Wisconsin Association

of

Land Conservation Employees

WALCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Wausau, Wisconsin

Board Members Present:  Jean Schomisch, Perry Lindquist, Butch Lobermeier for Greg Baneck, Greg Cleereman, Rick Mechelke, Bryce Richardson, Penny Pohle, Dan O’Connell, Mark Jenks.

Others Present:  Pat Murphy, NRCS; Rebecca Baumann, WLWCA; Carol Holden and Gorden Stevenson, DNR; Steve Fix, DATCP;  Gaylord Olson, Jackson County and Diane Hanson, Lincoln County.

Call to order:  Jean Schomisch welcomed everyone and called the WALCE Board meeting to order at 9:20 am.

Approve Appointment of Secretary:  Motion by Dan O’Connell/Bryce Richardson to approve the appointment of Diane Hanson as WALCE Secretary.  Motion carried by a voice vote.

Approval of Minutes:  For the Board members information, Jean reviewed the February 18th WALCE Meeting minutes.  These minutes were approved but with corrections

regarding the election results.  Jean then reviewed the April 2, 2004 WALCE Board Meeting minutes.  These minutes did not have the committee appointments attached for reference as stated in the minutes.  Motion by Penny Pohle/Mark Jenks to approve the April 2, 2004 minutes with attachment of committee appointments.  Motion carried by voice vote.  Jean then review the May 20th, 2004 Board meeting minutes.  Motion by Rick Mechelke/Dan O’Connell to approve the May 20th Board meeting minutes.  Motion carried by voice vote.

Treasurer’s Report:  Tom Sweeney was not able to attend so a treasurer’s report was not presented.

Audit Report:  Jean informed the Board that Diane Hanson, Lisa Trumble, Tom Sweeney and Shawn Stocks performed an audit of the WALCE books.  Diane updated the board on a few policy issues that were noted during the audit. 

Administrative Committee Report:  The Board needs to take action on the guiding principles of the Administrative Committee.  Perry briefly reviewed the guiding principles and discussion followed on Board oversight, approval/rejection process, committee meetings and notification of meetings.  Rebecca Baumann requested that she be notified of Administrative Committee meetings.  Motion by Mark Jenks/ Greg Cleereman to approve the Administrative Committee Guiding Principles.  Motion carried by voice vote. 

Resolution regarding WLWCA Bylaws Change:  Perry Lindquist reviewed the resolution approved by the Administrative Committee titled WALCE Support for Proposed WLWCA Bylaw changes.  Gaylord Olson, Jackson County, then provided an overview of the proposed changes that the Western Area is presenting.  Jean Schomisch also gave a brief overview of the WALCE Internal Issues – January 2001 proposal.  Discussion followed regarding Board members concerns over taking action on the resolution, the proposals connection with the Wisconsin Counties Association, the constant changes being made to the proposal, limited information and the speed that the proposals moving.  Rebecca Baumann was opposed to WALCE action regarding a general agreement with the proposed changes.  She stated that having County Conservationists on the WLWCA Board would strengthen it but felt that this proposal needed further study.  Jean Schomisch encouraged all Board members to gather as much information on this proposal as possible.  Perry Lindquist informed the Board that the Administrative Committee spend a lot of time reviewing this proposal and that he had submitted 4 pages of questions and concerns to Steve Dickinson and Gaylord Olson about the initial proposal and that all of those questions and concerns had been addressed. 

A short recess was requested at 11:00 AM

The Board reconvened at 11:15 AM.  Discussion continued on the resolution regarding the WLWCA Bylaw changes.  Perry mentioned that according to the bylaws a motion to reject the resolution can only be made if it is a violation of one of the Administrative Committees Guiding Principles and the rejection can only be approved by a 2/3 vote.  Motion by Butch Lobermeier/Greg Cleerman to reject the resolution titled WALCE Support for Proposed WLWCA Bylaw Changes as presented based on violation of the Administrative Committee Guiding Principles #4 and #9.  Butch felt that the information received has not be adequate and that no final documents on the proposed Bylaw changes has been presented.  Discussion followed. Jean Schomisch call the question and requested a roll call vote.  Board members voting Yes to the motion were:  Dan O’Connell, Rick Mechelke, Greg Cleereman, Penny Pohle, Butch Lobermeier, Diane Hanson.  Board Members voting No to the motion were:  Mark Jenks, Perry Lindquist, Bryce Richardson and Jean Schomish.  Motion fails by roll call vote. 

Technical Committee Report:

 Jean distributed and reviewed the technical committee report submitted by Dale Konkel.  Dan O’Connell stated that the technical committee would like the WALCE Board to determine which non-WALCE committees should report to the Technical Committee.  The Board then reviewed the list of non-WALCE Committees and determined that the following should report to the Technical Committee:  Wisconsin Buffer Initiative, Cranberry Growers (EQIP), Standards Oversight Council, State Technical Committee, WASI(Discovery Farms), Wisconsin Wetlands, Soil Survey Oversight, NR 243 Technical Advisory Committee.  The Technical Committee will be developing some guiding principles at their next meeting.

Jean Schomisch reviewed a letter from Andy Johnson stating that a report regarding the 313 Revisions and NR 243 Technical Advisory Committee will be forthcoming.

The Technical Committee also requested that the WALCE Board approve appointments to the Technical Committee and non –WALCE committees.   Jean stated that she would like the Technical Committee to submit names of WALCE members to serve on those committees.

Professional Improvement Committee:

Scholarship:  Julie Fernholz has requested a scholarship to attend some courses at Chippewa Valley Technical College.  Motion Rick Mechelke/Perry Lindquist to support a Julie Fernholz’s scholarship application of $118.50.  Motion carried by voice vote.  Steve Bradley had been approved for a scholarship at the last board meeting and Dan O’Connell submitted a written report from Steve on the SWCS conference he attended.

2005 Conference Report:  Jean reported that the Professional Improvement Committee is working planning for the 2005 conference at Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton.

2006 Conference Site:  No site has been selected as of today.  There is some concern that the host county should be contacted prior to selection of that site.

Staffing Grants Report:  Rebecca Baumann and Jean Schomisch reviewed the recommendations of the Staffing Grants Committee and comments received. 

White Paper:  Rebecca distributed paper copies and CD’s of a white paper titled “A Conservation Commitment for Wisconsin – Funding State Nonpoint Pollution Standards”.  The White Paper is available on the WLWCA website.  This document should be used when working with legislators to make them better aware of the funding issues related to the nonpoint performance standards.  Rebecca recommended that this should be distributed to LCC members, environmental and agricultural groups.  It was noted that Perry Lindquist had committed a lot of time to this project which is greatly appreciated.        

Advisors Report: 

WLWCA – Rebecca Baumann reported on the recent WLWCA Board meeting.  There are 4 new WLWCA Board members.  There meeting included discussions on major goals/concerns that needed to be addressed.  The top two concerns were development impact and involvement of LCC supervisors.  Rebecca also gave an update on the status of DATCP’s budget proposal, the League of  Conservation Voters Briefing Book and the Year of Land and Water Conservation and the goals/concerns that the Board member.  Rebecca also distributed a copy of the report that she provided to her board of directors.

DATCP – Steve Fix distributed and reviewed a written report.  He updated the Board on the Livestock Siting Committee and 590 issues.  Discussion followed on county involvement of the draft rule being developed for livestock siting.  The Board would like to see the draft rule distributed to counties and DNR prior to it being distributed for public hearing. 

 DNR – Carol Holden and Gordon Stevenson distributed and reviewed a written report.  Items covered included NR 216, implementation of the nonpoint rules, NR 243 and recent fish kills in Southwestern Wisconsin.  Gorden Stevenson stated that we need to do a better job of compiling and taking credit for the work we are doing to implement the performance standards.            

 NRCS – Pat Murphy distributed and reviewed a written report.  Items covered included Certified Conservation Planners, Technical Service Providers, and the Conservation Security Program.

UWEX – Andy Yencha distributed and reviewed a written report.             

Policy Book:  Penny Pohle reviewed the work done on the WALCE Policy book from 2002.  Penny noted some gaps in the Awards Policy and also the Scholarship Criteria needed to be added.  She noted that there should be some criteria for disbursement of the scholarships included in the Policy Book.  Jean recommended that the Board members review the draft policies book and we will discuss it at the next Board meeting.

Next meeting dates were discussed.  November 18th at 9:30 was selected for the next WALCE Board meeting.  Diane Hanson will check with the Schmeekle Reserve for availability for this meeting.

Motion by Perry Lindquist/Diane Hanson to adjourn at 3:55 PM.   Motion carried by voice vote.