DRAFT MINUTES

57th ANNUAL MEETING

Tan-Tar-A Resort – Salon A

Osage Beach, Missouri

November 30, 2005

 

The meeting was called to order by President Steve Oetting at 8:10 a.m., Wednesday,

November 30, 2005.  

 

Steve Oetting introduced special guests in attendance.

 

Steve Oetting called roll to establish a quorum.  54 Districts are needed for a quorum.  54 Districts answered roll call and established a quorum present.

 

The minutes of the 2004 Annual Meeting were approved as presented.  Motion was

made by Dave Braun of Cole County, seconded by Roger Stueber of Maries County. Motion carried.

 

The treasurer report for the year November 1, 2004 to October 31, 2005 was

given. The report is from Training Conference to Training Conference, however

accounting for MASWCD is calendar year.  A motion was made by Tom Lambert of Daviess County, seconded by Donald Jordan of Buchanan County to approve the Treasurer Report.  Motion carried.

 

Steve Oetting introduced special guest Don Fischer of the Parks & Soils Citizens Committee.  Mr. Fischer encouraged the Districts to thank their legislators for their vote to put the tax renewal on the ballot.  He also stated that each District needs to have a person designated to lead the efforts of the campaign for approval of the sales tax.  Don said the Districts need to take advantage of the opportunities to speak at local meetings of groups and organizations to promote the approval of the sales tax.  The Citizens Committee is in the process of fund raising for funds for advertising on the radio and in the newspapers.  The amount they are looking at needing is $100,000. The Committee is requesting to have the issue placed on the August ballot instead of the November ballot.  He stated that 11.5% of a family’s income is used to purchase food; no other country has this low of a cost for food.  Steve Oetting re-emphasized the importance of having a designated person in each county (maybe the Board Chair) to lead the efforts in the county for promotion of the passage of the tax.  We need to help people understand that the Parks & Soils Tax is different than the Conservation Tax for MDC.

 

Liz Brown gave the Commission Report.  She stated it is important to keep the lines of communication open, that just getting together is extremely important.  She stated that there are 3 new Commission members this year.  They are Kathryn Braden from Taney County, Richard Fordyce from Harrison County, and Baughn Meredith from Pemiscot County.  Ms. Brown stated she enjoyed her involvement in the 2005 Canon Envirothon.  To see the interest in the students makes her feel we have strong leaders coming up.  Last year there was $20.1 million spent in cost-share in spite of the weather.  The district audits are underway. These help us to be accountable and show that we are using the tax in a proper manner.  Several districts availed themselves of the Info/Ed grants.  The third call for these  grantswill be coming up soon.  The new strategic plan is on the web page.  It was approved at the September Commission meeting.  The Commission appreciates the input from the districts into the plan.  The new cost-share program should be better and it will be accessible from almost any computer.

 

Roger Hansen gave the NRCS report.  He stated that it is time for the new budget allocation.  Last year he was worried about the budget until he received funds from the CSP program and it ended up a good budget year.  They have to earn the dollars from the farm bill programs.  He just got the budget for FY-06 and the amount for the farm bill programs is approximately $54 million.  Right now he is $3 million short on funds to pay the staff, but will be able to make up some additional funds through the farm bill programs.  He purchased 111 new vehicles, about 25% of the fleet.  He is looking at filling critical positions, may drop 15 to 20 positions in the state.  He is getting ready to do a study of the field offices.  The closing of 31 FSA offices is temporarily on hold.  This will impact the rest of the office; to stay open there needs to be adequate justification.  There are no mandated criteria at this time, no assigned number of offices.  He stated that we went through this about 10 years ago and it was a painful process.  If he closes any offices the number will be small if any.  If he gets to the point of closing an office, he will bring the district into the discussions as early as possible.  He encouraged the districts to stay attuned to the development of the 2007 farm bill.  They need to communicate what they like and do not like in the current farm bill.  One big debate for the 2007 farm bill is commodity payments versus conservation payments.

 

Steve Oetting gave a President’s Report.  He stated he has enjoyed his work with NACD.  Steve is the NACD Board Member and Fred Feldman is the NACD Board Alternate.  The NACD budget was discussed at their meeting in Atlanta, and then at the Regional Meeting in July the NACD Treasurer John Redding presented the budget spreadsheet.  They have had spending challenges over the last year due to the end of some grants.  Quota collection is very important.  Last year Missouri paid just over $49,000 in quota, but the goal was $51,000.  NACD’s goal is to collect 95% of quota due by 2010.  Steve and Fred presented a power point presentation at the Area Meetings on what NACD does for the districts in Missouri.  That presentation is posted on the MASWCD web site.  Missouri gets $50 million in EQIP and CSP funds due to the help of NACD’s lobbying in D.C.  NACD will also have input into the development of the 2007 farm bill.  He urged the districts to pay quota.  He stated that MASWCD has 5 or 6 meetings per year.  He also emphasized that when things are not quite right in your district to let MASWCD know.

 

Steve Oetting reported that the 2004 resolutions have been incorporated into the MASWCD policy.  There is a copy of the revised policy in the conference packets along with the 2005 resolutions and by-law amendments.

 

Henry Heinze, Resolutions Chairman, announced that Kathryn Braden will be acting as Parliamentarian.  He stated the rules for the resolution process is to limit comments and rebuttal to 2 minutes each.  Steve Oetting explained the background on the proposed by-law amendments.  The intent is to line the MASWCD elections and terms up with NACD terms of 2 years.  Also proposing to elect the NACD Board member and alternate instead of appointing them.  If the amendment passes it will take effect for the 2007 MASWCD officer election. 

 

By-Law Amendment #1.  Dave Braun of Cole County moved to approve this amendment.  This was seconded by Steve Radcliff of Livingston County.  The By-Law amendment passed with a vote of 40 in favor.

 

By-Law Amendment #2.  Fred Feldmann of Vernon County moved to approve this amendment. This was seconded by Tom Lambert of Daviess County.  The By-Law amendment passed with no opposition.

 

Resolution #1, submitted by several counties concerning increasing the District Assistance Grants annually.  Steve Radcliff of Livingston County moved to approve the resolution.  This was seconded by Dave Braun of Cole County.  Resolution passed with no opposition.

 

Resolution #2, submitted by Marion County concerning support for watershed PL-566 program.  Kenny Lovelace of Marion County read and explained the resolution, and moved to approve the resolution.  This was seconded by Jeff Otto of Knox County.  Resolution passed with no opposition.

 

Resolution #3, submitted by Moniteau County concerning supervisor elections yearly. Carl Allee of Moniteau County explained the intent of the resolution, and moved to approve the resolution with the amendment of including it be optional.  This was seconded by Beverly Dometrorch of Howard County.   Dave Braun of Cole County pointed out the concern for opening up the law and that we could end up with more changes than what we want.  George Engelbach of Jefferson County stated that he was concerned that at the legislative level other organizations may push for involvement in our election process.  Ron Hardecke of Gasconade County stated that it would create added costs to have elections yearly and that he was concerned about others than farmers being able to be elected to the SWCD Board.  The vote on the amendment to make this optional failed.  The vote on the resolution failed.

 

Henry Heinze asked for any resolutions from the floor and there were none.

 

The policy will be revised by the resolutions passed.  A motion was made by Steve Radcliff of Livingston County, seconded by Roger McMurry of Howard County to approve the revised policy. Motion carried unanimously, no opposition.

 

Steve Oetting presented tokens of appreciation to the outgoing Area Directors:  Donald Jordan, Laura McKeever and Henry Heinze for their time spent on the MASWCD Board of Directors. Then he had the new Area Directors stand for their induction.  They are: Bruce Biermann from Area 1, Kenny Lovelace from Area 3, and George Engelbach from Area 5. Their duties will officially start at the end of this meeting.  .

 

Dave Braun of Cole County stated that it should be made known at the banquet how important it is to attend the MASWCD business meeting; he knows there are people here from counties that did not answer role call.  It would be a shame if there was no quorum and today came pretty close to that.

 

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 a.m.  The Reorganization meeting will be held in the same room starting at 10:00 a.m.