Minutes for June 18^th, 1998
(approved August 6, 1998)

Saline County Study Steering Committee in conjunction with the Saline County Study Management Team

Thursday, June 18, 1998 7:00 PM CDT
Spainhower Building Board Room, Habilitation Center, Marshall

Vince Buck, Kathy Borgman, LeAnn Haling, Richard Clemens, Mark Belwood, Wayne McReynolds, Marc Harris

Patti Carr, Corey Lyon, David Perkins, Tim Simmons

Chris Fulcher, Cynthia Crawford, Mike Dillon, Russell Dehn

Gerry Snapp, Tom Johnson, Richard Pemberton, Darin Starr, Dennis DiPietre

John Lory, Vincent Burke, Mubarak Hamed, Chris Barnett

Mark Belwood, recorder, served as chair in the absence of Tim Simmons.

The reading of the minutes of the previous meeting was dispensed with as everyone had received a printed copy of the minutes prior to the meeting. Richard Clemens moved and LeAnn Haling seconded that the minutes be approved as written. Chris Fulcher moved to change the paragraph on page 3 of 3 of the minutes that begins with the words 'The researchers'. That paragraph reports that the researchers are currently in possession of the code for the odor plume model. Chris said that the researchers are NOT currently in possession of the code, although they had had hopes at the May meeting that such would soon be the case. The amendment was seconded and passed with no audible dissent. The original motion passed with no audible dissent. The chair directed the recorder to make the necessary corrections and to forward a digital version of the approved minutes to CARES to place on the web site.

Following up on his amendment to the minutes Chris Fulcher reported that it has now been about two months since the odor plume code was requested from Iowa State. Because of the unexpected delay in obtaining the code, he is now no longer optimistic that CARES will have the code in the near future. He said he will have an opportunity to talk face to face with the folks in Iowa in July when he attends a nutrient management conference in that state—so he will have an updated status report available by the August meeting. Chris also reported that CARES is currently working in house on a second tool to deal with the CAFO issue. That tool will be ready to present at the next Study meeting.

Vincent Burke reported on the status of the proposed archaeological site data layer. He said that the archaeologists begged that no sites be placed on a publicly available data layer. The archaeologists said that they have trouble with sites being dug up when their locations are made public. Vincent said that he has been given a list of all of the archaeological sites in the county, but that list contains no location data. Location data is currently made available only for certain very specific requests. Wayne McReynolds commented that an archaeological review is required for all projects that involve federal money. Russell Dehn noted such reviews frequently take place only after considerable planning has already occurred. He sited the example of the 65 highway project being rerouted because of an archaeological site. Had the site been known in advance, considerable unnecessary planning work and expense could have been avoided. Kathy Borgman noted that when the public does not know about archaeological sites, there is the potential that a site will be inadvertently destroyed. Chris Fulcher noted that there are ways of making archaeological site location data more accessible without making it public. No conclusion was reached as how best to handle locations of archaeological sites and those of other sensitive data—such as endangered plants and animals and graves. The chair suggested that this would make a good topic for the discussion section of the web site.

The chair noted that a publication that was currently being passed between those in attendance was a publication that George Huff had brought to his attention as being applicable to our Study. The publication was the second edition of Saving America's Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation.

The chair also noted that Mubarak had prepared a printed version of his report given at the May meeting on the effect of agriculture on Saline County's economy. Copies of the report were distributed to everyone in attendance.

Mubarak reported on the progress of his land sale survey. He currently has data on 65 sales for the period covering 1996 and 1997. He would like to have data on at least 100 sales in order to perform a better analysis. Everyone in attendance was presented with the complete list of sales for which no data had yet been obtained. Everyone was asked to help provide the data for these sales, and everyone was given an envelope in which to mail the information to Mubarak. It was emphasized that final report will present trends and averages for the entire county, and that data for individual sales will not be made public. Vincent Burke suggested that if sufficient data is not collected from the local members of the Study, that Mubarak send personal letters to individuals involved in the various sales, including return envelopes addressed to the University.

Vincent Burke reported on the progress of the hard copy report on year one of the Study. He said some sections are done and that requests have been sent out for other sections. The report will probably be ready by the next meeting.

John Lory said that progress is being made on the surface water quality/vulnerability assessment. A report should be ready by next month.

It was reported that Darin Starr had provided public drinking water district boundaries, so that is now a new data layer.

Kathy Borgman had received no negative comments from people whom she had asked to review the cultural sites data layer, so the assumption is that it provides good coverage of the County's cultural sites.

Cynthia Crawford reviewed the scheduled times for the introductory Internet course that she and Darin teach. The day of Monday, July 13 was set for the Internet course specializing on the Saline County Study web site—to be taught by Chris Fulcher and Chris Barnett. Courses will be given at 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM and 7 PM. If a second date is needed, it will be set at the next meeting.

The next matter on the agenda was appointment of the Communications Subcommittee. Dennis DiPietre had made the original motion at the October 1997 meeting. In his absence due to car trouble, Cynthia conveyed his ideas on the purpose of such a committee. For the second year of the study Dennis envisions that a cornerstone to communication will be getting key users involved in actually using the tools developed in year one. Some of the groups that he suggested as probable users of the data were people interested in recreation, people interested in historic site preservation, agricultural interests, realtors, and a newly forming community development corporation. Cynthia said that Dennis is currently talking with a newspaper about possibly publishing a tabloid about the Study. It was mentioned that there are some grants available to counties that are specifically targeted at counties with a solid GIS data base.

The temporary chair asked the group if he should proceed with appointing the Communications Subcommittee seeing as how the October minutes regarding such were worded as follows: "The chair and members of the committee will be appointed later by Chairman Simmons." The group decided that the temporary chair should contact the regular chair, and that they should work together to get the committee appointed.

In relation to communications Chris Fulcher asked how widely the URL for the web site was known. It was generally agreed that knowledge of the site is limited due to relatively few people having access to the Internet. Hopefully that situation will improve. Grants are currently being applied for that may help increase community access to public school computer sites.

A break was taken at about 8:30.

Approval of a mission statement was the first item of discussion after the break. This matter had been tabled since the retreat in August of 1997. After a brief discussion the current tentative mission statement was adopted as the official mission statement. Mark Belwood cast a lone dissenting vote citing that he thought the statement overemphasized economic well-being. The chair directed Chris Fulcher to remove the words 'pending approval' from the mission statement on the home page of the Study's web site.

A discussion of scenarios for research had been on the agenda for the meeting, but John Lory suggested that this be tabled in preference to further discussion on year two of the Study. (The special meeting to discuss year two is scheduled for June 26 from 10 AM to 1 PM at Season's Restaurant in Marshall.) John said that when he requested scenarios at the last meeting, he was in hopes that some scenarios could be presented at that meeting. He said that it makes more sense now to wait until the direction of year two is stabilized before proposing scenarios.

Most of the rest of the meeting was occupied with a discussion of where the Study had been and where it was going. Some thoughts expressed in the discussion included:

• Mike Dillon stressed the need for some concrete and tangible results that the commissioners could show the taxpayers. He said he would like some paper maps to show people who don't have access to the web.
• Vincent Burke pointed out that much had already been accomplished. And he said that Saline County probably had a more extensive GIS data base than possibly all but the five most populous counties in the state. He mentioned that the hard copy report on the first year of the study will be one very tangible result. He also mentioned that use of the web site for advertising the County could be a tangible result.
• John Lory asked if it was the objective of the County that everyone in the county be able to use the GIS data layers or that the University provide answers to specific questions.
• Mark Belwood said that after the May meeting LeAnn Haling had mentioned to him the need to get educators, and thus students, involved in the study. Mark said he thought that was a very good idea.
• Russell Dehn said he would like to see the Study return to the original reason that led to its inception—the CAFO issue. Russell said that the agricultural exemption to planning and zoning may be unconstitutional and such grounds could possibly be used in defending any ordinances that might regulate agriculture.
• John Lory noted the need to involve civic groups.
• Chris Fulcher mentioned the vice-president's Clean Water Initiative and its emphasis on watersheds. He suggested that working on a watershed approach to solving problems might be a new direction that could be explored in year two.
• Chris also commented that for the County to assume full hosting of the web site would be expensive. He suggested that either several groups join forces to host the site or that arrangements be made for the County to continue to tap into the University for support in operating the web site.
• Cynthia Crawford noted the need for Extension to have the capacity to fully utilize the web site and thus serve as a contact source for aid in using the site.

Following the long discussion Russell Dehn summarized what he thought he had heard during the discussion:

• put together an overall plan for the best utilization of the resources of Saline County—possible planning and zoning—to protect the public and agriculture,
• have the University of Missouri Law School investigate the legal options under planning and zoning in regard to regulating agriculture,
• do a better job of education of the public through the public school system (Teach the teachers to use the Internet information we have developed so they can teach the children about the resources we have.),
• look into how to prioritize and how to protect our natural sites in the county,
• develop County's own web site to showcase the County and help sell it to tourists, investors, and to our own citizens,
• plan to train someone in the County so that we can take over operation by end of the second year of the study,
• odor plume for more knowledge-based information to help make decisions, and
• evaluation and documentation of the process

Cynthia brought up the idea of hosting town meetings to discuss the six priority research issues.

Kathy Borgman moved and Vince Buck seconded officially endorsing Russell's summary along with Cynthia's idea. The motion passed with no audible dissent.

Taking the place of a regular meeting in July will be the special course (taught by CARES) on utilizing the Study's web site. The course is scheduled for 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM and 7 PM on July 13. The course will be given at the Saline County Career Center at the intersection of Highway 65 and West Vest. Members of the Study are to sign up for a time to ensure that no slot becomes overly crowded. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 6 at 7 PM with the place to be announced. A retreat to reorganize and plan for year two has tentatively been set for August 23-24.

The meeting adjourned at about 10 PM.