Wisconsin Association of Land Conservation Employees

Board Members Present: Jean Schomisch, Greg Leonard, Paul Tollard, Diane Hanson, Ed Hernandez, Dan O’Connell, Greg Cleereman and Perry Lindquist

Others Present:  Darren Lochner, UWEX; Rebecca Bauman, WLWCA, Richard Castelnuovo and Coreen Fallat, DATCP, Carol Holden, DNR and Andy Johnson, Marathon County.

Call to Order: Jean welcomed everyone and called the WALCE Board meeting to order at 9:35am. 

Approval of Minutes: Motion by Paul Tollard, second by Greg Leonard to approve minutes with the following changes: 

Move Greg Baneck’s name from Board Members present to Others Present, Under Treasurer’s report, 2^nd paragraph add “as is” after the wording “ the contract needs to be signed…..”, under WALCE email costs, add to the motion the estimated expenditure of $2000.  Motion carried.

Introductions: Jean welcomed Darren Lochner, UWEX as an advisor to the Board and everyone introduced themselves to Darren.

Treasurer’s Report: Ed reviewed the treasurer’s report.  Motion by Greg Leonard, second by Paul Tollard to approve treasurer’s report. Discussion followed and motion carried.

Review and approve 2006 Budget:  Ed reviewed the 2006 proposed budget and discussed changes in individual line items. Discussion followed on raffle income & scholarships. Greg Leonard requested to read an email he received from Dan Franke regarding WALCE budget issues related to Professional Services, specifically from WLWCA. Greg read the email and discussion followed. Motion by Greg Leonard, second by Ed Hernandez to change the budget note for Budget Line Item 13 to delete the wording “payment to WLWCA for”.  Motion carried.

Discussion then followed on the NACD Conference expenses.  Motion by Perry Lindquist, second by Greg Leonard to reduce Budget Line Item 17 (NACD Conferences) to $500 and rename to Regional/National meetings and change description to allow funds to be used for any WALCE member not just Board members, and increase the Scholarship Line Item by $1000.  Discussion followed regarding the limited use of the scholarship funds and how to better define meeting expenditures.  Motion carried. 

Motion by Diane Hanson, second by Dan O’Connell to forward 2006/07 WALCE proposed budget as amended to the full membership at the March 1^st annual meeting and recommend approval.  Motion carried.

WALCE Email Upgrade and Anticipated Costs:  Tom Sweeney joined the Board Meeting via conference call.  Tom walked through email message system and board members asked questions.  Everyone thanked Tom for his work with the email system.  

Andy Johnson, Richard Castelnuovo and Coreen Fallat arrived at 11:00 a. m. 

Discuss 2006 Lobby Agreement:  Jean suggested that the Board wait for a recommendation from the Administrative Committee on a lobby agreement for 2006.  Rebecca distributed a copy of 2005 agreement and reviewed changes that she made to the agreement. Rebecca recommends that lobbying needs to be a joint effort.   Jean noted that since the 2005 contract was not signed by the Board deadline without modifications, the issue is closed for 2005.  The Administrative Committee will be meeting in February to discuss professional services for 2006.  Dan O’Connell questioned Rebecca as to whether her amended 2005 agreement was a starting point for the Administrative Committee for 2006 and Rebecca responded yes.

Jean proposed that agenda Items 7 & 8 be moved to later in agenda to accommodate the agencies in attendance.  

Administrative Committee report – Andy Johnson reported on January Administrative Committee meeting which was basically a working session to discuss 2006 priorities.  Some of the issues discussed included the Buffer Initiative, Livestock Siting, LWRM Plan Implementation, WALCE Communication policies when members are representing WALCE on other committees, Farmland Preservation issues, Working Lands Initiative and how to better coordinate with other conservation groups.  Discussion followed

Advisors reports: 

DATCP:  Richard Castelnuova and Coreen Fallat distributed and reviewed a written report.  Items discussed included:  Livestock Siting, Manure Management Task Force, winter spreading plans, working lands initiative, DATCP Listening Sessions & upcoming training, allocation plans, grants applications and Farmland Preservation program issues.

DNR:  Carol Holden distributed and reviewed a written report.  Items discussed included:  Confined Animal Feeding Operations, Stormwater and Construction Site Erosion Control issues.  

UWEX:  Darren Lochner updated the Board on upcoming training opportunities and meetings such as storm water training, construction site erosion control workshops, meetings to develop educational strategies for the implementation of the performance standards and Basin Educators meeting.  

Professional Improvement Committee:  Jean and Ed updated the Board on the upcoming conference.  The most current agenda of WALCE Conference was distributed and there is a need for laptops and LCD projectors for some of the sessions.  Approximately 190 have registered as of today’s date and discussion occurred on updating the mailing list to other agencies, environmental groups, etc.  

Technical Committee Report:  Dan O’Connell updated the Board on the Technical Committee activities.  Items discussed included:  providing links to different websites for resource issues and materials, State Technical Committee issues, the River and Stream Shoreline Protections Stakeholders Group, a survey on issues of concern with the Transect Survey, manure storage abandonment issues, Uniform Dwelling Code public hearings and changes to rules and the bacterial monitoring that is occurring on the Kickapoo River.  

Advisors Report: 

WLWCA: Rebecca updated the Board on the NACD National Conference, WLWCA Legislative Committee activities, current Assembly Bills, and the upcoming WLWCA Board meeting.  

NRCS:  Diane Hanson distributed a written report that had been emailed to her from Pat Murphy, NRCS.

Review and select Conservation Award Recipients:  The Board reviewed the nominees and selected the award winners.

WALCE Policy & Procedure Manual:  Perry Lindquist reviewed the few changes that were made to the Policy and Procedures Manual.  Motion by Greg Cleereman, second by Ed Hernandez to approve Policy and Procedures Manual as presented.  Discussion followed on the $300 maximum for training scholarships.  The Board suggested that this be referred back to the Professional Improvement Committee to consider increasing the maximum scholarship amount.  Motion carried.  The Manual takes effect as of today.  

Additional Agenda Items:  

Trempealeau County and Farmland Preservation Program issues:  Dave Appleyard requested that the Trempealeau County/Farmland Preservation Program issue be discussed by the Board.  The Land and Water Conservation Board will be meeting next Tuesday to discuss this issue.  Discussion followed on the impacts of DATCP’s recommendation to all counties, the inadequacy of conservation program funding, and the ability of counties to set local priorities.  Motion by Perry Lindquist, second by Diane Hanson to have WALCE send the Land and Water Conservation Board a letter expressing support of Trempealeau County’s position regarding this issue.  Motion carried.

WALCE Annual Meeting Agenda:  Diane reviewed the agenda for the WALCE Annual Meeting on March 1^st.  Perry suggested that the Strategic Plan approval be added to the agenda.  

Working Lands Initiative:  Dave Fodroczi, representing the Wisconsin County Planning Directors Association, contacted Jean Schomisch regarding a position paper related to Working Land Initiative.  The Board suggested that the Administrative Committee review this paper and bring back recommendations to the new Board after our annual conference elections.  The Planning Directors Association would like to approve the final draft at their April 6^th meeting.  

Adjourn:  Motion by Ed Hernandez, second by Dan O’Connell to adjourn at 2:20 p.m.  Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted,