Executive Committee

Conference Call Minutes

December 21st, 2010The Executive Committee met on December 21st, 2010 beginning at 8:12 a.m. by telephone conference call.  Those present were Dana Darlington, Chair; Dean Rogge, Reservoir Reach; Paul Gies, Middle Reach; John Chase, Upper Reach; Dick Iversen, Lower Reach; Jim Beck, Upper Reach; Nick Schultz, Reservoir Reach; Laurie Riley, Coordinator; Carie Hess, Secretary; and Karl Christians, DNRC. 

Approval of October 21st Minutes:  John Chase moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Dean Rogge seconded and the motion passed unanimously. 

Financial report and approval of bill payments:  The financial report and budget were read. John Chase moved to pay the unpaid bills and Jim Beck seconded; the motion passed unanimously. It had been noted at the November meeting that the car is in need of new snow tires.  Dean mentioned that there is a new tire that has ground walnut shells in them and that they are better than studded snow tires.  It was decided that Laurie will take the car into Tire Rama in Great Falls to get the size and a cost estimate. She will inform Dean and Carie of the size/cost and they will contact their local dealers for a price comparison.  Once the comparison is complete Dean moved to purchase new tires for the council car and Nick seconded.  MRRIC Travel Funding:  Laurie stated that last week Karl informed her that the Governor has stated there is no out of state travel or reimbursements. This seriously impacts the MRRIC travel funding the council has in place.  Laurie noted that Larry Mires had stated that he was going to write a letter to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office stating why Montana’s representatives on the committee are so important and ask for an exception for the group.   

Election of Officers:  The committee discussed the importance of having the new Chair, Vice Chair, and Executive committee elected prior to initiation of the 2011legislative session.  Carie noted that she has ballots ready to go.  An email ballot was discussed for the Chairman, Vice Chair, and Executive Committee members. Jim Beck moved to have the election by email and John Chase seconded; the motion passed and a deadline was set for December 30, 2010.  

CREP Addendum Update:  Laurie noted that she had emailed and phoned Glen Patrick but at the time of the meeting had not heard back from him on the addition of grazing language into the addendum.  It was stated that Lana Nesbit feels that the current addendum is ready to move forward. There was some discussion on what the current addendum stated and that Karl and Laurie would continue to work on the grazing language and work with Glen as well.  It was noted that the council needs to get this wrapped up and finished before it loses momentum in DC.

Quarterly Meeting Plans:  The next meeting was originally scheduled for January 4th in Lewistown but due to Legislative Sessions the committee agreed to have it January 12th.  The committee discussed agenda items which included: Flood Photo Archive Project, CREP Addendum letter, Hi-Line RMP comment letter, and Lower Missouri Wildlife issues.  It was also stated that the council should ask Tim Ouellette with NRCS to speak about grazing, sage grouse, and cottonwood regeneration NRCS data.  Laurie was instructed to invite the field representatives for Tester, Baucus, and Rehberg’s offices.  The meeting will be from 1 to 4 at the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks field office in Lewistown.  The Council plans on meeting for lunch beforehand.

Website Updates: The council has been contacted about putting some additional information such as their CMR CCP-EIS comment letter and CMRNWR Community Working Group minutes on the website.  The Executive committee all agreed to have these posted to the website. 

Legislative Session: Laurie noted that she had been contacted by Jeff Tiberi and DNRC to be ready to speak in early January.  She asked how this had been handled in the past and who has attended committee meetings representing the Council.  The committee reported that usually the Chair tries to attend but that all members have gone over the years as needed.  They also told her to talk with Ray Beck as he would help her get ready for the sessions. 

CMR NWR Community Working Group:  Laurie updated the committee on her role within the group and how correspondence is to be signed from the group.  The CMR group wants more publicity regarding their meetings to generate additional attendance.  They also want the grazing districts from the 6 counties invited.  The Council instructed Laurie to contact the State Grazing Association. Nick will give her contact information. 

Next Conference call time & date: The committee discussed the next call date and Laurie mentioned having it at the same time each month.  The committee agreed and it was stated that the monthly conference calls would be held the Wednesday before the Petroleum County CD board meetings. 

It was noted that the committee should ask Jeff Tiberi to ask MACo to support the county commissioners in the 6 counties involved with the CMR and the CCP-EIS.   With no additional business being brought before the Committee, the call adjourned at 9:50 AM. 

Approved by unanimous vote on January 26, 2010 _____________________Nick Schultz, Chairman Date:  ________________

  Submitted by: ____________________        Carie Hess, Secretary                      

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