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Minutes of Regular Meeting
VANDERBURGH COUNTY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
SWCD Office, Evansville, Indiana
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Present:                                                                                     SWCD Personnel:
David Ellison, Chairman                                                        Norma Duckworth (Absent)
Davie Sue Wallace Litov, Vice Chairman                          Bonnie Bittner
Laura Lamb, Secretary                                                           
Wayne Fehd, Member                                                            NRCS Personnel:
Tom Niksch, Associate                                                          Darrell Rice
                                                                                                     Lindsay Martinez

The minutes of the March meeting were mailed to each member prior to the meeting.

            A motion to approve the March minutes was made by Laura Lamb,
            econded by Davie Sue Wallace Litov, and carried.

David asked the board to refer to the March financial report. The previous Balance on 3-1-09 was
$47,790.60, Receipts, $180.41, Debits $1,460.50 and balance as of 3-31-09 $46,510.51.

            A motion was made by Wayne Fehd, seconded by Laura Lamb,
            and carried, to approve the treasurer’s report as presented.

Wayne Fehd reviewed the claims; passed the claim registers (County & District) for signature

                Davie Sue Litov made a motion to approve the claims, seconded
                by Wayne Fehd and carried.

OLD BUSINESS:
Natural Resource Committee – Dave Ellison, Chairpersons
Darrell reported the Lake and River Enhancement (LARE) Grant for projects in the Locust Creek Watershed
are on track and he and Lindsay are in the process of payments to the landowners.

Darrell reported the Tillage Plot is on track and we have a multi-county Tillage Day planed for the end of
July or first week in August. Everyone involved has been e-mailed a link to the Doodle Calendar so we can
tie down an exact date. Four speakers have been contacted and are available to speak.

ACTIONS FOR 2009
Soil Erosion: Continue developer’s workshop to highlight urban control practices and legislation
(partnering with other agencies)
Conservation tillage will be increased by 20% over 2002 amounts, with a minimum of 5%
per year on highly erodible land.
Promote No Till Workshop for producers
Locate and promote programs that provide incentives to adopt conservation practices
(Newsletter/ongoing)
Water Quality: Educate public on maintenance of septic related issues by SWCD & Partners with
newsletter, flyers, fair booth
Nitrates and phosphates levels will be reduced in Locust Creek by 10% over 2002 levels
Target Locust Creek with Core 4 grant (i.e. soil erosion, nutrient management, pesticide
management, & buffer strips)
Partner with Health Department to address water quality concerns
Preservation of Natural Areas: Preserve existing wetlands, forests & wildlife areas
Create additional wetlands, forest and wildlife areas
Encourage the utilization of "green spaces" in subdivisions & urban areas
Work with the city to eradicate kudzu
Preservation of Farmland: Reduce the loss of prime farmland to urban development

Vice-Chairman, Davie Sue Litov passed copies of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis to staff, supervisors and associates to fill out and return to Bonnie in a couple of weeks. Bonnie will mail them to Ken Eck who will facilitate supervisors and staff to put together a new business plan.

Land Use Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
The Camp Reveal Project is slow going due to the original bids were higher than estimated. The designs are being redone. Vic Shelton is presenting to the Area Conservationist a request to make the fencing project a training work session for NRCS Personnel. There is also a contractor working on getting contractors on board for the water line project through his church.

Oaklyn Library Meadow Project was tabled.

The Howell Wetland Clean Water Indian (CWI) Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) portion of the project is finished. Darrell is in the process of wrapping up the paper work.

The CWI Marketing Grant money must be spent and accounted for by April 30^th. The four counties (Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh &Warrick SWCDs) met to wrap up the financial part of the grant. Bonnie asked for a motion to send Posey County a check for the district’s part of the speaker fees.

            Laura Lamb made a motion to send Posey Co. SWCD $387.50 seconded by
            Wayne Fehd and carried.

The Evansville Audubon Board voted to grant $620 (part of the requested amount) to help with signage at Eagle Slough. They requested the money be spent for the bird life signage. The Eagle Slough Steering Committee will meet on May 5^th at 9:00 a.m. in the Vanderburgh County SWCD conference room.

Copies of the University of Southern Indiana Water Quality monitoring report on Locust Creek was past along with the February report for members to view. Dr. Summers and his students are finishing up the heavy metals analyses of Locust Creek in order to get the final report to the district. He apologized for the delay, reporting they are getting some interesting results from these metal analyses (such as elevated nickel at two sites) and he really wants to make sure the data are included in the final report.

The Clean Water Indiana Sediment and Nutrient Grant 2009 committee met to rank the applications with a weighted system to prorate the information on the contracts presented and award x amount of dollars for each project to be paid in the arrears. The committee gave points and even added two criteria narrowing it down to two applications which still came up to $5,678.75 more than the $10,000 grant. After much discussion

                Davie Sue Litov made a motion to divide the $10,000 between the two
                successful applications seconded by Laura Lamb and carried.

The University of Evansville Soils Project in area wetlands was tabled. Tom Niksch reported he e-mailed the professor this morning and will let Bonnie know when he gets an answer.

Supervisor and staff met with Cheryl Kuchna, Administration/Admission of Jacobs Village, Susan Haislip and Lauren Preske from Wesselman Nature Society at the village to discuss how the district and/or the Natural Resource Conservation Service could be of assistance to them. They need to do projects on the land that will generate income. Darrell will set up a meeting for them with Steve Marling to discuss the forested land they have.

Education Outreach Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
The aerial photos have been scanned and burned on two DVDs. They are back in the district and we have the two DVDs one of which was put in the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) fire proof, locked file cabinet. Bonnie was asked to talk to the CED in FSA to see if we could store one in their lock box at the bank. Notes will be kept in the file. After discussion on how much to sell the DVDs for

                Davie Sue Litov made a motion to sell the Aerial Photo from the 40s, 50s
                60s & 70s that are now on DVDs for $40.00, seconded by Wayne Fehd and
                carried.

The plat book contracts from Rockford Map Publisher were passed for review. There was a discussion on having exclusive right to sell the books or not and what price to put on the books. After some discussion it was decided to have exclusive right to sell the books and

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to sell the plat books for $30.00, seconded
                Davie Sue Litov and carried.

A copy from the Water Quality Specialist on the number of brochures (Pet Waste) given to which agencies was passed for supervisors review.

A sign for district projects was tabled. Laura Lamb reported she has not gotten an answer from Blaine Oliver yet whether we can put them at the site of projects while they are in progress.

District Operations Committee – Maurice Berendes, Chairperson
The county commissioner/county council meeting date list was passed for supervisors to sign up.

Dave Ellison reported the state board voted for Laura Lamb to fill out Lauren Preske’s term and asked for a motion to elect her as secretary. After welcoming her as a supervisor

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to elect Laura Lamb secretary of the Vanderburgh
                County SWCD board of supervisors seconded by Davie Sue Litov and carried.

The county vehicle battery has run down again after only a weekend. Muensterman’s Auto Service was called and they had no idea what to do at this point. Staff called the commissioners office for direction and was told to call purchasing. Debra Spalding in purchasing e-mailed Bonnie saying we could take it to the garage our chairman suggested.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to take the Blazer to Vic’s Garage for a bid
                seconded by Laura Lamb and carried.

Dave Ellison asked members to view the 2008 Financial Report in their packets that was sent to the state and a report from Fred Padget one of the two that audited the 2008 district books. The signed financial report was e-mailed to the state in March.

The Annual Meeting will be February 23, 2010 in the Exposition Hall at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center starting at 6:00 p.m. Tom Niksch reported the state of the Union Address according to Congressman Ellsworth’s office is held the second, third or fourth Tuesday in January, so there will be no conflict with the annual meeting.

Several names came up as possibilities for Annual Meeting Speaker and will be checked out. Tom Niksch will be checking the Ag Department at University of Illinois. Marvin Kemper from Seaton Harvest who could possibly speak on the Farmers’ Market regulations will be checked. The Lt. Governor and Director of the Indiana Department of Ag also are on the list of possibilities. Wayne Fehd will check with Al Pell who is an Ag radio personality.

NEW BUSINESS
Natural Resource Committee – David Ellison, Chairpersons
A list of the prior River Friendly Farmers for Vanderburgh County was passed. Supervisors nominated Wayne Fehd and the Cummins Bros. Bonnie was asked to send them each a letter and application to fill out.

The Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (IASWCD) sent out an announcement of positions/request for proposals. They are looking for a full time technical coordinator and one part time program coordinator or the equivalent in contractual services to carry out the Indiana Conservation Cropping systems Initiative (CCSI). The project is a unique partnership between the IASWCD, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), IASWCD board, Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and Purdue Extension Service. The information was passed so if anyone knows of someone that would be interested they can be contacted.

Land Use Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
Dave asked members to refer to copies in their packets for the Smart Growth meeting minutes. The next meeting will be April 30, 2009, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Browning Room A, Central Library.

Dave asked members to refer to copies in their packets for the Clean Water Indiana (CWI) Bi-Annual Funding Charts which shows the monies spent on CWI in each county.

Education and Outreach Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
Norma Duckworth, Water Quality Specialist and Davie Sue Litov, Vice-chairman have been selling the rain gardens, rain barrels and other backyard conservation programs. Some of which are advertised on the district website. David Sue Litov received a call from associate supervisor Paul Bousman who is with the Mesker Zoo and he has the okay for the district to fund a rain garden on Zoo property with zoo associates building and maintaining the garden. Litov researched other SWCD conservation programs and requested board approval to develop a plan that the Vanderburgh County SWCD could earmark money for Backyard Conservation projects. After much discussion

                    Wayne Fehd made a motion for Davie Sue and Norma to develop a plan
                    & the cost for a rain garden at the Zoo and a Backyard Conservation plan
                    for projects in the urban setting to present to the board, seconded by Laura
                    Lamb and carried.

The Water Quality Specialist would like the okay to travel to two Watershed Networking Sessions one in Ellettsville and one in Bloomington the next day. She is asking for hotel and mileage and a $15 registration fee for the one in Ellettsville.

                Davie Sue Litov made a motion to okay the WQS travel to the workshops
                and pay mileage, hotel bill and registration fee, seconded by Laura Lamb
                and carried.

The Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair will be held July 20^th to the 25^th. The WQS is requesting the board to okay the rental of a booth and two tables.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to rent a booth at the 4-H Fair for
                $120 plus two tables for a total of $40, seconded by Laura Lamb
                and carried.

The Water Quality Specialist report was passed to each supervisor for review.

Tom Niksch reported the Emerald Ash bore is within a 100 miles of Vanderburgh County. After some discussion Bonnie was asked to e-mail Larry Caplan and Steve Marling to see what they are doing to make people aware of this and to put it on the agenda for May.

District Operations Committee – Maurice Berendes, Chairperson
Dave reported the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) 2009 Dues for Norma is due.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to pay the SWCS 2009 dues
                ($80) for Norma, seconded by Laura Lamb and carried

Dave reported the Indiana Association of Conservation Districts (IASWCD) 2009 dues bill came this month.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to pay the IASWCD 2009 dues
                ($2,000) seconded by Laura Lamb and carried.

Staff reported the HP 3500 printer was pulling paper in off center and printing things crooked. After some discussion

                Davie Sue Litov made a motion to have the printer checked and an estimate
                given for what it would take to fix it, seconded by Wayne Fehd and carried.

Wayne Fehd checked the petty cash report with the actual petty cash reporting it was in order. He passed the report for members to initial. Wayne reported the need to replenish petty cash.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to replenish petty cash for $27.92,
                Seconded by Davie Sue Litov and carried

Darrell Rice, NRCS reported his report included the ranking for the CWI 2009 grant and the meeting at Seaton Harvest.

Bonnie passed district time sheets for review and signature by the board.

Dave announced the date for the May board meeting will be May 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the conference room of the Vanderburgh County SWCD office.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m. by consensus.

Minutes approved on 5-26-09

David Ellison, Chairman ______________________________________________

Davie Sue Wallace Litov, Vice-Chairman _________________________________

Laura Lamb, Secretary ________________________________________________

Maurice Berendes, Member _____________________________________________

Wayne Fehd, Member __________________________________________________
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