Crook County Natural Resource District

Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD)

January 7th Regular Board Meeting Minutes

CALL MEETING TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 12:11 pm by Chairman Wayne Garman at the USDA Service Center, 117 South 21st Street, Sundance, Wyoming.

ATTENDANCE

Board: Wayne Garman, Ted Parsons, Wanda Burget, Lily Altaffer

Employees: Sarah Anderson, Bridget Helms, Carmen Horne-McIntyre (Call in)

Guests: NRCS District Conservationist Keela Deaton. FSA Executive Director Sarah Hanlon, Kim Fundaun, Board applicant

OPEN ISSUES TO DISCUSS

NRCS Update Ms. Deaton’s staff will be out next week for Farm Bill training in Casper. This year is unusual, they are still accepting applications. There is still no word on the MOU.

FSA Update Ms. Hanlon has a workshop tomorrow at 4:00 pm in the Sundance State Bank room. She will include the CCNRD annual summary and program information flyer in her handouts. She updated the board on upcoming program deadlines. FSA is currently looking for a minority advisor and is accepting nominations.

Water Quality

The joint meeting with Campbell County will take place on January 30th at noon in Gillette. Ms. McIntyre has spoken with a landowner about a water sample that was taken. There are concerns about the chloride concentration. The water was not recommended for irrigation. We sent the last 4-5 years of data collected. Ms. McIntyre will contact the city of Gillette for notice of any discharges or system flushes.

BMP Reimbursements Motion to approve two applications for payment was made by Ms. Altaffer. Seconded by Mr. Parsons. Motion carried.

The Board received a letter from a producer regarding unanticipated costs in the course of two wells drilled as part of range and water quality improvement projects. Discussion ensued. Mr. Parsons made a motion to provide cost assistance using the 2019 NRCS well drilling rate as the expenditures would not exceed the funding amount originally set aside to provide cost assistance. Ms. Altaffer seconded. Motion carried.

Local Issues Ms. McIntyre mentioned the college funding for a research facility for rare earth mineral extraction involving coal.

Technical Assistance funding may become available. The District cost would be $10,000. Details are still in discussion with NRCS. The Board gave staff approval to make decisions on this position based on the further information received as decisions will need to be made before the next Board meeting.

Forest Health WSFD Grant #: 174649 has been completed. Projects totaling $170,000; 14 landowners and 609 acres of thinning. Ms. Anderson is preparing a corrected budget for the new forest health improvement grant due January 10. Ten projects are proposed for a total of 320 acres. Ms. Anderson is writing fire mitigation plans now. A new CAFA RFP just posted January 6 and is due January 30. This will need to be done in conjunction with USFS for property adjacent to Forest Service. It is capped at $300,000 with 6 proposals as the maximum.

Wonder Community are is supposed to receive another $250,000 for projects in 2020.

Financials

Budget Resolution Ms. Altaffer made a motion to approve the budget resolution for line item changes for grant 218 Phase IV Additional BMP’s. Ms. Burget seconded. Motion carried.

Ms. Altaffer made a motion to pay the bills as presented and verify correspondence with the financial voucher for December expenses. Mr. Parsons seconded the motion. Motion carried. All checks were signed

The Quickbooks account was reconciled with the bank account. Ms. Burget opened the sealed bank statements and verified the reconciliation reports.

Approve Minutes Ms. Altaffer made a motion to approve the December 3, 2019 meeting minutes. Mr. Parsons seconded. Motion carried.

MOU with NRCS No document was available to approve.

NEW ISSUES TO DISCUSS

Board Applicants Three applications were received to date. Motion to close applications as of January 7, 2020 was made by Ms. Burget. Seconded by Ms. Altaffer. Motion carried.

The Board interviewed Mr. Fundaun. Ms. Helms will contact the other two applicants to attend the February meeting.

Moskee Land Acquisition Board discussion. Ms. Anderson will attend the public comment during the County Commissioner’s meeting Wednesday.

OTHER BUSINESS

Employee Reviews Ms. Burget made a motion to enter executive session for employee evaluations. Ms. Altaffer seconded. The Board went into executive session at 2:38 pm; concluding at 3:10 pm.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:10 pm

Office Manager Signature:

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Chairman Signature:

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