DRAFT MINUTES

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Frank W. Bratt Ag Center, Jamestown, NY 14701

District Board of Directors' Regular Meeting

December 19, 2002

I.  MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 12:45 P.M.

    A.  Present:

         David Sturges - Chairman     Debra Kelley - Secretary

         Leon Beightol - Treasurer    David Wilson - Manager

         Fred Croscut - Director      Rob Halbohm – NRCS

         Bob Thompson - Vice-Chair    Larry Brown - RC&D Committee

II. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING:

MOTION by Croscut seconded by Thompson to approve the minutes of the November meeting.Carried.

III.TREASURER'S REPORT:

    MOTION by Croscut seconded by Beightol to accept the Treasurer's report     and pay current bills. Carried.

    A.  The following bills were approved for payment:

              SEE ATTACHED

IV. CORRESPONDENCE - None

V.  REPORTS:

    A.  Other Agencies

         1.  RC&D Committee - Larry Brown

              A.  Annual Report

                   1.  Agriculture

                        a.  Matlink Methane Digester - The Digester has been up and running for quite some time now. This project received national recognition. There are others being built across the state now that this one is a success.

                        b.  Great Lakes Grazing - JoAnn got money for the Great Lakes Drainage Basin only. This covers the northern part of Chaut. And Catt. Counties, also most of Allegany County. Wendell Thrush, from Perrysburg has the contract to do the work on this one.

                   2.  Community

                        a.  This Natural Resource Booklet has just been printed. It is just for Chaut. County and lists all of the Outdoors Education Programs in the county. This will be handed out to all of the science teachers to try and make the educators aware of what is being offered.

District Minutes                                                   Page 2.

RC&D (cont.)

                        b.  Naturalist Video - This video is not complete yet. We would like to get people who have a real natural science background in this county to help us with this. We hope to do this in co-operation with SUNY Fredonia.

                   3.  Water Resources - Conewango swamp Project, With the

Wetland Reserve program, this is a bicounty effort between Catt. Co and Chaut. Co. There is WRP Work going on down there now both on the privately owned and NYS owned Wetland on the Conewango. They are trying to get it designated a focus area. This will allow for extra funding, extra effort and extra emphasis for this area.

                   4.  Forestry - Rails-to-Trails, we have a grant application in for the whole RC&D area, which is 5 counties, to do timber bridge work on these Rails-To-Trails Projects. Jim Finncher will be at our January meeting to give us an update on where they are in this county.

                   5.  Expenses - I would like to submit my mileage for reimbursement for attending the council meetings. MOTION by Thompson seconded by Croscut to reimburse Larry Brown for his mileage. Carried!

    B.  Committees - none

    C.  District Conservationist - Rob Halbohm

         1.  HEL Determinations: as of June 10^th we have received 63 Requests for HEL Determinations. We have 60 of them done, but we still need to do conservation plans for all of them. I would like to complete these during the winter months, so we can be ready for the spring work load.

         2.  CAFO Update: On December 10^th I attended a meeting of the review teams. Now there are 25 Certified Planners in New York State. There are 24 conditional Certified Planners in the state, so if things don’t change drastically we should have 49 planners in the state. There are 14 large CAFO farms in New York that do not have plans yet, of these, 6 have consent plans and another 8 have plans in the review process. There are 137 CAFO’s in NYS that have a notice of intent with the DEC. There are 499 medium CAFO’s with a notice of intent. By January 1, 2003 all of the medium CAFO’s have to do one of two things: 1. File an appendix B with the DEC or 2. File for an extension. The DEC recently moved the deadline back for medium CAFO’s til June 30, 2004.

    D   District Field Manager - David Wilson

         1.  Building - We’re just waiting for our certificate of occupancy from the Dept. of State.

         2.  District Trucks - Bid Opening

District Minutes                                                   Page 3.

District Field Manager (cont.)

MOTION by Thompson seconded by Beightol for the purchase of a new Ford F-450 cab & chassis from McFadden Ford and to solicit additional quotes on the truck box. The total price is not to exceed $10,800. Carried!

         3.  AgLand Assessment - We have started this program, we have completed 25 parcels to date.

         4.  Tree & Shrub Program - The books have been printed, we will be collating and stapling them soon. We hope to have them in the mail shortly after the first of the year.

         5.  Envirothon - We have mailed out letters to the schools and we have had a committee meeting. We are hoping for at least one new school this year.

         6.  Jay Gould - MOTION by Croscut seconded by Thompson to end Jay Gould’s seasonal appointment as of December 31, 2002. Carried!

         7.  Vineyard Seeder - Was delivered this week from Wiggers.

    E.  District Secretary

VI. OLD BUSINESS

    A.  Dewey Pit - The pit is almost completed. Dewey’s still have to put a fence up around the pit with signs that say no swimming. The engineer has been out for the final inspection. NRCS Presented Jay with an award for his efforts on this job.

    B.  Appointments to the Board - The letters asking for reappointments have been sent out.

         A.  Legislative Appointments - Croscut & Anderson

         B.  Grange Representative - Beightol

VII.NEW BUSINESS

    A.  District Budget & Contract - We received a letter from IDA regarding our county appropriation for 2003. We took a 10% cut from our 2002 appropriation, so our 2003 appropriation is $117,475. We hope to have a contract shortly after the first of the year.

VIII. WATER QUALITY

IX. COOPERATORS

District Minutes                                                   Page 4.

X.  NEXT MEETING - Thursday, January 23, 2003, 1:00 P.M. at the Frank Bratt Ag Center, Jamestown, NY

XI.Meeting Adjourned - MOTION by Thompson seconded by Croscut to adjourn at 1:30 P.M. Carried!

Respectfully Submitted,

Debra A. Kelley                             David J. Sturges

Secretary                                   Chairman