NHSWCD_8-22-2011_approved minutes
New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District Board Meeting held at Wilmington, NC.
Meeting Number 3_ Date: _August 22, 2011
Supervisors Present: Others Present:
Bill Hart, Vice-Chair Dru Harrison, Director
Steve Skavroneck Amy Long, Education Coordinator
Donna Moffitt, Secretary/Treasurer Jane Wood, NRCS-NCDENR
Nancy Pritchett Kristina Fisher, Area 6 Coordinator NCDSWC
Dave Thomas, Chair Kemp Burdette, Cape Fear Riverkeeper
Tess Smallridge, New-White Oak Riverkeeper
Iris Baker, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Kathy Rawlings, New Hanover Reg. Med. Center
Was this meeting held during a meal: No _
Mr. Hart called the meeting to order at 2:35pm.
Hearing no objection, the Agenda was approved as distributed.
Mr. Skavroneck announced that Ms. Dru Harrison has been offered and accepted the role of Director
for the NHSWCD.
OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET:
Mr. Hart introduced the visitors present to discuss Operation
Medicine Cabinet; Tess Smallridge (New-White Oak Riverkeeper), Kemp Burdette (Cape Fear
Riverkeeper), Iris Baker and Kathy Rawlings (New Hanover Regional Medical Center --- NHRMC).
The program is known by several names (Medication Disposal Cabinet, Operation Medicine Drop)
and operates in conjunction with local law enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Onslow County Riverkeepers have been sponsoring the event since 2009, as has the New Hanover
Regional Medical Center (NHRMC). The event is held twice a year, in March and October timed with
national events. October 29, 2011 is next date, 9am to 1pm at Medical Mall for New Hanover County.
Onslow has 11 pick-up points and partners with Food Lion, fire departments and local law
enforcement, who are on hand at all times at all drop-off sites. NHRMC holds their event at the
Medical Mall and is staffed by pharmacists, techs and students.
When asked how NHSWCD and New Hanover Riverkeepers could become involved in the NHRMC
event(s), Ms. Baker and Ms. Rawlings suggested that both organizations help by getting the message
out to new audiences. Volunteers would be welcomed and advertisement was needed. There seemed
to be little interest in expanding the coverage area by adding drop-off locations. NHSWD will promote
the event dates on FaceBook and website.
Visitors all left (Kemp, Tess, Iris and Kathy).
Mr. Hart will revise the draft resolution he has been working on that proposes support from Soil and
Water Districts for this event/cause. The resolution will be presented at the Area 6 Fall meeting and
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moved for adoption. Resolutions are due to Kristina by October 10. Mr. Hart will present to the Board
in the September meeting before sending on to Kristina.
LAND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT (LMA) BUDGET VOTE (Supervisor Thomas assumed Chair):
Ms. Harrison presented the LMA budget with the approved transfer of staff merit increases to the
regular checking account. Anticipated for taxes, appraisals and surveys that may be
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incurred in the 11/12 fiscal year were also presented. Mr. Thomas requested comments from the
public on the proposed budget. Hearing none, the Chair declared the public hearing closed. Ms.
Moffitt clarified that in the future there will be only one public hearing for all NHSWCD funds. Ms.
Moffitt moved to accept the LMA budget in light of the public hearing. Mr. Skavroneck seconded the
motion; motion passed unanimously.
MINUTES:
Mr. Hart, Ms. Pritchett and Ms. Moffitt submitted corrections to the July 18, 2011, regular board
meeting minutes (#1) ahead of time. Mr. Hart moved to accept the minutes as amended. Mr.
Skavroneck seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Skavroneck led discussion regarding content and format of closed session minutes.
Technically there were two meetings; an open meeting where a closed session was then called,
so two sets of minutes are required. Mr. Skavroneck will write two sets of minutes with more
details for the record and Board will vote to approve them at the next meeting.
LIABILITY INSURANCE UPDATE:
Ms. Harrison reported: She spoke with Tiffany Allen from New Hanover County Risk Management.
Millennium Insurance will not write a policy for liability coverage only. Policy quote provides 1 million
dollar coverage for general liability and property for staff, all supervisors and volunteers. The policy
costs $3,350.00; the FY11/12 budget for insurance is $2000.
Ms. Pritchett reported that her conversation with County Manager, Bruce Shell was to no avail. Bruce
said it County would not cover NHSWCD property because it does not belong to a county department.
Ms. Harrison reiterated:
1) that the District is contractually obligated by the City of Wilmington to carry liability coverage
2) that the budget will need to be amended (requiring a vote) because of the discrepancy in
actual versus budgeted figures for the policy ($1350 is needed additionally to cover the policy
quoted by Millennium)
3) that a vote is needed to approve the purchase of the policy
Ms. Moffitt moved to amend the FY11/12 budget to allocate an additional $1350 in the insurance line
item. Ms. Pritchett seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Hart moved to approve the purchase of the liability and property insurance coverage. Ms. Moffitt
seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
CLOSED SESSION:
Ms. Pritchett moved to go into closed session at 3:46pm to review and discuss staff evaluations. Mr.
Hart seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously. Staff and visitors left the meeting.
Return to regular meeting at 3:53pm. Ms. Pritchett informed staff that she is writing the closed session
minutes. Mr. Thomas reported that in Closed Session, staff evaluations and merit increases were
approved. Staff need to sign and copy evaluations for personnel files.
FINANCIAL REPORT:
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A. MONTHLY RECONCILIATION Ms. Harrison reported: Nothing out of the ordinary. Ms. Pritchett
moved to accept the report for information. Mr. Thomas seconded the motion; motion passed
unanimously.
SUPERVISOR & STAFF REPORTS:
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A. District Issues Meeting: Ms. Harrison, Mr. Hart, and Ms. Kristina Fisher attended on August 11.
Ms. Harrison reported:
the Coastal Plain Commission seat on the NCSW Conservation Commission is open. It is a
3-year term; 6 meetings in Raleigh a year; all per diem, all meals, and hotel included. No
representatives from New Hanover or Area in recent history. Vote will be at annual meeting.
Area Committee rep for CCAP standing committee needs to be decided. Mr. Thomas is
current rep with Mr. Hart as alternate. Both Supervisors need to tell Ms. Harrison if they will
continue to serve in these roles.
Annual meeting will be January 8-10, 2012 in Greensboro, at the Koury Convention Center.
Looking for themes 75 years of conservation.
Senate Bill 309 passed. It involves District holdings of long term stewardship funds. School
of Government is working on a template on how to meet requirements of law in terms of
budget and fiscal control act.
Ms. Fisher reported:
There is a new market-based initiative being discussed. The U.S. military has a flight training
path that covers a 16 county area (does not include New Hanover). The Military wants to
keep the land under the flight pattern in open space, agriculture, non-development.
Agreements with landowners are being planned to keep the land in open-space that will
include contracts and payments to land owners. Districts will be involved to prepare
contracts and enroll citizens (similar to other cost share programs).
All but 3 districts were present at meeting. All had a supervisor and a staff person.
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B. District Employees Workshop: Ms. Harrison and Ms. Fisher attended August 16-18. Ms. Harrison
reported: She attended the managerial tract. She made contact with the Department of Cultural
Resources --- they will help with a document retention schedule. Paper and microfilm are only
acceptable forms of permanent documentation. Electronic documentation is not good enough.
Safety plan needs to be developed for the office; Harrison will work with Tiffany Allen to write a
policy for NHSWCD.
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Gator raffle tickets are in Supervisor packets; Due back to Ms. Harrison on November 1. Raffle
will be drawn at annual meeting banquet.
C. New Hanover County Work Session: Ms. Moffitt, Mr. Hart, Ms. Harrison and Ms.
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Long attended on August 15. Ms. Harrison reported: work session was to discuss the process in
which New Hanover County provides funding to outside agencies. They talked about creating a
ranking system, but difficulty is in fairly comparing all of the agencies. Cam Griffint
it is not something that will happen this year, but there will possibly be changes in the future.
Ms. Harrison reported that all open minute reports must be submitted to the County Budget
Department. Ms. Long sent all FY 10/11 reports to Teresa Elmore
Office to be in compliance. Ms. Elmore offered to post them on their web site. The Board agreed
to post open minute reports on County web site.
Ms. Moffitt stressed the importance of demonstrating concrete examples of what NHSWCD offers
the County that no other department or agency can. Show them what they will not have if they
lose the District; the money NHSWCD has put into New Hanover County in the last 5 years
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through District programs/funds; the tons of soil kept on the ground and out of the waterways; the
nutrient load kept out of county streams, creeks, river, and tidal waters; the number of people
affected by all of these BMPs. Things that only the District can do are what to highlight for future
reports. Tangible measures are what the Commissioners want to see. Ms. Harrison will prepare
those figures for handouts, verbal or written.
D. Education Update: Ms. Long reported on the Communities in Schools Cape Fear (CISCF)
Educational Fair she attended. Distributed a map of where NHSWCD educational programs have
been given in the past year. Dispersed training videos on CDs for Board members.
PROJECT UPDATES:
Ms. Harrison reported on all of the following:
A.
Eagles Island (EI):
Gullah-Geechee Corridor Commissioner Meeting: Ms. Harrison attended the first half of the
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meeting on Aug. 19. The Commission is working to extend the boundaries north to Burgaw
and south to St. Augustine, FL. They have a web site where a management plan will be posted
later this year and partnership applications can be accessed. The Commission has 501c3
status in SC --- Commission sunsets in 2016 if not reinstated by Congress, so non-profit can
carry on the work if they are not reinstated. She has signed up for list serve to stay current.
Gullahgeecheecorridor.org is web site.
Winner property: Scott Pullman (Natural Heritage Trust Fund) and Ms. Harrison talked today
regarding a potential funding source. Funds have been made available to Natural Heritage
through a legal settlement from a local company --- Tronex (sp?) --- for preliminary mitigation
and restoration work. Further funds are expected at the end of litigation. Timing and details are
complete unknowns dependent on results of court case.
EI Coalition: Priority is to find money for Winner property. Determining what committees need
what funding. Management plan for the island will be major focus at December meeting. Ms.
Fisher added a major focus is also on prioritizing interests.
B.
Cost Share Programs: Ms. Harrison reported that the District has $11,000 for CCAP this fiscal
year (4K from state, 7K from EEG grant). We received the top amount from EEG funder. $2500
will be requested from reallocation funds to cover an application from last year. September
meeting will be the first batch review of FY 11/12. Coastal Federation cannot handle anymore
BMP projects through CCAP right now because of the maintenance requirements. The Board
wants to revisit the contract terms to see if we can find a way to help Coastal Fed continue
working on CCAP projects. District was allocated $20,000 for Ag cost share this fiscal year.
PARTNER REPORTS:
A. Division Report: Ms. Kristina Fischer was present and reported.
Area 5 coordinator left and will be rehired. Area 7 position has been eliminated by State
budget constraints and the counties were parsed out to remaining Area Coordinators.
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Area 6 fall meeting will be October 18, at the Train Depot in Burgaw. $25. 9:30am. Round-
table discussion between the SW Division and Association will be major focus of the meeting.
Topics will include: Program priorities; Area boundaries; Department of Agriculture change.
SW Commission met last week. Ag cost share and CCAP allocations approved. Supervisor
travel reimbursement changes were made --- can only claim dinners for regular meetings and
just mileage (no meals) for Area meetings.
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Outstanding Achievements in Community Conservation Award: first recipient will be Jim
Stevenson, but we need to put together an application for him. She will be asking for input.
B. NRCS Report: Ms. Jane Wood was present and reported. Programs are getting pushed back
again. She does have a New Hanover applicant for forestry and will keep the Board posted.
OLD BUSINESS:
A. Strategic Plan 2012-17: Ms. Harrison distributed the old plan 2007-2012 via email. Work session
with staff, supervisors and partners needs to be scheduled. She recommends November and will
send an email with suggested dates.
*Mr. Hart left at 5:00pm.
NEW BUSINESS:
Ms. Moffitt tabled both items until next meeting.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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A. September 24, Big Sweep: Holly Tree property is a designated area by Keep America Beautiful
at 1:00pm
B. Next monthly meeting September 19, 2011
C. October 11-16, NAAEE Conference in Raleigh: Ms. Pritchett will attend a day, maybe more.
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D. October 18, Area 6 NCSWCD Fall Meeting. Burgaw, Train Depot, 9:30.
Mr. Skavroneck moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Moffitt seconded the motion; motion passed
unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 5:08pm.
Recorded By: Amy Long
Approved By: William (Bill) Hart, Vice-Chair, 9/18/2011
Tick List August 22, 2011:
Redo the closed session meetings, providing more detail on closed session. Two separate sets of
minutes are needed. Steve for next monthly meeting.
Prepare summary for Aug. 22 closed session meeting. Nancy
Sell gator tickets and return money and unsold tickets by Nov. 1. All supervisors
Set date for strategic planning meeting. Dru
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