Draft minutes of the Marys River Watershed Council Steering Committee meeting July 19, 2006

Present: Sandra Coveny, Gordon Cummings, Jim Fairchild, Karen Fleck Harding, Tom Murphy, Janine Salwasser, Curt Seeliger

Coordinator update (given on paper, highlights summarized here):
Much time is spent in administrative duties: grant writing, overseeing contractors, submission of OWEB requests, and various activities supporting our Solstice fundraiser. Preparations are being made for business sponsors of next year's Solstice celebration.
A formal agreement with several partners, through Oregon Solutions, has been drafted to implement work in Benton County using Cardwell Hills as a model.
We are working with the Meyer Memorial Trust to strategically assist watershed councils.
Developing comments for Corvallis regarding importance of fish passage issues in the Corvallis watershed/Woods Creek sub-basin.

Education and Outreach update (given on paper, highlights summarized here):
The Newton Creek Dam removal permit application is almost ready to be submitted to DSL.
Our application for the Five Star grant has been denied; we are still waiting for a decision for the National Trout grant [what are these for again?]
A meeting of residents of the Woods Creek subbasin and the Council, ODFG, USFW, Benton SWCD was held. A targeted mailing to 125 households in the subbasin resulted in ten residents attending.
There is continued interest by landowners in the results of our workshop on managing invasive plants.
There is possible cutthroat habitat in a Greasy Creek channel that is wetted at bankfull flow. The landowner is interested in having an assessment created for this section, and may be a candidate for a technical assistance grant.
The field assessment of Cardwell Hills is mostly complete, though the oak assessment by The Nature Conservancy has not yet started. There are new large populations of Kincaide's lupine and Fenders blue butterfly, and other smaller populations were also found.
We are working with the Philomath Scout Lodge to develop a conservation plan for their land.
Meeting with Ken Crouse and Karen Johnson to develop mapping tool to assist us in developing current restoration priorities.

Future council meetings:
There is no standard council meeting in August. The Steering committee and other interested parties will (hopefully) get a cooks tour of the Cardwell Hills management areas in August. [Was the mention of a prairie management workshop related to this?]
The Marys Peak Interpretive Center is tentatively scheduled to talk about Newton Creek in September.
The October meeting is expected to be reserved for council dialog and will have no speaker. Topics are likely to be Cardwell Hills, a new restoration opportunity map, reports from the IAE and Dave Vessely regarding their research at Cardwell Hills, and grant proposals.
A talk on taxbreaks for landowners with a wildlife habitat conservation plan is expected in November.

Solstice fundraiser report:
Approximately 50 people attended, mostly non-council members; low attendance may have been due to heat or sports events. Artist demonstrations were all well attended. Gross proceedings were approximately $2000 (including an entirely unexpected donation of $100 from a visitor from LA), of which $200 went to the band and sound system rental, $31 for band food and wine (previously expected to be covered by the caterer), and $400 to Tyee for rental of their space for a net income of $1369. Payments to the artists for time and materials was covered by a grant from the Benton County Cultural Coalition.

Contractor selection
Sandra prepared a document on the history of our contractor selection process and some related issues. Ken Bierly at OWEB said that there are no rules regarding contractor selection or when to initiate an RFP, though we are encouraged to consider prevailing wages and work with someone who is well qualified and trustworthy. Selections have historically been guided by the Steering committee. We currently publicize an RFP for a new grant via either the local newspaper or the internet. Continuing work generally uses the same contractor. An exception to these practices is that we've always used Benton County for culvert replacements; they are fairly expensive, and while they assist us in grant development and obtaining permits, we have asked them to reexamine their costs. There are significant advantages to not going out to bid each time, including maintaining existing relationships and saving coordinator and steering committee time. As a result, this is not a transparent process for new contractors. No one present felt it was necessary to create a comprehensive set of guidelines for this process; the simple statement that "We use competitive selection for contractor selection unless the Steering Committee agrees otherwise" was suggested as sufficient.

Grant application process
There was a brief discussion of how the process evolved, and how it might be tied to the council's action plan. Sandra prepared a brief document describing the current process and her suggestions for improving it. Further discussion is deferred until the next Steering committee meeting.