MINUTES

USDA Service Center

Jefferson City, Missouri

March 14, 2006

 

 

Present

Steve Oetting, President

Bruce Biermann, Area I

Not Present

Ernie Calvert, Area VI

Harry Robbins, Area VIII

Tom Lambert, Area II

Kenny Lovelace, Area III   

Eli Mast, Past President

Beverly Dometrorch, Area IV        

George Engelbach, Area V

Fred Feldmann, Area VI

 

David Dix, Treasurer                      

 

Peggy Lemons, Exec. Director     

 

Steve Radcliff, Area II Alternate

Kathryn Braden, Taney County/SWDC Commission

Roger Hansen, NRCS State Conservationist

Bill Wilson, DNR Program Staff

 

Richard Hoelscher, Area V Alternate

 

 

 

 

Vice-President Beverly Dometrorch welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.  Additions were made to the agenda that was originally distributed.

 

MDC REPORT:  Brad McCord was not in attendance.

 

NRCS REPORT:  Roger Hansen reported he had attended a meeting earlier in the day with the St. Louis SWCD Board discussing the closure of that field office.  They will be moving to the St. Charles County Field Office by the end of April which is when the lease on the building ends.  Mr. Hansen stated he will be informing the Senators and Congressmen who represent St. Louis County.  He also stated that if for some reason it is decided that there should be a field office in St. Louis County then they will look for new space in St. Louis County.  He stated the SWCD Board seems to understand the need to do this and at this time there seems to be no controversy.  Mr. Hansen stated he is proposing to close only this one office, even if FSA decides to close more than that.

 

COMMISSION REPORT:  Bill Wilson stated they are working on the schedule for Area Meetings, this will be discussed later in the meeting.  A conference call is being scheduled for Monday, March 20, 2006, at 8:00 a.m.  This is due to a request from Senator Cauthorn to discuss the cancelled check policy.    

 

Bill also stated that Director Childers has selected 5 Soil & Water Districts for awards:  St. Charles for Info/Ed, Saline for Progress in Sheet & Rill Erosion, Harrison for Progress in gully Erosion, Oregon for Grassland Practices, and Webster for SALT Programs.  A display has been developed to put up at District annual meetings with information on accomplishments through the sales tax funds.  The new district brochure will also be available for districts to distribute.  The next commission Meeting is scheduled for May 23 in Jefferson City.

 

DISTRICT EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION REPORT:  No report.

 

Steve Oetting arrived and a quorum was established.  Mr. Oetting took over the chair of the meeting.

 

The minutes from the November 28, 2005 and November 30, 2005 meetings were approved as mailed.  The motion was made by Tom, seconded by Beverly.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

David distributed a treasurer report.  One report is for 2005 calendar year.  The other report is a calendar year report for 2006 to date.  He also distributed a copy of the breakdown of the costs for MASWCD for the Training Conference at Tan-Tar-A.  97 have paid in full and 1 has paid partial state dues.  There were also financial reports for the MOCREP funds and the CRP-BOB funds.  One of the CD’s for the CRP-BOB funds was cashed in and put in the checking account to continue to pay the incentive payments to landowners.  Bruce Biermann stated he had received the refund check on his airfare to Chicago which he could not attend due to medical problems.  A motion was made by Bruce, seconded by Kenny, to approve the Treasurer Report as presented.  Motion carried unanimously. 

 

Old Business:

The Board reviewed the Training Conference and discussed the issue of when to hold the business meeting part of the conference this year.  Bill Wilson stated that the most hotel rooms were reserved for Monday night during the conference.  Tuesday morning may be a good time to schedule the business meeting.  It was also discussed that more training needs to be included for supervisors.  Bill Wilson stated that the certification program for supervisors is still in the works and there will be some kind of supervisor training at the conference this year.

 

Those who attended the NACD National Meeting gave a brief overview of the meeting for the board.  Peggy, Fred and Steve Oetting all attended.  Steve reported that there was a change in the leadership in NACD at the meeting in that the 1st Vice-President was not moved into the President-Elect position.  Due to this, the 2nd Vice-President was elected at President-Elect and then Steve Robinson of Ohio was elected as 2nd Vice-President.  The building NACD owned in League City was finally sold.  Steve stated that NACD is relying more on quota dollars in their budget.

 

A report showing the NACD quota paid for NACD’s fiscal year 2006 which started October 1, 2005 was reviewed.  The board discussed the importance of districts paying NACD quota and also the importance of people buying individual memberships.

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

New Business:

Kathryn Braden and Steve Radcliff, newly elected President and Vice-President of the Missouri Association of RC&D Councils, gave a short presentation on what the RC&D Councils do.  There are 2 new RC&D Council areas in Missouri and a third is in the works.  RC&D Councils are under the direction of NRCS which provides some funding to hire a coordinator.  The remaining funding comes from grants and administrative funds from grants.  Ms. Braden gave an example of how RC&D’s can help solve community issues or problems.

 

Peggy gave an update on the Citizens Committee for State Parks and Soil Conservation.  The committee has been fully organized and is actively fund-raising now.  The decision of when the sales tax renewal will be on the ballot has not been made yet.  After discussion, a motion was made by Bruce, seconded by Fred, to contribute $5,000 to the Citizens Committee.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

Steve Oetting reminded Areas 2-4-6-8 that they will need to have a nominating committee to develop a slate of nominees for Area Director and 2 alternates for the Area Meetings in May.  The dates for the Area Meetings has been moved up due to the possibility of having the tax renewal on the August ballot.  A copy of the dates and locations of the meetings was distributed to the board.  Bill Wilson stated that the buildings had all been reserved, they were still working on a few of the caterers for the meal.  The schedule is for a 2-hour meeting with 1 hour allocated for MASWCD report, election, and tax renewal discussion.  The other hour will be partner reports and may include some type of media information.  During the MASWCD report it will be a good time to discuss the timing of the business meeting at the Training Conference and also the importance of having a quorum at the meetings.

 

Steve Oetting reported that a committee had been organized to work on salary levels for district employees.  Currently Fred Feldmann is serving on the committee.  Peggy requested at least one more board member serve on the committee.  Beverly and George both volunteered to serve on the Salary Committee.  The next meeting date has not been set yet, waiting on the name of the Commissioner who will be asked to sit in with the committee.  The board discussed why state employees were being considered for a 4% pay increase but nothing was included in the budget for district employees.  A 4% increase for district employee salary would take $280,000.  There is a consideration that districts need more money than that, that each district should have a minimum of $50,000 instead of $44,000.  If $6,000 were added to each district it would take $684,000.  After much discussion a motion was made by Fred Feldmann to work with the legislature to add the $684,000 to the district assistance budget for the FY-07 budget.  This motion was seconded by Kenny Lovelace.  Motion carried unanimously.  It was mentioned that there may not be that much money in the tax fund, but additional funds for district assistance will be pursued.

 

Peggy reviewed the plans for the Education Seminar meeting later today and tomorrow morning at the Capitol.

 

Steve Radcliff stated that the Urban Committee planned to meet the next day at 10:00 a.m. at the DNR Lewis and Clark Building.

 

 

 

 

Area Reports:

George Engelbach stated he had attended the meeting earlier today at the St. Louis office discussing the field office closure.  He has also visited with Franknlin SWCD at their monthly meeting, and that their watershed program was having difficulties at the current time.

Fred Feldmann stated he had been asked to pursue raising the minimum fencing requirement to 4 wire and 16 foot spacing.  Roger Hansen stated that the NRCS specifications are the minimum requirements.  Fred also asked about donating to the

Congressional Tour that NACD is planning.  It was mentioned it might be better to tie into tours already being planned by congressional staff.

Kenny Lovelace stated he had sent the counties in his area information about himself and how to reach him if they had any issues or concerns.

Tom Lambert stated he was planning for their annual meeting.  The district technician in Harrison County died suddenly at the age of 52, was very difficult for those employees who worked with him.

Bruce Biermann stated he had talked to some of hs counties to let them know who he was.

 

A motion was made by Beverly Dometrorch to go into closed session pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo 2000 (as amended), to discussion personnel actions under §610.021(3), RSMo.  This was seconded by Tom Lambert.  Roll call vote: George Engelbach, yes; Fred Feldmann, yes; Kenny Lovelace, yes; Beverly Dometrorch, yes; Tom Lambert, yes; Bruce Biermann, yes; Steve Oetting, yes.

 

The motion to end close session was made by Beverly Dometrorch, seconded by Bruce Biermann.  Roll call vote: George Engelbach, yes; Fred Feldmann, yes; Kenny Lovelace, yes; Beverly Dometrorch, yes; Tom Lambert, yes; Bruce Biermann, yes; Steve Oetting, yes.

 

A motion was made by Tom Lambert to approve a yearly wage increase for the Executive Director according to the NRCS increase effective January 1 each year.  This was seconded by Bruce Biermann.  Motion carried unanimously.  This was followed by a motion by George Engelbach to increase the retirement from $100 per month to $125 per month effective January 1, 2006.  This was seconded by Beverly Dometrorch.  Motion carried unanimously.  A motion was made by George Engelbach to approve the replacement of the laptop computer and accessories up to a limit of $2,000.  This was seconded by Beverly.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

Correspondence:  None

 

Other Business:  The Board discussed the recent decision of the commission concerning Stone County SWCD.  Letters were received from 2 of the Stone County SWCD Board Supervisors concerning this decision.  After discussion a motion was made by Bruce Biermann to send a letter to the Commission requesting clarification on the decision and the procedure involved in making the decision.  This was seconded by Kenny Lovelace.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next regular meeting will be held in the latter part of June.  A date will be set and the Board notified.  If possible it will be set to coincide with another meeting or event to save on travel time and expense.  There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.  Motion for adjournment made by Tom, seconded by Kenny.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted,           

 

                                                             Peggy Lemons, Exec. Director

                                   

 

 

                                  

Steve Oetting, President