DRAFT MASWCD MINUTES
Regular Meeting
May 10, 2011
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Present |
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Steve
Radcliff, President Tom
Lambert, Area II Kenny
Lovelace, Area III Beverly
Dometrorch, Area IV George
Engelbach, Area V Ben
Gorden, Area VI Director Dan
Greeson, Area VII Mike Kelley, Area VIII David
Dix, Treasurer Peggy
Lemons, Executive Director Not Present Fred
Feldmann, Past President Bruce
Biermann, Area I |
J. R.
Flores, Mari
Gifford, NRCS Bryan
Hopkins, DNR SWCP Director Bill
Wilson, DNR Soil & Water Program Clint
Dalbom, MDC David
Hale, Area VI Alternate Richard
Hoelscher, Sandy
Hutchison, Employees Association |
President Steve Radcliff welcomed everyone and called the
meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
Introductions were made around the room.
Quorum established by roll call.
The minutes from the March 2, 2011 meeting and the February
16, 2011, and March 7, 2011 conference calls were approved as presented. Motion for approval made by Beverly Dometrorch,
Tom Lambert seconded. Motion carried
unanimously (7-0).
A treasurer report was given by David Dix. 92 Districts have paid their MASWCD dues in
full and 1 has paid partial dues. Two
areas are paid at 100%. There are 21
districts who still owe state dues.
Kenny Lovelace motioned the report be approved and filed for audit. George Engelbach seconded. Motion carried unanimously (7-0).
MDC Report: Clint Dalbom is the MDC liaison replacing John
Knudsen. He has worked previously in the
West Plains and
NRCS Report: J. R. Flores asked Mari Gifford to do a short
presentation on the state resource assessment they are currently doing. The purpose of the assessment is to identify
and document the extent and geographical distribution of potential resource
concerns within the state. There are 9
major resource categories and 31 natural resource concerns. They are focusing on 5 land uses / areas –
crop, range, pasture, forest, and other associate ag land. Bryan Hopkins stated that DNR is looking at
the same type of information. In the
future the funding may be targeted to these categories. When asked how the two studies are going to
compare and what can be accomplished with all the analysis information, J. R.
stated that the assessment will identify which resource concerns are priority,
where funding may need to be and where staff needs to be located. They are asking for input from their
partners. NRCS has identified their top
3 concerns on a matrix that will be given to partners, asking for information
to be returned to NRCS as quickly as possible, their report is due by June
1. J. R. also stated that the
Commission Report: Bryan Hopkins stated the Commission Meeting tomorrow should
be a short meeting. He stated it has
been an interesting legislative season this year, he had a lot of discussions
with legislators about the salary document MASWCD had provided.
Employee Association Report: Sandy Hutchison stated she attended the work
group meeting and that she had recently sent out her notes from the
meeting. She had received a lot of
comments back on the report of the presentation of the employee sharing that
was given at the work group. She said it
seems to work for them, but she had talked to another district that is sharing
and it is not working for them. She
suggested we need to go back to the annual report to capture the number of
people newsletters are mailed to, not just the number of times a newsletter is
sent.
Old Business: A budget for 2011 for MASWCD was reviewed and
approved. Motion for approval made by
Tom Lambert, Kenny Lovelace seconded.
Motion carried unanimously (7-0).
The Board reviewed the Education Seminar held in March. The cost of the donuts and coffee seemed
extremely high and they discussed other options for next year. It was stressed that they need to continue to
visit with their legislators through-out the year.
The recent DNR work group meeting was discussed. A copy of the flow chart that was presented
at the work group was distributed along with the notes
The committee working on a new Memorandum of Understanding
for the Districts and NRCS and the Commission has met 3 times and is working on
revisions to the current MOU. A copy of
the proposed changes from DNR and NRCS were reviewed. Steve Radcliff asked for the Board members to
get their comments back to him or Peggy.
The Commission meeting tomorrow will be live-streamed on the
Internet. Steve Radcliff reviewed the
responses he had received on the time-sheet issue that he presented at the last
Commission meeting. He also stated that
Kenny Lovelace had given a short presentation on the need for communication and
working out our problems at the Commission meeting that he felt provided some
good information, however, it was not captured in the minutes for the
Commission meeting.
New Business:
The area meetings for 2011 were discussed. A motion was made by Tom Lambert to have
MASWCD be in charge of the area meetings this year, set the agenda, time and
location. George Engelbach seconded this
motion. Motion carried unanimously
(7-0). There was discussion of whether
to have a joint meeting with the Employees Association or not. It was decided it was up to each Area
Director to hold their meeting as they saw fit for their area. A motion was made by Mike Kelley to provide
$450 for area meeting costs per area.
Beverly Dometrorch seconded the motion.
Motion carried unanimously (7-0).
The Training Conference will be November 28-30 at
Tan-Tar-A. There was some concern about
the meals at the conference due to the new per diem policy by the state. DNR has committed to sponsor the supervisor
cost for the training conference. Bill
Wilson stated that if the meal costs were paid at the time of the registration,
whether separately or in one registration fee, they would be allowed at the
meal cost charged. If meals are paid for
separately at a later date than the registration is paid, then the meals will
be subject to the per diem rates. After
further discussion it was decided to offer a package registration price that
includes all meals, prepaid meal options, a one-day registration for Tuesday
which includes the meals, on-site meals, and registration without meals. There will be late registration fees this
year. A motion was made by Kenny
Lovelace to have late fees of $25 for registration and $5 per meal. Dan Greeson seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously (7-0). The entertainment for the banquet was
discussed. Beverly Dometrorch motioned
to have the Main Street Opry group come back this year and do their country
show. Tom Lambert seconded. Motion carried unanimously (7-0). The board also discussed a barcode scanning
program for registration and tracking attendance at the various workshops and
meetings. Information from one company
was reviewed. The start-up cost for this
would run approximately $6,000 with yearly costs after that of about $750 per
year. It was suggested to check with the
Missouri School Board Association to see what company they use for their
barcode scanning at conferences. Mike
Kelley motioned to continue to pursue further information on the barcode
scanning. Beverly Dometrorch
seconded. Motion carried unanimously
(7-0). Beverly Dometrorch stated she had
heard comments wanting lapel pins given at the conference. Ideas for workshops were discussed. The opening session speaker was discussed, it
was suggested to see if we could get USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, or Senator Roy
Blunt, or Missouri Ruralist editor Jerilyn Johnson.
The speech contest will be sponsored again this year. The topic for 2011 was discussed. Ben Gorden motioned to use the stewardship
theme – Forests for People, More than you can Imagine. Dan Greeson seconded. Motion carried unanimously (7-0).
There is a legislative meeting for NACD scheduled for July
in
AREA Reports: Bruce Biermann was not in attendance.
Tom Lambert stated he had been contacting districts trying
to get them to pay their state dues.
They are saying they don’t have the money. He said it is pretty dry but they are getting
a lot of dirt work done.
Kenny Lovelace stated he had nothing further to report.
Beverly Dometrorch said her area is wet and dry in
sections. She has been attending board
meetings in her districts. Everyone is
waiting to see what DNR is going to do or change. Their concerns are loss of control, salaries,
the technician roll, DNR blocking Internet sites such as the NRCS sharepoint
drive, and DNR dining with the Commissioners and complaining about districts
having food at their board meetings. Her
district had an Arbor Day program with MDC donating the trees, NRCS went to the
schools to help with the program.
George Engelbach stated he doesn’t have anything planted
yet, it is too wet. He mentioned a $100
million lawsuit settlement that may provide something for 3 counties. He said maybe the Commission will say
something about it tomorrow.
Ben Gorden said the water is about right in his area, lots
of grass. He had received a letter from
a county that was upset about a rude phone call from Director Hopkins, but they
are mostly upset about the loss of control.
He had received a letter of grievance against DNR, but the district
wishes to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation. He stated he was not sure that there was
anything we could do with something anonymously.
Dan Greeson stated the water had been positive for his
area. He has not been hearing
complaints. His area seems to have
missed the storms and floods.
Mike Kelley said his area had received 27.4 inches of rain,
there was water everywhere. Things are
basically at a standstill.
Correspondence:
None.
Other Business:
Steve Radcliff suggested each of the Area Directors get a nomination for
the teacher award and the cooperator award this year. The call for resolutions will need to be sent
out in the first part of June. Hopes are
to have registration for the Training Conference on-line in early
September.
The date for the next regular meeting will be in
September. There being no further
business the meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m. Motion for adjournment made by
Mike Kelley, Kenny Lovelace seconded.
Motion carried unanimously (7-0).
Respectfully submitted,
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____________________________ Peggy Lemons, Executive Director |
___________________________ Steve Radcliff, President |