DRAFT MINUTES

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Frank W. Bratt Ag Center, Jamestown, NY 14701

District Board of Directors' Regular Meeting

August 26, 1999


 

I.  MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 1:00 P.M.

    A.  Present:

         David Sturges - Chairman     John Whitney - NRCS, Acting DC

         Bruce Kidder - Director     Debra Kelley - Secretary

         Lewis Rice - Director        David Wilson - Manager

         Tom Brace - NYSCC, Water Quality Specialist

 

II. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING:

MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to approve the minutes of the July meeting.Carried.

 

II. TREASURER'S REPORT:

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

 

    A.  The following bills were approved for payment:

              SEE ATTACHED

 

III.CORRESPONDENCE

            A.        A letter & Newsletters from the Great Lakes Commission. Newsletters were passed out to the Directors.

    B.  NYS DEC will be collecting seeds for trees.

 

IV. REPORTS:

    A.  Other Agencies

    B.  Committees

C.State Committee -Tom Brace

         1.  State Reimb. - Reimbursement from the state has passed in the state budget. Reimbursement for 1998 and 1999 both are in the budget. Districts should receive their 1998 reimbursement of $14,500 in three months and the 1999 reimbursements of $14,500 in April of next year.

         2.  Non-Point Ag Grants - The Plan of Work for Round 6 is completed and in Albany. Round 7 proposals were due in Albany by August 18th. 87 proposals were submitted, for a total of $15 million in total project cost requesting $10 million in state funds. Traditionally there has been about $4 million available for funding these projects. We hope to have a list of approved projects around Christmas time. Round 8 applications are being prepared.

         3.  Ag & Markets Budget - Nathan Rudgers is currently putting together a budget and in it he is requesting $10 Million for

District Minutes                                                   Page 2.

State Committee ( Cont.)

 

ag related programs which is to be earmarked for SWCD’s and within this budget he is requesting that the reimbursement to Districts be increases to $1.6 Million per year which will allow each district to receive about $29,000 per year. This still has a long way to go through the budget process.

         4.  WQTF Mini-Grants - There are 4 levels of possible funding

available to the committees. Some are do the task and get the money type things and others are competitive.

         5.  Training - We just held two training classes for the clerks on Quickbooks and we are looking at other types of training for the winter months.

         6.  CAFO - Update - The rules and regulations have been mailed out. All of the farms that are CAFO eligible will have until January 1, 2000 to file their Notice of Intent. Then they have 24 months to do the plan and 5 years to implement the plan.

    D.  District Conservationist - John Whitney, Acting DC

1.Staffing - The deadline for applications closed in mid-August. The panel of six applicants has been assembled. There will not be an appointment until October 1, 1999 due to NRCS budget constraints.

         2.  EQIP - French Creek Contracts for approval total cost for Implementation $102,131 and Education $1,000. MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to approve the EQIP Contracts for Perry Dewey III, Scott Aikens, Perry Dewey, Jr., Roger Dunnewold, Mat Beckerink, Mike Meredith, Bill Nickerson, Arden Ohlsson, Fred Croscut, Dennis & Rick Meeder, Stan Tenpas, Steven Tenpas, Rick Walker, Robert Warr. Carried!

         3.  CRP - MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to approve CRP Contracts for Albert VanDette, Angela Hopkins and Jack Condone, Jr. Carried!

         4.  EQIP Educational Funds - MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to direct the development of a cooperative agreement between Chautauqua County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service for the District to receive the EQIP Educational Funds directly from NRCS and perform and implementing the educational functions as described in the agreement. Carried!

         5.  Areal Photography on CD ROM - This areal photograph was flown in 1994 & 1995. I have taken the CD’s to my office and converted them into a format that can be read by your computer.

    EB. District Field Manager - David Wilson

         1.  Partners for Wildlife -We just completed a big project for Kevin Fox. We made a wetland/marsh area. Partners for Wildlife will pay for 60% of the construction cost and the land owner will pay the balance.

District Minutes                                                   Page 3.

District Field Manager (cont.)

 

         2.  Brocton Reservoir - We had a meeting today at the reservoir to start dredging the upper reservoir. There was a news article in the Dunkirk Evening Observer regarding the project.

         3.  District Truck - We received notification that the County is putting together the bid packages for new trucks. We sent in a reply letting them know that we are still interested.

         4.  Computer Training - There are some computer classes that I would like the staff to attend. JCC is offering a Computer

Art and Design Class I would like to send Deb to this and Fredonia BOCES is offering an Auto Cad Class I would like to

send Dave Spann to. MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice for Dave Spann and Debra Kelley to attend computer

classes and the District will pay the registration fees for the classes. Carried!

         5.  School To Work Program - The District was asked to participate in this program. There are two students at Westfield School that are interested in conservation and would like to do an internship with the District. MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to participate in the School to Work Program with the agreement that we will not have more than two students per school year. Carried!

    F.  District Secretary

         1.  Trout Delivery - Order forms are ready to go out. Delivery is scheduled for October 6th.

         2.  Cattaraugus County SWCD - I have been going over to Catt. Co. One day a week to help the District Secretary there get her financial records on the computer. We are setting them up in Quickbooks.

V.  OLD BUSINESS - none

 

VI. NEW BUSINESS

    A.  NYACD - Annual Meeting Sept. 26 -28, 1999 in Syracuse. MOTION by Rice seconded by Kidder for directors and staff to attend and for reimbursement of expenses. Carried. MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to elect David Sturges as Voting Delegate for the 1999 NYACD Annual Meeting. Carried! MOTION by Kidder seconded by Sturges to elect Lewis Rice as the Alternate to the Voting Delegate. Carried!

    B.  Staffing - Dave Wilson would like to sit down with the board members, either at a special meeting or during a regular meeting, to discuss hiring an other person for the district. We need to discuss if we would like a technical person, educational person or someone who could do both.

 

VII.RC&D

    A.  A Meeting of the Executive Committee was held on August 19, 1999 at Vullo’s Restaurant in Greenhurst, NY. A meeting of the RC&D County Committee was held following the Executive Committee Meeting.

District Minutes                                                   Page 4.

 

VII.WATER QUALITY

    A.  Mini-Grants - The 1999 round of mini-grants has been released. We will be working on obtaining some of these grants. The 1998 mini-grants are almost completed.


VIII.COOPERATORS - none

 

IX. NEXT MEETING - Thursday, October 28, 1999, 1:00 P.M. at the Frank W. Bratt Ag Center.

 

XII.Meeting Adjourned

    MOTION by Kidder seconded by Rice to adjourn at 2:30 PM. Carried!


Respectfully Submitted,



 

Debra A. Kelley 

Secretary 

David J. Sturges

Chairman