Date: December 11, 2003
Place:
Upstairs Meeting Room
Sauk County Highway Shop
Present were Bernien, Cassity, Lehman, Wiese, and Zowin from the Land Conservation Committee; Hartje, Meister, Schmitz, Sprecher, and Stevens from the Transportation and Parks Committee; Muchow and Carignan-Highway Department; Koenig-Parks Department; Van Berkel, Vosberg, and Pohle-LCD; Mueller-NRCS; Jeff Thieding-Thieding Construction. Craker was absent.
Call to Order and Certify Compliance with Open Meeting Law: Joint meeting of the Land Conservation Committee and Transportation and Parks Committee called to order by Land Conservation Committee Chairman Wiese at 9:00 a.m. It was certified that the requirements of the open meeting law have been met.
Adopt Agenda: Motion by Cassity/Zowin to adopt the agenda.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Review of Bids for White Mound Lake Dredging Project: Van Berkel informed the Committees that 80 contractors were sent bid notices and an advertisement was placed in the Baraboo News Republic recruiting bids. A site showing was held on December 2 with 20 contractors present. Bids were due on December 9, and seven contractors submitted bids. A bid summary was distributed to the committees. Van Berkel recommended selecting the low bid submitted by Phenco, Inc. for $872,471. With this bid, the project budget is on target. Hartje recommended investigating the possibility of placing a portion of the dredge spoil from the west bay down by the buildings where it would be easier to reclaim and transport the rest on the park road to the north spoil disposal site. Staff will investigate the cost of this option. The Committee gave staff authority to investigate options and then select the least cost method. Mueller cautioned the Committees to first award the contract as bid and then do change orders on modifications rather than negotiating components of the bid. This keeps it fair for everyone who submitted bids.
Selection of Contractor and Spoil Disposal Alternative for Resolution to County Board: Motion by Hartje/Zowin to forward a resolution to the County Board to award the contract to Phenco, Inc. for the bid amount of $872,471. Motion carried, all in favor. Van Berkel presented the resolution for signatures.
Motion to adjourn by Lehman/Cassity at 9:40 a.m.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Respectfully submitted: Kathy Zowin, LCC Secretary
SAUK COUNTY LAND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Date: December 11, 2003
Place: Upstairs Meeting Room Sauk County Highway Shop
Present were Bernien, Cassity, Lehman, Wiese, and Zowin from the Land Conservation Committee; Brereton-NRCS; Van Berkel and Pohle-LCD. Craker was absent.
Call to Order and Certify Compliance of Open Meeting Law: Meeting called to order by Chairman Wiese at 9:45 a.m. It was certified that the requirements of the open meeting law have been met.
Adopt Agenda: Motion by Lehman/Bernien to adopt the agenda.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Adopt Minutes of Previous Meeting: Motion by Bernien/Cassity to adopt the minutes from the meetings on November 13. Motion carried, all in favor.
Appearances: There were none.
Training events: Motion by Lehman/Zowin to approve the list of training events.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Bills: Bill summaries were distributed to the Committee members. Motion by Lehman/Cassity to approve bills in the amount of $117,956.44.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Correspondence: Van Berkel distributed copies of the latest Thursday Notes.
Reports: Wiese reported on several of the resolutions presented at the Wisconsin Land & Water Conservation Association's Annual Conference. Wiese and Zowin commented on the sessions they attended. Zowin expressed her opinion that the Committee should become more aware of groundwater issues. Other Committee members agreed.
Brereton informed the LCC that there were 65 contracts for the last Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup and that rental rates ranged from a high of $75.26, to a low of $44, with an average rate of $62.08/acre bid.
Brereton said they do not have the actual funding amount for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) for 2004, but the projected amount is $292,831 for Sauk County. There may be some changes in EQIP. The Local Work Group is planning on meeting in January to discuss the local ranking system for 2004.
Brereton informed the LCC that the Conservation Security Program will be coming in 2004. This program rewards landowners for having conservation practices in place on their land.
Consideration of an Offer from DNR to Purchase the Former Nachreiner Property: Van Berkel reminded the LCC that when we purchased the Nachreiner property, there was an existing offer from DNR for an easement along the stream corridor. This stream has excellent potential as a trout stream, and the easement would allow DNR to do restoration work on the stream and would provide public access. Committee was also interested in the possibility of DNR purchasing the entire property for fishery habitat, public access, and to provide user parking. This parcel is in an exclusive agriculture zoning designation so the property cannot be split between owners. Because it is in a floodway, no buildings can be built on it.
DNR has offered to purchase the entire 13.7 acres including the buildings. They are then offering to lease the storage building back to the Highway Department for $100/year with the stipulation that any maintenance of the building be the responsibility of the Highway Department. They would also rent the cropland to an interested farmer. DNR does pay property taxes on land they purchase. However, the Committee cannot make a decision regarding future use alone. Responsibility for project management was assigned to both the Agriculture, Extension, Education and Land Conservation Committee and the Transportation and Parks Committee. Any sale would also have to have final approval of the County Board. Supervisor Schmitz had informed the Committee during the joint meeting that someone had told him they would be willing to pay an amount considerably higher than the DNR offer. Committee told Van Berkel to get this offer in writing. Van Berkel emphasized that whoever ends up as owner, it would be beneficial to have a fishery easement in place. The easement would provide stream corridor protection and will help get the streambank restoration project started in this area. There was a suggestion that Committee might want to meet with the Town of Franklin to see what they would prefer and what would best fit the Town of Franklin's land use plan. Van Berkel was directed to investigate the issue more thoroughly and bring the information to the next Joint Committee Meeting for discussion.
Building Disposal Issues on Former Nachreiner and Ellefson Properties: Van Berkel has received requests for the following items located on the properties that were purchased as part of the dam rehabilitation project: the water heater, furnace boiler, corn cribs, cornerstone of the barn, shop windows, some brick from house, window trim from house, cupboards from house, and the underground hoist from shop building all at the former Nachreiner property and the yard light at the former Ellefson property. The Committee discussed how to dispose of these and possibly other items. We could contact an auctioneer to see what they think, but there are few items total; we could combine items with the Sheriff's auction, held once a year, but the items would need to be removed and transported there; we could advertise in the paper and post notice at town halls, have a viewing at the site, and then take written bids. Van Berkel will check on liability concerns with Corporation Counsel if we allow people on the property to remove items. Motion by Lehman/Cassity to look into option to advertise and request written bids for the disposal of surplus property at the Nachreiner and Ellefson locations.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Approval of Farmland Preservation Agreement-Gerald & Margaret Sprecher: Motion by Zowin/Lehman to approve a 25-year contract with Sprechers. Motion carried all in favor.
Motion to adjourn until January 8 at 9:00 a.m. by Cassity/Bernien at 10:45 a.m.
Motion carried, all in favor.
Respectfully submitted: Kathy Zowin, LCC Secretary