all right thank you so much for setting up the recording uh welcome everyone to the April 22nd Watershed Planning Commission meeting I will call this meeting to order you should all have a copy of the agenda and meeting minutes so please take a look at those and at this time if we have modifications to the agenda or adjustments to the minutes please let us know if we do not I would like to see if we could get a motion to approve the agenda and meeting minutes as they are um prepared for us this is commissioner cilus I'll make a motion that we approve the uh meeting minutes uh as written you commissioner pin will second perfect Vanessa you want to do roll absolutely uh commissioner Weaver I commissioner pint hi commissioner cilus hi and commissioner Schmidt hi thank you Commissioners all right that is passed we can move on to our um administrative report Vanessa thank you madam chair Commissioners so I'm just going to give you just a couple of really quick updates because there's a lot in this packet today uh one of the things obviously that you'll see today is Staff has working very hard on the annual report which is June next week uh the the annual report we did start updating to a new template to align with the uh new logo and the whole goal of that again is to improve our Communications with our residents um improve our ability to utilize technology as it presents itself to us today as an opportunity to reach out um our current template and format for the annual report was in a really outdated program very hard to work with not very readable uh so we're slowly working on improving that and today is one of those things we get to show you um making progress uh another thing we are working on are our kpis which is part of our County reporting a lot of the information that's in our annual report ends up in the county reporting as well uh so it's kind of nice to be able to do them at once uh so we're also working on our County reporting uh and that's another you know big task we did recently have a quick little workshop with the board uh what week ago to just kind of get their in put in Direction on how the board would like to be involved with the watershed management Plan update uh so we got some great direction from the board on how to proceed with their involvement moving forward and then uh a few other things we're working with our partnership on the next round of Watership base implementation funding um we're trying something a little different we're trying to get together as a large group within the county so there's multiple funding areas within the county um but we're trying to go back to just kind of getting together together as a county and trying to work it work it out the funding uh kind of cooperatively in that way U so our next meeting on that is tomorrow um we do have a couple of projects we are uh asking to get funded through that uh one of them is some funding for technical assistance and Coster for implementation of construction costs and uh another one is for the city of uh new prag they want to do a storm water improvements in their city center and then uh there's a couple other small ones in our plan that we might try to see if we can get funded as well in addition to that uh we met again with the city uh sorry not the city the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District uh just to kind of smooth out last tweaks with the mo MOA to implement their rules uh one of the things that they would like to have done is have an inspection for any storm water uh bmps that are put in and now we don't have staff to do storm water inspection or don't do on-site INSP ctions to ensure something installed has been installed maybe as it was designed uh so we're working with the S swcd who is willing to give that a try so the S swcd will do those final inspections and a midpoint inspection uh for those storm water improvements as they're put in by uh developers and applicants and um then provide us that detail to make sure that it was done correctly and then they'll bill us for that cost uh one other little interesting hurdle we're encountering which is a bit unfortunate most of you are probably aware that the county has uh pretty much lost all of its local newspapers uh which as the wo is required in several places to post Public Notices uh in the paper and post things in the local paper uh it leaves us at a bit of a loss uh but we are fortunate the county is working on an alternative and trying to work on what we can do uh to meet those uh statutory requirements when we don't actually have a local paper in which to post so stay tuned uh just so you know that is something we are aware of and we are working on uh the last kind of bigger project that's kind of going on in the county um that has some Water Resource involvement of course is the Miriam Junction trail um probably most folks are aware that there's a very nice large Trail connection being proposed for the kind of the Miran Junction area that would connect I kind of call it about the Renaissance Festival location uh across Minnesota River to Carver County uh following the old uh train route so we're uh obviously working alongside of the transportation department on that um our involvements limited obviously to storm water components and then the flood plane components so but it is a big project it's kind of an exciting project it's a multi-year project so it is moving along though and uh with that I stand for any questions thanks Vanessa um I remember talking talking about the Watershed based implementation funding last time we got that and we had to work with different entities as we split up those funds was that all within the county I thought it was bigger than that so the local wbf is currently broken down into subwatershed buckets it's just the buckets that it's been broken down into for the County area are really the same basic size as the W like one is the wmo size one is prake Spring Lake Watershed District's boundary and the other one's like lower men's boundary within the county so um as as the Metro wbif stands right now that's kind of how it works a few years ago it was just the county I don't know about previous to that there to my knowledge there wasn't one larger than that for the Metro wbf now there's the outside Metro WB which is on a much larger scale that's part of like the one Watershed one plan planning area of wbf um but the one I'm talking about right now is just the Metro one yep I was thinking of the Metro one so thank you yeah other questions for Vanessa okay hearing none I think we can move on to Troy yes good afternoon everybody um can you hear me okay yes we can good thank you just to follow up on that question too um that Vanessa replied to there was one year where that allocation did extend beyond Scott County and actually included a number of U municipalities in Dakota County so that there was one year where it was larger than um the county itself so oh okay okay yeah you might be thinking that one too yeah I thought there was one that we had to talk through how we were going to spend the funds with quite a few entities so so anyway onto my report so I'll I'll be brief as well um covering some items of Interest so we start with a number of technical uh assistance and C share program requests so these are the folks we're working with in the wo land owners uh who have active requests for assistance those are represented by the blue bars you can see for the month of April we're over 150 and we're actually slightly above anywhere we've been in the past year so uh so we're seeing a little bit of growth now I mean this uh goes up and down back and forth but um you can see that um we're on our s upward swing at the current time of those approximately 85 to 90 are actual projects those are in the at various stages of the either planning Construction or certification cost share funds we are sitting on about a little over $937,000 in total Awards and we're sitting on a balance yet of about 378,000 so we've uh passed the halfway mark of spending a what's available uh that includes state grants as well as local General funding out of the wo's budget so health and cover crop remains a priority activity um I'm pleased to announce that we were awarded a Bowser application or a grant for the soil healing soil Health Staffing grant that was a $375,000 3 and a half year uh Grant project so um that'll greatly assist us in advancing the work throughout not just the wo but throughout the entire County as well uh skip down to equipment rental program so that's part of uh uh program we have to assist L owners with uh cover crop implementation notail type of practices you can see for the month of uh this is reporting through the month of uh March we've already had a lot of drill requests so we put over 500 Acres already on and it's um that was like before the uh April 1 turned around uh clean water education program we hosted a a prescribed burn Workshop that was April 2nd um of course April 16th just passed but we uh planned and and actually hosted that rain Garden workshop on April 16th um and we're getting set up with outdoor education day for the upcoming School season uh we usually uh send Save the Date postcards to teachers and inquire about preference date preferences and we start that now so they can get it on their calendar for the next school year um inventory assessment we continue to work on the Raven stream phase one uh and have on on the um docket The Raven stream Phase 2 so we'll get started with that soon water quality monitoring so we continue to plan and finalize of preparations for the comprehensive monitoring project on Sand Creek um that was as of a time of preparedness report but staff have been out there actually collecting samples uh throughout the Watershed and um I think I I want to say they did flow measurements late last uh week as as well um I'll move down to let's see the buffer law on next page we provide technical assistance on a number of properties in Cedar Lake Township uh that's generally a very constructive uh process we follow and and yield and results and compliance we've haven't had haven't had to do any uh enforcement um at all we usually get very good voluntary compliance um and then our native tree sale seed and plant sale uh we received as of writing the report 402 orders I'm sorry as of March 31 over 400 orders and had sold over 2,540 trees um this is tree week for us so all staff were quite busy I believe our total sales was upward close to 30,000 total uh with a little over 450 total orders so um they're busy this week hopefully the weather holds out it looks like a rainy day Friday is the actual distribution day um but we'll see what what weather brings uh finally I'll wrap up just summarizing the program actions uh tax program actions by the S swcd board uh in March we um uh March and April we had payments of a little over $26,000 and new applications approved of nearly $4,000 and with that Madam chair I'll try to answer any questions thanks Troy questions for Troy okay hearing none I think we can move on to program updates from Ryan chair Commissioners um in the theme of being brief I'll try to be brief as well here for the tonight's meeting uh CIP updates so um at the last meeting I kind of given a uh actually we didn't have a March meeting so um we wrapped up our xand do stream Bank project in early March uh so construction went really well so it was a Vite and Company who did the construction um did a fantastic job stayed on budget um you know met met the deadlines that we had associated with the project so um nothing but kind of good things to say about how this project kind of came together and went in U we still do have the final planting so it has been seated down with Native grasses or in some areas where it was a pasture um we did a pasture mix uh there instead so everything seated but we have not put in the uh plants the trees and shrubs so that will happen here probably in the next couple months I would imagine so at the time the project wrapped up you the ground was likely still frozen in most areas where they're going to be getting these trees so um we couldn't we couldn't do it at that time so um that's still coming up uh the P Creek Ravine stabilization project so we're still um kind of in between that 60 and 90% uh phase of design so um that uh hopefully will be kind of coming around here soon the 90% we'll get those out to the land owners uh get their comments on it and uh keep it moving we have heard back from the lgu and the DNR and permitting I'm still waiting to hear in the Army Corps of engineer so everything was going well with that project and uh I would consider ourselves ahead of schedule with it we will continue to do maintenance plantings on a couple cips if you remember we had cows and beavers that were taking out some of our trees on uh these stream Bank projects so I ordered another round of trees and shrubs um they are starting to come along um you know the the my understanding is that the Beavers were largely trapped uh two years ago and um and I didn't really notice anything last year doing any of the plantings that anything was fresh um so hopefully those you know get kind of further along um and then to the ones where we had cows the willow trees do a fantastic job if they get eaten you know they just Sprout another um you know portion of the tree and it it keeps growing so um both of them I think are in good shape but this is uh we want to just keep kind of putting more on there and making sure that vegetation really holds in these proct it's kind of a critical aspect of the project and long-term stability as well um so as when Troy mentioned that they've got their tree sales that's where the trees are coming from so on Friday I'll be down there picking them up uh kpis so I've got a couple kpis that I um typically don't get the data for until um at this time of the year I get it from met Council on some of the Stream flow data uh I did get credit Rivers I'm still waiting on saying Creek so trying to um Rush this along and kind of try to meet the deadlines here of of when they're due so um we did make a switch from arcm to Arc Pro and I found out today after a lot of trial and error uh doing these calculations we are still possible so um that was kind of one of the lingering questions with our um if anyone remembers it's the runoff yield graph and uh how we calculate that is using that our Pro now so um thankfully it works I think I I haven't gone all the way through but the numbers that I have done so far seem to align with past year so I'm I'm thinking we're in good shape um last thing macroinvertebrate results we got those not that long ago um with everything else kind of annual report kpis and and construction um I haven't had a chance to uh build that report yet but hopefully we'll be able to do that here in the next month and then get those results up on our website as well so um that'll be that's yet to come so with that I'll stay answer for any questions thanks Ryan questions for Ryan all right how painful was a switch to Arc Pro uh mam chair I don't yet know the full extent because I have not gone and dived into it far enough the little bits and pieces like we do our status reviews through arcgis I think that hasn't changed I I just kind of dabbled in it it's been super busy with that CIP and so it's it's coming up um maybe if it's really painful you might hear about it at another meeting but uh from what I understand I actually don't think it's it's as bad as maybe what you initially think when you have to make a whole program switch Yeah Yeah from what I heard it's it's like a Band-Aid you just need to rip it off and do it and that's kind of what I've been doing but I also haven't had to label things yet and I've told that's one of the worst yeah yeah you figure it out you know exactly all right thank you um Melissa your program updates thank you madam chair um Ryan can I share my [Music] screen uh let's see if that's gonna work okay uh my first update is just to um show you really quickly um what we submitted for the Watershed restoration and protection strategy um additional sampling or monitoring station requests so I did add these two sites down here which are our core st2 and CR2 sites these sites um help capture the upper portion of the Watershed coming from rice and lur counties um our sbcd recommended um capturing or asking for a site before the Confluence of Porter and Raven streams into Sand Creek so this was actually already a station site so I did request this one right here which will also help see if there's any influence coming from Cedar Lake on this stretch which is impaired for nutrients um so that was okay just need a moment for this to catch up maybe it's not going to there is one more site okay there we go one more site we requested over here this site um we were asked by Patty Freeman from the parks department to see if um we could get some water quality monitoring of water that's heading into Doyle kenic this is the do kenic Regional Park area so we requested that site as well um but there have been as you can see lots of red dots so lots of additional requests from other people for that um the U ofm land owner survey that we're um redoing this year I do have the contracts sent to the U ofm they are reviewing that at the moment as far as I know we're still on track to do our first mailing out in June for that survey um the credit R monitoring data analysis as Troy mentioned um his staff was out last week doing flow measurements and some grab samples after the rain events um so they were busy doing that but I just need uh staff to just do a little bit to the data before we can send it off to bar for them to start that analysis so they told me they'll get to it I told them their monitoring right now was more important than that so um we also submitted a Grant application for the board of so resources water quality and storage program Grant um that was we're calling it uh counter ditch for modern modernization study we had in our Watershed plan to do a couple of ditch multi-purpose assessments which is really looking at um some ditches in the county that you know the agricultural benefits have have kind of declined over the years um so I submitted that Grant application on April 11th we should be hearing by May 22nd on any awards to that um but basically the Grant application was to um look at County ditch for um where those agricultural benefits um have sign significantly declined and to develop like a longterm um multi-purpose management vision for that ditch um so there are some flooding concerns along there we have water quality concerns as a city of uh Credit River you know is planning for buildout um and climate change has resulted in you know higher frequency storm events and that that stream doesn't have uh you know has infrastructure that's probably under sized and stuff so crossing our fingers we can help to get a grant to do that um but if we can't then we will certainly uh budget for it but we did request $50,000 for that study um curently Leaf treatments we have already um done the sonar treatment on Cedar Lake on April 4th so that is done um and then as far as uh Plan update work that's been done I met with Shelby Roberts on March 27th to determine a list of items that she'll be assisting on for the phase one public engagement portion of the Plan update um as soon as we can start sharing the logo she's you know all ready to start developing those Outreach materials for our virtual meetings iners meetings and any kind of stationary locations that we have for the public to engage in the questionnaire um and then the next day March 28th I met with Matt mcle from our GIS to discuss creating an online mapping application for the public input process and I just wanted to share my screen again to show you um just a quick demo of what that's going to uh look like so soon as that comes in so this is actually the city of Burnsville Parks plan um but ours will look something similar to this so it'll have you know people click on a link we'll have some kind of a intro explanation here we can actually put the survey here and have these types of tabs but the mapping activity will look like this so we'll create some kind of icons of what what we want them to choose as a reaction um and then they scroll down and there'll be a map that they can zoom in and out of um and the instructions will be here as well but what's kind of cool is that you know people can grab a marker put it on the map and I just want to click on one of these to show you that so they can put their name or they can be you know Anon Anonymous um but then they add a comment here and uh what I'm having Matt work on besides this is to have this voting system here so people like this comment and agree with it they can give it a thumbs up um which will just help kind of reinforce that that's that's an important um area or comment for people so um so yeah it'll look something similar like that um the public engagement plan has been finalized um I did submit an article to the Scott County scene newsletter so you'll see something in there about the plan update um and then as Vanessa said on uh April 16th we met with the County Board had a workshop with them and got their input so the next steps will be to start populating that our web page so that when people go to that they'll have all the information right there and when our meetings are and and all that additional information that they'll need so that's all I have for now but that I'll stand for any questions actually manager would minute uh Melissa do you want to also mention that we met with Aon and Marcia oh yes sorry last week we met with Aaron Lewis and Marcia can't remember her last name hyphenated O'Neal um I think it's oh oh oh one second I apologize it's barcela O'Neal okay and I can't remember their official titles I know Marcia is kind of the public engagement coordinator she's a community outreach officer and Aaron Lewis is the quality improvement manager um they're part of the Scott County transformation and Enterprise services so we're really lucky to have these new staff on board that we didn't have last time we did a plan update yeah so we met with them to see how they can help us um and so that was a really good conversation and uh I don't have my notes in front of me on what they're going to do I'd like them to work on some messaging for the Outreach on how to get people to the meetings um look into possibly putting it in different languages um so they really focus on the underrepresented and underserved communities that you know we've always tried to reach but haven't always been very successful at reaching uh so this is really where they they specialize and have that you know that that ability to assist us so we're really looking forward to kind of adding some of those opportunities to to our plan update uh because obviously this is a citizen driven plan and we really want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to make sure that we from all of our citizens so yeah great thanks Melissa um and Vanessa for the additional input questions for Melissa okay um hearing none we can move on to the one Waters should one Plan update um just one I think minor thing to note there well maybe it's major um the a lot of comments were received on the plan um and the staff that are working on the plan and the um advisory committee have to respond to all of those comments prior to the public hearing that will be held so the public hearing was supposed to be next Monday um and they're just not going to have time to get through the all the comments before that so they're looking at pushing back that public hearing so um we are still going to meet briefly next Monday is my understanding as the policy committee to um just iron out a a date that we can have that public hearing but um I know they're working really hard to get through all of the comments so did I miss anything uh commissioner pint or Melissa no sounds good okay okay then it looks like we can move on or I should ask questions on that questions comments okay hearing none I think we can move on to our annual report thank you madam shair Commissioners and Ryan I'm actually going to share my own screen um it'll be a little bit easier I think for uh you and everybody else involved if I just do it that way um first thing which I apologize I actually missed this in my earlier update uh one other thing that we are working on Madam chair Commissioners is we were approached by the Minnesota Department of egg and Dakota County uh to kind of work on a coordinated effort uh through the department of egg to test for cyanazine so the department of a got funding to test for cyanazine where they've noted there are some higher levels in the south region and that's the uh Dakota County Washington County and Scott County uh and uh they got some additional funding to do some additional testing uh in Scott County those areas are kind of the Jackson Louisville Township area and then there may be some a little bit on the east side a little bit north of uh Elco New Market um that quite hasn't been determined yet however uh the department of egg is actually has just sent out a letter to targeted residents uh to asking them if they'd be willing to participate in this testing for 2024 uh so again they're testing it for cyanazine it was a corn herbicide used in the 80s and '90s it's no longer used uh but it is also a good indicator uh um herbicide to test they are also trying to see if they can test for nitrates on top of that but they haven't confirmed whether or not they will receive funding for nitrate testing if they do they'll also send out letters for nitrate testing so uh really this is being mostly coordinated by the department of egg they'll be sending out they've sent out all the letters to the targeted residents uh they will do all the testing they will collect all of the data and in addition if any of the wells test really high uh specifically for underrepresented or at risk not underrepresented apologize at risk uh or targeted residents pregnant uh nursing women children seniors um they will have funding to help put uh reverse osmosis or other um treatment systems within the home including potentially um water softs if that's necessary uh the key thing I just wanted the WPC to know is that this is going on uh in in the county now it is about about 100 residents total that will probably end up being involved they're sending it out to maybe about 300 so it's a very small very very targeted group uh it is not open to the public if we do receive any calls we will just have to let them know that it is a specific targeted test by MDA right now uh but at the same time it's also very hopeful uh because the state is actually showing that they have um funds that are really willing to start doing this type of work in our area for areas that we know that are are groundwater contaminants and might affect local uh Drinking Water Supplies uh so uh how Dakota and Scott and Washington will be involved is we are working kind of as that intermediary between the department of egg and the residents um you know should the residents end up testing High uh the current plan at this moment is that they would contact us and we would help coordinate them uh to get the funding that they need we don't have a lot more details at this time because again this just came out to us and they're just sending out the letters now but I uh wanted you to know in case for some reason you end up hearing about it um and either way it's it's a great um opportunity that's come our way and so we definitely support the department egg in this now moving on um right now um the one thing I actually did want to present to you today is uh the new draft of the 2023 annual report in newsletter so we've definitely been working on updating this report to improve our readability and increase that Visual Communications um it was a very large file size so we did include a draft uh but we do want to kind of run through the new template and the draft with you as we usually do uh so that uh we can get your feedback in order to kind of finalize this draft and then kind of present it to the board and send it to the Board of Water and Soil resources uh are you able to see the draft at the moment nope okay hold on one second one second to reshare and that should do it can you see it now got it thank you all right so um this is the newe cover of the annual report it's very simple just a photograph with our logo and then we have our table of contents page uh we did reorganize it just to be a little bit more readable um our 2023 Spotlight again is on the new logo um as part of how we're working on improving our communications platform and how we're trying to work harder to um reach out to our community and and gain feedback in all the ways that we possibly can and hopefully maybe get a few more people to read the annual report yeah we have to do it but we also put a lot of time into it and there's a lot of really great information in our annual report so uh the about page we have to have that so obviously it's listed everybody who's been on the board last year as well as any staff we might have had helping the wo with in the last year uh our vision page uh again just to let folks know what our vision is for the WL this is also in our plan um our vision uh links all the work that we do and helps direct all that we do um there is also um an online map if you wanted to see the map it it connects everybody to the Scott County GIS so um the first area that we're going to start with in the uh annual report this year is actually education and Outreach U we always talk about a highlighted project in this case we'll talk talk a little bit about the Scott County uh wo's Shallow Lake seminar and then schwap which we love schwat Scott clean water education partnership and all those activities including education days uh and then uh s always does a really great job Shelby puts together all of the different activities that we do and uh we're able to put that in our report which is great we then move into our land and water treatment program uh now that's kind of a subset of three smaller programs but it is the largest share of our budget uh it's always over 70% of our budget each year so it's a great uh area to highlight and dedicate towards uh the really heavy on the ground work that we're doing and that's really the key of what the land and water treatment program is this is where we're putting money in the ground uh so of course we're talking about our CIP projects which uh as Brian has been very very active in and working very hard on and um then moves to a highlighted cost share project for 2023 we do so many CIP projects we can't highlight them all kind of wish we could uh but we just highlight one or two in the annual report and then uh um one of the things we had in the last report which we did pull forward into this one is a nice little kind of summary or kind of a way to measure the success of the technical assistant and cost share program uh because it is such a big program it's good to kind of get an idea of how that program is actually doing on its own and measuring again cost effectiveness of that program and again we're one of the things we're trying to do is is incorporate more visuals into this report um more so than we had before now we aren't photographers and we don't spend a lot of time taking photographs so it is an area that we will have to uh apply more time and effort and and perhaps uh you as Commissioners have friends with family or yourself uh as photographers that would not mind taking a good photo or two and donating them uh towards our efforts uh we then move into the aquatic invasive species treatment so this is the on the ground work we do to help reduce AIS within our lakes and rivers and primarily on Cedar Lake um a nice little summary of the Cedar Lake plant intercept survey and McMahon as well uh and then we actually move into uh monitoring and data collection so as Ryan said he talked a little bit about the macro verbate monitoring you can actually read about it in our annual report and then our Lake in stream monitoring so again this is the monitoring this isn't the end the groundwork this is the monitoring program that we do we also did some targeted Credit River monitoring so I always like to highlight a monitoring project that we do if we have the ability to do that or we had one this year so this time we have the credit River monitoring and then of course our fish survey which is awesome I noticed Ryan didn't happen to include a photograph of himself h um to some surprise but also to no surprise there are actually some interestingly sized gamefish in San Creek uh and then again we're continue to monitor for curly Leaf Pond weed uh Cedar Lake continues to be a really high priority High Focus water body for us still trying to understand um where all of this curly Leaf is coming from and how it impacts the water quality uh so we did do a Trion distribution and abundance project uh for Cedar Lake this last year and then I really like that picture of turions by the way they look like evil pine cones um a little bit on groundwater where you don't heavily do a lot of groundwater work for the wmo we do a lot of that usually through the county but there is an opportunity to shift more of the county work into the wmo um at the moment uh we just kind of summarized the well test efforts that we work on together and then our finan cial summary for this year um in case you are interested this year uh in 2023 our actual Revenue was $1,854 n23 it was very close to the projected budget um our overall expenses were a little bit less than the projected budget by about $729,000 um the the key drivers for that were really some of our staff time was really eded having to be dedicated to our natural resources activities uh such as flood plane work and and planning work uh plan review work uh so we obviously there's can't spend as much time in wo if we're doing natural resource work because we're the same humans uh same staff uh but you know a larger portion of that too was also the CIP expenses that were actually going to be acur in 2024 instead of 2023 um we never know exactly when the contractor will start installing the CIP so in this case s do win and a little past the start of the Year rather than in November so originally we had projected they start in November uh and they actually didn't uh actually start really doing a lot of the heavy work until uh the 2024 building cycle um I believe at one point commissioner cilus you mentioned uh they had all winter to go out and do stuff out there when we're and I empathized with you and this was why I was empathizing with you uh so that really affected of course uh what our budget looks like at the end of 2023 but at the end of the day it's still the same funds and it's still going to be accounted for uh and then actually our education events and our monitoring activities all came in under budget which was really nice uh to see we still got the work done we still had great success they just came in under budget which everybody likes to see uh we did have a few uh Grant uh fewer Grant eligible projects under the tax program we did a lot of projects just not quite as many Grant eligible ones um but you know there's still a lot of demand for C share and that remains very high uh so we're not too concerned about that one um overall for 2023 again um you know we we spent or we uh took in about 1.8 million we spent about 1.5 million for 2024 budget uh obviously you you approved this already but just to review again um total revenue planned for 2024 is again about 1.8 million total expenses are about 2.5 million again we're hoping to use about $71,000 from fund budget as anticipated uh we didn't really have a lot of updates to our permit our regulations we don't permit uh so we don't really issue permits uh so that part is always very easy for us to cover uh the last couple pages of the plan are always talking about what we've done versus what we're planning on doing so again we're just reviewing all of the uh multiple activities that we do do and then what all the activities that we're hoping to do and with that I would stand for any questions from Madame chair or Commissioners regarding the annual report uh otherwise you're free to you know absorb it and and let us know what comments you might have later this commissioner go ahead but I say I I think the the publication itself is lovely um as a a former marketer I mean half the battle is getting somebody to read all this work and information that you put in there and I think it's visually really attractive and well laid out and you know I love the new logo and everything so hopefully you know people will take the time to leave through it it looks well laid out pretty understandable I I I think it looks great I haven't read it myself but I I give it a thumbs up thank you Commission chilas yes um obvious I'll second that too I had a chance to go through this earlier already so I went spend some time going through and I really am impressed with not not only the the look and feel of it but also the content excellent job of putting the information in there and communicating I also just a little note there I like that in that fish survey at San Creek that they mentioned in there that there used to be a fish ladder at the dam up until 1960 when they had the big blowout flood kind of planting the seed that maybe we should be looking at that again as another possibility so I I like that thank you commissioner pint well I think the pictures are really good so I don't know I don't understand the comment about that we need better ones so I just want to throw that in there um but I haven't had a chance to read through the content either but I think it looks great yes I appreciate that Madam chair uh unfortunately the selection we have is rather limited so if we use them all this time there's not much you know what I mean like yep sending the same Christmas photo every year gets a little dry so yes I appreciate the ones I we use this here are great but unfortunately uh That's All She Wrote folks so it's it'll be a bit of a deep dig to find more yeah other comments or questions okay does that cover what you wanted for that topic Vanessa yeah actually um this should be an action item Ryan oh it is you're right yep um so we are are we looking for a motion to uh approve and sent to the county board for approval yep that would be the that would be the request the request would be that the WPC um recommend approval of the the new template and uh the comment the content of the annual report uh and and recommend approval to the board do we have a motion Madam chair this commissioner pin I would move to recommend approval and send to the board do we have a second commissioner I'll second that thank you Commissioners I will do rooll commissioner Weaver hi commissioner pin hi commissioner cilus I commissioner Schmidt all right thank you Commissioners and remember share it with your friends family barbecues picnics don't be afraid to put this out on your coffee table wonderful okay um I think we can move on to the wbf amendment Madam chair Commissioners so we've got uh two very similar um action items here so the first one we're going to go through is the uh 2021 wbf Grant so our current uh deadline for that Grant is December of this year and we are proposing to extend it one year we have expended all our so the grant is really um two different pieces one is the tax program uh for co uh cost share on projects incentives also some technical assistance funds too um and then the education component of it as well and so we were doing some updating for our Outdoor Ed plans and the education piece has all been completed I think there could be a very very small amount largely done uh the the TA is is all done as well which leaves us with just the cost year and incentive dollars and we still have um it's somewhere I think right around 100,000 I think it is north of 100,000 a bit and given that you know we're right now in the spring construction wind um you know anything that's coming in the door would have to be you know moving to fall construction and that's really just leaving us one one construction window to to move that amount of funds and we just don't believe that that's feasible so um we've been in conversations with Bowser and they seem um agreeable to going this route of extending it one year um obviously we still have to go through all the Hoops which is starting that here with you today um so the the action item is for amending the um the Grant and extending there is also another piece of this too so the way it works with um the wbf grants is extending it needs you know an official Amendment and go through all that process and going to the boards but we're also proposing a work plan revision um which staff can work with Bowser and do but um we wanted obviously share those with you as well and get your take on those too so we're looking to actually add a few uh practices based on that we are finding these practices are are becoming quite popular um the so and water doing an excellent job with promoting them and uh Willie and I just went through some ranking and batching projects today and out of the roughly 10 I think 3/4s were between nutrient management and uh tillage practices so um we're kind of trying to strike while the Iron's hot with these especially the pillage practices they're very good benefits for the the amount that we're spending so we're looking to add those three practices and then also the last piece of this is uh currently the minimum contract we can uh have for any Grant eligible projects is three years and those would just be the covercraft projects and we are proposing to allow for one and twoyear contracts as well for the three practices we're adding the no tail reduced till and nutrient management and also cover crops because we allow for cover crops too to go down uh to one or two years as well so we're thinking that you know by adding these uh that it should help us move These funds um you know the if you do get a one or a two-year um you know contract they're usually a little bit less money then obviously um and so you know you might be able to get more projects too you know bigger Bank pay for your buck so um those are the two kind of things that we wanted to bring to the WPC with this grant um the extension and the additional practices along within allowing the one or twoyear uh contracts for those practices as well so um with that I'll stand for any [Music] questions I like that we're adding these um but question why didn't we spend all our money was it was it uh lack of response from folks that are interested in projects or um do you need more staff help to respond or Madam chair great question so um it is partly driven by the land owners coming in the door so um and we've noticed that when you go through drier periods uh erosion is not as prevalent and so um that I think plays a role in why we're sitting here today is that we just didn't get maybe as much participation um as we did in the past um and also the there's a difference between grants and just our normal funding that we have for the program so um our normal funding that you know we call it our local general fund um that we set aside wo dollars for these practices much greater flexibility with those um you know it's and it's also not so heavily driven on the environmental benefits so when we put together a grant agreement we have a it's typically siment and phosphorus sometimes it could be runoff but typically we have a goal that we set with this Grant and so if projects come in the door that aren't um aren't as good I'll say with environmental benefits we may not fund it we may only partially fund it you know and that kind of reduces the grant costs so it it's a little bit of a balancing act because you really want to try to get far enough along in the grant that you know you're going to hit your goal before you might spend 25,000 on one project you know where it's a pretty good chunk of money um that if you use that right away right off the bat and you keep doing that and you're just not getting those good projects along the way you could really put set set yourself up to be in a bad position at the end with no money and not you won't have the ability to hit those goals so it's you know it's a it's a combination of a bunch of things if that makes sense yep that makes sense so we're doing our best in in the I'll talk about this at the e EPA Grant um because we're we're a lot closer to hitting our goals with that Grant and once you hit your goals you know I I don't want to say it's a free-for-all but you know then you can start to maybe fund those projects that aren't as good of the benefits you know fully with the grant funds but you you got to kind of hit your commitment first it's it's kind of important and then another question if we do allow the one or twoyear contracts will the um producer be able to come back and ask for a third year or or a second and third year if they just do the one year uh manam Sher it's a great question and I'm I'm trying to remember we do have language in our koser docket I will likely have to get back to you with an answer on it but we do outline if you start out with a oneyear can you go another one year on the same Acres maybe Troy knows off the top of his head but I put them on the spot because it's our dock it's Giant and it's hard to remember all the Nuance items of it but um I could chime in a second there Ryan if you like okay so yeah you can sign up for subsequent years even if you're just doing the the one year um but we do have an overall cap so we won't pay for more than three years on a sing on a particular field okay and we also have a maximum amount that will pay overall so however they get there whether it's a multi-year contract or single years they can take you know those two different approaches but at the end of the day there's going to be a Max per field and a Max total per per applicant okay great and I will actually add one more thing Madam chair um a key thing that the s swcd team always does a good job of helping us remember is that producers uh alternate crops so they may only want to do some of these practices is on corn years for example or soy years for example they might not want to do it on corn or soy because of the way that those crops are managed so sometimes they like to do it every other year rather than like three years all together okay okay and now a question out of nowhere do we have controlled drainage on our on our docket mam chair did you say controlled drainage yep h i you mean as eligible practice for the grant yeah to C share funds um we no not not specifically that practice or what would be like an example because maybe I'm just not following like what what would be a actual like name of a practice oh like putting the um agre drain structures down at the end of a tile line so that you can hold the water back and then release um at different times times of the year gotcha no I mean the only things we have runoff reducing practices but we do not have something that specific um watland restoration would be the you know the prime example of trying to hold something back um but no nothing that specific okay yeah it it's in the the thing is in in our docket we've got you know a number of practices and in each of these grants it's really just a subset you know it's it's the the ones that are getting you sediment and phosphorus reduction we have a um Ryan we do have a Madam chair have a a section in our doc called other practices and there's about five specific in there and one of them is conservation drainage so it doesn't call out those specific practices that can fit in that category but as a category it is in there and it's a 70% cost share rate okay thanks that it would fit under there too yes so it is it is eligible for our local funds so that's an prime example of the flexibility that our local funds allow um because there is some subjectivity or flexibility within that we typically don't put that other practices category in our grants because you could get some very expensive projects that might be eligible but your benefits might be very low so yeah and that's a good point because I don't know what they have for like sediment or phosphorus reduction associated with that practice like you know it might not be easy to quantify so yes yeah okay okay sorry I know I'm dragging this out but I have another question absolutely um do I I don't think we do but do we know of any other um counties s to CDs that have like a kind of just like a marketing person that that we're doing more the Outreach as opposed to waiting for um applicants to come into the door yes mat you're great question so um we were able to focus so why we feel a little bit more confident in this next year is that we um are doing a little bit more of that targeting so as the program kind of has its you know Peak and valleys um you you try to fit in the marketing component of it and it's all based on workload and what you can what kind of capacity you have yep and so the soil and water did just go through a round of uh marketing where in our docket we actually if we reach out to you and Target you we can offer you higher cost share rates as well where it's you know we've identified a project that we think is very good on your property and we come to you um you we feel as though that's fair to offer them a little bit more than somebody else that might be just coming in the door with something that um that we didn't necessarily Target so yes it does happen um at periods of time it can be happening more and it can be happening less but um we did just go through a round of it and we're going to continue that you know kind of through these two grants all the way through great okay other questions from other Commissioners uh Madam chair may I just add one thing quick of interest to that topic you were asking about the drainage um we're just happy to report that we were awarded a multi-purpose drainage management Grant recently um we had we're working on um with the ditch Authority the county ditch board on a major repair project on County ditch 10 which is also Raven stream and part of that uh repair project included um um alternative side inlets and those were conditioned upon us actually getting a multi-purpose drainage management Grant which we did so we're going to be putting anywhere from 8 to 10 uh side Inlet practices on that project um this year wonderful yeah then Madam chair really quick uh as far as how many other like s swcds counties WDS wos have actual marketing staff I would say none to that extent there may be a couple counties that do um most those types of agencies have an education or Outreach specialist maybe a communication specialist uh but marketing is is something we usually don't have the funding or Staffing capacity for so usually when we're looking for specific marketing skills uh we usually will do we'll work with a consultant and also because those skills and needs EB and flow as as Ryan and Troy have both mentioned um but it is also a great question um when do we really decide that we should reach out and pull in a specialist that might help us in some of those targeted skills and I should clarify I I shouldn't have used marketing I was thinking more of the education and Outreach so we got where we were just trying to find producers that were interested as opposed to waiting for them to come into the door you know how much effort we were able to put in with that so that that's kind of I was going with it well I mean to be fair there's actually nothing you're actually probably more accurate with using marketing because an educator is is like they teach right they're a teacher teachers aren't really necessarily Outreach Specialists and Outreach is really about engaging people to help learn help them learn so really it's more Communications and marketing to help get awareness about these types of programs that really is a skill set um so I actually think you were probably more spoton than then not well you you get what I was what I was going at so I do yeah well this is all great thank you thank you for kind of taking a side step here and and talking through some of this um okay again other questions otherwise I imagine we are looking for um a recommendation to have this go to the board to approve um these changes and these modifications extending the and then also making the modifications mam chair that's correct okay all right do we have a motion or if there's no more questions then do we have a motion to um approve the amendment or excuse me to have the the County Board approve the amendment and um extend the grant Madam chair this is commissioner pin I I will so move and do we have a second this is commissioner cilus I'll second that motion all right Commissioners I'll do roll commissioner Weaver commissioner Weaver Oh I thought I unmuted I sorry I have a dog running around upstairs so I'm trying to mute and unmute when needed very much understand commissioner pint I commissioner cilus hi and commissioner Schmidt hi thank you commissioner all right thank you so much looks like we can jump into our next Amendment go ahead Ryan and chair Commissioners so we all got primed on the last one so this is very similar uh extending it the the time frame is a little different the um nine elements Grant ends it's uh scheduled to end in August of this year and so we'd be looking for another one-year extension so it' be August of 2025 um same same basically circumstances uh this one's a little bit further along we're probably um we're around 100,000 but a little bit less I would say um for this one and today was we were going through projects we identified you know a few more for this grant um as well so um we we do feel confident that given the year that we can hit our goals and also expend the grant funds as well um this one we're still kind of in we're working through some items um and so we've got several different activities this and this one's a little bit more narrow so we've only got three water sheds we're working in it's middle Sand Creek um between Jordan and new prag uh Porter Creek and P Creek and so those are the only three watersheds that um are eligible for this grant so there it it's small that is making it a little bit harder for us but we're also looking to um add those same practices uh through a work order the reduced till no till nutrient management um we're also considering um when we had originally uh set this grant out we had 100,000 for construction of the PAC Creek CIP identified in it with the original um end date of 2024 we knew that construction wouldn't start prior to that so we we weren't going to be able to use those funds so we actually went through a work order before and shifted some funds around and so now that construction would happen there's the possibility of putting funds back into it the only drawback is we identified no benefits would be considered for that CIP so once again you kind of have to get all those benefits in a row before you can really spend on something that you're not going to actually claim any benefits on so we're working through some things and so um uh we're working through staff met with s subcd kind of seeing where we can shift funds from one Watershed to the other um so we're still in the process of of doing that the the dollar amounts don't change they just move from one activity to another um and so uh that we're in the process of still working with npca staff on it um but uh this is an action item as well and so we're looking to approve that Amendment for the extension to the grant um with the understanding that we're still going to be kind of working with staff on you know shifting some funds around within the the various uh activities and so with that I'll stand for any questions I I don't I think I exhausted all my questions on the last one um any any questions from our commissioners and then I believe we would also be looking for a recommendation to approve this amendment um an extension to the grant or a recommendation to the board to approve commissioner Schmid I'll make that motion do we have a second this is commissioner cilus I'll second that motion all right Commissioners I will do ro Commissioners Weaver hi pint hi cilus hi and Schmid hi thank you Commissioners all right Ryan you're almost there one more um Mark Le Lake and chair Commissioners you're probably getting sick of me right now but uh last last one for me here uh so we've been working with the both the City of Prior Lake and city of credit River um for over a year on a Markley Lake study um that's the name of it and what it relates to is we um we partnered with them looking at various uh flood mitigation Alternatives so Markley lake is a landlock lake uh with no natural outlet and so there are a couple homes that are um you know close to the lake and when levels get higher like in uh 2014 and 2019 um they the water levels get very close um to the septic systems that they have um you know the septics are a little bit closer to the water than than the house is but you that's that's still a concern as well um so we hired ae2s to look at all the different Alternatives um it's not locking anything in and I'll kind of elaborate on that next but um just what are the different potential options out there um for the cities to maybe pursue in the future uh Ryan y just G to jump in real quick I apologize um Adam ch one other part of this uh which perhaps we should have added in here is that uh in previous years you 2019 2020 we actually partnered with the city's uh the county helped uh contribute funds for the City of Prior Lake um and Credit River to help pump the lake down so uh the City of Prior Lake actually operated a temporary pump to draw down the lake uh to reduce flooding and then the county helped contribute uh to that now uh that's obviously was considered kind of a temporary partnership and and a temporary potential patch uh but I think that was a big piece as to what led the cities to approach the wmo and say you know this Lake crosses multiple borders we know we want to maybe look at what the best long-term alternative is uh can you help us get some data to understand uh what that might look like so I apologize for jumping in Ryan but I just realize uh that might have been a important piece that I should have added to that no thank you um yes more background as to why we gotten involved is is always good context for everybody so thank you uh so real briefly the the four Alternatives that they considered was um constructing a pumping station to control water level so like Vanessa is saying instead of the temporary pumping we actually have a pump station um acquiring the rights of the an risk properties along Markley lake so there's it's really two properties are the most affected by the higher water levels uh constructing a gravity outlet and then creating additional storage around the lake and through all their work in modeling um they did site visits development data they collected uh we also had a time period of public input where they could um you know share their thoughts as to you know how they feel about the situation and and how big of a priority it should be um and also stakeholders so the DNR was able to comment on it so it's been quite the process um the City of Prior Lake was really the the driver of this project um and then the the person that we were working with uh took another job elsewhere to be closer to home and um it it slowed the project down considerably but we're here now the the report is um done the alternative that um they landed on was the constructing a permanent pumping station um I don't expect that anybody read through the attached uh report but um that was still estimated at around three million for a 5 CFS uh pump so I mean even out of all the Alternatives that um being as expensive as it is still seemed the most feasible um and that was partly because because you know acquiring the atrisk properties doesn't actually um control water levels at all so there is also a trail around the lake that a lot of residents were concerned about as that trail floods you know they don't they don't they're not able to use it anymore um so you know acquiring the properties doesn't it might solve the septic issues um of water levels getting too close but it doesn't actually solve the water levels um same thing with the creating additional storage on the lake you know it would help um but at the end of the day if you continue to just get more water you know eventually uh that additional sword would fill up as well so and the constructing of a gravity Outlet was um it made that 3 million look pretty small they didn't even do a cost estimate because of how expensive um I thought it was like a 40 foot cut basically for quite a ways to to actually get it to flow with gravity so you can about imagine hundreds of feet with a cut like that of how expensive that was going to end up being so um like I said earlier this is just a study um it does not mean that you know the cities are going to pursue the alternative um anytime soon uh kind of the last conversations we had was you know they were thinking maybe if if they do pursue something it's probably in their next plans and and and if I recall it's you know five to 10 years away so even even though they identified one project with the cost being what they are it is still you know it would be years down the road before they'd ever kind of look at it is is kind of how we ended up with everything so and I would again add just one more thing the cities may decide to pursue one of the other options they may not choose the top recommend recommendation within the study um for various reasons there may be Federal funding to buy out properties uh and abandoning a trail might decide to look more promising in a few years um but the point is as Ryan mentioned uh the study was very thorough and and definitely gave some pretty clear uh PRI you know proposals as to what can be done and the cost benefit of each of those so it certainly met the goals of what it was intended um and will really help help the city's plan for what their next steps might be so yeah thanks Ryan yes yep that's a good point um and yeah that that doesn't mean they're going to go the constructing a pumping station they can continue to just do a temporary pump um you know that we brought up at the very end you know if the trail is the biggest concern you might be able to elevate the trail um like a boardwalker so it it does not mean they're actually going to pursue that it's just um looking at all the various options and um possibilities but they could they could choose something different too and so this one is just informational so um with that I'll stand for any questions do we do we know offhand how much the temporary pumping cost and was that did the city pay for that yeah it's the rec yeah it was it was uh adman chair Commissioners yes it was in the report it was a uh we it was a three-way split between the city of credit River the City of Prior Lake and the county M chair I have a question for Ryan um commissioner pint um I have to admit going through 250 some pages of the report I did get lost a little bit here and there so please uh excuse my ignorance but um what I didn't see is is the study that showed um could they actually control the lake level with pumping for an extreme event in other words if we get a potentially a six to 10 inch rainfall in a 24-hour period I don't remember how big that that drainage area would be for that pond could the pumps handle that volume even though it might happen very very rarely yeah and it'll it would obviously vary depending on how much and and how you know prepared how quickly they can get out there because they have to get um you know a permit to do that as well so it um it would vary I know the when they were pumping it before you know the the um my understanding is the homes you know did not flood um during that time period I I don't believe the uh septic systems were actually negatively impacted I believe the water levels just got close to them um and then there was in that report it talks about you know when water levels are within 3 ft of the septic system elevation that uh surface uh water elevation that you're actually supposed to shut them off and you just uh go to your tanks and then you got to pump your tank so and anybody that has had their tanks pumped know how expensive that becomes because they're pumping um on a you know two week basis and that's probably even conserving water too so it it would add up quite a bit um so so yes it I I don't know if I answered the question but it would vary um when they did it before um it did work so you know would would they go that route in in the event of another large rain event very well possib I mean it would kind of be their only option from now until something permanent would be done thank you Ryan for clearing up over there yeah you're right none of these options are are are good options they're just what which is the least offensive option and maybe the pumping would still be the best although my my gut feeling say I'm glad I don't have to make that decision because I'd be leaning towards uh acquiring that property that built in an area that's not suitable really so thank you y you're welcome I think I think uh Mr commissioner you you hit on a key point there right not none of the options can uh guarantee it won't flood um not even a gravity Outlet would guarantee it doesn't flood given enough rain right uh the only thing that would guarantee it it not flooding is if the house isn't there anymore uh so uh that's uh it is good we are not having to make that decision that um our our our job lies with providing data and helping um provide them the information to help make good decisions themselves so yeah and one other thing to note too is that the two homes that are the most impacted there's at least the um idea that at some point they'd probably be on city sewer in water uh that that the septic systems would eventually go away anyways um timing of that they don't know but um you know that is kind of the long-term eventual goal as well so some some of that could just get mitigated just by the expansion of their city sewer and water good questions all right other questions on this all right well thanks for that information Ryan it looks like we need to take no action on that um so we can move on to our 60-day notification and Melissa thank you madam chair um so this is just informational I just put the letter in the packet so you can see it on um that was recently sent to all the review agencies and our major stakeholders um for the Plan update so this is kind of the first step in starting that public input process um they have 60 days to comment um what they need to comment on is included in the letter and the the um 60-day comment period will end on June 17th so it was sent out to a total of 52 recipients um so that would include all the state review agencies townships um our local Partners here in the county all the cities um surrounding counties and some of the kind of the major stakeholders that we work with local groups and then after this 60-day um input process we will have the uh kickoff meeting in July all right questions for uh Melissa okay hearing none um I think we can adjourn the meeting do we unless there's anything else um let's have a motion to adjourn [Music] this is commissioner cilus I'll make a motion to adour today's meeting we have a second commissioner pit a second and I'll do rooll Commissioners commissioner Weaver hi commissioner Pence hi commissioner cilus hi and commissioner Schmidt all right thank you Commissioners right thanks remember share that annual report it looks beautiful thank you thank you