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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 8/8/2016BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING August 8, 2016 County Board Room Members Present: Shawn Miller, Chairperson; Vice-Chairperson, Fred Strand; Larry Fickbohm and Jeffrey Silbert Members Absent: Harold Maki Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator and Pat Bruno, Office Manager Others in Attendance: Joseph LeBouton, WI DNR Liaison, numerous members of the public. 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. The meeting of the Forestry and Parks Committee was called to order by S. Miller at 5:59 P.M. 2. Public Comment. S. Miller called for public comment. Wanda Hyde, representing ABC Sportsmen, thanked the Forestry and Parks Department for everything done in the past; leasing of the land and signage on County highways and at the range. Chris Bretting, founding member of ABC Sportsmen, said the range has created a safe environment but cautions if it becomes too restrictive, people will stop using it. Predicts they will go elsewhere which could create problems. Alan Pribnow, certified shotgun coach and NRA training counselor, has guided 400 shooters in one year. ABC range is unique and it serves four area high school programs. He highlighted the reasons the range is important to the individuals it serves and the community. Art Hyde, President of ABC Sportsmen’s Club, corrected a statement made at the July Forestry & Parks Committee meeting regarding the hours of operation changing on June 4, 2013. They found nothing in the minutes from that meeting regarding a change in hours from 8AM-10PM to 8AM-8PM. Roger Aiken, private citizen, deferred comments, distributed written material and requested the Committee’s consideration to be on a future Committee meeting agenda to discuss concerns. S. Miller called three times for additional comments. No additional public comment was received. 3. Approval of the July 11 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Strand, Silbert) to receive and place on file the July 11, 2016 meeting minutes. Carried. 4. Shooting Range Proposal. ABC Sportsmen. Wanda Hyde, ABC Sportsmen, read the submitted ABC Sportsmen’s proposal. When J. Silbert asked for clarification on which berms would be made higher, the answers are the 25 and 50 yard berms closest to the neighbor’s property. Hopefully they will be at least 10’ higher. J. Silbert asked for a compromise in closing hours on weekends to be 8AM-6PM to which the reply was contingent on the ABC Sportsmen board’s Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 2 of 5 August 8, 2016 Meeting Minutes approval. Al Pribnow said 7:30PM would be the limit for weekdays for school activities when L. Fickbohm inquired on the impact for students. A. Pribnow thought 8-6 on weekends would be OK. L. Fickbohm also inquired if more can be done to reduce the noise to which W. Hyde replied more trees will be planted. F. Strand appreciates the efforts, the facility, and suggests the Committee supports the items on the handout and review the results in the future. C. Bretting said that cameras have shown families and individuals tend to come at 3 PM into the evening on weekends. They have seen the 7:00 closing at Sports Hollow to be tight for students use on weekends. He thinks that 8AM-6PM hours of use on the weekends would push people to other sand pits and to areas which are not safe or controlled. S. Miller inquired if the club was able to meet with the neighbors; to which C. Bretting replied that invitation was extended but after rescheduling at the request of the neighbors, no neighbors attended. J. Bodine spoke to the original 2004 lease, the hours of operation approved at that time and the restrictions imposed. There is concern the lack of enforcement of exploding targets and after hours use. Current ordinances have a disturbance clause on county forest land; but this language is ambiguous. It appears that the club is working towards mitigating noise with berms, posting signage to educate, enforcing hours of use and reducing evening hours. C. Bretting said the township is doing major ditch work and once the materials (dirt, vegetation) are in place, which is weather and time dependent by the township, the berms would be completed. MOTION: (Silbert) to approve the shotgun range contingent upon the Club doing the berms at some point in the near future, increase enforcement and signage, increase vegetation, and try to be as conscientious as possible in keeping a good wholesome place for the whole neighborhood. F. Strand asked if the motion would include the weekend hours ending at 7:00 PM? AMENDED MOTION: (Silbert, Strand) to approve the shotgun range contingent upon the Club doing the berms at some point in the near future; increase enforcement and signage; increase vegetation; reduce weekend hours by one hour each on Saturday and Sunday; and try to be as conscientious as possible in keeping a good, wholesome place for the whole neighborhood. Carried. Discussion: L. Fickbohm asked if we need a timeline and is there a need to revisit in a year or two? S. Miller doesn’t think so because they are within the lease now and they continue to accommodate everyone. L. Fickbohm clarified his question to revisit the proposal in a year? J. Bodine said the lease expires in 2019 so that should give enough time to decide if changes made have been effective. The Sheriff and Lieutenant have discussed with the range’s neighbors that a squad car would be dispatched if the range is used outside of allowed hours of use per J. Silbert. 5. Monthly Financial Report. A. Forestry 1) Department Budget Update. Revenue for July is again above average with the year’s total at about $3.2 million. Expenses are at a banner year level. The budget line item for the Town Road Aid 10% fund will be amended at the end of the year based on the timber sale revenues. Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 3 of 5 August 8, 2016 Meeting Minutes Regarding the storm road damage, the roads south of Highway 2 took a beating and some roads in the Barnes area have been inaccessible for about a month. 2) Yurt Construction Update. The yurt up north is close to completion. The southern yurt is still under construction. Collaboration continues with CAMBA providing access to the yurts during the year. Room taxes are charged by the towns where the yurts are located along with a 3% fee by Airbnb. The County’s per night net should be $55 for the northern yurt and $58 for the southern yurt. Final touches with Airbnb are taking place now. B. Parks. The Delta Lake fee tube thief has not yet been caught. The tube has been moved and compelling signs have been posted. Big Rock occupancy has increased, and that may be due to the USFS Birch Grove campground closure or tube monitoring signage. To date, the month’s revenues are the best of the summer. There was no major storm damage at any of the three parks. Last year’s dying birch timber sale at Delta may have saved a huge problem in July. It’s proving that addressing issues with a little money is preventing bigger issues later for a lot of money. There is nothing out of the ordinary for expenditures. C. Trails and Recreation 1) ATV Trails Update. Crews have done a phenomenal job cleaning up the damage in a short time. The Grandview to Mason connector, Trail 63, is currently under repair (near completion) of which the anticipated cost to be $20,000. There are minor washouts in other areas with an estimated repair cost to be $50,000. Although the blowdown damage will not have infrastructure damage costs, there were thousands of volunteer hours that went into the, at times, dangerous clean up. The Committee sends it appreciation to the clubs for clean up above and beyond the call of duty; hats off to them. The entire US Forest Service land in Bayfield County was closed at one point. The summer’s sales tax revenues will tell the impact to this area. 2) ATV Trail Projects Update. See narrative; not discussed. 3) Access Management Update. J. Bodine met with Pat Quaintance and a group meeting has been set up in two weeks to review maps and discuss an overview of what kinds of revisions are proposed. The Committee will receive the proposal at a future meeting to consider that could affect the current and future Access Management Plans. MOTION: (Strand, Fickbohm) to receive and place on file the financial report. Carried. 6. Storm Damage Update - July 11 and 21 storms. The wind storm affected the timber sales more than the flooding. Three new timber sales were prepared, one other one acre sale was offered to Santikko Logging as they were active nearby. Two others were already part of existing tracts and were added to those sales. Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 4 of 5 August 8, 2016 Meeting Minutes Bark beetle season means the three new sales will have a quick turnaround (before the end of the year). J. Bodine is requesting approval to offer these two red pine sales and one hardwood sales. MOTION: (Strand, Fickbohm) to approve the three timber sales; authorizing Jason to open bids and award them to the high bidder on August 15. Carried. 7. 2017 Budget. On the revenue side, the stumpage revenue is proposed to increase from $2.9 to $3 million. The formula for setting the revenue results in a conservative estimate. A new revenue line item is the yurts revenue. The snowmobile and other motorized grant monies are not changed from 2016. Projecting a 4.1% increase in revenues overall is expected from 2016 at $126,000. S. Miller inquired on the increased expenses regarding the trail damages if no FEMA or other emergency grant funds are awarded and how those will be covered? The state will meet at the end of August and they will address the storm damages then. J. Bodine will be surprised if there is no money made available for both storms. FEMA for July 11 storm and maybe something from the state for the July 21 storm. Also, there’s a potential for supplemental funds to be available for expense overages. If not fully covered then funds are calculated on a percentage based on the claims from the counties. Documentation (photos, invoices, etc.) is being collected to provide information for making FEMA and state emergency fund claims. On the expense side a slight increase in the health insurance and wages is included. Park Maintenance expenses are reduced by approximately $1,000. One of the new capital expense requests included is a new parking lot across the road from Twin Bear campground. Unfortunately there is no room available at Twin Bear for a pavilion. The trail maintenance and development line item is increased from $20,000 to $50,000 to build new trails. Reforestation expenses decreased by $30,000, which basically offset the trail maintenance and development increase. Expenses overall are expected to increase by $46,000. Budgeted net returns are expected to increase by nearly 5% or roughly $77,000. The other five of six capital projects proposed for 2017 are a 198 acre land acquisition at Mt. Ashwabay for $134,000 on a land contract; an ADA ramp at Delta Lake; a new mooring dock at Twin Bear; and interpretive forest management signs. Another project is to generate a county funded recreation grant totaling $150,000 at a 50/50 match proposed by Mark Abeles-Anderson and presented to the Executive Committee. The municipal solicitation would also include towns without county forest land. J. Bodine feels this is a good gesture and would be money well spent. Unfortunately it might only be attractive to the municipalities that could afford the match dollars. M. Abeles-Anderson would like the committee to consider the idea of a county funded recreation grant. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) to continue to look at this project, to see if it has promise, and to keep it on track. Carried. F. Strand inquired on the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) project, its status and if the GNA budget will be Bayfield County Forestry and Parks Committee Page 5 of 5 August 8, 2016 Meeting Minutes a wash? J. Bodine said it is in place and the field work will start this fall. A bit more revenue will come in for the GNA budget because some funds will cover fringe costs. MOTION: (Strand, Fickbohm) to approve the 2017 budget as proposed and recommend to the full county board the six capital line items. Roll Call Vote: Yes: Silbert, Fickbohm, Strand, Miller; No: None. Carried. 8. State Land Sale J. Bodine received a minimum sale value for the 198 acres of DNR land offered near Mt Ashwabay in the Town of Bayfield at $675/acre; totaling $134,000. The offer received payment in full within 2 years at 0% interest. The land includes 100 acres of oak and aspen; ¾ miles of ski trail that connects to Mt. Ashwabay ski system, Jerry Jolly Trails and other county land securing an existing trail network. F. Strand is supportive of the purchase for the timber value and multiple recreational uses. Budget is in good shape so to purchase in one year is a viable option. MOTION: (Strand, Silbert) to approve the purchase as proposed and if it is possible to purchase this year for a one time payoff. Roll call vote: Yes: Strand, Fickbohm, Silbert, Miller. No: None. Carried. J. Silbert commented that logging operations be extra sensitive to the recreational users. 9. Joseph LeBouton, DNR Representative. J. LeBouton reported that the Washburn office staffing is down one forester. The hours that the DNR contributes to the County are not expected to be impacted. 10. Adjourn Meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM. The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting and timber sale bid opening will be held Monday, September 12, 2016 at 6:00 P.M. at Bayfield County Courthouse, County Board Room, 2nd Floor, 117 E. 5th Street, Washburn, Wisconsin. Submitted by, Pat Bruno