St. Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation District
1942 Old DeKalb Road, Canton, NY 13617
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
For May 16, 2013, 7:30 P.M.
Board Members Present: Robert Andrews, Jr. (Chairperson), Ben Stauffer (Vice-Chair), Tom Nichols
(Secretary) (arriving at 7:46 p.m.), Ed Hadlock, and Dan Parker.
Board Members Excused: Fred Morrill and Clark Decker.
Staff Present: Dawn Howard (Manager), Raeanne Dulanski (Technician), and Liz Gallup
(Secretary/Treasurer).
Guests Present: Kent Frary, NRCS.
I. Call to Order
II. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Motion to approve the March minutes, made by Stauffer,
seconded by Hadlock approved by all.
III. Treasurer’s Reports: Motion to approve March Treasurer’s reports, made by Stauffer, seconded
by Parker approved by all.
IV. Reports
A. NRCS – Kent Frary
1. Currently working under new structure as of Monday, May 13th. Frary’s new
supervisor will be Bruce Hopkins and Frary will be team leader for St. Lawrence,
Jefferson and Lewis Counties. Andrews asked if this new organization would impact
the number of hours Frary has for St. Lawrence County and was informed that it
really shouldn’t since there are the same number of staff for the area covered.
2. Frary reported that the WRP team has been dissolved and that Jim Pullano will be an
Area Resource Coordinator and Katie Maloney will be a Civil Engineering
Technician for all programs. Frary did say that this will affect him since he will have
to absorb the work that Pullano and Maloney used to do.
Nichols entered meeting at 7:46 p.m.
3. Frary has received notice to start submitting WRP applications that have been in the
pipeline. Some monies may have been freed up and the applications may move
pretty quickly.
4. Other contracts are in good shape with the livestock waste design complete and
construction to start in June. All active contracts have been reviewed.
5. Frary reported that a Civil Rights Review will take place on May 29th for the office,
Board members, and two producers. This is performed once every five years.
B. NYACD – Tom Nichols
1. Nichols reported that there may be some funding issues caused by Federal cuts,
including revisiting the rent issue. All parties are in discussion to minimize impact,
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AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER AND EMPLOYER
but we should look into alternatives to be proactive. He suggested it might make
sense to have the District act as landlord to USDA. Don Petit does not want to close
offices. Howard stated that she has already identified two possibilities for SWCD
space.
2. Nichols reported that dues from several Counties are delinquent, which affects things
because not only are we short on money, but the Counties can’t vote. Private
sponsors are being considered. Parker commented that St. Lawrence County might
even be tighter since they made a commitment to lower taxes, even if sales tax does
not go through.
C. AFPB – Bob Andrews
1. Andrews reported that new land is being added to Ag Districts. The number of new
acres may be as many as 2,700. Howard will go out with Matilda from the Ag and
Farmland Protection Board to review some parcels.
2. The Ag Tour will be held on September 13th this year.
3. Andrews spoke with Ag Commissioner Aubertine about how redistricting has
affected St. Lawrence County, and asked him to keep our representatives aware of
how important agriculture is to us, and to invite them to come on the Ag Tour.
4. Current property sale records are being maintained by the Office of Real Property.
V. SWCD Reports
A. Forester’s Report – Russell Martin (left this position effective May 18, 2013)
1. Howard reported that a timber sale still needs to be marked.
B. Technician’s Report – Raeanne Dulanski
1. Dulanski completed all of the AEM Year 8 reports and submitted them. AEM year 8
ended May 6th so AEM Year 9 started May 7th. Dulanski already has one grazing plan
almost complete for AEM Year 9.
2. NPS Grant Round 19 Plan of Work is complete.
3. Dulanski reported on the number of Ag Values we are still receiving because of the
Potsdam and DeKalb reassessments. She had one Ag Value request that was
comprised of 33 parcels. She has also been doing a number of soils maps to help
landowners lower their assessment because of wetlands.
4. Dulanski reported on the Snowmobile grant and the problems that she has been
having in trying to audit it. It is due May 31 st and has taken more time than it should
have to audit.
5. Dulanski presented a report on all NYS NPS grants so the Board would know the
status of each grant. Howard added that the monies held by the District have
additional collateralization at the bank for the amounts above the FDIC limits.
C. Secretary/Treasurer’s Report – Liz Gallup
1. Gallup shared with the Board the news that two of her boys were on the winning
Canton High School team for the 2013 North Adirondack Regional Envirothon.
They will be going to the State competition in Morrisville May 30 -31.
2. Gallup reported that she has finalized the District & State tree programs and
continues to work on the Carp program.
3. Gallup has started work on gathering information for the auditors and to pull numbers
together for the District’s 2014 budget.
D. Manager’s Report – Dawn Howard (Appendix B)
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1. Howard reported that Martin had received the call for the NYS Forest Ranger
Academy Sunday to report to school by 8:00 a.m. on Monday. He is there so his
position is vacant.
2. Howard reported that the No Till Grain Drill is backed up because one farmer kept it
for two weeks and refused to return phone calls. It was impossible to go pick it up
since the farmer owned a number of parcels and the District had no way of knowing
at which one it may have been located.
3. The Ag Plastic Baler has been pretty active. It is at a farm now and then will go to
Star Lake to bale wood pellet bags that the Lion’s Club has collected. It then will go
to Cornell for repair. DEC called to make sure we were following all procedures
since they had heard from Lois at RAPP that we weren’t. We were told that Lois is
retiring in August and a new person will be managing the program. Franklin County
SWCD is moving forward with TAP Industries in Malone as a possible buyer of the
bales. TAP is looking into buying a washer for the plastic material. A certain number
of bales are needed to make the washer worthwhile.
4. Howard reported that Nichols was getting mail at the District office from CPH
requesting participation in fundraising. Nichols assured us that it was a mistake and
he was being asked as a private individual.
5. Howard provided Nichols (as Chair of the Black Lake Invasive Weeds Committee) a
bill for her time worked on the RVRDA grant for his approval.
Howard reported that the RVRDA grant did not get approved so something else will
need to be done to front the $50,000 for Senator Ritchie’s reimbursement grant. The
Town of Oswegatchie has offered to front the monies since the District may not
borrow monies to supply the $50,000 start up. Howard suggested turning the grant
over to the Town to administer, but to have the SWCD provide technical assistance to
ensure that the project is handled correctly. Parker inquired if a MOU would be
required. Andrews stated that he does not want the District making decisions, but
would like any knowledge gained from this project to be available to all bodies of
water in St. Lawrence County. Parker feels that we can provide technical services
and provide tools to make decisions, but not make the actual decisions. Stauffer
commented that we have to be very careful only to offer technical assistance and not
make decisions. Howard felt that it would not only be technical assistance but
administration of the grant for the Town of Oswegatchie. Parker felt that someone
other than the District should say what goes in the plan of work. Hadlock said that he
agreed that the Weeds Committee needs to decide how to handle the weed problem.
Motion to move Member item monies and control for Black Lake to the Town of
Oswegatchie. The St. Lawrence County SWCD is in support of improving the health
and quality of Black Lake and of the effort to achieve this goal, but is in need of
program guidance from them and is not in the position to make decisions on how this
should be accomplished. This motion was put to a vote as follows:
Motion to approve made by Staffer, seconded by Parker,
Roll call vote as listed below:
1. Chair: Robert Andrews, Jr.: Yes
2. Vice-chair: Ben Stauffer : Yes
3. Treasurer: Fred Morrill
: Absent
4. Secretary: Tom Nichols
: Abstained
5. Member: Edwin Hadlock : Yes
6. Member: Daniel Parker
: Yes
7. Member: Clark Decker
: Absent
Motion is so passed.
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6.
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15.
Howard said that she will speak with Senator Ritchie’s office and to the Town of
Oswegatchie to get things in motion.
Howard informed the Board that Kandace Dietschweiler-Hartley, one of the NPS
Round 16 farmers, has not taken any action to utilize grant monies. Howard asked
for permission to contact Ms. Dietschweiler-Hartley to obtain her permission to
cancel the grant. Motion to authorize Howard to contact Dietschweiler-Hartley and
then to terminate the NPS Round 16 grant and to return monies of $ 151,305.50 plus
interest to NYS, made by Stauffer, seconded by Hadlock approved by all.
Howard informed the Board that the NYS NPS Round 19 Grant Plan of Work has
been submitted and 25% vouchered for. She requested permission to open a bank
account for this money. Motion to authorize Howard to open bank account for NYS
NPS Round 19 Grant, made by Nichols, seconded by Parker approved by all.
Motion to authorize Howard to pay $962.00 to Dale Morris for AEM work
performed, made by Stauffer, seconded by Hadlock approved by all.
Howard informed the Board that Senator Ritchie will be providing mosquito dunk
kits to combat EEE again this year to District offices.
Motion to authorize SLC SWCD contribution of $200.00 to SLWRP, made by
Nichols, seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
Howard reported that she is working on a drainage problem in the Village of Canton
on Main Street with the DOT. She also assisted Cornell Coop Ext with installing a
600’ tile drainage system by surveying and staking the system.
A SLC farm markets to an organization which has an agreement with an animal
rights group that advocates that cows should be out at least half a day on dirt. This
will cause conflict with their CAFO compliance. Andrews stated that DEC & NYS
discussed CAFO Regulations and said that changes will be coming and that we need
to keep track of them. EPA regulations are not in agreement with DEC Regulations
and were actually less rigorous than DEC.
Howard informed the Board that the Forester position needs to be filled and that there
are only two people on the Civil Service list and three are required. Howard said we
will need to advertise and to hire someone provisionally and the new employee will
have to take the test and score high enough to be reached. Andrews stated that he
feels the tech time of this position (50%) is very important and that we need to really
think about what to do. He suggested that we hire a retired farmer part time to drive
the equipment around to free up Howard’s time. He suggested a salary range of $10 11. Howard will look at the Civil Service implications. Motion to authorize Howard
hire a part time person ASAP to move various pieces of equipment around at
$11/hour with no benefits, and requiring the ability to perform light maintenance on
the equipment, made by Nichols, seconded by Parker approved by all.
Howard reported that the timber sale was not completed prior to Martin’s departure.
It may take a while to fill this position so it may be necessary to bid out sale marking
to a consultant through the County’s Purchasing Department. There may even be a
need for a second timber sale depending on sale revenue. Motion to authorize
Howard to contract one or two timber sales as needed to earn the monies promised
to the County, made by Nichols, seconded by Stauffer approved by all.
Discussion by Nichols about whether we should change the Forester position while
we have the chance. He questioned if we need a forester or would a technician be
able to be trained to do some forestry. Andrews stated that he felt we should stress
the tech side of the position which is currently 50% of the position. Howard stated
that she would not have the time to train a tech to do all the forestry work that is
required by this position. She stated that the County expects a Forester according to
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the agreement we have with them. There is more work performed than just timber
sales such as forest fires, forest health, and complaints. Hadlock asked Howard what
she felt she needed in this position and she replied that she needs the position to stay
as is. Motion to authorize Howard to hire a new employee to the Forester position as
it stands now, made by Hadlock, seconded by Stauffer approved by all but Nichols
who voted against.
16. Andrews, Parker, and Stauffer will perform the interviews for this position.
17. Andrews stated that he feels that Martin did a great job in this position and would
like the Board to do a Certificate of Appreciation. Motion to authorize a Certificate
of Appreciation for Martin, made by Stauffer, seconded by Nichols approved by all.
VI. Old and New Business:
A. Motion to authorize Andrews mileage (rate $.565) when he attends Civil Rights
Review as a Board member at the District’s Office, made by Parker, seconded by
Stauffer approved by all.
VII. Correspondence: Mail was available for the Board’s review. (List of items in Appendix C)
VIII. Announcements: None
IX. Time and Date of Next Meeting: July 18, 2013, 7:30 PM at the SWCD Office.
X. Meeting Adjourned: 9:45 PM
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Robert Andrews, Jr., Chairperson
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Date
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Elizabeth J. Gallup, Secretary/Treasurer
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Date
Attachments: Appendices A-B-C
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