Transcript

Event transcript
I've taken the roll call. We have 11 absent. We have a quorum. 00:00:00
Do I have any public comment today? 00:00:06
You're not seeing any of the public here for comment. 00:00:09
OK, it's your pleasure. The minutes from January 27th. 00:00:13
I'll move to approve. OK. John moves to approve her first and we need a second. 00:00:16
I'll suck up Ken second. 00:00:21
Any discussion? 00:00:23
No, but can I talk about public comment a minute? I don't know if anybody has seen this, but Kirk Calkins was asking for LCC 00:00:25
supervisors. 00:00:29
Where I believe he's on, is he on the executive committee or legislative committee, Legislative, legislative. 00:00:33
He's begging for supervisors. 00:00:38
To come. 00:00:41
And I used to do that a number of years ago. 00:00:42
But it was on my own ticket. Is there any way the county would be able to have someone? 00:00:45
If they wanted to. 00:00:50
I don't want to because I'm too busy, but I just thought I'd mention it. 00:00:53
That we could talk about it at the end of future items. 00:00:56
Yeah, I can check into that. All right. Put that at the end for future items. 00:00:59
OK, back to what we're doing. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:01:03
Passes. Approve the minutes then. 00:01:10
OK. 00:01:13
Update on the Community Needs Forum, and that's this coming Friday between 1:00 and 3:00. 00:01:15
Encourage the committee members to come if they can. So go ahead. 00:01:21
Yep, come on up, you got to be on TV. 00:01:27
Got to hear you and all that. 00:01:31
All right. 00:01:33
Hi, good morning everyone. We send out over 312. 00:01:41
Invites. 00:01:47
To our community partners included all of course, the department heads. 00:01:48
All the supervisors as well as all the partners that we've worked with. 00:01:52
Right now we have 40 that RSVP, 32 attending. 00:01:57
So that's great. You know, you never know when you send that out. 00:02:02
So that's really the updates this Friday like. 00:02:06
He said, how would you, how would you like us to disperse among the? 00:02:09
You can divide it up into five or something. Yeah, 5 groupings, right? Yep. We'll have egg, We're gonna take dairy and crops, put 00:02:15
them together. Well, youth development, we'll have community development in HDR. So I think that's 4. 00:02:23
But anyway that you you know you want to, you're more than welcome to sit at any table that you really have an interest. 00:02:32
Into here a little bit more, we do do a share back. 00:02:39
If you don't know the the processes, we're going to be the tables. We have questions that are already generated. Every question is 00:02:43
the same on each table. 00:02:47
And then once we have these discussions. 00:02:51
Umm, come back and you share like the top three things that resonated in that group. What is great about? 00:02:54
This people that couldn't attend, they still answered the question. So we have a lot of those. 00:03:02
Answers to the questions already. So we will take that information and compile it all and share it back in addition to a couple 00:03:08
months we'll talk about. 00:03:13
The priorities that we see from this in addition to the Community forum. 00:03:19
We also look at other data. 00:03:24
To extension always looks at other data to bring in. I know Cameron's been. 00:03:26
Working with our human development relationship educator to learn about what data she's been using. So we take all that and 00:03:31
synthesize. It takes a couple months, I know. 00:03:36
It sounds like, wow, that's a lot of time, but we want to make sure we're doing it right. It's interesting this week, last week I 00:03:40
was. 00:03:44
In at a conference and I spent a lot of time with the Illinois folks that actually did this. So I asked a lot more questions. How 00:03:48
did this look? What are we, you know? So that was a great opportunity. 00:03:54
Any other questions on that? Yeah, on the OK after this meeting, because we have a time frame here, we have to move along to get 00:04:01
it to the county board. What for next month? Are you going to like e-mail us a report then beforehand that we could read or how is 00:04:06
that? How does that or just kind of let me know. 00:04:12
Take the priorities. You're probably going to get more than you probably want it. I figured we would. 00:04:20
Yeah. And that's fine because you want to see the the breadth, you know, the depth of what's going to be shared. And then from 00:04:25
there we'll work with each one of the program areas. 00:04:29
To identify, OK, this is egg. These are the priorities. Are we doing this already? That's a one thing that I think you're going to 00:04:34
be surprised at because a lot of the questions and the answers I've been reading, it's things we do already. 00:04:41
So this is a, but there may be things that arise from the conversations that we may not be doing or we're not addressing. So we'll 00:04:47
look at all that. As I said in the past, things may come up that maybe not in our scope right yet like AI, but it doesn't mean 00:04:53
that we, this information is shared with you. 00:05:00
Here, but it also shared with the state so they know what's going on. 00:05:07
In certain time, you know, we can look at those things, especially if it's not just. 00:05:11
Dodge County, they're going to do these community forums across the state in time. We're just ahead of the game, which is great. I 00:05:17
like that kind of stuff. 00:05:20
And so we may be seeing there's evolving themes that we haven't addressed in the past. 00:05:25
So that goes to Madison. We're gonna have to schedule any extra meetings between now and before the. 00:05:30
You know, like. 00:05:37
Going over things, do we need an extra meeting or I mean, you have to answer today, but think about that. Do we need because we, I 00:05:38
think originally when Cameron and I were were setting this up, we thought we might have to have a couple extra meetings just to 00:05:44
make sure that there's time for thorough discussion because we are talking about the direction of the, of the county and. 00:05:50
Incorporating these people in that direction. And I just want, I just don't want to put it on here and go to a quick list and then 00:05:56
you want to talk for an hour, you know what I mean? 00:06:01
In the timeline that I shared, it was more of meetings with you, Andrew and Cameron. So maybe we'll follow up, OK. 00:06:06
Monthly, and we can do that more if we need to as things evolved. 00:06:13
The programmer is actually working on a format that will be. I remember what you said. Let's make it real. 00:06:18
High level, user friendly, not give you tons of stuff. So you'll have that formal report because I believe we go it'll be 00:06:23
presented in May here and then board at the board too. 00:06:29
Would we, yeah. Would we talk about the community farm at all and one of the egg areas would we, I mean, because that's been in a 00:06:35
priority this. 00:06:39
The upcoming possibility of a farm. 00:06:42
County Farm, would that be in one of these or not? Your Cameron, would that be incorporated or? 00:06:45
I'm sure I'm thinking here, I'm Dale reminds me. I gotta think there. You know, we want to. We want that. I'll bring it up for 00:06:50
sure, OK? I just want to make sure because that's a priority for us to achieve. 00:06:55
Any other questions from the committee about the upcoming? 00:07:07
If we can spread out, it'd be good. I know we want to be in our areas expertise, but if we can spread out I think it'd be good. 00:07:13
Try to. 00:07:16
So I don't know if not to be rude, but might try to go to a couple of them, you know? 00:07:19
You can, absolutely. One thing that was interesting when I talked to the Illinois folks, they said the best thing out of the whole 00:07:23
forum is how the community, the partners that didn't know each other, really connected. 00:07:30
And they started talking, boy, I didn't know you did this. And so not only is it helpful for the county and extension, but it was 00:07:37
also really helpful for the partners. 00:07:42
To hear what was going on. 00:07:46
OK, you have introduction to new Community impact reports. 00:07:50
I assume that's what you it's included in the packet. 00:07:55
That's on the second page. I believe it starts on the second page. This is the one of the reports and I think they've done been 00:07:58
done quite a while in the past. We have a portal that our educators are expectation required that they report. We scale it down a 00:08:05
bit because it's lengthy. 00:08:11
So we really. 00:08:18
Excuse me, tried to focus on. 00:08:19
The impact here in Dodge County, you'll receive these every month and I know. 00:08:22
Amber's been working on it for the next one coming up. 00:08:29
So we're a month behind usually, just so you know. 00:08:33
So what they report is a month behind just because of how they reported the end of the month. So that's one of it. This also is on 00:08:36
our website. 00:08:40
And in addition to that, remember when Manuel was here last time, we showed the one page report that really focused on what Manuel 00:08:44
was doing. Well, now they are accessible on our website and you want to pull one of those up? 00:08:52
Those are the monthly ones. 00:09:02
I just talked about there you go. 00:09:03
And so each educator and you can just click on one well. 00:09:05
We'll have these. 00:09:10
You know, and we'll do these probably quarterly. 00:09:11
And it really talks about what's going on here, what needs assessment that they have done, what was the outcome, who they're 00:09:14
working with. 00:09:18
And who they've finished things up. 00:09:22
I know that's one question that we get quite often. So what's going on in Dodge County? 00:09:25
So this really addresses that. Usually they'll have an evaluation piece on here. This was very quick and new for the educators, so 00:09:30
they rallied and got this done rather quickly. 00:09:36
So what I really value in these opportunities to talk to you is. 00:09:42
Feedback. 00:09:47
You may think about, well you know, this is good, but maybe we need this. So think about the feedback, especially for this one 00:09:48
that helps us. 00:09:53
Communicate what we're doing effectively. So think about it. You don't have to answer now. 00:09:58
But if you see something, you can shoot me an e-mail or talk to one of the educators or one night come to these. 00:10:03
Meetings. So we do really appreciate the feedback. 00:10:09
And like Amber has on there the Dodge County monthly highlights that was the the. 00:10:12
On the second. 00:10:17
Page you see the report. 00:10:19
So they're all on our website, very accessible. 00:10:24
Anybody. 00:10:28
Any questions from the committee members with reports? 00:10:29
OK. All right. Moving on to highlights. 00:10:33
I don't know what that is that. 00:10:39
That's what that's what you just did. OK. OK. All right, All right, Pat, you're up. 00:10:41
Pat is our Community Development educator and. 00:10:47
Yeah. 00:10:59
All right. Thank you. 00:11:11
Thank you. 00:11:18
I hope you are all fine on this. 00:11:26
Bright Monday morning. That's much warmer than it was last week. 00:11:29
What I'm going to do today is talk about a program I an upcoming program that I have. 00:11:34
Coming down the. 00:11:41
Down the road. 00:11:43
And it's also an opportunity to help you better understand the kind of work that community development educators do. Obviously, 00:11:45
I've been doing a lot of needs assessments and things like that. 00:11:50
But it's always nice to actually get on the ground and do some. 00:11:58
Teaching some programming. 00:12:02
So. 00:12:04
I'm going to talk about a program called First Impressions. 00:12:05
And this is like a secret chopper program or an exchange program between two communities that are somewhat similar. 00:12:09
But a little bit of a distance away. 00:12:17
And it's an opportunity for community members. 00:12:20
To gain some information as visitors to a different community. 00:12:26
And it's an opportunity for the community participating. 00:12:31
To get a better understanding of what it does well, what it could do better. 00:12:36
And I want you to know that this program has been in existence. 00:12:42
Oh my gosh. 00:12:46
Sincerely, 90s. 00:12:49
And I've already done a couple of these. 00:12:51
In my past job. 00:12:54
And what happened is that a friend of mine who is the economic and community development director for the city of Columbus stopped 00:12:56
by my office and said. 00:13:01
Boy, we got a group of people and they really need something to kind of kick start what they're doing. 00:13:07
Do you think you could do arrange an exchange program? And I'm like, well. 00:13:14
OK, let's give it a try. 00:13:20
And. 00:13:22
I solicited my fellow educators and. 00:13:26
Gotta got a positive response so. 00:13:32
I will be doing an exchange with Dodgeville. 00:13:37
So about the same size, kind of. 00:13:42
Somewhat similar. 00:13:44
And there are some very specific things that. 00:13:47
People who participate can learn. 00:13:51
You know, if you think about it and I asked you, you know. 00:13:53
If you're from Juneau, it's like, where's the best breakfast or whatever? You can probably tell me, no problem. 00:13:58
But if I'm just coming in, are there good signs, street signs? 00:14:04
Do does the City Hall give good information? What is the you know? 00:14:08
That kind of thing it's often easy for us to overlook. 00:14:14
Challenges that our communities face. 00:14:19
And that outside perspective can really highlight both the positive things. 00:14:23
And some of the challenges. 00:14:28
And that. 00:14:32
That the most powerful part of it is that. 00:14:33
Those exchanges, the reports that are written, can actually give. 00:14:36
The Community A starting place for Community Action. 00:14:41
And when I was approached by my friend, he was like, you know, I've got these people, they really want to do some stuff, but 00:14:46
they're kind of struggling. And it's this kind of program can really give them something to grab onto and. 00:14:53
And take charge. 00:15:00
Umm, So what does the program look like? 00:15:03
To communities agree that they are willing and ready to do an exchange. 00:15:08
Each community has a coordinator. 00:15:15
And in this case. 00:15:17
Umm, I will serve as coordinator for Columbus. 00:15:20
And my friend. 00:15:23
Will the Conrad agent in Iowa County will service their coordinator? 00:15:25
And we recruit 5 to 6 volunteers. It might be from the community at large. 00:15:30
It might be from the Chamber of Commerce. It certainly depends on who's the. 00:15:35
The sponsor. 00:15:40
And we trained the volunteers, you know, here's what you need to be looking for. 00:15:42
Here's what to expect. Here's the review process. 00:15:48
Answering me questions they have. 00:15:52
And then we arrange a time and a date. 00:15:55
And we travel. 00:15:58
To that. 00:15:59
Partner Community. 00:16:01
And we're going to collect. 00:16:03
You know. 00:16:05
Photos and each participant is going to write up some research, a whole series of questions. 00:16:06
Like you know how with the signage and. 00:16:12
You know, when you went to the City Hall, did they have the information you needed? Were they? 00:16:15
Polite and then. 00:16:19
That coordinator takes the lead role in preparing that final report. 00:16:23
Those reports are shared. 00:16:28
And community meetings are held to. 00:16:29
Share that information more broadly. 00:16:32
And I will tell you. 00:16:36
At least in my experience doing this. 00:16:37
They're really, really great exchanges that communities that I LED through this. 00:16:40
Actually took the information to heart. 00:16:46
And made some significant changes in how how they did things in the community. 00:16:49
Both how they interacted with people and sort of things like signage and they put in place a. 00:16:55
You know. 00:17:04
Ordinances for. 00:17:06
Street sign for business signs and. 00:17:09
I mean I I had. 00:17:13
People years, years after having done this, that came up and said this was the best thing they'd ever done. 00:17:14
They really had a fun time as well as doing something that was really valuable. 00:17:21
For their community. 00:17:27
So I'm going to ask, do you have any questions? I mean, this is an example of some of the kind of work that we do. 00:17:29
I think it's a great idea. We in Beaver Dam have two focus groups we started. 00:17:38
Around the lake. 00:17:43
And it's interesting the first session. 00:17:44
You're dispelling the. 00:17:47
Untruth or. 00:17:49
Tribal knowledge that really is, in fact. 00:17:50
And you learn things from the people that. 00:17:53
You wouldn't necessarily gain otherwise over coffee and rolls. 00:17:57
A lot of **** comes out. 00:18:02
Oh yeah, it really it's important to take that time. 00:18:03
Umm, because we do. We sort of build up our own. 00:18:09
Sort of myths. 00:18:12
About our community. 00:18:14
You know, I had one community in there. 00:18:16
Their their community motto was. 00:18:19
Name of city, the friendly place. And it was like. 00:18:23
You've never asked. 00:18:27
Anybody who visited, whether this was a friendly place, trust me, it's not. 00:18:29
You know, and, and it's like think about it when you're going into a community. 00:18:38
Think about how important signage is. 00:18:42
You're looking for the community swimming pool. There's no sign to lead you that place. You're looking for the schools. 00:18:45
No signs to lead you that place. 00:18:53
And I tell you as I drive around. 00:18:55
Dodge County, it's like. 00:18:58
I'm looking for that stuff. It's like. 00:19:00
They're doing a good job here, or boy, I can't find anything. 00:19:02
So that's an excellent idea. That's yet another way to do this. 00:19:07
The town would be Ram, the city be rent administrator. 00:19:12
Notice that there's no signs this way to the beach. 00:19:15
Go away. 00:19:18
So you're going to start putting those in? 00:19:21
Very good. 00:19:23
You look at digital signs also, I mean most people now they, you know, they're gonna look on their phone for information about 00:19:25
their community. Do you look at that also as an impression? We look at their digital. 00:19:30
Footprint as well, that's sort of some of the pre visit. 00:19:35
Assignment. We have one or two people whose job is to go and look at. 00:19:38
You know all the. 00:19:43
Their web presence. 00:19:46
And actually call. I mean, you know. 00:19:48
Call and see what kind of reception they get. 00:19:51
These don't happen overnight, where our timeline is the actual visit. 00:19:56
Will be in January and and we need to. 00:20:02
Meet with people and have time to get them trained and. 00:20:05
The visit, the visit will be when, what month? We are looking to do it in June, June yes, of course we were scheduling this on the 00:20:10
day it was the coldest here so. 00:20:14
But if you think about all the things that are happening, you know, it seemed a good time. Any other questions? 00:20:22
Questions from the members, what can I ask you? What's the next thing you'll be looking at doing that or combining with so we can 00:20:29
update us on what you're doing since we have you here, OK. 00:20:33
Well. 00:20:37
Haven't had enough caffeine yet? 00:20:42
I am working with a couple of our specialists, Carl Green. 00:20:45
And Matt Kuras. 00:20:50
And we're looking at the question of housing and housing data. 00:20:51
And um. 00:20:56
You know, we have some good data. 00:20:58
It's largely updated. It was done by. 00:21:00
The professor at UW Whitewater. 00:21:05
There are some things that could be updated, but it's. 00:21:08
One of the things we're looking at doing right now is actually a survey of. 00:21:11
The users to see what it is you actually. 00:21:16
Want to know? I mean, if any of you remember that report, it's 134 pages. 00:21:21
Huge. It is rich with data. 00:21:27
And I can tell you that there might be like. 00:21:31
Two or three people, I being one of them, who are like excited by all that data. So it's like. 00:21:35
What is it that you really need to help you make? 00:21:41
Decisions and think through this process. 00:21:45
So we're going to be putting together a survey. So that's the next big thing, OK. And then Dale and I were at the comprehensive 00:21:48
plan. I know we saw some of that stuff. It was really discouraging, quite frankly. 00:21:53
Looking at some of the statistics, you know. 00:21:59
And I don't the other supervisors will eventually see it and and and are you going to help help our county then work towards like. 00:22:02
We just don't want the data we want to, like, move forward. You know what I mean? Yeah, I. 00:22:11
I am available, you know, I know it's, it's, it's about working well with Nate Olson and and your department. 00:22:16
But that's one of the things that we can do is is work with groups and organizations. 00:22:23
Help them take that data and turn it into action. 00:22:28
Yeah. 00:22:34
Planning Comp planning is. 00:22:36
A very challenging process because you're spending a lot of money. You hired a good firm. 00:22:39
To help you with that process. 00:22:44
But ultimately, those decisions about. 00:22:48
What you do with the data, the action plan you put together is what makes the the difference. 00:22:51
And it's easier to bite off a little less and make sure you get it done then to go, oh, I'm going to take on this whole thing 00:22:57
because you have time. 00:23:02
Yeah. And just so the rest of you know, if you haven't seen some of that data, the projections for the future and some of the 00:23:07
things, Dale, you and I saw some of those like or. 00:23:11
We don't want ahead. 00:23:14
You know what I mean? We don't want to do that. We want to go the right way. If we don't, if we sit and do nothing and we don't 00:23:15
act and community develop throughout our county. 00:23:20
There could be some problems and, you know, we we have to act and we want to act and we want to be smart about it. And that's 00:23:25
where UW comes in. Yeah. And and I think one of the things that we can do that's really helpful. 00:23:31
Is actually, you look at all those things and you're like, where do we start? 00:23:37
Where do we start? 00:23:41
Didn't you kind of feel like that when you were looking at all this overwhelming? 00:23:43
It's overwhelming. 00:23:46
And what I have always told the people I work with. 00:23:48
How do you eat an elephant? 00:23:51
One bite at a time. 00:23:53
And almost sometimes the priority just kind of slaps you in the face and you're like, OK, let's work on that. 00:23:55
But sometimes you really need to think through. 00:24:03
Through priorities. But the the real kicker is. 00:24:07
Just take that first. 00:24:10
Step. Take that first. 00:24:13
Bite. 00:24:15
You know, build something positive. 00:24:16
Put in place action that. 00:24:20
That you can accomplish and get done, and that sort of builds up the psychology of. 00:24:22
We can do this. We can get this thing done. 00:24:28
And you know, honestly some of the things. 00:24:32
You know, they're so influenced by outside forces. 00:24:36
That you may not have as much. 00:24:41
You know, agency to address them. 00:24:45
But there are plenty of things that you can do. 00:24:47
So take those on. 00:24:50
But that's one of the things it's like. 00:24:52
You know, help you decide Russell through all that stuff and and go, OK. 00:24:54
There's all this, but we're going to start here. 00:24:59
We have resources, we have ideas. This is a place we're going to start. 00:25:02
OK. Any other questions? 00:25:08
OK. 00:25:10
We'll be on Friday then. 00:25:11
Oh yeah. 00:25:13
OK, extension be Cindy, before you leave, I have a quick question. You're not here for future agenda items. 00:25:15
Those supervisors that were here in Cameron, we were asked by one of the supervisors at the county board meeting if the UW 00:25:22
Extension provides. 00:25:26
Services for design and you don't have to get back to me because it's not on our agenda, but if you could please get back to 00:25:31
Cameron. 00:25:34
So we could have a definitive answer we. 00:25:37
Had a question about services you offer at no charge to the county. 00:25:41
And I think it needs to be clarified and Cameron looked into it. So that'd be helpful for if you could do that before you leave 00:25:45
today or soon. 00:25:50
Cameron knows exactly what I'm talking about. So the other supervisors so. 00:25:54
Thank you. Right, Cameron? Right. We want to nail it. 00:25:58
It's extension this extension committee. 00:26:01
Thank you. 00:26:04
He'll he'll let you know. 00:26:05
All right. 00:26:08
All right. 00:26:11
So. 00:26:13
I am just gonna speak to Matt, OK? 00:26:15
Morning, everyone. 00:26:19
NRCS can't make it today. They have a couple meetings and they're out in the field, so they asked me to pass on a few notes for 00:26:21
that. There's not a whole lot going on for NRCS. 00:26:25
Sign up Wise, they are currently working on their existing CE. 00:26:31
CSP contracts. 00:26:35
Believe the field office is out doing field visits, whatever they need to do for that that planning and contracting process. 00:26:37
They also just wanted me to pass along information in regards to the government cutbacks. 00:26:45
They are affected. 00:26:52
It is kind of a chaotic situation there right now. I think in our area we have at least. 00:26:54
6 maybe 10 people that have been released from service. 00:27:01
Part of how many? 00:27:05
In our office, it's 30. 00:27:07
So again, I don't know if that's just in our office or if that's in our area. 00:27:10
So they just wanted to pass that information on that if. 00:27:15
Receiving services, they may be a little delayed. 00:27:20
As they figure out who's going to cover what from the people that have left the agency. 00:27:23
In regards to that. 00:27:30
There's the resignation thing That again. 00:27:32
Has been put on. We have not received any information. 00:27:36
As an agency, exactly who those members are. 00:27:39
That will be leaving on that. I did hear that our district has. 00:27:43
A fair number. So again in the future the numbers will be reducing even more. 00:27:48
Which will delay services. 00:27:53
In the field. 00:27:56
So just so you guys are aware of that. 00:27:57
From NRCS. 00:27:59
Any questions on NRCS and I can't answer a lot but just some information. 00:28:01
So do the feeling that a lot of conservation programs are going to be. 00:28:06
Down skilled. 00:28:10
More than likely. 00:28:12
Just an assumption at this point. 00:28:13
Again, dealing with that, our continuing resolution as an agency goes through March 15th. 00:28:16
No projection yet as to what they're going to do as far as giving us money to operate beyond that or a government shutdown. 00:28:24
So we'll see what happens when that comes around. 00:28:33
FSA. 00:28:37
As of right now. 00:28:39
FSA. 00:28:41
Has been bypassed with the firings. 00:28:43
But we did have a number of people take the resignation package. 00:28:46
Again, they have not released the information to us so. 00:28:50
I know locally in my offices I do not have any staff leaving. 00:28:55
But I do know in the surrounding area some of the offices have been. 00:29:00
Gutted pretty heavily so my staff may be called upon to assist in other offices. 00:29:04
But with that being said, we still are rolling forward with the continued farm bill. 00:29:10
We have our dairy margin coverage program. 00:29:16
Which we're signing up producers for. That runs through March 31st. 00:29:20
And then our commodity program, ARC PLC. 00:29:24
Has enrollment running to April 15th. 00:29:28
So we are working on those two right now. We are also making plans to continue with our spring crop reporting. 00:29:32
There has not been any mention of any. 00:29:39
New CRP. 00:29:42
Activity. 00:29:45
Although we have received authority to continue with the CRP, we have. 00:29:46
And to make modifications and corrections to any existing contract and get payments out the door. 00:29:51
So. 00:29:58
With that, does anybody have any questions for me? 00:29:59
Does NRCS and final activity impact from this change? These changes people like? 00:30:03
I'm not 100% sure. I have not talked to Cory on the Fond du Lac office. 00:30:08
Again, if he's hired anybody there. 00:30:14
Brand new within the last two years, I would say yes. 00:30:17
OK, I know it affected. 00:30:23
At least one person. 00:30:25
In this office here. 00:30:27
In Juneau. 00:30:28
I'm not sure about Fond du Lac. 00:30:30
I also know that. 00:30:32
An engineer they recently hired that used to work for DACCAP out of our office out of Juno. 00:30:34
He was terminated. 00:30:41
I know for area office we lost five people out of this. All the engineers are gone because they were all new. 00:30:43
Some of the wildlife biologists that we hired were gone. 00:30:50
And some of the support staff is gone. 00:30:53
So I have a question. 00:30:56
How did you employees respond to Mrs. Mr. Musk? 00:30:58
Request for every employee to state what they did last week. 00:31:02
That is currently under review. 00:31:06
So John, John Pars, you know, we've got people that depend on these services in our county. 00:31:11
And the county's name is associated with. 00:31:18
With it, even though it's not us directly. 00:31:21
When you have knowledge of something, we have to let everybody know you know what I mean? I don't want someone depending on. 00:31:25
Something and then it's not there. 00:31:32
Like if you were used to something happening every year and now it's not going to happen. 00:31:35
I just don't know how. 00:31:39
Is there any discussion among that about people like yourself and the county? From the county's point of view, I just don't want 00:31:42
anyone to blame the county for. 00:31:45
Federal services cut and they said, well, we didn't know when we depended on it. 00:31:49
You know, umm. 00:31:53
I know we've worked well with Corey in the past and will continue to work with him as his staff gets cut short. If he needs 00:31:55
assistance we'll we'll provide what we can form. 00:32:00
I have not talked to Corey lately on this. That's something I intend to do. 00:32:06
As far as? 00:32:12
The state goes and programs. 00:32:14
I got a. 00:32:18
A memo from National Association Conservation districts The IRA funds. The Inflation Reduction Act funds. 00:32:19
They're going to be honoring existing contracts, but any new contracts, they'll continue to assess them as they come in. 00:32:29
Nationwide there was over what they say, 200,000 federal position employees that were terminated. 00:32:38
1000 with NRCS and then they go into the Forest Service and the. 00:32:47
Department of Interior with with some more. 00:32:52
I I suspect. 00:32:59
That this and this is just strictly me. 00:33:02
Guessing here. 00:33:05
This is an initial knee jerk reaction. We're doing this. 00:33:08
But then as these positions fall away. 00:33:13
Somebody will come in, start reevaluating like the engineers we rely heavily on those engineers with some of our projects, They're 00:33:16
needed, needed positions. 00:33:21
But they got cut because they were just recently filled. Had they been there past a certain timeline, they'd still be there. 00:33:26
So I suspect going down the road that some of these positions are going to be refilled back. 00:33:33
But I don't know when. 00:33:38
OK. Any other questions from committee? Matt, have you heard anything? 00:33:43
Or get any feelings from our new egg secretary. 00:33:47
Is she gonna be? 00:33:51
Giving you any indication. 00:33:52
On conservation or like these NRCS employees? 00:33:54
Is she going to do some reconsiderations, you think, or? 00:33:58
I haven't given any indications at all. 00:34:01
Umm, if it's any reconsideration at all. And the first round of firings. 00:34:03
FSA had a handful of people in the state that were subject. 00:34:10
Once approached by the administration, they rescinded that and those people were brought back the next day. 00:34:15
FSA. Now this is just FSA, not NRCS. At the national level we have become very divided. 00:34:22
FSA has received. 00:34:28
Confirmation from administration that we will be temporarily exempt from future firings because we're deemed essential for the 00:34:31
administration's. 00:34:35
Mission of executing farm programs. 00:34:39
The current ones that we have and then some that are subject coming down the road. 00:34:43
I I kind of on the same thought as John in regards to NRCS. I think they will. 00:34:49
Be more subject to the cuts, but again, due to evaluation down the road they will bring back people. 00:34:55
That are in positions that are needed. 00:35:01
Because, again, they're just making broad, sweeping cuts right now. 00:35:04
And then they'll see what? 00:35:08
Comes out of it and they'll come back and fill in what should not have been released. 00:35:10
I think their primary. 00:35:16
Concern right now with NRCS is the ARPA funding that got put towards the DEA stuff. 00:35:18
And making sure that that does not go through. 00:35:26
And then they'll reevaluate. 00:35:29
Like you said, the funds that are going towards true conservation and staff that was not hired. 00:35:31
For the DEA stuff. 00:35:39
Ultimately in positions that are needed for the other administration. 00:35:42
Theoretically should be brought back. So again, that's all speculation on my part. 00:35:46
Don't really know there is. 00:35:51
From our standpoint, you guys have just as much information as they give us other than we actually get the e-mail in our inbox 00:35:53
that says responder leave. 00:35:58
So. 00:36:03
That's probably the biggest frustration right now. There is no guidance or. 00:36:05
Direction on any of it? 00:36:09
Well, the state in communication with John, I mean there may we only meet once a month and we just want to be upfront, honest with 00:36:11
all the people we deal with the best, the best we can. I think that's I think what this committee would like. You know, we want to 00:36:15
keep the flow of communication going. If you don't have an engineer, you got to tell me we don't have one now. I mean, just be 00:36:19
honest. 00:36:23
You know, let's just go through this, but I think we need to be honest and communicate. 00:36:29
Because there's going to be some. 00:36:32
Yeah, well, it's going to be train times and I will pass that along to Corey. Like I said, he wasn't in a hole today bar. 00:36:34
The people we deal with, our understanding, it's not us, it's, you know, we're. 00:36:41
Part of this, but we want to communicate. 00:36:45
Yeah. Well, I know from the producers that we have coming in. 00:36:48
All of them are. 00:36:53
Very supportive of the work that we do and very appreciative that we have the doors open and. 00:36:55
Do the work that we do for them with them. 00:37:00
Because of them so. 00:37:03
Again. 00:37:05
It's going to be trying time going forward. Nobody knows for how long or for what. 00:37:07
But we will keep you guys up to speed of the best we can of what's going on. So if we need to help make political arguments and 00:37:11
we're the political part of the county government. 00:37:16
And it is our job to argue for those things we need, you know what I mean? Advocate for, like you said, engineer. 00:37:22
We would be the one that said, hey guys, we need engineers otherwise we cannot deliver the services. I mean, I so I would be. 00:37:30
And I suspect we'll learn that at the water conference next week. But Oh yeah, and everyone's gonna be thinking the same thing we 00:37:36
are, I can guarantee it. Was constant land, water or all OK? 00:37:40
So. 00:37:46
Any other questions for me? 00:37:48
OK. 00:37:52
Thank you. 00:37:53
OK. 00:37:56
Video. 00:37:58
OK. 00:38:06
Great. 00:38:07
Hello, my name is Matt Krueger. I'm the executive director of Wisconsin Land and Water. This video is part of an informative 00:38:14
series for new Land Conservation Committee for LCC members. A refresher for committee members that continue to serve. 00:38:21
And will hopefully be beneficial for conservation staff as well. 00:38:27
With me today are three seasoned county conservationists who will share their experiences with us as they answer a few questions 00:38:31
that I will ask them. 00:38:34
Before we begin, I'd like to invite our county cons to please introduce themselves. 00:38:38
Hi, I'm Carolyn Scholl. I've been with Vilas County for 18 years. 00:38:43
13 of those years I've served as the. 00:38:48
County conservationist and department head. 00:38:51
Hello, I'm Paul Daigle. 00:38:54
I'm with Marathon County. I've been the land and water program director for. 00:38:56
About 10 years. 00:39:00
And I've been in the conservation. 00:39:01
Field my entire 35 year career. 00:39:03
My name is Dan Masterpool. I'm approaching the end of my career. 00:39:07
And have had the pleasure to serve as the County Conservationist in Chippewa County for around 37 years. 00:39:12
Thank you all for being willing to share your experiences and perspectives with us today. 00:39:18
So the first question I'd like to ask you all is what is the single most important piece of advice that you can provide to a new 00:39:22
Land conservation Committee or LCC member? 00:39:27
Listen to your county conservation staff. 00:39:32
And if you don't understand something, be sure to ask questions. 00:39:35
Either at the meetings or make an appointment to stop by their office. 00:39:40
They're your county's experts in all things conservation. 00:39:46
The staff not only have educational backgrounds that coincide with conservation and natural resource management. 00:39:50
But they likely have many years of hands on experience and institutional knowledge in their positions. 00:39:57
So heed their advice when making your policy decisions. 00:40:03
I encourage you to sit down. 00:40:08
Get to know your concert pony conservationist. 00:40:10
Be curious. 00:40:13
Find out their passion what what they want to accomplish. 00:40:14
But also find out a way to share your passion. 00:40:18
And what you, as a supervisor want to accomplish while you were on the committee and in a position to enact positive change. 00:40:21
Schedule time to meet with them on a quarterly basis to check the pace. 00:40:28
Find out what's working well. 00:40:33
What needs improvement? 00:40:35
And how you can help. 00:40:36
Each committee member has an important responsibility as assigned. 00:40:39
To local effect, local elective officials by Wisconsin Stats, chapter 92. 00:40:43
The work you do on the Land Conservation Committee will have a strong bearing. 00:40:49
On the local economy and on the quality of the environment where you live now. 00:40:54
And it will extend well into the future. 00:40:58
In Wisconsin we have a great deal of diversity based upon our local geology and physical setting. 00:41:01
Land conservation committees were created to assure that local conservation efforts. 00:41:08
Are designed and implemented to meet local needs. 00:41:13
In Wisconsin, we use the land and water to produce food, fuel and fiber. 00:41:18
Your job, as assigned by the legislature, is to assure the local policies. 00:41:24
Programs and rules are in place to provide for sustainable production. 00:41:29
And a high quality environment. 00:41:34
The local issues of concern and the associated policy and programs. 00:41:37
That you use. 00:41:41
Are outlined in your county land and water resource management plan. 00:41:43
The plan provides A framework and activity schedule. 00:41:47
For the county's efforts. 00:41:51
And is routinely reviewed and updated every 5 to 10 years. 00:41:52
The committee is responsibility is for addressing the policy issues. 00:41:58
And preparing budget recommendations. 00:42:02
They have a policy rule. 00:42:05
The department staff's role. 00:42:07
Is for day-to-day operations. They're responsible. 00:42:09
For the operations of the department. 00:42:14
Working together, it's possible to identify and resolve local issues. 00:42:18
To make a difference that will be of direct value to your local community. 00:42:22
Thank you for those answers. 00:42:28
Moving on to our second question. 00:42:29
What is the best way for LCC members to constructively get engaged in the work of the Land Conservation Department? 00:42:31
First of all, get engaged. 00:42:38
And stay engaged. 00:42:40
Nothing motivates staff like having engaged supervisors. 00:42:42
They feel support. 00:42:45
And that their work matters. 00:42:47
Even if you don't agree on every topic. 00:42:49
What you want? 00:42:52
Let them know you are there for them. 00:42:53
Also learn the high points of the long range strategies in the department. 00:42:56
And in the county for conservation. 00:43:00
Understand the broad initiatives and work. 00:43:03
To set and attain those goals. 00:43:06
Try not to get involved in the day-to-day operations of your office. 00:43:09
We have professional staff that are paid to run an efficient office, effective department. 00:43:13
Let them do their jobs. 00:43:19
To be constructively engaged in the work of the department, a committee member needs to 1st come up to speed. 00:43:22
Generally by way of committee orientation. 00:43:29
To learn what the local natural resource management issues are. 00:43:32
As defined in your county land and water plan. 00:43:36
And how your county is allocating its available resources. 00:43:38
To address those issues. 00:43:42
The plan is largely operational and defines the services. 00:43:45
That are being provided and the work that is being done. 00:43:49
As the committee and staff approached the issues. 00:43:53
Local resources are always going to be limiting. 00:43:57
Staff hours. Skill sets. 00:44:00
Time. Umm. 00:44:03
Money and good energy. 00:44:04
Are what you have to work with. 00:44:06
It's up to the staff to conduct the day-to-day operations and to determine how to best. 00:44:09
Managing manage the resources and get the job done. 00:44:14
Ideally, the committee should be fully engaged. 00:44:18
And understand what the department is doing and what services it's providing. 00:44:22
It should try to help to advance the scheduled objectives. 00:44:27
By way of the committee's budget. 00:44:33
And track progress towards achieving scheduled objectives, planned activities. 00:44:35
And product deliverables. 00:44:42
The routine staff reports. 00:44:44
In short, committee members can best be engaged by being informed and being supportive. 00:44:46
And then through their engagement to provide a level of public oversight and accountability. 00:44:52
By way of constructive feedback. 00:44:58
Or suggestions for improvement? 00:45:00
I would say expand your network as much as possible. 00:45:03
All counties are essentially working towards similar conservation goals. 00:45:06
But many times we go about meeting them very differently. 00:45:10
By talking to and networking with other people in other counties. 00:45:14
You can gain really valuable insight. 00:45:19
As to the different conservation topics. 00:45:21
Networking is best accomplished by. 00:45:26
Participating in regional land and water association meetings. 00:45:29
Or volunteering to serve in your Resource Conservation and Development Council. 00:45:33
Otherwise known as RC and DS. 00:45:39
And last but not least, be sure to attend the annual Wisconsin Land and Water Conference. 00:45:41
Because the networking possibilities are endless. 00:45:47
Thank you for those answers. 00:45:52
And for our final question. 00:45:54
What is the best way for an LCC member to develop a functional working relationship with the Land Conservation Department staff? 00:45:55
A good functional working relationship between an LCC member and the LCD staff. 00:46:04
Should be built upon a foundation of mutual respect. 00:46:09
Trust umm. 00:46:13
And a solid understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each party. 00:46:14
The functional relationship should be used to meet shared public. 00:46:19
Goals and objectives. 00:46:23
And that of addressing the policy needs of the committee. 00:46:25
And the operational needs of the department. 00:46:29
In my opinion, this relationship can best be based. 00:46:32
Upon a formal professional approach using kind of a. 00:46:36
Business based protocol. 00:46:41
That's applied to pursue a common set of public objectives. 00:46:44
Versus trying to form a personal friendship based relationship. 00:46:49
Verbal and written communication should be professional. 00:46:54
Cordial and based upon the business needs at hand. 00:46:58
They should be short. 00:47:02
Clear, uh. 00:47:03
Direct and concise. 00:47:04
At times, you may experience disagreements with county staff about an issue. 00:47:07
Or issues. 00:47:12
When this happens, listen to both sides of the issue and respect others points of views. 00:47:13
If you find that you do have fundamental differences of opinion about something. 00:47:20
Learn how to work together on issues that you can. 00:47:25
And agree to respectfully disagree in a friendly way on those other matters. 00:47:29
I would encourage you to listen, to understand. 00:47:35
Not necessarily reply. 00:47:38
Understand the needs of your staff. 00:47:41
And how you can help to remove barriers to being efficient and effective. 00:47:43
Don't feel like you have to be buddies with staff. 00:47:48
But also make sure they know you care. 00:47:51
That you want to understand. 00:47:54
That you realize they're in conservation because of the passion you have. 00:47:56
To conserve the natural resources, not for the money. 00:48:01
I want to thank each of you for your participation and thoughtful responses today. 00:48:05
For sharing your wisdom with others, and for most of all for your long standing commitment to conservation. 00:48:08
I hope that viewers will have learned as much from our brief discussion today as I have. 00:48:14
And this concludes the advice for new LCCS from Season County Conservationist Video. 00:48:18
Thank you for watching and for the work that you all do is conservation. 00:48:23
These videos are several years old. 00:48:38
Umm, Carol and Paul are now retired. Dan's the only one still working, and he's not too far away. 00:48:42
So. 00:48:50
Move on to Chapter 92. 00:49:00
14 Staffing allocation for counties. 00:49:04
OK. 00:49:09
This this refers to that handout that you sent Andrew. 00:49:11
How kind of the this one and the next one, the resource management staffing grant kind of go together. So I'm going to try to 00:49:15
explain the staffing grant. 00:49:19
I sent a copy to you in the mail. 00:49:25
When I get that. 00:49:29
There's two parts to it, the actual application and a worksheet that I put together. 00:49:30
The worksheet. 00:49:35
Goes starts out with each staff member. 00:49:37
What their salaries and their benefits are. 00:49:41
And chapter 92 states that. 00:49:45
The state will attempt. 00:49:48
To fund. 00:49:51
The first staff 100%. 00:49:53
The second one at 75. 00:49:55
The third at 50% and all the rest of the staff at 50%. 00:49:57
That's what they state. 00:50:03
To get that. 00:50:05
The state is not getting enough money. 00:50:07
Currently in 25. 00:50:12
We got 11,240 eleven $1,214,000 for staffing in that. 00:50:14
And they should be a little over 15,000,000 to be able to fill them first three positions. 00:50:21
So in 2025. 00:50:27
We receive a staffing grant of $157,000. 00:50:30
If they funded the first three positions the way Chapter 92 states. 00:50:35
We were getting beginning somewhere around $230,000. 00:50:40
If they funded all the positions. 00:50:45
It would be like $325,000 is what we would be getting. 00:50:48
Wisconsin Land and Water has been advocating for them that funding. 00:50:54
For as long as I can remember. 00:50:59
Excuse me? 00:51:02
And it changes every year. 00:51:03
From in 2023 we got 176,000. 00:51:06
And 24 it dropped down to 151,000. 00:51:11
The main reason for that change is. 00:51:15
I dropped my health insurance. I'm on Tricare through the military. 00:51:18
And one of my other. 00:51:22
Past employees went from family insurance to a single insurance. 00:51:24
So. 00:51:29
Next year when I when I fill out my application I am. 00:51:31
Using. 00:51:36
Last year's salaries and benefits. 00:51:37
Filling it out today. 00:51:41
For funding. 00:51:43
For 2026. 00:51:44
So that's kind of how this works. 00:51:47
So on 26. 00:51:49
This should go up a little bit. 00:51:52
But in 27. 00:51:55
It's going to change. 00:51:57
Because we have a new staff member, had one leave and we had a new staff member. 00:51:58
And you're going to have my replacement. 00:52:02
So. 00:52:04
Salary and insurance is going to play. 00:52:05
Difference in it, so it changes every year. 00:52:09
Would it be OK if I stop for a moment and talk politics? OK the WCA? 00:52:12
We we lobby for different things over the counties on the top five. 00:52:17
Five things is this conservation? That's all. It's like the top of our lobbying list of what we're doing. So I lobbied. 00:52:21
About. 00:52:28
I was about 3 weeks ago for the county. I had Johnson give me preparation. What does this mean? 00:52:30
In our county, what he was saying for 25, the state will reimburse us 157,000 and we kind of note about this over the years. 00:52:36
OK. But they're supposed to reimburse us 321,000. That's what they're supposed to do according to the statute? 00:52:44
So what that means is that our county board is covering the difference. 00:52:50
By a lot. 00:52:55
And I just wanted you to be aware of that, that our county board is paying like the difference between 1:57 and 3:21. 00:52:56
In the state is supposed to be paying these positions. 00:53:03
And so I just want to make sure you were aware that. So our position is the WCA is, hey, you guys need to fund what the statute 00:53:07
says you're supposed to fund. That is our position so that the county board would put less of our. 00:53:14
You know our local tax levy in it and it would come from the state. 00:53:21
And and what that also kind of and I also included the WCA lobby sheets and that's what he referred to. 00:53:27
That right now it's only like 11 for the whole state. It's like $11 million. 00:53:34
They're putting in and I think it's closer to 20 is what, almost twice as much, right, What they really want. 00:53:39
Yeah, that's what they that's what we're asking for. So that just so you kind of so if you hear WCA and lobbying and there's this 00:53:45
is one of our top issues. This is what what we're talking about. 00:53:50
And when you're talking, you know, I was talking to, so I talked to Mark, we have. 00:53:56
I think there was 6 or 7 legislatures and when I go to Madison with Dave Proline and with our, with our team with Kim and then the 00:54:01
legislators all line up and then we say like, like, like this year we want more court funding, you know, because like the courts 00:54:07
don't, we're not funded all the way to the state like we're supposed to. Then I would present, I presented this argument then to 00:54:12
these guys just so you just so you kind of know about our county and said, hey. 00:54:18
We really need you to step up and start following the statute. So I just want you to I thought you'd like to be aware that's like 00:54:24
this is particularly what. 00:54:28
What we're doing and I had, John had prepared this for me, so I knew to the dollar what I was asking for. It was pretty good. So 00:54:32
thank you, John for doing that. 00:54:36
But just so you kind of know that the county board is covering that. And then I know John in another comment. 00:54:40
With upcoming decisions. 00:54:46
With people that want to get funds from us and you said our budget outside of Labor is really only like. 00:54:49
$30,000 of discretion or it's really small, isn't it? Correct. That's how small her budget is. It's like third grade. 00:54:54
It's that small. 00:55:02
Yeah, so pay for supplies, fuel, maintenance. 00:55:03
Registrations to conferences, yeah, that it's. 00:55:08
So if anyone asks us for money beyond. 00:55:12
What we have, we really have to go to the county board. We don't have like, umm. 00:55:16
A bunch of extra money around. I just wanted you to be aware that we would not have that ability. 00:55:22
After the meeting, after it was very discouraging After, after the meeting. 00:55:28
Mark Bourne came up to me and. 00:55:33
Said Andrew. You gave a great arguments. 00:55:35
Of course he's on that. You know, he's the the Co chairman of the Finance Committee and he said it would. 00:55:37
Not to your surprises, but unlikely that we would get funded. 00:55:43
Letter of state statute. Just a guide. 00:55:48
That is a. 00:55:50
You got it man. 00:55:53
OK, you got what we're thinking. Yeah, I. 00:55:56
The language says shall attempt, say, will. 00:55:59
And says shall attend. Are they getting by? And I've looked back. 00:56:03
In history. 00:56:07
From previous versions of it, and it's said that for quite a while. 00:56:09
So they said, they did say at the end of the. 00:56:14
When I went, my lobbying turned. They did say they would try to give more for the courts. 00:56:18
But you know, you hear all this bickering in in. 00:56:23
You know about money and they're talking, you know? 00:56:26
Hundreds of millions of dollars and for the whole state of Wisconsin we only need like 8,000,000 more or something. It's not like 00:56:29
a huge amount for every conservation department in this state. 00:56:33
It's not a big amount of money in the context of our state budget. You know, I know this is a reach, but you know what the turmoil 00:56:38
go on in NRCS. 00:56:41
There could be a void there that. 00:56:46
Was there previously, it may not be there in the future. 00:56:48
There may be a slight possibility that. 00:56:51
The feds would rather give the money to the state for conservation. 00:56:54
I mean, I just want them to be ready if that does. 00:56:58
Happen. 00:57:01
Yeah, we just keep the communication lines open in. 00:57:05
But the point I wanted to bring this up to date, have John explained this because he had the worksheet and we're going to fill it 00:57:10
out, but I wanted to explain it to you so you understood. So when someone comes here and says I want money from you. 00:57:15
So you realize that the county board is covering us right now? 00:57:22
We're not. We don't have like extra money or hanging around here. 00:57:26
John runs a really I know, but you need to but I just want the county this committee to realize that it's not new recently, but it 00:57:29
but I wanted you to know how short it was. 00:57:34
How short it was and how small our budget really is. I just wanted you to be aware I wasn't. I've been on the committee for 00:57:39
several years. I didn't realize it was that much. 00:57:43
So that that that's, that's what I wanted to communicate with you guys. So. 00:57:48
All right. Thank you, John. Yeah. The only other thing I have is, like I said, for funding for 2025. 00:57:53
Currently statewide it's 11.2 million. 00:57:59
In the governor's proposed budget. 00:58:02
It's 15.1 million and 26 and 15.6 million and 27. 00:58:05
But. 00:58:11
That was very similar to last year and it got cut out, so we'll see what happens. 00:58:11
OK. 00:58:18
So move on to the we'll need a motion for the next one to approve the Soil and Water Resource Management grant applications. So. 00:58:20
You want to tell us then what you did here and. 00:58:27
OK, Andrew has the grant application. Like I said I fill out the worksheet that pre populates part of the application. 00:58:31
And then the other part, I got to go in and I got to look at total county expenditures. 00:58:38
And. 00:58:44
Tony. 00:58:45
Revenues that come in. 00:58:49
And then the very last page. 00:58:52
Yeah yes we have 6 full time employees, so 6FT ES. 00:58:55
And then I calculate. 00:59:00
How much FTE is actually paid through this grant that we're applying for, and I can't remember offhand. It's 1.4 something's on 00:59:02
the very last page. 00:59:08
1.44. 00:59:14
Debt cap in total of 6 Yeah 4.6 for the county. 00:59:16
Yeah. And then the annual work plan is also part of that application. We have to fill that out every year and I included that in 00:59:20
your packet. 00:59:25
That kind of shows our priorities and our goals that we're going to be doing in different areas. 00:59:29
For 2025. 00:59:35
OK. Any questions on this application? 00:59:38
Because we need to vote on it. 00:59:42
OK, I need a motion to approve. 00:59:44
The Soil and water resource management grant application in any work plan. 00:59:47
Also move. 00:59:51
OK, John. 00:59:52
John, first, we need a second. OK, Dale, second. 00:59:53
Any further discussion on the? 00:59:57
Application. 00:59:59
Hearing none, those favor say aye aye and those opposed. 01:00:01
OK, passes and I'll sign this then and we'll get that going. Then we've got one other thing. Go ahead and the cancellation notice. 01:00:05
John, this next one, Yeah, this individual last name is Conrad. 01:00:12
They got out of the farmland preservation program. 01:00:17
And now want to get back into it. So we've checked things over and they meet the requirements for it. 01:00:20
So this is a cancellation of their notice of non compliance. 01:00:28
So I need board approval to. 01:00:33
To be approval to send that into the state, do we need a motion to? 01:00:35
Issue a cancellation notice of non compliance to farmland preservation program. So reinstate this person right state them. 01:00:39
I'll make a motion. OK. Ken makes a motion. We need a second. 01:00:47
I'll second, OK. 01:00:50
Then second. 01:00:52
Any discussion on this? 01:00:53
Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. 01:00:56
Aye, unanimously passed. 01:01:00
OK. We have update on the Rock River Flood group occasionally there's communications to John and. 01:01:06
Yeah, what we've been doing is. 01:01:13
They came here a few months ago asking for money and you guys put it off until. 01:01:17
May I think it is up for the agenda to make a final decision. 01:01:21
So I've been talking to other organizations. 01:01:25
NRCS is one of them. 01:01:29
To try to find out. 01:01:31
Other than giving them money. 01:01:34
To their initial ask was for engineering and lawyer fees. 01:01:37
Is there something else our department can do on a larger watershed scale that will have an effect? 01:01:42
On on their concerns down there. 01:01:50
In talking with NRCS. 01:01:54
They have programs. 01:01:57
That are available. 01:01:59
After the fact. 01:02:01
You get a flood. It has destruction on fields, buildings, whatever. They have programs to help cost share some of the repairs for 01:02:03
that. 01:02:07
I talked to. 01:02:13
Dat cap Department of AG and he's going to be. 01:02:14
Checking with a couple other state DNR water. 01:02:18
People. Umm. 01:02:22
And hopefully we'll be meeting here in the next few weeks. 01:02:23
To find out on their side, is there something on the larger water scale that we can do? 01:02:28
I know. 01:02:33
There are two. 01:02:36
Interns with UW Madison that will be helping this group. 01:02:37
And they'll be doing more like on on hydrology studies in the watershed, looking at things like that. 01:02:42
So I've been out talking to other people trying to figure out. 01:02:49
What is there that? 01:02:52
Our department and things that we do that we can actually help them with. 01:02:54
So I'm looking at that. 01:02:58
We have another meeting set for April 9th. 01:03:00
To kind of bring everybody up to speed and to introduce the two interns from UW Madison. 01:03:05
Andrew called me the other day. He had a meeting with the Lake Sissippi District. 01:03:12
And there are some things said there. So I did call Shane back and talk to him. 01:03:18
In fact, the. 01:03:23
Engineer Rob Montgomery for that group that gave you presentation a couple months ago. 01:03:25
He's coming here. 01:03:31
Wednesday this week and he and I are going to go out. 01:03:32
Every lake has a. 01:03:37
Elevation they play within. 01:03:39
And historically, Lake Ms. would do a drawdown to that low level. 01:03:41
In late February, March. 01:03:48
But this year, because of the conversations with the farmer group, they started doing it the first part of December. 01:03:51
They've had a lot of major ice. He's. 01:03:59
On the West side. 01:04:03
That has. 01:04:05
Pushed all their. 01:04:06
RIP rap. 01:04:08
Shoreline protection. 01:04:09
Up in the lawns. 01:04:10
That. 01:04:12
Typically would not have happened if they hadn't done the drawdown soon. 01:04:13
That soon, So Rob's coming out on Wednesday and he and I are going to go out and take a look at that to see. 01:04:17
Exactly what the extent of it really is. 01:04:23
So that we can go back to that group and say OK. 01:04:26
We, we started doing this because that's what you requested. Well. 01:04:29
Now these are the effects that's taking place on on all these houses. 01:04:34
Around the lake. 01:04:38
Umm, this is not. 01:04:39
Going to be an easy fix by any means. I think there's a lot more involved here than just the control of dams. 01:04:43
And unfortunately. 01:04:51
The individuals that started this group. 01:04:53
Don't really want to look at anything other than the dams. 01:04:57
So I get a question is I'm kind of new to this because this just looks like it's going to be a mess, yeah, or is a mess and it's 01:05:01
going to be a bigger mess. 01:05:04
So the. 01:05:09
The people that. 01:05:10
Belong to the Rock River flood group that you know the the people that were here. 01:05:13
What land is flooding? Is that actually in the floodplain of the Rock River? Is it over and above the floodplain of the Rock 01:05:18
River? 01:05:21
It's both. 01:05:25
It's both. 01:05:26
The issue isn't the flooding. The flooding has always occurred. 01:05:28
The issue is the duration of the flooding. 01:05:34
Instead of flooding for two weeks. 01:05:37
It might be flooded for 2 1/2 three months. 01:05:39
I've seen the Rock River on Hwy. 60 by Houston's Ford. 01:05:42
Out of its banks almost all summer long at times. 01:05:47
So it's the duration of the flooding that's occurring. 01:05:51
When we get normal rainfalls. 01:05:55
Majority that will infiltrate into the ground. 01:05:58
But when you get them. 01:06:01
Intense rains where you get 2 inches in an hour or five inches. 01:06:02
In half a day. 01:06:08
Majority that water is going to run off. 01:06:10
And it's not going to infiltrate in, it just can't. 01:06:13
And when you continue to get that rain after rain after rain, that ground is saturated, it's not going anywhere but running off. 01:06:16
Every time you put up a House of pole barn, a parking lot. 01:06:24
You got water running off versus infiltrating. 01:06:30
And there is a ton of tile lines that have gone in. 01:06:34
That. 01:06:39
Extends the duration of that water flow. 01:06:40
Because the water is high at tile lines doing nothing, but as that water line goes down, now it's draining all this field that was 01:06:45
totally saturated. 01:06:49
So that's extending it. 01:06:54
So there's a lot of things going into this. It's not one thing. 01:06:56
OK, yeah, I just. 01:07:02
Because it just seems to me it's just like the flooding. Well, you know, we can't control A5 inch rain in two hours, no. 01:07:04
I mean, I can see other watersheds and I you normally have flood and. 01:07:10
Cropland gets flooded out and everything gets flooded. It'll stay for two or three weeks, I mean. 01:07:14
5 inches of rain and 1/2 hour it's 5 inches of rain. You know it's. 01:07:18
So I was just kind of curious, that's all. 01:07:23
There's a little confusion on my partner exactly what the issue is. So thank you for do they ever mention, you know, do they have 01:07:25
crop insurance and. 01:07:30
If they have prevent plant and I know if you do that what 3 out of five then you're ineligible anymore, you can't apply anymore. 01:07:35
So as anybody said that. 01:07:40
That was an issue for any farmers. I have not heard that conversation at all. 01:07:44
I know they continually talk about. 01:07:50
Mature trees that are dying because of the flooding. 01:07:52
In their in their lower lands. 01:07:56
I've gotten phone calls from a guy that bought land for deer hunting and he can't hunt it because it's always in water. 01:08:00
You know it's better off for duck hunt and deer, Hun. 01:08:06
But you know. 01:08:09
When you buy land that are in those areas. 01:08:10
You got to understand that risk. I guess that's where it's coming from my question. I mean it, you know. 01:08:14
Yeah, and. 01:08:20
I've been here for 30 years. The the. 01:08:22
The other main farmer that's and I'm not sure he's really a farmer, He's a, he owns land there. 01:08:25
That side Rd. 01:08:31
Has had farm gates on it ever since I've been here to. When the water gets high the road is closed off. 01:08:33
You know, and he lives on that road. 01:08:40
So he. 01:08:42
Bought a house knowing that initially. 01:08:43
In the first place. 01:08:45
But I am looking, I am having conversations, I am looking at other things that that our department can do that. 01:08:48
Will help mitigate it, but it's not going to fix it just like that. 01:08:56
No, you mentioned the ice and Beaver Dam is a dangerous ice conditions. Now it'll go from a foot in one area to zero and others 10 01:09:02
vehicles, ATVs and. 01:09:07
Somerville's grind through the ice this year. 01:09:13
I'm not sure what happened this weekend. So we've seen is the January winds, prevailing winds of South, southwest. 01:09:15
The Mill. 01:09:23
From Beaver from Fox Lake is still flowing water on. 01:09:25
Yeah, and we're seeing a freeze thaw. 01:09:28
Half dozen times, January and February. 01:09:31
So every time that happens, it jacks up the ice. 01:09:33
And then also we're seeing. 01:09:36
The open water. 01:09:38
It never gets a chance to freeze even it's very, very cold weather. We've had the wind pressure keeps that moving to the north, 01:09:39
so. 01:09:43
Those north and northeast shores on that lake. 01:09:46
Have impacted by that fetch. 01:09:50
So it's really a interesting season, let's say. 01:09:53
I thought Dave out there at the one property. 01:09:56
The North and idle hour. 01:09:59
Yeah, yeah. We had a resident call us that had some. 01:10:01
Ripper app destroyed and he wants to redo it. 01:10:06
And I think Dave worked with him. 01:10:10
Years ago on the Beaver Dam watershed, too. 01:10:12
OK. 01:10:18
Thank you for the update and I have a little more to say about it my report for LSID. 01:10:20
All right, discussed possible research on the county's airport farm update. I know there's not much on this, but. 01:10:27
No, I'm gonna keep this on as an item on every agenda until we figure out what exactly what's gonna happen. 01:10:32
The farmer LED group had a soil health Expo here in town the first part of this month, February. 01:10:39
And they always hand out a survey. 01:10:46
One of the questions on that survey was. 01:10:49
If we were to start a research plot on this farm, what would you be interested in? 01:10:52
So I'm waiting for the results to come that back come back from that I should be getting them. 01:10:57
Tomorrow we have a. 01:11:03
Annual meeting that. 01:11:06
One member of the farm of that group and a collaborator, which is Dodge County. 01:11:08
Has to go to an annual meeting every year. 01:11:12
So, umm. 01:11:14
The group that. 01:11:16
They have hired. 01:11:19
To facilitate all these questionnaires will be. 01:11:21
Turning all that stuff over to us tomorrow. 01:11:24
Well, yeah, it said. Because they're they're no longer hired with them anymore, but. 01:11:29
She said it was going to be on a flash drive, so. 01:11:33
OK, Now probably the most important business of the day. 01:11:40
Yes, we have a new county. 01:11:44
Administrative support specialist for the department. 01:11:46
Cheryl Lowery. 01:11:49
Started with us a couple weeks ago. 01:11:51
She's getting her feet wet. She's learning things that she's never done before and is doing. 01:11:55
Doing their job. 01:12:01
Welcome, Cheryl. 01:12:03
Thank you. 01:12:04
Look forward to working with you. 01:12:06
Look forward to it too. 01:12:08
We'll try to be clear. 01:12:09
And don't feel, don't be afraid to instruct us as Becky did and give us instruction as to what we need to do and. 01:12:12
Sounds good, all right. 01:12:19
Because I know she had me like send my water, my reports to her at a time because she said. 01:12:21
You know, like our, you know, like the reports we do for the Lake District. She always wanted me to e-mail on the head. 01:12:26
To her so that maybe that's something you want to do. You have a do you have a different e-mail? I suppose it's different right 01:12:31
slightly. 01:12:33
Maybe get it to us or her E Nos just she Lowry at Dodge County, OK. 01:12:36
All right, LO H ry. 01:12:43
You want to tell us a little bit about yourself? 01:12:46
If you can right, is that OK Committee? Is that OK we ever? 01:12:48
OK. 01:13:04
Hi, so I actually am from Marcozan. 01:13:04
So grew up raised there. 01:13:09
Have a lot of office experience. 01:13:13
Probably well over. 01:13:16
20 years of office experience. 01:13:17
I have knowledge of meetings and how they ran as well I worked. 01:13:20
Actually. 01:13:25
The deputy city clerk for the city of Beaver Dam for 3 1/2 years. So that's where somebody may have recognized me from, but. 01:13:26
Yeah, other than that. 01:13:34
Interesting to learn about the land and water conservation and learning some more. I have a little bit of farm experience. My 01:13:36
parents were farmers growing up. 01:13:40
My husband. 01:13:44
Is actually a male caller, so. 01:13:46
I have a little knowledge there as well. 01:13:49
If I tend to listen to him. 01:13:51
You know. 01:13:53
But other than that, we have one daughter. 01:13:54
So yeah, she's going to college already and. 01:13:59
Yeah, very proud of her. She's going in for a radiology. 01:14:03
Becky is helping you a little bit far as Becky still comes back and helps a little bit of training and that's really helpful. 01:14:07
There's a lot of it'll take us like a couple cycles to go through to. 01:14:11
You know when things happen in the details and. 01:14:16
There's a lot to it. 01:14:20
Yeah, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about the land and water conservations, the different programs and there's 01:14:21
busy times and slow times and you got to figure that out. That's I know it's it's just incredibly different all of a sudden, like 01:14:28
you don't feel like you have any to do. And then it'll come like there'll be so much do you can't believe it. 01:14:35
Just the end portion of the trees though. 01:14:43
Well, welcome and. 01:14:46
It's a critical position be I mean our department is so small that you, you are the face of the department. You know, we talked 01:14:48
earlier about. 01:14:52
Doing surveys but. 01:14:55
Think it's going to be you're the 1 John John's there too, but you're the one that people see walk in the door. You're the you're 01:14:57
the one that helps coordinate the. 01:15:00
All the guys on the road and. 01:15:04
So very, very critical position from our point of view. So thank you so much for coming. 01:15:06
You're welcome. I'm very happy to be here. All right. Any other questions from the committee? 01:15:11
All right. Thank you. 01:15:16
You're welcome. 01:15:18
All right, update on the well testing that's. 01:15:23
Up and coming and yeah. 01:15:26
The results are in. I don't have the results back. I'm going to pull up something. I did get the final bill on it. 01:15:29
And I want to tell you. 01:15:36
How we lined up as compared to the original. 01:15:38
Agreement. 01:15:42
Actually of the five year agreement we came in under. 01:15:46
Under what was originally budgeted. 01:15:49
The original budget was $174,820 and with the final bill that came in at 164,372. 01:15:57
So just over. 01:16:08
Just over $10,000. 01:16:11
Less than what we originally planned. 01:16:13
And next month? 01:16:17
The. 01:16:20
Wednesday the 19th at 7:00 PM. 01:16:21
We'll have a. 01:16:25
Presentation Kevin will be here for presentation. 01:16:27
To the owners that have been going through this program, you're more than welcome to attend that if you'd like to. 01:16:30
At that meeting when that's. 01:16:37
Before or after? Then I'll talk to him as far as when he thinks he'll have his. 01:16:39
Final summary done to present to you guys so that we can make decisions on what we want to do for in the future. 01:16:45
So the timeline. 01:16:54
Umm, so this is the this is your 5, right? Your 5. 01:16:56
So the timeline to. 01:17:01
They'll come and talk to us and then if we decide as a committee we want the program to continue for another. 01:17:03
Five years or whatever. 01:17:09
Then we would have to bring this. You're thinking a county board like July is that we're thinking maybe or OK, and then we would 01:17:11
have him come give his report. 01:17:16
And and then. 01:17:21
They'll have to decide whether they they wouldn't necessarily make a resolution at that time, but it would be for consideration in 01:17:23
the in the budget for 26, right, right, right. That's how that would. 01:17:28
Does that come then within this department? Is that how the money so or is it a separate line? 01:17:34
Yeah, it's just appropriate through our department. 01:17:40
OK, yeah. Umm. 01:17:43
We I put it in the budget and it's there, but it comes from the tax levy. 01:17:44
OK. 01:17:49
All right. 01:17:51
All right, poster contest. 01:17:54
Although he had the area judging, I sent 4 posters to the area judging. 01:17:57
One of them placed third and only the first place will go on to state at the conference next week. So. 01:18:04
So we did OK. 01:18:11
You know, they had some really nice ones there. 01:18:13
So we had So how many are going to be there? Like when they hang up the posters? How many are from Dodge County then? Just not. 01:18:16
They don't have any at the state this year. Well, we don't have any. Its name. 01:18:20
OK. 01:18:26
OK, down to committee reports and I'll do LSID. 01:18:29
We are far as a native plant sale. We work with the whole friends of Oregon Marsh, the LSID and we met, yeah, we met on. 01:18:34
2/11/25 this month. 01:18:44
And our first order of business was we do a native plant sale and this year we're going to increase. 01:18:48
To households that participate in this will give them up to 40 bucks. So if they buy a flat of plants, the LSID will give them 40 01:18:53
bucks towards those plants. 01:18:58
As far as lake management plan. 01:19:04
We had five company, we had a meeting where five companies came expressed interest in in the proposal for the feasibility study 01:19:07
for the dredging project up near Oxbow Marine. 01:19:11
What's going to happen is. 01:19:18
In the next couple, I think next week or two, the. 01:19:21
The proposals are due and at our next month's meeting we will be reviewing the proposals and an approving 1. 01:19:24
They'll probably be somewhere between 20 and $50,000 in that in that range. 01:19:31
And that'll be they'll be ready for annual meeting that for this coming August. And that's. 01:19:35
A proposal to make a plan to do the dredging project. The dredging project is in the millions of dollars, but it's going to show 01:19:40
us like a pathway or how to do this. 01:19:44
We did not get the $10,000 grant that we applied for for for the project. 01:19:49
And then Shane. 01:19:56
Kamer is is. He's a leader at LSA and LSID. 01:19:59
He's an effective leader, and he and Chad Butler, LSA president, they talked at our meeting about the issue. 01:20:05
With the. 01:20:15
The flood group and. 01:20:17
Interestingly, they thought. 01:20:20
Mistakenly, Chad and I had called John to tell him this. Immediately, Chad assumed that the county was part of in supporting the 01:20:23
position of this group. 01:20:26
Because they had a meeting in this room and John was here and so they said, we assume that the county is fully supporting them. 01:20:31
In their political position and I corrected them there and said that is not true. We allow them to use our building and we will do 01:20:37
what we can, but does not mean that the county is supportive of their political position. So I just pay that crystal clear. 01:20:45
Shane advocates that the county should be a neutral position that we should not be supporting to land owners. 01:20:53
Against the 700 LSID. 01:20:59
Because that's the way they view it. There's 700 members of the people on the lake there and they feel that. 01:21:02
Their opposite ends. 01:21:08
It got rather heated. 01:21:10
And I told John that if if necessary, we should invite Shane to come and speak. 01:21:12
Umm, when we hear arguments in May so that you hear another's point of view, so. 01:21:22
And I don't know whether he will or not, but their position is, is that the county should be neutral. 01:21:27
On this. 01:21:32
And then just for your information, on Saturday, April 12th, there's the Mud and Chubb Tourney. 01:21:34
From the Wisconsin Bowman Fishing Association. I don't know if they go on Beaver Dam Lee. 01:21:42
Or Fox Lake, I don't know if they go. That's where they bring the big air boats and they go in the middle of the night. 01:21:46
With they sound like jet engines and they have the big lights and then the bowlmen do their Boeing and everyone's calling the 01:21:52
Sheriff's Department like what in the world is going on because it. 01:21:57
They put their big lights on people's houses that live, you know. Anyway, just give everyone warning that'll happen on April 12th 01:22:02
last year. 01:22:05
A lot of commotion. 01:22:10
So just to let everyone know. 01:22:11
That's it for my report. 01:22:13
So go ahead. 01:22:15
I guess Bill. 01:22:16
We did receive the surface water grants at $20,000. 01:22:18
We were 12 and 13 out of 40, so that's very. 01:22:23
Highly sought after. 01:22:26
We'll use those funds to support the UW WR program. 01:22:28
And their objectives are to perform a. 01:22:32
Water quality analysis for the past 10 years. 01:22:34
And look at the shoreline and the westward side of the lake. 01:22:38
That is primarily a native shoreline. 01:22:42
And see what we need to do to protect it so stays in that condition. 01:22:45
We received the report from the DNR for their Electro fishing in October on Trestle Bay. 01:22:50
They found that that Bay had 606 lbs of rough fish per acre. 01:22:56
Fish and Wildlife identified that the target should be £89 per acre. 01:23:02
And over £268 per acre. 01:23:07
Is considered severe damage to a habitat. 01:23:09
So we're twice as much for severe habitat damage. 01:23:12
And six times, of course, 7 times. 01:23:17
For the target amount. 01:23:19
We've been working with the in our fishery now for better part of six years to put a plan together. 01:23:22
To manage. 01:23:28
And that began back in 2020. 01:23:30
And we thought we had a pretty good Beaver Creek targeted watershed assessment of prepared. 01:23:33
And approved by DNR. 01:23:39
What we found in 2022. 01:23:41
That the DNR fishery doesn't have to follow that plan. 01:23:44
So in 2023, the fish biologists in Horican. 01:23:48
Prepared an independent plan that could be executed. 01:23:52
That spring and summer. 01:23:55
And with her departure to another county, that fell apart. 01:23:58
So in 2024 we started working with the DNR again to have an agreement put together. 01:24:02
To have a comprehensive roughfish plan across Beaver Dam, lake and watershed. 01:24:07
December we completed that and they told us in January. 01:24:14
They want to change the agreement into a plan again. 01:24:18
So we're starting over to have a plan. 01:24:21
For Beaver Dam Blake for roughness control. 01:24:23
So. 01:24:26
It's an interesting process. 01:24:28
You know, I feel sorry for the NRCS and FSA people. 01:24:31
Here you have a case where we've done these. 01:24:35
Plans and agreements 4 times. Not very efficient. 01:24:37
And we could use our services and their services. 01:24:41
For doing different projects, not redoing. 01:24:44
What we did in 20 and 22 and 23. 01:24:47
So just. 01:24:50
Comment Opinion. 01:24:51
The BDLA will have a healthy lakes. 01:24:54
Presentation March 1st at 9:00 AM. 01:24:57
At the Village of Randolph meeting room. 01:25:00
Tracy Arnold and Nick Holman. 01:25:02
From Portage County will be there as a presenters. 01:25:05
And they'll be going over the different native plantings and practices to be used. 01:25:07
And talk about the Healthy Lakes program. 01:25:12
Where homeowners could receive $1000 to help them do their healthy lake plots. 01:25:14
So. 01:25:20
Feel free to join if you want to. 01:25:21
March 1st. 01:25:23
9:00 AM Randolph. 01:25:24
Villager, Randolph. 01:25:26
That's all for today. 01:25:29
What a deal. OK, Although we did not meet in person this month, we did have a virtual meeting. 01:25:33
With. 01:25:39
You are on their plant inventory survey. 01:25:41
Uh is the company that we have hired to do. 01:25:45
Our lake management plan that's. 01:25:50
Edmonds and Oliver resources, which I think are in Minnesota, right? 01:25:52
They were up to Madison still, I think. 01:25:57
OK, so anyway. 01:25:59
It was led by Jay Michaels from EOR. He's a replacement for the previous guy who took a job. 01:26:02
Elsewhere. 01:26:08
But I was most impressed with a young man, Drew Harry, who works for You are. 01:26:10
He was the actual technician that was on Fox Lake to do the study. 01:26:15
And he was. 01:26:19
Very interesting to listen to. 01:26:21
He kind of explained what they did. There is 881 points on the lake that they visit. They got them all. 01:26:24
GPS located. 01:26:31
They do 3 draws at each point. 01:26:33
And many points had nose vegetation, so that went kind of fast when they get in those areas. 01:26:35
And as a result of the survey, they gave a coefficient of conservation. 01:26:41
Which where one is there's nothing and tennis the best you could hope for. 01:26:48
And they found 17 different species. 01:26:53
And awarded the lake a coefficient of 5.4, which is just slightly above average. 01:26:57
And then they did another. 01:27:03
Pluralistic quality index, which I think is the flooring from that mistaken. 01:27:05
And five, six was above the high quality threshold for that coefficient. 01:27:12
So. 01:27:18
Drew Harry, he said they found a large amount of water celery, which is water celery and plant stem pond weed. 01:27:20
What's your very desirable native species? So that's a good thing, Umm. 01:27:28
He did state that most of the weeds are at the four to five foot lake level, where it's deeper. They didn't find much vegetation 01:27:33
at all. 01:27:37
As far as the invasive go there EUR Asian water mill file, we already had a high amount of that. 01:27:42
But he's he made a. 01:27:48
Comment that it can be confused with the Northern Water milfoil, which is a native. 01:27:50
And sometimes he thought there might be some misidentification problems where they said it was the EUR Asian milfoil and it really 01:27:55
wasn't. 01:28:00
But he didn't think that we had us. 01:28:04
Had a problem with that as they had thought in the past. 01:28:06
Then you also showed a chart showing the milligrams of phosphorus in the lake has the last 20 years of showed a steady decline. 01:28:11
So there's actually. 01:28:18
A decline of phosphorus in Fox Lake. 01:28:20
In the last 20 years. 01:28:22
So in the end. 01:28:25
Tamika, who is the committee chair, expressed A sentiment that the state requires this study every five years and it's quite 01:28:28
expensive. 01:28:32
And that we don't do anything with it except just look at it so. 01:28:37
He's wondering whether we should do it again in the future if we don't get a grantees of the opinion that we shouldn't do it. 01:28:41
So after the meeting, then he kind of went into the nano bubbler discussion again and. 01:28:49
Try lakes through you are had done a nano bubbler. 01:28:56
Trial in 2024. 01:29:01
They did get a DNR permit, but they didn't really give the permit. 01:29:04
Last part of September when the season was almost over, so they installed them. 01:29:08
Then. 01:29:13
But there was very little, you know, because it was so late in the season, there wasn't. 01:29:14
Nothing that could be. 01:29:18
Learned from this study at. 01:29:22
In 24. 01:29:25
So. 01:29:28
What was impressive for Tri Lakes is that. 01:29:29
The borrowing they were going to borrow money to do the nano bubblers and. 01:29:35
It was. 01:29:40
A very large amount of money, something like $30 million. 01:29:41
But they did approve spending 3,000,000, which I thought was quite a bit of money to approve to borrow to do the nano bubbler 01:29:45
study. I'm not even sure where trial eggs is. Where is trial eggs? 01:29:49
The DNR will require a lot of very expensive data collection. 01:29:59
For their grant money and. 01:30:03
And that's where a lot of the money will be spent, the data collection. 01:30:07
Not so much the installation of the nano bubblers. 01:30:11
There was an attempt to get UW Stevens Point involved to do some monitoring to save money. 01:30:14
Whether that will happen or not, they don't know yet. 01:30:20
3,000,000 for data collection. 01:30:22
Well, that's the whole project, but data collection is a large part of it. 01:30:24
OK. 01:30:28
Just to clarify, Nana Bubbers is a concentrated. 01:30:31
02 but it also. 01:30:35
Is ozone, which is over 3. 01:30:38
Which the DNR considers a pesticide. 01:30:40
But umm. 01:30:43
Whether it really is or not, I don't know. 01:30:44
Anyway, so anyway, any data that they gather will prove beneficial for anybody moving forward with nano bubblers, so. 01:30:46
Does the plant study allow you to do an AES plant invasive species plan? 01:30:55
For weed removal. 01:31:00
I don't think really because. 01:31:04
They didn't think our invasive species was that. 01:31:06
OK. 01:31:09
They thought we are. They're misidentifying Eurasian before. 01:31:11
That they said there was more than there really was. That's what this. 01:31:14
Technician had said so. 01:31:18
So your weed removal will be for nuisance, not a S primarily. 01:31:21
Primarily, yes. Yes. 01:31:25
What day did you meet Dale? 01:31:28
What's that? What day did you meet? 01:31:30
It was on the 11th. 01:31:32
OK. 01:31:34
And we got that same event invitation that the healthy soils and they give Eastern Standard Time. So one guy got there when the 01:31:38
meeting was over. 01:31:41
All right. 01:31:55
Any questions on the committee reports? 01:31:56
OK if not. 01:32:00
John, you want to update us on the conference? I think we're pretty much yeah. I got you all registered that are gone. Your rooms 01:32:01
are taken care of. 01:32:05
This year. 01:32:10
I am going to make. 01:32:12
All the check insurance for the rooms. 01:32:13
So you look for me to get your cards? 01:32:16
I had so much problems last year. 01:32:19
With it was a hotel issue, you know, I'm not going to go through that again, so I'm gonna check everybody in. I'll have your room 01:32:22
cards. 01:32:26
You look me up. 01:32:30
And I'll get them to you. 01:32:32
What time about I? 01:32:34
But it starts after lunch, right? It starts. Yeah, Conferences start after lunch. I mean, I'll be there. 01:32:36
Probably by 10:00 myself, you know. 01:32:42
OK, I think I that's entirely up to you. 01:32:48
If you guys want a carpool. 01:32:53
Now I'm taking my personal truck. 01:32:55
I got room. 01:32:57
I would. 01:33:00
Carpool, OK. 01:33:02
Ken, I'm probably just going to drive myself, OK? I know Lisa is only going for one day. 01:33:04
So I'll let you know what time I'll leave and I'll send you guys an e-mail. 01:33:10
And then and then for me, like I'm bringing my wife. Then you'll just bill me afterwards for the Yep. 01:33:14
The whole telling me, the hotel and the conference, OK, that's fine. 01:33:19
OK. Next meeting of this committee is March 24th, 8:30. Is that OK with everybody? 01:33:25
All right. 01:33:33
Future agenda items, do we need to put a notice that we're going to be together or at this conference? Yeah, I'll put something 01:33:35
out. 01:33:38
And then what about and what about? What about this coming Friday? 01:33:42
For our extension, you know what I mean. I wonder if I should. 01:33:49
We'd include that too in there that we. 01:33:52
There may be. 01:33:55
She did. 01:33:57
Because they don't want it. 01:34:01
It is OK. So make sure we don't have any negative quorum issues, OK. And the other question I have for future agenda. 01:34:02
I went back and tried. I replayed a video of our meeting here. I don't know if you've ever done that through the video county 01:34:10
system. I don't know if you've ever done that. 01:34:15
I think and I don't know. 01:34:20
Umm, I think there could be an improvement on how you act like, like like if there was a date on it and John and I looked that 01:34:23
member, you know what I mean? OK. What happens is that they record all the committee meetings of the county. 01:34:28
And they are in order of when they're recorded, but there's no. 01:34:34
So like was there 100 meetings or something you look at and say you wanted to find this meeting? 01:34:38
You think that you would say I want the conservation meeting on February 24th? You think that's what? 01:34:43
I know, I know, but but but it can't be that hard do that took me a long time the first time. Went back to lookout to figure out 01:34:49
what you mean. It took me a long to figure out how to get to the place to get to the meeting. So shame. So I had to call him and 01:34:56
he's telling me step by step how to find her because Shane wanted to review one of the meetings and I was like. 01:35:02
And I had you had to. 01:35:09
And he, John made it pretty easy to be honest with you, but it shouldn't be that hard. 01:35:11
Now you got to actually open it up before you find out what day it is. 01:35:16
So I think I don't we. 01:35:20
Should we make a? 01:35:23
A future agenda item to make a recommendation to it. You guys need to, I can just call it and because really it's ridiculous. It 01:35:24
should be like really easy to find a meeting. 01:35:29
Yeah, so. 01:35:35
OK, well. 01:35:36
Yeah. 01:35:38
OK. All right. I will will do you know what I'm talking about, Dave? OK, OK. 01:35:42
All right, sounds good. 01:35:49
And your question earlier about if somebody got on the ledge admin meeting? 01:35:52
Per diem in that. 01:35:57
I know Lisa's on the Southern Area Association and when she goes to them. 01:35:58
She gets per diem in mileage. 01:36:03
So I don't see why it would be an issue unless if the county said no. 01:36:05
Richland County. 01:36:10
They've actually said no. 01:36:12
And the Southern Area Association. 01:36:14
Budgeted funds to help offset that. 01:36:18
But then the person never claimed reimbursement on him anyway, said she didn't want it so. 01:36:21
But I don't think it would be an issue if somebody wanted to get on one of them as far as. 01:36:26
Putting it in in my budget for. 01:36:31
Mileage and per diem's. Both per diems are paid for through the county and the mileage that would all go on county board side. 01:36:34
OK. I unless there's any other discussion, I will call this meeting adjourned by the completion of the agenda. 01:36:42
Thank everybody. 01:36:50
They got to sign these things. 01:36:55
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Transcript

Event transcript
I've taken the roll call. We have 11 absent. We have a quorum. 00:00:00
Do I have any public comment today? 00:00:06
You're not seeing any of the public here for comment. 00:00:09
OK, it's your pleasure. The minutes from January 27th. 00:00:13
I'll move to approve. OK. John moves to approve her first and we need a second. 00:00:16
I'll suck up Ken second. 00:00:21
Any discussion? 00:00:23
No, but can I talk about public comment a minute? I don't know if anybody has seen this, but Kirk Calkins was asking for LCC 00:00:25
supervisors. 00:00:29
Where I believe he's on, is he on the executive committee or legislative committee, Legislative, legislative. 00:00:33
He's begging for supervisors. 00:00:38
To come. 00:00:41
And I used to do that a number of years ago. 00:00:42
But it was on my own ticket. Is there any way the county would be able to have someone? 00:00:45
If they wanted to. 00:00:50
I don't want to because I'm too busy, but I just thought I'd mention it. 00:00:53
That we could talk about it at the end of future items. 00:00:56
Yeah, I can check into that. All right. Put that at the end for future items. 00:00:59
OK, back to what we're doing. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:01:03
Passes. Approve the minutes then. 00:01:10
OK. 00:01:13
Update on the Community Needs Forum, and that's this coming Friday between 1:00 and 3:00. 00:01:15
Encourage the committee members to come if they can. So go ahead. 00:01:21
Yep, come on up, you got to be on TV. 00:01:27
Got to hear you and all that. 00:01:31
All right. 00:01:33
Hi, good morning everyone. We send out over 312. 00:01:41
Invites. 00:01:47
To our community partners included all of course, the department heads. 00:01:48
All the supervisors as well as all the partners that we've worked with. 00:01:52
Right now we have 40 that RSVP, 32 attending. 00:01:57
So that's great. You know, you never know when you send that out. 00:02:02
So that's really the updates this Friday like. 00:02:06
He said, how would you, how would you like us to disperse among the? 00:02:09
You can divide it up into five or something. Yeah, 5 groupings, right? Yep. We'll have egg, We're gonna take dairy and crops, put 00:02:15
them together. Well, youth development, we'll have community development in HDR. So I think that's 4. 00:02:23
But anyway that you you know you want to, you're more than welcome to sit at any table that you really have an interest. 00:02:32
Into here a little bit more, we do do a share back. 00:02:39
If you don't know the the processes, we're going to be the tables. We have questions that are already generated. Every question is 00:02:43
the same on each table. 00:02:47
And then once we have these discussions. 00:02:51
Umm, come back and you share like the top three things that resonated in that group. What is great about? 00:02:54
This people that couldn't attend, they still answered the question. So we have a lot of those. 00:03:02
Answers to the questions already. So we will take that information and compile it all and share it back in addition to a couple 00:03:08
months we'll talk about. 00:03:13
The priorities that we see from this in addition to the Community forum. 00:03:19
We also look at other data. 00:03:24
To extension always looks at other data to bring in. I know Cameron's been. 00:03:26
Working with our human development relationship educator to learn about what data she's been using. So we take all that and 00:03:31
synthesize. It takes a couple months, I know. 00:03:36
It sounds like, wow, that's a lot of time, but we want to make sure we're doing it right. It's interesting this week, last week I 00:03:40
was. 00:03:44
In at a conference and I spent a lot of time with the Illinois folks that actually did this. So I asked a lot more questions. How 00:03:48
did this look? What are we, you know? So that was a great opportunity. 00:03:54
Any other questions on that? Yeah, on the OK after this meeting, because we have a time frame here, we have to move along to get 00:04:01
it to the county board. What for next month? Are you going to like e-mail us a report then beforehand that we could read or how is 00:04:06
that? How does that or just kind of let me know. 00:04:12
Take the priorities. You're probably going to get more than you probably want it. I figured we would. 00:04:20
Yeah. And that's fine because you want to see the the breadth, you know, the depth of what's going to be shared. And then from 00:04:25
there we'll work with each one of the program areas. 00:04:29
To identify, OK, this is egg. These are the priorities. Are we doing this already? That's a one thing that I think you're going to 00:04:34
be surprised at because a lot of the questions and the answers I've been reading, it's things we do already. 00:04:41
So this is a, but there may be things that arise from the conversations that we may not be doing or we're not addressing. So we'll 00:04:47
look at all that. As I said in the past, things may come up that maybe not in our scope right yet like AI, but it doesn't mean 00:04:53
that we, this information is shared with you. 00:05:00
Here, but it also shared with the state so they know what's going on. 00:05:07
In certain time, you know, we can look at those things, especially if it's not just. 00:05:11
Dodge County, they're going to do these community forums across the state in time. We're just ahead of the game, which is great. I 00:05:17
like that kind of stuff. 00:05:20
And so we may be seeing there's evolving themes that we haven't addressed in the past. 00:05:25
So that goes to Madison. We're gonna have to schedule any extra meetings between now and before the. 00:05:30
You know, like. 00:05:37
Going over things, do we need an extra meeting or I mean, you have to answer today, but think about that. Do we need because we, I 00:05:38
think originally when Cameron and I were were setting this up, we thought we might have to have a couple extra meetings just to 00:05:44
make sure that there's time for thorough discussion because we are talking about the direction of the, of the county and. 00:05:50
Incorporating these people in that direction. And I just want, I just don't want to put it on here and go to a quick list and then 00:05:56
you want to talk for an hour, you know what I mean? 00:06:01
In the timeline that I shared, it was more of meetings with you, Andrew and Cameron. So maybe we'll follow up, OK. 00:06:06
Monthly, and we can do that more if we need to as things evolved. 00:06:13
The programmer is actually working on a format that will be. I remember what you said. Let's make it real. 00:06:18
High level, user friendly, not give you tons of stuff. So you'll have that formal report because I believe we go it'll be 00:06:23
presented in May here and then board at the board too. 00:06:29
Would we, yeah. Would we talk about the community farm at all and one of the egg areas would we, I mean, because that's been in a 00:06:35
priority this. 00:06:39
The upcoming possibility of a farm. 00:06:42
County Farm, would that be in one of these or not? Your Cameron, would that be incorporated or? 00:06:45
I'm sure I'm thinking here, I'm Dale reminds me. I gotta think there. You know, we want to. We want that. I'll bring it up for 00:06:50
sure, OK? I just want to make sure because that's a priority for us to achieve. 00:06:55
Any other questions from the committee about the upcoming? 00:07:07
If we can spread out, it'd be good. I know we want to be in our areas expertise, but if we can spread out I think it'd be good. 00:07:13
Try to. 00:07:16
So I don't know if not to be rude, but might try to go to a couple of them, you know? 00:07:19
You can, absolutely. One thing that was interesting when I talked to the Illinois folks, they said the best thing out of the whole 00:07:23
forum is how the community, the partners that didn't know each other, really connected. 00:07:30
And they started talking, boy, I didn't know you did this. And so not only is it helpful for the county and extension, but it was 00:07:37
also really helpful for the partners. 00:07:42
To hear what was going on. 00:07:46
OK, you have introduction to new Community impact reports. 00:07:50
I assume that's what you it's included in the packet. 00:07:55
That's on the second page. I believe it starts on the second page. This is the one of the reports and I think they've done been 00:07:58
done quite a while in the past. We have a portal that our educators are expectation required that they report. We scale it down a 00:08:05
bit because it's lengthy. 00:08:11
So we really. 00:08:18
Excuse me, tried to focus on. 00:08:19
The impact here in Dodge County, you'll receive these every month and I know. 00:08:22
Amber's been working on it for the next one coming up. 00:08:29
So we're a month behind usually, just so you know. 00:08:33
So what they report is a month behind just because of how they reported the end of the month. So that's one of it. This also is on 00:08:36
our website. 00:08:40
And in addition to that, remember when Manuel was here last time, we showed the one page report that really focused on what Manuel 00:08:44
was doing. Well, now they are accessible on our website and you want to pull one of those up? 00:08:52
Those are the monthly ones. 00:09:02
I just talked about there you go. 00:09:03
And so each educator and you can just click on one well. 00:09:05
We'll have these. 00:09:10
You know, and we'll do these probably quarterly. 00:09:11
And it really talks about what's going on here, what needs assessment that they have done, what was the outcome, who they're 00:09:14
working with. 00:09:18
And who they've finished things up. 00:09:22
I know that's one question that we get quite often. So what's going on in Dodge County? 00:09:25
So this really addresses that. Usually they'll have an evaluation piece on here. This was very quick and new for the educators, so 00:09:30
they rallied and got this done rather quickly. 00:09:36
So what I really value in these opportunities to talk to you is. 00:09:42
Feedback. 00:09:47
You may think about, well you know, this is good, but maybe we need this. So think about the feedback, especially for this one 00:09:48
that helps us. 00:09:53
Communicate what we're doing effectively. So think about it. You don't have to answer now. 00:09:58
But if you see something, you can shoot me an e-mail or talk to one of the educators or one night come to these. 00:10:03
Meetings. So we do really appreciate the feedback. 00:10:09
And like Amber has on there the Dodge County monthly highlights that was the the. 00:10:12
On the second. 00:10:17
Page you see the report. 00:10:19
So they're all on our website, very accessible. 00:10:24
Anybody. 00:10:28
Any questions from the committee members with reports? 00:10:29
OK. All right. Moving on to highlights. 00:10:33
I don't know what that is that. 00:10:39
That's what that's what you just did. OK. OK. All right, All right, Pat, you're up. 00:10:41
Pat is our Community Development educator and. 00:10:47
Yeah. 00:10:59
All right. Thank you. 00:11:11
Thank you. 00:11:18
I hope you are all fine on this. 00:11:26
Bright Monday morning. That's much warmer than it was last week. 00:11:29
What I'm going to do today is talk about a program I an upcoming program that I have. 00:11:34
Coming down the. 00:11:41
Down the road. 00:11:43
And it's also an opportunity to help you better understand the kind of work that community development educators do. Obviously, 00:11:45
I've been doing a lot of needs assessments and things like that. 00:11:50
But it's always nice to actually get on the ground and do some. 00:11:58
Teaching some programming. 00:12:02
So. 00:12:04
I'm going to talk about a program called First Impressions. 00:12:05
And this is like a secret chopper program or an exchange program between two communities that are somewhat similar. 00:12:09
But a little bit of a distance away. 00:12:17
And it's an opportunity for community members. 00:12:20
To gain some information as visitors to a different community. 00:12:26
And it's an opportunity for the community participating. 00:12:31
To get a better understanding of what it does well, what it could do better. 00:12:36
And I want you to know that this program has been in existence. 00:12:42
Oh my gosh. 00:12:46
Sincerely, 90s. 00:12:49
And I've already done a couple of these. 00:12:51
In my past job. 00:12:54
And what happened is that a friend of mine who is the economic and community development director for the city of Columbus stopped 00:12:56
by my office and said. 00:13:01
Boy, we got a group of people and they really need something to kind of kick start what they're doing. 00:13:07
Do you think you could do arrange an exchange program? And I'm like, well. 00:13:14
OK, let's give it a try. 00:13:20
And. 00:13:22
I solicited my fellow educators and. 00:13:26
Gotta got a positive response so. 00:13:32
I will be doing an exchange with Dodgeville. 00:13:37
So about the same size, kind of. 00:13:42
Somewhat similar. 00:13:44
And there are some very specific things that. 00:13:47
People who participate can learn. 00:13:51
You know, if you think about it and I asked you, you know. 00:13:53
If you're from Juneau, it's like, where's the best breakfast or whatever? You can probably tell me, no problem. 00:13:58
But if I'm just coming in, are there good signs, street signs? 00:14:04
Do does the City Hall give good information? What is the you know? 00:14:08
That kind of thing it's often easy for us to overlook. 00:14:14
Challenges that our communities face. 00:14:19
And that outside perspective can really highlight both the positive things. 00:14:23
And some of the challenges. 00:14:28
And that. 00:14:32
That the most powerful part of it is that. 00:14:33
Those exchanges, the reports that are written, can actually give. 00:14:36
The Community A starting place for Community Action. 00:14:41
And when I was approached by my friend, he was like, you know, I've got these people, they really want to do some stuff, but 00:14:46
they're kind of struggling. And it's this kind of program can really give them something to grab onto and. 00:14:53
And take charge. 00:15:00
Umm, So what does the program look like? 00:15:03
To communities agree that they are willing and ready to do an exchange. 00:15:08
Each community has a coordinator. 00:15:15
And in this case. 00:15:17
Umm, I will serve as coordinator for Columbus. 00:15:20
And my friend. 00:15:23
Will the Conrad agent in Iowa County will service their coordinator? 00:15:25
And we recruit 5 to 6 volunteers. It might be from the community at large. 00:15:30
It might be from the Chamber of Commerce. It certainly depends on who's the. 00:15:35
The sponsor. 00:15:40
And we trained the volunteers, you know, here's what you need to be looking for. 00:15:42
Here's what to expect. Here's the review process. 00:15:48
Answering me questions they have. 00:15:52
And then we arrange a time and a date. 00:15:55
And we travel. 00:15:58
To that. 00:15:59
Partner Community. 00:16:01
And we're going to collect. 00:16:03
You know. 00:16:05
Photos and each participant is going to write up some research, a whole series of questions. 00:16:06
Like you know how with the signage and. 00:16:12
You know, when you went to the City Hall, did they have the information you needed? Were they? 00:16:15
Polite and then. 00:16:19
That coordinator takes the lead role in preparing that final report. 00:16:23
Those reports are shared. 00:16:28
And community meetings are held to. 00:16:29
Share that information more broadly. 00:16:32
And I will tell you. 00:16:36
At least in my experience doing this. 00:16:37
They're really, really great exchanges that communities that I LED through this. 00:16:40
Actually took the information to heart. 00:16:46
And made some significant changes in how how they did things in the community. 00:16:49
Both how they interacted with people and sort of things like signage and they put in place a. 00:16:55
You know. 00:17:04
Ordinances for. 00:17:06
Street sign for business signs and. 00:17:09
I mean I I had. 00:17:13
People years, years after having done this, that came up and said this was the best thing they'd ever done. 00:17:14
They really had a fun time as well as doing something that was really valuable. 00:17:21
For their community. 00:17:27
So I'm going to ask, do you have any questions? I mean, this is an example of some of the kind of work that we do. 00:17:29
I think it's a great idea. We in Beaver Dam have two focus groups we started. 00:17:38
Around the lake. 00:17:43
And it's interesting the first session. 00:17:44
You're dispelling the. 00:17:47
Untruth or. 00:17:49
Tribal knowledge that really is, in fact. 00:17:50
And you learn things from the people that. 00:17:53
You wouldn't necessarily gain otherwise over coffee and rolls. 00:17:57
A lot of **** comes out. 00:18:02
Oh yeah, it really it's important to take that time. 00:18:03
Umm, because we do. We sort of build up our own. 00:18:09
Sort of myths. 00:18:12
About our community. 00:18:14
You know, I had one community in there. 00:18:16
Their their community motto was. 00:18:19
Name of city, the friendly place. And it was like. 00:18:23
You've never asked. 00:18:27
Anybody who visited, whether this was a friendly place, trust me, it's not. 00:18:29
You know, and, and it's like think about it when you're going into a community. 00:18:38
Think about how important signage is. 00:18:42
You're looking for the community swimming pool. There's no sign to lead you that place. You're looking for the schools. 00:18:45
No signs to lead you that place. 00:18:53
And I tell you as I drive around. 00:18:55
Dodge County, it's like. 00:18:58
I'm looking for that stuff. It's like. 00:19:00
They're doing a good job here, or boy, I can't find anything. 00:19:02
So that's an excellent idea. That's yet another way to do this. 00:19:07
The town would be Ram, the city be rent administrator. 00:19:12
Notice that there's no signs this way to the beach. 00:19:15
Go away. 00:19:18
So you're going to start putting those in? 00:19:21
Very good. 00:19:23
You look at digital signs also, I mean most people now they, you know, they're gonna look on their phone for information about 00:19:25
their community. Do you look at that also as an impression? We look at their digital. 00:19:30
Footprint as well, that's sort of some of the pre visit. 00:19:35
Assignment. We have one or two people whose job is to go and look at. 00:19:38
You know all the. 00:19:43
Their web presence. 00:19:46
And actually call. I mean, you know. 00:19:48
Call and see what kind of reception they get. 00:19:51
These don't happen overnight, where our timeline is the actual visit. 00:19:56
Will be in January and and we need to. 00:20:02
Meet with people and have time to get them trained and. 00:20:05
The visit, the visit will be when, what month? We are looking to do it in June, June yes, of course we were scheduling this on the 00:20:10
day it was the coldest here so. 00:20:14
But if you think about all the things that are happening, you know, it seemed a good time. Any other questions? 00:20:22
Questions from the members, what can I ask you? What's the next thing you'll be looking at doing that or combining with so we can 00:20:29
update us on what you're doing since we have you here, OK. 00:20:33
Well. 00:20:37
Haven't had enough caffeine yet? 00:20:42
I am working with a couple of our specialists, Carl Green. 00:20:45
And Matt Kuras. 00:20:50
And we're looking at the question of housing and housing data. 00:20:51
And um. 00:20:56
You know, we have some good data. 00:20:58
It's largely updated. It was done by. 00:21:00
The professor at UW Whitewater. 00:21:05
There are some things that could be updated, but it's. 00:21:08
One of the things we're looking at doing right now is actually a survey of. 00:21:11
The users to see what it is you actually. 00:21:16
Want to know? I mean, if any of you remember that report, it's 134 pages. 00:21:21
Huge. It is rich with data. 00:21:27
And I can tell you that there might be like. 00:21:31
Two or three people, I being one of them, who are like excited by all that data. So it's like. 00:21:35
What is it that you really need to help you make? 00:21:41
Decisions and think through this process. 00:21:45
So we're going to be putting together a survey. So that's the next big thing, OK. And then Dale and I were at the comprehensive 00:21:48
plan. I know we saw some of that stuff. It was really discouraging, quite frankly. 00:21:53
Looking at some of the statistics, you know. 00:21:59
And I don't the other supervisors will eventually see it and and and are you going to help help our county then work towards like. 00:22:02
We just don't want the data we want to, like, move forward. You know what I mean? Yeah, I. 00:22:11
I am available, you know, I know it's, it's, it's about working well with Nate Olson and and your department. 00:22:16
But that's one of the things that we can do is is work with groups and organizations. 00:22:23
Help them take that data and turn it into action. 00:22:28
Yeah. 00:22:34
Planning Comp planning is. 00:22:36
A very challenging process because you're spending a lot of money. You hired a good firm. 00:22:39
To help you with that process. 00:22:44
But ultimately, those decisions about. 00:22:48
What you do with the data, the action plan you put together is what makes the the difference. 00:22:51
And it's easier to bite off a little less and make sure you get it done then to go, oh, I'm going to take on this whole thing 00:22:57
because you have time. 00:23:02
Yeah. And just so the rest of you know, if you haven't seen some of that data, the projections for the future and some of the 00:23:07
things, Dale, you and I saw some of those like or. 00:23:11
We don't want ahead. 00:23:14
You know what I mean? We don't want to do that. We want to go the right way. If we don't, if we sit and do nothing and we don't 00:23:15
act and community develop throughout our county. 00:23:20
There could be some problems and, you know, we we have to act and we want to act and we want to be smart about it. And that's 00:23:25
where UW comes in. Yeah. And and I think one of the things that we can do that's really helpful. 00:23:31
Is actually, you look at all those things and you're like, where do we start? 00:23:37
Where do we start? 00:23:41
Didn't you kind of feel like that when you were looking at all this overwhelming? 00:23:43
It's overwhelming. 00:23:46
And what I have always told the people I work with. 00:23:48
How do you eat an elephant? 00:23:51
One bite at a time. 00:23:53
And almost sometimes the priority just kind of slaps you in the face and you're like, OK, let's work on that. 00:23:55
But sometimes you really need to think through. 00:24:03
Through priorities. But the the real kicker is. 00:24:07
Just take that first. 00:24:10
Step. Take that first. 00:24:13
Bite. 00:24:15
You know, build something positive. 00:24:16
Put in place action that. 00:24:20
That you can accomplish and get done, and that sort of builds up the psychology of. 00:24:22
We can do this. We can get this thing done. 00:24:28
And you know, honestly some of the things. 00:24:32
You know, they're so influenced by outside forces. 00:24:36
That you may not have as much. 00:24:41
You know, agency to address them. 00:24:45
But there are plenty of things that you can do. 00:24:47
So take those on. 00:24:50
But that's one of the things it's like. 00:24:52
You know, help you decide Russell through all that stuff and and go, OK. 00:24:54
There's all this, but we're going to start here. 00:24:59
We have resources, we have ideas. This is a place we're going to start. 00:25:02
OK. Any other questions? 00:25:08
OK. 00:25:10
We'll be on Friday then. 00:25:11
Oh yeah. 00:25:13
OK, extension be Cindy, before you leave, I have a quick question. You're not here for future agenda items. 00:25:15
Those supervisors that were here in Cameron, we were asked by one of the supervisors at the county board meeting if the UW 00:25:22
Extension provides. 00:25:26
Services for design and you don't have to get back to me because it's not on our agenda, but if you could please get back to 00:25:31
Cameron. 00:25:34
So we could have a definitive answer we. 00:25:37
Had a question about services you offer at no charge to the county. 00:25:41
And I think it needs to be clarified and Cameron looked into it. So that'd be helpful for if you could do that before you leave 00:25:45
today or soon. 00:25:50
Cameron knows exactly what I'm talking about. So the other supervisors so. 00:25:54
Thank you. Right, Cameron? Right. We want to nail it. 00:25:58
It's extension this extension committee. 00:26:01
Thank you. 00:26:04
He'll he'll let you know. 00:26:05
All right. 00:26:08
All right. 00:26:11
So. 00:26:13
I am just gonna speak to Matt, OK? 00:26:15
Morning, everyone. 00:26:19
NRCS can't make it today. They have a couple meetings and they're out in the field, so they asked me to pass on a few notes for 00:26:21
that. There's not a whole lot going on for NRCS. 00:26:25
Sign up Wise, they are currently working on their existing CE. 00:26:31
CSP contracts. 00:26:35
Believe the field office is out doing field visits, whatever they need to do for that that planning and contracting process. 00:26:37
They also just wanted me to pass along information in regards to the government cutbacks. 00:26:45
They are affected. 00:26:52
It is kind of a chaotic situation there right now. I think in our area we have at least. 00:26:54
6 maybe 10 people that have been released from service. 00:27:01
Part of how many? 00:27:05
In our office, it's 30. 00:27:07
So again, I don't know if that's just in our office or if that's in our area. 00:27:10
So they just wanted to pass that information on that if. 00:27:15
Receiving services, they may be a little delayed. 00:27:20
As they figure out who's going to cover what from the people that have left the agency. 00:27:23
In regards to that. 00:27:30
There's the resignation thing That again. 00:27:32
Has been put on. We have not received any information. 00:27:36
As an agency, exactly who those members are. 00:27:39
That will be leaving on that. I did hear that our district has. 00:27:43
A fair number. So again in the future the numbers will be reducing even more. 00:27:48
Which will delay services. 00:27:53
In the field. 00:27:56
So just so you guys are aware of that. 00:27:57
From NRCS. 00:27:59
Any questions on NRCS and I can't answer a lot but just some information. 00:28:01
So do the feeling that a lot of conservation programs are going to be. 00:28:06
Down skilled. 00:28:10
More than likely. 00:28:12
Just an assumption at this point. 00:28:13
Again, dealing with that, our continuing resolution as an agency goes through March 15th. 00:28:16
No projection yet as to what they're going to do as far as giving us money to operate beyond that or a government shutdown. 00:28:24
So we'll see what happens when that comes around. 00:28:33
FSA. 00:28:37
As of right now. 00:28:39
FSA. 00:28:41
Has been bypassed with the firings. 00:28:43
But we did have a number of people take the resignation package. 00:28:46
Again, they have not released the information to us so. 00:28:50
I know locally in my offices I do not have any staff leaving. 00:28:55
But I do know in the surrounding area some of the offices have been. 00:29:00
Gutted pretty heavily so my staff may be called upon to assist in other offices. 00:29:04
But with that being said, we still are rolling forward with the continued farm bill. 00:29:10
We have our dairy margin coverage program. 00:29:16
Which we're signing up producers for. That runs through March 31st. 00:29:20
And then our commodity program, ARC PLC. 00:29:24
Has enrollment running to April 15th. 00:29:28
So we are working on those two right now. We are also making plans to continue with our spring crop reporting. 00:29:32
There has not been any mention of any. 00:29:39
New CRP. 00:29:42
Activity. 00:29:45
Although we have received authority to continue with the CRP, we have. 00:29:46
And to make modifications and corrections to any existing contract and get payments out the door. 00:29:51
So. 00:29:58
With that, does anybody have any questions for me? 00:29:59
Does NRCS and final activity impact from this change? These changes people like? 00:30:03
I'm not 100% sure. I have not talked to Cory on the Fond du Lac office. 00:30:08
Again, if he's hired anybody there. 00:30:14
Brand new within the last two years, I would say yes. 00:30:17
OK, I know it affected. 00:30:23
At least one person. 00:30:25
In this office here. 00:30:27
In Juneau. 00:30:28
I'm not sure about Fond du Lac. 00:30:30
I also know that. 00:30:32
An engineer they recently hired that used to work for DACCAP out of our office out of Juno. 00:30:34
He was terminated. 00:30:41
I know for area office we lost five people out of this. All the engineers are gone because they were all new. 00:30:43
Some of the wildlife biologists that we hired were gone. 00:30:50
And some of the support staff is gone. 00:30:53
So I have a question. 00:30:56
How did you employees respond to Mrs. Mr. Musk? 00:30:58
Request for every employee to state what they did last week. 00:31:02
That is currently under review. 00:31:06
So John, John Pars, you know, we've got people that depend on these services in our county. 00:31:11
And the county's name is associated with. 00:31:18
With it, even though it's not us directly. 00:31:21
When you have knowledge of something, we have to let everybody know you know what I mean? I don't want someone depending on. 00:31:25
Something and then it's not there. 00:31:32
Like if you were used to something happening every year and now it's not going to happen. 00:31:35
I just don't know how. 00:31:39
Is there any discussion among that about people like yourself and the county? From the county's point of view, I just don't want 00:31:42
anyone to blame the county for. 00:31:45
Federal services cut and they said, well, we didn't know when we depended on it. 00:31:49
You know, umm. 00:31:53
I know we've worked well with Corey in the past and will continue to work with him as his staff gets cut short. If he needs 00:31:55
assistance we'll we'll provide what we can form. 00:32:00
I have not talked to Corey lately on this. That's something I intend to do. 00:32:06
As far as? 00:32:12
The state goes and programs. 00:32:14
I got a. 00:32:18
A memo from National Association Conservation districts The IRA funds. The Inflation Reduction Act funds. 00:32:19
They're going to be honoring existing contracts, but any new contracts, they'll continue to assess them as they come in. 00:32:29
Nationwide there was over what they say, 200,000 federal position employees that were terminated. 00:32:38
1000 with NRCS and then they go into the Forest Service and the. 00:32:47
Department of Interior with with some more. 00:32:52
I I suspect. 00:32:59
That this and this is just strictly me. 00:33:02
Guessing here. 00:33:05
This is an initial knee jerk reaction. We're doing this. 00:33:08
But then as these positions fall away. 00:33:13
Somebody will come in, start reevaluating like the engineers we rely heavily on those engineers with some of our projects, They're 00:33:16
needed, needed positions. 00:33:21
But they got cut because they were just recently filled. Had they been there past a certain timeline, they'd still be there. 00:33:26
So I suspect going down the road that some of these positions are going to be refilled back. 00:33:33
But I don't know when. 00:33:38
OK. Any other questions from committee? Matt, have you heard anything? 00:33:43
Or get any feelings from our new egg secretary. 00:33:47
Is she gonna be? 00:33:51
Giving you any indication. 00:33:52
On conservation or like these NRCS employees? 00:33:54
Is she going to do some reconsiderations, you think, or? 00:33:58
I haven't given any indications at all. 00:34:01
Umm, if it's any reconsideration at all. And the first round of firings. 00:34:03
FSA had a handful of people in the state that were subject. 00:34:10
Once approached by the administration, they rescinded that and those people were brought back the next day. 00:34:15
FSA. Now this is just FSA, not NRCS. At the national level we have become very divided. 00:34:22
FSA has received. 00:34:28
Confirmation from administration that we will be temporarily exempt from future firings because we're deemed essential for the 00:34:31
administration's. 00:34:35
Mission of executing farm programs. 00:34:39
The current ones that we have and then some that are subject coming down the road. 00:34:43
I I kind of on the same thought as John in regards to NRCS. I think they will. 00:34:49
Be more subject to the cuts, but again, due to evaluation down the road they will bring back people. 00:34:55
That are in positions that are needed. 00:35:01
Because, again, they're just making broad, sweeping cuts right now. 00:35:04
And then they'll see what? 00:35:08
Comes out of it and they'll come back and fill in what should not have been released. 00:35:10
I think their primary. 00:35:16
Concern right now with NRCS is the ARPA funding that got put towards the DEA stuff. 00:35:18
And making sure that that does not go through. 00:35:26
And then they'll reevaluate. 00:35:29
Like you said, the funds that are going towards true conservation and staff that was not hired. 00:35:31
For the DEA stuff. 00:35:39
Ultimately in positions that are needed for the other administration. 00:35:42
Theoretically should be brought back. So again, that's all speculation on my part. 00:35:46
Don't really know there is. 00:35:51
From our standpoint, you guys have just as much information as they give us other than we actually get the e-mail in our inbox 00:35:53
that says responder leave. 00:35:58
So. 00:36:03
That's probably the biggest frustration right now. There is no guidance or. 00:36:05
Direction on any of it? 00:36:09
Well, the state in communication with John, I mean there may we only meet once a month and we just want to be upfront, honest with 00:36:11
all the people we deal with the best, the best we can. I think that's I think what this committee would like. You know, we want to 00:36:15
keep the flow of communication going. If you don't have an engineer, you got to tell me we don't have one now. I mean, just be 00:36:19
honest. 00:36:23
You know, let's just go through this, but I think we need to be honest and communicate. 00:36:29
Because there's going to be some. 00:36:32
Yeah, well, it's going to be train times and I will pass that along to Corey. Like I said, he wasn't in a hole today bar. 00:36:34
The people we deal with, our understanding, it's not us, it's, you know, we're. 00:36:41
Part of this, but we want to communicate. 00:36:45
Yeah. Well, I know from the producers that we have coming in. 00:36:48
All of them are. 00:36:53
Very supportive of the work that we do and very appreciative that we have the doors open and. 00:36:55
Do the work that we do for them with them. 00:37:00
Because of them so. 00:37:03
Again. 00:37:05
It's going to be trying time going forward. Nobody knows for how long or for what. 00:37:07
But we will keep you guys up to speed of the best we can of what's going on. So if we need to help make political arguments and 00:37:11
we're the political part of the county government. 00:37:16
And it is our job to argue for those things we need, you know what I mean? Advocate for, like you said, engineer. 00:37:22
We would be the one that said, hey guys, we need engineers otherwise we cannot deliver the services. I mean, I so I would be. 00:37:30
And I suspect we'll learn that at the water conference next week. But Oh yeah, and everyone's gonna be thinking the same thing we 00:37:36
are, I can guarantee it. Was constant land, water or all OK? 00:37:40
So. 00:37:46
Any other questions for me? 00:37:48
OK. 00:37:52
Thank you. 00:37:53
OK. 00:37:56
Video. 00:37:58
OK. 00:38:06
Great. 00:38:07
Hello, my name is Matt Krueger. I'm the executive director of Wisconsin Land and Water. This video is part of an informative 00:38:14
series for new Land Conservation Committee for LCC members. A refresher for committee members that continue to serve. 00:38:21
And will hopefully be beneficial for conservation staff as well. 00:38:27
With me today are three seasoned county conservationists who will share their experiences with us as they answer a few questions 00:38:31
that I will ask them. 00:38:34
Before we begin, I'd like to invite our county cons to please introduce themselves. 00:38:38
Hi, I'm Carolyn Scholl. I've been with Vilas County for 18 years. 00:38:43
13 of those years I've served as the. 00:38:48
County conservationist and department head. 00:38:51
Hello, I'm Paul Daigle. 00:38:54
I'm with Marathon County. I've been the land and water program director for. 00:38:56
About 10 years. 00:39:00
And I've been in the conservation. 00:39:01
Field my entire 35 year career. 00:39:03
My name is Dan Masterpool. I'm approaching the end of my career. 00:39:07
And have had the pleasure to serve as the County Conservationist in Chippewa County for around 37 years. 00:39:12
Thank you all for being willing to share your experiences and perspectives with us today. 00:39:18
So the first question I'd like to ask you all is what is the single most important piece of advice that you can provide to a new 00:39:22
Land conservation Committee or LCC member? 00:39:27
Listen to your county conservation staff. 00:39:32
And if you don't understand something, be sure to ask questions. 00:39:35
Either at the meetings or make an appointment to stop by their office. 00:39:40
They're your county's experts in all things conservation. 00:39:46
The staff not only have educational backgrounds that coincide with conservation and natural resource management. 00:39:50
But they likely have many years of hands on experience and institutional knowledge in their positions. 00:39:57
So heed their advice when making your policy decisions. 00:40:03
I encourage you to sit down. 00:40:08
Get to know your concert pony conservationist. 00:40:10
Be curious. 00:40:13
Find out their passion what what they want to accomplish. 00:40:14
But also find out a way to share your passion. 00:40:18
And what you, as a supervisor want to accomplish while you were on the committee and in a position to enact positive change. 00:40:21
Schedule time to meet with them on a quarterly basis to check the pace. 00:40:28
Find out what's working well. 00:40:33
What needs improvement? 00:40:35
And how you can help. 00:40:36
Each committee member has an important responsibility as assigned. 00:40:39
To local effect, local elective officials by Wisconsin Stats, chapter 92. 00:40:43
The work you do on the Land Conservation Committee will have a strong bearing. 00:40:49
On the local economy and on the quality of the environment where you live now. 00:40:54
And it will extend well into the future. 00:40:58
In Wisconsin we have a great deal of diversity based upon our local geology and physical setting. 00:41:01
Land conservation committees were created to assure that local conservation efforts. 00:41:08
Are designed and implemented to meet local needs. 00:41:13
In Wisconsin, we use the land and water to produce food, fuel and fiber. 00:41:18
Your job, as assigned by the legislature, is to assure the local policies. 00:41:24
Programs and rules are in place to provide for sustainable production. 00:41:29
And a high quality environment. 00:41:34
The local issues of concern and the associated policy and programs. 00:41:37
That you use. 00:41:41
Are outlined in your county land and water resource management plan. 00:41:43
The plan provides A framework and activity schedule. 00:41:47
For the county's efforts. 00:41:51
And is routinely reviewed and updated every 5 to 10 years. 00:41:52
The committee is responsibility is for addressing the policy issues. 00:41:58
And preparing budget recommendations. 00:42:02
They have a policy rule. 00:42:05
The department staff's role. 00:42:07
Is for day-to-day operations. They're responsible. 00:42:09
For the operations of the department. 00:42:14
Working together, it's possible to identify and resolve local issues. 00:42:18
To make a difference that will be of direct value to your local community. 00:42:22
Thank you for those answers. 00:42:28
Moving on to our second question. 00:42:29
What is the best way for LCC members to constructively get engaged in the work of the Land Conservation Department? 00:42:31
First of all, get engaged. 00:42:38
And stay engaged. 00:42:40
Nothing motivates staff like having engaged supervisors. 00:42:42
They feel support. 00:42:45
And that their work matters. 00:42:47
Even if you don't agree on every topic. 00:42:49
What you want? 00:42:52
Let them know you are there for them. 00:42:53
Also learn the high points of the long range strategies in the department. 00:42:56
And in the county for conservation. 00:43:00
Understand the broad initiatives and work. 00:43:03
To set and attain those goals. 00:43:06
Try not to get involved in the day-to-day operations of your office. 00:43:09
We have professional staff that are paid to run an efficient office, effective department. 00:43:13
Let them do their jobs. 00:43:19
To be constructively engaged in the work of the department, a committee member needs to 1st come up to speed. 00:43:22
Generally by way of committee orientation. 00:43:29
To learn what the local natural resource management issues are. 00:43:32
As defined in your county land and water plan. 00:43:36
And how your county is allocating its available resources. 00:43:38
To address those issues. 00:43:42
The plan is largely operational and defines the services. 00:43:45
That are being provided and the work that is being done. 00:43:49
As the committee and staff approached the issues. 00:43:53
Local resources are always going to be limiting. 00:43:57
Staff hours. Skill sets. 00:44:00
Time. Umm. 00:44:03
Money and good energy. 00:44:04
Are what you have to work with. 00:44:06
It's up to the staff to conduct the day-to-day operations and to determine how to best. 00:44:09
Managing manage the resources and get the job done. 00:44:14
Ideally, the committee should be fully engaged. 00:44:18
And understand what the department is doing and what services it's providing. 00:44:22
It should try to help to advance the scheduled objectives. 00:44:27
By way of the committee's budget. 00:44:33
And track progress towards achieving scheduled objectives, planned activities. 00:44:35
And product deliverables. 00:44:42
The routine staff reports. 00:44:44
In short, committee members can best be engaged by being informed and being supportive. 00:44:46
And then through their engagement to provide a level of public oversight and accountability. 00:44:52
By way of constructive feedback. 00:44:58
Or suggestions for improvement? 00:45:00
I would say expand your network as much as possible. 00:45:03
All counties are essentially working towards similar conservation goals. 00:45:06
But many times we go about meeting them very differently. 00:45:10
By talking to and networking with other people in other counties. 00:45:14
You can gain really valuable insight. 00:45:19
As to the different conservation topics. 00:45:21
Networking is best accomplished by. 00:45:26
Participating in regional land and water association meetings. 00:45:29
Or volunteering to serve in your Resource Conservation and Development Council. 00:45:33
Otherwise known as RC and DS. 00:45:39
And last but not least, be sure to attend the annual Wisconsin Land and Water Conference. 00:45:41
Because the networking possibilities are endless. 00:45:47
Thank you for those answers. 00:45:52
And for our final question. 00:45:54
What is the best way for an LCC member to develop a functional working relationship with the Land Conservation Department staff? 00:45:55
A good functional working relationship between an LCC member and the LCD staff. 00:46:04
Should be built upon a foundation of mutual respect. 00:46:09
Trust umm. 00:46:13
And a solid understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each party. 00:46:14
The functional relationship should be used to meet shared public. 00:46:19
Goals and objectives. 00:46:23
And that of addressing the policy needs of the committee. 00:46:25
And the operational needs of the department. 00:46:29
In my opinion, this relationship can best be based. 00:46:32
Upon a formal professional approach using kind of a. 00:46:36
Business based protocol. 00:46:41
That's applied to pursue a common set of public objectives. 00:46:44
Versus trying to form a personal friendship based relationship. 00:46:49
Verbal and written communication should be professional. 00:46:54
Cordial and based upon the business needs at hand. 00:46:58
They should be short. 00:47:02
Clear, uh. 00:47:03
Direct and concise. 00:47:04
At times, you may experience disagreements with county staff about an issue. 00:47:07
Or issues. 00:47:12
When this happens, listen to both sides of the issue and respect others points of views. 00:47:13
If you find that you do have fundamental differences of opinion about something. 00:47:20
Learn how to work together on issues that you can. 00:47:25
And agree to respectfully disagree in a friendly way on those other matters. 00:47:29
I would encourage you to listen, to understand. 00:47:35
Not necessarily reply. 00:47:38
Understand the needs of your staff. 00:47:41
And how you can help to remove barriers to being efficient and effective. 00:47:43
Don't feel like you have to be buddies with staff. 00:47:48
But also make sure they know you care. 00:47:51
That you want to understand. 00:47:54
That you realize they're in conservation because of the passion you have. 00:47:56
To conserve the natural resources, not for the money. 00:48:01
I want to thank each of you for your participation and thoughtful responses today. 00:48:05
For sharing your wisdom with others, and for most of all for your long standing commitment to conservation. 00:48:08
I hope that viewers will have learned as much from our brief discussion today as I have. 00:48:14
And this concludes the advice for new LCCS from Season County Conservationist Video. 00:48:18
Thank you for watching and for the work that you all do is conservation. 00:48:23
These videos are several years old. 00:48:38
Umm, Carol and Paul are now retired. Dan's the only one still working, and he's not too far away. 00:48:42
So. 00:48:50
Move on to Chapter 92. 00:49:00
14 Staffing allocation for counties. 00:49:04
OK. 00:49:09
This this refers to that handout that you sent Andrew. 00:49:11
How kind of the this one and the next one, the resource management staffing grant kind of go together. So I'm going to try to 00:49:15
explain the staffing grant. 00:49:19
I sent a copy to you in the mail. 00:49:25
When I get that. 00:49:29
There's two parts to it, the actual application and a worksheet that I put together. 00:49:30
The worksheet. 00:49:35
Goes starts out with each staff member. 00:49:37
What their salaries and their benefits are. 00:49:41
And chapter 92 states that. 00:49:45
The state will attempt. 00:49:48
To fund. 00:49:51
The first staff 100%. 00:49:53
The second one at 75. 00:49:55
The third at 50% and all the rest of the staff at 50%. 00:49:57
That's what they state. 00:50:03
To get that. 00:50:05
The state is not getting enough money. 00:50:07
Currently in 25. 00:50:12
We got 11,240 eleven $1,214,000 for staffing in that. 00:50:14
And they should be a little over 15,000,000 to be able to fill them first three positions. 00:50:21
So in 2025. 00:50:27
We receive a staffing grant of $157,000. 00:50:30
If they funded the first three positions the way Chapter 92 states. 00:50:35
We were getting beginning somewhere around $230,000. 00:50:40
If they funded all the positions. 00:50:45
It would be like $325,000 is what we would be getting. 00:50:48
Wisconsin Land and Water has been advocating for them that funding. 00:50:54
For as long as I can remember. 00:50:59
Excuse me? 00:51:02
And it changes every year. 00:51:03
From in 2023 we got 176,000. 00:51:06
And 24 it dropped down to 151,000. 00:51:11
The main reason for that change is. 00:51:15
I dropped my health insurance. I'm on Tricare through the military. 00:51:18
And one of my other. 00:51:22
Past employees went from family insurance to a single insurance. 00:51:24
So. 00:51:29
Next year when I when I fill out my application I am. 00:51:31
Using. 00:51:36
Last year's salaries and benefits. 00:51:37
Filling it out today. 00:51:41
For funding. 00:51:43
For 2026. 00:51:44
So that's kind of how this works. 00:51:47
So on 26. 00:51:49
This should go up a little bit. 00:51:52
But in 27. 00:51:55
It's going to change. 00:51:57
Because we have a new staff member, had one leave and we had a new staff member. 00:51:58
And you're going to have my replacement. 00:52:02
So. 00:52:04
Salary and insurance is going to play. 00:52:05
Difference in it, so it changes every year. 00:52:09
Would it be OK if I stop for a moment and talk politics? OK the WCA? 00:52:12
We we lobby for different things over the counties on the top five. 00:52:17
Five things is this conservation? That's all. It's like the top of our lobbying list of what we're doing. So I lobbied. 00:52:21
About. 00:52:28
I was about 3 weeks ago for the county. I had Johnson give me preparation. What does this mean? 00:52:30
In our county, what he was saying for 25, the state will reimburse us 157,000 and we kind of note about this over the years. 00:52:36
OK. But they're supposed to reimburse us 321,000. That's what they're supposed to do according to the statute? 00:52:44
So what that means is that our county board is covering the difference. 00:52:50
By a lot. 00:52:55
And I just wanted you to be aware of that, that our county board is paying like the difference between 1:57 and 3:21. 00:52:56
In the state is supposed to be paying these positions. 00:53:03
And so I just want to make sure you were aware that. So our position is the WCA is, hey, you guys need to fund what the statute 00:53:07
says you're supposed to fund. That is our position so that the county board would put less of our. 00:53:14
You know our local tax levy in it and it would come from the state. 00:53:21
And and what that also kind of and I also included the WCA lobby sheets and that's what he referred to. 00:53:27
That right now it's only like 11 for the whole state. It's like $11 million. 00:53:34
They're putting in and I think it's closer to 20 is what, almost twice as much, right, What they really want. 00:53:39
Yeah, that's what they that's what we're asking for. So that just so you kind of so if you hear WCA and lobbying and there's this 00:53:45
is one of our top issues. This is what what we're talking about. 00:53:50
And when you're talking, you know, I was talking to, so I talked to Mark, we have. 00:53:56
I think there was 6 or 7 legislatures and when I go to Madison with Dave Proline and with our, with our team with Kim and then the 00:54:01
legislators all line up and then we say like, like, like this year we want more court funding, you know, because like the courts 00:54:07
don't, we're not funded all the way to the state like we're supposed to. Then I would present, I presented this argument then to 00:54:12
these guys just so you just so you kind of know about our county and said, hey. 00:54:18
We really need you to step up and start following the statute. So I just want you to I thought you'd like to be aware that's like 00:54:24
this is particularly what. 00:54:28
What we're doing and I had, John had prepared this for me, so I knew to the dollar what I was asking for. It was pretty good. So 00:54:32
thank you, John for doing that. 00:54:36
But just so you kind of know that the county board is covering that. And then I know John in another comment. 00:54:40
With upcoming decisions. 00:54:46
With people that want to get funds from us and you said our budget outside of Labor is really only like. 00:54:49
$30,000 of discretion or it's really small, isn't it? Correct. That's how small her budget is. It's like third grade. 00:54:54
It's that small. 00:55:02
Yeah, so pay for supplies, fuel, maintenance. 00:55:03
Registrations to conferences, yeah, that it's. 00:55:08
So if anyone asks us for money beyond. 00:55:12
What we have, we really have to go to the county board. We don't have like, umm. 00:55:16
A bunch of extra money around. I just wanted you to be aware that we would not have that ability. 00:55:22
After the meeting, after it was very discouraging After, after the meeting. 00:55:28
Mark Bourne came up to me and. 00:55:33
Said Andrew. You gave a great arguments. 00:55:35
Of course he's on that. You know, he's the the Co chairman of the Finance Committee and he said it would. 00:55:37
Not to your surprises, but unlikely that we would get funded. 00:55:43
Letter of state statute. Just a guide. 00:55:48
That is a. 00:55:50
You got it man. 00:55:53
OK, you got what we're thinking. Yeah, I. 00:55:56
The language says shall attempt, say, will. 00:55:59
And says shall attend. Are they getting by? And I've looked back. 00:56:03
In history. 00:56:07
From previous versions of it, and it's said that for quite a while. 00:56:09
So they said, they did say at the end of the. 00:56:14
When I went, my lobbying turned. They did say they would try to give more for the courts. 00:56:18
But you know, you hear all this bickering in in. 00:56:23
You know about money and they're talking, you know? 00:56:26
Hundreds of millions of dollars and for the whole state of Wisconsin we only need like 8,000,000 more or something. It's not like 00:56:29
a huge amount for every conservation department in this state. 00:56:33
It's not a big amount of money in the context of our state budget. You know, I know this is a reach, but you know what the turmoil 00:56:38
go on in NRCS. 00:56:41
There could be a void there that. 00:56:46
Was there previously, it may not be there in the future. 00:56:48
There may be a slight possibility that. 00:56:51
The feds would rather give the money to the state for conservation. 00:56:54
I mean, I just want them to be ready if that does. 00:56:58
Happen. 00:57:01
Yeah, we just keep the communication lines open in. 00:57:05
But the point I wanted to bring this up to date, have John explained this because he had the worksheet and we're going to fill it 00:57:10
out, but I wanted to explain it to you so you understood. So when someone comes here and says I want money from you. 00:57:15
So you realize that the county board is covering us right now? 00:57:22
We're not. We don't have like extra money or hanging around here. 00:57:26
John runs a really I know, but you need to but I just want the county this committee to realize that it's not new recently, but it 00:57:29
but I wanted you to know how short it was. 00:57:34
How short it was and how small our budget really is. I just wanted you to be aware I wasn't. I've been on the committee for 00:57:39
several years. I didn't realize it was that much. 00:57:43
So that that that's, that's what I wanted to communicate with you guys. So. 00:57:48
All right. Thank you, John. Yeah. The only other thing I have is, like I said, for funding for 2025. 00:57:53
Currently statewide it's 11.2 million. 00:57:59
In the governor's proposed budget. 00:58:02
It's 15.1 million and 26 and 15.6 million and 27. 00:58:05
But. 00:58:11
That was very similar to last year and it got cut out, so we'll see what happens. 00:58:11
OK. 00:58:18
So move on to the we'll need a motion for the next one to approve the Soil and Water Resource Management grant applications. So. 00:58:20
You want to tell us then what you did here and. 00:58:27
OK, Andrew has the grant application. Like I said I fill out the worksheet that pre populates part of the application. 00:58:31
And then the other part, I got to go in and I got to look at total county expenditures. 00:58:38
And. 00:58:44
Tony. 00:58:45
Revenues that come in. 00:58:49
And then the very last page. 00:58:52
Yeah yes we have 6 full time employees, so 6FT ES. 00:58:55
And then I calculate. 00:59:00
How much FTE is actually paid through this grant that we're applying for, and I can't remember offhand. It's 1.4 something's on 00:59:02
the very last page. 00:59:08
1.44. 00:59:14
Debt cap in total of 6 Yeah 4.6 for the county. 00:59:16
Yeah. And then the annual work plan is also part of that application. We have to fill that out every year and I included that in 00:59:20
your packet. 00:59:25
That kind of shows our priorities and our goals that we're going to be doing in different areas. 00:59:29
For 2025. 00:59:35
OK. Any questions on this application? 00:59:38
Because we need to vote on it. 00:59:42
OK, I need a motion to approve. 00:59:44
The Soil and water resource management grant application in any work plan. 00:59:47
Also move. 00:59:51
OK, John. 00:59:52
John, first, we need a second. OK, Dale, second. 00:59:53
Any further discussion on the? 00:59:57
Application. 00:59:59
Hearing none, those favor say aye aye and those opposed. 01:00:01
OK, passes and I'll sign this then and we'll get that going. Then we've got one other thing. Go ahead and the cancellation notice. 01:00:05
John, this next one, Yeah, this individual last name is Conrad. 01:00:12
They got out of the farmland preservation program. 01:00:17
And now want to get back into it. So we've checked things over and they meet the requirements for it. 01:00:20
So this is a cancellation of their notice of non compliance. 01:00:28
So I need board approval to. 01:00:33
To be approval to send that into the state, do we need a motion to? 01:00:35
Issue a cancellation notice of non compliance to farmland preservation program. So reinstate this person right state them. 01:00:39
I'll make a motion. OK. Ken makes a motion. We need a second. 01:00:47
I'll second, OK. 01:00:50
Then second. 01:00:52
Any discussion on this? 01:00:53
Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. 01:00:56
Aye, unanimously passed. 01:01:00
OK. We have update on the Rock River Flood group occasionally there's communications to John and. 01:01:06
Yeah, what we've been doing is. 01:01:13
They came here a few months ago asking for money and you guys put it off until. 01:01:17
May I think it is up for the agenda to make a final decision. 01:01:21
So I've been talking to other organizations. 01:01:25
NRCS is one of them. 01:01:29
To try to find out. 01:01:31
Other than giving them money. 01:01:34
To their initial ask was for engineering and lawyer fees. 01:01:37
Is there something else our department can do on a larger watershed scale that will have an effect? 01:01:42
On on their concerns down there. 01:01:50
In talking with NRCS. 01:01:54
They have programs. 01:01:57
That are available. 01:01:59
After the fact. 01:02:01
You get a flood. It has destruction on fields, buildings, whatever. They have programs to help cost share some of the repairs for 01:02:03
that. 01:02:07
I talked to. 01:02:13
Dat cap Department of AG and he's going to be. 01:02:14
Checking with a couple other state DNR water. 01:02:18
People. Umm. 01:02:22
And hopefully we'll be meeting here in the next few weeks. 01:02:23
To find out on their side, is there something on the larger water scale that we can do? 01:02:28
I know. 01:02:33
There are two. 01:02:36
Interns with UW Madison that will be helping this group. 01:02:37
And they'll be doing more like on on hydrology studies in the watershed, looking at things like that. 01:02:42
So I've been out talking to other people trying to figure out. 01:02:49
What is there that? 01:02:52
Our department and things that we do that we can actually help them with. 01:02:54
So I'm looking at that. 01:02:58
We have another meeting set for April 9th. 01:03:00
To kind of bring everybody up to speed and to introduce the two interns from UW Madison. 01:03:05
Andrew called me the other day. He had a meeting with the Lake Sissippi District. 01:03:12
And there are some things said there. So I did call Shane back and talk to him. 01:03:18
In fact, the. 01:03:23
Engineer Rob Montgomery for that group that gave you presentation a couple months ago. 01:03:25
He's coming here. 01:03:31
Wednesday this week and he and I are going to go out. 01:03:32
Every lake has a. 01:03:37
Elevation they play within. 01:03:39
And historically, Lake Ms. would do a drawdown to that low level. 01:03:41
In late February, March. 01:03:48
But this year, because of the conversations with the farmer group, they started doing it the first part of December. 01:03:51
They've had a lot of major ice. He's. 01:03:59
On the West side. 01:04:03
That has. 01:04:05
Pushed all their. 01:04:06
RIP rap. 01:04:08
Shoreline protection. 01:04:09
Up in the lawns. 01:04:10
That. 01:04:12
Typically would not have happened if they hadn't done the drawdown soon. 01:04:13
That soon, So Rob's coming out on Wednesday and he and I are going to go out and take a look at that to see. 01:04:17
Exactly what the extent of it really is. 01:04:23
So that we can go back to that group and say OK. 01:04:26
We, we started doing this because that's what you requested. Well. 01:04:29
Now these are the effects that's taking place on on all these houses. 01:04:34
Around the lake. 01:04:38
Umm, this is not. 01:04:39
Going to be an easy fix by any means. I think there's a lot more involved here than just the control of dams. 01:04:43
And unfortunately. 01:04:51
The individuals that started this group. 01:04:53
Don't really want to look at anything other than the dams. 01:04:57
So I get a question is I'm kind of new to this because this just looks like it's going to be a mess, yeah, or is a mess and it's 01:05:01
going to be a bigger mess. 01:05:04
So the. 01:05:09
The people that. 01:05:10
Belong to the Rock River flood group that you know the the people that were here. 01:05:13
What land is flooding? Is that actually in the floodplain of the Rock River? Is it over and above the floodplain of the Rock 01:05:18
River? 01:05:21
It's both. 01:05:25
It's both. 01:05:26
The issue isn't the flooding. The flooding has always occurred. 01:05:28
The issue is the duration of the flooding. 01:05:34
Instead of flooding for two weeks. 01:05:37
It might be flooded for 2 1/2 three months. 01:05:39
I've seen the Rock River on Hwy. 60 by Houston's Ford. 01:05:42
Out of its banks almost all summer long at times. 01:05:47
So it's the duration of the flooding that's occurring. 01:05:51
When we get normal rainfalls. 01:05:55
Majority that will infiltrate into the ground. 01:05:58
But when you get them. 01:06:01
Intense rains where you get 2 inches in an hour or five inches. 01:06:02
In half a day. 01:06:08
Majority that water is going to run off. 01:06:10
And it's not going to infiltrate in, it just can't. 01:06:13
And when you continue to get that rain after rain after rain, that ground is saturated, it's not going anywhere but running off. 01:06:16
Every time you put up a House of pole barn, a parking lot. 01:06:24
You got water running off versus infiltrating. 01:06:30
And there is a ton of tile lines that have gone in. 01:06:34
That. 01:06:39
Extends the duration of that water flow. 01:06:40
Because the water is high at tile lines doing nothing, but as that water line goes down, now it's draining all this field that was 01:06:45
totally saturated. 01:06:49
So that's extending it. 01:06:54
So there's a lot of things going into this. It's not one thing. 01:06:56
OK, yeah, I just. 01:07:02
Because it just seems to me it's just like the flooding. Well, you know, we can't control A5 inch rain in two hours, no. 01:07:04
I mean, I can see other watersheds and I you normally have flood and. 01:07:10
Cropland gets flooded out and everything gets flooded. It'll stay for two or three weeks, I mean. 01:07:14
5 inches of rain and 1/2 hour it's 5 inches of rain. You know it's. 01:07:18
So I was just kind of curious, that's all. 01:07:23
There's a little confusion on my partner exactly what the issue is. So thank you for do they ever mention, you know, do they have 01:07:25
crop insurance and. 01:07:30
If they have prevent plant and I know if you do that what 3 out of five then you're ineligible anymore, you can't apply anymore. 01:07:35
So as anybody said that. 01:07:40
That was an issue for any farmers. I have not heard that conversation at all. 01:07:44
I know they continually talk about. 01:07:50
Mature trees that are dying because of the flooding. 01:07:52
In their in their lower lands. 01:07:56
I've gotten phone calls from a guy that bought land for deer hunting and he can't hunt it because it's always in water. 01:08:00
You know it's better off for duck hunt and deer, Hun. 01:08:06
But you know. 01:08:09
When you buy land that are in those areas. 01:08:10
You got to understand that risk. I guess that's where it's coming from my question. I mean it, you know. 01:08:14
Yeah, and. 01:08:20
I've been here for 30 years. The the. 01:08:22
The other main farmer that's and I'm not sure he's really a farmer, He's a, he owns land there. 01:08:25
That side Rd. 01:08:31
Has had farm gates on it ever since I've been here to. When the water gets high the road is closed off. 01:08:33
You know, and he lives on that road. 01:08:40
So he. 01:08:42
Bought a house knowing that initially. 01:08:43
In the first place. 01:08:45
But I am looking, I am having conversations, I am looking at other things that that our department can do that. 01:08:48
Will help mitigate it, but it's not going to fix it just like that. 01:08:56
No, you mentioned the ice and Beaver Dam is a dangerous ice conditions. Now it'll go from a foot in one area to zero and others 10 01:09:02
vehicles, ATVs and. 01:09:07
Somerville's grind through the ice this year. 01:09:13
I'm not sure what happened this weekend. So we've seen is the January winds, prevailing winds of South, southwest. 01:09:15
The Mill. 01:09:23
From Beaver from Fox Lake is still flowing water on. 01:09:25
Yeah, and we're seeing a freeze thaw. 01:09:28
Half dozen times, January and February. 01:09:31
So every time that happens, it jacks up the ice. 01:09:33
And then also we're seeing. 01:09:36
The open water. 01:09:38
It never gets a chance to freeze even it's very, very cold weather. We've had the wind pressure keeps that moving to the north, 01:09:39
so. 01:09:43
Those north and northeast shores on that lake. 01:09:46
Have impacted by that fetch. 01:09:50
So it's really a interesting season, let's say. 01:09:53
I thought Dave out there at the one property. 01:09:56
The North and idle hour. 01:09:59
Yeah, yeah. We had a resident call us that had some. 01:10:01
Ripper app destroyed and he wants to redo it. 01:10:06
And I think Dave worked with him. 01:10:10
Years ago on the Beaver Dam watershed, too. 01:10:12
OK. 01:10:18
Thank you for the update and I have a little more to say about it my report for LSID. 01:10:20
All right, discussed possible research on the county's airport farm update. I know there's not much on this, but. 01:10:27
No, I'm gonna keep this on as an item on every agenda until we figure out what exactly what's gonna happen. 01:10:32
The farmer LED group had a soil health Expo here in town the first part of this month, February. 01:10:39
And they always hand out a survey. 01:10:46
One of the questions on that survey was. 01:10:49
If we were to start a research plot on this farm, what would you be interested in? 01:10:52
So I'm waiting for the results to come that back come back from that I should be getting them. 01:10:57
Tomorrow we have a. 01:11:03
Annual meeting that. 01:11:06
One member of the farm of that group and a collaborator, which is Dodge County. 01:11:08
Has to go to an annual meeting every year. 01:11:12
So, umm. 01:11:14
The group that. 01:11:16
They have hired. 01:11:19
To facilitate all these questionnaires will be. 01:11:21
Turning all that stuff over to us tomorrow. 01:11:24
Well, yeah, it said. Because they're they're no longer hired with them anymore, but. 01:11:29
She said it was going to be on a flash drive, so. 01:11:33
OK, Now probably the most important business of the day. 01:11:40
Yes, we have a new county. 01:11:44
Administrative support specialist for the department. 01:11:46
Cheryl Lowery. 01:11:49
Started with us a couple weeks ago. 01:11:51
She's getting her feet wet. She's learning things that she's never done before and is doing. 01:11:55
Doing their job. 01:12:01
Welcome, Cheryl. 01:12:03
Thank you. 01:12:04
Look forward to working with you. 01:12:06
Look forward to it too. 01:12:08
We'll try to be clear. 01:12:09
And don't feel, don't be afraid to instruct us as Becky did and give us instruction as to what we need to do and. 01:12:12
Sounds good, all right. 01:12:19
Because I know she had me like send my water, my reports to her at a time because she said. 01:12:21
You know, like our, you know, like the reports we do for the Lake District. She always wanted me to e-mail on the head. 01:12:26
To her so that maybe that's something you want to do. You have a do you have a different e-mail? I suppose it's different right 01:12:31
slightly. 01:12:33
Maybe get it to us or her E Nos just she Lowry at Dodge County, OK. 01:12:36
All right, LO H ry. 01:12:43
You want to tell us a little bit about yourself? 01:12:46
If you can right, is that OK Committee? Is that OK we ever? 01:12:48
OK. 01:13:04
Hi, so I actually am from Marcozan. 01:13:04
So grew up raised there. 01:13:09
Have a lot of office experience. 01:13:13
Probably well over. 01:13:16
20 years of office experience. 01:13:17
I have knowledge of meetings and how they ran as well I worked. 01:13:20
Actually. 01:13:25
The deputy city clerk for the city of Beaver Dam for 3 1/2 years. So that's where somebody may have recognized me from, but. 01:13:26
Yeah, other than that. 01:13:34
Interesting to learn about the land and water conservation and learning some more. I have a little bit of farm experience. My 01:13:36
parents were farmers growing up. 01:13:40
My husband. 01:13:44
Is actually a male caller, so. 01:13:46
I have a little knowledge there as well. 01:13:49
If I tend to listen to him. 01:13:51
You know. 01:13:53
But other than that, we have one daughter. 01:13:54
So yeah, she's going to college already and. 01:13:59
Yeah, very proud of her. She's going in for a radiology. 01:14:03
Becky is helping you a little bit far as Becky still comes back and helps a little bit of training and that's really helpful. 01:14:07
There's a lot of it'll take us like a couple cycles to go through to. 01:14:11
You know when things happen in the details and. 01:14:16
There's a lot to it. 01:14:20
Yeah, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about the land and water conservations, the different programs and there's 01:14:21
busy times and slow times and you got to figure that out. That's I know it's it's just incredibly different all of a sudden, like 01:14:28
you don't feel like you have any to do. And then it'll come like there'll be so much do you can't believe it. 01:14:35
Just the end portion of the trees though. 01:14:43
Well, welcome and. 01:14:46
It's a critical position be I mean our department is so small that you, you are the face of the department. You know, we talked 01:14:48
earlier about. 01:14:52
Doing surveys but. 01:14:55
Think it's going to be you're the 1 John John's there too, but you're the one that people see walk in the door. You're the you're 01:14:57
the one that helps coordinate the. 01:15:00
All the guys on the road and. 01:15:04
So very, very critical position from our point of view. So thank you so much for coming. 01:15:06
You're welcome. I'm very happy to be here. All right. Any other questions from the committee? 01:15:11
All right. Thank you. 01:15:16
You're welcome. 01:15:18
All right, update on the well testing that's. 01:15:23
Up and coming and yeah. 01:15:26
The results are in. I don't have the results back. I'm going to pull up something. I did get the final bill on it. 01:15:29
And I want to tell you. 01:15:36
How we lined up as compared to the original. 01:15:38
Agreement. 01:15:42
Actually of the five year agreement we came in under. 01:15:46
Under what was originally budgeted. 01:15:49
The original budget was $174,820 and with the final bill that came in at 164,372. 01:15:57
So just over. 01:16:08
Just over $10,000. 01:16:11
Less than what we originally planned. 01:16:13
And next month? 01:16:17
The. 01:16:20
Wednesday the 19th at 7:00 PM. 01:16:21
We'll have a. 01:16:25
Presentation Kevin will be here for presentation. 01:16:27
To the owners that have been going through this program, you're more than welcome to attend that if you'd like to. 01:16:30
At that meeting when that's. 01:16:37
Before or after? Then I'll talk to him as far as when he thinks he'll have his. 01:16:39
Final summary done to present to you guys so that we can make decisions on what we want to do for in the future. 01:16:45
So the timeline. 01:16:54
Umm, so this is the this is your 5, right? Your 5. 01:16:56
So the timeline to. 01:17:01
They'll come and talk to us and then if we decide as a committee we want the program to continue for another. 01:17:03
Five years or whatever. 01:17:09
Then we would have to bring this. You're thinking a county board like July is that we're thinking maybe or OK, and then we would 01:17:11
have him come give his report. 01:17:16
And and then. 01:17:21
They'll have to decide whether they they wouldn't necessarily make a resolution at that time, but it would be for consideration in 01:17:23
the in the budget for 26, right, right, right. That's how that would. 01:17:28
Does that come then within this department? Is that how the money so or is it a separate line? 01:17:34
Yeah, it's just appropriate through our department. 01:17:40
OK, yeah. Umm. 01:17:43
We I put it in the budget and it's there, but it comes from the tax levy. 01:17:44
OK. 01:17:49
All right. 01:17:51
All right, poster contest. 01:17:54
Although he had the area judging, I sent 4 posters to the area judging. 01:17:57
One of them placed third and only the first place will go on to state at the conference next week. So. 01:18:04
So we did OK. 01:18:11
You know, they had some really nice ones there. 01:18:13
So we had So how many are going to be there? Like when they hang up the posters? How many are from Dodge County then? Just not. 01:18:16
They don't have any at the state this year. Well, we don't have any. Its name. 01:18:20
OK. 01:18:26
OK, down to committee reports and I'll do LSID. 01:18:29
We are far as a native plant sale. We work with the whole friends of Oregon Marsh, the LSID and we met, yeah, we met on. 01:18:34
2/11/25 this month. 01:18:44
And our first order of business was we do a native plant sale and this year we're going to increase. 01:18:48
To households that participate in this will give them up to 40 bucks. So if they buy a flat of plants, the LSID will give them 40 01:18:53
bucks towards those plants. 01:18:58
As far as lake management plan. 01:19:04
We had five company, we had a meeting where five companies came expressed interest in in the proposal for the feasibility study 01:19:07
for the dredging project up near Oxbow Marine. 01:19:11
What's going to happen is. 01:19:18
In the next couple, I think next week or two, the. 01:19:21
The proposals are due and at our next month's meeting we will be reviewing the proposals and an approving 1. 01:19:24
They'll probably be somewhere between 20 and $50,000 in that in that range. 01:19:31
And that'll be they'll be ready for annual meeting that for this coming August. And that's. 01:19:35
A proposal to make a plan to do the dredging project. The dredging project is in the millions of dollars, but it's going to show 01:19:40
us like a pathway or how to do this. 01:19:44
We did not get the $10,000 grant that we applied for for for the project. 01:19:49
And then Shane. 01:19:56
Kamer is is. He's a leader at LSA and LSID. 01:19:59
He's an effective leader, and he and Chad Butler, LSA president, they talked at our meeting about the issue. 01:20:05
With the. 01:20:15
The flood group and. 01:20:17
Interestingly, they thought. 01:20:20
Mistakenly, Chad and I had called John to tell him this. Immediately, Chad assumed that the county was part of in supporting the 01:20:23
position of this group. 01:20:26
Because they had a meeting in this room and John was here and so they said, we assume that the county is fully supporting them. 01:20:31
In their political position and I corrected them there and said that is not true. We allow them to use our building and we will do 01:20:37
what we can, but does not mean that the county is supportive of their political position. So I just pay that crystal clear. 01:20:45
Shane advocates that the county should be a neutral position that we should not be supporting to land owners. 01:20:53
Against the 700 LSID. 01:20:59
Because that's the way they view it. There's 700 members of the people on the lake there and they feel that. 01:21:02
Their opposite ends. 01:21:08
It got rather heated. 01:21:10
And I told John that if if necessary, we should invite Shane to come and speak. 01:21:12
Umm, when we hear arguments in May so that you hear another's point of view, so. 01:21:22
And I don't know whether he will or not, but their position is, is that the county should be neutral. 01:21:27
On this. 01:21:32
And then just for your information, on Saturday, April 12th, there's the Mud and Chubb Tourney. 01:21:34
From the Wisconsin Bowman Fishing Association. I don't know if they go on Beaver Dam Lee. 01:21:42
Or Fox Lake, I don't know if they go. That's where they bring the big air boats and they go in the middle of the night. 01:21:46
With they sound like jet engines and they have the big lights and then the bowlmen do their Boeing and everyone's calling the 01:21:52
Sheriff's Department like what in the world is going on because it. 01:21:57
They put their big lights on people's houses that live, you know. Anyway, just give everyone warning that'll happen on April 12th 01:22:02
last year. 01:22:05
A lot of commotion. 01:22:10
So just to let everyone know. 01:22:11
That's it for my report. 01:22:13
So go ahead. 01:22:15
I guess Bill. 01:22:16
We did receive the surface water grants at $20,000. 01:22:18
We were 12 and 13 out of 40, so that's very. 01:22:23
Highly sought after. 01:22:26
We'll use those funds to support the UW WR program. 01:22:28
And their objectives are to perform a. 01:22:32
Water quality analysis for the past 10 years. 01:22:34
And look at the shoreline and the westward side of the lake. 01:22:38
That is primarily a native shoreline. 01:22:42
And see what we need to do to protect it so stays in that condition. 01:22:45
We received the report from the DNR for their Electro fishing in October on Trestle Bay. 01:22:50
They found that that Bay had 606 lbs of rough fish per acre. 01:22:56
Fish and Wildlife identified that the target should be £89 per acre. 01:23:02
And over £268 per acre. 01:23:07
Is considered severe damage to a habitat. 01:23:09
So we're twice as much for severe habitat damage. 01:23:12
And six times, of course, 7 times. 01:23:17
For the target amount. 01:23:19
We've been working with the in our fishery now for better part of six years to put a plan together. 01:23:22
To manage. 01:23:28
And that began back in 2020. 01:23:30
And we thought we had a pretty good Beaver Creek targeted watershed assessment of prepared. 01:23:33
And approved by DNR. 01:23:39
What we found in 2022. 01:23:41
That the DNR fishery doesn't have to follow that plan. 01:23:44
So in 2023, the fish biologists in Horican. 01:23:48
Prepared an independent plan that could be executed. 01:23:52
That spring and summer. 01:23:55
And with her departure to another county, that fell apart. 01:23:58
So in 2024 we started working with the DNR again to have an agreement put together. 01:24:02
To have a comprehensive roughfish plan across Beaver Dam, lake and watershed. 01:24:07
December we completed that and they told us in January. 01:24:14
They want to change the agreement into a plan again. 01:24:18
So we're starting over to have a plan. 01:24:21
For Beaver Dam Blake for roughness control. 01:24:23
So. 01:24:26
It's an interesting process. 01:24:28
You know, I feel sorry for the NRCS and FSA people. 01:24:31
Here you have a case where we've done these. 01:24:35
Plans and agreements 4 times. Not very efficient. 01:24:37
And we could use our services and their services. 01:24:41
For doing different projects, not redoing. 01:24:44
What we did in 20 and 22 and 23. 01:24:47
So just. 01:24:50
Comment Opinion. 01:24:51
The BDLA will have a healthy lakes. 01:24:54
Presentation March 1st at 9:00 AM. 01:24:57
At the Village of Randolph meeting room. 01:25:00
Tracy Arnold and Nick Holman. 01:25:02
From Portage County will be there as a presenters. 01:25:05
And they'll be going over the different native plantings and practices to be used. 01:25:07
And talk about the Healthy Lakes program. 01:25:12
Where homeowners could receive $1000 to help them do their healthy lake plots. 01:25:14
So. 01:25:20
Feel free to join if you want to. 01:25:21
March 1st. 01:25:23
9:00 AM Randolph. 01:25:24
Villager, Randolph. 01:25:26
That's all for today. 01:25:29
What a deal. OK, Although we did not meet in person this month, we did have a virtual meeting. 01:25:33
With. 01:25:39
You are on their plant inventory survey. 01:25:41
Uh is the company that we have hired to do. 01:25:45
Our lake management plan that's. 01:25:50
Edmonds and Oliver resources, which I think are in Minnesota, right? 01:25:52
They were up to Madison still, I think. 01:25:57
OK, so anyway. 01:25:59
It was led by Jay Michaels from EOR. He's a replacement for the previous guy who took a job. 01:26:02
Elsewhere. 01:26:08
But I was most impressed with a young man, Drew Harry, who works for You are. 01:26:10
He was the actual technician that was on Fox Lake to do the study. 01:26:15
And he was. 01:26:19
Very interesting to listen to. 01:26:21
He kind of explained what they did. There is 881 points on the lake that they visit. They got them all. 01:26:24
GPS located. 01:26:31
They do 3 draws at each point. 01:26:33
And many points had nose vegetation, so that went kind of fast when they get in those areas. 01:26:35
And as a result of the survey, they gave a coefficient of conservation. 01:26:41
Which where one is there's nothing and tennis the best you could hope for. 01:26:48
And they found 17 different species. 01:26:53
And awarded the lake a coefficient of 5.4, which is just slightly above average. 01:26:57
And then they did another. 01:27:03
Pluralistic quality index, which I think is the flooring from that mistaken. 01:27:05
And five, six was above the high quality threshold for that coefficient. 01:27:12
So. 01:27:18
Drew Harry, he said they found a large amount of water celery, which is water celery and plant stem pond weed. 01:27:20
What's your very desirable native species? So that's a good thing, Umm. 01:27:28
He did state that most of the weeds are at the four to five foot lake level, where it's deeper. They didn't find much vegetation 01:27:33
at all. 01:27:37
As far as the invasive go there EUR Asian water mill file, we already had a high amount of that. 01:27:42
But he's he made a. 01:27:48
Comment that it can be confused with the Northern Water milfoil, which is a native. 01:27:50
And sometimes he thought there might be some misidentification problems where they said it was the EUR Asian milfoil and it really 01:27:55
wasn't. 01:28:00
But he didn't think that we had us. 01:28:04
Had a problem with that as they had thought in the past. 01:28:06
Then you also showed a chart showing the milligrams of phosphorus in the lake has the last 20 years of showed a steady decline. 01:28:11
So there's actually. 01:28:18
A decline of phosphorus in Fox Lake. 01:28:20
In the last 20 years. 01:28:22
So in the end. 01:28:25
Tamika, who is the committee chair, expressed A sentiment that the state requires this study every five years and it's quite 01:28:28
expensive. 01:28:32
And that we don't do anything with it except just look at it so. 01:28:37
He's wondering whether we should do it again in the future if we don't get a grantees of the opinion that we shouldn't do it. 01:28:41
So after the meeting, then he kind of went into the nano bubbler discussion again and. 01:28:49
Try lakes through you are had done a nano bubbler. 01:28:56
Trial in 2024. 01:29:01
They did get a DNR permit, but they didn't really give the permit. 01:29:04
Last part of September when the season was almost over, so they installed them. 01:29:08
Then. 01:29:13
But there was very little, you know, because it was so late in the season, there wasn't. 01:29:14
Nothing that could be. 01:29:18
Learned from this study at. 01:29:22
In 24. 01:29:25
So. 01:29:28
What was impressive for Tri Lakes is that. 01:29:29
The borrowing they were going to borrow money to do the nano bubblers and. 01:29:35
It was. 01:29:40
A very large amount of money, something like $30 million. 01:29:41
But they did approve spending 3,000,000, which I thought was quite a bit of money to approve to borrow to do the nano bubbler 01:29:45
study. I'm not even sure where trial eggs is. Where is trial eggs? 01:29:49
The DNR will require a lot of very expensive data collection. 01:29:59
For their grant money and. 01:30:03
And that's where a lot of the money will be spent, the data collection. 01:30:07
Not so much the installation of the nano bubblers. 01:30:11
There was an attempt to get UW Stevens Point involved to do some monitoring to save money. 01:30:14
Whether that will happen or not, they don't know yet. 01:30:20
3,000,000 for data collection. 01:30:22
Well, that's the whole project, but data collection is a large part of it. 01:30:24
OK. 01:30:28
Just to clarify, Nana Bubbers is a concentrated. 01:30:31
02 but it also. 01:30:35
Is ozone, which is over 3. 01:30:38
Which the DNR considers a pesticide. 01:30:40
But umm. 01:30:43
Whether it really is or not, I don't know. 01:30:44
Anyway, so anyway, any data that they gather will prove beneficial for anybody moving forward with nano bubblers, so. 01:30:46
Does the plant study allow you to do an AES plant invasive species plan? 01:30:55
For weed removal. 01:31:00
I don't think really because. 01:31:04
They didn't think our invasive species was that. 01:31:06
OK. 01:31:09
They thought we are. They're misidentifying Eurasian before. 01:31:11
That they said there was more than there really was. That's what this. 01:31:14
Technician had said so. 01:31:18
So your weed removal will be for nuisance, not a S primarily. 01:31:21
Primarily, yes. Yes. 01:31:25
What day did you meet Dale? 01:31:28
What's that? What day did you meet? 01:31:30
It was on the 11th. 01:31:32
OK. 01:31:34
And we got that same event invitation that the healthy soils and they give Eastern Standard Time. So one guy got there when the 01:31:38
meeting was over. 01:31:41
All right. 01:31:55
Any questions on the committee reports? 01:31:56
OK if not. 01:32:00
John, you want to update us on the conference? I think we're pretty much yeah. I got you all registered that are gone. Your rooms 01:32:01
are taken care of. 01:32:05
This year. 01:32:10
I am going to make. 01:32:12
All the check insurance for the rooms. 01:32:13
So you look for me to get your cards? 01:32:16
I had so much problems last year. 01:32:19
With it was a hotel issue, you know, I'm not going to go through that again, so I'm gonna check everybody in. I'll have your room 01:32:22
cards. 01:32:26
You look me up. 01:32:30
And I'll get them to you. 01:32:32
What time about I? 01:32:34
But it starts after lunch, right? It starts. Yeah, Conferences start after lunch. I mean, I'll be there. 01:32:36
Probably by 10:00 myself, you know. 01:32:42
OK, I think I that's entirely up to you. 01:32:48
If you guys want a carpool. 01:32:53
Now I'm taking my personal truck. 01:32:55
I got room. 01:32:57
I would. 01:33:00
Carpool, OK. 01:33:02
Ken, I'm probably just going to drive myself, OK? I know Lisa is only going for one day. 01:33:04
So I'll let you know what time I'll leave and I'll send you guys an e-mail. 01:33:10
And then and then for me, like I'm bringing my wife. Then you'll just bill me afterwards for the Yep. 01:33:14
The whole telling me, the hotel and the conference, OK, that's fine. 01:33:19
OK. Next meeting of this committee is March 24th, 8:30. Is that OK with everybody? 01:33:25
All right. 01:33:33
Future agenda items, do we need to put a notice that we're going to be together or at this conference? Yeah, I'll put something 01:33:35
out. 01:33:38
And then what about and what about? What about this coming Friday? 01:33:42
For our extension, you know what I mean. I wonder if I should. 01:33:49
We'd include that too in there that we. 01:33:52
There may be. 01:33:55
She did. 01:33:57
Because they don't want it. 01:34:01
It is OK. So make sure we don't have any negative quorum issues, OK. And the other question I have for future agenda. 01:34:02
I went back and tried. I replayed a video of our meeting here. I don't know if you've ever done that through the video county 01:34:10
system. I don't know if you've ever done that. 01:34:15
I think and I don't know. 01:34:20
Umm, I think there could be an improvement on how you act like, like like if there was a date on it and John and I looked that 01:34:23
member, you know what I mean? OK. What happens is that they record all the committee meetings of the county. 01:34:28
And they are in order of when they're recorded, but there's no. 01:34:34
So like was there 100 meetings or something you look at and say you wanted to find this meeting? 01:34:38
You think that you would say I want the conservation meeting on February 24th? You think that's what? 01:34:43
I know, I know, but but but it can't be that hard do that took me a long time the first time. Went back to lookout to figure out 01:34:49
what you mean. It took me a long to figure out how to get to the place to get to the meeting. So shame. So I had to call him and 01:34:56
he's telling me step by step how to find her because Shane wanted to review one of the meetings and I was like. 01:35:02
And I had you had to. 01:35:09
And he, John made it pretty easy to be honest with you, but it shouldn't be that hard. 01:35:11
Now you got to actually open it up before you find out what day it is. 01:35:16
So I think I don't we. 01:35:20
Should we make a? 01:35:23
A future agenda item to make a recommendation to it. You guys need to, I can just call it and because really it's ridiculous. It 01:35:24
should be like really easy to find a meeting. 01:35:29
Yeah, so. 01:35:35
OK, well. 01:35:36
Yeah. 01:35:38
OK. All right. I will will do you know what I'm talking about, Dave? OK, OK. 01:35:42
All right, sounds good. 01:35:49
And your question earlier about if somebody got on the ledge admin meeting? 01:35:52
Per diem in that. 01:35:57
I know Lisa's on the Southern Area Association and when she goes to them. 01:35:58
She gets per diem in mileage. 01:36:03
So I don't see why it would be an issue unless if the county said no. 01:36:05
Richland County. 01:36:10
They've actually said no. 01:36:12
And the Southern Area Association. 01:36:14
Budgeted funds to help offset that. 01:36:18
But then the person never claimed reimbursement on him anyway, said she didn't want it so. 01:36:21
But I don't think it would be an issue if somebody wanted to get on one of them as far as. 01:36:26
Putting it in in my budget for. 01:36:31
Mileage and per diem's. Both per diems are paid for through the county and the mileage that would all go on county board side. 01:36:34
OK. I unless there's any other discussion, I will call this meeting adjourned by the completion of the agenda. 01:36:42
Thank everybody. 01:36:50
They got to sign these things. 01:36:55