Draft Minutes

MISSOURI ASSOCIATION OF SOIL

AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

60^TH ANNUAL MEETING

TAN-TAR-A RESORT

OSAGE BEACH, MO

December 2, 2008

The 60^th Annual Meeting of the Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts was called to order by President Fred Feldmann at 8:30 a.m. at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO.

Roll call: Roll call and establishment of a quorum, 76 of 107 possible paid districts were present. Introduction of Area Directors and those on the podium. Sharon Oetting is taking minutes in the absence of Peggy Lemons. Ronny Margason will be the Parliamentarian.

Minutes: Motion was made by Newton County and seconded by Gasconade County to approve the minutes as mailed. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer’s report was presented and moved to accept by Bates County and seconded by Bollinger County. Motion passed.

Commission: There was no Commission report.

NRCS Report: Roger Hansen gave the NRCS report. He noted that with the changes in administrations there would be change. At this point we would have to wait to see where the new appointees would decide to put their focus. 2009 will hold new policies and new budget priorities. NRCS is currently funded through March 6, 2009. They will be looking at the 2010 budget. There will also be new competition for budget dollars. NRCS has 400 employees with most office having 1 less employee that previously. Whether the current level can be maintained is something we will have to wait to see. Ten employees will retire January 3, 2009 and at present NRCS will stay put until they can see what the remainder of 1009 and 2010 budgets will show. There was a lot of flooding in 2008.

There have been five major flood events since March 2008. Most of the state had 50-60” of rain resulting in much damage. The Emergency Watershed Fund will provide $40 million for damage repair. That money was received in mid-October. Those dollars will help pay staff while it will take more than a year to do necessary repair and remove debris.

A big challenge facing NRCS at present is their first fullscale audit. There have been many small audits but with a national budget exceeding $4 billion, OMB has seen the need for a large annual audit. For 2008 everything will be looked at. An error rate of 58% has been found and NRCS has 30 days to go through 7000 contracts, double checking signatures and other requirements. District staff may be asked to assist with contacting landowners and obtaining information and signatures required. NRCS can rent office to state agencies only which includes district staff but must include a copy of legislation with that information stating they are a state agency. The Auditor also wants a hard copy of electronic signatures. Most errors were missing or incomplete documentation.

He noted that the training conference theme was “Building Something Great Together”. This is something that has been done over the year with the passage of the Soils and Parks Tax. He felt that NRCS has worked well with districts. Be proud of what has been done so far.

Conservation on the land is a reality in Missouri. This is the 14^th time he has had the opportunity to address this group. Thank you to the districts for working together with NRCS and for what we have been able to accomplish together. Keep up the good work.

Approve agenda: Motion was made by Carroll County to approve the agenda with addition of the Bylaws Amendment discussion. Seconded by Jefferson County. Motion passed.

President’s Report: In the essence of time, President Feldmann elected to forego his report.

NACD Report: Deb Bogart, NACD staff from Colorado stated that she would have more information to share in her session this afternoon. NACD is working on commenting on the farm bill rules and working on appropriations. They are also going to be watching program administration changes. She thanked Missouri for their participation in NACD.

SOIL AND WATER RESOLUTIONS See attachment A -all November 2008 Training Conference Resolutions.

Resolution #1: #01 from Warren County urged the MASWCD to work in cooperation with DNR to change MO Statute Chapter 278, Soil Conservation, Section 278.110.4 to allow for supervisor expenses incurred as well as health insurance through the district provider as long as such insurance is paid for 100% by the supervisor. Warren County presented this resolution and moved to accept. Daviess County seconded the motion. The motion was amended by Maries County to substitute “MO DNR provider” for “(MCHCP)”. The second was made by Jefferson County. Amendment passed. Amended motion passed.

Resolution #2: #02 from Vernon County would require 62% of the money allocated for soil and water districts from the Parks and Soils Tax go to cost-share with the balance for salaries and administration. Vernon County presented this resolution and moved to accept. Jefferson County had the second. Motion failed on a sign vote of 25 yes to 40 no.

Resolution #3: #03 from Buchanan County would urge the Commission to allow land under an expiring CRP contract, which will be brought into cropland production, to be eligible for state cost share funding during the first year out of the CRP program. Buchanan Count presented this resolution and moved to accept. Daviess County seconded the motion. Benton County amended the motion to read “…brought into cropland production or pasture,”… Maries County seconded the motion. Amendment passed. Resolution as amended passed by 52 for and 18 opposed.

Resolution #4: #04 from MASWCD would request that DNR provide an itemized financial report each fiscal year by August 1. Marion County moved and Jefferson County seconded the motion. Resolution passed with 61 in favor.

Resolution #5: #05 from MASWCD would request the Commission and DNR to use the available reserve funds to allow continuous operation of the cost-share program. Marion County moved and Jefferson County seconded the motion. Motion passed 74 to 0.

Floor Resolutions:

Resolution #06: #06 was brought to the floor by Barton County that would have lent support for budget development authority to be statutorily place with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Commission. Barton County moved to accept this resolution and Livingston County seconded the motion. The vote to bring this resolution to the floor failed.

The meeting recessed for a 15 minute break.

Bylaws Amendments

The Parliamentarian explained the function of the bylaws. They should be use friendly by the organization. Ms. Margason read through the suggested changes noting that the majority of them were of a “housekeeping” nature. These changes are considered amendments as a revision must encompass more than a 50% change.

Bollinger County moved to accept the Amended Bylaws as read and the motion was seconded by Barton County.

Gasconade County moved that

“The revision of the Bylaws be postponed until the next annual meeting under the order of New Business.”

The rationale was that he did not receive the proposed amendments until the previous Saturday and they would be well advised to send out such changes in the appropriate and proper time frame.

The Parliamentarian stated that if delegates did not receive the bylaws amendments in the time required, they are invalid and cannot be voted on. A show of hands was requested of those that did not receive the bylaws amendments at all or 10 days ago.

Jefferson County moved to amend the motion by removing the date and Lafayette County seconded it.

Howard County called the question.

Had a motion to close debate. Took a standing vote with 2/3 needed to close debate. Passed with 66 voting in favor of closing debate.

Call to vote on the amendment to the motion: “to remove the date”. Vote was 20 to remove and 38 to leave the date. Amendment failed.

Bollinger County restated the original motion to vote to accept the Bylaws Amendments as read. Howard County called the question. Point of order by Jefferson County to need discussion on bylaws changes. Vote to close debate passed with 69 in favor.

Jefferson County moved to table the motion. Privilege motion takes precedence over the motion on the floor. Only 13 in favor, motion failed. Vote on the main motion to accept Bylaws Amendments as read was 60 yes and 10 no. Motion passed.

Other Business

Jefferson County noted that with the passage of the new bylaws amendments, those elected in an odd year are no longer on the board and those areas have no representation.

New Member Introduction

Ben Gordon was welcomed as the new Director for Area VI.

The reorganizational meeting will be held this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The meeting was adjourned.