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Wells County Soil & Water Conservation District
117 W. Harvest Road Bluffton, IN 46714
Phone (260) 824-0624 ext. 3
SWCD MEETING MINUTES – Oct. 14,2016
The Wells Co. SWCD met Oct. 14, 2016 at 8:00a.m. at the NRCS/SWCD office at 117 WestHarvest Road, Bluffton, IN. Supervisors present were:Chad Fiechter, Dale Thomas,Kevin Brickley.Others present wereDave Lefforge; Resource Specialist, Arelys Ortiz; NRCS Soil Conservationist, Kelley Barkell; NRCS District Conservationist, Stacia Henderson; Upper Wabash River Basin Commission, Watershed Coordinator, Lynne Huffman;SWCD District Coordinator.
Chad Fiechtercalled the meeting to order. The minutes from July 12,2016 & the Sept. 13thmeeting were presented. Did not have enough present who were present at July & Sept. meeting to approve. Tabled until November. The treasurer’s report ending Oct.7, 2016was presented. Kevin Brickleymade a motion to accept the report,Dale Thomasseconded, the motion carried.
Old Business: None
New Business:.CWI Grant Update – A 2017 CWI Grant was presented for review. We should know this month if we are awarded this grant. The 2016 Grant money is all allocated at this time. All but 3 applications are scheduled to be funded. Annual Conference –Annual Conference will be held January 23-24 in Indianapolis. A delegate for the business meeting and an alternate need to be chosen. Kevin Brickley volunteered to be our delegate, Chad Fiechter will be the alternate. Board Members were instructed to let Lynne know what day(s) they would like to attend. Lynne also asked for permission to attend. Kevin made a motion to allow Lynne to attend both days of annual conference. Dale seconded. Motion carried. Annual Meeting – Need to assemble and election committee for Annual Meeting. Dale Thomas, Dave Lefforge & Arelys Ortiz will make up this committee. Field Day Update – Chad Fiechter has secured a Drone to fly over the cover crop field at Dale Thomas’s farm and take pictures and then to show us how to use the drone at our field day on Nov. 18th. Lynne has secured the Boy Scout Cabin in Markle for field day. Cost is $40.00. Jeff Ulrey from Gypsoil will be there. Would like to have someone speak about the economics of cover crops. Lynne and Kelley Barkell will make some phone calls.
Conservation Application: EQIP- 17 applications were received in Wells County in 2016. All 17 were funded for over $700,000. No new information on when the deadline will be to turn in application for the next round.
Reports: Salamonie River 319 Grant- All money obligated, beginning to send out checks. Upper Wabash River Basin Commission – All the money is allocated, just waiting on bills from completion and field checks. Applied for a 319 grant for Flat Creek area. She also made us aware of a Hoosier Riverwatch training session on October 20th at Ouabache State Park. CWI –All money allocated. Lynne applied for a 2017 CWI grant.Rule 5- no new plans received.
Other Business: MembershipDues –National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) annual membership dues are now due. Kevin Brickley made a motion to give $500.00 as in previous years. Dale Thomas seconded, motion passed. SWCD Education Grant – Received an application from Southern Wells Junior High School. They are requesting a grant for $154.12 for their Frog Life Cycle project.After discussion, Dale Thomas made a motion to award the grant. Kevin Brickley seconded, motion carried. Training Opportunity – The next Leadership Institute “Impacting Communities” will be held December 2 & 3. Board members interested should let Lynne know.District Showcase – Huntington, Wells, Jay, Grant & Wabash Counties partnering with the Salamonie 319 grant applied for the District Showcase award during annual conference. Our application was chosen. The State Soil Board will be in Huntington on Nov. 2nd. We will at this time make a presentation, take the members on a tour of some of our water sampling sites as well as some of our practices that were cost-shared on. Interviews will be done and a video made to show during conference. All board members were highly recommended to attend.
Claim forms were signed, Dale made a motion to adjourn, Kevin seconded. Meeting adjourned. Next meeting will be changed from our regular night. We will hold our meeting on November 18that 6pm.
An Executive Session was held immediately following the monthly board meeting for employee evaluation.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lynne A. Huffman
District Coordinator
Wells Co. SWCD
Minutes Approved:
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