January 2, 2020 at 8:00 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  We have nothing to address.

Rationale:  There's nothing to report.

Rationale:  The O & M crew has been doing vehicle maintenance, working on other equipment and moving dirt to erosion areas.

Rationale:  Dirt sales total income since 2012 is $253,686, for the calendar year 2019 $19,770.
The two year Agreement expires December, 2019 but, automatically renews for two years expiring in December, 2021 unless written notice is given by either party on or before July 1 of the final year of the term. The price for a Cu. Yd. will go from $1.00 to $1.15.

Rationale:  Rezac Seed reported revenue for the No-Till Grass Drill for the second half of 2019 at $3,414.54 of which is divided in half or $1,707.27. With maintenance repairs for tires and tubes the District received $1,260.21.

Rationale:  As reported at the December Board meeting M.E. Collins completed the rip-rap work on the face of the Swedeburg (Thorston) dam. We have not received the final invoice from Collins. John Thorston approved as did NE Dept. of Natural Resources Dam Safety via the picture. See attached photo.

Rationale:  We received new information from the COE regarding the protest of the bids to repair the Clear Creek Levee. "On December 23rd, the Corps of Engineers Northwest Division ruled that Lee McCormick (our Contracting Officer (KO)) acted in accordance with his authority as a KO and conducted the bidding process of the Clear Creek project correctly.  He will be moving forward with awarding to the apparent low bidder.  They expect an early January award. The low bid at the time was $9.199 M.

Staff met with COE and Clear Creek Drainage Board representatives regarding the Tie-Back levee on the north end of the Clear Creek Levee system. The Clear Creek D & D elevated the Tie-Back levee by adding dirt. The past two winters, Clear Creek representatives have sand bagged an area on the Tie-Back to prevent it from overtopping. The COE believes the Tie-Back is at the 50 year flood elevation. LPNNRD will take elevation shots in comparison to the Corps elevations when the levee system was being renovated, if within 3 tenths it will be Okay, if not we may have to go through the 408 process. Our argument is that the Tie-Back is 2.5-3' lower than the Clear Creek Levee it's tied to.

Rationale:  Gana Trucking & Excavating were scheduled to mobilize and start work on the two breach holes in Ditch 8 on Monday, December 23. Being Christmas week, they have decided to start Monday, December 30.
JEO has sent an invoice to be paid, $7,346.25. To date we will have paid $19,990.00 out of a $39,775.00 contract.

Rationale:  Clark Construction completed the Fuse Plug Levee at Camp Ashland on Friday, December 6th. The final invoice of $104,162.00 was received and paid. The original bid was $106,574.00, a difference of $2,412.00. Clark Construction and FYRA Engineering did a very good job. FYRA was on site most everyday.  We received an invoice from FYRA for $11,162.08. With the previous invoice our total to date is $12,971.33, the FYRA contract total was for $21,720.00.
Documentation is being sent to FEMA for reimbursement. We will also ask for financial assistance from Lower Platte South NRD at a later date. Photo attached.

Rationale:  As previously reported, FYRA's estimate to repair the Wanahoo Stilling Basin is $529,438. FEMA did not have any issues with the estimate.
FYRA used Sonar equipment to investigate the scour hole in the basin, they will tie it to or compare it to the Bathymetry survey they did first. At this time, they are estimating that there is some scour that occurred under the concrete basin floor. We received an invoice from FYRA for $10,653.50.
Mike Sotak will be at the January 30th Committee meeting for an update and will be the February Board meeting Education presentation.

Rationale:  Staff has been in correspondence with the Corps of Engineers regarding the accreditation on the Sand/Duck Creek Project. The COE had informed us on December 11 that they owed the District $747.30. Over the past many years, the District estimated we would receive between $600,000 - $800,000. Gottschalk, Mountford, Heimann and Miyoshi have gone over the information and believe we have found a discrepancy between an environmental component (Breakwater berm) being labeled a recreational component. Recreational components were cost-shared at 50% versus 65% for Environmental restoration.
In the past, staff may have estimated all the cost-share at the 65% level rather than 50% on the recreational components over inflating our estimate.

Rationale:  Nothing new to report.

Rationale:  Annual park permit sales for 2020 began the first week of December. As of 12/31/2019 296 permits have been sold totaling $4395.00 in gross revenue (see attached spreadsheet). 

Rationale:  The 2019 floods displaced many individuals in Eastern Nebraska. The District offered free camping as a way to help those affected, then later offered a lower rate to help ease the cost of living. As we approach 2020, there are two fifth wheel trailers housing flood victims still occupying two electric pads at the campground. Staff will be delivering a letter to these individuals informing them that we will no longer be providing long term stays. They may pay up through the 15th of January. Any stay after that day will have to follow the Rules and Regulations of the park.

Rationale:  J&R Concrete and Construction's bid of $5,770.00 was the low bid for staining and sealing the floor at the Education Building.  Their price includes all prep work, filling cracks, staining and two coats of finish applied to the floor.  J&R has been contacted and is scheduled to perform their work the week of January 13-17, 2020.

Rationale:  The KTIC radio ad and Wahoo Newspaper eAd promoted the availability to purchase 2020 Wanahoo park permits from December 15^th-December 31^st.  The current ads promote the Nitrogen Certification & Water Management Classes and will run through January 31^st.  The ads are attached.
 

Rationale: 

Why track analytics? Analytics is a great way to see what people are viewing on our website. By looking at the data from our website and keeping an eye on specific pages like the Lake Wanahoo page, Czechland Lake, Contact and Downloads pages, we can continue to provide updated important information to the District.

In mid-September we started tracking analytics on our website and filtered out all of the office computers’ IP addresses to achieve a better reading on our analytics.

The traffic channels help us to see how people are finding our website. The direct URL is always going to be towards the top of the list, but it is also good to look at where other users are coming from - whether it is from a different website or search engine (referral column) or through our social media platforms.

An update on analytics for our website and social media pages through December 27th.

Website Data
Dates	Users	Sessions	Traffic Channel 1	Traffic Channel 2	Traffic Channel 3	Traffic Channel 4	Top Page	Views	Devices	Percent
October 1-30	710	904	Organic  58.4%	Direct  25%	Referral  13.3%	Social  3.3%	Home	543	Desktop	58.73%
							Lake Wanahoo	355	Mobile	36.48%
							Staff	121	Tablet	4.79%
							Czechland Lake	100
							Contact	95
November 1-30	535	637	Organic 62.4%	Direct 21.5%	Referral  14.1%	Social 2%	Home	424	Desktop	51.3%
							Lake Wanahoo	266	Mobile	42.5%
							Downloads	97	Tablet	6.10%
							Staff	93
							Contacts	77
December 1-31	640	797	Organic 54.1%	Direct 29.3%	Referral 12%	Social 4.6%	Home	596	Desktop	64.12%
							Lake Wanahoo	259	Mobile	30.73%
							Downloads	127	Tablet	5.15%
							Staff	107
							Contact	107

 

Facebook Data
Date/Post	Total Views/Impressions	Total Reach	Total Engaged Users	Followers
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
November 2019	5341	5174	324	885
Top Post: Wahoo Public Survival Club Presentation	1076	1018	145
Top Post: Progress on Clear Creek Levee	540	531	40
Top Post: Daryl presentation-East Butler	394	380	41
December 2019				935
Top Post: NRD/NRCS continuing collaboration	876
Top Post: LPNNRD accepting I&E/receptionist applications	564
Top Post: John Miyoshi joins NCF board or directors	391

Twitter Data
Date/Post	Impressions  (# of times users saw tweet)	Engagements  (# of times users interacted)	Followers
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
November 2019	4,931	104	302
Top Post: Tree Planting Program	1355	26
Top Post: Progress on Clear Creek Levee	390	24
Top Post: Daryl Presentation- East Butler	244	16
December 2019	8709		303
Top Post: UNL Stress webinar	921	8
Top Post: World Soil Day	702	11
Top Post: 2020 nitrogen certification classes	666	7

Rationale:  The 2020 LPNNRD Calendars have been printed and distributed to staff and directors.  If you are in need of any additional calendars, please contact Lacey.
 

Rationale:  The first semester transcripts have been received from one of the 2019 scholarship winners, Sarah Johnson.  She has met all scholarship requirements, and the second installment of her scholarship award has been mailed to her.
 

Rationale: 

Date	School/Group	Grade/Age	# of students	Topic	Staff
Friday, December 6th	East Butler	High School	9	Point source & non-point source pollution	Andersen/TePoel/Sabatka
Tuesday, December 10	Survival Club (WPS)	8th	18	2-legged & 4-legged predators- staying safe outdoors	TePoel/Gottschalk/Sabatka
Monday, December 16	St. Wenceslaus	Pre-K	18	Wildlife- pine cone bird feeders	TePoel/Sabatka
Tuesday, December 17	St. Wenceslaus	Pre-K	12	Wildlife- pine cone bird feeders	TePoel/Sabatka
Wednesday, December 18th	East Butler	Junior High	9	LPNNRD/career opportunities	TePoel
Friday, December 20th	Wahoo Public Headstart	Pre-K		Pine cone bird feeders	Sabatka
January	Survival Club (WPS)	8th	18	TBD	Gottschalk/Sabatka

Rationale:  A bill was introduced to the Nebraska Legislature that has potential to aid the RWD (and all Nebraska municipalities utility depts) in the necessity of addressing aging infrastructure:

LB 242 - LB 242 adopts the Infrastructure Improvement and Replacement Assistance Act and provides for a turn back of state sales tax revenue. Under the Act, a phased in portion of Nebraska state sales tax collected from each sewer and potable water utility will be returned to each utility or political subdivision to assist in paying for future infrastructure improvements. The state of Nebraska would turn back 2% of the 5.5% of state sales tax dollars collected from each potable water and sewer utility from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021. The state of Nebraska would turn back 3% of the 5.5% of state sales tax dollars collected from each potable water and sewer utility from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023. The state of Nebraska would turn back 4% of the 5.5% of state sales tax dollars collected from each potable water and sewer utility collected after July 1, 2023.

 

Rationale:  In November the RWD was contacted by the representative for the Colon American Legion Post requesting a service shut off.  Their rationale being a small, declining membership coupled with dwindling financial reserves.  Elliott relayed the request to Colon and the Village board voted to keep the account open as the building still has potential in use.
Monthly sampling completed, meters read and bills will go out this week.

Rationale:  The RWD and the Nebraska Rural Water Association is currently working on a rate study for the Bruno system.  There should be information to report next month.
Regular monthly samples completed, meters read and bills will go out this week.