Land Conservation Committee

April LCC 2011 Minutes (26 KB)

Meeting called to order by Chair Wiese at 9:00 a.m. It was certified that the requirements of the open meeting law have been met. Present were Borleske, Kriegl, Murray, Puttkamer, Wiese and Zowin from the Committee; Norgard-FSA; Brereton-NRCS; Pohle and Bergstrom-LCD. Krueger-County Board.

Adopt agenda: Motion by Borleske/Puttkammer to adopt the agenda. Motion carried, all in favor.

Adopt minutes of previous meetings: Motion by Murray/Zowin to adopt the minutes of the joint meeting and regular meeting on March 10. Motion carried, all in favor.

Public comment: None.

Update on Clark Creek watershed: Van Berkel has been hired as a limited-term employee to lead the project. He will give updates to the LCC when appropriate.

Review of bids and approval of rental of agricultural land at new Health Care Center: Four bids were received and presented to the LCC for 12 acres of cropland. Motion by Borleske/Puttkamer to approve Dan Peterson's one year bid at $127/acre. Motion carried, all in favor.

Selection of teacher scholarship recipient(s): Pohle presented the applications for two teacher scholarships. Motion by Zowin/Borleske to approve Daniel Curran and Elizabeth Strunz. Motion carried, all in favor.

Selection of youth camp scholarship recipient(s): Pohle presented four scholarship applications for Sand Lake Conservation Camp and three applications for WLWCA Camp. Motion by Zowin/Murray to approve Kimberly Helm-Quest, Samantha Kreutzmann, Jared Mack, Abby Rothering, Haley Bonilla, David Reifsteck, and Marco Reifsteck. Motion carried, all in favor.

Approval of DATCP Staffing Grants: Bergstrom reviewed the 2011 grants with the LCC. Motion by Murray/Borleske to approve the grants as follows: staffing-$171,427, conservation bonding and nutrient management-$64,431. Motion carried, all in favor.

Bergstrom discussed the 2012 staffing grants, how the vacant engineer position will affect the grant, and the new director is claimed at 65 percent. DATCP requires the county put in writing that we will be refilling the engineer position if we use this position in the grant. There will be a loss of between over $25,000 in grant funds without the engineer position. The proposed staffing grant can be amended within the next two months. Motion Zowin/Borleske to approve the 2012 DATCP grant. Motion carried, all in favor.

Discussion on filling the engineer position included the following: grant money being lost, costing landowners' money, taking up to a year for state to design projects, it is a shared position, demand will increase, potential environmental hazards, problems when private engineers do not follow standards and specifications, highway department may need engineering assistance because the state has reduced their engineering staff, and higher engineering costs if outsourced. It is a priority of LCC to get the engineer position refilled, needs to happen soon after new director hired, increased corn and soybeans will increase erosion and need, important for small family farmer, and environmental problems more costly to take care of. Motion by Murray/Kriegel to hold a special LCC meeting 15 minutes prior to the County Board meeting on April 19 to approve a letter from the LCC to Personnel Committee Chair, Schauf, Posewitz, and Krueger if a letter of consent is not sent out prior. Motion carried, all in favor. LCC members are to also call Schauf with their concerns. Krueger will talk to the Administrative Coordinator regarding letter of intent.

Review and approval of vouchers: Voucher summaries were distributed to the Committee members. Motion by Borleske/Murray to approve bills in the amount of $21,379.44. Motion carried, all in favor.

Communications:

A. Thursday Note(s)-March 10 were received by the LCC members.

B. Federal budget information was received from WLWCA.

Legislative updates: None

Reports:

A. Land Conservation Department (LCD) report-The monthly report was presented to the LCC.

B. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) report-Brereton reported that all eight Conservation Security Program applications in Sauk County were funded and offered contracts.

C. Farm Service Agency (FSA) report-Norgard reported that Conservation Reserve Program signup ends tomorrow; there has been good interest with mostly reenrollments. Congress sent a letter to President Obama for early release from Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) without penalties. Puttkamer gives real credit to LCD and NRCS that our county has not seen the reduction in CRP because office staff can influence farmers that CRP is the right thing to do for the environment-not going to be profitable and will cause erosion.

D. Foresters' report-None.

E. Economic Development Committee report-Murray noted they have not met since the last LCC meeting. The Madison-Reedsburg line was approved at the County Board meeting. Krueger will set up a sub-committee of EDC to get this moving forward. Highway 12 will be one lane each way until August 26 and putting in roundabout.

F. Mirror Lake District report-Zowin reported the county will finish the dam soon, village is taking over the park maintenance, talking about finishing gullies, looking at another grant to look at the other gullies.

G. Lake Virginia Management District report-Murray updated the LCC on the town's nuisance ordinance for junk in yards for single family residents. The Excelsior Township agreed to send a letter to the American Transmission Company regarding the Badger Coulee Transmission Line. The town is going to change Rc5 to exclusive ag; waiting for Planning & Zoning. Trying to obtain some money to repair their dam.

H. Lake Redstone Management District report-Borleske stated they are meeting tonight and will be looking at doing the drinking water testing program next year with the LCD and UW-Extension. Working with Juneau County and Montgomery Associates regarding the brown plume.

Krueger reported on Spring Green. Received an offer by the DNR to cooperate in a two-year experiment to daily monitor up to seven test wells. First year testing will be done before the draw down of Bakken's Pond, the second year of testing Bakken's Pond will be drawn down to determine how it affects the groundwater in the test wells. This is an opportunity to prove/disapprove the work that has already been done so we can move ahead with solutions. The drainage board has taken on the services of an expert to put together a plan for a drainage district down there, how it will be assessed, looking at solutions for future large rain events. The next meeting will be this fall for an update on progress and to assemble the team on the well monitoring project.

Motion to adjourn until May 12 at 9:00 a.m. by Murray/Borleske at 10:58 a.m. Motion carried, all in favor. A tentative meeting date was set for June 9 at 6:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:  Kathy Zowin, Secretary