Hendry Soil and Water Conservation District

October 2019 – No Meeting Held

HENDRY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Post Office Box 248 LaBelle, Florida 33975
Minutes
November 21, 2019
The Hendry Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting was called to order at 1:10 p.m. on November 21, 2019 by Chairman Bruce Hendry. Meeting was held in the large conference room at the Dallas B. Townsend Agricultural Building at 1085 Pratt Blvd., LaBelle, Florida.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Bruce Hendry, Vice-Chairman Lisa Cleghorn, Supervisor Mabry McCray, Supervisor Ariel Avila
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Supervisor Charles Conly
OTHERS PRESENT: Jeff Schmidt Assistant State Conservationist – Field Operations USDA NRCS , Noreen Berden HSWCD Program Manager, Bobby Holland Drone Operator
CALL TO ORDER
A. Minutes from September 26, 2019 were read and reviewed. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn motioned to accept as read, seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
B. Financial reports were read and reviewed. Supervisor McCray motioned to accept as read, seconded by Vice-Chairman Cleghorn. Unanimous.
C. Mr. Schmidt discussed the issues that were presented to State Conservationist Russell Morgan and Regional Conservationist James Tillman at the meeting on October 7th. Specifically, the plan to catch up the backlog of engineering. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn asked about the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribe projects and was assured that Katlyn is the point of contact and is handling those contracts with cooperation from other staff.
OLD BUSINESS
A. Bobby Holland licensed drone operator went over the drone that has been purchased and the Districts plans to use it under the NACD grant to facilitate check outs on hard to reach areas.
B. Ms. Berden has put out over 350 lesson plans and poster boards in 4 Hendry County schools. LaBelle Elementary School is participating this year for the first time. There are approximately 60 books in the book barn, and it will be going to LES first and then to Upthegrove Elementary.
C. The Board reviewed the letter and signed it. Supervisor Conly was not present, the letter will not be sent until it has his signature.
NEW BUSINESS
A. The Board reviewed the local work group questions that will be used for ranking next year. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn would like the original questions to be added to the list to make sure that no revisions need to be made.
FDACS- (Florida Dept. of Ag.)- HSWCD Technician Roy Curry, Jr. – Ms. Berden went over the allocation list and the number of producers that had been assigned to Roy.
DC REPORT- Acting DC Mitchell Aman Attached
MISCELLANIOUS
A. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn motioned that $200 be paid for NACD dues. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous. Motion Passed.
B. Checks signed
C. Chairman Hendry dismissed the meeting at 2:20 p.m. with the next meeting date scheduled for January 30, 2020.

January 2020 – No Meeting Held

HENDRY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Post Office Box 248 LaBelle, Florida 33975
Minutes
February 27, 2020
The Hendry Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. on February 27, 2020 by Chairman Bruce Hendry. Meeting was held in the large conference room at the Dallas B. Townsend Agricultural Building at 1085 Pratt Blvd., LaBelle, Florida.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Bruce Hendry, Vice-Chairman Lisa Cleghorn, Supervisor Mabry McCray, Supervisor Ariel Avila
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Supervisor Charles Conly
OTHERS PRESENT: Jeff Schmidt Assistant State Conservationist – Field Operations USDA NRCS , Noreen Berden HSWCD Program Manager, Chris Zimmerly NRCS
CALL TO ORDER
A. Minutes from November 21, 2019 were read and reviewed. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn motioned to accept as read, seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
B. Financial reports were read and reviewed. Supervisor McCray motioned to accept as read, seconded by Vice-Chairman Cleghorn. Unanimous.
C. Ms. Berden went over the ongoing issues with the website. Ms. Berden has been working with Courtney in the Okeechobee SWCD to correct the problems.
OLD BUSINESS
A. Mr. Zimmerly gave the Board a demonstration of the drone software and discussed with the Board the cost of renewing the software monthly or yearly. Supervisor McCray motioned to pay for the yearly subscription, seconded by Vice-Chairman Cleghorn. Unanimous.
B. The Board discussed the problem of the drone batteries not being sufficient for large properties, Vice-Chairman Cleghorn made a motion to purchase two more batteries, seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous. The Board asked Mr. Zimmerly to check on the cost of a charger. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn made a motion to purchase a charger if the cost is under $200. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
C. Ms. Berden updated the Board on the book barn and asked that if rather than typing certificates for the Clewiston Middle School poster contest participants if we could buy honey sticks instead. Motion was made by Vice-Chairman Cleghorn to buy honey sticks, seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
NEW BUSINESS
A. The Board discussed a donation request from Alachua SWCD for the state land judging contest. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn motioned to make a $50. donation. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous
B. The flyers for the AFCD Area IV meeting and the annual meeting were reviewed. Ms. Berden went over the agenda for the employee’s association mid-year meeting in Plant City. Vice-Chairman Cleghorn made a motion for Ms. Berden to attend the meeting. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
C. The NACD grant and the tracking of the work progress and use of the drone was reviewed and it was suggested that there needs to be some type of spreadsheet done to track the work being done on the deliverables under the grant in order to plan for future grant and/or cooperation agreement work. This will also help in billing and accounting for these agreements.
D. Supervisor McCray nominated Lisa Cleghorn for the position of Chairman. Seconded by Bruce Hendry. Unanimous. Lisa Cleghorn nominated Bruce Hendry for the position of Vice-Chairman. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous.
FDACS- (Florida Dept. of Ag.)- HSWCD Technician Roy Curry, Jr. –Not available
DC REPORT- Acting DC Mitchell Aman Attached-Jeff Schmidt went over the report that is sent to Mr. Tillman and discussed the progress that is being made on the back log of engineering
MISCELLANIOUS
A. Checks signed
B. Vice-Chairman Hendry made a motion to change the meeting day to Wednesday. Seconded by Supervisor McCray. Unanimous. The next meeting date will be March 25, 2020.

C. Posters judged.

March 2020 – No Meeting Held

April 2020 – No Meeting Held

May 2020 – No Meeting Held

HENDRY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Post Office Box 248 LaBelle, Florida 33975
Minutes
June 17, 2020
The Hendry Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. on June 17, 2020 by Chairman Bruce Hendry. Meeting was held in the large conference room at the Dallas B. Townsend Agricultural Building at 1085 Pratt Blvd., LaBelle, Florida.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Bruce Hendry, Supervisor Mabry McCray, Supervisor Ariel Avila
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Supervisor Charles Conly, Vice-Chairman Lisa Cleghorn,
OTHERS PRESENT: Mitchell Aman DC NRCS , Noreen Berden HSWCD Program Manager, Roy Curry, Jr. FDACS Technician
CALL TO ORDER
A. Minutes from February 27, 2020 were read and reviewed. Supervisor McCray motioned to accept as read, seconded by Supervisor Ariel Avila. Unanimous.
B. Financial reports were read and reviewed. Supervisor McCray motioned to accept as read, seconded by Supervisor Ariel Avila. Unanimous.
OLD BUSINESS
A. The drone software subscription has been upgraded to yearly and the additional batteries and charger that were approved at the last meeting have been purchased.
B. Ms. Berden is now able to access the website and will be adding new pictures of the Board and updating information.
C. The new dates for the AFCD annual meeting were reviewed as well as the survey for the annual work group meeting that will be done in lieu of having an actual meeting due to Covid-19 restrictions.

D. The tracking of the work progress and use of the drone under the NACD grant, had been discussed at the previous meeting. Bob Beck was not available to review the spreadsheet that had been implemented to track deliverables under the grant.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Ms. Berden reviewed the findings from the audit that was performed by Boy, Miller, Kisker & Perry, P.A. for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019.
B. Ms. Berden went over the contract amendment on the FDACS BMP contract.
C. The new NACD drone grant was discussed as well as the remaining balance on the original grant. The Board would like to have a list of grant expenses to review at the next meeting. Supervisor McCray made a motion to use the laptop for the grant project. Seconded by Supervisor Ariel Avila. Unanimous
D. The Board was able to purchase an ATV from NRCS. Motion was made by Supervisor McCray to get the ATV repaired for use. Seconded by Supervisor Avila. Unanimous
FDACS- (Florida Dept. of Ag.)- HSWCD Technician Roy Curry, Jr. –Not available
DC REPORT- Acting DC Mitchell Aman Attached-
MISCELLANIOUS -Meeting adjourned 2:00 p.m.
A. Checks signed
B. The next meeting date is scheduled for August 19, 2020.

July 2020 – No Meeting Held

August 2020 – No Meeting Held

September 2020 – No Meeting Held