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The Union /Virgil Ditches & East Branch of the Kishwaukee River Watershed Steering Committee (WSC) met on July 10, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building, in Sycamore, Illinois. In attendance were Committee members Paul Miller, Anita Zurbrugg, Dean Johnson, Karen Miller, Roger Steimel, Diana Kamysz (for Committee Member Jeremy Lin), Donna Prain, Nathan Schwartz, and Brian Gregory. Also in attendance were Mike Konen, Rebecca Von Drasek and Deanna Doohaluk.

1. Roll Call -- All members present.

2. Approval of Agenda -- Mr. Schwartz moved to approve the amended agenda, seconded by Mr. Gregory, and the motion carried unanimously.

3. Approval of Minutes -- Ms. Zurbrugg moved to approve the minutes from May 8, 2013, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and the motion carried unanimously.

4. Watershed Plan Status:

Ms. Doohaluk updated the Committee as to the progress of the Watershed Inventory report. She highlighted deficiencies in information related to detention basins.

Ms. Prain outlined for the Committee a data-collection endeavor she organized to include within the Inventory report. The data collection would consist of a detention basin survey and a stream survey. Ms. Prain explained that students from Sycamore High School and NIU would be performing the field work. She briefly explained the procedural steps the students would follow and provided the Committee with a memo detailing the survey locations.

Ms. Miller agreed to ask Kane County municipalities about basin inventories.

Mr. Miller asked when the Inventory would be completed. Ms. Doohaluk responded that there was no hard deadline but she had a personal goal to have a draft by the end of July.

Mr. Johnson suggested that the identified survey locations become future data collection sites.

Ms. Doohaluk suggested that the mapping and basic outline should be completed by the beginning of August.

Mr. Johnson agreed to provide Ms. Doohaluk with a detailed list of agricultural projects within the watershed by program.

Ms. Doohaluk explained that once the Watershed Inventory was complete then the next step would be modeling the watershed.

She noted that the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to the Steering Committee would need to meet to review the proposed modeling structure.

5. Outreach Committee Report

Ms. Zurbrugg provided the Committee with a handout detailing the June 26, 2013 meeting of the Outreach subcommittee. The subcommittee decided on three community meetings, the first of which would be held either September 12th or September 19th for the Agricultural community, and the others which would be tours in the spring. Ms. Zurbrugg highlighted the proposed tour schedule for the Committee.

The Committee briefly discussed the proposed tour routes.

Ms. Zurbrugg noted that the original budget did not include the costs of the tours, she agreed to undertake the responsibility of applying for grants to cover the estimated $5,000 costs.

The Committee also discussed the prospective "boating" tour and suggested that creating a list of snags within the watershed’s waterways might be useful information.

6. Next Meeting

The Steering Committee will next meet on August 14, 2013 at 3:00 pm in the Conference Room East.

7. Adjournment -- Ms. Prain motioned to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Schwartz, and the motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean Johnson
Chairman, DeKalb County Union Ditch/Virgil Ditch Watershed Steering Committee

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