Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society Meeting Minutes: September 6th in the Jennings County Library Meeting called to order @ 5:30 pm. Attendance: Tom Moore Sherida Moore Joanne Moore Troy Jackson Leanne Whitesell Everett Sparkmann Kevin Jayne Greg Fischesser Bud Beasley Simeon Stearns Mike Novac (IRCAP) Minutes approval: APC Section voided from the minutes as requested by Simeon. Treasurer's report: Initial balance: $3638.32 - August 10, 2005 deposit of $1338.68 = 4977.00 balance - September 1, 2005: 2 checks for $300/each were made to the IUS students Steve Moberly and Tim Deatrick: $4913.48 -$300 .00 = $4613.48; $4613.48-$300.00 = $4313.48 - 4.00 service charge for making checks: $4313.48 - $4.00 = $4309.48 Final balance $4309.48 - $4977.00 balance did not reflect outstanding checks; $63.52 difference issued to HHH for account difference. Old Business: FMRS sign progress at the Vernon Commons: The Vernon Council has confirmed site, and stakes are concreted in placed at the location. Larry confirmed that corrections have been made and the sign is ready to be set. Simeon, along with Dusty Williams from Hoosier Landscaping and possibly Troy, will mount the sign. FMRS access sites are also up now. Dave McCorvie (North Vernon Treatment Plant supervisor) will visit: Tabled. A motion was made and carried to remove this item from the agenda. APC Environmental Section: No progress to report at this meeting. Simeon invited Mike Novac to the meeting to December public hearing on results, public input needed before then Contact Dave Turner/Sheriff's Department for Hazmat demonstration on 10-1-05: Simeon will call to arrange this. New business: Education, grant money, and task report from Simon and Leanne: A special THANKS to Joann Moore and Bryce Mayer for collecting news articles to help with our final report that needs to be sent to IDEM. We have completed approximately 275 hours of education. Leanne will have a meeting on Sept. 13th with Graham Creek Elementary to go over the outdoor lab and environmental trail with the teachers and will be getting in-kind hours from them. Website updates and changes: Leanne looked at Yahoo's web hosting (since we have a yahoo account already established "forms") options and they have prices that range from $11.95/month-39.99/month plus a $25 setup fee. She downloaded a free site builder and reported that it is pretty simple to design a new site. This would help us regain control of the website and be able to update it regularly. For more information, visit http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting . A motion was made by Kevin and carried for Leanne to pursue Yahoo. Update on new 319 application: HHH and the RC&D Council approved the sponsorship for the 319 grant project. They are willing to sponsor us, even if the partnership doesn't work out. They also approved us to use their permit for bulk mailing. We can mail 200 pieces at about half the price of first class mail. They are currently working on trying to arrange for us to use their permit through North Vernon post office. Until that happens, we would have to mail them through Versailles. Simeon and Leanne had talked about mailing a postcard to our mailing list for reminders/save the date for the river cleanups. A motion was made and carried for Leanne to pursue this. Discussion of partnerships (based on conversation from meeting on 8-26-05): - Kevin commented that Jennifer and Terry stated in the grant planning meetings that a larger group proposal is better, due to a smaller budget required in planning. Planning funds are limited, and 80% of funding will go to implementation. - Bud Beasley commented that from his experience we pose a better chance with partnership with groups of similar interests in county (SWCD, USDA, JCHD, etc.). He also suggested that we call Friends of Hardy Lake and Friends of Ohio (Scott Co.) for partnership. - Mike Novac mentioned that partnership roles should require each county to handle their area's implementation issues, and that under Federal & IDEM review requirements state that testing is required to be done in sub-watershed. - Simeon suggested a partnership with Hanover College, and we currently have Jefferson County Health Department as partner. - Partnership with Jefferson County SWCD could provide our employees temporary work during the interim of getting new grant money: JCSWCD wants 2 employees to do DNA acid testing for ecoli to obtain baseline data. Leanne stated that this could cost from $20,000-$30,000, increasing the required budget and decreasing the chances of getting the grant. Our proposal is to dedicate 1 employee part-time for testing from FMRS that would stay with us 2 years and to hire contract employees for any other employees needed, which would decrease the required budget. Leanne will discuss this further with Amy Carpenter @ Jefferson County SWCD. Jefferson County SWCD tabled the voting for the partnership idea of the 11-digit watershed. They will vote at this Thursday's meeting (9/8/05) @ 7:00 pm; Leanne to call to arrange for representatives from FMRS to attend. If they vote against the partnership, it was suggested that we reapply for a single 11 digit subwatershed on our own; a motion to do this was made by Kevin and carried by unanimous decision. Promotion item discussion for the October 1st cleanup: - Commercial spots: This is the amount of spots that we had last time: ESPN-$10.40/spot---> 20 spots NICK-$5.60/spot---> 10 spots TNT-$8.80/spot---> 16 spots Total: $404.80 airtime Leanne and Simeon to look at this further and to make arrangements; a notion was made to possibly reduce the number of spots or eliminate a station to save some money. We will use funds from remaining grant money. - Cody Kreutzjahn to arrange the JCTV ads; Tom to follow up - Everett suggested contacting WHAS 11 to cover/report the cleanup statistics. Tom will email them to arrange this. - Simeon to look into purchasing "Cooley Cups" with FMRS logo for promotional items: a $200 budget is assigned to this. Rural Community Assistance Program Report: Mike Novac from Indiana RCAP attended per Simeon's request to introduce him to our organization and to get his input on dealing with the APC and the county septic. RCAP is supplemented by EPA and USDA, and it's purpose is to provide support to rural communities. Infrastructure grants are available to rural communities with a population of 10,000 and under. RCAP coordinates with IDEM and EPA to approach such issues as septic, sewer and water quality. Mike noted that most infrastructure problems occur mostly within unincorporated communities (with no governing body). RCAP can partner with county offices to access them. Infrastructure and IORA funds available are around $500,000 through USDA and IHFA. Rural community township assets limits are 51% of community income (CBGB funding) and are determined through income assessments reports. Implementation is done by forming regional sewer and water districts formed from community members: problems are identified, public meeting are held to solve problem, then RCAP comes in to advise. There are 3 technical system providers in thi area of the state. Mike and the group commented that there are many communities in this county that need addressed (Butlerville, Hayden, etc.); an RSWD (regional sewer/ water district) could be formed to fix their problems; a management plan for on-sight systems is required. Simeon will meet with the Health Department and Essential Services Committee to arrange a meeting with Mike; partnering with the Health Department to solve the problems will be sought. Complete Action Register: Tom called out all unassigned item and the group filled all of them. Tom or Troy will type up and issue to the distribution list. Kevin made a notion to discuss maintaining a conservative meeting length and more timely guest notification. This was tabled until next meeting. Set initial agenda for next meeting on 10/04: Old Business: - Education, grant money, and task report from Simon and Leanne: - FMRS sign progress at the Vernon Commons: - Website updates and changes: - Update on new 319 application: New Business: River Cleanup report: Meeting length/ guest notification issues: Meeting adjourned @ 7:57pm Mother Nature Thanks You Use the TIP LINE. Call 1-800-847-4367 (1-800-TIP-IDNR)