DRAFT MINUTES

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Frank W. Bratt Ag Center, Jamestown, NY 14701

District Board of Directors' Regular Meeting

March 23, 2000

 

I.  MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 1:10 P.M.

    A.  Present:

         David Sturges - Chairman     Robert Anderson - Director

         Leon Beightol - Treasurer   David Wilson - Manager

         Bob Thompson - Director      Debra Kelley - Secretary

         Fred Croscut - Director      Rob Halbohm - NRCS

         David Spann - Technician

 

II. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING:

MOTION by Beightol seconded by Croscut to approve the minutes of the February meeting.Carried.

 

III.TREASURER'S REPORT:

    MOTION by Beightol seconded by Croscut 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

    B.  Committees

C.State Committee

    D.  District Conservationist - Rob Halbohm, DC

         1.  Randolph AEM Meeting - Held in Randolph on February 25, 2000. Dave and I participated in this meeting and the purpose of this meeting was to try and get the producers in the Conewango Creek Watershed to get started on their Tier I and Tier II Assessments on those farms. The Main purpose for this is to get some bases of information. This bases will be used hopefully in the future to apply for some grant funding for water quality projects on farms in this watershed. This is just the beginning and we are going to have to have a lot more participation in order to get the information that we need to go through with this project.

         2.  EQIP Local Working Group - We did have a Local Working Group Meeting this morning. It looks like we are going to submit an EQIP Application for a portion of the Chautauqua Lake Watershed. This will take in a portion of the Prendergast Creek and Dewittville Creek. We have a deadline for getting the first ruff draft in by May 19, 2000. We will be working on this in the near future.


District Minutes                                                   Page 2.

District Conservationist (cont.)

 

         3.  WRP - Update - We have three applications in the State Office right now, we will be going through a round of funding on those in the third week in April and we will see how they come out. I also have three applications in the works that have

not been sent into the State Office yet. We had a meeting in Olean on the Conewango Swamp. They are trying to get a focus area and an increased emphasis on WRP there. This will be a joint project between Chautauqua and Cattaraugus County on that.

         4.  NACD Budget - See Attached

 

    EB. District Field Manager - David Wilson

         1.  New Board Members - A Structural Flow Chart of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the related Organizations was handed out and explained to the Board Members. A copy of the District Conservation Law was also handed out to the Board Members for their review.

         2.  Ag land Assessments - We have processed 294 Agland Parcels so fare this year. Findley Lake is in the process of doing a re-valuation of the tax bases, so they have an extension of time to submit their Agland assessment.

         3.  Training Session - was held March 14 - 17, 2000 in Auburn. Dave S., Deb and I attended the training session and participated in classes. This was a good sessions and there were a lot of good classes and information again this year.

         4.  Envirothon - This year we have 13 schools participating most of them have two teams each. The Envirothon will be held on May 12, 2000 at the Audubon Society.

         5.  Trees and Shrubs - To date we have sold 42,000 trees and 286 orders.

         6.  Grass Carp - We have sent the applications to the DEC for the Grass Carp Permits and we will be doing the stocking in May.

         7.  Farm and Garden Show: will be held at the Chautauqua Mall on March 24th through the 26th. We have a spot for the show and we will be putting up our big display. Eleanor our milking cow will also be there to entertain the children.

         8.  Rural Urban Day - is scheduled to be held on April 25, 2000. The NYS Commissioner of Ag & Markets Nathan Rudgers will be visiting Chautauqua County that day. We will be organizing a luncheon for him here at the Ag Center. He will be speaking at a dinner meeting, which will be held at Vullos that night.

         9.  BPU Pipeline: I have been contacted and have met with Nornew for the installation of this pipeline. It is going from Ellery Center to downtown Jamestown to the BPU.

         10. No-Till Seeder - The seeder is already out, it is at Glen Mosses Farm now and I have a second person on the list.



District Minutes                                                   Page 3.

  

    F.  District Secretary

         1.  Soil Stewardship Sunday - To be held at the Gerry United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 7, 2000.

 

VI. OLD BUSINESS

    A.  Appointments to the Board - Dave Sturges has received a letter confirming the appointments to the Soil & Water Conservation District Board. The appointments are Fred Croscut and Robert Anderson.

    B.  Annual Plan of Work - The Annual Plan of Work was reviewed by the Board of Directors. MOTION by Fred Croscut seconded by Bob Thompson to accept the Annual Plan of Work. Carried!

    C.  Long Range Plan of Work - Tabled

    D.  Election of Officers - MOTION by Fred Croscut seconded by Leon Beightol to reelect the present officers to their respective position. They are as follows Chairman: David Sturges; Vice- Chairman: Robert Thompson; Treasurer: Leon Beightol; Secretary/Asst. Treasurer: Debra Kelley. Carried!

    E.  Committee Assignments - Tabled

    F.  Review Policies - Tabled

    G.  Review Rental Fees - Equipment & Services for 2000 - The rental fees were reviewed by the Board of Directors. MOTION by Bob Thompson seconded by Leon Beightol to leave the rental fees as they are for the 2000. Carried!

    H.  Review Pay Prior to Approval List - The Pay Prior To Approval List was reviewed by the Board. Motion by Fred Croscut Seconded by Robert Anderson to accept The Pay Prior To Approval List as submitted. Carried!

    I.  Personnel Appraisals - Tabled

    J.  Pay the National Dues - Tabled

 

VII.NEW BUSINESS

    A.  Contract With The County - We have not received a completed contract from the County for the District Chairman to sign. When we receive a signed contract from the County, then we can send a voucher to get half of our appropriation for the year 2000.

    B.  Audit District Books - will be audited following the April 27th District Meeting. Bob Thompson and David Sturges are on the Audit Committee and will complete the audit.

 

VIII. RC&D


IX. WATER QUALITY

    A.  Brocton Reservoir - Rob and Dave have a meeting at the reservoir with Mike Wilson of Fredonia State and Bill Boria from Environmental Health.



District Minutes                                                   Page 4.

 

X.  COOPERATORS

 

XI. NEXT MEETING - Thursday, May 25, 2000, 1:00 P.M. at the Frank W. Bratt Ag Center.

 

XII.Meeting Adjourned

MOTION by Beightol seconded by Thompson to adjourn at 2:45 P.M. Carried!



Respectfully Submitted,



 

Debra A. Kelley 

Secretary 

David J. Sturges

Chairman