May 28, 2020 at 8:00 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  There is no unfinished business to consider.

Rationale:  We have a Corners for Wildlife annual payment to be made to Gerhold Inc.on 38 acres in Butler County. The contract payment is $3,820.00. Pheasants Forever reimburses the District 100%. This contract expires in 2023.

Rationale:  The O & M crew finished all tree plantings and the dispersal of all trees. We fenced a quarter mile of Rawhide Ditch on the Diers property. Cut and treated trees, sprayed thistles and took down an old cattle panel structure in the flood damaged area of Rawhide Ditch. Cut volunteer trees at Homestead Lake. Made some minor repairs to the Czechland Lake dock.

Rationale:  Clear Creek Levee repair continues with the first train of rock placed on site. The second train arrived Monday which will be unloaded and stock piled. With wet conditions the contractor doesn't want to tear areas up at Frontier Co-op or Thomas Lakes. They will proceed as soon as possible on the Thomas Lakes portion of the levee. The third train is scheduled for late next week. A Bathymetric survery was done in the river along the levee at Thomas Lakes to determine the depth of the channel.
The COE are still having difficulty obtaining a permit from BNSF RR for work to be done on the berm adjacent to the railroad. Lower Platte South provided the easements they hold for O & M on that berm.

Rationale:  The contractor had substantially completed all major repairs to Rawhide Ditch 8 on April 30. Staff and JEO have put together a list of items that need to be addressed before the District makes full payment, the contractor is working on those items.
Find attached Change Order 2, a Final Payment Application and a Substantial Completion Form. The change order has changed the original bid cost of the project from $190,300 to $187,791.72. We need a motion.

As per our Temporary Easement with Kirk Brand we must pay him $400 for loss of yield due to compaction in using the edge of his field as an Ingress/Egress for the project. We were to pay him $400 if we were finished by May 1 or $800 after May 1.

Rationale:  FYRA sent FEMA a set of draft plans on May 7. On May 14, sent the draft plans and draft cost breakdown to FEMA and NDNR-Dam Safety for preliminary permit review. May 13, staff sent FEMA their requested information of photos, diagrams, dam inspection reports, maintenance schedule, how maintenance is completed & recorded, and other explanations.
After some discussion, on May 20, FYRA sent FEMA an updated cost breakdown.
FYRA has set up a Pre-Bid Conference for contractors on Tuesday, June 23 at 11:30 to be held at the Wanahoo Education Building.
As of Tuesday, May 26, Chris Poole had his weekly teleconference with FEMA, now FEMA is trending toward not funding a repair and we are not sure about mitigation. Staff and FYRA are now scheduled to have a teleconference with FEMA Thursday, June 4.

Rationale:  We did not receive a bid for haying Czechland Lake. Staff contacted Dan Ourada a neighbor, and past hay recipient. Mr. Ourada also assisted the District in seeding the area 2-3 years ago. He has offered $42.50/ton.  

Rationale:  Landowner Rachel Hawley is working through Saunders County Zoning to build a seasonal cabin in the District's easement area on Dam Cottonwood 22-A. Cottonwood 22-A is one mile east of Malmo. Zoning requires a structure be at least 900 sq. ft. to be permitted. The structure will now be 25' x 36'. It will have running water and sewer, she is working out those details with a well driller because of limited space. JEO has surveyed and certified that the elevation of the site is above dam elevation (letter attached).
Zoning is requiring a letter from the District granting her permission to build in our easement area. We can write a letter of permission when the details of the well and septic are worked out. She has met other requirements such as set backs, elevation, etc.

Rationale:  Heimann met with Saunders County and Tim Gokie (NDNR) on site at Cottonwood 21-A to discuss what needs to be accomplish to get the dam and emergency spillway to the correct elevations. Saunders County will have their Engineering Firm do a survey of the area which may determine if Saunders County can do the physical work and how we work it out financially. Since it's a major public county road, road safety conditions have to be taken into consideration when restructuring the spillway.
Currently, NDNR has this dam listed as "In Poor Condition".

Rationale:  Find attached a preliminary budget outline for Operations.

Budget Expenditures to consider, 1) Repair of the Wanahoo Stilling Basin 2) Restructuring high hazard dam Cottonwood 21-A's emergency spillway as NDNR Dam Safety is requesting, 3) stabilizing the shoreline (1,060' to 1,400') along Rescue Road at Czechland Lake. Both of these items may be in cooperation with Saunders County. 4) Fill the cracks in the RCC Auxiliary Spillway on the Wanahoo Dam as required by NDNR Dam Safety.

Rationale:  We received an updated application from Donald Medinger in Butler County. He wished to repair his jetties in the near future.

We received a cost-share request from James Drahota for a rock revetment or windrow along the Platte River in Colfax County. The cost to his project is $3,500. A 404 permit is not required as the rock is placed on top the of bank and will fall into the river bank as it erodes. 

Rationale:  Plans are still being discussed to have July 4th fireworks at Lake Wanahoo.  Management is in communication with Wahoo city officials, Wahoo Chamber of Commerce and the pyrotechnics regarding this year's show.  Several options are on the table which include 4th of July show, Labor Day show or a show in conjunction with Wahoo's 150th celebration.  Of course, the big issue is gathering size, venue capacity and social distancing guidelines.  We should know more by board meeting.

Rationale:  All cabins have been roughed in for electrical, insulated and work is currently being done to finish the interior and install air conditioners.  Once walls are complete, electrical will be finished, door/windows trimmed and final touches to prepare them for opening.  We are hoping for a mid-June opening date.

Rationale:  Two of the five vault toilets have been opened in the park which allowed us to re-open the primitive tent camping area of the park.  Staff cleans the toilets twice per day and is supplying disinfecting materials for each of the locations.  Staff monitors each toilet throughout the day and the public is being made aware the facilities will be closed down if there are any issues with our supplies being damaged or stolen.

Rationale:  The District has received $21,937.25 in Lake Wanahoo Park Permit revenue for the month of May (as of May 27th). Annual permit totals equal $20,675.00 and day pass totals equal $1,262.25. In comparison, May 2019 annual permit totals equaled $15, 597.50 (see attached files).

Rationale:  The park has been very busy due to Nebraska Game and Parks closing camping during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 27th 2020, the District has received $15,170 from walk-up camping. Staff is currently working through some issues created by Reserve America that have come up due to changes made to their SOP and fee schedule. 

Rationale:  We are featuring the recreation areas for our KTIC Radio ad and Wahoo Newspaper eAds which are attached.
 

Rationale:  After last month, there was a slight decrease in traffic to the website but the Lake Wanahoo page and Czechland Lake continued with higher views than in the past. Lake Wanahoo received the most traffic from Google search results, outdoornebraska.gov, and some from visitnebraska.com.

Month	# of Users	Top Pages/views	Viewing Device
October 2019	710	Home 543 Lake Wanahoo 355 Staff 121 Czechland Lake 100 Contact 95	Desktop 58.73% Mobile 34.48% Tablet 4.79%
April 2020	3,027	Lake Wanahoo 3,181 Home 2,387 Czechland Lake 713 Outdoor Recreation 403 Downloads 316	Mobile 52.43% Desktop 42.32% Tablet 5.25%
May 1-25	2,498	Lake Wanahoo 2,885 Home 1,460 Czechland Lake 555 Outdoor Recreation 430 Downloads 213	Mobile 54.08% Desktop 41.75% Tablet 4.16%

Our Facebook page had a lot less views during May than in April and March. The page has 1,142 followers as of May 25. Our top posts included: updated Wanahoo regulations, Mother’s day post, and Stewardship week "Where would we BEE without pollinators?"

 

Month	Total Views	Total Reach	Total Engaged Users	Followers
October 2019	9,446	6,772	1,273	873
April 2020	21,847	19,261	796	1,115
May 1-25	5,130	4,565	243	1,142

Our Twitter page continues to slowly grow with more followers each month.  
Our top posts included: Bob, Dave and Duke planting trees; Stewardship week "Where would we BEE without pollinators?"; and May board meeting reminder

Month	Impressions	Engagements	Followers
October 2019	3,707	61	300
April 2020	11,068	191	320
May 1-25	4,053	121	325

Rationale:  At this time we are unsure of the status of most of the area fairs. Many are moving to 4-H and FFA events only. Butler County will not have any exhibitor booths. Platte County and Boone County will make a decision June 1^st. I have emailed Colfax and Saunders County and have not heard back yet.
 

Rationale:  Due to COVID-19, all education programs have been cancelled through May 31. UNL-Extension has cancelled their programs through June 15. An alternate date for the 4H/NRD Outdoor Recreation Day (May 29) has been discussed for September and the alternate date for the Saunders County Youth Ag tour has not been decided yet.
 

Rationale:  The RW dept was contacted by a resident concerned about low water pressure.  A pressure test was conducted and an adequate PSI was detected, however, the flow rate was still less than desirable.   All mainline valves on that end of town were exercised and only a slight improvement was noticed.  Further investigation will continue.
RW dept was contacted by the Colon Fire Dept about an apparent leak at their new location.  RW staff noted a leak at the curb stop valve due to improper pipe size for valve box.  ME Collins did this portion of the original install and were contacted to repair/replace the faulty pipe.
Monthly testing completed, meters read and bills will go out 5/29.

Rationale:  All five initial lead and copper tests came back below allowable limits, which is what we want.  All five households received the results per DHHS requirements.  Round two lead and copper sampling will take place later this year.
Routine sampling completed, meters read and bills will go out 5/29.  Of note: new rates go into effect this month.