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Minutes of Regular Meeting
VANDERBURGH COUNTY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
(SWCD) Office, Evansville, Indiana
7:00 p.m., Monday, March 24, 2009

Members Present:                                                                             SWCD Personnel:
David Ellison, Chairman                                                                      Norma Duckworth (Absent)
Davie Sue Wallace Litov, Vice-Chairman                                         Bonnie Bittner
Laura Lamb, Secretary (Waiting for State Board Confirmation)
Maurice Berendes, Member (Absent                                                 NRCS:
Wayne Fehd, Member                                                                          Darrell Rice
Tom Niksch, Associate                                                                         Lindsay Martinez
Mike Ruder, Associate
                                                                                                                 ISDA:
                                                                                                                 Ken Eck

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

David Ellison asked the board to refer to the February financial report. The previous balance 02-01-09 $46,310.26
Receipts, $2,711.99, Debits $1,231.65 and balance as of 02-28-09 $47,790.60

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

Chairman, David Ellison asked members, staff and guests to introduce themselves. He welcomed our guests and
asked them to attend our meeting anytime.

OLD BUSINESS:
Natural Resource Committee: David Ellison, Chairpersons
Darrell reported he is working on Ray Steinkuhl and Marvin Schmitt’ s Lake and River Enhancement (LARE) projects,
Mike Thomas submitted bills for his project and he has one new application.

Darrell reported on our Tillage Plot. Curt Stahl is partnering with Gypsoil brokering Group to get a good base data on
scientific data what Gypsoil does with no till. Curt is very interested in working on scientific data for no till.

Davie Sue reported she talked with Ken Eck about doing the SWAT analysis with board members and staff before we
start on our new business plan. We have accomplished about 98% of our five year plan.

Ken also suggested we start with a locally led group and invite the community in for their ideas. Davie Sue offered to put
something together and get it to staff and supervisors. Consensus was to move forward.

Land Use Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
The eight bid packages that were sent out for plumbing and fencing came in too high. Davie Sue is presently working
with some contractors at a local church that are willing to donate their labor if the district can cover the cost of materials.
Toby Nelson who would coordinate the work is willing to sign a contract with the district. Davie Sue will coordinate a
meeting between the contractors and Darrell Rice.

                David Sue Litov made a motion to pursue the volunteer contractors not to
                exceed the original contract price ($4,000) to cover the materials, seconded
                by WayneFehd and carried.

The Oaklyn Library Meadow project was tabled.

The Howell Wetland Project (Water Control Structure) is completed and they are waiting for bills from Happe and
Sons
to submit to the WHIP Program (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) which will pay the remainder of the project.

Gibson, Knox, Posey, Warrick and Vanderburgh Counties sponsored a Bus Tour on March 12, 2009 as a follow up
for the Clean Water Indiana Marketing Grant the counties received to promote No Till. Ken Eck reported it was the
best one he attended. They had 40-45 participants attending the tour. The tour started at the Ray McCormick farm
with Ray showing a field of rye grass and filter strips. Then they convened to his shop where he and Barry Fisher
talked about planter set up. The lunch was held at a local church with a local restaurant catering. From there the bus
traveled to Flora, IL where Mike Plummer, Extension Agent at the University of Illinois and Terry Taylor had an excellent
discussion in Terry’s shop on cover crops, carbon sequestration, etc. Seven counties were represented and by a show
of hand only ½ were doing no till. We were pleased to know the other half were interested enough to attend and learn
more about no till and its advantages.

David asked member to refer to copies in their packets for a copy of the latest Eagle Slough minutes.

USI Connection/Locust Creek Water Monitoring was tabled. Bonnie was asked to get a report from Norma for the
April meeting.

A report from the contract employee, Marvin Zwahlen, Jr. was passed for members to review what he has accomplished
to date. He has 880 acres signed up for the Clean Water Indiana 2009 Sediment and Nutrient Grant Project. We only
have $10,000 in the grant so after a discussion on what to use for a ranking process a committee was established to
decide how to rank the applicants and to move forward.

Davie Sue will put it all on a weighted system spreadsheet; she, Wayne Fehd and Darrell will meet.

                Davie Sue made a motion for the committee to design 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, seconded by Wayne Fehd and carried.

They will also lay out a plan of follow up for the contract employee.

University of Evansville Eagle Slough Soils Project update was tabled.

Education Outreach Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
Laura Lamb explained a little of the history on the project of scanning the district’s old aerial photos and putting
them on disks. She talked to folks downtown to see if they were interested in contributing some money to have
them converted to GIS; they were interested but no money is available. After some discussion it was decided
to move ahead with the project in order to have a disk to sell individuals coming into the office wanting to view
the old aerial photos in order to preserve them.

                David Sue made a motion to invest $1,840.20 to have the 40s, 50s, 60s & 70
                Aerial photos scanned and put on disk at 400 pixel level, seconded by Wayne
                Fehd and carried.

David asked members to refer to copies in their packets of a report Bonnie put together for three bids gotten
to print the Pet Waste Brochure Norma designed and a report Norma put together of who she would distribut
them to and how many. After some discussion

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to contract with Kwik Kopy to print a 1,000
                Brochures at a cost of $495.00, seconded by Davie Sue Litov and carried.

David asked members to refer to a copy in their packets of a letter from Steve Griffin with Rockford Map Publishers
to answer the questions they directed Bonnie to ask at the February board meeting. After some discussion

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to sign a contract with the Rockford Map Publishers for
                A Vanderburgh County Plat Book paying as we sell them, seconded by Davie Sue
                Litov and carried.

District Operation Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
Bonnie passed out sign up sheets for the County Commissioners/County Council meetings for 2009 asking
members to sign up on the dates they were able to attend and return it to her.

Tom Niksch asked if Annual Meeting could be on a night other than Tuesday next year because that is the State
of the Union Address. After a discussion pros and cons Tom said he would look on the internet to see when the
address will be in 2010.

NEW BUSINESS:
Natural Resource Committee – David Ellison, Chairperson
David asked if anyone had anyone in mind to nominate for 2009 River Friendly Farmer. Since we have some time
before it is due they asked for a list of past River Friendly Farmers for the April Meeting.

Darrell reported before May he will be having a meeting of local movers and shakers to rank EQIP (Environmental
Quality Incentives Program).

Jacob’s Village is a special needs facility on the Westside with some erosion control problems. Some of the sites
will quality for federal programs; others have some rather large gullies that would be good projects for the district.
Davie Sue offered to meet with the Property Manager to assess their commitment.

Whether to have a summer no till meeting was discussed. Darrell suggested two speakers who are willing to come
for over night accommodation and mileage. Alan Stahl is fine with using his barn. Davie Sue said she discussed
partnering with Jeri Ziliak in Posey County at Annual Conference on a summer no-till meeting. It was decided to set
a date for the last of July in the morning with lunch.

Davie Sue reported she visited Seaton Harvest an organic farm garden by the Daughters of Charity. She feels they
have some projects the district could partner on and would like for Darrell to accompany her to check it out.

Land Use Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
David asked members to refer to copies in their packets for the Smart Growth Meeting minutes. Dona Bergman is
applying for a grant.

Education Outreach Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson
Bonnie passed pictures of the new Rain Garden Display with UV coating that is currently displayed at Keep Evansville
 Beautiful on Main Street. Davie Sue reported she and Norma looked at the Adopt a Spot at Covert and Vann for a
possible Rain Garden and will be looking at 4 more spots on Thursday. Norma has convinced some staff at the Mesker
Zoo to put in a Rain Garden and will be meeting with Paul Bousman soon for an okay.

Kay Hoffherr thanked the board for paying the registration fee for her Central High School Team to participate in the
Envirothon this year. They came in 4^th and were so excited because it was their first year to be a part of it. She
reported Central has cancelled their Environmental Science class due to lack of adequate sign up, but she will be
 teaching Chemistry and intends to put a team together. She is interested in getting an Envirothon for Evansville and
intends to talk to teachers in several of the schools. Davie Sue offered to assist in the endeavor. Kay asked the board
if they would accept her as an associate supervisor.

                Wayne Fehd made a motion to accept Kay Hoffherr as an associated supervisor,
                seconded by Davie Sue Litov and carried.

The Water Quality Specialist Report was tabled.

Davie Sue reported she would like for the board to consider purchasing yard type signs saying, "Another Project
by your local Soil and Water Conservation District". Laura Lamb suggested we check with Blaine Oliver in Area
Plan before proceeding.

District Operations Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson
Bonnie gave a report on her findings concerning possibly having the 2010 Annual Meeting at the Career and Tech
Center. They would not be able to commit until fall due to changes in the reservation system. The students do not
cater after hours, but we could bring in an outside caterer. We would have to set up and tear down and donations
are accepted for use of the room. After a short discussion on that and Mike Ruder suggesting he could see about
Central Library it was decided to stay with the Vanderburgh 4-H Center. Bonnie will reserve the date after she hears
from Tom on the state of the union address.

Wayne Fehd checked the Petty Cash report with the Petty Cash, passing the report for supervisors to initial.

Mark Cambron, Coordinator for Four River RC&D passed copies of their newsletter and an activity report. He
explained that he is part of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and before becoming the Four
Rivers RC&D Coordinator he was a District Conservationist in Kentucky. The Four Rivers RC&D is a 501c and
can work with districts on projects that need to take advantage of a 501c and the staff’s help. He has already been
to an Eagle Slough meeting and knows the RC&D has worked on projects with the district in the past. David thanked
him for attending our board meeting, helping the district with projects and told him he is welcome to come anytime.

Darrell reported the County Surveyor requested information on the Emergency Watershed Program, he heard about
from the Warrick County Commissioners. The Vanderburgh County Surveyor has trees in ditches from the winter ice
storm. We have received two Flood easement applications, 4 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
projects have been constructed this spring, 10 Highly Erodible Land (HEL) tracts were selected for program
compliance, 3 new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) applications, 3 Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program (CREP) applications are being processed and 7 new EQIP applications are on hold waiting final rules.

The county employee time sheets were passed for review and signatures by the supervisors.

The April Board Meeting was set for April 28, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., in the Vanderburgh County SWCD conference room.

The meeting was adjourned with a motion.

                Davie Sue 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 4-28-08

David Ellison _______________________________________

Davie Sue Wallace Litov ______________________________

Wayne Fehd _______________________________________

Maurice Berendes _______________________________________

Laura Lamb (waiting for Approval from State Board)