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Madison County SWCD
August 20, 2009 Minutes
The Madison County SWCD Board of Supervisors held a meeting on Thursday August 20,
2009 at the USDA Service Center in Anderson, Indiana. Bob Ellis, Vaughn Bracken, Wes
Likens and Gene Best were the supervisors who attended. Steve Schmidt, Chanda Hiatt,
Susan Allen and Tod Herrli also attended the meeting.
Vaughn called the meeting to order at 7:07 a.m.
The Board reviewed the minutes from the July 14th meeting. Wes made a motion to accept
the minutes and Bob seconded it. The motion carried.
Steve gave the Treasurer’s report as follows:
Checking Account Balance as of August 20, 2009: $ 287.24
Money Market Account Balance as of August 20, 2009: $89,981.75
Total of all Funds: $90,268.99
Voucher Approvals:
1) Fillup Gas Card--$100.00
2) Building Rental--$4050.00
3) Field Day Mailing--$885.07
4) Nick Simpson 19 hours website work--$380.00
5) Steve Schmidt-Fillup Gas in Truck--$35.01
6) Miller Huggins Ink Cartridges--$1295.07
7) Sherry Labs-Bacteria Testing--$840.00 (July and August tests)
8) Newsletter Mailing—
9) Building Rental for Field Day-$80.00
A motion to accept the Treasurer’s report with the voucher approvals was made by Gene and
seconded by Wes. Motion carried.
Steve & Chanda’s SWCD Update:
Field Day-Steve gave a report on the Cover Crops Workshop. Chanda printed and
sent flyers to all of Madison County and surrounding counties, as well. Steve wanted to
know which supervisors he should sign up for the event. He also asked to cover the $8.00 fee
for Tod Herrli and John Orick, who were helping to make the day successful. Tod helped
with our agenda and hosts for the on-site visits and John Orick mailed out the flyer to his
mailing list. Steve informed the board our caterer will be $13.95/person for lunch, which was
a little high, but since CTIC had a grant to help with costs, we felt a good lunch was worth it.
Chanda gave an update on the 319 Grant. IDEM was planning a visit after our board
meeting to discuss the status of the grant. Vaughn will attend that meeting with Steve and
Chanda. Chanda wanted approval to start a blogspot for the 319 Grant. A website is
required for her grant. She will get started on the blog. Chanda has two people who have
filled out applications and she is ready to turn those in to IDEM for approval. Chanda has
also done two rounds of water testing for July and August.
MS4-Anderson got back their MS4 Audit. Steve informed the board that the audit
was pretty favorable. Steve mentioned that IDEM suggested he get more training on man-
made ditches. Steve will get with the Erosion Control Supervisor in Hamilton County to
discuss this issue. The Madison County Audit still needs to be completed but we are waiting
on IDEM to schedule a time. Pat Manship attended the Anderson audit and slowed things
down a bit so we never got to do the county audit.
Steve asked Gene Best what Pat Manship said about the ditch, which is currently
being built in Markleville. Gene said Pat mentioned to the Drainage Board that Steve called
IDEM out to inspect this ditch. Actually, Pat showed up for the Anderson Audit and asked
Rob Beck (IDEM) to visit the ditch in Markleville. Apparently, Pat did not mention that part
to the Drainage Board. Steve will get with John Richwine to discuss this issue to make sure
the Drainage Board doesn’t believe that the SWCD called IDEM out on their project.
Steve gave an update on the new website. Nick had all the basic components done,
but Steve wanted to get most of the details outlined before we put it on the web.
Energy Efficiency Grant Update-Steve gave an update on the partnership with the six
surrounding counties. We are looking for some volunteer farms for the audits. Anyone who
is interested in having a free audit done can apply to the SWCD. Especially, farms that have
grain storage. We need farms with grain storage ASAP.
The USDA and NRCS have worked out the discrepancies on the rent space. The
SWCD owes $4050.00 for our space this year. Steve will get this paid immediately so the
SWCD doesn’t have to worry about our county budget.
Steve gave an update on the Cover Crops Grant (Clean Water Indiana). We have
three people who will be utilizing cover crops this fall and should be eligible for our cash
payment. Steve asked Gene about using them on his farm and he said that he was planning
on it. We still have money available for the cash payment, but it is a first come, first serve
basis.
Chanda discussed the Madison County 4-H Fair. She thought we had better
attendance than the previous year, at least as far as discussion with people. We will
definitely return next year with the stream flow table. The kids loved it and it gave us the
opportunity to visit with their parents while they played.
Steve, Tod & Chanda will be volunteering at the State Fair. We will be working the
Pathway to Water Quality.
Chanda gave an update on the Fall Tree Sale. She finished the brochures and we will
be sending them out along with the September Newsletter.
Steve & Chanda informed the board that Jerry Hartley, our DSS, has accepted a new
job and will not be working for ISDA anymore. Tara Wesseler-Henry will be our new DSS.
She is coming for an office visit on September 3.
Chanda has signed up for the Watershed Leadership Academy. It is highly
recommended that Watershed Coordinators attend this training. She was signed up last year,
but they lost her paperwork. This should be very good training for her 319 Grant.
Chanda is working on the Fall Newsletter. Steve & Chanda decided the newsletter
needs to have more specifics on the 319 Grant and the Cover Crops Grant. We will be
getting the newsletter out in September. The newsletters will contain the tree sale form, as
well.
Bob suggested the Board needed to do performance reviews now that Steve and
Chanda have been here for a year. Steve will check with FSA and the County Building to see
about forms for the performance reviews.
Bob mentioned where we want to go with the money sitting in our savings account.
He suggested a meeting after harvest to discuss the possibilities. We are thinking about
coming up with programs that are somewhat “outside the box.” We will discuss this further
in future meetings.
Susan Allen-FSA Update-August 17th-Due dates for Farm Storage Loans (grain, hay, silage
storage).
Tod Herrli-NRCS Update-Cooperative working agreement.
-Tod is working on EQIP contract approval so NRCS can move forward with
payments
-Tod gave an overview on the Conservation Stewardship Program, which allows
District employees to work with NRCS to cover some of the salary for the District
Employee. We will visit this topic again to see if we want to try this partnership.
A motion to adjourn was made by Gene and seconded by Bob at 9:30 a.m. The motion
carried and the meeting was adjourned.
SWCD Board of Supervisors Approval:
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