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        Minutes of Regular
VANDERBURGH COUNTY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
(SWCD) Office, Evansville, Indiana
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Present:                                                                                                                     SWCD Personnel:
David Ellison, Chairman                                                                                               Norma Duckworth
Les Nunn, Vice Chairman (Absent)                                                                              Bonnie Bittner
Wayne Fehd, Member
Holly McCutchan, Member                                                                                          NRCS Personnel:
Lauren Preske, Member                                                                                                                              Darrell Rice
Susan Fowler, Associate
Tom Niksch, Associate

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

                    A motion was made by Holly McCutchan to approve the minutes of the July 25, 2006
                    meeting seconded by Wayne Fehd and carried.

Lauren asked Bonnie to read the July financial report, which showed a balance of $35,958.87 on 7-1-06, Receipts, $603.84,
Debits $4,443.90 and a balance as of 7-31-06 of $32,618.81.

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

Finance Chairman Holly McCutchan reviewed the claims stating they were in order.

                    Wayne Fehd made a motion to approve the claims, seconded by
                    Holly McCutchan, and carried.

OLD BUSINESS:
Natural Resource Committee – David Ellison, Chairperson
Darrell Rice reported the Tillage Tour is all set for August 31, 2006 at the plot from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Dave Ellison will cater a chicken dinner. The speakers are on board. We will divide the attendees into two groups one for each speaker and then switch. The meal will be at the end of the presentations.

Darrell asked Bonnie to e-mail the Tillage Tour flyer to the Smart Growth Group.

Darrell reported the Field Day on Dr. Dean Beckman’s Farm was awesome. They had about 40 people who asked the speakers some very good questions.

Darrell and Norma reported on their presentation at the Commissioner’s meeting earlier tonight. They gave a power point presentation explaining what the partnership has accomplished, is working on and hopes for the future. Commissioner Nix inquired about the River Watch program and Norma will e-mail some material to him. President Musgrave asked about loss of trees & Ethanol production. They passed a copy of the presentation given for members to review.

Norma asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the CWI Highland-Pigeon Watershed Improvement Marketing Coordinator Grant she is writing for Vanderburgh, Gibson, Posey and Warrick. She has everyone on board except Warrick and will be working on that tomorrow again.

She asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the support letter she received from Gibson County SWCD for the Marketing Coordinator Grant.

Preservation/Creation Natural Areas Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
Lauren reported the CWI Howell Wetland Grant she is rewriting is almost finished and she will e-mail supervisors a copy next week for review.

Bonnie reported Paul Bouseman contacted her and he is working on the Mesker Park Zoo CWI grant for the district and will send a copy next week for review.

Darrell reported Posey County SWCD mailed 5,000 postcards inviting every land owner in the grant area to a meeting. There was one in North Posey High School and one in the Mt. Vernon High School. The first meeting has about 70 participants and the second had 45. Jim Droege, Posey County SWCD
Chairman talked about the grant and what they wanted to accomplish. Darrell gave a presentation on the Conservation Reserve Program. The Surveyor and County Commissioner talked about drainage and John Bittner gave the history of Big Cree Drainage Association and how it works. The grant is to monitor Big Creek.

Farmland Preservation – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
The next Smart Growth meeting is August 24^th in the Browning Room of Central Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Darrell also reported he gave a presentation to Master Gardner’s’ Group and some of the people present want to join our Smart Growth Group. At the previous Smart Growth meeting a representative from Vectren attended and said they have money to spend towards Health Issues and want to partner by planting trees. Tom Niksch commented he wished someone was interested in eradicating the kudzu in Evansville that will kill the trees it is covering.

Wayne Fehd reported he did not have time to view the Farmland Presentation video from Bob McCormick

Brown Field and Urban Land Use Committee – Les Nunn, Chairperson
Norma reported the Section 319 Grant Application for Harper Ditch, Kleymeyer & Locust Creek was dropped until next year. The tech team will meet on October 12^th at 8:30 a.m. at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center.

A Pigeon Highland Tri-County steering committee will meet in November, date is yet to be determined.

Legislative Committee – John Hahn, Chairperson
Supervisors reported they will not be sending any resolutions to the 2007 Indiana Association of Conservation Districts’ Business Meeting.

Finance Committee – Holly McCutchan, Chairperson
Holly passed a report Bonnie put together for the purchase of a new camera for the district. After some discussion

                    Holly McCutchan made a motion for the district to spend up to
                    $300.00 on a camera, extra memory card, etc. seconded by
                    David Ellison and carried.

Norma reported the EnviroScape arrived in eight different boxes and she is still inventorying each box to make sure everything that we ordered has arrived in good shape.

Darrell reported he used the DVD/VCR at his Master Gardner presentation and it worked wonderfully.

District Operation Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
Lauren Preske reported she is working on a Clean Water Indiana grant for the district to sponsor a Farm/Urban Tour Summer 2007. The tour will be for farmers, contractors, builders, concerned citizens, etc. She will send it electronically to supervisors and staff for review the first of next week.

The Master Farmer award was discussed and Leland Schnepper was nominated.

Lauren asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the District Needs Survey. Staff met to fill out the survey looking 5-10 years ahead what the district should look like as a stand alone office and what we need to get the job (Water Quality, Soil Erosion and Education) done in Vanderburgh County. After some discussion:

                    Dave Ellison made a motion to send the District Survey to IASWCD,
                    seconded by Holly McCutchan and carried.

NEW BUSINESS
Natural Resource Committee – David Ellison, Chairperson
The Tri-County (Vanderburgh, Posey & Gibson) Soil Judging contest will be held in Gibson County on September 12^th after school. The area contest will be October 12 at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center.

Preservation/Creation Natural Areas Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
Darrell reported he met with Gail Riecken and the superintendent of McDonald Golf Course about 2-3 weeks ago. They want to create a wildlife area on the Par 3 area of the golf course by planting wild flowers and warm season grasses. They will put up signage to say it is a designated wildlife area.

Norma passed a copy of the Clean Water Indiana (CWI) Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) grant that is written to market the CREP program in Vanderburgh County. Every CREP application the district receives as a result of the CWI Marketing grant the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) will send the district $100.

                    Holly McCutchan made a motion to send the CWI CREP Grant,
                    seconded by Dave Ellison, and carried.

Farmland Preservation – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
No Business This Month

Bonnie read an e-mail from Ann Ice (Educator in Gibson Co. SWCD) asking the board to okay members who would like to be on a committee to bring the Garbage Barge to Evansville. Norma reported Sally Rideout Lambert said Alcoa would donate the money to bring the barge to the Ohio River and mouth of Pigeon Creek. They not only clean along the banks, they teach children, adults, teachers about the river and its importance.

                    David Ellison made a motion for Holly, Susan & Norma to be on the
                    committee to bring the Garbage Barge to Evansville, seconded by
                    Wayne Fehd and carried.

Legislative Committee – John Hahn, Chairperson
No Business This Month

Finance Committee – Holly McCutchan, Chairperson
Holly McCutchan passed the petty cash report for reviewing and board members initials

Holly asked for a motion to replenish petty cash for the amount of $32.02.

                    Wayne Fehd made a motion to replenish petty cash for $32.02
                    seconded by Dave Ellison, and carried.

Holly reported Bonnie received a call from National Pen Corporation asking if the district wanted to take advantage of a special they were running 300 imprinted pens for $92. She told him the board was meeting and she would ask and let them know. Bonnie gave a report on what the pens she ordered in 2002 ran. After some discussion:

                    David Ellison made a motion to order the 300 imprinted pens for
                    $92 plus shipping seconded by Holly McCutchan and carried.

Lauren asked the board if they would be willing to sponsor a Water Quality Trunk for Howell Wetland. It would be used to lend to teachers (Signature School Conservation Club, Middle School and High School) to teach their class about water quality. Norma could use it and is welcome to help her put it together. Westside Improvement Association donated two Wetland Trunks. Lauren has a group of retired teachers who are willing to take the trunk to teachers. Holly said she would want the Vanderburgh Co. SWCD’s name on it. The cost would be $500. After some discussion it was decided to table the decision for one month.

Holly reported Norma is in need of more Rain Garden booklets with all the interest she has at this time. Bonnie called and the booklets cost are:
         50 booklets $50.00 plus $5.83 for shipping
         100 booklets $100.00 plus $9.57 for shipping

District Operation Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
Wayne Fehd asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the letter sent by Jane Hardisty, State Conservationist, NRCS and Tamara Lawson, Assistant Director, Soil Conservation, ISDA. Darrell summed up the letter by saying if a district writes a grant that will require the services of the Conservation Implementation Team (CIT) they should notify the Area Conservationist. When applying for grants that require engineering technical assistance, be sure to notify both NRCS and ISDA.

Lauren asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the Water Quality Specialist report. In addition Norma reported:

Darrell reported they are in the middle of construction season and projects really look good. He mentioned one on Sam Ellison, Jim Baehl, Jim Calvert and Larry Kron. He has one Wetland Reserve Program in the county submitted that looks good for funding.

He also commented someone drove the roads in Southwest Indiana taking pictures of 150 sites of erosion on farms, 16 in Vanderburgh County. They sent them to Jane Hardisty and a copy went to the Hoosier Environmental Group in Bloomington. Since this is considered a whistle blower complaint, the sites will be spot checked next year.

County employee’s time sheets were passed for review and signature.

The next meeting will be on September 26, 2006 in the conference room of the Vanderburgh County SWCD office.

Lauren said she needed ideas for support letters for the Urban & Rural Conservation Tour Grant. It was decided to ask

Pest & Nutrient Management Grant Support Letters

Howell Wetland Grant

The meeting was adjourned:

                    David Ellison made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 p.m.
                    seconded by Wayne Fehd and carried

                                                                                                                        Respectfully submitted,
                                                                                                                        Bonnie Bittner
                                                                                                                        Executive Assistant

Minutes approved on September 26, 2006 by

David Ellison ____________________________ Holly McCutchan___________________________

Lauren Preske____________________________ Wayne Fehd________________________________

Les Nunn________________________________

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