November 9, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Directors Meeting

Rationale: 

NOTE: The agenda is on file at the LPNNRD office and may be changed up to 24 hours prior to the meeting as scheduled.

 

Rationale:  Are there any additions or corrections to the agenda?

Rationale:  Sean Parks and Andrew Phillips with Olsson will review the Proposal/Scope of Services for Instrumentation Monitoring/Data and Stability Evaluation on the Wanahoo Dam.  

Rationale:  Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? If not they will be approved on the consent agenda.

Rationale:  Gottschalk will update committee on last month's mediation process and the agreement reached.

Rationale:  Bob has spoken with Olsson representatives and they would be available for a short presentation on the Wanahoo dam relief wells and to review their Proposed Scope of Services to monitor the dam for the next two years, the cost and explanations behind the monitoring.

Rationale:   

Rationale:  Manager has reviewed current employee uniform reimbursement program and will be updating program to include the following:
1)  Staff members working in the field will be allowed to use program to purchase jeans.
2)  Staff maximum, per year, allocation will be increased from $ 95 to $ 125 for O&M staff and from $ 60 to $ 90 for all other staff.  

The last review and update of these limits was done in February of 2011.
The above changes will take effect January 1, 2021 which is the beginning of our new reimbursement cycle.

 

Rationale:  Management has worked with NRCS to develop and outline the Unfunded Cooperative Agreement for fiscal year 2021.  This is an annual agreement allowing the two agencies to jointly address opportunities, needs and resources relating to carrying out the main inter-local agreement signed by both parties last December.

Rationale:  Position has been posted on all our social media sites as well as Wahoo and Fremont newspapers.  Our plan is to schedule interviews the week of Nov. 9th and have the new employee on staff before the end of November.

Rationale:  Attached fin the September Financial Statements.  Grant will be available via conference call to go over the financial report with the Executive Committee.

Now that the Annual Audit is complete we can formally approve the July, August and September Financial Statements. 

Rationale:  Attached find Manager Gottschalk's time and expense sheets.

Rationale:  Each November we renew our "Line of Credit" with Union Bank. Gottschalk is working with Union Bank and will have paperwork ready for approval and signatures by the November 9th board meeting.

Rationale:  We have no unfinished business to consider.

Rationale:  Nothing to consider.

Rationale:  The O & M crew placed rip-rap around a monitoring well along the shore of Lake Wanahoo, we continue to eliminate trees on different properties which will be the bulk of our work during the winter months. Prepare equipment for winter. 

Rationale:  The completion of the minor repairs, ROW markers, fencing, staff gauges and a list of smaller items has been completed. The Corps is working with the contractor on all contract closeout documents. We will be notified for acceptance of the Project and if there's a final inspection. The close-out process is occurring.

Rationale:  Valley Corp is still anticipating a mid-November start in placing filter material and prepping for sheet pile placement in early December.

Rationale:  A conference call took place Wednesday, October 28 to cover the Western Sarpy Clear Creek (WSCC) easements, O & M Addendum and O & M Manual for the Levee Systems. See attached a letter from the Nebraska National Guard stating that they have provided a 25 year permanent easement for O & M on the levee on their property. The NRD's are requesting that the easements from the National Guard and the Corps of Engineers (Feds) be perpetual easements. The letter states that they will work on  changing it to a perpetual easement. We received the Corps letter the day of committee (also attached). See attached the U.S. Army 25 year permanent easement.

The COE is trying to complete the WSCC O & M Manual before the end of the year, even though there will be changes in the future to maps and some descriptions because of ongoing improvements being made to the levee within the Guard Camp.
Also, the NRD's and the National Guard are trying to put finishing touches on the O & M Agreement Addendum which is tied to the easements and physical changes being made to the levee. 
We hope to bring these final easements to the Board in December for approval.

Rationale:  Staff will meet with Bob Sullivan the new Dam Safety Engineer for the NRCS today on site at 1:00 pm. Sullivan was to contact Tim Gokie with NDNR Dam Safety for the details of the problem on Cottonwood 21-A.
Since this is a High Hazard dam and designed by NRCS, we are hoping for some cost-share assistance from the NRCS.
Mountford and Heimann met Sullivan to assess the situation. Sullivan is recommending that NRCS to a Dam Assessment on Cottonwood 21-A. An assessment will evaluate  the condition of the structure and the potential scope of any needed rehabilitation. Sullivan will also touch base with their financial headquarters to see how competitive it is to obtain rehabiliation funding.

Rationale:  Heimann met Joel Schommer with M.E. Collins a second time to review the cracks in the RCC. Joel is their concrete/bridge specialist. Joel stated that Collins could fill the horizontal cracks with a hot tar substance such as they do on streets/highways and fill the broken RCC and gaps with Shotcrete. He forwarded contact information to Concrete Industries in Lincoln to which the District can buy the appropriate materials to fill other cracks such as the hair line cracks on the concrete poured ogee weir and the vertical cracks in the RCC with a chalk or paste type material.
He stated that there's nothing to professional in applying these materials and that staff and/or summer employees could do this.

Rationale:  Olsson's has sent a Proposal or Scope of Services for Instrumentation Monitoring/Data and Stability Evaluation for a period of September 28, 2020 to December 31, 2022.
There are many different items to monitor on the Wanahoo Dam (See Scope of Services Attached). Sean Parks and Andrew Phillips with Olsson, will be available via Zoom to go over the basis of the proposal and as a Board Meeting Educational Presentation go into more detail as to what will be monitored/evaluated and why. We ask that you review this document before Board Meeting and prepare your questions.

Rationale:  The Sanitary & Improvement District No.8 (Woodcliff) has submitted assistance requests for project repair of their existing bank stabilization project and also for a new road raise project at the same location (letter attached).

The SID's first request is for assistance on the local share for repairing 2019 flood damages to their bank stabilization project.  They are working with FEMA/NEMA for up to 87.5% on the repairs. The SID's estimated local 12.5% on the repair is $137,000 on what appears to be $1,096,000 total cost.   LPNNRD approved $300,000 assistance toward the original bank stabilization project and has made three $75,000 payments ($225,000) thus far, with one $75,000 payment remaining this fiscal year.

The SID's second request is $400,000, which is 50% of an estimated $800,000 road raise flood risk reduction project (for engineering and construction).

Since we just received these requests, we thought it best to present them to both the Projects and Operations Committees for discussion before inviting SID representatives to elaborate.  This is the first LPNNRD has been informed of these projects, we have been informed the the road raise is 75% complete.  While we have budgeted funds for flood damage repairs under Interlocal Project Emergency Repairs and the Rock and Jetty Program, there are no budgeted funds available for the road raise project this fiscal year.

Rationale:  The Corps of Engineers is preparing to send out the Fremont Non-Structural 205 Study Report for Agency and Public Review. They will send out the report to the Non-Federal partners by Mid-November. They would like to have agency and public meetings in early December.

Rationale:  We received a request for reimbursement from Joel Engel for repair of a jetty on the Platte River in Butler County. The invoice is for $2,340.00. Staff has inspected the site.
Our policy is to pay 50% up to $4,000.

Rationale:  As of 10/28/2020, the District has received $2,750.30 in park entry permit revenue. Of that, $512.50 is from annual park permit sales. The YTD annual permit total is $95,957.50 and overall park entry sales are $120,339.79.

Our 2019 totals for October were $572.50 and the YTD annual permit total was $82,200.

Rationale:  For the month of October, the District received $10,137.00 in camping revenue. 

All cabins now have radiant electric baseboard heaters installed. We hope that this will attract late season campers and ice fishers over the winter. 

Rationale:  During the month of October, the building was rented 27 times. Of these, 4 were NRD meetings, 1 donor rental, and 5 were school groups or youth organizations. Revenue for month of October was $1,240
Full Rentals: 7
Day Rentals: 10
Night Rentals: 8

Rationale:  KTIC Radio ad for October and November is featuring the voluntary cost-share program available to landowners in the Shell Creek Watershed to upgrade septic systems that have an open discharge (see attached).

Wahoo Newspaper eAd is attached for the month of October- featuring the slogan of "Working today. Conserving for future generations."
 

Rationale:  LPNNRD Website: In October, we saw a drop in traffic to the Lake Wanahoo and Czechland Lake pages. Desktop and mobile views are nearly the same again. Sabatka continues to work on improving the mobile portion of our website.

LPNNRD Website	# 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%
September 2020	1,366	Lake Wanahoo 1,205 Home 761 Czechland Lake 282 Outdoor Recreation 188 Downloads 146	Desktop 52.71% Mobile 42.97% Tablet 4.32%
October 1-25 2020	1,105	Home 650 Lake Wanahoo 646 Board of Directors 370 Czechland Lake 125 Downloads 122	Desktop 48.51% Mobile 47.42% Tablet 4.07%

Facebook top posts: The Lower Platte North Natural Resources District in Wahoo is seeking an individual to fill the permanent position of Education Coordinator. Coordination and creation of classroom and outdoor educational outreach for youth and adults, customer assistance for LPNNRD, and more! Resumes are by 12:00 NOON on Friday, November 6.  The Lower Platte North NRD is an equal opportunity employer. For a full description, please visit https://lpnnrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Education-Job-Announcement.pdf
  
We had beautiful weather and a great turnout today for the East Central Land Judging Contest! Thank you to all the instructors, contestants and volunteers that made this year's modified contest happen!
  
Shared Press Release - Over 180 students from 11 FFA Chapters explored four soil pits near Czechland Lake Recreation Area to compete in the East Central Regional Land Judging Contest on Tuesday, October 5th. Congratulations to Milford, East Butler, Raymond Central and Wilber-Clatonia FFA teams!

 

Facebook	Total Views	Total Reach	Total Engaged Users	Followers
October 2019	9,446	6,772	1,273	873
September 2020	2,549	2,320	100	1,185
October 1-25 2020	3,882	3,374	174	1,186

Twitter top posts: We’ve been sharing the 12 areas of responsibility on Facebook this month and last month and they have been doing well on both platforms. And our followers continue to slowly increase on Twitter.
  
The Lower Platte North NRD is dedicated to the conservation, preservation, and wise use of our natural resources. Nebraska's NRDs are charged under state law with 12 areas of responsibility. Learn more about fish and wildlife habitat programs at lpnnrd.org
  
The Lower Platte North NRD is dedicated to the conservation, preservation, and wise use of our natural resources. Nebraska's NRDs are charged under state law with 12 areas of responsibility. Learn more about forestry and range management programs at lpnnrd.org
  
LPNNRD is seeking an individual to fill the permanent position of Education Coordinator. Coordination and creation of classroom and outdoor education for youth and adults, more! Resumes are due by 12:00 NOON on Friday, November 6, 2020. Learn more at https://t.co/LRi3ncbXwQ https://t.co/07dGtbKjIf
 

Twitter	Impressions	Engagements	Followers
October 2019	3,707	61	300
September 2020	2,498	76	332
October 2020	2,121	76	334

 

Rationale:  Land Judging
Attached is the news release from the East Central Land Judging Contest. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day! The competition was held North of Czechland Lake on NRD ground. We had a total of 11 schools in attendance, 181 students competed. Milford FFA took first place, followed by East Butler FFA, Raymond Central FFA and Wilber-Clatonia respectively. We required masks for all attending including instructors and staff.

Classroom Activities

 

Date	School/Group	Grade	# of Students	Topic	Staff
10/6	East Central Land Judging	High School FFA	181		All staff
10/30	Wahoo Middle School Survival Club	8th		Intro to LPNNRD	Sabatka/Gottschalk

Rationale:  The Colon water system had another positive coliform test during the routine monthly sample.  Subsequent repeat tests came back negative, which prevented the Colon RWD from having to chlorinate the system.  Wahoo Water Dept. will be performing their annual chlorination the first two weeks of November which should prevent any potential coliform positives in the immediate future.
Elliott and Tim Thares (DHHS Representative) completed the Level 2 Assessment for the Colon RWD.  The Level 2 Assessment was required due to the positive coliform, and positive repeat samples, from our September testing.  
Meters read and bills will go out 10/30.

Rationale:  The RWD received a request from the Butler County Landfill to bring in an additional service line to their expanding facility:  They already have one 2" service and would like to add another 2" service.   They have a contractor lined up to install service from the meter pit and requested that the work could be done before the frost sets in.  The timeline and size parameters of this job push it beyond the reasonable capabilities of the RWD, therefore Elliott will be reaching out to contractors.
Elliott has contacted the Nebraska Rural Water Association about borrowing their backflow differential gauge to perform annual testing on our 5 backflow prevention devices on the system.  
Meters read and bills will go out 10/30

Rationale:  Daniel Laska of Laskaland, LLC has requested the LPN Board to consider his variance as a normal variance within the Hydrologically Connected Area (HCA).  A map showing where 4.99 acres would stop is attached, along with a map showing the 12.38 acres, which Laskaland is wanting to irrigate in crop year 2021.  

Daniel Laska contacted the LPNNRD on October 8, 2020, with a variance submitted on October 15, 2020.  Staff informed him the deadline was September 15, 2020. 

The following rules are from the LPN Groundwater Rule and Regulations.  
Rule 4    Variance Request and Ranking Criteria for Limited Development of Additional Irrigated Acres
(1) Landowners and/or operators wanting to expand the number of irrigated acres in the hydrologically connected area must first submit to the District a LPNNRD variance request form for a new water well and/or a LPNNRD variance request form for the expansion of irrigated acres from an existing water source by September 15^th with those acres to be issued on January 1^st of the following year (unless determined otherwise by the District).

Rule 1    Hydrologically Connected Area for Limited Development
 
Under the authority of §46-715, and consistent with the District’s adopted Voluntary Integrated Management Plan and Lower Platte River Basin Water Management Plan (January 2018), the District shall limit development of irrigated groundwater acres with a goal of no more than 200 Acre Feet (AF) stream depletion per year in the Voluntary Integrated Management Plan groundwater control area. The Voluntary Integrated Management Plan (2018) is on file within the District ‘s office and can be found on its website.

The LPN Board approved 145.447 acre feet of depletion on October 12, 2020.  The Board has allowed expansion of acres less than 5 acres without a variance.  

The Committee felt approving this variance would open up variances on a monthly basis and then they would be handled on a first come, first serve basis.  The purpose of the deadline is to evaluate all normal variances on an equal basis.  
 

Rationale:  Randy Reznicek is asking the Board to consider his expansion application for 12 acres in S1-T17N-R6E. This application (LPN-V-018-0484) was originally approved in October of 2018 but the project was delayed due to the Highway 30 expansion. The application ranked 371.2 with an acre feet depletion of 2.3382.

The Committee felt as the Hwy 30 expansion was out of the producer control, that this variance should be honored.  This variance was accounted for in the 2018 variance Acre Feet allotment, so does not change the 2020 total.

Rationale:  Ralph and Dave Pieke submitted an expansion application on September 15th, 2020 but told staff that he did not want to pursue the project until 2021. He has since changed his mind and would like the Board to consider his application for 114 acres. The expansion is located in the NW 1/4 of S18-T21N-R4W. The application ranked 320.9 and has a new depletion of 17.878 Acre Foot (AF)

The Committee thought this was acceptable as it was before the September 15 deadline and does not put LPN over the 200 AF threshold.   The total 2020 AF allotment would then be 163.325 AF.

Rationale:  The Committee asked staff to develop a policy for adding less than 5 acres, which LPN Board has allowed in the past.  

Rationale: 

2020 is the eighteenth year for this Phase 2 Area. 

Year	Nitrate-nitrogen Range	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 0 to 8.0 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 8.01 to 10.00 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 10 to 14.99 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen greater than 15 ppm
2004	0 to 25 ppm	46.3% (44 of 95)	8.4% (8 of 95)	45.3% (43 of 95)
2005	0 to 25 ppm	47% (44 of 94)	15% (14 of 94)	38% (36 of 94)
2006	0 to 24 ppm	41% (29 of 71)	14% (10 of 71)	45% (32 of 71)
2007	0 to 31 ppm	48% (48 of 100)	9% (9 of 100)	43% (43 of 100)
2008	0 to 28 ppm	53.75% (43 of 80)	7.5% (6 of 80)	38.75% (31 of 80)
2009	0 to 22 ppm	45.5% (41 of 90)	15.5% (14 of 90)	39% (35 of 90)
2010	0 to 35.7 ppm	48.65% (54 of 111)	11.71% (13 of 111)	39.64% (44 of 111)
2011	0 to 26.6 ppm	51% (56 of 110)	6% (7 of 110)	43% (47 of 110)
2012	0 to 28.9 ppm	57% (61 of 107)	9% (10 of 107)	34% (36 of 107)
2013	0 to 25.8 ppm	50% (53 of 107)	9% (10 of 107)	41% (44 of 107)
2014	0 to 22.3 ppm	51% (55 of 108)	13% (14 of 108)	36% (39 of 108)
2015	0 to 32.3 ppm	43% (31 of 72)	8% (6 of 72)	49% (35 of 72)
2016	0 to 35.1 ppm	34% (25 of 74)	11% (8 of 74)	55% (41 of 74)
2017	0 to 23.5 ppm	36% (27 of 74)	15% (11 of 74)	49% (36 of 74)
2018	0 to 30.9 ppm	40% (25 of 63)	11% (7 of 63)	49% (31 of 63)
2019	0 to 24.5 ppm	46% (22 of 48)	10% (5 of 48)	44% (21 of 48)
2020	0.08 to 20.5	33.93% (19 of 56)	10.71% (6 of 56)	35.72% (20 of 56)	19.64% (11 of 56)

Rationale: 

2020 is the fifth 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.  The ten sections that were in Phase 2 are now in Phase 3.  As such, the 2020 numbers (at bottom of table) are for 65 sections.

Committee asked staff to look at prior years for over 15 PPM

Year	Nitrate-nitrogen Range	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 0 to 8.0 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 8.01 to 10.00 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen 10 to 14.99 ppm	Percent Nitrate-nitrogen Greater than 15 ppm
2004	0 to 47 ppm	30% (42 of 139)	10% (14 of 139)	60% (83 of 139)
2005	0 to 120 ppm	31.3% (74 of 236)	10.2% (24 of 236)	58.5% (138 of 236)
2006	0 to 53 ppm	28% (50 of 181)	14% (26 of 181)	58% (105 of 181)
2007	0 to 99 ppm	32% (75 of 231)	10% (22 of 231)	58% (134 of 227)
2008	0 to 46 ppm	28% (53 of 190)	12% (23 of 190)	60% (114 of 190)
2009	0 to 57 ppm	33% (72 of 216)	6% (13 of 216)	61% (131 of 216)
2010	0 to 57.5 ppm	31% (70 of 229)	7% (15 of 229)	62% (142 of 229)
2011	0 to 65.8 ppm	28% (67 of 241)	9% (21 of 241)	63% (153 of 241)
2012	0 to 52.6 ppm	29% (70 of 241)	9% (21 of 241)	62% (150 of 241)
2013	0 to 94.0 ppm	25% (63 of 252)	9% (23 of 252)	66% (166 of 252)
2014	0 to 101.0 ppm	27% (68 of 251)	9% (22 of 251)	64% (161 of 251)
2015	0 to 53.3 ppm	23% (55 of 238)	12% (29 of 238)	65% (154 of 238)
2016	0 to 50.5 ppm	25% (58 of 228)	10% (22 of 228)	65% (148 of 228)
2017	0 to 53.4 ppm	25% (60 of 238)	6% (14 of 238)	69% (164 of 238)
2018	0 to 56.9 ppm	26.5% (50 of 189)	6.3% (12 of 189)	67.2% (127 of 189)
2019	0 to 39.4 ppm	25% (53 of 209)	11% (22 of 209)	64% (134 of 209)
2020	0 to 50.8 ppm	25.22 % (59 of 234)	5.98% (14 of 234)	27.35% (64 of 234)	41.45% (97 of 234)

 

Rationale:  The technical group met on October 30th to make recommendations to the managers.  The management meeting is scheduled for November 17.  This management group then makes recommendations to the Coalition Representatives.   The technical group agreed to recommend to the management group that the Lower Platte Basin will utilize analytical methods (similar to what was done in the initial study) and the CENEB model for the Upper Part of  Basin.  After the data is collected and analyzed, the group will decide the percentage, which probably will be around 5-10% for the next 5 years.

The main agenda item that will be discussed at the technical meeting is how the next increments of water allotments will be divided or not divided.  A map is attached showing the Lower Platte River Basins including the 7 NRDs involved.  

Options sent out by Tylr Napstek - LLNRD and chairman of the technical committee.

What this group needs to develop is a recommendation for which model or models should be used. Some options and items:

• A full comprehensive update cannot be done using latest models until the new models in Lower Platte are Completed (well after 1^st increment expires).
  • Potential for re-analyzing lower basin with updated models as they become available.
• Option to utilize CENEB for upper portions Loup & Elkhorn and use previous utilized analytical methods for lower portion of the basin.
• Another option would be to utilize same methodology and analytical tools used in the 1^st increment throughout the entire basin

Other options that has been discussed at the LPN Water Committee:

• To work with the allotment that was issued in 2016 for another 5 years and borrow ahead if needed.  After this years' variances the LPN has 1247.55 Acre Feet still available.  
• To except 1/2 of the original allotment, which would be  1, 138 Acre Feet of Water.  The first allotment was only 10% of the useable water, so this would be an additional 5%. 

Staff concern is that NeDNR says that Lower Platte - Missouri Trib. model will be done around 2023.  Will that happen?  If it is completed, will the NRDs accept it?  There is a couple studies currently being conducted in LE and SQS #2 area to analysis the model utilizing AEM flights.  Papio and LPN  potentially could be getting a joint WSF grant to do its on geological framework project.   

The Committee and staff felt that as the Lower Platte-Missouri Trib. model is not complete, that the District should stay with the original 2016 HCA area.  They felt that as the original allotment was 10%, to ask for 5% for the next 5 year increment (2022-2027).  The District will be carrying over 1229.672 AF minus next year's AF allotment.  This would leave the District with a little over 2000 AF for the next 5-year allotment.  

Rationale:  Calls have been received from producers complimenting the LPNNRD on expanding the meter maintenance district wide.  

Rationale: 

Attached is the annual state report to DEE
 

Rationale:  Attached are a couple of graphs from GWEL wells within SQS #1 and David City Area.  These are the fall levels and recharge will occur over the winter for spring levels.  Staff would like to start the discussion with Committee on drought scenarios.  Lower Elkhorn NRD has implemented some restrictions for certain areas as the D3 trigger was hit within the NRDs drought plan.  Is the LPN ready to handle a mutli-year drought?  What information do you want staff to provide?  Allocations might not work for a confining aquifer?  Water flow meters take time to install and accurate water usage can be beneficial in calculating volume of water available.     

The latter half of the 2020 growing season was significantly dry and staff has been brainstorming of ways we can deal with excessive pumping to preserve our water for ALL of the irrigated land throughout the LPNNRD. These numbers are up for discussion and nothing is set in place. This is something that we may want to consider and starting thinking about if these drought scenarios occur more frequently into the future. These are only suggestions. The suggested numbers are acre inch capped limits.

Drought Conditions: For crops--Water needed
D0 (abnormally dry) = 4-8"
D1 (moderate drought) = 8-10"
D2 (severe drought) = 10-12"
D3 (extreme drought) = 12-15"
D4 (exceptional drought) = 15-18"

Drought Conditions: To protect the water supply (2 or more consecutive years with drought conditions)
D0 (abnormally dry) = 4" 
D1 (moderate drought) = 6"
D2 (severe drought) = ? 8"
D3 (extreme drought) = ? 8", 10", 12"
D4 (exceptional drought) = ? 8", 10", 12", 14"


Drought Conditions: To protect the water supply and for crop production (combined)
D0 (abnormally dry) = 4" or 6"
D1 (moderate drought) = 6" or 8"
D2 (severe drought) = 8" or 10"
D3 (extreme drought) = 10" or 12"
D4 (exceptional drought) = 12" or 14" 

Copy of current drought map is attached.

If a multi-year drought would happen, by LPN GW Rules and Regulations it could take 3 years before Water Quantity Rules would be implemented. 
The Committee asked staff to put together a plan to install water flow meters district wide at the November Water Committee with a potential vote at the December Board Meeting. 

Rationale: 

The LPNNRD has received # 1 livestock permit applications from DEQ since the last Water Committee meeting.
The Board did past a motion to stay neutral on livestock facilities and the NRD responsibility is with the permitting of high capacity wells.  Manure application is usually treated as any commercial fertilizer, which soil sampling and manure analysis should be conducted and handled by NDEE.  

Name	Livestock	Type of Permit	Legal Description	County
Korte Farms	Swine	Expansion	NW SW 34-19N-01E	Platte County

 

 

 Description of permit application
Plan to increase from 9000 head to 14,000 for swine <55 lbs and from 4500 head to 7000 for swine >55 lbs.

Rationale: 

# new wells has been reviewed and approved for decommissioning since the last Committee meeting.

 

Rationale: 

# wells have been plugged, reviewed, and ready for cost share payment approval this month.

Well Owner	Type of Well	Cost Share Estimate	County

 

Rationale:  Attached is an invoice for $17,547.25 per contract from LRE.

Activities in last month from LRE included: 

• Completion of the vulnerability assessment and other relevant hydrogeologic surfaces that will be used in the desktop tool as inputs
• Initial calibration of the SWB model
• Corresponding with LPN NRD staff on land cover, parcel data, etc. for GIS purposes
• Discussion with LPN NRD and the LRE team, and LRE internal meetings on input layers
• Refinement of desktop tool workflow

.  

Rationale:  Attached is the scoring sheet showing the approval of the WSF grant for the geological interpretation grant.  A agreement between Papio and LPN will be developed for Board approval.

Rationale:  No unfinished business to address.

Rationale:  Elliott continues to work with our approved fall SWCP applicants and NRCS personnel in getting jobs ready for construction.  At this point we have about 50% of our approved fall projects ready for construction.

Rationale:  None presented.

Rationale:  None presented.

Rationale:  None presented.

Rationale:  None presented.

Rationale:  The contractor has started construction on this project which should be completed in November. 

Rationale:  No new information. We have $365,000 grant funds from NDEE and $90,000 available from NET to assist with upcoming Shell Creek erosion/water quality projects. A significant amount of these funds will be used toward assisting with with the Shell Creek Channel Improvement/ Benching Project near Schuyler. 

Rationale:  David Geilenkirchen - $4800.00

Rationale:  Brandon Groteluschen - Work has been completed on his approved septic system upgrade.  Bill Bos inspected the work and contractor has submitted a bill for $8,700.22.  Groteluschen has been approved for up to $4800.00 of cost-share through our Shell Creek NDEE Water Quality Phase 2 grant.

Rationale: 
Update on Wahoo Creek Economics - Ryan Roenigk , FYRA (attachment): 
"Attached is an update on Wahoo Econ.  I can add more detail if needed but basically I am working on developing a toolbox in ArcMap to combine the rasters, store the info in a way that can be easily read and combined with the depth-damage values, and determine a damage amount.  A sample reach will be analyzed once a working version of the toolbox has been developed.  I would estimate about 2 weeks out from having the toolbox completed. Connor mentioned he had to take a look at the HEC-RAS model first before getting the updated inundation extents.  Those will be needed in order for the results of the first reach.  But if the toolbox is ready within a couple weeks it should be easy enough to get the results as soon as the HEC-RAS outputs are ready."

Update on Wahoo Creek Cultural Resource Review - Melissa Baier, NRCS Archeologist:
"The disappointing news to report is that I haven’t been able to work on Wahoo Creek for a while.  I had a bunch of EQIP projects that had to get finished before the funding deadline and those took up every minute of July, August, and September.  October was supposed to be when I got back to watershed work, but then I had travel for training, fieldwork, and vacation.  The year is slipping by rapidly, as you mentioned in the message, but I do still have plans for getting at least the Omaha Nation representatives out for a site visit this year.  The Pawnee and Otoe are still under travel restrictions because of Covid, so I’ll have to get creative on how to do a site visit for them.  The Omaha are a more pressing concern though as I need to figure out what they really want, so I want to meet with them on site to get a better idea of how to resolve our issues.  My agenda this week is to send out an email to Thomas Parker to see if there is a day in November that would work to meet with them on site (Site 83)  and then call the landowners for permission to access those areas.  I’ll let you know which day so you can come too. "

On November 3rd, we received two invoices as attached from FYRA Engineering for contract work completed on the Wahoo Creek Watershed Plan. One invoice (8/1/20 through 10/2/20) is for $3,639  and the other for $13,892 (10/3 through 10/23/20) for a combined total of $17,531. After these payments, $77,938 remains on our $95,469 contract addendum.
 

Rationale:  Reimbursement requests and reports are being submitted to Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET) and Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) for the recently completed Mike Chvatal Dam and Lands for Conservation Payments.

Rationale:  No new information. Olsson is basically on hold until the watershed plan is approved by NRCS.

Rationale:  As discussed at LPNNRD’s October Board Meeting, while LPNNRD has signed our portion of the Rod & Gun Club Interlocal Agreement (attached) , both Fremont and the Rod and Gun Club have had second thoughts and requested some changes before signing.  Attached is the latest draft, that I assume will be close to the final document.  This does not change LPNNRD’s commitments or subject us to increased liability, since the changes suggest more City and County involvement.  There could be additional changes before its all said and done, but we have made it clear that LPNNRD would not be interested in signing contracts or talking on liability. 

The Projects Committee is requested to review and recommend approval for potential Board action on November 9^th. 
 

Rationale:  North Bend Drainage District, Fremont, Dodge County, FYRA and LPNNRD have participated in partner and conference calls  with FEMA to ask questions on the best path for submitting the HMGP assistance application (attached).  Dodge County, with FYRA's assistance, have been in the lead through the application process with other partner input.  After much discussion, it appears that the best route will be to apply for FEMA assistance in two phases, one for engineering and another for construction. This will ensure that FEMA will provide 75% assistance for the engineering expense, even if it is determined at the end of that phase that a project isn't feasible.  

Rationale:  As reported earlier, the LPNNRD Hazard Mitigation Plan has been approved and JEO continues to work with obtaining approved plan resolutions from communities and other entities. The flood risk assessments for Fremont and Schuyler are complete and both have reimbursed LPNNRD their 25% of the local share. JEO is assisting with the final phases of the dam breach overlay districts for Saunders County, Wahoo, Prague and Yutan. 

Rationale:  The Sanitary & Improvement District No.8 (Woodcliff) has submitted assistance requests for project repair of their existing bank stabilization project and also for a new road raise project at the same location (letter attached). This is the first LPNNRD has been informed of these projects and construction is well underway on much of the project. 

The SID's first request is for assistance on the local share for repairing 2019 flood damages to their bank stabilization project.  Their letter stated that they are working with FEMA/NEMA to recieve up to 87.5% federal/state cost share assistance for on the repairs (approx. $300,000) and additional road protection along an area by their lagoons approx. (approx. $700,000), The SID's estimated local 12.5% on the repair was stated as $137,000.   LPNNRD approved $300,000 assistance toward the original bank stabilization project and has made three $75,000 payments ($225,000) thus far, with one $75,000 payment remaining this fiscal year.

The SID's second request is for $400,000, which is 50% of an estimated $800,000 for a road raise flood risk reduction project (engineering and construction).  We have been informed that this project is 75% complete with the remaining work to be completed soon. 

Since we just received these requests, staff felt it best present to discuss the requests with both the Projects and Operations Committees before inviting SID representatives to elaborate.  While we have budgeted funds for flood damage repairs under Interlocal Project Emergency Repairs and the Rock and Jetty Program, there no budgeted funds available for the road raise project this fiscal year. 

Mountford has asked the JEO project engineer and an SID representative attend the December 3, 2020 committee meeting to provide project details and present their assistance requests. It was explained that LPNNRD policy requires that assistance requests need approval prior to work being completed. 

 

Rationale:  Attached find a email from Ashley Keeler notifying the NRD that her last day of work will be November 30, 2020.  

Recommended Motion - To accept Ashley Keeler's letter of resignation effective November 30th and to proceed with filling the vacant Dodge County NRD/NRCS District Secretary position. 

Rationale: 

NOTE: The agenda is on file at the LPNNRD office and may be changed up to 24 hours prior to the meeting as scheduled.