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| Nemaha NRD November
2008 Board Meeting Report Tecumseh – The Nemaha Natural Resources District is getting closer to approving new rules and regulations for its groundwater management plan. At their regular meeting on Thursday, November 13, the board scheduled a public hearing for December 11 at 6:00 p.m. At this hearing testimony will be accepted on the changes to the rules and regulations, the stay on the issuance of well permits, and whether to exempt from the stay the construction of wells for which permits were previously approved but not yet begun. Following the hearing and at their regular December meeting, the board could then take action on each of these questions. Last month the board approved an immediate, temporary stay of 180 days on the issuance of well permits to allow additional time to finalize its rules and regulations. Required approval from the Department of Natural Resources, which hadn’t arrived yet last month, has now been received, contingent on the District addressing a short list of minor adjustments. This opens the door for holding the public hearing next month and following a statutory timeline that could put the new rules in effect and lift the stay as early as February 1, 2009. More bids for watershed structure repairs were reviewed by the board’s Programs and Projects Committee. The board approved a bid of $19,352 from Prange Construction, Adams, to repair erosion in the emergency spillways of two Upper Little Nemaha Watershed structures near Bennet. In addition the District will purchase some of the fill material required and do the seeding and mulching of the project. Kuhl Trenching & Excavating, Tecumseh, submitted the low bid of $26,260 to remove debris and repair erosion at two Ziegler Creek Watershed structures south of Syracuse. The damages at all four sites were a result of flooding earlier this summer, and federal Emergency Watershed Protection funds will pick up 75 percent of the repair costs. The District’s FY2008 financial audit report was received and reviewed by the board. Art White & Associates of Tarkio, Missouri, performed this year’s audit. No irregularities were discovered, and the report was approved as presented. In a cooperative venture, the board voted to partner with the City of Tecumseh and Johnson County in a grant application to purchase a wood chipper. It is anticipated the cost to the District will be minimal. Wind and ice storms required the District to rent or borrow wood chippers last year to dispose of debris that fell on the Steamboat Trace trail, and a chipper could also be used at the District’s recreation areas and at watershed dams. The District received notification that a conservation practice which was installed with NRD cost-share funds in 2000 was being removed by a new owner of the property. Because the original cost-share agreement required the practice to be maintained for at least 10 years, the board voted to require repayment of 20 percent of the original cost-share payment, which was $4,547.81. Though no action was taken on other agenda items, the board discussed filling an upcoming vacancy in Subdistrict 4. No one filed for this seat in the recent election, and the current director, Steve Sherrow, chose not to run again. The District will advertise for interested individuals to submit applications for appointment to the position, which will become vacant in January. The next meeting of the Nemaha Natural Resources District board of directors will be held Thursday, December 11, 2008, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the NRD headquarters in Tecumseh. Committees will meet prior to the meeting, and a public hearing on the District’s groundwater rules and regulations will precede the meeting at 6:00 p.m. |