Crook County Natural Resource District

Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD)

February 2nd Regular Board Meeting Minutes

CALL MEETING TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Vice Chairwoman Lily Altaffer at 12:01 pm at the Sundance USDA Service Center and by conference call.

ATTENDANCE

Board: Lily Altaffer, Kim Fundaun, Wanda Burget (call in)

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

Guests: NRCS District Conservationist Keela Deaton (call in), FSA Executive Director Sarah Hanlon

OPEN ISSUES TO DISCUSS

NRCS Update Ms. Deaton gave estimated allocations for 2021. One hundred thirteen applications have been received and the ranking deadline is Feb 12. March 1 they will know who was selected for funding and can move forward with the contracts. The soil health workshop is scheduled for February 18 from 10 am until 2 pm at the Crook County Fairgrounds. Plank Stewardship Initiative (PSI) and Millbourn Seeds are partners. Marlon Winger, NRCS registered soil health specialist will be speaking. Mr. Fundaun made a motion to pay for Mr. Winger’s hotel room, seconded by Ms. Burget. Motion carried. Another $35,000 will be received from PSI again this year with 10% for administration funds. Ms. Deaton also requested $1000 for a cover crop forage analysis program for 2 rounds of sampling. A Thank You card for Mr. Heyneman (PSI) was passed around to sign.

FSA Update- Ms. Hanlon updated the Board on upcoming deadlines and programs in her office. Her staff has been extremely busy processing applications and payments.

Water Quality Ms.McIntyre has been working with Campbell County Conservation District to cut back the budget for the 319 award because less was awarded than requested. They have decided to cut $90,815 from the BMP contract budget and cover one less monitoring season than originally planned. The grant runs from June 2021 until May 2024. She will be looking for more monitoring funds in 2022-2023. She is also working with CCCD to plan the monitoring season. The Intent to use Lab Funds form was signed by Lily Altaffer in Wayne Garman’s absence. The application for payment of the tank was signed. The contract extension that was approved in November 2020 with a March deadline needs to be extended further. The updated extension would be through November 2021. Board discussion. Ms. Burget made a motion to approve the contract extension, Mr. Fundaun seconded. Motion carried. The conservation tech advertisement is beginning this week until February 28 and will remain open until filled. Employees will filter applications and will let the Board know when they are ready to interview. Another grant application for NACD will be pursued to continue funding for the conservation technician and part of the program manager positions. RCPP funding was discussed; there is no administration funds available with this program but the NACD TA funds could cover these expenses. The deadline is March 15.

Local Issues Lily Altaffer had spoken with Ms. McIntyre about the RER article in the Sundance Times. Ms. McIntyre will monitor this and reach out to the USFS to continue to be a cooperating agency on this.

Forest Health

CAFA update Two more projects have been completed; the big projects are done with one pending project in the Moskee land sale area. The CAFA RFP was flown last week. Ms. Anderson is waiting to hear from USFS for possible locations for a new CAFA proposal.

Ms. Anderson still has not heard on the WUI grant funding awards.

Bark beetle update Two project units were completed and were paid today. There are 91 acres left to complete.

Trails grant update The location signs and maps are being installed now.

Financials

Financial Voucher Mr. Fundaun made a motion to pay the bills. Ms. Burget seconded. Motion carried. All checks and the financial voucher were signed. The bank accounts were reconciled using Quickbooks by Ms. Helms, the sealed statement was opened by Ms. Altaffer and the reconciliations were verified and signed.

Approve January 5th Minutes A motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Ms. Burget. Mr. Fundaun seconded. Motion carried.

Office Manager update Ms. Burget made a motion to allow Ms. Helms to charge up to 3 hours of time with Ketel Thorstenson for financial assistance. Mr. Fundaun seconded. Motion carried.

Board Vacancy Advertisements in the newspapers were ineffective and will no longer be continued. The Urban position is still vacant. Reaching out to possible board members will be attempted.

Personnel Policy Tabled. Ms. Helms will work on revisions to review next month.

Employee Annual Reviews were tabled until next month.

NEW ISSUES TO DISCUSS

Certification training registration Training is held in Cheyenne and Virtually. Ms. Helms and Ms. McIntyre will attend virtually both days. Ms. Anderson will attend one day virtually. Ms. Altaffer might attend.

Legislative updates Recent legislative updates were discussed.

TIME OFF REQUESTS for Bridget Helms and Sarah Anderson were approved.

Motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Fundaun at 2:04 pm.

Office Manager Signature:

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Chairman Signature:

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