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Minutes of Regular
Meeting Present:
SWCD Personnel: GUEST: Kay Hoffherr, Central High School Teacher The minutes of the April meeting were mailed to each member prior to the meeting. Les Nunn made a motion to accept
the April minutes as mailed, The minutes were passed for supervisor signatures. Dave Ellison asked the board to refer to the April financial report. The previous balance on 4-1-05 was $26,140.39 Receipts, $501.97, Debits $752.65 and the balance as of 4-30-05 was $25,889.71. A motion was made by Les Nunn,
seconded by Lauren Preske, and carried, The following claims were submitted for Supervisors’ approval: APRIL CLAIMS NOTE: the Auditor
paid the following claims: Les Nunn checked the claims saying they were in order. Les Nunn made a motion to approve
the claims, seconded by Les passed the claim registers for the supervisors’ signatures. Chairman, Dave Ellison introduced Kay Hoffherr. Kay thanked the board and staff for paying her teams’ registration fee to the regional and state Envirothon. She brought thank you letters from each student on the two teams, their score sheets at state and their presentation tri-fold board. Team 2 who won 1st in our regional contest came in 13th in the state test, 3rd in presentation and overall 5th in the state. Team #1 who came in 4th in our regional contest came in 12th in the state test and 17th over all. Kay will be teaching an Advanced Environment Science class next school year and asked members and staff if she could call on them to speak to her class. Kay also told the board she thought the Leopold Workshop was excellent. She got so much out of it for her new class she will be teaching. She explained how she got the Leopold books for her class and told the board she was prepared to ask them to purchase them for her if her plan didn’t work. Bonnie asked her to leave the presentation board so she could take a picture and put it on the website. She also wants her to display it at Annual Meeting; Kay and the students will be invited. OLD BUSINESS: Bonnie passed a copy of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture Strategic Plan for 2025 and a copy of the power point presentation when the plan was rolled out. Darrell said he was invited to a meeting with Jane Hardisty and Gail Pease. Gail Pease is the director of the Division of Soil Conservation that is now part of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA). She is a former SWCD employee, DNR Resource Specialist and then worked for Farm Service Agency. ISDA is starting in deficit and it is up to the partners to make them look good. Les Nunn asked about Jane Hardisty. Darrell said she has the ear of the chief and is always on the cutting edge of things. BUSINESS PLAN Bonnie reported she and Fred Padget are trying to contact Keep Evansville Beautiful. Bonnie sent two e-mails asking for a representative to attend the board meeting. We read in the paper that the director quit and then in a following article about another matter referred to her as director of Keep Evansville Beautiful. Bonnie will call if we do not hear from staff. Preservation/Creation Natural Areas Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson Darrell reported Mike Linderman asked him to assist in a project they are doing with Stanley Hall Students at Angel Mounds. They are working on a wet spot. The students ordered an exotic seed for the 3.2 acre spot and the bill came to $5,000. The teacher called to see if anything could be done. Darrell sent the specs to Dave Stratman, NRCS State Biologist who corrected the type of seed and amount. Tenbarge Seed took the seed back and ordered the right type of seed ($300) for Wetland Plants. They planted the spot last week using Gibson County’s no-till drill Farmland Preservation – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson Brown Field and Urban Land Use Committee – Les Nunn, Chairperson Legislative Committee – John Hahn, Chairperson Finance Committee – Holly McCutchan, Chairperson Darrell reported he and Bonnie visited three stores to check out projectors and we are also checking on line. We will have a proposal for the June board meeting. Bonnie passed the Banner design and asked for suggestions. Several different ideas were proposed but then consensus was to stay with the original design. We are trying to have it ready for the Scott Twp. Park Grand Opening. District Operation Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson Norma asked board to let her know of anything they wanted to present at the Commissioners’ meeting for department heads. The state Envirothon was one suggestion at the meeting. Board and staff were reminded they are welcome at Evening on the River a benefit for the Greenway on June 10th from 6:00 to 10:00. They will have food, drinks, entertainment, carriage rides and a silent auction. The cost is a donation of $50.00 per person. Reservations are due June 3rd. Bonnie asked members to decide who will be attending the NACD North Central Region Meeting in Fort Wayne July 10th to the 13th. Supervisors and staff should make their own hotel reservations that need to be in by noon on June 20th. Contact Bonnie and she will send in your reservations for the conference. NEW BUSINESS Norma said she is in the process of getting info together for Pickin’ on the Pigeon, which Darrell and Rob will do. They are taking the Enviroscape and a ground water display. Les Nunn said he will check his schedule and may be able to help. It was suggested we check with Amy Brown on number of tables we will need. Bonnie said she spoke to Brenda Jeffers and we will be sharing space with W.A.V.E. Norma reported she will be giving a presentation for Professional Technical Institute (PTI) again this fall. The Lorman Education Services (Ms. Hoffmeister) contacted her to give a presentation at the workshop they are doing in Evansville November 17th. The seminar will be on Current Issues In Storm Water Regulation in Indiana. It will be marketed to Southwest Indiana a portion of Kentucky and Ohio. We can give Ms. Hoffmeister suggestion for speakers. Preservation/Creation Natural Areas Committee – Lauren Preske, Chairperson There will be a Go Fish Workshop July 16th to train adults in the Go Fish Program. More details to come. Darrell said when he attended the staff and supervisor training in Jasonville this spring Extension handed out a booklet citing success stories in different counties. They had a Smart Growth Seminar in Lake and Porter Counties. Ag land is being developed 30% faster than any other. They brought in nationally recognized speakers in the Smart Growth arena to present strategies, best management practices and other tools to community planners, local officials, and citizen groups. Bonnie has acquired some information and will contact Porter & Allen County for more. We just need to decide when, where and what. We will invite the surrounding counties to partner with us. Darrell reported staff is interested in sponsoring a Landscape Best Management Practice Seminar and Holly is working on the details. Holly would like to find a suitable subdivision or spot for a Wetland Septic System. She is making calls to see what we can come up with. Farmland Preservation – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson Brown Field and Urban Land Use Committee – Phil Hoy, Chairperson Bill Jeffers commented at the April board meeting we talked about thanking Rural King for taking over the St. Joe Avenue K-Mart that has been vacant for a number of years. He suggested we send a letter to the East side 20 acre site that is being developed right now. Darrell suggested we might want to think about giving them the Urban Award at our Annual Meeting. Legislative Committee – John Hahn, Chairperson Finance Committee – Holly McCutchan, Chairperson Les Nunn made a motion to
replenish Petty Cash for $35,42 to bring the The Leopold books that Kay Hoffherr was going to ask the district to purchase for her were purchased by Central High School. Norma reported she talked to Susan at Solid Waste and they have decided not to have a booth at the fair this year. In the past we have shared a booth and the expense of the booth. After some discussion about the importance of a presence at the fair and how and when someone needed to be there it was decided to have a booth this year. Les Nunn made a motion to pay for
a fair booth, seconded by Lauren District Operation Committee – Wayne Fehd, Chairperson At that time she asked Ms. Beckdol if she thought Andy Miller would speak at our Annual Meeting in February 2006. She said she didn’t know why not and they felt certain they would still be around. Bonnie asked the board if they wanted her to pursue asking Andy Miller to speak at our Annual Meeting. They all agreed he would be a good one. Bonnie also asked if they wanted Annual Meeting on Tuesday February 21 or 28th or Wednesday February 22nd. Ash Wednesday will be March 1st in 2006. After some discussion they decided February 28th could be fun since it will be fat Tuesday. Bonnie asked members to refer to copies in their packets of the Accountability Form for the $10,000 districts get from the state. They agreed it was acceptable and ready to be sent to IASWCD. Dave asked members to look over Rob Brown’s report and direct any questions to Rob via e-mail or phone. A discussion on the future of MS4s in regard to the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the boards’ ability to contact the County Commissioners about tweaking the Construction Site Storm Water Runoff Control draft ordinance which is on line under the surveyor’s website and sites that are out of compliance.. Dave asked members to look over Norma Duckworth’s report and direct any questions to Norma via e-mail or phone. The Inspection & Mileage Log were in members packets for review. Darrell reported he has 15 Environmental Quality Improvement Programs (EQIP), 2 Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP), 3 Wetland Reserve Programs (WRP) and 20 Farm Service Agency (FSA) compliance status reviews. The Governor approved funding for the Pigeon Highland Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Darrell hopes the funding is in place in the next year or two. County Employee time sheets were passed for review and signature. Dave Ellison set the date for the next board meeting on June 22, 2005, 2:00 p.m. in the Vanderburgh County SWCD conference room. Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Bittner MINUTES APPROVED ON June 22, 2005 David R. Ellison _______________________________ Les Nunn ______________________________________ Wayne Fehd ________________________________ Holly McCutchan ________________________________ Lauren Preske ___________________________________ |
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