Call to Order: Chairman Jim Hutchison called the meeting to order of the Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District Board at 8:06 am on May 19, 2021. The board met in the Blackhawk Room at the Stephenson County Farm Bureau.

Roll Call: Present at the time the meeting was called to order were board members Jim Hutchison, Barb Klinger, and Matt Schlachter; District employees Lorna Chezem, Administrative Coordinator; and Aaron Dinderman, Resource Conservationist; NRCS employees Abby Mielke, Soil Conservationist; and Josh Franks, District Conservationist. Seth Wenzel joined the meeting at 8:35 A.M.

Not in attendance – Dan Diaz, Hannah McWhirter, Luke Tweeten,

Approval of Minutes: Jim Hutchison moved to approve minutes of the April SWCD board meeting, seconded by Matt Schlachter Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Bills to be Paid: Matt Schlachter moved to approve the bills as listed on the monthly budget sheet for May; seconded by Jim Hutchison. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Employee Time Sheets: Employee time sheets were passed around. Barb Klinger moved to accept the employee timesheets, seconded by Jim Hutchison. Voting aye: all. Motion passed.

Action Items:

Stephenson County Board Report:  Garrett Miller/No Report

Freeport City Council Report:  Randy Bukas/No Report

CRP/Conservation Plans & CPO’s:  Aaron

• Still not a lot of updates; potential deadline in June for general CRP signup. Soil rental rates and incentives have still not been announced.
• Status reviews for 2021 are almost complete, only some cleanup issues remain.
• 2022 status reviews; 56 of 136 have been complete and reviews written. Forestry ones are the problem; getting them addressed/written by forester.
• FSA picks years of establishment (2017, 2018 and 2019). Josh suggested having FSA run a review report of active contracts.
• Randi is being trained to take over CRP in Stephenson County when Carla retires at the end of May.

Contribution Agreement:  Aaron/Lorna/Abby – No update

EQIP Update:  Abby

• Two applications out of 24 were pre-approved, a high tunnel project was cancelled by the producer due to problems getting a building permit from Zoning.
• Additional money was received by the State; Abby believes a couple more will get approved.

CSP Update:  Abby

• May 7^th was the deadline for applications; 22 were put in the system. Four producers submitted applications on the last day. All need to be planned and ranked by June 25^th.

Office Remodel Update:  Abby

• Remodel is complete, walk through has been done. About 95% unpacked on the NRCS/SWCD side of the building. The taxidermy animals need to be brought up from basement storage and they will go on a shelf in the new conference room.
• New furniture will not come in until September.

Programs / SWCD Updates:  Lorna/Aaron

• Tree Sale Recap – 5,950 trees and shrubs were sold; 600 trees were ordered for 3^rd grade students and poster participants. Total sales $18,790.65. After all bills were paid totaling $10,255.76; a profit of $8,534.89.
• Fish Sale Recap – no invoice from Andry’s to date.
• Highway Cleanup – completed by Kirk and Lorna on Monday May 17. It took about 4 hours and we collected 5 bags of garbage.
• Set finance committee in motion to work on Fy22 budget – Lorna will start working on the worksheet and e-mail to the committee with some preliminary numbers.
• CPP Projects – still waiting for bills to send in to finish up Fy20 money. Aaron has a well and potential waterway project if funding for Fy21 is received.
• Climate Change Discussion – Jim Hutchison
  • Discussions included possible legislative action on Climate Stewardship Act; carbon credits, education of conservation programs to beginning farmers, tours.
  • Local work group meetings where local groups meet, and brainstorm needs of the county.

Approve Reports as E-Mailed: Barb Klinger moved to approve the reports as e-mailed from: Lorna Chezem, Aaron Dinderman, Abby Mielke, Hannah McWhirter, and Luke Tweeten; seconded by Jim Hutchison. Voting aye: all. Motion carried.

Informational Items:

Correspondence: None

Other Business:

• Ag in the Classroom update (Amy)
  • Tree project went well, teachers were happy to see it continue after last year’s cancellation due to COVID.
  • Still only allowed to go into classrooms in 3 area schools.
  • Reaching 500 – 1000 students a month by completing Ag Bags
  • 12 or 13 teachers participated by renting incubators for a chick hatching project.
• Josh Franks updates –
  • SWCD boards have been given permission to meet in the USDA building but only if the meeting takes place after working hours (nights or weekends).
  • Doors remain locked and open by appointment only.
  • USDA is now following the CDC guidelines for wearing masks.
  • 2 additional NRCS employees will be hired; one each in Winnebago and Boone.
  • PF biologist has been hired, this person will be located in Rockford and will service 6 counties.
• Request and payment were sent to U of IL Extension for 4H awards on 4/23/2021. We are sponsoring Sport Fishing and Champion Geology Innovation.

• Closed Session for SWCD Board and SWCD Employees was held at the end of the meeting to discuss Lorna’s retirement in the next year, hours and discussion of a replacement.

Adjournment:

Having no other business, Chairman Hutchison adjourned the meeting at 10:10 am.

Barb Klinger, Treasurer/Secretary                      Notes recorded by Lorna Chezem.