April 1, 2015 at 8:30 AM - Operations & Education Committee Meeting

Rationale:  There are no CREP payments.
We are still waiting to hear from NE Game & Parks as to whether their grant proposals for Czechland and Homestead Lakes has been approved.

Rationale:  The O & M crew placed the docks in Lake Wanahoo, made white rock paths to the new jetties at Czechland, shred areas as fire breaks on the Wanahoo property in preparation of a future burn, put in a new gate at Sand/Duck Dam 15 for Larry Ourada and will put in another for Dave Lichtig, also cut miscellaneous trees and stumps with the new saw.

Rationale:  The District was informed by the State that we would not be able to rent a tractor this season through their contract with John Deere. For the years to come, we will have that capability as the State has contracted with John Deere a 5 year contract and political sub divisions are written into the contract.

Rationale:  The 2 jetties and the bank lining are essentially finished at Czechland Lake, only the parking stops on the handicap jetty need to be placed and secured.  Final invoices may be here by Board Meeting.  One invoice from JEO is attached.

Rationale:  The Wanahoo SRA will open with Game & Parks personnel April 1. The area will have a new site Superintendent.
 
A reminder that NARD and Lower Platte North are organizing a 5K and 1 mile run/walk at Lake Wanahoo on Saturday, April 11 at 8:30 a.m.  The Run-A-Hoo at Wanahoo will benefit the NARD Foundation.

ME Collins has a written proposal for the District in which they want to store the base rock for the County Road 17 street project on the NRD property north of the District's shed.  They would return the area back to its original status, plus pave our driveway entrance from the street. See attached letter.

Rationale:  Dennis Kucera a landowner adjacent to Bellwood Ditch 4 had a request for the District to repair 3 drainage head cuts along the ditch into his field.  The existing field drains did not handle the heavy rainfall of last season. The excess water created new head cuts. Heimann looked at the situation with Kucera and hired local contractor Ray Moore to repair the problem while it was dry and before planting started.  Moore did the work for $690.00.

Rationale:  To date the District has ordered 18,000 trees and shrubs.  We have 2,100 in inventory to sell. We currently have 9 sites to plant.

Rationale:  A meeting with South Fremont sponsors led by Greg Johnson of the COE was held in Fremont on March 16, 2015.  Mr. Johnson briefed the group on the preparation of finishing the feasibility study, final alternatives, budget (cost share requirements), and tentative schedule.  The best alternative to date is a modified "C" Levee formerly called the "U" Shape Levee.  The cost of the study is $550,000 of which 50% is the non-federal sponsors responsibility or $275,000, the District's liability would be $137,500.  They tentatively would like the Final Feasibility Report finished in April, 2016.
A new Inter-local Cooperation Act Agreement Amendment will be developed between the Non-Federal partners when the Corps solidifies the final study cost. 

Rationale:  Heimann and Oaklund interviewed five candidates for three summer intern positions. To date only one has accepted, we hope to finalize this process this week.

Rationale:  There are no request for payment.

Rationale:  This month we have been running ads on tree sales, water classes, and the Run-a-Hoo event.

Rationale:  The spring issue of the Viaduct will begin appearing in area papers this week. The electronic version will be sent Thursday morning (April 2). The issue contains information on Phase II area changes, new chemigation fees, the new piers at Czechland Lake, Run-a-Hoo, and our 2014 Annual Report.

Rationale:  We have received 2015 exhibitor info for the Platte and Butler county fairs:

• Platte County: July 8-12, $220
• Butler County: July 24-27, $100 

Other fairs will be held:

• Boone County: July 11-15
• Colfax County: July 23-26
• Saunders County: July 27-August 3

We should be able to attend all five of these fairs again this year. 

Rationale:  Registration for the Spring Conservation Sensation opened on March 4 and we reached capacity (~400 students) by mid-afternoon that day. At least two other schools with approximately 100 more students wanted to attend. We may need to consider splitting the event in the future.

Rationale:  Soil & Water Stewardship materials have been packaged and are ready for delivery. Orders did not pick up this year and we ended up with 19 orders for a total of $984.56 (down approximately 50% from last year). 

Rationale:  Thompson presented the "Secrets of Scat" activity at Earth Wellness Festival in Lincoln on March 25. This year was the biggest Earth Wellness Festival ever, with ~3,500 students attending.

Rationale:  As part of the requirements for accepting online credit card payments, we are required to maintain certain security procedures to remain "PCI Compliant." We passed the PCI testing last week and are in compliance. 

Rationale:  - All March Rural Water samples passed.
- Conducted maintenance on two water meter radios
- Ordered 7 new Neptune radio antena's for Bruno/Colon lines
- traced and marked water line for digger's hotline
- investigated Butler Power trenching location west of Bruno
- Three Colon customers currently on "Shut-off" list
- Working with Strong Plumbing (Fremont) to test/certify 6 system back flow devices