The Monthly Meeting of the Rusk County Land & Forestry Committee Was Called to Order at 9:00 A

The monthly meeting of the Rusk County Land & Forestry Committee was called to order at 9:00 A.M., Monday, July 14, 2008. Present from the committee were: Gene DuSell, Roger Svoma, Phil Schneider, Jim Platteter and Tony Hauser. Also present were: Paul Teska, County Forest Administrator; PeteWisdom - DNR Team Supervisor

Motion by Platteter to approve the minutes of the previous meeting 2nd by Svoma, carried.

Motion by Platteter to adjust the agenda as necessary, 2nd by Svoma, carried.

Dairyland Flowage RBF Grant/Budget Last month we opened bids for blacktopping the north shore boat landing. Teska recommends we reject the bids and have the Highway Dept. do the black topping. We had done the bidding specs to the Dairyland Plan which was 4” of blacktop and we did not know the square footage. Teska hopes to have this done by August. We are a little over budget on the gravel. Motion to reject the 2 original blacktopping bids from Monarch and R & J Black Topping, by Schneider and 2nd by Svoma, carried. Motion by Schneider to higher the Highway Dept. to do the black topping, 2nd by Platteter, carried. Teska will do line item transfers on the Dairyland/Park Improvement Grant Budget rather than amending the original resolution.

Restrooms are done at Community Park. Black Topping will be done in August. Then we will do the bidding for the restrooms at Josie Creek. Teska plans to put in one of the good roll-in docks at Josie. WRA is paying for the new dock at Community which should be put in any day now.

Community Park Pavilion – There has been some talk about putting in a pavilion, which was not in the original plan. $7,500.00 cost in material for a structure like the one at Josie Creek Park. We do not have the funding, to do the project in 2008 unless we request power line money from County Board. Discussion on the power line money requests. Svoma feels we should request the additional money if we need to. Teska said we will be over the projected costs and maybe we should wait to see how far over budget the project goes. Hopefully by the next Forestry Committee meeting in August we will have a better idea of how much money we will be short and then see if we need to go to County Board.

Town of Cedar Rapids – Private Lines - Motion to go into Closed Session by Platteter, 2nd by Hauser DuSell – Yes; Schneider - Yes Hauser - Yes Svoma -Yes Platteter – Yes. CLOSED SESSION

Motion Hauser to go into open session 2nd by Platteter, Carried. OPEN SESSION.

Potato Lake Boat Landing Private Lines - No trespassing sign went up by Dick Manor on property that was owned by the state and the snowmobile trail is on it. The county owns a small area, the state owns a small area and Manor owns an adjoining piece. The boat landing is not located on county owned land. Teska recommends getting a legal survey. Summerfield said that there are some tax deed property problems near by but does not feel that a survey will fix the tax deed problems. People have deeds to incorrect descriptions. Motion by Svoma to request that the County Surveyor survey this land to clarify ownership of the property that the snowmobile trail and boat landing are located on, 2nd by Platteter, carried.

Amacoy Lake Boat Landing restrooms - Art Dixon has called committee members requesting restrooms at the Amacoy Lake Boat Landing. Teska’s concern is that if we have restrooms at Amacoy then will we have to start putting them in at all the boat landings? There is a restroom at Amacoy Lake and we clean them once a week throughout the summer. Teska does not have a problem with putting in nice bathrooms at Amacoy, but how many others are going to want them at their landings, and how do we pay for it? We have no money budgeted for this. Town of Stubbs has $3,000.00 they can commit to the project. 1 room unisex restrooms cost $10,000.00 from Huffcut. WRA does not want to supply any funding for this project. Committee was in agreement to put this in the budget to request through powerline money.

Forester II Re-Classification - Andy Noth has requested to be re-classified to a Forester III position. Amounts to $.56 per hour increase. Personnel agreed. Schneider made the motion to recommend to County Board, 2nd by Hauser, carried.

Timber Sale Contracts – Cont # 2279 - Tim Vacho - A summer job, which he has cut some on and is now working this job. He has owed $ 4,652.00 on this job since last fall. Our policy is to not scale any wood until the previous stumpage bill is paid. Teska informed Vacho of this and Vacho told him he would have to move off the job because he cannot pay off the wood until he is working the job. He is making payments, but is also getting scaling. He has several jobs with the county and will be getting a 5% increase in stumpage prices on his jobs. Teska advised Vacho to talk to other loggers on getting some help cutting these jobs. He currently has 4 jobs. Teska does not feel he will get any of these jobs completed this summer. Vacho is doing all the work himself, including the trucking. Committee was in agreement to deviate from the policy and keep scaling Vacho’s job.

2008-09 Forestry Dept. Budgets - Teska passed out a worksheet showing Campground Revenue through the 4th of July weekend for the past 3 years. Camping revenue is down by 33% for 2008. Committee went through the 2009 budget worksheets - discussion held. Schneider made the motion to put the Josie Creek Clubhouse roof for $6,000.00, 2nd by Hauser, carried. Schneider made the motion to budget for the Community Park Pavilion $7,500 and use powerline money on this. 2nd by Hauser, carried. Schneider made the motion to budget for the restrooms at Amacoy Lake Boat Landing $10,000 total, $3,000 Stubbs, $5,000 RBF Grant, $2,000 Powerline. 2nd by Svoma. DuSell – Yes, Schneider – Yes, Platteter – No, Hauser – No, Svoma – Yes, carried.

Motion to pay the bills, 2nd by Hauser, 2nd by Svoma, carried.

The November Forestry Committee Meeting will be on Tuesday, November 18.

Dave Kaminski – Rusk County Sheriff was asked to come into the meeting to discuss the Conservation/Parks Patrol position. He will find out their billing and see if they can turn in monthly reports on where they patrol. He will try to have one of the conservation patrol officers attend the next Forestry Meeting on August 11 at 9:00 A.M.

Hauser made the motion to take the additional $6,988.80 road aid funding from the Road Aids Maintenance Budget; deviating from the motion that was passed at the June Forestry Committee meeting increasing the budget by matching that amount, 2nd by Platteter, DuSell – Yes, Schneider - No, Platteter – Yes, Hauser – Yes, Svoma – No. Motion carried.

Platteter made the motion to adjourn at 12:50 P.M., 2nd by Hauser, carried.