the February Executive Meeting. Ballot Initiative is a timely manner.

Add Rejuvenation of Committees to work plan to keep timelines. Lee will send Boyer information.

Free Registration to Attend OACD Annual Meeting:

Niedermeyer moves with a McDonald second to allow one free registration package to attend the OACD Convention in October 2010. The registration will be given as a prize at a drawing at Connect 2010.

Free registration is transferable.

Motion carries unanimously.

NACD Training Recognition Program:

McDonald presented the process of the NACD Training Program. Discussion was held regarding the amount of training needed or desired for district directors and the best way to present the training. Training can be done at district meetings, made available with guide books or packets.

The Education Committee will work on district director training and report back to the Executive Board.

The Education Committee, comprised of Brown, Hatfield, Guttridge, McElligott, and McDonald, will meet and work on committee’s structure and present at tomorrow’s meeting.

Basin Teams:

Basin teams work when someone is in charge. Increase attendance at basin meetings by using as training or providing guest speakers on local issues. State agencies will come to meetings for no fee. Meetings can be held with video conferencing. This can help cut down on travel expense and better the communication with the basins.

Action Item: Video Conference demonstration at the August 4, 2010 Executive Board meeting. Contact OCAPA to organize meeting through the OCAPA office. Brown will demonstrate basic web conferencing later in the meeting.

OCEAN Role in Convention:

Some OCEAN dues were paid on the Convention forms. Simmons reported that he has met with Janet Greenup and the problem has been worked out. In 2010, OCEAN dues will not be on the Convention registration forms.

10% of Convention dues will be paid to OCEAN for assistance provided by OCEAN during the 2009 Convention.

In 2010, OCEAN and OACD will write and agreement on what is expected from each party during the Convention.

Keppinger informed the committee that if the new bylaws pass, elections will be held and there would be a new board. She is stepping down and will no longer be involved. She is not sure who the new president will be.

Lee moves with a McElligott second, that when figuring the percentage for OCEAN, and revenue generated from sponsorships will be excluded. Motion passes by majority with two “no” votes.

Board of Districts and Executive Board meeting overlap:

Most meetings have the same attendees and the same topics are discussed at both meetings. The decision was made to put the Executive Board Meeting after the Board of Districts meeting, to enable quick decisions by the Executive Board. Minutes will need to separate for each meeting. Discussion was held, and the following topics were addressed:

When the Executive Director position is filled, they can make contact with districts and committees to facilitate the meetings.
Having Committee meetings at annual meeting
Change scheduling of Executive Board and Board of Directors meetings
Reviewing and discuss meeting material prior to meetings
Committee chairs need to decide what is the most effective way to conduct that committee’s business (email, person to person meetings, etc.)

The Officers Committee will discuss the issue and the topic will be addressed at a later date.

Technology Update:

Following the topic of video conferencing earlier in the meeting, Brown demonstrated how a web based meeting program “Go To Meeting” could be beneficial to holding meetings. Documents can be reviewed by all participants and edit the documents. Brown volunteered to help host a meeting if people are interested in trying a web meeting. OACD currently has a contract, but based on usage and per person.

Populating the Database:

A meeting will be held with the Database Committee to thoroughly review the database structure. Decide on things to be eliminated, modified, and/or renamed.McDonald will meet with OCAPA to get authorization of staff time to work on the database. There are three ways of populating the database:

Go to the current database (from ODA) and download
Send out Questionnaires that will automatically download into a program.
Send out requested information to the districts and manually enter data.

Possibly integrate data with quarterly tech reports so duplication is not necessary.

SWCD’s - Oregon’s Best Kept Secret:

What can be done to get information out about what SWCD’s do? Reed stated that they are resurrecting backyard conservation program and get information out to people through gardening clubs, Audubon society, etc.Lightcap has a connection with the Oregonian, if there are issues that need to get out for public awareness.

Keppinger stated that people know about districts, it just depends on what audience you are listening to.There was discussion on whether some Districts would be able to follow through with increased work load if they become more known.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:16pm.

April 29, 2010

Executive Board Meeting Minutes April 28-29, 2010

Present (Members):

Charles Boyer- President
Jan Lee- President Elect
Bill Renwick- 2nd Vice President
John McDonald- Past President
Barbara Niedermeyer- Secretary
David Simmons- Treasurer
MartinKerns-HighDesertBasin
RogerBrown-NorthCoastBasin
RossShumway-SnakeRiver Basin
Jim McElligott- John Day/ UmatillaBasin
TomHatfield-SouthwestBasin
DonaldGuttridge-LowerWillametteBasin
PaulReed-UpperWillametteBasin
Mel Omeg- Deschutes/ HoodRiver Basin
JaneKeppinger-OCEAN President

Present (Visitors and Partners):

Pat Fitzgerald- Yamhill SWCD
Brian Lightcap- West Multnomah SWCD
Meta Loftsgaarden- NRCS
Yenie Tran- NACD
Shannon Baughman - OCAPA

Executive Board Meeting Minutes April 28-29, 2010

President Charles Boyer called the meeting to order at 8:43am.

Officer’s Reports:

Renwick reported that the Convention planning is going well. They are on schedule and under budget.

Lee reported that the Finance Committee completed the internal audit and worked on the budget.

Simmons reported that the budget was approved.

Boyer reported that he has been traveling throughout the state, trying to make OACD presence known at partnership meetings.

Partnership Reports:

ODA: No representative present. Report given at April 28, 2010 Board of Directors Meeting

OWEB: No representative present.

NRCS (Meta Loftsgaarden): reported that NRCS appreciate the partnership with Districts

EQIP Funding: Received extra funding for Klamath and Sage Grouse Listing

LongRange Plans: Heavily involved with each field office’s long range plans, will be holding work group meetings in June & July. Gathering baseline data and training facilitators.

Opportunities for funding:

Ag/ Water Enhancement Program
Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative
Conservation Innovation Grants

CCE Computer Seats: National will only pay for one computer per each NRCS employee and one computer per district. Some districts might not necessarily need a computer, and that computer can possibly be used by a district that needs more than one. Asking districts to look and see what their real needs are.

Discussion was held regarding possible alternatives, including web-based system, provision of a “tool-kit” so districts don’t need a NRCS computer.

Loftsgaarden reported that Pedro will be in WashingtonDC for three months. Leo will be taking his place. Let Loftsgaarden know if anything is falling through the cracks.

NACD Representatives at Annual Meeting:

Discussion was held regarding having a NACD representative present at the OACD Annual Meeting in October 2010.

McElligott moves, with a McDonald second, that OACD will contact NACD management to request that Yenie Tran and Jeff Eisenberg, from NACD, reserve the dates to attend the OACD Annual Meeting.

Motion carries unanimously.

McDonald moves, with a Keppinger second, to allocate up to $1500 for Yenie Tran and possibly one other NACD representative to attend the OACD Annual Meeting in October.

Motion carries unanimously.

If Yenie Tran is unable to attend the meeting, they will not offer to pay for NACD representation.

MOU on Website:

Niedermeyer moves, with a McElligott second, to renew the contract with Jason Faucera of Clackamas SWCD, for 80 hours of service for website maintenance. Motion carries unanimously.

It was noted that Faucera will enter OACD as his time allows. Any information will go through Guttridge for review before being entered on the website.

It was recommended that the Executive Board all have their OACD email and phone number listed as officer or Basin Chair on the OACD website. Contact information will need to be given to Guttridge by May 15, 2010. If information is not received, the contact information will remain the same.

Envirothon:

Keppinger reported that there are 26 teams competing (170 students, teachers, and advisors) in the Envirothon. Numbers are down slightly due to the economy.

Keppinger brought in an envelope that she received in the mail. She wanted to bring attention to the logo for Clear Communications. It is very similar to the NACD logo. If could possibly bring about infringement/ identity issues.

OACD Directors Training Action Committee:

A request was made for a blue tooth projector for presentations.

Co-chairs of the Committee will be McElligott and Brown.

McElligott presented the committee structure for the OACD Directors Training Action Committee.

Initial draft of recommendation will go early July, with the expectation that they will allow comments. Final draft will go out during the August 4, 2010 meeting.Goal will be to have a small presentation at the October meeting. Looking at implementation in 2011.Request that the Directors Training to be added to the work plan and budget. OCAPA can be used to send out reminders.

A copy of the work plan will be made available to all committee and sub committee chairs as an example of how to make a mission statement for all committees.

Hit List for DC Trip:

McDonald reported that he would like the Executive Committee to give him topics that they would like discussed. Topics brought up include the Bull Trout issue, and the OBAMA Health Care Plan.

OCAPA Update:

Boyer reported that OACD only has a verbal allocated contract with OCAPA. An overall contract has not been defined yet. If you have any requests for OCAPA, please send those requests to Simmons.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:42am

Submitted by Shannon (OCAPA)

Corrections by Barbara N. (OACD)

APPROVED August 4, 2010