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HomeMy WebLinkAboutForestry & Parks Committee - Minutes - 11/9/2020 BAYFIELD COUNTY FORESTRY AND PARKS DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE MEETING November 9, 2020 Held virtually through Microsoft Teams Members Present: Fred Strand, Chairperson; Jeffrey Silbert, David Zepczyk, Larry Fickbohm, Steve Sandstrom Staff in Attendance: Jason Bodine, Administrator; Lindley Mattson, Office Manager; Steve Probst, Assistant Administrator Others in Attendance: Mark Abeles-Allison, County Administrator 1. Call to Order of Forestry and Parks Committee Meeting. This meeting was called to order at 6:00pm. 2. Public Comment: None 3. Approval of the October 12, 2020 Meeting Minutes. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) to approve the minutes as presented. All: Yes. Carried. 4. Fall Timber Sale J. Bodine went through the bid opening done earlier in the day. Two sales were pulled from the offering, one was sold direct (salvage sale from earlier this month) the other is in the Town of Russell and has some road restrictions in the coming year. 23 of 30 sales received bids. The seven sales that went no bid, were all prior no bid sales. Prices were okay, still having a hard time selling winter only sales and sales with heavy red pine pulp went for low prices. We did reject one bid for math error. Over all 86 total bids, with 11 different contractors winning contracts. J Bodine plans to more aggressively advertise these 7 no bid sales as available for direct sale purchase. MOTION: (Silbert, Fickbohm) Accept the fall bids as presented. All: Yes. Carried. 5. Monthly Reports. Discussion of general activities, events, issues and accomplishments. Possible action on report(s) only. a. Forestry (all updates): a) 2020 Budget. Timber sale receipts were good in October. Roughly $315k in total for October. Still below the three year average for October. To date timber revenues is $2.95 million. With the salvage sales harvesting hard right now we have the possibility of hitting our revenue budget of 3.355million. Expenditures are on target or even just below this year. b) 2020 Budget Amendment (potential): there may be a snowmobile supplemental payment of $85k coming from expenses incurred last year, it would then be paid out to the snowmobile clubs. When that happens the expense budget for that account will be over by 120k. A budget amendment would be needed. Another potential budget adjustment is the Pitman Robertson grant we just received. This grant has to be spent by 3/31/21. Depending on when it happens, a budget amendment is needed. Some discussion on the roller chopping project to be completed with this grant. c) Salvage Sales. With that last salvage sale being purchased by Granger, all six of the salvage sales that were offered this fall have been sold. Bodine presented a map with the seven salvage sales shown, the last sale, some blowdown that was missed, will be offered in the next few days. Many of which are currently being harvested. d) Carbon Offset/Marketing. Not much has changed since last month. Bodine is hoping to meet with Bluesource (large carbon marketer) this week. If that happens, Bodine will bring a summary to the committee. e) Red Cliff Land Sale. The 220 (217 actual acres) acre land sale to Red Cliff was completed last month. f) Pratt Rd Land Acquisition. This land sale was also completed last month. Just waiting to record the deed. This property will soon be enrolled in county forest law. g) Stewardship Land Acquisition Project. Ceres Timber has put a halt on this project for now. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is looking into a plan B in the event that this project falls through. One additional topic discussed was the possibility of making price adjustments on existing contracts due to these unprecedented times. Bodine is looking into prices and comparison of accessibility. Hoping to have some more information for the committee at the December meeting. b. Parks Total campground revenues are roughly $113k, just under the record last year. If not for Covid, we likely would have broken another record. a. 2021 Seasonal Camping Status: Nearly all the sites have been reserved. Trails and Recreation: a) Motorized Trail Updates: Foundation has been poured, hoping for completion before deer season. b) Non-Motorized Trail Updates: Trail is coming along nicely. The only part that is waiting to be completed is the elevated boardwalk. The laminated beams may not come until January. c) Yurt Updates: Bodine presented the occupancy rates for each yurt. Still very popular. d) Events. No new events were addressed this past month. c. Delta Landfill Update: Bodine reached out to Wisconsin Emergency Management, their response is they have not heard back from FEMA. Some committee discussion on Town of Delta cooperation. MOTION: (Fickbohm, Zepczyk) Receive and place on file. All: Yes. Carried. 6. 2021-2023 Parks Manager Contract Bodine presented a revised draft of the contract highlighting the more significant changes below. • Starting with CY 2021, the base rate was increased by 1.5% (from the 2020 rate), with a 1.5% increase in each subsequent year of the contract (2022 and 2023). This annual rate adjustment is lower than that assigned to the previous contract (2%), but better reflects the average annual CPI figures over the past five years. • Incorporates the option for the parks manager to select two alternate hosts at Twin Bear and Delta Lake (instead of one primary host). In the past, the primary host would be given a free campsite. If two are selected, each alternate host would receive a campsite at half the seasonal rate. • Eliminated the need for the parks manager to provide a performance bond every year. Instead, the final supplemental payment will be withheld until all terms of the contract have been met to the satisfaction of the county. The supplemental payment will essentially act as the performance bond. • Added Jeff Jones (Brenda’s husband) to the contract. Jeff performs much of the required routine maintenance across all properties listed as part of this contract. MOTION: (Silbert, Sandstrom) Accept the recommendations for Brenda and Jeff’s contracts including the four bullet points Jason pointed out in the narrative. All: Yes. Carried. 7. Bayfield County Forest Comprehensive Land Use Plan Revision a. Chapters 1000, 2000, and 3000. Still working on a little bit of each of the chapters. It is coming together, slowly. b.Remaining Timeline. Bodine’s plan is to have this to the committee in December. 8. Joseph LeBouton, DNR – nothing to share The next Forestry and Parks Committee meeting has been scheduled for Monday, December 14, 2020 at 6:00 P.M. Meeting adjourned at 6:51 PM Submitted by, Lindley Mattson