Gallatin County Weed District
Regular Monthly Meeting
April 6, 2006
Board members present were Linda Vrooman (Chair), Bob Hofman, Jeff Littlefield, Fred Bell, Craig Morgan and Joe Skinner (Commissioner). Others present were Dennis Hengel (Weed Coordinator), Josh Kellar (RC&D), Keith Mainwaring (Property Owner) and Marcie Murnion (Conservation District).
Minutes. The Minutes had been mailed to the Board and were approved as written.
Claims. There was one Claim for Story Distributing that was approved.
OLD BUSINESS
Jeff Littlefield asked about the criteria for the approval of Subdivisions by the Weed Coordinator. Hengel informed him that the criteria establishment was still incomplete.
Linda Vrooman asked about the Weed District Plan of Action for the 2006 Season. There was discussion on whether or not to wait for the FY '07 Budget to be approved. Joe Skinner informed the Board that they would have a good idea of what the Budget will be by June. Some direction from the Commissioners will be related to allocations in the Budget. It was decided to review the Plan of Action and Priorities at the May meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other. Keith Mainwaring reported that he and Joe Nowakowski (Rocky Mtn RC&D Ag Consultant) had participated on the Saturday morning radio show. He is also working with some local Legislative Reps who are very supportive of the Weed District programs. There was discussion regarding the Weed Law and Hengel informed those present that the MWCA has a committee working towards changes in the Weed Law. In a related matter, Hengel reported that he visited with a County Deputy Attorney regarding filing a title attachment on property of weed law violators as discussed at the March meeting. Hengel was informed that the County is not authorized to initiate a legal action unless State Law specifically states that the county can do so. There is a possibility that a civil penalty can be
imposed, but there is no language stating the collection process. There was discussion regarding weed control on state and federal lands and also within municipalities. Joe Skinner recently met with MDOT and informed the Board of some ideas for cooperation between the Weed District and MDOT that had been discussed. The MDOT will spray Zones 1 and 2 this year.
Hengel stated that there is a cooperative WMA starting between the Forest Service, MDOT, MRL, Open Space, the Gallatin County Weed District and private landowners (Hugo Schmidt, Chestnut and Moffit Gulch residents) near the Trail Creek I-90 Interchange. The WMA will be called the Frog Rock WMA. The general weed management plan has already been written. The associated agencies will provide specific input on this years proposed control actions to the Weed District by May 1st. A priority action item this year for the Frog Rock WMA will be to complete a weed-mapping inventory.
There was a discussion regarding the weed problems on private as well as government lands. There was also discussion regarding combining training sessions for crews from different agencies and municipalities.
2. Subdivision Review. A list of subdivisions that Hengel has approved since the last Board meeting was submitted. Hengel brought up the fact that there have been four (4) applications for gravel pits in the last month.
§ Middle Creek Parklands – WMP |
§ Morgan Minor - WMP |
§ Golden Willow Estates – WMP |
§ Hebgen Lake PUD – WMP |
§ 3 Grainery #13 Gravel Pit – WMP |
§ Chickadee Ridge – WMP |
§ Van Dyken Gravel Pit – WMP |
§ D'Agostino PUD – WMP |
§ Frickanisce Minor – WMP |
§ Edgewood Townhomes – WMP |
§ Huffman Minor – WMP |
§ Baxter Apartments – WMP |
§ Ross Creek Tract 31 – WMP |
§ Sunfish Minor – MOU |
§ Baker Minor – WMP |
§ Lilley Minor - MOU |
3. Meetings/Seminars.
§ The Valley Ice Gardens education booth was a success. The attendance was good and those working the booth felt they reached a lot of people.
§ Hengel received cost estimates for the new proposed office/shop complex for the Weed District. The office is projected to cost $250,000. The shop is projected to cost $750,000. The Weed District will include these costs in the proposed FY2007 budget. Approval for the office/shop complex is unlikely.
§ Hengel met with the Parks and Trails committee. As per their request new park and trail construction within proposed subdivisions will be incorporated into the revised subdivision WMP’s.
§ The developers of the Spanish Peaks project at Big Sky met with Hengel to get assistance with their WMP.
§ The meeting with the Forest Service regarding the Frog Rock WMA was dealt with earlier in the meeting.
§ Bozeman Exchange – formerly BACCII. Hengel asked the Board for assistance setting up, manning and taking down the weed booth for the weekend of April 21-23. Board members signed up to help.
4. Budget FY '07. Jeff Littlefield asked if Dennis had any information regarding grant allocations from the Noxious Weed Trust Fund. Hengel said that he no information regarding the allocations. urther Budget discussion was tabled until the May meeting.
The Board meeting was adjourned at 12.50PM. The next meeting will be on May 4, 2006 at 1.15PM.
The Board Training sponsored by Rocky Mountain RC&D followed. There was further discussion after the Training session regarding a follow-up Weed Summit meeting. The consensus was that it should take place before mid May, as many of the participants will be out in the field.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
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