SCOTT COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

MONTHLY BOARD MEEETING MINUTES

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Location: 656 South Boatman Road, Scottsburg, IN 47170

Present: Bill Comer, John Hardin, Lynda Phillips, Joe Robbins

Absent: Jeff Coomes, Matt Oberlies Guests: Denise Dailey, Laura Fribley, Pat Larr

Meeting Called to Order by John Hardin.

Minutes from January 17 meeting and Annual Dinner were approved and signed. Bill made a motion to approve and Joe seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Business Plan Priority Actions

Advertising – Lynda will go ahead and place article in newspaper about equipment rental. John and Joe will see about servicing our equipment. On a side note, Greg Stephens had requested a discount on the 7’ drill for 50 acres. The board did not feel this warranted a discount.

Spring Tree Sale – Bill offered to help with the delivery of the trees. Sale will run from now until March 17.

Pasture - Address specialty animals (e.g., goats, sheep, horses) at field days. Lynda will contact Jennings County about their Field Day on specialty animals.

Monthly Business

Rule 5 – As decided at the January meeting, the proposed fee schedules were presented and it was decided to adopt the complete schedule to include Residential and Commercial broken down based on project size. The district will charge 20% above the contractor’s costs to cover our administrative fees. John and Denise signed the contract. Denise presented the current project tracking sheet and reported that Guthrie Development was not doing much to comply. She will need to go back out to his site. Indian Hills subdivision was brought up as they are building houses, but no ‘Notice of Intent’ has been filed. Denise will follow up. Lynda reported that she had received an anonymous complaint regarding Stucker Fork’s work on a new water line. She notified Stucker Fork of the complaint and will forward the info to Denise. She also reported that there are no outstanding invoices.

Hardy Lake Sweep – Lynda reported that flyers were distributed and newspaper was advertising this event. Because we have $1000 from the Community Foundation and $650 left in donations from last year, the board decided that we would not solicit additional donations.

Muscatatuck Watershed Project – Robert Miller was unable to attend the meeting, but he sent a letter requesting that the district purchase a Volunteer Water Quality Testing kits. Bill made a motion to purchase the $232 kit with a second by Joe. Motion carried with the notation that the board wants to know where the kit will be stored and who will be using it.

‘Entering Scott County …’ signs – John reported that Larry Blevins said the Commissioners had passed an ordinance to allow us to put up a sign.

Reports

Pat Larr – NRCS Pat reported the results of the Tillage Transect survey had been released. No-till corn in 2004 throughout the state was 19% to 27% but in Scott County we were at 86%. No-till soybeans throughout the state were at 61-69%, but up to 80% in Scott County. She also said that there are two new EQIP contracts for Scott County. In addition, there is a new program called SAFE (State Acres For wildlife Enhancement) which is set up to protect the endangered Henslow’s Sparrow.

Laura Fribley – ISDA Laura repeated the info about the 2008 Leadership Institute and the upcoming class for our area. She also repeated our approval of the CWI Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grant for $10,000. She said that 82 counties had applied for the CMIG and 100% received the funding. Of the 51 counties that applied for the SRG only 23 counties received the funding. The Indiana Corn Marketing Council has presented a proposal to select counties to include Scott. They want to give us $300 for our grant and in return we basically advertise for them and let them speak at our events. They also want us to give them a copy of our event mailing list. The board is concerned about this. Laura will find out more information. The District Visits Program is looking for sponsors and those wishing to participate. Bill was for having them come to evaluate our county.

Lynda Phillips – SWCD Lynda presented a recap of the Annual Meeting expenses and receipts. She stated that money is still outstanding for tickets sold by Matt Oberlies and Jeff Coomes. She requested permission to purchase a 2008 copy of QuickBooks to upgrade our version. Bill made a motion, Joe seconded. Motion carried to use the credit card to purchase an upgrade not to exceed $200.

RC & D is requesting that a representative be named to serve on the committee.

Kitty Perkinson, Ed Roll and Dennis Wilson were all names that were mentioned. Lynda will contact one of them to find their interest. 2009 Annual Conference Committee – Bill recommended that there be more opportunities for the board to interact with other boards to glean ideas. Lynda reported that the cost of a 2”x5” safety deposit box would be $10 per year. It was decided that the CD would continue to be stored in the FSA fireproof safe here at the office. She announced the upcoming Ag Breakfast. It was decided that it would be nice to have some formal presentation board for events such as this. Lynda will research the costs and report to board. Fourth Grade Foresters approached the board about purchasing trees for the 4^th grade elementary students for Arbor Day. The board requested that she contact the Elementary school principals to gauge their interest. They are interested in funding the event if there is interest. She presented a written summary of the month’s activities.

Financial District Reports

Approval Checks – Accounts Payable Voucher Register - All checks 1004 to 1012 were signed and approved. The Accounts Payable register was also approved. Bill made a motion to approve these expenditures and Joe seconded, motion carried.

Financial Statement – Lynda stated that she will be completing this form on a monthly basis instead of waiting till the end of the year. She will provide a copy of the previous months receipts and disbursements at each meeting.

Announcements/Public comments

There were no public comments.

Adjourn

Joe made a motion at 8:30 pm to adjourn the meeting. Bill seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Lynda Phillips, SWCD District Coordinator