Gallatin County Weed Board
Regular Monthly Meeting
March 01, 2007
Board Members present were Jeff Littlefield, Chair, Fred Bell, Bob Hofman, Linda Vrooman, Craig Morgan and Joe Skinner (Commissioner).
Others present were Dennis Hengel (Coordinator), Keith Mainwaring (Property Owner), and Betty Biggs (Farm Bureau).
Minutes. The Minutes of the February meeting had been sent to the Board and were approved as written.
Claims. There was a question regarding the new spray truck cost that was noted on the Coordinator’s monthly report. Hengel stated that the truck had been purchased and Dave Fowler (County Road Department) was looking for a small SUV for the new Enforcement/Education Tech. The SUV will replace the 1984 Ranger that has been used for flagging and inspection trips. One Claim for advertising was presented for Board’s approval. The Claim was approved.
OLD BUSINESS.
Fred Bell noted that there were two new gravel pits presenting Weed Management Plans last month. There was discussion regarding Weed Management Plans for gravel pits. Many of the older pits were not required to have a Plan, however the DEQ now requires gravel pits to have a Weed Management Plan on file.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other. Betty Biggs, Farm Bureau Weed Committee Representative, informed the Board that she has also been appointed to the State Farm Bureau Weed Board and the Forestry Committee. Keith Mainwaring reported that he and Don McAndrew participated in a talk radio show that went very well. An idea from one of the callers was to have a weed pull and give out prizes according to weight of weeds pulled. Mainwaring has talked to Hengel about this idea. Hengel has talked to John Councilman (USFS) about the possibility of having a weed pull in the Hyalite drainage. Another caller offered to take the bagged weeds to the landfill free of charge. Betty Biggs remarked that the Boy Scouts, 4-H, and FFA could be brought into something like this also.
2. Commissioner Report. Commissioner Skinner asked Hengel if he had used the Sheriff’s Work Program people to pull weeds. Hengel replied that he has used the Work Program on several occasions. Most recently on Carpenter Road (pulled 50 bags of Spotted knapweed skeletons) and at the Law and Justice Center baseball fields (50 bags of Spotted knapweed plants).
3. Chairperson Report. Littlefield stated that the new position had been advertised in a number of different areas. The position closes on March 9th. Littlefield would like those on the review committee to meet the following week to review applications and select those for interview. The committee members elected to meet at the Ag Center on Thursday March 15th at 9.00am. The office will copy the applications and send them to the committee members so they have a chance to review them before they meet.
4. Coordinator Report. Hengel reported that he had attended a planning session with MDT and the Forest Service to discuss the coordinated efforts on the Bozeman Pass and the Gallatin Canyon (Weed Summit Cooperative Project). MDT has submitted a contract to be signed. This will be discussed at the next meeting. Next week is Ag Appreciation week and the Weed District has submitted an advertisement that will be printed in an insert in the Belgrade News. A ½ page ad in color costs $180.00.
5. Strategic Planning – Strategic Thinking. This discussion was the main core of the meeting. Hengel reviewed the Strategic Thinking-Strategic Planning-Work Strategy document that he had prepared for the Board. He reviewed his thoughts on where the Weed District is and where he feels the District should be going. Hengel had itemized out 19 items for discussion. Littlefield suggested setting up categories of Long Term Goals, Short Term Goals, On-going Projects and Equipment and Facilities for the Boards discussion. The items for discussion were listed, prioritized and then the Board can look at resources and decide what can be accomplished this year.
The discussion started with Equipment/Infrastructure.
a. Hengel stated that he would like to continue with spray truck replacement. This year the District has replaced the 1984 spray truck (150 gallon spray tank) with a 1998 Chevrolet, One Ton, crew cab, dual wheels. The truck will carry a 400-gallon spray tank. With the larger tank the spray crews will have more field time and less travel time to and from the Shop for water, thereby increasing work efficiency. Hengel recommended to continue spray truck replacement with similar vehicles. Commissioner Skinner asked about the feasibility of using a tender for water. The issue of needing a CDL to drive a tender was discussed. This topic will be researched further.
b. Upgrading the Weed Shop. There was a lot of discussion on this topic. The two main issues are the shower rooms and insulation. The heating costs have averaged $900/month for December-January-February. Some discussion points were to get estimates and possibly present the project as a CIP project – the cost would need to be over $50,000. Justification for the shower rooms would be health and safety and the insulation would eventually pay for itself in reduced heating bills. Other options were to use some of the 940 funds and repair small sections at a time. Discussion also brought to light the issue of who actually owns the shop. Commissioner Skinner will research that. If the shop were a building that the Fairgrounds will take over when the Weed District actually moves, would the
Fairgrounds contribute to the cost of upgrading? Hengel stated that it would be very unlikely that the Fairgrounds would contribute to upgrades for another department.
Short Term Goals were identified as:
a. Upgrading the Weed Shop
b. Continuing to work towards the development of the Frog Rock WMA, the Upper Madison WMP and the Tall buttercup program. The Frog Rock WMA is currently active and will implement control measures starting this field season.
Long Term Goals were identified as:
a. Office/Shop replacement – Eventually the Road Shop complex will be returned to the Fairgrounds and the Weed Shop will have to move. The proposed new location is on Baxter Lane in conjunction with the new Road Dept. complex. Estimated cost of the new Weed Office/Shop is 1.25 million dollars. This could be a CIP project or the Board could explore the idea of an InterCap loan.
b. Weed Mapping – discussion regarding mapping addressed the possibility of having a cooperative interagency position to assist all agencies in the County.
c. Grants – Frog Rock WMA - the GVLT has funds for this area for education and cost share. West Yellowstone is an important area however there would be a need to have some one from the area monitoring/coordinating the program. Addressing the new invader, Tall buttercup is also a priority.
Ongoing Yearly Programs:
a. Spray County owned properties – initiate a limited boom spray program in areas where this would be appropriate (county parks etc.). Hengel would like to initiate a boom spray program for county properties where appropriate, e.g. parks and rural right-of-ways. This will increase our herbicide costs but would also increase efficiency and control of nuisance weeds.
b. Vehicle replacement – this program has been started as noted above.
c. Sprayer Rental and Cost Share – the Cost Share funds are currently set at $7,500. This amount could be increased. The District currently receives more requests for assistance than funds available. As a public relations and incentive program the Cost Share program has been very successful. The Board felt that this program is very important.
d. Subdivision Review Fee – Hengel stated that he would like the review fee to go towards the cost of the employee doing the reviews and that the fee should cover the total costs incurred by the review process. Currently, the fee reimburses one-half of the total costs excluding any monitoring or enforcement requirements. Skinner informed those present that the Commissioners would not have a problem increasing the review fee when presented with documentation of the actual costs incurred.
e. Enforcement – New employee will be responsible for this. Prior to conducting on the ground enforcement actions the Weed District needs full support of the County Commissioners and the County Attorney. The Weed District already has the support of the Commissioners (hence the new position).
f. Cooperative projects – Hengel informed the Board that cooperative projects are planned between the GCWD, USFS and MDT in the Gallatin Canyon and West Yellowstone area for the upcoming field season. Additional projects include mapping with the USFS and the FW&P.
g. Municipalities – Bell asked Hengel if there has been any discussion with cities regarding the Weed District spraying the Parks. Hengel said at this time we are not budgeted for this extra work, however, we do spray “hot spots” when complaints are called in. West Yellowstone and the City of Three Forks are currently hiring commercial applicators. The Weed District will continue with assistance to municipalities on “hot spots” but due to the extent of cooperative projects with the MDT any full scale assistance is not possible this year. Once the MDT is brought back to base line status the Weed District can shift resources towards assistance to the municipalities.
h. Education – Commissioner Skinner reported that the Conservation District is looking positive for hiring a small acreage person.
i. Portable Undercarriage Wash Station – This equipment was purchased last year through a grant. According to the County’s insurance company use of the equipment by another agency requires that that agency have their own insurance coverage or a Weed District employee needs to be present. Fred Bell stated that he would like to get a volunteer group together to run the wash station.
The meeting adjourned at 3.55PM. As some of the items on the Strategic Thinking-Strategic Planning-Work Strategy paper had not been addressed the Board decided to continue with unfinished business at the April 5th Board meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
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