October 31, 2019 at 8:00 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  We have no unfinished business.

Rationale:  Nothing to report.

Rationale:  The O & M crew is following up on dam inspections. Keeping up with beaver problems on a couple structures. Continue cutting & spraying trees and Fall spraying problem thistle areas.

Rationale:  LARM Insurance will cover the expense to replace the engine in the Jeep Patriot. LARM has sent a check for $3,017.30.
The Jeep has not been worked on as of the meeting.

Rationale:  Matt Sillivan harvested 53.64 tons of hay from Czechland and Homestead at  $67.50/ton for a revenue of $3,620.70 to the District.
Meduna Family Farms harvested 349,25 tons of hay from the Wanahoo property at $71/ton for a revenue of $24,759.12.

Rationale:  We have scheduled a pre-construction meeting with M.E. Collins, & John Thorston for Thursday, November 7 at 1:00 pm.

Rationale:  We are still waiting on a temporary construction easement from the homeowner who lost his house to the river at Thomas Lake. An temporary easement was written by Jovan, reviewed and approved by the COE and was sent to the homeowner. As soon as the COE receives this easement, they can start advertising for contractor(s) to rehab the flood damaged levee.

Rationale:  We met with JEO and two of the four landowners on Wednesday, October 30 at 1:30 here at the NRD office. JEO covered the survey, pre-design,access points and concerns from the landowners for the Rawhide Ditch 8 repair. We will establish construction areas and have temporary construction easements developed. We hope to advertise in January and select a contractor in February with construction completed in the summer of 2020.
Find a attached the first invoice of $6,272.50 from JEO for this project, contract total is $39,775.00.

Rationale:  We hope to have an updated bid sheet from Clark Construction for the Fuse Plug Levee repair by Committee meeting. There have been questions on sand/gravel quality, the type and length of the geo-membrane mat and the erosion control mat. Heimann and FYRA have been working with Clark Construction since the last board meeting.
An updated bid (attached) was received from Clark Construction Tuesday, Nov. 5th. The bid to repair the Fuse Plug Levee is $106,574.30. The major changes were in debris cleanup, clay fill (larger quantity), mobilization, change in fill sand, and seeding & erosion mat. Chairmen Ruzicka and Seier were contacted for approval and the contract and bonding information was sent to Clark Const.

A motion will be needed at Board Meeting - To accept the bid from Clark Construction for $106,574.30 to repair the Fuse Plug Levee at the National Guard Camp.

Rationale:  A Wanahoo Stilling Basin pre design kick off meeting took place Tuesday, October 29 here at the NRD office led by the FYRA Engineering. Mike Sotak and Mike Henderson led the presentation. Board members Ruzicka, Hannah, Hilger, Saeger and Johnson were present. Discussion covered design review, alternative developments & potential concerns structurally, and funding considerations. FYRA will write minutes covering the meeting and continue to update any minutes or new information as the study and design moves forward.

Rationale:  Since the Sand/Duck Creek Crediting came up at Board meeting Heimann contacted Bob Mattson with the COE asking if this project was going to be closed out by the end of the year, here is his response; Feel free to discuss my workload or work priority with my supervisor, Kayla Eckert-Uptmor.  With 2 coworkers retiring the past year, and another temporary coworker departing to work the spring flooding, I got dumped on with executing agreements for 8 Rural Montana Environmental Infrastructure Assistance projects totaling $2.1M and getting the funds obligated by last month end of FY19, which consumed and overwhelmed my already full work load the past 6 months, and obligating the $2.1M was deemed a higher priority.
Eric's response; While I appreciate your work load and understand the issues you described, your response to Bob Heimann was unacceptable and you did not answer his question.
Are we to expect our final closeout for the Sand Creek Watershed Project to be complete by December 31, 2019 as per your e-mail dated Feb. 13, 2019?
        Lower Platte North Natural Resources District has been overly patient the past seven years as prior closeout deadlines have come and gone and related documentation reports have been submitted and re-submitted numerous times. Had prior stated deadlines been met, your current workload, staff retires and temporary departing of a coworker would have no impact on the current stated deadline.
        The Sand Creek Watershed Project continues to be an amazingly productive project and is a shining example how local, state and federal partners can work together for the good of the public...All we ask is to come to a final USACE closeout so we can continue our mission throughout our district of;
Protecting lives, Protecting property and Protecting the future.
        Thank you for your time and I look forward to your prompt response.
Eric is waiting for a call from Kayla Eckert-Uptmor.

Rationale:  We have discussed and budgeted the addition of a vestibule to be built at the front entrance of our office.  Management would like to request bids for construction of the entry area to include two additional glass doors and a false ceiling.  We believe this addition will greatly increase our office's energy efficiency and create an air break upon entering the office.
At the time of construction we would also like to update our failing security system and install a keyless entry system for the front entrance.  

Rationale:  We have not received any new inquiries.
 

Rationale:  The camping season has begun to slow for 2019. Annual park permit sales totaled $457.50 in October while day pass sales totaled approximately $1600. Annual stickers for 2020 have been ordered and the District plans to begin sales the first week of December. 

Annual Park Permit gross revenue for 2019 totals $82,085.00
As of 10/30/2019, total Park Permit gross revenue for 2019 totals $102,863.27
(see attachment for details)

Rationale:  The District received $4,899.60 in net camping revenue for the month of October. This brings the year to date total to $90,794.74.

Rationale:  Staff has begun the winterization process in preparation for winter. The shower building plumbing has been filled with an antifreeze solution and the doors have been locked. The dump station towers have been removed to avoid any freezing issues, And finally, staff hours are being cut with Grounds Foreman Rich Mullen leaving November 8th, and Sharon Kremlacek's hours being limited until ice fishing season later in the winter. 

Total shower building revenue for the 2019 season totaled $2117.25

Staff also purchased a blade that fits onto the District's John Deere 1050 to help with road and trail maintenance throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. The blade was purchased from a local landowner for $100.

Rationale:  Last month the bid amount of $ 4,655.00 was approved and paid to McAtee Concrete for the sidewalk work completed at the Lake Wanahoo Building.  An additional $ 128.00 is due as the finished sidewalk was 38'x6' rather than 50'x4' as described in the original bid.  The additional 28 sq. ft. represents the additional amount due.

Rationale:  The original plan for the building was to simply seal the concrete floor.  Discussion is requested as to the potential of staining the floor prior to sealing to create a more uniform finish.

BOARD MEETING UPDATE:
Staff has received one bid, McAtee Concrete Construction in the amount of $8,400.  This price includes acid staining, crack filling and sealing of the entire 40'x60' building floor. (BOARD MOTION IS REQUIRED)

Rationale:  Staff is planning an open house for the Lake Wanahoo Education Building on November 21st from 4-8 pm.  The purpose of this event is to thank the Donors, contractors and LPNNRD board members for their work and support to make this project happen.  While there is still some work remaining to be done, we believe it is time to recognize the efforts of those individuals who helped make this project a reality.

Rationale:  The winter of 2018-19 provided many challenges for staff in terms of road maintenance at Lake Wanahoo. The lake is very popular with ice fisherman, and the park can see 100+ vehicles per day during winter weekends. Last winter, staff used the District's Bobcat for all snow removal. The process was very time consuming and provided excess wear and tear on an important piece of equipment. Staff is proposing the purchase of a 8'2" XT Steel BOSS V-Blade, mounted on the 2007 Dodge 2500, to speed up snow removal at Lake Wanahoo and the District Office as well as increase the safety and accessibility of the park.

Attached is the government discount quote from Ty's Outdoor Power.

Rationale:  Our plan is to rock the parking lot across from the building yet this year.  We have contacted the city of Wahoo regarding the Saunders County Lodging Tax Grant (which we pay approx. $ 10,000 per year from our camping revenue) to assist in our total cost of approximately $ 3,000.  If granted, nearly all of the cost of the rock will be covered.

Rationale:  The current KTIC radio ad and Wahoo Newspaper eAd promote the December 15th deadline for Water Use Reports and Fertilizer Application Reports in Phases 2 & 3.  These ads will run from November 1^st to December 15^th.  The ads are attached.
 

Rationale:  Sabatka started tracking analytics for our website and social media pages.  This was started on September 18^th, so we currently have about 5.5 weeks of data.
 

Website Data
Dates	Users	Sessions	Bounce Rate	Traffic Channel 1	Traffic Channel 2	Traffic Channel 3	Traffic Channel 4	Top Page	Views	Devices	Percent
September 18-30	450	546	54.03%	Organic 63.96%	Direct 23.6%	Referral 11.1%	Social 1.4%	Home	306	Desktop	54.20%
								Lake Wanahoo	287	Mobile	36.40%
								Staff	58	Tablet	9.3%
								Czechland Lake	56
								Downloads	45
October 1-27	667	842	56.77%	Organic 58.8%	Direct 24.2%	Referral 13.7%	Social 3.3%	Home	476	Desktop	56.20%
								Lake Wanahoo	337	Mobile	39.20%
								Staff	108	Tablet	4.6%
								Czechland Lake	96
								Contact	84

Facebook Data
Shown through October 27, 2019
Date/Post	Total Views/Impressions	Total Reach	Total Engaged Users	Followers
July 2019	9892	6721	562	747
Top Post: Wanahoo best bass fishing	4664	3555	173
Top Post: July 4th festivities	2970	1721	217
Top Post: July 4th fireworks	1792	1131	136
August 2019	54800	31575	4019	824
Top Post: GIT Up Video	33757	17547	2273
Top Post: Pork Chop Island Open	10344	6814	1114
Top Post: Trip on a Tank Channel 8	2811	1847	199
September 2019	7535	5533	347	843
Top Post: Education Programs	1521	1,036	163
Top Post: HMP meeting dates	649	450	25
Top Post: Lake Wanahoo/Wahoo Newspaper	578	423	27
October 2019	9446	6772	1273	873
Top Post: Wanahoo Ed Building Available	6732	4,551	1150
Top Post: Shared picture from Pork Chop Island	538	434	36
Top Post: Area Land Judging NARD article	529	407	24

 

Twitter Data
Shown through October 27, 2019
Date/Post	Impressions (# of times users saw tweet)	Engagements  (# of times users interacted)	Followers
July 2019	2,123	37	287
Top Post: Wanahoo top 10 bass fishing	799	19
Top Post: July 4th fireworks	379	18
Top Post:
August 2019	2,900	37	290
Top Post: Pork Chop Island Open	353	15
Top Post: NRD booth at State Fair	218	3
Top Post: HMP Meetings	207	6
September 2019	5,219	182	294
Top Post: Nathan Mather/Wahoo CEO program	957	98
Top Post: 85% Nebraska drinking groundwater	446	10
Top Post: National wildlife day/state bird	419	7
October 2019	2,643		300
Top Post: order trees	507	5
Top Post: image from Wanahoo/nature quote	248	8
Top Post: PCI shared picture	199	4

Rationale:  Staff are currently working on the LPNNRD Master Plan.  This plan is updated every 10 years.  The current draft of the plan is attached. Additional working drafts demonstrating changes/edits are attached.  A final draft will be available at the November Board of Directors Meeting. 
 

Rationale: 

Date	School/Group	Grade/Age	# of students	Topic	Staff
Tuesday, October 8	Howard Elementary (Fremont)	Pre-K-4th Grade	400	Wildlife	TePoel/Sabatka/Breunig
Wednesday, October 9	Land Judging (LPSNRD)	High School FFA		Soil judging	TePoel/Sabatka/Breunig/Mountford/Elliott/Schomer
Wednesday, October 23	Logan View	7th, 8th	85	Geocaching, careers, water quality/quantity	TePoel/Sabatka/Andersen/Benal
Monday, October 28	Cub Scouts (Wahoo)	5-6 year olds	8	Wildlife-Camouflage	TePoel
Tuesday, October 29	Survival Club (WPS)	8th grade	18	Outdoor recreation	Gottschalk/TePoel/Sabatka
Monday, November 4	Butler Co. Government Day	High School		LPNNRD	TePoel
Tuesday, November 5	St. Wenceslaus	Pre-K		Trees	TePoel/Sabatka
Wednesday, November 5	St. Wenceslaus	Pre-K		Trees	TePoel/Sabatka
Wednesday, November 20	Wahoo	High School		Mock interviews- careers	TePoel

Rationale:  Elliott has been in contact with USDA Rural Development in regards to our Colon RWD loan status.  The "restrictions" that we were operating under don't exist as they did with our Bruno RWD loan, so we are able to raise the rates without any potential negative repurcussions on our RD loan.  Our rate study that was conducted by NeRWA concluded that our rates on the Colon RWD should be:
Service/meter fee: $40.25 
Per 1000 gallon rate: $4.50
Our current rates:
Service/meter fee: $29.19 (village rate) $43.20(rural)
Per 1000 gallon rate: $2.43 (both)
The recommended increases are substantial enough that the RWD would prefer to phase the increases over a two year period.  The attachment highlights the suggested rates for 2020.
The Colon system had a repeat coliform positive hit this month.  Level one assessment conducted and filed with DHHS.  Wahoo began its annual chlorination the following week.
Meters read and bills have been mailed.

A motion will be needed at Board Meeting - To approve rate increase for the Colon Rural Water District to the following rates Effective 2/1/2020:
Village customers:
Meter/service fee:          $35.00 - ¾" meter
                                            $160.00 - 2" meter
Quantity/rate fee:           $3.25/1000 gallons

Rural customers:
Meter/service fee:          $43.20 - ¾" meter
                                           $267.00 - 2" meter
Quantity/service fee:     $3.25/1000 gallons


 

Rationale:  Elliott performed the required annual testing of the five backflow prevention devices on the Bruno line.  All units passed and required documentation will be sent to David City as required by law.
Routine water samples completed and bills have been mailed.