November 2, 2016 at 8:30 AM - Operations & Education Committee Meeting

Rationale:  Nothing to recount

Rationale:  There are no contract payments.

Rationale:  The O & M Crew assisted in the land judging event by shredding the area, digging the holes then filling, plus the event. Continue to cut out invasive trees at Czechland and Homestead. Sprayed 50 acres of grassland in the first phase of the grassland renovation at Homestead. Moved a gate for the landowner on Sand/Duck Creek dam 16. Sprayed a problem thistle area at Lake Wanahoo. Hauled sheet pile to Rawhide Ditch 8 for project repair.

Rationale:  Heimann met with Saunders County regarding a parking area off of County Road O for wildlife viewing at Wanahoo.  The County will replace the existing culvert, clean out the ditch for proper drainage and use the material to build up the parking area. Anticipating it to be done this fall.

Rationale: 

Dan Ourada has paid the District $4,376.84 for 84.17 tons of hay taken from Czechland.

The tree removal contractor has not started.

Staff filled the geo-web on the east shoreline with gabion rock. See attached photos. We also need to add some rock to the handicap jetty to help prevent erosion under the sidewalk. Also, rip-rap on each side of the boat ramp at Homestead Lake.

Rationale:  The District is obtaining two informal bids from two contractors on the Paul Gifford drive with a culvert.  With the two bids, the City of Fremont and the NRD will negotiate a settlement on this issue. Gifford did not accept the previous offer of $39,503 for a 90' culvert made by the District and Fremont.  If not resolved at a proper price for construction, the District and Fremont may contract it out ourselves.

Rationale:  Meduna Family Farms on the late cutting harvested 155.9 tons of hay, paying the District $7,016.09. Both cuttings generated $14,245.79 from the Lake Wanahoo property.

Rationale: 

The Lake Wanahoo Lake Level Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, November 10 at 5:00 pm at the Lower Platte North NRD office.

It was stated that an Engineering Firm attend the Advisory Committee meetings.  Who do we want to have attend - FYRA Engineering with experience in hydrology and structural or Olssons with experience in the 408 application process.  Both firms will charge an hourly rate.

Rationale:  Heimann has put together a narrative of post construction deficiencies (attached) on the Seven Sand/Duck Creek dams and sent it to the Corp of Engineers asking for assistance in correcting them.  The COE has responded with an explanation (attached) of why it is not their responsibility, or that it's built to specs, or it's an O & M issue for the District. Staff will send a rebut to their response.

Rationale:  The Corps of Engineers has organized a Non-Federal partners meeting for Thursday, November 10 at 9:00 a.m. in the Fremont City Counsel Chambers. The COE will update us on the study and tell us how we will proceed with a public meeting most likely after the first of the year.

Rationale:  John Deere has offered the District a rental agreement for the 2017 season.  They will rent a John Deere 8245R to the District for $3,500 not to exceed 200 hours.  This is the same price as the current rental agreement.

Rationale:  The contract with Olsson Associates to monitor the Lake Wanahoo Dam relief wells and piezometers has expired.  An amendment to the contract is attached to monitor the dam this fall at the contracted price of $1,363.92.  A new contract will be developed with Olsson Associate beginning in 2017. 

Rationale:  Mead Public Schools has submitted a request for $1,000 to plant trees north of the high school. (See attachment)  They are replacing an old Scotch Pine windbreak that was taken by Pine Wilt Disease. They will have Kasper Landscaping do the work.  Currently, they are in the process of taking out the old trees.  Total project cost estimate is $12,510.

Rationale:  The previous months approval of David Marshall was inspected by Heimann & Mountford and found in compliance.

Rationale: 

The Public Hearing for the Districts revised Erosion & Sediment Rules & Regulations was opened at 8:15 a.m. at the Lower Platte North NRD office on Wednesday, November 2. There were no public comments and the hearing closed at 8:30 a.m.

The revised Erosion & Sediment Rules & Regulations will be approved by our board of directors, forwarded to the Department of Natural Resources who sends them to the Commissioners for review before their December 12th meeting.  With approval from the Natural Resource Commission the document is then sent to the Director of the Dept. of Natural Resources for his signature.

Rationale: 

The KTIC Radio Ad for November will focus on the fertilizer application report deadlines.  This month’s Wahoo Newspaper eAd will promote the abandoned well program.  The ads are attached.

Rationale: 

The 2016 East Central Region Land Judging Contest was held on October 12^th.  177 students from 13 FFA chapters participated. The number of individual registrations was similar to previous years, but the number of FFA chapters participating has increased.  LPNNRD sent $354 to the chairman of the state land judging committee for student registrations.

The individual and team results are attached.  23 students qualified for the state competition on October 26th.  These students represented Mead, East Butler, Raymond Central, Norris, and Milford.  

Rationale: 

We received a donation request from the Schuyler FFA for their tree seedling project.  The FFA Chapter (50 students) has been collecting and storing a variety of locally sourced seeds (acorns, walnuts, etc.) and will begin planting in the spring.  Initial costs will be the purchase of propagation trays and flats for spring planting ($300 ).  These will be transferred to #1 nursery containers ($350).  The chapter has not officially decided what to do with the trees.  They have discussed selling to the community, planting in public spaces around town, or possibly providing them to rural landowners in the area.  

Rationale: 

Construction will begin for the tee pads for the Nature Education Trail/Disc Golf Course.    Attached is an invoice from Arps Red-E-Mix for concrete.  The invoice indicates the price for one cubic yard.  The project requires 6 cubic yards.  

Rationale:  We are meeting with Neil (Phoenix Group) this afternoon for an update and review of their work on our remote meter reading project.  If everything works out as planned, we will be able to remote read all meters daily and create individual usage reports as needed.

Rationale: 

All meters were read and bills are being mailed today.  Scheduled samples have been drawn and submitted to the State for analysis.

Meter pit has been installed, line ran and main tapped for new customer service on Colon line.  

Staff has assisted two Colon customers with tracing water leaks on customer side of meter.

Quarterly sewer rate reimbursement has been submitted to village of Colon.

New accounting firm, ADP, now has access to our billing software and will be able to generate needed monthly reports related to the Colon line.

Rationale: 

All meters were read and bills are being mailed today.  Scheduled samples have been drawn and submitted to the State for analysis.

 

New accounting firm, ADP, now has access to our billing software and will be able to generate needed monthly reports related to the Bruno line.