Gallatin County Weed Board
Regular Monthly Meeting
March 2, 2006
Board members present were Linda Vrooman, Chair, Craig Morgan, Jeff Littlefield, Bob Hofman, Fred Bell and Joe Skinner, Commissioner. Others present were Dennis Hengel (Weed Coordinator), Marcie Murnion (Conservation District), and Keith Mainwaring.
Minutes. The Minutes had been mailed to the Board and were approved as written.
Claims. The Claims were reviewed and approved by the Board.
OLD BUSINESS
Wild West WinterFest Educational Booth. Hengel reported that attendance at the booth was poor, possibly due to the bad weather.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other.
a. Marcie Murnion (Conservation District) informed the Board that the Conservation District, in partnership with the Three Forks City Council, would like to sponsor a Weed Pull in Three Forks in June. The tentative program would be for a meeting in one of the parks, dividing the city into grids and having people work in the different grids, then meet afterwards at the park for a BBQ. Murnion asked if Hengel would participate with weed identification and possibly locate some target areas where weed infestations are bad. The event would be scheduled for an afternoon or evening during the week, as it is hard to get participation on weekends. Hengel felt that some of our seasonal spray crew members would also be able to participate as team leaders.
b. Keith Mainwaring offered to assist with advertising the Three Forks Weed Pull through talk radio. Mainwaring donated a gavel that he made to the Board. The gavel is made out of chokecherry wood. Members of the Board thanked him for his generosity and admired the beautiful workmanship.
2. Field Season 2006 – Weed District Plan of Action. Hengel stated that the Weed District is unable to keep up with the demands being made upon them at current budget and staffing levels. He asked the Board to evaluate the duties of the Weed District and prioritize the workload. Hengel discussed two topics that are producing a heavy workload.
a. Enforcement: Currently the Weed District will respond to a complaint by doing an inspection of the property in question to authenticate the complaint. During the inspection it is frequently noted that other properties in the area also have problems, thus creating a number of property notifications instead of just one (1). The current process consists of three (3) letter steps, Inspection Notice, Voluntary Compliance, and letter of Noncompliance. Skinner asked how long the process takes and Hengel informed him that it takes at least 30 days, which is not satisfactory. In addition, the Weed District does not have the budget to carry out on-the-ground weed control on noncompliance properties. Therefore, Hengel would like to revise the enforcement program whereby the Weed District would file a title
attachment on property of weed law violators. Vrooman asked if any other counties are doing this. Hengel said no. The Board thought the title attachment was a good idea. When the property was up for sale there would be an alert of noxious weed problems for prospective buyers. The Board said that: (1) the property owner should be notified that there had been an attachment to the title and (2) there should be a process to remove the attachment when the landowner comes into compliance. Skinner asked if the Weed District could start on a complaint in the spring where they left off in the fall. Hengel stated that this is a gray area. Some Weed Districts continue the process uninterrupted based on the previous years complaint. Other Weed Districts restart the entire enforcement process. In any event, property inspections would still need to be conducted each spring as some property owners start control of weeds after a notification letter has been received but without notifying the Weed
District of their weed control efforts.
b. Subdivision WMP documentation and follow-up: Due the exponential numbers of subdivisions being developed it is becoming increasingly difficult to follow up on weed control being completed within the subdivisions. The WMP's are being filled out and there is a 50% compliance rate. Major subdivisions are more of a problem than the small 2 or 3 lot developments. There was a lot of discussion revolving around requiring contracts from commercial applicators versus developers doing the weed control themselves. Discussion was also addressed regarding the Spanish Peaks Development at Big Sky. The developers were to present a WMP to the Weed District in January for the entire development and have it finalized in February. The document has not yet been presented to the Weed District.
3. RC&D Board Training. Skinner recommended that the Board take advantage of the training session being offered. Hengel passed around a summary of what the program involves. The training takes approximately three (3) hours. Following discussion the Board decided to have the general business meeting in April start at noon and follow up with the board training to start at 1.00PM if RC&D personnel are available at that time. Fred Bell so moved, Bob Hofman seconded and the motion carried.
4. Subdivision Reviews. Since the February Board meeting Hengel has approved the following WMP's:
a. Saddle View Major - Bos-way Dairy near Manhattan
b. Counts Minor off Amsterdam Road
c. Huttinga 1 Lot Minor on Churchill Road
d. Madill-Loyal Gardens Major on the corner of Huffine and Cottonwood.
Hengel has also approved the following MOU's:
a. Oak Springs Major Phase 2
b. Calico Park 12 Lot Commercial
c. Kallestad 1 Lot Minor WMP & MOU
d. Ray Sievert Minor
5. Meetings/Seminars
Hengel asked the Board members if they would be able to help with the Booth at the Home and Garden Show at the Valley Ice Gardens on March 2-3-4. He planned to set up the weed booth on Thursday evening (March 1). Public hours start on Friday evening at 5.00PM. Bell, Vrooman, and Littlefield signed up for shifts to man the booth and assist with set up and take down.
Hengel gave a brief overview of some of the meetings he has attended:
§ County Planning – WMP Issues – 93 WMP's went through the Planning office last year and only 4 plans presented problems. Discussion followed regarding the review fee.
§ Parks and Trails Committee – the County has put together a Parks and Trails committee to monitor the development and maintenance of parks and trails in the county with special reference to subdivisions. They have requested that the Weed District amend the subdivision WMP to include cost of revegetation for parks and trails. The committee would also like the Weed District to do the monitoring of the development of the parks and trails. Hengel said that revision of the current WMP form is continuing. Revising the form to include detailed parks and trails information is a good idea. After discussion, the Weed Board requested Hengel revise the form to include specific parks and trails weed management and construction costs but stated that the Weed District does not have the staff to monitor
the park and trail development. The Board stated that the Parks and Trails committee should conduct the monitoring and if there is a problem, then refer the problem to the Weed District.
§ USFS WMA Frog Rock – Hengel met with representatives of the Forest Service to discuss the weed problems in the area. There are a number of major landowners in the area and there is property involved in a land swap between Hugo Schmidt and the Forest Service. The Forest Service requires that there be a Weed Management Plan be in place for the land swap. The Weed District wants to expand the Weed Management Plan to include all the property in the area and not just the parking and climbing areas.
§ Gravel Pit Committee – will meet on March 13th to finalize the requirements for gravel pit certification.
6. Budget FY '07.
§ Building – As per last budget year, Hengel has put in the Weed District’s +request to the CIP committee for a weed office/shop building complex to be constructed in the Road Shop complex.
§ Personnel – Hengel informed the Board that he did not feel that the current pay scale for the seasonal positions was adequate to attract quality personnel. He would like to be able to offer returnees a raise each year, as having crew members return would cut down on training costs. Hengel also recommended to request in the FY 2007 budget to increase the spray technicians starting pay from $10/hour to $12/hour and to increase the Crew Foreman and Enforcement Technician pay from $11/hour to $14/hour.
The meeting was adjourned at 3.15PM.
The next meeting will be April 6th, 2006 at noon followed by the Board training.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
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