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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNHSWCD_5-21-12_approved minutes-signed New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District Board Meeting held at Wilmington, NC. Meeting Number 12_ Date: _May 21, 2012 Supervisors Present: Others Present: Dave Thomas, Chair Dru Harrison, Director Donna Moffitt, Secretary/Treasurer Amy Long, Education Coordinator Bill Hart, Vice-Chair Matt Maness, NHSWCD intern Nancy Pritchett Kristina Fischer, (arrived draft FY12/13 budget talks) Division SWCD, Area VI Coordinator Jane Wood, District Conservationist NRCS Dean Federonko, DC Assistant NRCS Was this meeting held during a meal: No _ Thomas called the meeting to order at 2:03pm. Director Harrison introduced the new summer intern, Matt Maness. Matt is a UNCW senior in the Environmental Studies major. Agenda Review: The agenda was accepted as presented by consensus. MINUTES: April 16, 2012 meeting #11, regular monthly board meeting. Hart submitted edits prior to the meeting. Hart moved to approve the minutes as amended. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. FINANCIAL REPORT: Harrison presented the reports. A. MONTHLY RECONCILIATION rd Appropriations and reimbursements: The 3 quarter reimbursement from the City Stormwater ndrd Services and the 2 and 3 quarter technical assistance reimbursements from the Division of Soil and Water Conservation (NCSWCD) were all received. Expenses. Nothing is out of the ordinary. All items in the capital outlay budget have been purchased with the exception an NRCS projector so purchasing a new one at this time does not seem necessary. Expenditures of note include the poster contest awards: gift certificates to from Barnes & Noble and certificate frames. The Education budget has gone largely unspent, but will be spent in June for the annual Teacher Workshop. If no student chooses to go to the Resource Conservation Workshop (RCW), then those funds will be reallocated to the general funds or will be carried over to next year. Rain Barrel update: Long reported that Rain Water Solutions (RWS) is now requiring NHSWCD to collect tax on both barrels. Staff is considering other manufacturers due to repeat issues with price increases and delivery issues. Harrison will talk with Lynn Ruck at RWS and will require an annual contract be signed stating that rates cannot change during the contract year. Staff will look for alternate providers whose barrels are 100% made in the USA. The financial reports were accepted as presented by consensus. B. FY12/13 DRAFT BUDGET: Harrison reported. st 21). The County Manager has recommended a funding cut to the District by $5,500 (~12.5%). 1 NHSWCD is the only outside agency that has been reduced in funding, while there are several new agencies receiving funding that have not in the past. Harrison will contact County Management staff (Bruce Shell and Chris Coudriet) tomorrow to discuss justification for the cut. There is a 1% merit increase for County employees in the coming year. The County budget is posted on its web site if anyone is interested in viewing the full proposal for FY 12/13. Harrison also relayed that the value of a penny has gone down because of the reduction in property values from reassessments. The County is looking to have a revenue-neutral tax rate. Of note were two comments made by Commissioners: Ted Davis stated that he is most concerned that the same outside agencies continue to be granted funding and other organizations routinely get nothing. Jonathan Barfield does not want an additional work session on the budget; he is prepared to vote on the proposed budget, as office is a staff level conversation and Supervisors do not need to be involved. Harrison will let the Board know when it is and welcomes their presence. Moffitt asked if they should send emails to Commissioners. Harrison advised that they wait until after she meets with staff, and that a phone call or visit may be more appropriate. Harrison presented her proposed FY 12/13 budget with three funding options for staff: OPTION 1: No raise for staff, but extra vacation days given instead. For example, Pender County gave employees three extra paid vacation days in FY 11/12 instead of raises. OPTION 2: A 1% merit increase for staff. County employees are eligible for a 1% merit increase this ye for merit increases. The District has roughly $29,000 in reserves for next year which would cover the proposed budget including the 1% raise. OPTION 3: Redefine hour, full-time work week. The reduction would be reflected accordingly in salary and all benefits. This option would provide approximately $6,335 in funds that could be used to fund paid internships. Harrison suggests paying interns at the rate of $8 per hour, which would retain a savings of around $3,000 to $4,000. There were questions from the Board regarding how staff could reduce their time and still get the jobs done. Staff indicated that Spring program offerings would be reduced if comp-time could not feelings on this option and questions regarding paid internship potential. Long informed the Board that she would be happy with this reduction. Board agreed that offering paid internships would broaden the range of disciplines to draw from. ADDITIONAL REDUCTIONS: Other reductions that Harrison recommended include a lower Travel budget, no longer funding Stewardship, and a lower Capital Outlay budget. Fisher reminded the staff and Board that a public hearing on the budget has to be held at least 10 th get vote and adoption has to happen by June 30 preference is to have the public hearing and the vote/adoption on the same day. If it is possible to th have both on the same day, this will be done at the next Board meeting, scheduled for June 25 at 2pm. After the public hearing, the Board will move into the regular June meeting, which will include a vote and adoption of the FY 12/13 budget. Hart moves that the draft budget includes; the reduction of the Education Coordinator to a 32.5 hour, full-time work week provision for an internship stipend a 1% merit increase for staff He moved to adopt this budget for public review. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. Harrison will email the revised budget to reflect these changes. 2 SUPERVISOR & STAFF REPORTS: A. Stewardship report: Harrison reported. The annual retreat and strategic plan work session was th held on May 9. A facilitator was hired from UNCWQuality Enhancement for Nonprofit OrganizationsQENO) to lead the session. Goals set for the following year included; looking for ( associate members, increase outreach to local municipalities, creating a fundraising committee, and furthering the development of award enforcement. st B. Earth Day Report: Long reported on the April 21 event at Hugh MacRae Park. Attendance was higher than last year; there is no true count since it is a free event with no set entry point, but if children attendance is a good measure, then attendance was up (Jennifer Metzler from the Aquarium counted roughly 550 kids in the Kids tent this year. The count is usually only 250). The Alliance raised more funds compared to last year as well: $300 more from beer tickets and $140 more from the t-shirt and raffle sales. A volleyball tournament/fundraiser will be held on August th 25 staffing the District booth. Hart said it was difficult to engage people at the booth and suggested giveaways with NHSWCD name or logo Harrison reminded the Board that it was not in the budget for this year but staff is working on that for next year. Harrison added that she and Long have thought about raffles or games to add that might draw people in. They will be designing an educational game for events and school programs, similar to Plinko or the Wheel of Conservation. Pritchett suggested purchasing from US Toys, even if it just stickers. Fischer suggested borrowing the Wheel of Conservation from the Division. C. Venus Fly Trap Reserve: Hart reported on the Coastal Land Trust dedication ceremony that he th attended on April 28 at Alderman Nature Preserve to recognize Stanley Rehder. 40-50 people attended. The District was recognized by the Mayor. D. Coastal Caucus: Hart reported. At the last Caucus, he met the new Director for the Division of Coastal Management, Braxton Davis. The Caucus was well attended. Mike Randall, an engineer with Division of Water Quality (DWQ), gave a presentation (the DWQ perspective on stormwater and LID) that Hart will share with the Board at the end of the meeting. In that presentation, Randall recognized all organizations working on stormwater and LID with the exception of Soil & Water Conservation Districts. Fischer agreed that a resolution addressing SWCD Association support of LID was a good idea for NHSWCD to write. Partner Reports A. Division Report. Kristina Fischer was present to report. Highlights of her written report include: st Cost share strategic plans are due June 1. th Conservation Awareness Day (aka the Legislative Breakfast) is set for June 14. Supervisors are asked to encourage legislators to attend even if they themselves cannot. NCASWCD leadership positions coming up for vote at the January 2013 Annual meeting include the second vice-president (will come from Area V) and Piedmont representative on the SWC Commission. The I-beam on-line contracting system for the cost share programs will come on line for the next program year. Contracting and approval should be smoother and faster with this program in place. The system should be unveiled in the next couple weeks. The Division was recently invited by NOAA to participate in a Cape Fear River migratory fish study. The study is looking into why the migratory fish populations are declining and what can be done to improve habitat to bring the species back. There are roles for SWC Districts; non- regulatory things that can be done, stewardship type ideas, river-friendly farming programs, etc. The resulting management plan should be ready by end of this calendar year. 3 Funding opportunity from Coastal Recreational Fishing License (CRFL) funds for fish habitat restoration projects. Marine Fisheries representative, Anne Deaton, Chief of the Habitat Protection Section, talked to Fischer to see if SWC Districts would apply for these funds. There is a limited group of people who can apply; Districts can, but the Division cannot. She will send the RFP once she receives it. Thomas suggested looking at the GE plant on the river as a potential site of interest. B. NRCS Report. Jane Wood was present to give her report. IN her tri-county regions, there were 41 applications for EQUIP/WHIP this year. EQUIP projects were funded, but no WHIP projects were. 10 contracts have been obligated to date; 5 in Brunswick County, 5 in Pender County. New Hanover might still get a 150 acre long-leaf pine contract approved before the end of the fiscal year. She informed the Board that she has been temporarily assigned Duplin County in addition to her regular three. Amanda Schaller, the Duplin DC, has been promoted so her position will need to be posted and filled. Also of note, New st Hanover County office has been selected for a Field Office Appraisal. It is scheduled for July 31 nd through August 2. They might want to talk to Board and staff, but she will keep staff informed. Old Business A. Bradley Creek Hewletts Creek Watershed Plan: Thomas reported on his conversation with Dave Mayes (City Stormwater Services). Stormwater and Coastal Federation felt that they had all of the information they needed from NHSWCD from previous projects, so pulling the District in during the proposal writing stage was not necessary. Harrison added that Stormwater Services has th announced the date for a public hearing on the restoration plan; the meeting will be on June 28at the UNCW Executive Development Center no time has been announced yet. Public comment is being asked for to see what residents want in a restoration plan. Harrison further clarified that the City has not applied for funds yet; it is conceptual development only. Hart is still concerned that Mayes, a public administrator, has yet address the Board concerns and questions and appropriate for a public comment period. Moffitt asked Harrison if she is compiling remarks on the plan to take to the hearing. Harrison offered to incorporate Board comments if they so desired. She closed by telling the Board that Jennifer Butler (City Stormwater) instructed her to reallocate funds from other deliverables in the FY12/13 contract to that line-item, so the assumption is that NHSWCD will have a role in the plan. B. Draft Annual Cost Share Strategic Plan: Harrison led the review of the proposed FY 2012/13 cost share strategic plan. She changed the Agriculture Cost Share Program (ACSP) application to eliminate the favoring of animal operations, and references to a watershed map have been removed or changed throughout the document. There are no major changes otherwise. Fisher had minor edits: th I. Marketing for ACSP: The advertising article needs to be submitted by June 30, 2012, not December 31, 2012. There are not as restrictive advertising requirements for CCAP marketing, so the District can advertise that program whenever they want. II. Overall Activities, Community Conservation: Add something to reflect that the District is seeking additional outside funding in addition to the cost share funds received. Tanks cannot be funded without the inclusion of fencing. ACSP Ranking Form: Need to include the point value and definition of high, medium, and low rankings. 4 Moffitt motioned to approve the FY 12/13 Cost Share Strategic Plan with the edits given today. Thomas seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. C. City Council Annual Report wrap-up: Harrison thanked all Supervisors for attending to support her th and Thomas in presenting City Council with the first annual report on April 17. The report seemed well received and the brevity of her presentation was appreciated. There were no questions by staff or council. Hart added that it was a great presentation. rd D. Conservation in Action Day report: Harrison reported on the April 23 event. Sue Hayes, Jonathan attended, in addition to staff and Supervisors Moffitt, Pritchett and Hart. Barfield told Harrison he was glad she encouraged him to go. Moffitt would like to try this again next year. January or February might be a good time for building budget support. Hart added that in future tours emphasis should include what the District would like to do if it had more funding. E. Candidates for SWCD Board of Supervisors: Staff included this on the agenda as a reminder of the vacancy coming up in the November election. The Board also needs to recommend someone thth for appointment. The filing period starts at noon on June 11 and ends at noon on July 6. Harrison expressed the desire to have a NHSWCD BOS member who could attend Republican Party events. She is only aware of three individuals who have expressed interest in filing; Sue Hayes, Art Brownell, and Justin LaNassa. New Business A. Conservation Easement: Harrison reported. The annual YWCA-Holly Glen-Warlick Estates easement check was completed by staff in March. One property was found suspect of encroaching on the easement residents installed a fence and landscaping. Harrison talked with County and City Planning and Inspection Departments regarding the need for permits, but a permit is not required for fencing because they do not impede the flow of water. She then talked with Attorney Michael Murchison who agreed that a survey of the property will have to be completed in order to verify encroachment. There are funds in the Land Management account that can be used for this purpose, but Harrison needs Board approval before scheduling a survey. Murchison advised that if the homeowner did go into the easement, letters must be sent to the HOA, developer and homeowner informing them that reparation must be done to restore the easement. The easement does allow for fencing to be put up adjacent to the easement. The issue is that it appears that they went into a 404 wetland to install the fence and landscape. Moffitt instructed Harrison to check with CAMA (Tara Croft or Debbie Wilson) to see if they had a permit to go into the wetland and to do that before contacting a surveyor. Hang tag drafted by City Stormwater Services. District staff is working with Stormwater Services on an educational hang tag informing residents of the conservation easement. It will be hand delivered as a door hang-tag and will also be included in the annual newsletter. It will include a map of the easement as well. The next monitoring event will be on-foot along the th entire easement. Hang-tags will be distributed by June 30 of this year. Interns, scouts or volunteers will be utilized to distribute the hang-tags. Moffitt asked off topic about cost share spot checks. Harrison replied that they must be done th by June 30 so she will send out an email soon to schedule that with Supervisors. B. Riverfront Visioning: Harrison reported. The Cape Fear Economic Development Council is hosting nd It is tomorrow, Tuesday May 22 starting at 6pm with presentations starting at 6:30pm at the 5 WHQR Gallery at 254 N. Front Street, third floor. Phil Preet from EI Coalition is serving on the panel. Hart gave a brief history of a 1997 plan and the 2020 plan for EI and the riverfront area. C. Legislative Breakfast: Hart reiterated what Fischer stated in her report earlier. Supervisors are th highly encouraged to attend the breakfast on Thursday, June 14 at 7:30 8:30am at the Legislative Building Cafeteria. RSVP to the NCASWCD office. Supervisors are asked to follow up thth with local senators and representatives on June 11 and 12 to remind them of the breakfast. He is anticipating much conversation about AgWrap. Hart is attending to promote CCAP. His concern is that the Association continues to ignore CCAP and is only focused on agriculture. Hart said he would send email invitations and asked Harrison to send written invitations to Susi Hamilton, Daniel McComas and Thom Goolsby. D. is a state wide policy adoption. Harrison is in favor of a formal policy setting dates for reallocation requests because it saves staff from short-notice due dates. The dates they suggest for deadlines will force staff to be mindful of the February batching period for applications. Fischer added that the I-beam program will help with these deadlines and projections for reallocation. Harrison will email Kelly Ibrahim to relay that the Board discussed the policy and there was a consensus in favor of policy adoption. th E. NC Coastal Federation concept proposal for NHCS 9 grade curriculum: Long reported on a conversation and email she had from Tracy Skrabal from the NC Coastal Federation. She called to th ask if the District would be interested in a pilot project for a 9 grade curriculum offering. The curriculum would be offered from Coastal Federation and NHSWCD. The current proposal is in th concept-phase and is for a 3-4 class pilot project, but the goal is to get this into all 9 grade classes th like the 8 grade Enviroscape program. The curriculum covers LID, stormwater management and community service projects. The vision is for beginning service projects to be downspout disconnects. There is opportunity for monetary funding for NHSWCD with this grant. Staff will get more detail regarding who the funding source(s) would be, and how much of the funding NHSWCD would receive. The Board is in favor of pursuing. Staff will follow up with Skrabal. F. DWQ LID Initiative: Hart gave the PowerPoint presentation that Mike Randall (mentioned previously) at NC-DENR, Division of Water Quality gave to the Coastal Caucus. Long will forward the presentation to BOS. Moffitt had a question for the group regarding stormwater pond DWQ permits. She is aware of several HOAs where the retention pond permits are going to expire and will not meet requirements when they come up for renewal. Thomas thought ponds were now allowed to be piped for irrigation. He will check the DWQ rules and permitting and get back to Moffitt and the Board. Hart suggested holding a short public lecture on the topic to educate builders, HOAs, etc. once it is known if that can be done. Hart added a post-script. He is attending the WakeUp Wake County Green Tie Awards Dinner on th June 20 in Raleigh to honor legislators with high League of Conservation Voters ratings. He also mentioned the formation of WakeUp Wake County, a movement to relate politics and environment that will promote, among other things, environmentally friendly mass transit systems. Hart also reported that former NHSWCD Director, Shelly Baird, has left the CCAP Program in the Division of SWCD. She is moving to Maryland to lead a small non-profit watershed alliance. UPCOMING EVENTS: community conversation. WHQR Gallery (254 N. Front Street), 3rd floor, 6pm June 4: County Commissioner public hearing on FY 12/13 budget; 6:00pm 6 June 7: Local Budget Government Fiscal Control Act (LBGFCA) training, no details June 13: EI Coalition June 14: Legislative Breakfast, 7:30 8:30 at Legislative Building Cafeteria (RSVP to Association thth office; follow up with local senators and representatives on June 11/12 to remind them) June 18: County Commissioner budget vote; 9:00am June 18-20: Teacher workshop June 21: CCAP advisory committee : June 25th, 2pm Set next meeting date will include public hearing on budget, followed by regular meeting and vote to adopt the FY12/13 budget. Hart moved to adjourn the meeting. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 4:34pm. Amy EK Long Recorded By: ____________________________________________________________ Approved By: ____________________________________________________________ 7