September 11, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Directors Meeting

The 2017 Annual Water Symposium will be held October 26-27 in Lincoln.

The NARD Annual Fall Conference will be held September 24-26 in Kearney.  See attachment for details.

Attached to the Executive Committee Minutes find Director Sabatka and Clausen's excuse of absence requests from the August Board Meeting.

Mike Sotak FYRA Engineering will update the Board on the Lake Wanahoo Lake Level issues.

Attached to the Executive Committee Agenda are the FY2017-18 NARD Membership Dues in the amount of $25,744.83.

Attached find the Monthly Water Strategies bill.

Attached to the Executive Committee Agenda find resignation letters submitted by Directors Folsom and Clausen.

Due to Secretary Clausen's resignation letter there will need to be a new Board Secretary elected.

We normally have our November Board Meeting in Newman Grove to accommodate the Newman Grove Shell Creek Watershed Group. Director Seier is suggesting the following schedule.

3:15 p.m.     Presentation from Shell Creek Group

3:45 p.m      Start Board Meeting 

6:00 p.m.     Eat Dinner and everyone can head home

Attached find two draft resolutions that will be discussed at the NARD Fall Conference.

Attached find a letter that will be sent to NRD Tenant Harvey Brabec.

Legal Counsel Lausterer will give an update.

We received eleven resumes for the Projects/Rural Water Manager position. Gottschalk and Mountford along with staff will be interviewing five applicants on Thursday, August 31st and Friday, September 1st.  We are planning to have a candidate selected and ready for a Board motion to hire the selected candidate at the September 11th Board Meeting.

Gottschalk will discuss plans to develop procedure to allow employees to request and use "banked" comp hours towards a specific need.

Approval of the June and July Financial Statements will take place after adjusting entries are received from the Audit Firm.  

Valuations have been received from our seven counties with a summary table attached.

At 5:00 p.m. on September 11 the LPNNRD Tax Levy Hearing will be held.

Last month the FY18 budget was approved with the Property Tax Rate to be set in September.  With the new valuations a property tax rate of .037181 needs to be set for FY18.

For information purposes a summary of our past six budgets is attached.  The summary shows that for the past six budget years our property tax asking is virtually the same (decrease of less than 1%) and our property tax levy has decreased 47.6%.

There are no CREP payments.

The O & M crew started the shredding circuit, we started at Czechland Lake, shredded Cottrell & Ames Levees and have moved to Rawhide Ditch 8. We sprayed areas of Czechland where Black Locust has come back rapidly, these areas were cut last winter by the tree removal contractor. We rented a Rone disk from M.E. Collins and disk the Todd Valley wetlands on the Wanahoo property. We picked up the landscaping block for the retaining wall near the Wanahoo kiosk and they started building. Also keeping up with equipment & vehicle maintenance.

The Lake Wanahoo Lake Level committee met Wednesday, August 30 at 7:30 am. Find attached the previous meeting minutes of August 2nd and the current agenda.

Mike Sotak and Connor Kelly gave a power point presentation on the science and engineering behind the hydraulics of the Wanahoo dam, Sand/Duck Creeks and Wahoo Creek watersheds and also covered methods in which we can influence water in the Wanahoo dam and watersheds. Options are 1) modify the weir with slides gates (which is costly), 2) develop modeling, policy/procedures for operating the existing gates with a weather forecast, 3) Leave all alone and use funding to expedite and develop flood reduction practices in Wahoo Creek.

The Lake Level committee made a motion by McDermott, seconded by Bartek to go forward with a weather modeling policy/procedures in operating the current gate system on the Wanahoo Dam.

Find attached the most current revenue and expense sheets from G & P.

Game & Parks Administration gave approval to spend last years income funds on landscape block for the retaining wall at the kiosk (see picture) and crumb rubber for the playground surface.

Staff put the finishing touches on the disc golf pads leveling dirt, etc... now the educational signage will be put in.

Chairman Birkel will appoint five directors to review the Wanahoo SRA Inter-local Agreement and meet with G & P Administration in the near future.

Construction is started on the bird viewing platform by G & P and bird viewing personnel, this is located south of County Road O (see picture).

There will be a Monarch Butterfly tagging event on Saturday, September 9th, 1:00 - 3:00 pm. See attached flyer. Learn about these important pollinators and get a hands on experience. 

On Sand/Duck Dam 16 the terrace and tile was restructured by the contractor. Some fence was replaced and seeding will take place later this fall.

Other projects adjacent to Sand/Duck Dams will be worked on this fall weather permitting.

We met with the Corps and partners in Fremont on Tuesday, August 22nd to review the Corps Recommended Plan which they will present to NW Headquarters. The recommend plan is to provide nonstructural alternatives to the Fremont community at a total estimated cost $15 million, that is if every household and business participated. Cost is paid 65% by the Corps of Engineers, 35% from non-federal sources.  The 35% will come from the landowner and can be supplemented by the city, county or NRD or any combination.

Since the cost is estimated at $15 million or less the study could be pushed back to a 205 Study but, to keep it simple the COE will continue to fund the study with GI funding at this time.

Regarding the flood plain mapping, whether to wait for FEMA/Corps and a possible completion date of 2024 or consider FYRA's $2 million plan that could be completed in 2018/19 (See attached Matrix). Some non-federal partners feel the FYRA plan would be very feasible if all or almost all communities and counties along the Platte River participate.

Lausterer put together a global agreement between the NRD, City of Fremont and Paul Gifford. The District agreed to pay Mr. Gifford $73,800 and other stipulations for the construction of a box culvert. The City of Fremont would reimburse the District $18,400. The District's cost is $55,400. The due date for Mr. Gifford's signature is August 31.

We had another inquiry from a landowner on Skull Creek to repair a hole in his levee/berm.  A cost share application was mailed to him.

We have receive a verbal complaint in Butler County near Bellwood. A letter was sent to the potential violator regarding the law and the availability of cost-share assistance to use conservation measures to slow the erosion and sedimentation process on his 15-30% sloped property. The property will be inspected by NRD staff and NRCS personnel after harvest.

The current ads promote the deadlines for variance requests to expand irrigated acres.  The deadline is September 15^th.  The ads beginning September 16^th will promote the recreation areas and will continue through October 31.

The advertising agreement with KTIC Radio ends on September 17^th.  The cost to continue advertising with the current Display Ad Agreement is $2,190 at a rate of $6.00 per day.  This includes a display ad that rotates on the KTICRadio.com website, a link to our website, listing in the marketplace directory, 6 (30 second) ads per week on KTIC AM 840 and 6 messages a week on FM 107.9 The Bull.  It includes Best Time Available Rotation.  Half are scheduled 5 am-9 pm and half are scheduled Midnight-Midnight.  They are preemptable during the sold out days.  The agreements are attached.

We received a letter from Tim Knott, from the Wachiska Audubon Society, thanking the LPNNRD for supporting the Fertig Prairie Project.  The letter also notes that a new species has been identified in the prairie, the Purple-headed sneezeweed.  It is believed this is the only site in Nebraska where the plant has been identified.  The letter is attached.

Dave Ruder, Founder and C.D.O. of Live Well.Go Fish, met with Desirae about the Live Well. Go Fish program.

This program provides fishing and boating activities for senior citizens, veterans, youth, and people with disabilities.  The program has been very active in taking many groups on Lake Wanahoo on the pontoon boat.

On Friday, September 8th from 9-11 am any interested LPNNRD staff and directors are invited to go out on Lake Wanahoo on the pontoon with Live Well. Go Fish to learn more about the program and see Lake Wanahoo from a different perspective.

If you are interested in joining, please let Desirae know by Friday, August 25th.

Lead and copper samples were taken and submitted to the State.

Monthly water samples were taken, meters read and bills will be going out this week.

Monthly water samples were taken, meters read and bills will be going out this week.

The District received 12 applications for new acres in the Hydrologically Connected Area since the last Water Committee meeting bringing the total to 4981.25 acres. The deadline for applications is September 15th.

The District has a total of 5 applications to review for approval totaling 437.0 acres. Attached is a list of the applications along with a map showing their location. 

Wells Permits Approved: #

The total number of approved permits for 2017 is #


Location of Approved Well Permits for 2017:  Correct as of ####

Staff measured Kenny Pestal Irrigation Well, by his request, on August 10th and then on August 14th.  Kenny irrigated for the first time on August 11th and he finished on the 13th.  August 10th reading was 70.65 ft and the August 14th reading - 80.5 ft.  Measured Martin Erickson irrigation well on August 10 with a measurement of 127.45 ft, with the measurement on June 23, 2017, before starting the 4 hour pump test, - 124.69 ft.  Both wells were running between August 11th and 13th. 

Informational graphs from both monitoring wells are attached. 

The Village of Mead has submitted two Public Water Supply well permits located in the SW 1/4 NE 1/4 S35-T15N-R8E, Todd Valley Subarea, Saunders County. Mead is in the beginning stages of a water improvement project and would like to drill two new Public Water Supply Wells. There are currently two wells that supply water to the Village. One well will be used in conjunction with the two new wells, while the other one will be used primarily for filling trucks and as an emergency back up for the rest of the system. 

The City of Fremont has submitted four dewatering well applications for the NW 1/4 NE 1/4 S28-T17N-R9E, Fremont Subarea, Dodge County. The wells will be used to dewater a project area at the Fremont Waste Treatment Facility. The wells will be in operation for 14 months and will discharge into the Fremont storm water ditch directly north of the facility. 

Complaint 1

A complaint was called into the LPNNRD office on the morning of 8/7/2017.  Irrrigation water from an endgun was hitting the road on the north side of the NE¼ Section 20-T14N-R07E.  Staff proceeding out to the location of the complaint site and took pictures (attached) of the water hitting the road.  The owner/tenant of the land (Martin Erickson) was contacted and he shut off the pivot.  He explained that as this is a new pivot, the degrees of the endgun was not set correctly, but was in the process of correcting that.

Complaint 2

A complaint was called into the LPNNRD office on 8/9/2017 and 8/10/2017.  Irrigation water from an endgun had been hitting the road from the pivot in SW¼ of Section 36-T15N-R5E.  The second day an endgun was observed hitting the road from the SW¼ of Section 31-T15N-R05E The owner/tenant of the land is Duane Ratkovec.  A complete report is attached with pictures.

325 irrigation kits have been mailed out so far in 2017 (19 of these were requested this week).  218 water samples have been returned.

Letters are just about ready to be sent out to the producers. 

At the June 28, 2017 Water Committee, motion (1) offer cost-share for flow meters to producers within 2 miles of the SQS #2 Boundary with-in LPNNRD and (2)to offer cost-share within the SQS #2 area to convert gallons reading registers to acre-inches. Cost-share for registers conversion will be $225 with producer paying the labor cost. Deadline for invoices will be by March 1.

2017 is the fifteenth year for this Phase 2 Area. 

2017 is the second year of this Phase 2 Area.  There are 45 registered active irrigation wells in the ten sections of this new area.

2017 is the second year of this Phase 3 Area.  This Phase 3 area went into effect September 1, 2015.  The 55 sections of this area first went into a Phase 2 Area in 2004.  

Marland Novacek has sent a signed notice stating he would like to transfer 23 acres of his certified irrigated ground in E½ SW¼ 2-16-3E Butler County to Dennis Novacek in NE ¼ 4-16-3E and NW¼ 3-16-3E

Dennis Novacek plans on replacing an existing pivot with Drip Tape and would like the additional transferred acres to make the project feasible.

For 2017 we have 537 renewals and 110 new permit applications for a current total of 647.  Inspections for 146 renewal permits have been completed.

1 Emergency Permit - Dodge County

The breakdown by County for the Total Number of Renewals within the LPNNRD.

The breakdown by county of the number of renewal inspections completed.

The breakdown, by county for the 110 new chemigation permit applications, are listed below:

Eric, Tom, Joe Birkel, Jovan and Daryl met to discuss the handling of chemigation violations.  The LPNNRD does not have policy in place at this time for staff to follow.  One issue is the use of the Emergency Permit, as a lot of NRDs statewide use this as a violation tool.  This appears to be the incorrect way of handling a violation.

Other areas that need to be discussed 

• Violation - suspension or revocation 
  • 10 day suspension
• System or systems - site specific or all sites
• What violations constituents sending to County Attorney 
  • chemigating without permit
  • no valid applicator license
  • faulty equipment
  • no safety equipment at all
  • overlook sending in a permit with his other permits
    • Putting down the wrong legal
  • other 
• Staff has authority to make a request to producer to shut down the system and turning violation over to appropriate County Attorney. 

Other Suggestions: 

If a site is found 

• without a permit but tank and equipment are in place
• without a permit with a tank with product in place

the land owner/tenant will be notified with a written notice to allow violators to come into compliance. In the event if the landowner or tenant does not respond to the written violation notice and doesn't come into compliance then it will notify DEQ and issues an order to suspend the operation of the well until a valid permit is complete and it has passed an inspection. Once the notice is provided to the violator we could notify the county attorney to initiate litigation. 

Staff suggests that a policy needs to be put in place and rules updated where needed.  Goal is to have something in place before the end of the year.

A meeting is scheduled for September 5 at LPN.

A meeting is being held with DNR on August 31 at LPN office.  Staff will be discussing the edited draft IMP version along with the next steps.

1 well has been plugged, reviewed, and ready for cost share payment approval this month.

Staff attended a 2½ day Nebraska GeoCloud Workshop working with the GeoScene3D software.  Torben Bach from Denmark and Jesse Korus - UNL demonstrated how the software works and its capablity on management scenarios.  The GeoCloud is being designed to host all of the AEM information and other GIS files and models.

The GeoScene software presented at the workshop was informative but yet fairly challenging.  Right now there is 2 versions available, one to view information and the other is a full fledge modeling software with a lot of capabilities.  One suggestion to Jesse is a version something in between to do basic point modeling after the initial model is developed. Attached is an example of AEM information within GeoScene3D.

Another workshop is being planned for this winter on a version designed for Nebraska.    

Eric and Daryl attended The Lower Platte River Consortium meeting on August 22 at LPS. Attached is a project update on the Forecasting and Conveyance tools along with initial Mitigation Alternatives.  The plan is to host another workshop in January or February for the purpose of presenting the tools and discuss other alternatives.  The next meeting for the group will be mid to late October.   

Staff went out and inspected potential sites on the Platte River at Fremont, North Bend and Columbus along with a site on Skull Creek near Linwood. These sites will have stream gauges with a couple sites having piezometers installed.  The equipment will be installed in September after receiving permission. 

The LPNNRD has received the final report for the AEM flights conducted in 2016 for the SQS#1 and SQS#2 (which is attached). Staff is reviewing the report with the plan for James Cannia of Aqua Geo Frameworks coming to visit with staff the first part of October. A presentation to the Board is being planned with Jim Cannia either in October or November to answer questions.  All of this information will be located at www.enwra.org, with a sample view attached on what the website would look like. 

An invoice of $83,333 for final payment is attached to complete the 2016-17 project. As part of the original WSF grant (60-40) the LPNNRD will be reimbursed $49,999.80. 

Wann Basin Summer Measurements:

2017- Spring to Summer average decline - 1.27 ft. 

Summer of 2016 to Summer of 2017 - Lower by 1.20 ft. average

A few selected graphs are attached. 

Fremont Lake #10 is on the list for E Coli.

Week of Aug 21, 2017   

This week's beach Bacteria and Harmful Algal Bloom results are now posted on the NDEQ web page (http://deq.ne.gov).

Few notes for today.

Bluestem was below 20 ppb but will remain on Health Alert for at least one more week.

Swan Creek Lake (5A) and Willow Creek Reservoir will be removed from the Health Alert list.

It is important to remember that even if a beach is under Health Alert Status it is still open for all non-contact activities!

Harmful Algal Blooms

ONE Lake will be on "Health Alert" this week. NDEQ in conjunction with numerous collaborators monitor public beaches and sample for microcystin, a toxin produced as a result of a Harmful Algal Bloom. A lake that exceeds 20 ppb of microcystin will be placed on "Health Alert". That lake will remain under  "Health Alert" Status until such time that it has tested below 20 ppb for two continuous weeks.

If a lake is under a Health Alert, signs will be posted recommending people avoid full body contact activities such as swimming, wading, skiing, jet skiing, etc.

Non-contact activities such as boating, fishing, and camping are OK.  

Bacteria

Lakes that tested high for E. coli bacteria this week are listed below. E. coli  bacteria levels measured above 235 colonies/100 ml of sample are considered a higher risk for illness when swimming.  Considering the more rapid changes in bacteria conditions, signs are not posted with these higher levels although we want people to be aware and use their own judgment on their use.

Lakes with High E. coli Bacteria Levels

This information is updated weekly on our web site,http://deq.ne.gov/NDEQProg.nsf/Beaches2017.xsp . We hope you find this interesting and useful.

An invoice is attached from Dana Divine - UNL.  Dana developed cross sections from Newman Grove to Fremont and David City to Ashland.  The posters along with the information will be used at Certification Classes and within the office.  The Cross Sections are also on the LPN website. 

A drought map for 8/22/2017 is attached.  Looking a lot better for the District.

Live Well Go Fish program provides fishing and boating activities for senior citizens, veterans, youth, and people with disabilities.  You may have seen them on Lake Wanahoo with a pontoon boat. 

If staff and directors are interested to go out on the lake for a pontoon ride on Lake Wanahoo and learn more about the Live Well Go Fish program, a event is scheduled for 9-11 am on Friday, September 8^th.  Please let Desirae know if you are planning to join us by Friday, August 25^th or ASAP. (Desirae will need a head count for the arrangements.)

A brief update on the field day at Bailey's Ag Supply on August 7.

No unfinished business at this time.

Gottschalk reviewed the status of our SWCP funds and allocations as attached to the Projects Committee minutes. 

James Gerrard     Windbreak Renovation     $ 1,000.00  ($ 327.00 trees)

17-B-1      Patrick Roh      W/S Basins with Tile            $ 3,570.90

17-S-11    David Vrana     Emergency Terrace repair     $   587.50

None

Gottschalk reported that will be using up our remaining banked 319 Phase I grant funds toward Lands for Conservation payments this fall.

We have moved forward with the bid process on the Kramer Shell Creek Bank Stabilization Project.  This is one of four designed projects that are eligible for EPA/NDEQ and NET grant funding. As authorized by the Board, we have been working with Mark Mainelli, (Mainelli, Wagner & Associates) to assist with this process. Mainelli has sent out notices to contractors and beginning this week, we started advertising for bids for three consecutive weeks in the Columbus and Schuyler newspapers to meet our requirements.  Bid openings will be 10:00 a.m., Thursday, September 21, 2017, in the Commissioners Board room, at the Colfax County Courthouse.

We have had discussions about approving a bid on September 21, to allow a contractor to proceed as soon as possible.   After discussion of various options, the committee desired to have the Board authorize Board Chair Birkel and/or Projects Chair Terry Sobta to approve a bid on September 21st and not change the scheduled September 28th Projects Committee Meeting date. Prior to the bid opening at 8:30 a.m., a tour of the Kramer project area,  the completed Bailey Landowner Shell Creek Levee Project and possible other sites is being planned for attending Board and staff members. 

The Shell Creek Landowner Levee Project led by Mel and Kitty Bailey is complete. The Board has previously approved up to $80,000 from the Shell Creek sinking fund to be used toward this project.  There is $76,380 of unused approved funding remaining for the project and a recommendation to pay this amount is requested.   

The completed project construction costs came in much higher than anticipated at $372,895.51.  Our assistance toward the construction at this point is just over 20 percent. The committee is asked to discuss the possibility of approving additional assistance for the project.  If additional funding assistance is approved, it would be need to be included in next year's (FY 2019) budget and/or beyond.

Mel Bailey was present and expressed his deep appreciation for the $80,000 already committed for the project.  He suggested that is additional assistance is considered, a maximum assistance level for all project phases be raised from $80,000 to $125,000, which would be an additional $45,000 toward the project. If approved, our total project contribution will be 33.5%. 

Attached are two applications for septic inspection and upgrades in the Shell Creek Watershed.  These are approved practices identified in the new approved NDEQ grant application. The grant pays 100% for the inspection (if upgrade is completed) and 50% maximum toward the new system. 

Larry Formanek  Septic Inspection and Upgrade   $3,300 

Ed Wemhoff       Septic Inspection and Upgrade   $3,300 

Lee Osten          Septic Inspection and Upgrade   $3,300

Eldon Jedlicka    No-Till 2017 Payment                $315

LPNNRD has entered into Regional Conservation Partnership Program Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for constructing two Wahoo Creek floodwater reduction dams, Sites 26 & 27.  These dam sites are two of the remaining identified potential sites identified in NRCS’s 1998 Watershed Plan.  LPNNRD has submitted a Water Sustainability Fund application to the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources to assist with the local costs.  NRCS will be providing $1.5 million of federal funding toward the constructing the dams, that have a total estimated project cost of over $5.2 million.  If our WSF application is successful, the estimated remaining local share would be approximately $1.5 million. 

LPNNRD worked with FYRA last week on submitting an application to NRCS for federal financial assistance for completing the remaining eight larger Wahoo Creek flood deduction dams that were identified in their 1998 Wahoo Creek Watershed Plan.  NRCS has made available $150 million nationally for watershed projects through their old P.L. 566 program that traditionally funded flood reduction projects, which has been mostly dormant for over 20 years.  Of the $150 million, $100 million will be available for new project applications.

LPNNRD continues to work with Saunders County who will be sending out proposal request to engineering firms for the design, permitting and eventual construction of Saunders County road dams at priority locations where bridge replacements are needed.