STEPHENSON SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTMinutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors July 21, 2010

Call to Order: Chairman Randy Grunder called the meeting to order of the Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District Board at 6:30 pm on July 21, 2010. The board met at 1620 S. Galena Avenue, Freeport, Illinois.

Roll Call: Present at the time the meeting was called to order were board members Randy Grunder, Barb Klinger, Craig Hessenius, Bruce Baumgartner and Ross Bremmer; associate board members Chuck and Della Moen; District employees Craig Schroeder, Resource Conservationist, and Lorna Chezem, Administrative Coordinator; NRCS employees Jim Ritterbusch, District Conservationist, Neal Koeller, Soil Conservationist; and Terry Kerchner Soil Conservation Technician.  

Approval of Minutes:  Bruce Baumgartner moved to approve minutes of the June SWCD board meeting, seconded by Ross Bremmer. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Bills to be Paid:  Barb Klinger moved to approve the bills to be paid, seconded by Bruce Baumgartner.     Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Employee Time Sheets: Employee time sheets were passed around. Barb Klinger moved to accept the employee timesheets, seconded by Craig Hessenius.      Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Action Items:

Stephenson County Board Report:  Shelia HooperShelia was not in attendance but phoned with the following message – regarding the $25,000 check from the County Board for FY10; it will be arriving around mid-August, because the request letter missed the July meeting by 1day. She emphasized that it will definitely be paid.  

Freeport City Council Report:  Tom Klemm – No Report 

Review and Approval of CRP-CPOs: CRP CPOs:  Jim – None  

Conservation Plans:  JimUpdated plans for George & Pauline Jones/Todd Schlachter operator – Barb Klinger made a motion to approve the updated plans; seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.  

EQIP Update:  Neal

·         Changes from mailed report: Upcoming payments – 3^rd & final for Marvin Kempel; mid payment for Ed Johns and 1^st of 3 made for Hughie Meyer.

·         Neal has had contact with Greenfield’s and he will contact the DNR.

·         There are currently 28 active contracts.

Conservation Stewardship Program:  Jim

All applications have been approved; there were 2 new ones. Field verifications will be completed in the next 2 weeks. There may be a third sign up offered before October 1^st.

Rental Equipment Discussion/Sale /Equipment Committee

Ross and Bruce looked at the equipment after the June board meeting. After discussing again before the July meeting their recommendation is to sell the 750 Drill; 7200 4-row planter; 1560 if reasonable offer is made and tractor/mower after repairs have been made to the mower. The nut planter can also be sold if a buyer could be found. That will leave the district the burn equipment; gator/sprayer; nut picker and huller, two tree planters and a disc.

·         Lorna will make changes to the drafted letter and mail out this week.

·         Offers/bids will be accepted until August 13^th and opened at the August 18^th board meeting.

·         Craig and Jim to work out the date/time for prospective buyers to inspect the equipment.

Invoice for Joe Schubat for Corn Planter:   Craig/Lorna

Lorna or Craig will call and verify that the Schubat’s paid the bill for the 7200 planter repair and deduct the cost from invoice for rental of 7200.

FY10-11 Budget Discussion:   Budget Committee (Randy G/Craig H)

Ross Bremmer made a motion to accept the FY10-11 budget as printed; seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Mike Foutch Update:   Jim

Mike was hired by NRCS in a part-time position for JoDaviess; Carroll and possibly Stephenson Counties to complete field reviews and help with other programs as needed.

Local Work Group:   Jim

Meeting will be the 1^st week of August; Randy Grunder will chair. Jim will call Randy to set the actual day/time. Will use last year’s attendee list and change accordingly. Meeting will be held at the Library or Farm Bureau.  

Finalize Rain Garden Tour Plans:  Della/Craig/LornaLorna has made a press release and will send out. Denise Ihrig has asked to be first on the agenda. Craig will contact Martin Oaks from the Willow Lake Association and ask if he can come.Della asked for parking signs or someone out front to direct traffic to the street behind.  

Approve Reports as Mailed:  Barb Klinger moved to approve the reports as mailed from: Craig Schroeder, Lorna Chezem, Jim Ritterbusch, Neal Koeller and Terry Kerchner; seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Informational Items:

Correspondence:Notice from Illinois Department of Employment Security in regards to Deb Koch’s unemployment benefits; will be filed in Deb’s employee file along with notice from Wisconsin and letter that Illinois office sent to Wisconsin office requesting relief of benefit charges.  Annual Donation request of $300.00 from Blackhawk Hills RC&D – Bruce Baumgartner made a motion to approve the payment/request; seconded by Ross Bremmer. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.   

Other Business:

Personnel Committee will meet at 10:00 on August 10^th at the district office.   Lorna will find evaluation forms. Contracts need to be approved at August Board meeting.

Directors were invited to Open House on August 10^th from 1-3 PM for Terry Kerchner who accepted a Civil Engineering Technician position in the Oregon Field office.

Lorna asked the board for approval to help Martha/CAP with the Keeper’s of the Land at Oakdale on Sept. 14^th and Camp White Eagle on Sept. 16^th; this was given.

Della Moen talked about the DAI partner’s meeting and the good turnout of participants/interest. She will have a report at the August meeting.

Adjournment:

STEPHENSON SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTMinutes of the Meeting of the Board of DirectorsJune 16, 2010

Call to Order: Chairman Randy Grunder called the meeting to order of the Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District Board at 6:30 pm on June 16, 2010. The board met at 1620 S. Galena Avenue, Freeport, Illinois.

Roll Call: Present at the time the meeting was called to order were board members Randy Grunder, Barb Klinger, Craig Hessenius, Bruce Baumgartner and Ross Bremmer; associate board members Chuck and Della Moen; District employees Craig Schroeder, Resource Conservationist, and Lorna Chezem, Administrative Coordinator; NRCS employees Jim Ritterbusch, District Conservationist, and Neal Koeller, Soil Conservationist. Not in attendance - Terry Kerchner.

Approval of Minutes: Bruce Baumgartner moved to approve minutes of the May SWCD board meeting, seconded by Barb Klinger. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Bills to be Paid:  Barb Klinger moved to approve the bills to be paid. Noted that the bills approved do not include the upcoming or bills without a dollar amount, seconded by Ross Bremmer. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Employee Time Sheets: Employee time sheets were passed around. Barb Klinger moved to accept the employee timesheets, seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Action Items:

Stephenson County Board Report:  Shelia HooperShelia was not in attendance but dropped off Stephenson County Board Meeting notes from the June meeting; these were passed.  

Freeport City Council Report:  Tom Klemm

·   Vicki Morrical’s plans were presented to Carl Sandburg.

·  The sink hole at Tutty Baker Park has turned into a major issue; the problem was discovered 21 feet down. Some other projects were cancelled and the grant has been revised and resubmitted for additional funds.

Review and Approval of CRP-CPOs: CRP CPOs:  JimNone

Conservation Plans:  JimNone

EQIP Update:  Neal

Updates from report in board packet include:

·    Carolyn Greenfield, Eugene Iturbide and Aaron Lawler payments have not been made but should be soon.

·   Obert Farms have received payment for Waste Utilization project.

Conservation Stewardship Program:  Jim

Deadline was extended to June 25^th; some of the enhancements were dropped. Three new applications were loaded into the computer – Dennis Manus; Brendon Walsh and Gerald Leary.

Conservation Compliance Update:  Jim

We are really close to being done with the compliance checks for this year: Jim expects that all 31 that were checked will be in compliance.

Conservation 2000 for FY 09/10:  CPP & SSRP:  Craig

·         CRP Waterway projects for Doris Bolen Trust were sent to Marty and then on to IDOA. Lorna received approval to pay these today. One of the waterway projects uses the remainder of the 2008 CPP funds.

·         CRP Waterway project for Dwain Jordan was sent in to Marty and then on to IDOA for approval of payment; have not been given the approval to pay to date

·         5 CRP Waterway projects have been sent to Marty and IDOA for extension of the June 30^th deadline for the FY 09 CPP money. The extensions are needed due to wet conditions these extensions were for Steven & Lois Lenzen, Steve Dornink, Donna Moore, Fluegal Trust and Leslie Brunning Trust. Barb Klinger made a motion to accept the 6 month extension of these projects; seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Rental Equipment Repair Update /Craig

·         Rental Equipment continues to be plagued with breakdowns – pressure springs on the 1560 drill; mower slip clutch; gator has a low tire; welding on the corn planter.

·         Rental equipment is all back; we have one more request for the 1560 Drill by the Dickman’s but they are not ready due to wet conditions and vacation.

·         The Equipment Committee consisting of Ross Bremmer and Bruce Baumgartner will meet with Jim Ritterbusch at the warehouse to look at the rental equipment on Friday June 18^th.

Summer Conference:   Craig/Lorna

·         After discussion with the board it was decided due to cost that Lorna and Craig would not attend Summer Conference this year.

Local Work Group:   Jim

·         No meeting has been scheduled to date. Jim says this will be scheduled in July. The 6 NWIL counties are meeting next week to strategize.

Approve Reports as Mailed:  Ross Bremmer moved to approve the reports as mailed from: Craig Schroeder, Lorna Chezem, Jim Ritterbusch, and Neal Koeller; seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Other Business: 

·         Report from Della on DAI was passed. Some highlighted items were the new director and newly established standalone non-profit status.

·         Chuck Moen as chair of the scholarship committee presented a scholarship application for Jessica Langholf along with the recommendation as Jessica being the recipient of this year’s scholarship. Bruce Baumgartner made a motion to accept the recommendation of Jessica Langholf as the scholarship winner; seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

·         Budget Committee Meeting scheduled for Monday June 21^st at 11:45 in the district office.

·         Craig Schrader brought some LESA applications as examples to clarify steps and scoring; these were passed to board members.

·         Letter from Mike Foutch, former RC in Boone County was read by Craig Schroeder. Mike has been trained and certified as an erosion sediment control inspector and is proposing that he contracts his services in Stephenson and other nearby counties that do not have a certified inspector currently. After much discussion and concerns about the implications for the SWCD, Randy Grunder wanted to know the SWCD tie into the proposal. Della Moen recommended contacting Boone County about their experience with Mike as an employee.

·         Congratulations were given to board member Ross Bremmer and wife Melanie on the birth of their twin boys.

·         Della Moen asked Jim Ritterbusch about the WRP projects noted in his board report. Jim talked about the location of the John Smithe WRP which had been referred to as the Henny Slough in the past.

Adjournment:

STEPHENSON SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors; May 19, 2010

Call to Order: Chairman Randy Grunder called the meeting to order of the Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District Board at 6:30 pm on May 19, 2010. The board met at 1620 S. Galena Avenue, Freeport, Illinois.Roll Call: Present at the time the meeting was called to order were board members Randy Grunder, Barb Klinger, Craig Hessenius, Bruce Baumgartner and Ross Bremmer; associate board member Chuck Moen; District employees Craig Schroeder, Resource Conservationist, and Lorna Chezem, Administrative Coordinator; NRCS employees Jim Ritterbusch, District Conservationist, and Neal Koeller, Soil Conservation Technician. Not in attendance - Terry Kerchner; Della Moen and Rod Slamp.

Approval of Minutes:  Barb Klinger moved to approve minutes of the April SWCD board meeting, seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Bills to be Paid:  Barb Klinger moved to approve the bills to be paid, seconded by Ross Bremmer.  Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Employee Time Sheets: Employee time sheets were passed around. Barb Klinger moved to accept the employee timesheets, seconded by Craig Hessenius.      Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Action Items:

Stephenson County Board Report:  Shelia Hooper·         County Board minutes from May were passed along with an Audubon article about soil.  

Freeport City Council Report:  Tom Klemm·         New Brownfield site – old vinegar works. ·         Vicki Morrical met with Denise Ihrig at Carl Sandburg School and is drawing up some plans.·         No movements in projects due to funding and budget situation.·         Possible re-vamp of the Kodiak concrete re-cycling project in Mill Race.·         Grants are being written for housing.·         Discussed sink hole at Tutty Crossing.  

Stephenson SWCD Update/Review:  Marty McManus·         Projects for cost share dollars – in his drive around Stephenson Co. Marty noticed narrowing waterways. Craig will contact landowners.·         Transect survey for 2010 was cancelled due to budget situation·         Grant agreement project sheet was discussed as far as which dollars to report. Jim will work with Lorna and Craig for the NRCS dollars.·         Request was submitted for additional CPP money for Stephenson Co.; Alan Gulso will review all requests by June 1.    

Review and Approval of CRP-CPOs: CRP CPOs:  Jim·         Waterway CRP’s for Gary Lolling and Betty Ingram Davenport (John Jeschke POA). Filter strip CRP for Bruce Baumgartner. ·         Barb Klinger made a motion to approve all CRP/CPO’s; seconded by Craig Hessenius.  Voting aye: all. Motion passed. 

Conservation Plans:  JimNone 

EQIP Update:  Neal

The following are additions/changes since Neal’s board report was included in the board packets.

·         Payment was made to Koester Dairy Inc. for waste storage and access road (2009 contract).

·         Simler’s have broken ground for their free stall barn.

Conservation Stewardship Program:  Jim

·         2 new applications were received from Gerald Leary and Denny Manus.

·         Brian Wenzel & son Seth stopped by the office for information and may be applying for CSP.

Conservation Compliance Update:  Jim

·         Everyone has been taking advantage of the nice weather and been doing compliance checks the past 2 days.  Finding some fields very light on residue/stubble and others are really good.

Conservation 2000 for FY 09/10:  CPP & SSRP:  Craig

·         One LESA was completed and passed for Kory Wheat

·         2 Well Decommissioning applications were passed for approval – Randy Baker and Bernard Lischwe.  ·         Barb Klinger made a motion to approve both applications; seconded by Bruce Baumgartner.  Voting aye: all. Motion passed. 

Rental Equipment Discussion/Review:   Lorna/Craig

·         Invoicing for Joe & Cathy Schubat was discussed since they went above and beyond their responsibility in picking up the drill from McConnell and fixing it while they were using.

·         Equipment committee will review all equipment after the rental season and meet to discuss possible sale.

Local Work Groups:   Jim

·         Meeting will be held in July or August.

Approve Reports as Mailed:  Barb Klinger moved to approve the reports as mailed from: Craig Schroeder, Lorna Chezem, Jim Ritterbusch, Neal Koeller and Terry Kerchner; seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Informational Items:Correspondence:·         Thank-you letter from CAP was read.·         Sponsor request from CAP for Barn Tour was read. Barb Klinger made a motion to sponsor this year’s Barn Tour ($250.00); seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.·         Thank-you from Open Bible for the Farmer George Book was read.·         Check signing schedule was reviewed.·         Letter from Un-Employment for Job Fair was read. It will be thrown away; as we will not be participating.  

Other Business: 

·         New Executive Director was appointed for DAI.

·         Summer Conference – Lorna and Craig recommended not attending due to cost and funding issues.

·         Earth Team letters were presented to Chuck for himself and Della; along with a coin purse.

·         4 State Conservationists were in attendance at Earth Day celebration at Chestnut Mountain.

·         Clean Sweep chemical program forms were distributed to board members.

Adjournment:

STEPHENSON SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors

February 17, 2010

Call to Order: Chairman Randy Grunder called the meeting to order of the Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District Board at 6:30 pm on February 17, 2010. The board met at 1620 S. Galena Avenue, Freeport, Illinois.

Roll Call: Present at the time the meeting was called to order were board members Randy Grunder, Rod Slamp, Craig Hessenius and Bruce Baumgartner; District employees Craig Schroeder, Resource Conservationist, and Lorna Chezem, Administrative Coordinator; NRCS employee Jim Ritterbusch, District Conservationist; also in attendance Ross Bremmer.

Approval of Minutes:  Rod Slamp moved to approve minutes of the January SWCD board meeting, seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Bills to be Paid: After discussion to remove the Illinois Forestry Association bill of $50.00 for dues and add the payment for the NWIL Forestry Association dues of $15.00; Bruce Baumgartner moved to approve the bills to be paid, seconded by Craig Hessenius. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Employee Time Sheets: Employee time sheets were passed around. Rod Slamp moved to accept the employee timesheets, seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Action Items:

Stephenson County Board Report:  Shelia Hooper·         No report

Freeport City Council Report:  Tom Klemm·         A meeting was scheduled to discuss the water problem and solution for Carl Sandburg School but was not held due to illnesses.

Review and Approval of CRP-CPOs: CRP CPOs:  Jim

• (3) CPO’s were passed for approval – wetland for Terry Price; and waterways for Richard Plager and Gordon Poppen/Poppen Brothers. Craig Hessenius moved to accept the CPO’s, seconded by Bruce Baumgartner. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

EQIP Update:  Jim

·         Started batching periods, some applications funded – waste storage structures for Roger Hull and Darius Simlar and trees for Bob Meeks.

Annual Meeting re-cap:   Lorna/Craig

·         Total Expenses $1460.43 (includes Food and Room Deposit $1205.18; Trophies $137.00; Farm Sign $75.00 and Ribbons $43.25)

·         Ticket Sales -$542.00 (43 adult tickets and 4 children)

·         Total Cost $918.43

·         (NOTE: 28 complementary tickets given out/cost $336.00)

Election Material that needs signatures:   Lorna

·         Election materials were passed for signatures. Lorna will send in as appropriate.

2010 Programs Update:   Lorna/Craig

·         As of 2/17/10:

Fish – 5 orders totaling $1274.00 (526 fish)

Trees – 18 orders totaling $1380.00 (1045 trees, 4 bundles of flags, 100 tree tubes and 5 tree mats)

Rain Barrels – 14 sold total $910.00 (4 additional orders not picked up or paid.)

Composters – 6 sold total $690.00

The rain barrels and composters were delivered on 2/12/09 along with 2 TC, 2 Gray, 1 Blue, 1 Black and 2 composters for consignment sales. One of the rain barrels will be lent to Carroll County for an event. One composter will be set up for office display and used at the JOYs of Gardening on Feb. 20^th.

NOTE: Consignment e-mails will be completed on the 2^nd and 4^th Monday of each month will restock and invoice at that time.

·         Craig ordered 1000 trees for Martha/Colby Smith Memorial. Cost will be $155.00 for trees & $40.00 shipping; delivery will be on April 9^th, Martha has assembly scheduled for the 14^th.

NRCS Computer Issue:  Jim/ Lorna

·         Jim was asked to check with Bob Dean about being tied into a decision to stay on for the time being which will allow the district to get information and cost estimates. Lorna was asked to make appointments with several local providers and have cost estimates for the board to review at the March meeting.

·         NOTE/Update from above action: Jim did contact Bob but found that if we commit to staying we would be charged the seat cost for 2010. Jim, Craig and Lorna talked it over and given the discussion at the February board meeting an e-mail was sent to Bernita Clark saying that Stephenson County would not be staying on.

Contribution Agreement:  Jim

·         Craig put together numbers for approximately $5000.00 for contribution agreement.

Conservation Stewardship Program:   Jim

NIDA Report:   Jim

·         Jim will attend a meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 18.

LWG/Implementing Local Funding:   Jim

·         Local Work Group meeting will be scheduled in the next couple of months. EQIP funding will be based on Local Work Group discussion/outcome.

Approve Reports as Mailed:  Craig Hessenius moved to approve the reports as mailed from: Craig Schroeder, Lorna Chezem, Jim Ritterbusch, and Terry Kerchner; seconded by Rod Slamp. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Other Business: 

• LESA completed by Craig was passed for informational purposes only; this promoted a discussion about the rating system for LESA’s.
• Press release and newspaper article from “Shopper’s Guide” in regards to distribution of “Farmer George Plants a Nation” books to schools was passed. This promoted a discussion about doing this again next year and picking a different age level book. Bruce Baumgartner picked up some information about children’s books/website & ordering that Lorna will pass on to Martha the next time she is in the office.
• The board members and staff present at the February meeting thanked Rod for his years and dedication as a board member. Rod Slamp has decided to be added as an Associate Board Member.

Adjournment:

Having no other business, Chairman Grunder adjourned the meeting at 8:10 pm. 

Barb Klinger, Treasurer/Secretary                                            Notes recorded by Lorna Chezem