February 27, 2020 at 8:00 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  There is nothing to consider.

Rationale:  There is nothing to consider.

Rationale:  The O & M crew has been cutting trees on District properties, burning tree piles and maintaining vehicles and equipment.

Rationale:  The contractor for Lincoln Water Systems has finished their project within the Fuse Plug floodway. Our contractor is finishing the final grading in the Fuse Plug floodway from Lincoln water line to the river. They have removed most if not all excess material and stock piled it. They are moving the stock pile (random fill) to the breach in the levee just north of County Road F. They will have the breach 90% complete by March 1. The last 10% is placing rip-rap. They are having difficultly finding rock that meets specs and will probably rail in rock from Missouri. Some of the random fill will also be used on the levee at Thomas Lakes, along with some broken concrete rip-rap that came out of the breach area. The weather has been very good for work.

Rationale:  Gana Excavating completed the emergency repairs on the Brand & Diers properties. For this emergency repair JEO has incurred additional cost for engineering and oversight of $5,990.00, this is above the original scope of work as the landowners requested the breach areas be closed before Spring flooding. See attached Amendment No. 1 Scope of Work.
We are currently advertising for the remaining work along Ditch 8. There's a site showing on February 27th at 1:00 pm. Bids are due by 10:00 a.m. on March 5 and will be read aloud. Bids will be presented to the Board on March 9th for possible approval.
JEO sent out plans for bid to 13 contractors, five contractors were present at the site showing. We received two bids - 1) Husker Engineering, Burwell, NE $190,300 with a start date of March 23rd, 2) Kohl Construction, Schuyler, NE $257,757 with a start date of April 6.  JEO gave a opinion of cost between $170,000 - 200,000. Motion Needed.

Rationale:  A special meeting, in which the entire Board is invited, with FYRA Engineering for question and answers on the Wanahoo Dam Stilling Basin repair will take place on March 5 at 12:00 pm at District Headquarters. A recommendation can be made at the March 9th Board Meeting on how to proceed.

Rationale:  Staff met with a Clear Creek District representative and discussed sharing or assisting in some of the maintenance items dealing with the short segment of Ditch 1 in the Thomas Lakes area. Lausterer will develop a Inter-local agreement regarding the assistance with maintenance to be approval by both District's.

Rationale:  The amended changes regarding "Snow Dogs" and ice fishing and target practice have been made, (See attachment). A recommendation to approve the Park Regulations as a whole as amended is needed.
Committee recommends striking "The District has the right to deny permission based on the condition and safety of the ice", under the Ice Fishing with a Motorized Vehicle regulation.

Rationale:  We will advertise to accept hay bids for portions of our recreation area lands at Czechland, Homestead and Wanahoo. The Committee and Board will approve a bid(s) at a future meeting.

Rationale:  Rachel Hawley a new landowner on the west end of Cottonwood 22-A is requesting permission to build a small cottage for seasonal use in the District's easement area, in the NW corner above the Emergency Spillway. (See Attachments).
Nebraska Dept. Natural Resources Dam Safety does not have a problem with this as long as the structure is higher than the top of dam elevation.
Lausterer is recommending that if we approve this structure in the easement area we ask the property owner to provide detailed construction specifications, exact location, building elevation, access point to building, follow zoning regulations and permitting, etc. we are basing our approval on specifications so these details can be amended to the easement.
Staff will notify Ms. Hawley of the required listed specifications she will need to provide before the District approves her project.

Rationale:  Directors Thompson, Olson, Pollard and Saeger and Gottschalk met with the group to discuss additional plans for repair of breach area on the property owned by Fremont Rod and Gun Club.  The initial construction was completed last Saturday (2-22-20) at a total cost of $ 188,618.  This amount was below the estimated cost of $ 200,000.  At Wednesday's meeting discussion was in regards to the remaining work needed to close off the breach area.  JEO has been in touch with the USACE and it appears, due to the emergency situation which still exists in the area the emergency work will be approved and allowed to be considered sufficient for a substantial portion of the final repairs.
  The estimated total to complete the project is approximately $100,000.  By utilizing the savings of $11,382 from the first phase, the additional amount needed would be $88,618 total.  With percentages remaining the same as before this would mean an additional $11,077.25 would be LPNNRD's share.
  Discussion and motion is requested.

Rationale:  Kay Poppe has sent an invoice and letter of request for cost share assistance for levee repair on Skull Creek in Saunders Co. Her tenant, Jordan Kremlacek, was not able to farm a large tract of land because of the flood damage. Kay's repair cost is $6,943. She is eligible for 50% cost-share up to $4,000.

Rationale:  The District sold 302 permits in February for a total of $5,360. YTD sales total $21,485.

The short ice fishing season has slowed sales in comparison to the 2019 season (500 permits for $9,677.50).

Rationale:  The District has generated $1,833.77 in camping revenue for the month of February. YTD totals are $5,388.94.

Rationale:  Staff has received two quotes for the exterior construction of the proposed cabins to be built on the property (see attached map for location).

Wright Shed Co.: $5,125.00 (estimate attached)

Hancock Construction: $5,588.00

Staff has also been in contact with Butler Public Power District(BPPD). BPPD provides electric service to the campground and will need to run new service from the transformer near the Wanahoo shed  down to the cabins. Initial estimates were above expected costs so staff is working on offering in-kind work to help lower the overall cost of that portion of the project.  

Rationale:  The end of February and March KTIC Radio ad and Wahoo Newspaper eAd are attached. These ads are promoting the availability of tree and shrub orders from the LPNNRD.
 

Rationale:  The 2020 winter issue of the Viaduct has been submitted for printing and distribution. Expected circulation date for the area newspapers will start 3-5-2020.

Rationale:  Website Data

	Users	Sessions	Traffic Channel		Top Page	Views		Devices	Percent
January 1-31, 2020	942	1297	Organic 57.7%		Home	828		Desktop	63.42%
			Direct 22.4%		Lake Wanahoo	699		Mobile	32.30%
			Referral 16.5%		Downloads	172		Tablet	4.28%
			Social 15.5%		Staff	156
					Contact	106
					Board	91
					Czechland	73
					Forestry	72
					Nitrogen Classes	59
					Test Request	50
February 1-26	804	1003	Organic 59.5%		Home	651		Desktop	62.69%
			Direct 23.7%		Lake Wanahoo	478		Mobile	33.33%
			Referral 13.8%		Staff	138		Tablet	3.98%
			Social 3%		Downloads	131
					Board	108
					Contact	91
					Czechland	82
					Forestry	67
					Links	47
					District Map	43

Facebook Data

	Total Views/Impressions	Total Reach	Total Engaged Users	Followers
January 2020	4135	3990	112	910
Top post: NWS-Valley 2020 Flood Outlook	521	525	17
Top Post: Tree orders available	374	366	10
Top post: Nitrogen classes	361	350	10
February 2020	3953	3879	95	949
Top post: HMP second round meetings (top 3)	556	544	42
Top 4: Nebraska Cover Crop and Soil Health Conference	284	286	4
Top 5: Spring Flood Outlook presentation Fremont	261	258	3

Twitter Data
 

	Impressions	Engagements	Followers
January 2020	7669	83	308
Top Post: NWS-Valley 2020 Flood Outlook	1428	12
Top Post: Tree Orders	1192	15
Top Post: Prescribed Fire Training	1090	12
February 2020	9833	158	313
Top Post: Shell Creek Watershed scholarship	1591	24
Top Post: Nebraska Cover Crop/Soil Health Conference	1391	19
Top Post: Tree orders available	909	7

Rationale:  The Pheasants Forever Lower Platte Chapter has sent a donation request for their annual banquet on April 17^th. They are requesting a $250 sponsorship. This will be their 21^st annual banquet, held at Camp Carol Joy Holling outside of Ashland. The goal of the banquet is to raise funds for conservation projects, youth mentored hunts and other projects in Saunders County and Nebraska.

In 2019, $250 was donated to the banquet in recognition of the partnership with the Pheasants Forever Lower Platte Chapter.
 

Rationale: 

Date	School/Group	Grade/Age	# of students	Topic	Staff
Wednesday, February 12	Wahoo Public	3rd grade	71	Soil conservation and pollution	Sabatka/Elliott/Nelson
February 12-13	St. Wenceslaus	Pre-K	29	Water Conservation	Sabatka/Nelson
Tuesday, February 18	Wahoo Public	8th grade	18	Survival Kit	Sabatka/Nelson/Gottschalk
Monday, February 24	Ashland/Greenwood	High School		Test Your Well Night with LPSNRD	Andersen/Sabatka

Rationale:  Nebraska’s NRDs are hosting the 2020 National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon at UNL in Lincoln, July 26 - August 1. This competition is for high school students and will bring more than 500 people from 46 states, several Canadian provinces and China.
If you are interested in volunteering, please visit with Lacey. There is a form that needs filled out and all volunteers will be background checked against state and national sex offender list.
 

Rationale:  New rates for Colon RWD take effect this billing cycle. 
Elliott has been in contact with Nebraska USDA-RD for our yearly reporting for our loan.  All required documentation has been submitted.
The RWD was contacted by a resident of Colon with a complaint about the taste of their water.  Elliott visited the residence and performed a simple water quality analysis; ran the faucet for 5 minutes, inpsected clarity (good), smell (none detected), taste (two cups down and no worries).
Normal monthly sampling completed, meters read, and bills will go out 3/1.

Rationale:  Elliott has been in contact with DHHS regarding our new testing protocol for lead and copper; they will send out procedure material and contact info the beginning of March.
Routine monthly sampling completed, meters read, bills will go out 3/1.