Minutes of the July 27, 2005 Baraboo Range Commission Meeting
The Baraboo Range Commission met in a regular session at 8:30 AM, July 27, 2005 at the Sauk County West Square Building in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Members present: Ashford, Beard, Persche, Statz, Steinhorst, Turnquist and Wenzel. Also present: Dave Tremble, Sauk County Planning and Zoning, Rodney Walter, and Audrey Parker.
Chairperson Ashford brought the meeting to order at 8:30 AM., and asked
members to review the meeting agenda. Motion to adopt the agenda as presented
by Steinhorst, second by Statz.
Motion carried.
Ashford asked members to review minutes from the June 29, 2005 meeting.
Motion to adopt the minutes by Statz, second by Beard.
Motion Carried.
Tremble reported that Jim Thiel, WisDOT legal counsel, had responded to Sauk County promising an opinion regarding the proposed amendment to the Baraboo Range Protection Program plan before August 1, 2005.
Tremble read from a letter sent from Gerry Mich, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Family Forests, introducing the WFF program with an informational brochure.
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Tremble reported that all of Sauk county's conservation partners had provided parcel data that was fed into the County's digital land records database.
Tremble reported that he had sent a letter to landowners in the Freedom Road area requesting their participation in planning a Fall event, which might involve public access to their property.
Members discussed the use of Stewardship Fund grants, and requested clarification on whether grants could be for 100% of acquisition costs. Tremble agreed to contact Stefanie Brouwer with that question.
Rodney Walter reported that The Nature Conservancy will submit two applications for Stewardship Funds grants, and that retroactive grants could be applied for to cover costs of acquisitions completed since October of 1999.
Tremble agreed to submit grant applications for all recent BRPP acquisitions that have not already been reimbursed by WisDOT with USH12 MOA BRNNL funds.
Ashford requested that Tremble obtain clarification from the County Controller as to whether the County Board could redirect the existing $300K Transaction Clearing Account funds to other uses.
Members viewed a new map of protected land in the Baraboo Range which showed the parcel lines of existing individual properties. Members discussed a variety of strategies for most efficiently applying remaining funds to secure the greatest degree of conservation value, especially in terms of buffering and connecting currently protected land.
Persche moved to convene a closed session, pursuant to s. 19.85 (1)(e):
"Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the
investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business,
whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session." for
the purpose of discussing negotiations with private landowners. Second
by Turnquist.
Motion carried unanimously.
The Commission convened in closed session.
The Commission returned to open session immediately following the closed session.
The next regular session is scheduled for Wednesday August 31, 2005 at 8:30 a.m.
Motion to adjourn by Beard, second by Turnquist.
Motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 10:02 AM.
Respectfully submitted: Dave Tremble, Sauk County Planning and Zoning