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PINE RIVER-Cass County's Soil and Water Conservation Board has played an increasingly important role in helping the county execute some of its programs in recent years.

Two SWCD supervisors meet on a regular basis with two county commissioners to exchange information and move projects forward. This year, commissioners Neal Gaalswyk and Jeff Peterson and supervisors Tom Kuschel and Jim Ballenthin form that liaison committee.

Administrator-designate and Personnel Director Joshua Stevenson reported Tuesday to the county board about topics discussed at the committee's Sept. 1 meeting in Walker.

Draft proposals for the updated county water plan and the comprehensive plan will be ready for public hearings and adoption early this winter, Stevenson said.

SWCD has been overseeing the county's aquatic invasive species control effort and distribution of state funds for AIS prevention to Cass County.

Stevenson reported that so far there has been enough in the AIS prevention fund to help Norway Lake residents to accomplish some of their objectives without having forming a lake improvement taxing district. The lake association may engage some local units of government toward forming such a district in 2017, however.

The county expects to get the state AIS funding through the first half of 2017, Stevenson said.

The county has funds available to offer risk insurance coverage to SWCD through 2017 and to make available bookkeeping services to SWCD.

Assistant County Engineer Kris Lyytinen reported the county's efforts to control wild parsnip and other non-native, invasive weeds in county road ditches by repeat mowing have been ineffective.

The county highway department used herbicide spray on 90 miles of county road ditches in 2015, which knocked down about 90 percent of the invasive weeds, Lyytinen said. Spot spraying remaining patches seems to be effective this year, he added.

The liaison committee recommended and the county board voted to extend spraying to other affected county roads in cooperation with Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the U.S. Forest Service.

SWCD will be able to obtain $18,000 toward future spraying efforts, from which townships can apply to receive a portion if they plan to do a spraying program, Stevenson said.

On the state's new program to require buffer zones in agricultural areas along waterways, Stevenson said most of Cass's agricultural land affected is planted as hay fields, so will not be a problem to farmers.

The county will have to decide whether to take responsibility in the future for enforcing the law where farm crop land abuts a waterway or to turn enforcement over to the state Board of Soil and Water Resources. That decision must be made by March 2017.

Stevenson also reported on a Sept. 9 meeting of the county's personnel committee.

The committee reviewed the county's health insurance recent experience and determined there are 16 months cash on hand in the self-insurance fund balance. For this reason, the committee recommended and the county board voted to keep the county and employee shares of employee premium rates at the same in 2017 as they have been in 2016.

Cass had $5,422,707 on hand in the self-insurance program at the end of 2015.

The committee also recommended and the board adopted a plan to switch managers for the county's flexible spending plan to give employees more options for such coverage as disability, life insurance, health savings accounts, dental and accident coverage, while the new plan will cost the county less money.

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