St. Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation District
1942 Old DeKalb Road, Canton, NY 13617
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
For June 19, 2014, 7:40 PM
Board Members Present: Robert Andrews, Jr. (Chairperson) Arriving at 7:52 p.m., Ben Stauffer (ViceChair), Fred Morrill (Treasurer) Arriving at 7:52 p.m., Tom Nichols (Secretary) Arriving at 7:40 p.m., Clark
Decker, Ed Hadlock, and Dan Parker.
Board Members Excused: None.
Staff Present: Dawn Howard (Manager), Raeanne Dulanski (Assistant Manager), and Liz Gallup
(Secretary/Treasurer).
Staff Members Excused: Matt Brown (Forester).
Guests Present: Kent Frary, NRCS; Bob Brower, NYS SWCC.
I. Call to Order by Vice Chair Stauffer.
II. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Motion to approve the May minutes, made by Decker, seconded by
Parker approved by all.
III. Treasurer’s Reports: Motion to approve May Treasurer’s reports, made by Hadlock, seconded by
Decker approved by all.
IV. Reports
A. NRCS – Kent Frary
1. Frary reported that they have completed the application process and have now received
pre-approvals for 27 of the 28 high priority contracts. This means that there is money to
fund the contracts and to draw up the final contracts. Dulanski has been working on this
with Frary. It is rare to have this many approved from one County and the remaining
contract may still be approved. Of the 38 contracts submitted for approval from the FOT,
27 of the approved contracts came from St. Lawrence County. Dulanski has the first one
ready for the landowner’s signature and the remaining landowners will be ready in the
coming weeks.
7:45 Nichols entered the meeting
2. There were ten Agricultural Conservation Easement Program applications (previously
WRP) submitted from the FOT and nine of them will be moving to the next step in the
process. Eight were from St. Lawrence County. June 27th is the deadline for ranking
these.
3. Deadlines seem very optimistic and may need to be extended due to software glitches and
other problems with processing.
4. Frary reported that Gregory Kist will be starting as the new NY State Conservationist in
the next few weeks.
B. NYACD – Tom Nichols and Clark Decker
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AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER AND EMPLOYER
1. Nichols reported that he sent an email to the new State Conservationist requesting an
explanation of how budgets are going to be handled re: rent issues.
2. October Annual Meeting is in planning stages and is moving along nicely.
3. EPA Clean Water Act evaluation is continuing and Nichols may be inviting Districts to
make comments to ensure that a sensible approach is taken.
7:52 Andrews and Morrill entered the meeting.
C. AFPB – Bob Andrews
1. Ag Tour is finalized for August 8th and will include Reins Are Us, Gebarten Acres and
Seymour Livestock. An Amish expert will discuss where the Amish are currently settled.
Dairy and Maple Queens and mobile chicken processor will also be there.
2. Andrews reported that Tri Town Meats may stop processing meat that requires USDA
approval because of the problems that they are encountering with USDA. Andrews met
with Tri Town and has been busy making calls to all Representatives to get the issue
resolved.
3. Dale Mathews’ zoning appeal to the Town of Brasher is still an issue. Mr. Mathews
plans to attend the next AFPB meeting.
4. RVRDA Grant was not approved to help fund the update of the AFPB Plan. The
Planning Department thinks we may be able to do it in house, but will need $25,000 of
in-kind donations to do so. Morrill reported that the Board of Legislators supports the
plan update. Cooperative Extension and the SWCD both have been asked to donate time.
Andrews also asked if the Board would consider making a small monetary donation. This
would list our name on the completed plan. To be discussed under Old Business.
D. SWCC – Bob Brower
1. Brower reported on CAFO permits. June 30th is the deadline. Medium CAFO’s (300-699
cows without discharge) did not have their deadline extended. Farmers may need to use
the Clean Water Permit process since that deadline is more flexible.
2. Brower reported on some staffing changes taking place. There will be an Associate
Environmental Analyst position to be filled in the next month or two. Administrative
Assistant Virginia Weston is retiring and her position will be filled.
3. Comptroller’s Office has been looking at the accounting for the Ag Non-Point Source
Grants and a number of areas have raised questions. They found instances in the price
solicitation process where the lowest bid was not chosen, and that there was not any back
up documentation as to why. Another practice questioned was when a farmer received
the bids and then decided to do the work himself at a lower cost. This does not work
since the farmer would know what to bid to be the lowest. Nichols did not see that this
should be an issue as long as the work was up to specs. Brower said that did not matter.
If the farmer wanted to bid, they should bid at the same time as everyone else. Morrill
mentioned that a new bid could also be done to include the farmer if all of the original
bids were not satisfactory. Another issue is that documentation of payments must be
tightened up. Cancelled checks or some other proof of payment must be supplied by
farmers for each cost incurred.
4. Brower reported that a new manual detailing procedures for the Ag Non-Point Source
Grants is being worked on. Dulanski is helping with this update.
5. Brower asked that all landowners under the Round 20 Ag Non-Point Source Grant be
reminded that these are reimbursement grants and landowners must pay all costs up front.
6. Round 20 had 92 projects submitted and it looks like 44 – 55 of those will be funded.
Final announcements will come out soon. Our two projects are looking good in the
ranking
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V. SWCD Reports
A. Forester’s Report – Howard for Matt Brown
1. Brown is attending training very early tomorrow with the DEC Private Lands Forester.
2. Bid opening for the Hermon sale is June 25th. Areas 12 & 14 will be the next sale.
3. No till is moving along. There are three more farmers on the list and then it should slow
down.
4. WRP must be done by August 15th so Brown continues to work on them.
5. Howard and Brown will be presenting the State of the Forest to the Board of Legislators
on Monday.
B. Assistant Manager’s Report – Raeanne Dulanski
1. Dulanski reported that she attended Phase 3 training in Cobbleskill, NY. This training is
to become a NRCS Certified Planner which allows her to do CNMP Conservation Plans.
She will have to complete plans for review before she is fully certified. Dulanski could
also work towards her private certification.
2. Dulanski reported that the preapproved NRCS contracts that she has been working on
with Frary were for forestry, high tunnels, grasslands, a manure pit, and ag energy.
3. Dulanski is working on a RFP for a Soil Health mini grant with Kitty O’Neil from
Cooperative Extension. The general idea of the proposal that they would like to put
together is cover crop implementation. To gauge its’ effect on soil health, they would like
to propose doing a soil health test before and after planting a cover crop. The grant would
cover equipment so O’Neil is able to purchase equipment needed to complete the soil
health tests. The application is due by the end of July. Morrill inquired if the SWCD
would be able to earn a fee and Dulanski said yes, we would be able to write our time
spent on the grant into the grant proposal. Motion to authorize the application for a grant
under the 2014 Ecosystem Based Management Soil Health Mini-Grants for the Great
Lakes Basin and Mohawk River Basin RFP, made by Nichols, seconded by Parker
approved by all.
C. Secretary/Treasurer’s Report – Liz Gallup
1. Gallup reported that she has been working on the budget and audit. She is also
continuing to evaluate if the QuickBooks computer is sufficient or if we do need a
computer on the NRCS server.
2. Gallup requested Board approval for a number of items. Motion to approve the transfer
of $2,337.93, which represents No Till earnings, from the Checking Account to the
Equipment Fund, made by Decker, seconded by Morrill approved by all.
3. Motion to approve the transfer of approximately $4,238.80, which represents the SWCD
Technical Assistance Fee for Ag Non -Point Source Rnd 17 Warden and Richards, from
the Ag Non -Point Source Rnd 17 Warden & Richards Account to the Money Market
Fund after the June 30, 2014 interest has been posted, made by Nichols, seconded by
Parker approved by all.
4. Motion to approve the closing of the Ag Non -Point Source Rnd 17 Warden & Richards
Bank Account when the balance is zero, made by Nichols, seconded by Parker approved
by all.
5. Motion to approve transfer from Money Market to Checking for August & September to
cover operating costs up to $20,000 each month, made by Stauffer, seconded by Decker
approved by all.
D. Manager’s Report – Dawn Howard (Attachment A)
1. Howard informed the Board that the info that she gave in a phone call from an aide to
Senator Schumer’s was used for a newspaper article on algae in Black Lake. She
included a copy of the article in the Board folder.
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2. Motion to give authorization for Howard to sign the AEM Year 10 contract, made by
Nichols, seconded by Decker approved by all.
3. EPA Clean Water Act’s comment period has been extended to October 20th. NRCS is
looking for watersheds for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. Black Lake
was submitted.
4. Howard reported that the letter concerning deadlines for the Snowmobile Grant generated
some discussion with the Snowmobile Association President at the Trails Board Meeting.
Decker asked how the grant turned out and Howard said that an additional $100,000 in
bills was submitted a few hours before the deadline so the entire grant was supported.
5. Howard informed the Board that our fax number would be changing in the near future
since NRCS is going to an internet version of faxing. She will provide the number when
the change is complete.
6. Howard reported that a letter of support for Tap Industries’ application for funding to buy
a washer for Ag Plastics had been sent.
7. Ag Non-Point Source Round 16 Serenity Acres and Evans Farm BWMS has not had any
activity for quite some time. Howard recently received a call from an engineer who said
Kandace Dietschweiler-Hartley had contacted him to draw up plans to utilize her grant
monies. Landowner contract ends August 1st so Kandace has requested a time extension.
This would also have to go through Ag & Markets for approval if the Board approves it.
Motion to approve the closing of the Ag Non -Point Source Round 16 Serenity Acres and
Evans Farm BWMS Grant when the SWCD Contract ends on August 1, 2014. made by
Nichols, seconded by Morrill approved by all.
8. Howard reported that we will be receiving more mosquito dunk kits from Senator
Ritchie’s office.
9. Day at the Farm will be held September 27th at McKnight’s farm.
10. RIBS meeting with DEC went well. There will be 33 sites monitored in SLC. Mike
Schenk from Senator Pattie Ritchie’s office was not able to attend.
11. Construction at the Smith site is moving right along. Howard attended a pre-construction
meeting with Dori B to discuss starting right away. McKnight is also ready to go.
12. A Suzzane Saunders has called twice re a barnyard by the Oswegatchie River but left bad
phone numbers each time.
13. Morrill asked about the cemetery issue along the Grass River. Howard reported that it
has been decided that it will be cheaper to disinter some graves and move to a new site.
There were 1,200 sites with 680 assigned, but record keeping on actual burials was
sketchy so an attempt is being made to map the known sites.
8:53 p.m. Nichols left meeting, returned at 9:02 p.m.
14. Howard reported that it has been decided that monies remaining with RC & D will be
divided between the various Counties for their local Envirothon competitions. It should
be about $4,000.00 for each County.
VI. Old and New Business:
A. NYS Envirothon donation by SWCD: Morrill stated that he was not comfortable with donating
SWCD funds to organizations funded by New York State. Nichols said that the Envirothon was
not directly funded by NYS but by private donors. There was constructive discussion about
donating monies, but in the end four Board members said they didn’t think we should and two
thought it was a good idea.
B. AFPB Plan donation by SWCD: There was constructive discussion about donating monies, but in
the end it was decided that we would be putting in staff time to help with the plan so no monies
should be donated.
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C. 2015 Budget/Retirement Planning/Technician: Howard reported that her official 20 year
anniversary will be November 1st which is a Sunday so her last official day will be November 2,
2015. She would like to utilize her vacation time from August 14, 2015 which should exhaust the
time she has accumulated by November 2nd. The question of hiring a new technician to help
during this time was discussed. Monies available and various start dates were talked about. It
was decided to wait until the next meeting so people could think it over. We may hear about a
new NRCS Contribution Agreement by then.
9:35 p.m. Hadlock left meeting.
The budget was discussed. It was explained that the changes caused by Howard’s retirement
were included, but costs associated with a new technician were not. An increase of 15.9% to our
health insurance costs by our carrier was disclosed and was included along with flat funding for
our County appropriations and the use of current NYS Retirement rates. Motion to send the
budget including salary changes and a flat funding of both the SWCD and Forestry
appropriations to the County, made by Nichols, seconded by Parker, approved by all.
VII. Correspondence: Mail was available for the Board’s review. (List of items in Attachment B)
VIII. Announcements: None
IX. Time and Date of Next Meeting: August 21, 2014, 7:30 PM at the SWCD Office.
X. Meeting Adjourned: 9:45 PM
_________________________________________
Robert Andrews, Jr., Chairperson
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Date
_________________________________________
Elizabeth J. Gallup, Secretary/Treasurer
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Date
Attachments: Attachments A-B
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