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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNHSWCD_1-23-12_approved minutes New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District Board Meeting held at Wilmington, NC. Meeting Number 7_ Date: _January 23, 2012 Supervisors Present: Others Present: Dave Thomas, Chair Dru Harrison, Director Donna Moffitt, Secretary/Treasurer Amy Long, Education Coordinator Steve Skavroneck Nancy Pritchett Bill Hart, Vice-Chair Was this meeting held during a meal: No _ Mr. Thomas called the meeting to order at 2:10pm. Agenda Review: Ms. Harrison C. County Funding Request for FY 12/13Financial Report. under Old Business. Ms. Moffitt moved to accept the agenda as amended. Mr. Skavroneck seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. MINUTES: December 12, 2011 regular monthly board meeting #6. Mr. Skavroneck submitted corrections ahead of time. Ms. Pritchett moved to accept the minutes as amended (with page corrections). Mr. Skavroneck seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. FINANCIAL REPORT: Ms. Harrison presented the reports (printed copies in folders) A. MONTHLY RECONCILIATION Points of interest: Land Management Account (LMA): Fire tax was paid to Brunswick County Fire District ($762.91) o $6,000.00 transferred from LMA into regular checking to cover a deficit in operating o accounts. $10,000 will be transferred to LMA once payment is received from County. Second quarter payments from City and Soil & Water Division are due soon and the matching funds reimbursement is yet to be received. Revenue and Expenditure Summary: expenditures are higher than normal due to travel budget o Mr. Skavroneck asked Harrison to send budget reports a day prior to meetings for review. Ms. Harrison agreed to email financial reports the Friday before each meeting. Mr. Hart commented on the success of the rain barrel sales. Ms. Long reported that next shipment is due in February or March. B. TRAVEL BUDGET REEVALUATION -12 fiscal year. $955.00 has been spent on Training and Registration, $2172.00 for Mileage, and $762.00 for Lodging and food). Staff goals changed after the budget was adopted which will require more travel for meeting obligations for field days and class visits and for staff training. Staff recommended transferring $1500.00 from contingency to travel. Mr. Skavroneck asked if there might be lines that underspend budgeted levels from which the $1,500.00 could be transferred instead of using contingency funds. The answer was affirmative, but that the amounts would not be known until later in the year, but the need for travel funds is immediate. Ms. Pritchett moved to transfer $1500.00 from Contingency to Travel. Ms. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. 1 C. COUNTY FUNDING REQUEST FY 12/13 The County budget request was received via email on January 13, 2012; a response is required by January 30, 2012. The draft is 22 pages long and is available electronically. Harrison asked for th input from BOS, but has to have feedback by January 27. Staff proposes to file a request for $65,000.00. NHSWCD requested $60,000 last year and received $45,500. District goals and objectives stated in the draft are not very different from previous years, but the details have been changed. Moffitt suggested that it was worth pursuing a conversation with County Commissioner Rick Catlin about the District becoming a county department. Harrison is willing to set up meetings and be included if BOS desires and also recommends talking to two or three Commissioners and including the County Manager in those conversations. County Manager, Bruce Shell, has announced his resignation but will still be County Manager during this FY12/13 budget approval period. Ms. Pritchett asked if the District has ever considered consolidation with the City instead of the County. Harrison stated that the problem is that the City limits everything to within City limits. She also has been told that the City of Wilmington (COW) will not increase funding this year for any contract. Points of interest: Salaries show 3% increase based on the previous year. Annual contribution to the Stewardship Development Awards Program was not made per BOS policy. Dues to the state association of conservation districts might increase this year because of population increase. $100.00 has been added to the educator workshops line to fund additional mini workshops that have been added post-hoc this year; Increase travel to $7500 to reflect goals of training and marketing education Capital outlay increases for logo development, display board, promotional materials. Mr. Thomas had questions for Ms. Harrison regarding CCAP and in-ground work of NHSWCD. His concern is that CCAP funding is diminishing due to budget constraints, so how do we keep that program running. BOS discussed alternative funding and project ideas, including grants available specifically for schools. Ms. Long recommended that staff or Supervisors attend grant writing workshops. She also conveyed the problem that staff is finding it difficult to get school administration to sign on for BMPs. BOS and staff discussed the need to get the ear of the School Board. Invite them to a luncheon or breakfast, go to their meetings, and take them on a BMP tour. Long will investigate School Board meeting schedule. Other issue is that a school has to sign on before a proposal can be written for any grant. Mr. Thomas recommended a meeting with Board of Education, County or City Planning, Coastal Federation and anyone else who should attend where BOS and staff can explain District resources and try to get cooperation and participation to get BMPs in place. Mr. Hart is concerned about the use of staff time. He noted that much of available staff time must be devoted to meeting contractual obligations so care should be taken to ensure that discretionary staff time be invested in major projects and not a multitude of small site-by-site projects. Ms. Moffitt commented that this is all a great launching point for the Strategic Plan Workshop coming up in February. She suggests that the District identify where the problem watersheds are and determine what NHSWCD can do within those watersheds. What is the best way to make a change in those watersheds? It may or may not be through the schools. Conversation went back to the County FY12/13 budget request and seeking to become a County department. Ms. Moffitt directed Harrison to investigate what exactly would happen if NHSWCD 2 were absorbed by the County, e.g., would salary equality be mandated? Staff will compile talking points for BOS to have with the County Manager or Commissioners. Moffitt also asked staff to emphasize in the FY 12/13 funding request that only through the existence of the District can county residents access program money, and include what the County gains by supporting NHSWCD and what NHSWCD gains through their support. Ms. Pritchett added that budgeting for interns is something for NHSWCD to consider. Keep America Beautiful contracts interns on a per project basis and that keeps the program viable. Harrison will add interns to FY 12/13 budget. Ms. Pritchett moved to accept the report for information. Ms. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. SUPERVISOR REPORT: A. ANNUAL CONFERENCE REPORT Pritchett, Harrison and Long attended. Each reported. Harrison report: Final draft of the adopted policies will be on the Division list-serve by end of January. Highlights include support for a $2 million CCAP appropriation (which is a reduction of $1.4 million from the request last year, but still more than what was received in the past. Urban caucus break out session was well attended (around 50 staff and supervisors participated). Round table discussion summary will be distributed to districts by mid-February, group censuses was that more money for the program was needed for marketing, education, technical assistance, and BMP funds. Pritchett report: Urban caucus: Disappointed in the session. Speakers were great, but breakout sessions were not useful. % Learned many interesting facts: 18growth in state population in one year; NC is 5th leading state in urbanization in 2006; EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 grants are a large funding source for other urban districts; there are six Districts in the state that are not a County Department; Farm Bureau and HOAs are partner agencies for other agencies. Abandoned well-closures: Has NHSWCD pursued this? Harrison reported that she has pursued this with County Health. No cooperation yet because of time constraints by Health Department. Hart suggested asking other county districts how they are managing with the health department 30 day time limit. Perhaps another talking point with the county? The Jim Stevenson Conservation Award almost became a onetime thing but Pritchett was able to explain that this was supposed to be an annual award and all is now well. Long report: Marketing session: Disappointing session. Did not learn much, but one idea was creating a Friends of SWCD for fundraising and donation acceptance or inviting County Ms. Long would like to attend the February Supervisor Training at the School of Government at Chapel Hill. Cost is $165 for registration, plus hotel and mileage. B. WEB SITE DRAFT PLAN Ms. Long presented her work to date on web site overhaul. PowerPoint slides are included in the meeting folders. Slides show the existing site and proposed changes Long wants to make with the help of Donnie Benoit. Donnie is currently making changes to a draft version of the site for NHSWCD pro bono, but staff feels that to make all the changes proposed, compensation should be arranged for Mr. Benoit. Highlights of proposed changes or additions: 3 Supervisor and staff pictures and bios Scrolling pictures instead of static/generic picture bar BMP educational material is lacking from web site entirely List all cost-share programs that are offered, nit just CCAP and ACSP Partnership list needs many additions Mr. Skavroneck suggested complete overhaul of home landing page; needs to be attention and move history and mission to BOS page or its own page. Also suggested having a thank you dinner for Donnie sooner rather than later. PROJECT UPDATES: Ms. Harrison reported on the following; A. COST SHARE 1. Schedule F update: Farmers had been required to provide an IRS Schedule F (which ACSP and AgWRAP contained identifying tax information) in order to apply for cost share funds to demonstrate that they are engaged in farming . This went against other privacy acts and NCDA&CS has worked with leadership in the many farmers do not even file a Schedule F. General Assembly and an agreement has been reached to retroactively change what documentation can be used as proof of farming; the Schedule F is no longer the only document deemed acceptable. 2. CCAP application 02-2012-003: for a grass swale and Bridgerecommendation is for approval of application. Mr. Thomas made a motion to approve the application, Ms. Moffitt seconded; motion passed unanimously. 3. CCAP contract 65-2012-503-02 (for above application): Total contract request is for $10,320.00; cost share amount is up to $7,740.00; area is a private residence, excavation is major cost; Director recommends approval of contract for $7740.00. Mr. Thomas is concerned that if it is modern construction, then builder is responsible for the runoff. What is the source of water? Harrison answered that the residence is at the end of the road with newer subdivision construction above and impervious surface below them which is causing pooling and slowing flow. Ms. Moffitt wants to know what the benefit of this BMP is and where the runoff goes. Harrison does not have the nutrient and soil load figures; runoff goes directly into Intracoastal Waterway. Mr. Hart moved to approve the contract with the stipulation that the property be inspected once a year for the duration of the contract. Ms. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. B. EAGLES ISLAND (EI): Articles of Dedication for the Natural Areas Heritage Trust Fund needs to be signed today. Dawn York & CFRC&D have explored the possibility of a Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation grant for $35,000 for the planning and design of a nature trail on EI. The grant is due by the end of January/beginning of February. EI Coalition Executive committee approved pursuing the grant. Harrison voted in favor, but also noted that the NHSWCD BOS would have to approve any trail placed on District property. If a trail(s) were installed, the EI Coalition would have to investigate the cost of insurance or necessary safe guards related to public access. Mr. Hart wants to see maps of the proposed trails and the walkway material costs. The article in the Star News from December brought a new citizen to the last EI Coalition th meeting on January 18. Mr. Clark was an avid hunter on the island for the last 40 years and was glad to see the protection of the island. EI Coalition also has a website www.eaglesisland.org, where and the public relations survey form can be downloaded. Several groups have been emailed the survey form. The data will be compiled once Shawn Ralston, with NHC planning, returns from maternity leave. 4 Mr. Hart added that there is a site with residual dredge material from the old Corps dredging of the Fayetteville navigation channel on the north side of the island. Seems like a choice site for landing, easily accessible, fishing shack on site, Division land. C. Stewardship: Logan White (MPA student) has been hired as a contract employee for the Stewardship Development Coalition. A graduate student is interning for the SDC as well. Award ceremony will be held February 23rd at the Wilmington Regional Realtors Association building. There is a training seminar in the morning and lunch and awards will start at 12:30. Mike MacIntyre is scheduled to speak along with the Under Secretary for the Department of Energy (tour of sites). NHSWCD BOS is encouraged to attend the luncheon cost is $20. Stewardship web site has RSVP on-line. Can pay on-line or give check to Harrison. There are five awardees this year; 1 in Brunswick, 4 in New Hanover. PARTNER REPORTS: A. Division Report: Ms. Kristina Fischer was not present to give her report. Written report is in meeting folders and was distributed in email as well. OLD BUSINESS: A. Six-month review of Staff: Mr. Skavroneck requested a mid-year review of staff based on their individual goal documents. Ms. Harrison submitted written comments to her Goals document. o Ms. Long submitted written comments to her Goals document. o BOS suggestion for future reviews, staff should just report where the holessues are, and o explain why if there are any. B. Strategic Plan: Mr. Skavroneck asked for this addition to agenda. He is interested in inviting Jock Brandis of the Full Belly Project to interact with our group. Ms. Pritchett suggested doing so outside of our monthly meeting. Skavroneck will contact him and see if he is able/willing to meet the NHSWCD BOS. NEW BUSINESS: Candidates for NHSWCD Board of Supervisors (BOS): Mr. Thomas reported that Art Brownell wants to file for SWCD BOS. Brownell is on the Cape Fear River Watch board of directors. Thomas can introduce him to the NHSWCD Board if the board is interested. Harrison talked to Jim McDaniels in Parks and Recreation about BOS vacancies and he suggested the following engineers: Jack Reel - reel.j@thomas-hutton.com o Sarah Burroughs - sara@sagedesign.us o Brian Riley- riley.b@thomasandhutton.com o Andy Mills - amills@CoastalLandDesign.net o Ms. Pritchett stated that she might not serve again. She will inform the BOS once she has decided. UPCOMING EVENTS: January 26: New Hanover County Science Fair judging (3 6pm) February 4 & 5: Wilmington Garden Show (9-5pm Saturday, 11-4pm Sunday ) Schwartz Center February 9: rain barrel sale 5 February 13: Strategic Planning Session (1pm followed by monthly board meeting) February 23: Stewardship Luncheon : Monday, February 13th, 1pm for Strategic Plan Work-session, followed Set next meeting date by regular monthly board meeting. Ms. Pritchett moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Thomas seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 5:10pm Recorded By: ____________________________________________________________ Approved By: ____________________________________________________________ TICK LIST FROM MEETING: Start sending financial reports to supervisors a day or two before the regular monthly meetings. Dru Review draft funding request to the county and provide comments to Dru by 1/27. Supervisors Prepare guidance for a marketing plan for Dru to use. Steve Send lists of potential new supervisors to supervisors. Dru 6