May 8, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Directors Meeting

The summer Water and Natural Resources Tour will look at surface and groundwater issues in the central Platte River basin June 27-29.  Cost for the tour is $475 per person.  See attachment for details

1.  Murren Claim

2.  Rawhide Section 10 - Landowner Encroachment 

3.  Rawhide Section 10 - Gifford

4.  Lake Level Committee

5.  Ourada Claim 

The advertising for the General Manager position is currently running in newspapers. See attachment for updates.

The date scheduled for the Special Board Meeting is June 22.  NRCS is planning a national day of conservation events that date in Lincoln and the NRDs will be a part of this.  We should look at changing our special meeting to another day or move the interview schedule ahead.

Mark Walkenhorst is submitting the attached summer intern proposal for the NRD to consider with the upcoming spring and summer applications of conservation practices in the Lower Platte North NRD.

RFPs are out for the annual audit, a copy of the ad is attached.  They will be advertised for three weeks and emailed to a list of accounting firms with the assistance of HBE.

The RFPs are due and will be opened on May 25.  The top three firms will be invited to the June 1 Executive Committee meeting to give 15 minute presentations.  The Executive Committee will then recommend a firm to contract the audit with for the next three years.

Grant Nuttelmann attended the Executive Committee meeting to review the January and February Financials.  (A motion will be needed at board meeting)

Following the Executive Committee meeting HBE gave Intact training to Hilger, Birkel, Breunig, Mountford and Miyoshi.

The FYRA Lake Wanahoo Lake Level Management Plan contract was tabled until the Operation & Maintenance Manual for the Wanahoo Environmental Restoration Project was complete and reviewed. 

The District did receive the Sand Creek Environmental Restoration O & M Manual front end text without appendices on April 20, 2017. The entire document should arrive in the mail this week.

There are no CREP contracts to pay this month.

We made our second application to kill any cool season grasses at Homestead. We are waiting for the warm season grass to arrive and we will plant immediately.

The Lake Wanahoo Lake Level Committee met before the O, E & RW Committee at 8:00 a.m.

Attached is the April 26th Agenda, March 29th Minutes, O & M Manual, FRYA Professional Services Agreement, Sotak response to Wanahoo Weir Modification & the O & M Manual and Tim Gokie, NDNR, Dam modification comments.

To date the Park Superintendent has not started.  The first two weeks there was one employee, currently there are two.  We are unsure as to when anyone else will start.  We believe the Superintendent should be here to start the season the beginning of April.  The District will closely follow the inter-local agreement as to what our responsibilities are.

We have one inquiry from a local couple to be a "Campground Host Couple" at Wanahoo. They were sent to apply through the Game & Parks Commission as they make the arrangements for this program.  We do not know the status of that request.

The District received the $21,701.50 profit from Game & Parks Commission from the 2016 season and have placed it into a separate NPAIT account.

A meeting was held in Fremont on Thursday, April 20 concerning problems recently found in the FEMA FIRM 100 year discharges in the Lower Platte.  Officials from Cities, County's, NRD's, FEMA, DNR, and FYRA Engineering were in attendance.  FYRA Engineering explained the discrepancy they found in the FEMA discharge flow in the Platte River and how this may affect communities from Columbus to the mouth of the River. It was explained how long and difficult a process it is for FEMA to revise the current flood plain mapping. The ice induced flows must also be factored in to the equation but, we are waiting to find out if NDOR's ice flow equation is approved by FEMA. If so, that ice flow factor can be used by FYRA.

Current FIRM revisions are prioritized by each state with remapping in the Blue Basin currently moving forward and remapping for the Elkhorn Basin currently being organized. It will be at least 5 years before any new FEMA FIRM mapping is started in the Lower Platte Basin.  If communities want to address their own flood zones by panels it would be at their own expense to get them revised.

We will work with FYRA to come up with a plan to accelerate FIRM remapping in our basin.

The homeowners that live on Woods Dr. in Fremont have backyards that back up to our Rawhide Ditch 10 (see attached photo's). Four homeowners have sheds and other items that cross our property line which hinders our capability of shredding the south ditch bank in a wet year.  We have fielded complaints in the past that the ditch bank behind the houses doesn't get shredded. It's very difficult to back large equipment on a slope to avoid the sheds and try to keep the shredder from sliding into the wet bottom of the ditch. We have hauled our small tractor and 6' shredder up there to appease the homeowners.

Heimann sent a letter in December to the homeowners asking them to remove their sheds and items from our property to give us better capability to shred the south bank. Their deadline is May 15th.  One homeowner made a request to care for the south bank if they could leave the sheds and items in place.  The District's legal counsel will need to advise.

Heimann contacted Brian Newton, acting City Administrator after committee meeting.  Brian forwarded the information to the City's Planning and Codes Department. He's in support of whatever is needed to keep Ditch 10 clear of obstructions.

Heimann and Mountford attended the final construction inspection for the Camp Ashland fuse plug on April 20th (see photo's).  Final seeding has been held up because of weather but, will be completed shortly if not already.  The project construction looked very good.  The plug opening is larger than the previous, it's 25' - 26' wide.

The COE also wants to do an inspection on the Clear Creek Levee one more time with the District before the O & M Manual comes out.

The Wahoo Newspaper eAd and KTIC radio ad for May will continue promotion for the chemigation deadlines for new permits and renewals.  The ads are attached. 

Nebraska will be hosting the North American Envirothon in 2020.  Over 260 students and 150 sponsors and teachers from the United States and Canada are expected to attend.  NARD has created a detailed draft budget for the event using information from the 2017 North American Envirothon to project costs for 2020 and what amount is needed from each district.  Lower Platte North is asked for $12,735 to support the 2020 Envirothon.  This will be $4,245 per year for three budget years.  Please see the attached information regarding the North American Envirothon.

The Spring Conservation Sensation is Wednesday, May 3^rd at Czechland Lake from 9 am-2 pm.  Registration begins at 8:30 am. 

173 students are registered to participate in the event.  Presenters include staff from LPNNRD, local NRCS, Lower Platte South NRD, Nebraska Game & Parks, David City FFA, and Nebraska Extension (Butler Co. & Colfax Co.).  David City FFA members will be group leaders helping move students between sessions. The full schedule is attached. 

The 2017 Soil & Water Stewardship Week is recognized as April 30^th through May 7^th.  Educational materials that were ordered have been delivered to schools and churches.  An invoice for printing materials has been received from Print Solutions for $1,888.45.  The invoice is attached.

In November, the LPNNRD awarded a grant to the Schuyler FFA Chapter to assist with a tree growing project.  They have shared with us that the seedlings are germinating well in the Rootmaker trays and they have a variety of species included Black Walnut, Chestnut Oak, Red Oak, Bur Oak, and Kentucky Coffee Tree.  They have enjoyed seeing the progress each day and thanked the NRD for helping support their project.  Photos that they shared of the project are attached.

Each year, a promotional item is given away to the students who participate in Spring Conservation Sensation.  This year the giveaway item purchased was discs with the Lower Platte North NRD logo.  This will serve as the event giveaway and a promotion for the Lake Wanahoo Nature Education Trail/Disc Golf Course as well as future opportunities.  The invoice is attached.

LPNNRD received one application for the Shell Creek Watershed Monitoring Program Scholarship.  This scholarship is awarded to two high school seniors who plan to pursue higher education relating to science or natural resources.  Staff reviewed the applications and recommend to award Hannah Haase the scholarship.  We would like to notify Hannah prior to her graduation ceremony.  Her application is attached.

Emergency Response Plan and Emergency Contact lists have been updated for each of the two systems as required by State.

Consumer Confidence Reports are underway and will be completed and filed in the next 30 days.

Water samples have been collected and submitted to the State for testing.

Meters have been read and bills will be going out this week.

We have been contacted by two potential new connections, one on Lake View Drive and the other on Browning Drive.

Water samples have been collected and submitted to the State for testing.

Meters have been read and bills will be going out this week.

The total number of approved permits for 2017 is 11


Location of Approved Well Permits for 2017:  Correct as of4/21/2017

 #1  (Butler-Saunders)

There are 30 irrigation wells in this area.  25 of these have a flow meter; the other five wells were not used in 2016.  All 25 flow meter reporting forms have been returned.  2017 will be the third year of their allocation (3-year rolling) for this SQS area.  Staff got water levels from most of these wells last week.

#2 (Platte-Colfax)

Flow meter cost-share applications continue to be received. Staff is in process of completing allocation calculations. Staff plans on starting collecting water levels from these wells starting April 24.

High capacity livestock wells or a series of wells capable of pumping 50 GPM have received a letter that a flow meter is required by LPN management rules for this area.  Staff was contacted by a couple of individuals on type of meter needed and potentially reclassifying the well.  Staff will continue to communicate with these individuals.  

FLOW METER INSTALLATION UPDATE

Russ inspected Terry Lutjens flow meter installations on April 24.  Holes have been cut in 4 of the sites with one site that uses lagoon water still being evaluated.  The motion at last month's meeting gave him until May 1, 2017 to have the meters installed or Cease and Desist will be issued at May 8th Board Meeting. Staff will be contacting Mr Lutjens on May 1. 

No new requests received in April.  Kits will be mailed out prior to irrigation.

Tri-City Meters has completed the greasing and sealing of flow meters in the SQS areas.  A complete report should be arriving soon with meter information, pictures and invoice.  Staff will be ordering batteries for electronic meters and a few parts to fix McCrometers in an emergency this summer.  

Staff met with Tri-City Meters in the field to watch how they were sealing and greasing the meters.  They also showed us how to replace batteries in a Senninger meter. Plans are to have staff seal more of the meters this summer before tampering becomes an issue. 

At the November 30, 2016 Water Committee, a motion was made to fund GWEL cooperator wells at $1,000 per 8 inch meters ($770 from WSF and $230 from LPNNRD = $1,000) and at $749 per 6 inch meters ($577 from WSF and $172 from LPNNRD = $749)

As of April 21, 2017 we have received a total of 176 applications.  Only 5 of these still need to be inspected to insure that the meter is installed properly.  

Seven well sites have applied for 2 meters each, but following motion of the Water Committee, only one meter per irrigation system will receive funding.

Therefore, for the May 8, 2017 Board Meeting, we will have a total of 7 cost-share applications to approve.

A meeting was held with Rex Gittins, Assistant Director for DNR, and Kent Zimmerman, who handles the Water Sustainability Fund, to discuss the reimbursement rates that was discussed in the fall of 2016.  A misunderstanding occurred on the percentage that the WSF will reimburse. The chart below has changed to show what is acceptable for reimbursement.  Last month the remaining WSF total was $72,765 and this month the amount is $120,541, which reflects a 60/40 split between the WSF and LPN.  LPN share is now $52,973 of the grant.  

At last months committee meeting it was reported that a request was sent to Kent Zimmerman requesting expanding the area cost-share to SQS #1 and expand out 1 mile of the boundary line of SQS #2.  At the meeting with Rex and Kent, they reported that the DNR director only wants cost-share on new meters that hasn't been previously purchased.  So with the information provided, SQS #1 was taken out of the request but we expanded the request to go 2 miles outside the boundary for SQS #2.

There are 264 wells in our district within 2 miles of SQS #2 (Platte/Colfax). 234 are irrigation wells, 31 are stock wells. There is one irrigation well in LENRD that irrigates into LPNNRD.  If we assume that the District has 200 wells and the cost-share will be at the $770 rate; the total would be $154,000 at a 60/40 split.  The WSF grant would be responsible for $92,400 and the District share would be $61,600.  Some wells already have flow meters installed and will not be eligible for cost-share.

This expanded area is voluntary flow meter installation and is not required by District rules.  Normally when flow meters are voluntary, cost-share applications usually runs around 25-50 percent participation. So realistic the cost-share amount on 100 flow meters would be $77,000 on a 60/40 split.  At this time the District has around $120,000 remaining in the fund.  This request will need to approve at the Commission meeting in June.

A motion was made at the December 28. 2016 Water Committee to pay for 1 meter per irrigation system.  At that time a letter was sent to five producers stating the decision by the District.  This letter stated that after the March 1, 2017 deadline that the District will reassess the funding for duplicate meters.  Since the letter was sent out in January 9, 2017, two more applications has been received for duplicate flow meters per irrigation systems bringing the total to 7 duplicate flow meters per irrigation system.

The purpose of the producer putting on duplicate flow meters can be for a variety of reasons.  The main 2 reasons usually are installing the meter to meet spacing requirements or a producers trying to become efficient on the amount of water use per irrigation system.  This information can be invaluable to the producer and the District when looking at cropping rotations or different irrigation systems.  If one pivot is corn and the other is soybeans installing one meter may not get the producer or the District the correct amount of water use per crop.  

The District has excess funds in WSF of 120,000 for flow meter cost-share, so cost-sharing on these flow meters will total $5,390.  The WSF will pay for $3,234 and LPN share would be $2,156.  This will still leave over 116,500 in WSF.

No new information to report

No new information to report

No new information to report

For 2017 we have 232 renewals and 10 new permit applications for a current total of 242.  Inspections for 0 renewal permits have been completed.

The breakdown by County for the Total Number of Renewals within the LPNNRD.

The breakdown by county of the number of renewal inspections completed.

The breakdown, by county for the 10 new chemigation permit applications, are listed below:

Spring 2017 Ground Energy Levels

Groundwater levels were up as a whole with 66.3% of the wells measured had levels higher in Spring 2017 compared to Spring of 2016.  Platte Valley levels were basically unchanged but Todd Valley rose over 2 feet. Attached is a summary of the groundwater levels per region.  Also attached are graphs from from a majority of the wells that are in the GWEL network per region. 

This is a modification to livestock waste control facility design and nutrient management plan.

The spring meeting was held April 18 at the LPNNRD Boardroom.  An update was given on AEM survey flights, which was reported that the partners were receiving their finish product ahead of schedule.  The LPN should be receiving their data in July or even sooner.  Katie Cameron plans on making a report to the Board in September or October.  Water sampling is taking place on 26 wells for variety of parameters including age dating.  

Chris Hobza reported on a recharge project he is conducting at 2 sites (Firth and Valley).  The Firth site showed about a 12% recharge rate with the Valley site at 45%.  The purpose of this study is to help determine recharge rates of different soil and geology material.  These wells were chosen initially as their locations showed no outside influences.  Chris plans on selecting more wells and continue this research.  

Discussion was held about more flights in 2017 and/or apply for grant funding.  Lower Elkhorn is planning on budgeting for flights in fiscal year 2017-18 and was wondering if their would be other partners.  If ENWRA applies for a Water Sustainability Grant, applications are due in July but notification is not planned until March 2018.  

The group is planning GeoCloud training in August.  It is planned for a full day, with the first half technical training and the second part administrative training. 

Amendment 5 to ENWRA Interlocal Cooperative Agreement is attached that will need Board Chairman signature.  This agreement agrees to have a coordinator position through June 30, 2020 and will commit the LPN in contributing $30,000 to ENWRA for the next 5 years.

Discussion on participating in a grant to continue AEM survey flights within the District.  A map is attached showing the four potential areas that more information could be valuable in determining aquifer boundaries. The cost would be about 8 - 9 per acres if we fly on 1/3 mile flight lines.  So the cost would be $500,000 per area plus double that for the Prague Area.  Is the committee wanting to do more flights and what areas would be higher priorities?

LPS would like to finish out there NW portion which would include the David City Subarea.  Papio would like to finish there western part which would include the Yutan Uplands.  The Swedeburg Subarea has pocket aquifers which boundaries are undefined.  Are the boundaries correct for the Prague Subarea and maybe just fly the boundaries of this area?  

The ENWRA group is considering submitting a grant to the Water Sustainability Fund in July which is a 60/40 share.  The grant would be ranked and approved March 2018.  If the NRD agrees to participate in the grant this would be a FY18-19 project.  Does the committee want to participate as a partner in the grant and for what dollar amount?

Dave Hume and Jon Mohr, LBG Environmental and Groundwater Engineering Firm, discussed the idea of developing a aquifer risk map.  Attached is a sample map done for the LBNRD.  This map is used as a management tool for issuing well permits for the LBNRD.  The LBNRD took into consideration transmissivity, specific yield, thickness of saturated sand, water level change from Spring 2000 to Spring 2007 and recharge.  A different percentage for each was given to develop a scoring systems on approving well permits.

This tool could help the Committee/Board and staff on approving supplemental wells or marginal land development. LBG would just take the data collected by Olsson Associates in the LPN hydrogeologic study done in 2008 and assist in developing it into a useful management tool.  The Committee would help in determining the criteria for the map development.

A proposal is attached from LBG on the scope of the project.  The cost of the risk map would range from 15 - 20 thousand depending on extra workflow needed by staff and LBG.  The proposal also discussed an interactive mapping tool which could be used internally or by the public.  No cost amount was given for this tool. 

Staff met with Katie Cameron, Sue Lackey and Dana Divine on monitoring wells locations.  Sue commented that exact locations in the Colfax/Platte and Middle Shell Creek area could be determined more precisely after seeing the finish AEM flights results.  She thought to go into the Dakota Aquifer that depths could be reaching 1200 feet.  

To drill test hole and develop monitoring wells at depths of 1200 feet the cost would be around $70,000 per site.  Does the committee want to proceed in budgeting monitoring wells into FY17-18 and one or 2 sites?  

Staff would like some guidance on this issue for budgeting purposes.

Olson Associates and FYRA Engineering have come up with a proposal called CMAT (Conjunctive Management Analysis Tool).  This tool takes existing groundwater models along with known information such as geology maps, soils maps, well logs, all of our ground water information along with studies we have performed and put them into a super-computer to give answers to queries (questions).  

Many of these queries would be stand alone studies, but with CMAT the answer could be in minutes, hours or over night. A question as simple as transferring a water right from one location to another - CMAT could give us the acre foot difference or tell us that 80 acres of irrigation at site “A” would translates to a certain number of acres at site “B”.

Of course your answer is only as good as your data so CMAT would also give us the reliability for each answer.  Along with this reliability CMAT would also tell us where we should be investing our study and research funds to make our most commonly asked queries more accurate.

Attached find a presentation, list of most commonly asked questions and a potential funding scenario.

The funding shows that LPNNRD would be asked to contribute $16,150 per year for two years.

A meeting was held with members of the NHCC via conference call on April 18, 2017.  John Shadle was ratified as the vice-chairman of the group.  Mark Czaplewski mentioned to the group that OPPD was interested in joining the group.  He commented that with the new administration in Washington the Endanger Specie Act could be reform.  The last time it was amended was in 1988.  This reform could include re-designating the Platte River Endanger Specie Act. 

The next meeting is scheduled for April 17, 2018 at 10 am CST.

Attached is the financial report, 2017 meeting agenda and 2016 minutes. 

Water Department met with the Phoenix Group discussing the implementation of the 4 areas approved by the Board.  Staff gave them Chemigation, GWEL Wells, Flow Meters and Phase 2 & 3 Reporting databases.  Staff at the Phoenix Group will be implementing these databases into Phoenix and then get back to us on corrections. Staff also discussed online reporting for producers and using tablets in the field for data entry.

Data entry by staff in the field would be next logical step after these databases are deployed.  This item was not part of the agreement with the Phoenix Group.  Staff was asked to get a quote from Phoenix for inclusion in next years budget.

Russ Oakland, Brett Schomer and Daryl Andersen will be attending the conference in Albuquerque.   

2017 GMDA Summer Conference Preliminary Agenda

May 24

Welcome dinner 5:30-6:30

May 25

Breakfast from 7:30-8:30

Keynote speaker Tom Blaine intro and speech 8:30-9:15

Steve Hernandez- TX. V NM 1 9:15-10:15

Break  10:15-10:30

Jason Norquest – Local Enhanced Management Areas (LEMAs10:30-11:00

Aron Balok – PVACD: Past, Present, Future 11:00-12:00

LUNCH 12-1

A.J. and Ian and John – NWRA Fed. Issues (panel) 1:15-2:15

Bruce Thomson – Desalinization and brackish water 2:15-3:00

Break 3:00-3:15

Stacy Timmons- NM Groundwater Modeling 45 min 6 3:15-4:00

Guest Speaker- Matt Rush 4:00-4:30

State Caucus and Board Meeting 4:30 - 5:30

May 26

Breakfast from 7:30-8:30

Morning opening and any updates 8:30-8:45

Nathan Collier- Integrating Hydrogeology, Well Design and Drilling Techniques 8:45-9:30

Break 9:30 - 9:45

Mike Wallace- the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) climate index 9:45-10:30

Greg Alpers/BLM – Watershed management 10:30-11:00

Neil Blandford – Aquifer recharge 11:00-12:00

LUNCH 12-1

Tour of Rio Rancho Direct Injection Facility until 4:00pm

We will have three new Summer interns at LPNNRD:

• Travis Turgeon, Junior, UNL, majoring in Environmental Restoration Science
• Ross Kirby, David City High School grad; will start at UNL in August
• Bryce Wright, Sophomore, Doane U, majoring in Environmental Science

LPNNRD will host the next Groundwater Technician Training scheduled for Friday, June 2^nd.  The training will start at 9:00 a.m. with the exam at 3:00 p.m.  The deadline to register for the training and exam is May 12^th.  Application and check must be received by that date.  The training and exam will be held in the Board Room.

Keith Racek   Basins/Tile                $ 18,107.10   (100%)

This project is adjacent to Sand/Duck Creek Dam site 24.  As discussed last month, this is work that needs to be completed to correct erosion issues in the emergency spillway which has been occurring since the completion of the dam.

NE Buffer Strip Payments:

Rodney Juleson     $ 5,197.50

This contract was approved retroactive to the end of his last contract.  This payment will bring Mr. Juleson current on his current contract.

Lands for Conservation Approvals:

  Gary Prochaska     60 acres     $ 11,340.00

  Mark Kaspar         26 acres      $   4,784.00

                                                 $ 16,124.00

The Nebraska Department of Water Quality (NDEQ) has informed us that we have received verbal EPA approval of the Project Implementation Plan (PIP)  to move forward on the Wahoo Creek Watershed Water Quaility Plan Phase II.  Phase II includes additional landowner conservation program assistance and proposed construction of several road dams to replace old bridges in need of repair.   Attached is the PIP which includes a breakdown of grant and local partner contributions.  We have met with Saunders County to organize and prepare for moving forward in the process to secure an engineering firm to permit and design the road dams.  Grant funding from NDEQ, NET, the Department of Roads, is planned to be used to help offset much of this expense.  Our goal is to begin construction on two or more dams later this year. 

We met with NDEQ on April 26 and Elbert Traylor said that a grant funding contract is expected to be presented at the May 8 Board meeting for approval. 

The Board has been discussing whether or not to continue as part of the Lower Platte River Corridor Alliance for several months.  Miyoshi and Mountford meet with John Winkler and Marlin Peterman, PMRNRD,  and Paul Zillig and Dave Potter, LPSNRD, to work on a proposed new LPRCA draft interlocal agreement for consideration. The committee reviewed the draft agreement as attached.   A decision on whether or not to approve a new interlocal agreement and remain a member should be made at the May 8th Board Meeting.  The third draft of the Agreement is attached.

Also attached find:

   Alliance Retreat Report

   Alliance Retreat Notes

   Alliance Minutes from 2-24-17 Meeting

LPSNRD committee approved the Interlocal agreement on 5-2-17 for board consideration on 5-25-17.

Papio NRD will vote on the Interlocal on 5-17-17.

It was requested to have Dave Potter attend the board meeting to discuss the Interlocal Agreement, however Dave is at an IMP Meeting at LPSNRD the evening of our board meeting and not able to attend.

A meeting was held in Fremont on Thursday, April 20 with officials from Cities, County's, NRD's, FEMA, DNR, and FYRA Engineering.  FYRA Engineering explained the discrepancy they found in the Corps of Engineers flood flows on the Platte River and how this may affect communities from Columbus to the mouth of the Platte River. It was explained how long and difficult a process it is for FEMA to revise the current flood plain mapping. The ice induced flows must also be factored in to the equation but, we are waiting to find out if NDOR's ice flow equation is FEMA approved. If so, that ice flow factor can be used by FYRA.

Current FIRM revisions are prioritized by each state with remapping in the Blue Basin currently moving forward and remapping for the Elkhorn Basin currently being organized. It will be at least 5 years before any new FEMA FIRM mapping is started in the Lower Platte Basin.  If communities want to address their own flood zones by panels it would be at their own expense to get them revised.

We will work with FYRA to come up plan to accelerate FIRM remapping in our basin.

Attached is a draft Interlocal Agreement with the City of Schuyler clarifying their responsibiitiy for the operation and maintenance of the completed Shell Creek Levee that is a part of the Schuyler 205 Project with USACE.

This proposed agreement have been reviewed by Jovan Lausterer and his comments have been incorporated. 

Last month, Jon Peterson with JEO was present to update the committee on progress with Woodcliff's Platte River Bank Stabilization Project.  Woodcliff has indicated that they desire LPNNRD's financial assistant with this project and the committee discussed what amount of assistance is appropriate.   The total construction estimate is $630,000 not including engineering, mitigation or future operation and maintenance.   Nick Borman, representing Woodcliff, suggested consideration of about 50% assistance on the construction cost ($to be paid over several years.  The project is planned to be underway in the fall of 2017.   The committee had discussion that it appears this is a project that warrants LPNNRD assistance.  LPNNRD annually receives over $50,000 in property taxes from Woodcliff.

Jon Peterson, JEO, Lonnie Mart and Nick Borman, Woodcliff, presented Woodcliff's   formal funding assistance request of $325,000 toward the project construction to be paid over a 3 or 4 year period as attached.  

 JEO's PowerPoint that was presented last month is also attached for review.  

Heimann and Mountford attended the final construction inspection for the Camp Ashland fuse plug on April 20th (see photo's).  Final seeding has been held up because of weather but, will be completed shortly if not already.  The project construction looked very good.  The plug opening is larger than the previous, it's 25' - 26' wide.

The COE also wants to do an inspection on the Clear Creek Levee one more time with the District before the O & M Manual comes out.

A portion of the Wahoo Creek 319 project is pre and post water quality sampling in Wahoo Creek and it’s major tributaries.  Attached is the Memorandum of Agreement that shows sampling 7 sites 15 times in 2017.  LPNNRD will provide the personnel to perform the sampling while DEQ provides payment for all lab analysis and consumable supplies as shown in the attached document.  

A motion is needed to approve and ratify the signing of “Memorandum of Agreement between Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and Lower Platte North NRD for Wahoo Creek Enhanced Monitoring: Special Study – Step 2, 56-1531”.