November 15, 2005 Meeting Minutes
Mineral City American Legion
5:30 to 6:38
In attendance: Ed Taggart, Terri Sponaugle-Schrock, Bo Hysong, Nancy Summers, Carl Harsha, Jim Toms, Merv Burton, Linda Ross, Judy Rufener, Phil Rufener, Maureen Wise
Ed Taggart called the meeting to order at 5:30pm.
Linda Ross, new member and proposed secretary was welcomed. Carl Harsha nominated her as secretary. P. Rufener seconded. Accepted.
July Rufener gave a treasurer’s report. $32 was paid to Crossroads for meeting fees
$5 was taken in as L. Ross’s membership
$1,330.10 total
C. Harsha motioned to accept report. Nancy Summers seconded. Accepted.
E. Taggart asked if past meeting minutes were read online and approved. C. Harsha motioned to accept minutes. E. Taggart seconded. Accepted.
Old Business
MOU between HRWRP and RA E. Taggart discussed the MOU between Rural Action and the Partnership. B. Hysong, E. Taggart and C. Harsha met as a subcommittee and discussed changes. All have been accepted by RA. The only sticking point now is the language about 20% membership dues going to RA. Maureen Wise and E. Taggart were told that this mean 20% of RA memberships from HRWRP members would go to RA and the other 80% would be put into a RA account for the HRWRP office. E. Taggart will be attending RA’s Renewing Our Communities meeting the next day and will discuss changing the language to reflect t his understanding. C. Harsha motioned that if E. Taggart comes to an agreement and the MOU is changed to reflect this, that the MOU be signed. P. Rufener seconded. Accepted.
New Business
Coordinator’s Report M. Wise reported that she is changing the format of the Coordinator’s Report. She has been told that a listing of what she is doing has not been sufficient for members. She will not put it into calendar form and disperse at the meetings.
Office Announcement M. Wise announced that the HRWRP office will be moving to the front offices of the former Mineral City Village Hall. The Council meeting rooms and offices will be moved to the new library. They need someone to take care of paying for utilities for the Village Hall building. We were offered a lease of $1 per year if we could cover utilities – water, electricity, gas, phone plus reimburse them for structural insurance. M. Wise had been given estimates on costs for utilities and they will work with what has been budgeted in grants. C. Harsha was concerned about RA’s liability insurance covering a government building. E. Taggart put C. Harsha and P. Rufener in charge of attending MCVC meetings and obtaining he lease agreement.
Grant Update M. Wise gave updates on grants. She stated that our Ohio EPA 319 grant that was pending since the summer was not accepted due to ODNR/MRM match falling through. She also said that she is working on a grant for Harsha North from OSM’s Appalachian Clean Stream Initative Program. She also excitedly announced that Rural Action and HRWRP were awarded the US EPA Targeted Watershed Grant we applied for this past summer. Only 12 grants were given in the nation! They are awarding a total of $711,301 with ODNR/MRM match of $299,593. This will fund our Belden project, environmental education such as Fun Day, Awareness Day, school programs, office supplies and equipment as well as Maureen’s salary through 2008. No details have been given yet.
December Meeting M. Wise asked if we wanted to have a meeting in December. Many years the group has elected to not have a meeting because the meeting date was too close to Christmas. The body decided to have a meeting if needed only to discuss the lease agreement and office move.
December Conferences M. Wise told the group that she and T. Sponaugle-Schrock would be out of office quite a bit in December due to many meetings and conferences. They would be attending a meeting of the SE Ohio Watershed Council on Dec 6, ODNR/MRM’s Applied Research Conference Dec 7 & 8, and a sampling training on Dec 13 & 14. Also, all RA employees are given December 26 through Dec 30 off.
Project Update M. Wise gave a project update in Jim Gue and Cheryl Socotch’s absence. She said that the coal company interested in Harsha North has decided that they are no longer interested in the land because they have determined there is no coal. Since this word has been given, ODNR/MRM has moved ahead with the Harsha North project. Also, the Lyons project construction has been extended into December.
At this point, the group moved away from the agenda and E. Taggart told the group that a few people from ODNR/ Soil and Water who administer the Watershed Coordinator grants would be attending a personal tour with M. Wise and T. Sponaugle-Schrock in a few weeks. A new person has been hired to replace Rosida and she will be attending.
M. Wise gave a message from Mike Steinmaus that he was sorry that this was the third meeting he could not attend.
P. Rufener asked if our meeting space would be changed to the new office once we have moved. We would need to obtain new tables and chairs. C. Harsha said that we should do it after the signs are changed and we should have an open house.
Fundraising T. Sponaugle-Schrock said that she has done some research on new fundraising ideas without any money up front. Pizza Hut has an interesting program that involves doing some advertising for a certain night. We give out flyers with our name and their address and the date. We get 15% of profits from people who order that night with a flyer. Much discussion ensued about whether to proceed or to hold the issue. In the end, the item was tabled.
Members ask M. Wise to provide more information on what grants are pending and which are in place.
Merv Burton said that we should invite our new Sandy Township Trustee to our meetings after the first of the year.
E. Taggart closed the meeting at 6:38.
Respectfully submitted by Linda Ross, Secretary and Maureen Wise, Watershed Coordinator