Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutNHSWCD_6-25-12_approved minutes-signed New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District Board Meeting held at Wilmington, NC. Meeting Number 13_ Date: _June 25, 2012 Supervisors Present: Others Present: Dave Thomas, Chair Dru Harrison, Director Bill Hart, Vice-Chair Amy Long, Education Coordinator Donna Moffitt, Secretary/Treasurer Matt Maness, NHSWCD intern Nancy Pritchett Jane Wood, District Conservationist NRCS Steve Skavroneck Was this meeting held during a meal: No _ Chairman Thomas called the public hearing on FY 12/13 budgetto order at 2:08pm. Agenda Review: Skavroneck added Employee Reviews under Old Business. Harrison struck item D CET/DEW registration under New Business from the agenda because it will be covered during the Financial Review. Pritchett moved to accept the agenda as amended. Skavroneck seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. PRESENTATION OF FY12/13 BUDGET: Director Harrison reported that few changes had been made to the budget since she presented it in May. Points of interest include: The budget reflects the reduction of hours and benefits for the Education Coordinator position. It includes a 1% merit increase for both the Director and Education Coordinator. It reflects a more accurate dispersal of the Technical Assistance reimbursement from the State, showing salary, travel and supplies coming from ACSP (Ag Cost Share Program) and salary only from CCAP (Community Conservation Assistance Program). The amount for bonding and liability was increased by $410 based on the actual price for coverage. The price for workers compensation did not increase and that was changed to reflect the actual amount. The budget for copier maintenance decreased slightly. The Supplies line-item was increased to $400 to budget for the approved purchase of new checks (to be in LGBFCA compliance). Skavroneck made a correction to a label should be moved down one line. He also asked that the CD, which is an asset account, not a true revenue The board discussed and agreed. Harrison was directed to make the change. Board members Pritchett and Moffitt questioned the budgeted amount for background checks. $500 seemed expensive and both felt that there were less expensive alternatives through state government options. Harrison was instructed to check www.NCgov.org for less expensive alternatives. Chairman Thomas announced that the floor was open to public comment on the FY 12/13 budget that Director Harrison just reviewed. Hearing no comment from the public, Thomas declared the hearing closed at 2:18pm. Pritchett moved to continue with the regular meeting session with the agenda that was already reviewed and accepted. Hart seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. Moffitt moved to adopt the FY 12/13 budget as presented by Harrison with the discussed amendment of the CD account. Hart seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. 1 MINUTES: May 21, 2012 meeting #12, regular monthly board meeting. Fischer, Moffitt and Hart submitted edits prior to the meeting. Pritchett moved to approve the minutes as presented with amendments. Hart seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. FINANCIAL REPORT: Harrison presented the reports. A. Monthly reconciliation: Harrison listed several points of interest: She stopped a $2.00 monthly service fee that was applied to both the regular checking account and the Land Management account. The fee was for check copies. The auditor confirmed that this service was unnecessary for our records. $1000 from EEG CCAP grant has been received. These are not new or additional funds, but are from the close-out of a grant received three years ago to help with staff travel, support, and supplies. Both employees have registered for the annual Conservation Employee Training (CET) Conference (formerly called the District Employee Workshop) in August using funds remaining in the travel line item . There is a $1,500 donation for Eagles Island (EI) that is being held in the Land Management account. This money is earmarked for website hosting for EI coalition, and will be used for the CAMA permit that is required to place paddle trail markers. B. FY11/12 summary: Request for final payment from City Stormwater Services will be made July 1. Harrison explained that there will be one more payroll check for each employee before the end of the fiscal year. These two payments will put the yearly percentage amount over 100%, but that is due to how the calendar and fiscal years fell. It is not an extra payment. Office expenses will be closer to the budgeted amount by the end of the week (and fiscal year) when postage is paid for the annual newsletter and promotional materials are purchased. The education budget was not entirely spent this year because the Teacher Workshop was cancelled (lack of registrants) and a student was not sent to the Resource Conservation Workshop (lack of interest). Staff is recommending taking $500 from the education budget and reallocating those funds to purchase additional promotional materials. There was conversation about how to increase interest in teacher workshops. Was it lack of interest or bad timing? Board suggested trying to time one during the school year insteadeep America Beautiful to hold a workshop together. There was discussion about promotional material. Thomas suggested sending out a larger amount of newsletters to reach more people instead of spending the money on schwag. Pritchett suggested asking similar organizations to share their mailing lists. Harrison reported that she sent newsletters to County Commissioners and City Council in addition to the residents surrounding the Hewletts Creek easement; she will include the Board of Education in the future and Government TV. Pritchett instructed staff to ask people to send an email if they prefer receiving the newsletter electronically instead of by paper (include this in the newsletter). into one large contact list. Staff will send their combined contact list to the Board (BOS) and then BOS will add to it. Supervisors want staff to look into doing a 30/60 second spot (up to 3 minute) on Government TV. Thomas suggested hiring a UNCW intern to produce the video. Thomas moved to roll the remaining education funds over to FY 12/13 to be used for marketing. Pritchett seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. The financial reports were accepted for the record by consensus. 2 SUPERVISOR & STAFF REPORTS: A. Stewardship (SDC) report: Harrison reported that there have been major changes in Stewardship. SDC during this 6 month contract the SDC will no longer pay for a coordinator position, however there will be funds remaining to host an annual awards ceremony. Brunswick County Association of Realtors (BCAR) nd revoked their membership to the SDC on Friday, June 22. Their representative was Steve Candler, who was serving as Chairman of the committee. The BCAR made the decision to revoke their membership because of recent and upcoming legislation that would be in conflict with the SDC mission (sea-level rise and terminal groin legislation were the issues -- BCAR feared that SDC would advocate in the opposite direction as the realtors). BCAR was also questioning the current financial health of the organization. Harrison cannot speculate what the other two groups, Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors or Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association, will do. Just this morning, the program coordinator for SDC resigned effectively immediately. The Board agreed to hold the course and see if there is any fallout as a result of these developments. th B. Eagles Island (EI) report: Harrison reported that the full EI Coalition met on June 13. Topics presented at the meeting focused on sea level rise and how that would affect the island. The Conservation Management Committee has been working on completing a draft conservation management plan for the entire island. Framework for the plan has been sent to experts and is awaiting their input. Frankie Overton and Brooks Avery spoke at the Coalition meeting. The committee also met with Tony McEwen to discuss support and funding from Congressman McIntyre for the purchase of the Winner property. Tony has been in touch with staff from South Carolina Congressman Clyburn office (Clyburn was one of the original creators of the Gullah Geechee Commission). EI is in the Gullah Geechee plan and the draft of that plan should be out for public comment by the end of the month. The Gullah Geechee Commission will meet in th Wilmington on August 17, where committee members will be talking with Clyburn staff. The Conservation Management Committee will also meet with Tim Conway, a private fundraiser to discuss finding funds for the Winner property. Property is for sale for $4.5 million. realtor suggested lowering the price but th done so. September 12 at 2pm is the next full meeting of EI Coalition. Hart had several comments to add. A few months ago Harrison, Hart and Murchison met with a professional fundraiser and the advice they were given was to hold off and buy in chunks. He also said we would need to establish a firm price from both the seller and buyer. EIC needed a firm idea of how they wanted to use the property. Who is the decision maker in this sale? Lawyer Al Butler decided that it is Muddy Waters Properties LLC (the foreclosing entity) who has final say because Winner ultimately owes them. The property was appraised at $3.2 million and is valued at $800,000 according to tax records. Winner paid plus or minus $2Million. ot of loose ends. Harrison added that the speculation is that if cash were in hand, Winner/Muddy Waters would accept less. Pritchett commented that people respond to a direct goal. If you say you are building investors are more willing to come forth. People will not invest in a vague idea. They want a concrete goal to fund raise for. Hart closed by reiterating that the District is the primary player on the island. C.Cost Share Programs: st Spot Check report: Harrison reported that spot checks were completed on June 21 by Moffitt, Skavroneck and staff. Five contract sites were visited; 1 AG and 4 CCAP. All BMPs were in compliance. BMPs included no-till fields in Castle Hayne, a constructed wetland at Eagles Point Golf Course, a cistern at the NHC Government Complex, a biorention area at Alderman Elementary, a rain garden at a private residence, and the marsh sill at Fort Fisher. Moffitt asked if spot checks had to be done at the end of the fiscal year. She prefers to do them in March or May to avoid weather issues and to submit the report well before the deadline in case last minute problems arise. Staff agreed that spring checks would be better and will schedule them then in the future. 3 CCAP Advisory Committee: Hart highlighted the key discussion points from the meeting he attended on st Thursday, June 21. Negotiations on job approval authority for Landscape architects are ongoing. o There were six minor adjustments to the FY 12/13 budget. o New design manual will be out shortly Ms. Harrison was largely responsible for that kudos. o Hart received the existing applications for 319 grants. Funding for 319 on federal level is o unknown. The NACD newsletter discussion is that Congress disagreement seems to be over Title 1 issues, o not conservation issues, and that the Farm bill will have considerable cut backs in it. The committee will meet again next quarter and he will continue to serve if fellow Supervisors o President Don Heath so wishes. th D.Legislative Breakfast: Hart reported on the June 14 meeting. Dick Fowler did a great job organizing it. 25 legislators and 21 supervisors were there. An equal number of legislators responded that they would attend, but failed to show up, including Susi Hamilton. Lack of attendance was disappointing. He did learn that the Area 7 coordinator position was on the Assoc be restored and that the CCAP Coordinator position has been posted. He also learned that there will be an increase in funding for matching funds. There is no increase in CCAP recurring funds or in supervisor travel funds. E. Supervisor Term reminder (appointee nominations due October 31): Harrison reminded the Board that Sue Hayes is interested in the appointed position. An interested person has to fill out a form to apply for the board appointed position. The board has to approve the candidate in a public meeting and then it moves on to the Division. She gave an update on individuals who had filed for the elected position: Art Brownell, Justin LaNasa, and Andy Mills. Andy Mills was the only former applicant who has filed. No one has contacted Harrison from the mailings she did to previous filers. Pritchett will call Sue Hayes to get her the interest form she needs to submit to the board. PARTNER REPORTS: A. Division Report: Fischer was not present to give her report. It was distributed via email and a hardcopy was in the meeting folders. B. NRCS Report: Jane Wood was present to distribute her report. She reported that NHC has a longleaf pine contract for $28,500 on a private property. Chairman Thomas said that he has become aware that a NRCS staff member with no work-assignment duties for NHC may be coming into our office space, two days a week. Supervisors have not heard a request or explanation from Renee Melvin, the NRCS Area 3 supervisor. After discussions regarding the gentle grants NHSWCD its office space, the inadequate space and lack of resources for an NRCS employee (no separate phone or fax, no VPN connection, etc.), and the lack of return benefit to the County and District, the Board asked Wood and Harrison to review the contract agreement that is up for renewal. Moffitt moved that Harrison and Wood review the NRCS-NHSWCD contract and then draft a letter for Chairman Thomas to send to Renee stating that the Board cannot condone/allow an extra NRCS person in our limited space; there is no space available, nor the necessary resources, especially for an employee who does not have direct job responsibilities in the county. OLD BUSINESS: A. Resolution on the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) Low Impact Development (LID) initiative: Draft copies of the resolution were in the meeting folders. Hart explained that the resolution was written to encourage NC Association of Conservation Districts to become more involved in partnerships pushing for LID through local government ordinances for conventional stormwater management. Hart would like editorial additions and fine tunings on the draft from the Board. He will send it electronically to the BOS for comment. 4 B. Request for payment from SWC Foundation for CFCI OELC: Long explained that the outdoor educational learning center (OELC) at Cape Fear Center for Inquiry (CFCI) was reaching completion and would be nt of the grant from the Foundation for NC Soil & Water Conservation and is asking the Board to vote on approval of the request pending completion of the project so that payment is not delayed to the school. Pritchett moved to make the payment request pending completion of the roof/OELC. Thomas seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. C.Employee Review: Skavroneck added this to the agenda at Board that goals and objectives were developed last year by staff and BOS and an annual review process for staff was developed that included self-evaluation and meeting with 2 Supervisors for discussion. He is recommending that Supervisors do those reviews again. He is willing to do them again this year but would like to see it staggered among supervisors in the future. Board agreed that the process worked well and someone would help Skavroneck as schedules permitted. He will organize that portion. Staff was instructed to write annual reviews of their work (problems, accomplishments, goals) and submit to the Board by st August 1. NEW BUSINESS: A. Long forwarded the email from Foundation Director Michelle Lovejoy ahead of time. The Foundation Board of Directors is interested in hearing from Districts regarding identified conservation needs at the county, regional, and state level. District Supervisors were asked to discuss conservation needs not being met in their county and to think of any new conservation initiatives we would need assistance with. The Board discussed several needs including fire-house cisterns, school yard gardens, OELCs, and BMPs, funds for EI land acquisition and fundraising, non-profit templates and support to file for 501c3 status, - th of projects and send to Board and staff. Responses are due to Foundation by August 10 2012. B. Questionnaire for OELC needs in NHC schools: Long informed the Board that she received an email from SWC Foundation Director Lovejoy asking districts to identify potential or need for Outdoor Environmental st Learning Centers (OELC) projects. Long will respond to the survey by July 31 as directed with a list of interested schools 6 schools have already expressed interest. C.Legislative Strategy: Hart reported back to the Board regarding talks he had with Pat Harris (Division) and Dick Fowler (Association) and other Association members to develop a common pitch to give the Legislators in the new FY 12/13 calendar. They are also trying to identify the legislative audience for this pitch. Hart is interested in bringing common minded people (Sierra Club, NC Coastal Fed, Riverwatch, and Audubon, etc.) together to be our constituency possibly make them associate supervisors. UPCOMING EVENTS: June 26: 6:30pm CFEDC public meeting on Greenway, WHQR office June 28: 6-8pm Hewletts-Bradley Creek Watershed public comment, NHC Executive Development Center (1241 Military Cutoff Road. Hart pointed out that NHSWCD is not on the flyer again. July 12: Area VI Issues Meeting. Harrison and Hart will attend. th Filing for Board elections is over on July 6 at noon. Staff will email if additional people have filed. Moffitt asked about the violation in the easement. Harrison has been playing telephone tag with Tara (Division of Coastal Management) and will report back to the Board once progress has been made. Wednesday August 8th, 2pm Set next meeting date. Meeting adjourned at 4:36pm by consensus. 5 Amy EK Long Recorded By: ____________________________________________________________ Approved By: ____________________________________________________________ Tick List: 1. Change budget to remove CD from annual revenues unless some portion of it is planned to be used that year. Dru 2. Send application for being appointed to the board to Sue Hayes. Dru 3. Review contract between NHSWCD and NRCS. Dru 4. NRCS staffer here. Dru 5. Send electronic version of proposed LID resolution to staff and supervisors for comment and suggested changes. Bill 6. Prepare self-evaluations based on 2012 agreed upon goals and staff goals and send to supervisors by August 1. Dru and Amy 7. Foundation and send to supervisors for review and comment. Amy 6