St. Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation District
1942 Old DeKalb Road, Canton, NY 13617
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
For November 19, 2015, 7:30 PM
Board Members Present: Robert Andrews, Jr. (Chairperson), Ben Stauffer (Vice-Chair), Tom
Nichols (Secretary), Clark Decker, Hubert Brothers, Chad Colbert (Treasurer), and John Burke.
Board Members Excused: None
Staff Present: Raeanne Dulanski (Acting Manager), Matt Brown (Forester), Cheynne Youngs
(Technician), and Liz Gallup (Secretary/Treasurer).
Guests Present: Kent Frary-NRCS, Bob Brower-NYS SWCC, Adam Cook, and Georgia Brothers.
I. Call to Order: Andrews introduced Adam Cook, a potential replacement for Decker, to the
Board. Cook is from a farming background and has a beef farm in Potsdam. He is also a physical
education teacher at Norwood-Norfolk High School. Introductions were made from the Board and
staff members present.
II. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Motion to approve the October 15, 2015 minutes, made by
Decker, seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
III. Treasurer’s Reports: Motion to approve October 2015 Treasurer’s reports, made by Stauffer,
seconded by Burke approved by all. Gallup pointed out final fish sale numbers, No Till rental
figures and accounts receivable amounts.
Colbert and Burke arrived at 7:40 p.m.
IV. Reports
A. NRCS – Kent Frary
1. Frary reported that the digester project was finishing up with energy to be
created possibly by December.
2. He reported that the ranking for EQIP applications for FY 2016 are being
worked on. Applications for Round 2 are being accepted. There is a potential for
excess monies after Round 1. If there isn’t money available, the applications will
be moved to FY 2017.
3. The Local Working Group meeting will be held in the Watertown Field Office
this year on December 9th at 10:00. Program rollout for FY 2017 will be
discussed.
4. Frary informed the Board that ACEP (previously WRP) will be offered. There
was a national press release about the program being available.
5.
B. BOL – John Burke & Chad Colbert
1. Colbert reported that the County budget passed and did include a 10% cut to the
SWCD. He is hopeful that some of the monies lost may be able to be added back
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AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER AND EMPLOYER
in during the year. Burke added that he would have liked further discussion
before the budget was adopted. Colbert asked if cutting Forestry was an option
to maintain level funding for the SWCD. Dulanski responded that she didn’t
think that was a good option since Forestry is a contract between the County and
the SWCD. Andrews stressed that this cut was distressing and difficult to
recover from and further cuts next year would have a negative impact on our
ability to continue our role in the County.
C. Farm Bureau – Ben Stauffer
1. Stauffer reported that he had requested that letters in support of the SWCD
maintaining level funding be sent to the County. He was not sure that they had
been sent.
D. NYS Grange – Hubert Brothers
1. Brothers reported that he attended the State Grange meeting. The President of
Cornell University was one of the speakers. Brothers was somewhat alarmed
that Cornell seems to think truck gardening is the future of NYS farming.
Brower said that the feeling is that climate change may realign types of farming
across the country.
E. SWCC – Bob Brower
1. Brower reported that the new contract system at NYS called Gateway has not
been working for Ag NPS contracts. Ag NPS Round 21 contracts will continue
to be done the old way while this issue is discussed. Round 22 will be held up
because of these problems.
2. A new Climate Resiliency Program has been started. It has three different tracks
to apply under but each track must have its own application even if it is the same
farm. Farms can apply multiple times if needed.
F. AFPB – Bob Andrews
1. Andrew handed out a Soil Classification Worksheet (Attachment A), and
informed the Board that Matilda Larson from Planning had provided it at the last
AFPB meeting. He went over the information presented. Andrews would like
Larson to come to a future meeting to do the entire presentation.
2. Andrews said that a 27 acre parcel in Lisbon is rumored to be leased to install a
solar array. Interest in solar arrays exists in many areas of the County.
3. Andrews said that Larson has a survey online for farmers to enter their data
about their operations to be used to help with the County Ag Plan update. St.
Lawrence University will be helping with this. The Amish community seems to
be difficult to engage which is unfortunate due to their significant presence in the
County. Larson is going to attend the AgriMark annual regional dinner to spread
the word on the project. The Amish often attend these dinners so she will try to
get as much participation as possible from them at that time.
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V. SWCD Reports
A. Technician’s Report – Cheynne Youngs
1. Youngs reported that she has been very busy working on the AEM program, soil
sampling and NPS construction site visits. She is going to partner up with Bill
Bullock of CCE to go on farm visits to try to drum up interest in the AEM
program.
2. Youngs has been helping Frary prioritize the EQIP Grassland Applications.
3. Youngs attended Habitat training for EQIP & RCPP with Dulanski & Pullano
and the Clarkson/Cornell meeting on the small farm digester project. Dulanski
noted that there will be another digester meeting with Clarkson students and
engineers if any other Board members are interested.
4. All soil sampling for the Soil Health Grant has been completed and site visits
have revealed nice green vegetation so everything is looking good.
5. Youngs delivered the No Till.
B. Forester’s Report – Matt Brown
1. Brown reported that the timber sale in Parishville should be done in a week or
two. They had a slow start but things are moving along now.
2. The Part B Management Plans are well under way. The site visits are complete
and he is writing the plans now.
3. Brown has applied for a grant through SLELO to put interpretive signs about
invasive species on County parcels outside of the blue line.
4. The No Till has been put away for the season at CCE.
Nichols arrived at 7:50 p.m.
C. Secretary/Treasurer – Elizabeth Gallup
1. Gallup reported that she has been busy with year-end activities, retirement
details, new computer worksheets, personnel paperwork and updating our
webpage at the County.
2. Motion to approve a transfer from the Money Market account to Checking
account for December 2015 and January 2016 to cover operating costs, up to
$20,000, made by Decker, seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
3. Motion to approve paying NYS Retirement bill for $28,424 from the Money
Market Account, made by Stauffer, seconded by Colbert approved by all.
Gallup notified the Board that the dollar amount was $1,424 higher than
budgeted due to an error at NYS. There is money to cover the difference.
4. Gallup pointed out that she had distributed the Board yearly reimbursement
forms for their signatures. She explained the new format created this year.
5. Gallup notified the Board that the employee share for health insurance has
increased due to the increase in premiums and that dental insurance increased
less than a dollar each person/month. Vision remained the same. The SWCD
received Howard’s first health insurance contribution check.
6. Gallup informed the Board that the October SLC Highway bill for repairs was
over the $500 approval level for Dulanski. Motion to approve payment of SLC
Highway bill in the amount of $752.07 for October, made by Stauffer, seconded
by Burke approved by all.
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7. Gallup explained that we needed new signatory cards and a Resolution for our
bank accounts due to Howard’s retirement. Motion to approve the signing of a
new Resolution and to appoint Chad Colbert, Treasurer and Raeanne Dulanski
as signatories for all SWCD bank accounts, made by Nichols, seconded by
Stauffer approved by all.
8. Gallup requested permission to issue a check to Howard for 240 hours of unused
vacation time. She explained that the total annual salary for Howard will be over
the budgeted amount since she worked three weeks longer than planned
originally. There are sufficient funds to cover this difference. Motion to
approve paying Howard for 240 hours of vacation time, made by Nichols,
seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
9. Gallup informed the Board that we transfer all No Till earnings from the
Checking Account to the Equipment Fund semi-annually. Motion to approve a
transfer from the Checking account to Equipment Fund of No Till earnings
received to date of $1,613.54, made by Decker, seconded by Nichols approved
by all. Motion to approve a transfer from the Checking account to Equipment
Fund of any other earnings received from overdue No Till accounts by the end of
the year (maximum possible $2,144.52), made by Brothers, seconded by Nichols
approved by all.
D. Acting Manager’s Report – Raeanne Dulanski (Attachment B)
1. Dulanski reported on the overdue No Till accounts and the actions taken to date
to collect the monies. One account is over 187 days late and the County
Attorney’s office has been assisting the SWCD by sending a demand of payment
letter. She reported that a partial payment on this account has been received by
the Franklin County SWCD (No till user lives in Franklin County) and
forwarded to us. Three other accounts have yet to be received. If they are more
than ninety days overdue, the County Attorney will be contacted for assistance.
Motion to approve sending any accounts that are greater than ninety days
overdue to the SLC County Attorney for action, made by Stauffer, seconded by
Decker approved by all.
2. Dulanski reminded Stauffer and Nichols that their appointments are up at the end
of this year. If they are still interested in serving on the Board they will need to
complete a Bios to be sent to the County Legislature.
3. RCPP sign up is over after today. Two grassland applications, a grassland with
forestry application and a forestry only application have been submitted.
4. Dulanski completed the SLELO Weed Disposal grant application. More
applications were received than there is money available so it will be
competitive.
5. Dulanski reported that two farmers have completed Ag NPS projects.
a. The first farmer in Round 19 finished his silage leachate control system.
He was not able to get bids for the procurement process so she asked the
farmer to write a letter describing why he couldn’t. State has approved
this, so payment may be approved by the Board. Farmer was upset
because he thought more bills should be covered but they weren’t
included in the original specs. There is one more bill that the Board
requested additional information on. They will then discuss this bill
during the January 2016 meeting. Brower said that if the bill was for
additional work that was found to be necessary to finish the job it is
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probably ok but a change work order should have been received. It
would have been approved by the State. Motion to approve paying 90%
of approved payments and engineering costs totaling $80,799.27, made
by Stauffer, seconded by Nichols approved by all. Farmer indicated he
may not want to do the second system under his contract since this one
was not what he expected. Brower said that that is the farmer’s choice.
b. The second farmer is in Round 20 and is a one farm grant. Brower is
coming on December 11th to do a grant closeout. Grant documentation
was available for Board review. Contingency funds were recommended
to be utilized since the silage leachate transfer was changed from going
through the barn to going around it. Additional stone and tile were also
required due to additional water at the storage location. Motion to
approve a partial payment of $100,000 to Clark Putman & Scott Akins
and full payment made once closeout is completed and funding is
received from NYS, made by Nichols, seconded by Decker approved by
all. Motion to approve the use of contingency funds to cover additional
costs, made by Decker, seconded by Stauffer approved by all. Stauffer
questioned why in both grants the engineers involved seemed to miss
items that then needed to be added. Dulanski said that one engineer had
not worked on Ag NPS projects with SLC SWCD before but the second
one had. Things are changed sometimes once the project starts.
NYACD – Tom Nichols
1. NYACD Annual Meeting was held with lower attendance. Howard did attend
and received her award. She seemed to enjoy herself and was pleased.
2. Interviews for a new NYACD Executive Director will start in December.
VI. Old and New Business
A. Andrews presented Decker with a clock to show the Board’s appreciation for all that he
has done during his time as a member. Decker said that he has enjoyed his time as a
member and will miss being a part of the SWCD. He thanked everyone for the
experience and hopes the new member may be interested in being active in the NYACD.
It is a rewarding experience.
VII. Executive Session:
A. Motion to enter into Executive Session to discuss salary increase due to a staff member
promotion from acting to Provisional Manager at 9:42 p.m. (Decker left meeting at 9:41
p.m.) made by Nichols, seconded by Stauffer approved by all
Executive Session ended at 10:20 p.m. Decker returned to the meeting at 10:20 pm.
Motion to accept Howard’s retirement as of November 28, 2015, made by Decker,
seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
Motion to increase Dulanski’s salary by 3% on the salary remaining to be paid in 2015
to compensate for Provisional Manager Conservation District Manager duties to start as
of November 29, 2015, made by Nichols, seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
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Motion to approve 3% salary increases for all staff to take effect January 1, 2016, made
by Nichols, seconded by Brothers approved by all.
Board of Directors member attendance was discussed.
VIII. Correspondence: Mail was available for the Board’s review. (List of items in Attachment C)
IX. Announcements: None
X. Time and Date of Next Meeting: January 21, 2016, 7:00 PM at the SWCD Office
XI. Meeting Adjourned: 10:27 PM
_________________________________________
Robert Andrews, Jr., Chairperson
______________
Date
_________________________________________
Elizabeth J. Gallup, Secretary/Treasurer
______________
Date
Attachments: A, B & C
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