Gallatin County Weed District
Regular Monthly Meeting
June 01, 2006
Board members present were Linda Vrooman, Chair, Craig Morgan, Jeff Littlefield, Fred Bell and Bob Hofman. Others present were Dennis Hengel (Coordinator), Joe Skinner (Commissioner), Kara Schile (Extension Ag Assistant/Horticulturist), Fred Tubb (Farm Bureau), and Sam Rogers (Property Owner).
Minutes. The minutes of the May meeting had been mailed to the Board and were approved as read.
Claims. Vrooman reviewed the Claims and they were approved as presented.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Board liability. A question regarding the liability of the Board was brought up at the May meeting. Rosemary Perry has contacted the Finance Office, and was told that County Board members are covered under the County Liability Policy while conducting County business.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other.
- Kara Schile gave a report on the four (4) weed grants that the Extension Office is working on. The Lower Jefferson WMA has been expanded this year and currently the program has sprayed 320 acres by helicopter. Producers are now spraying their properties. The Sixteenmile WMA has also been expanded and by the end of the week the helicopter in addition to the 865 acres already sprayed will have sprayed 1800 acres of spotted knapweed. The Gallatin/Big Sky program has grown in area and the program will be expanding to the Shedd's Bridge this year. Kellar of Rocky Mountain RC&D has received the Big Sky Resort tax funds. The Tall Buttercup/Orange Hawkweed program will take off towards the end of June. Crews will be trained in weed id and mapping and an education
program will be started. Littlefield asked Schile where the Orange hawkweed is located. Schile said on Kirk Hill. The infestation was reported to the Weed District last year and the crew had sprayed it once.
- Fred Tubb reported that he is on the planning committee for the Farm Bureau Fall Convention that will be held in Bozeman. There will be a workshop on weeds. There will also be discussion on relationships between cities and counties.
2. Special County Grant. Hengel presented the Board with the Special County Grant request. As a follow-up from the May meeting, Hengel reported that the grant application was for a sprayer unit for the new truck and a new desktop computer for the new weed position. If the new truck and/or position are not approved during the county budget process the funds will be used for repair and maintenance. Craig Morgan moved to approve the Grant Application as presented, Bob Hofman seconded and the motion carried. Linda Vrooman signed the application as Board Chair.
3. Commissioner Report. Joe Skinner requested that Hengel give the Board input on the Budget and Weed District duties so that priorities can be set.
4. Coordinator Report. Hengel reviewed an information packet that he had mailed out to the Board. Budget information and the monthly staff update had been included in the packet. Per discussion with Vrooman Hengel had also included a Time Log for each day of the preceding week. Hengel reviewed step by step the Department Overview that is part of the Budget process. He remarked that along with the population growth has come an exploding workload. Hengel informed the Board that each day there are requests from the public for about 40 hours of services. Hengel bought up the fact that state law requires weed districts to control weeds within municipalities (Gallatin County has five municipalities) and to achieve this the Weed District would need a significant increase in personnel, budget and
equipment. There was lengthy discussion regarding the enforcement program, including on the ground treatments, subdivision reviews, the review fee, and also the development of Weed Management Area's. Some pertinent points that came up were:
a. Whether or not on the ground weed control on noncompliance properties could be contracted out.
b. Recovering costs of on-the-ground treatment on noncompliance properties.
c. Follow-up with subdivision review and approval.
d. Enforcement issues.
e. Hiring qualified people to answer technical calls at the salary we are able to offer.
f. Installing GPS tracking systems for the trucks.
Hengel reviewed the budget request for the Board. In the budget request, Hengel noted the start up costs for the required program of conducting weed control work within municipalities. The startup costs were noted but not requested. A request for a vehicle replacement schedule was included in the budget. The Weed District is currently operating with a fleet of nine (9) vehicles, most of them well past the expected date of replacement.
This report gave the Board material to work with and Hengel was excused from the meeting at 3:00PM. The Board then went into Executive Session.
The next regular Weed Board meeting will be on July 6, 2006.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
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