Report from the 2005 Virginia Association of RC&D Annual Meeting (Benzing)

During May 18-20, I attended the annual VARCD meeting in Petersburg as a representative of the Shenandoah RC&D Council.  This report summarizes my notes from that meeting and supplements a complete set of agendas, handouts, and distributed information in the records for the Shenandoah RC&D Council.

The three days were divided into a business meeting (Wednesday afternoon), a “tour” day (Thursday), and a workshop day (Friday morning.)  The attendance included representatives from all 8 RC&Ds in Virginia.

On Wednesday afternoon at the business meeting, we heard reports from supporting agencies.  I learned from Denise Doetzer, our state conservationist with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), that NRCS is looking for a new way to determine budget allocations to the councils.  She did not elaborate on the details but it seemed to me that we should follow up with her as they develop this process.  She also reported that there are a total of 43 applications for new RC&Ds nationwide.  Eleven of these applications are new in 2005.  One applicant (South Hampton Roads) is in Virginia and has been carried over from a previous year.  Mike Wooden with the Farm Service Agency reported that there are a total of 4,300 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts (on 3,200 farms) in Virginia.  Bill Worrell with the VA Department of Forestry reported they have a staff person in Eastern Virginia who is specifically assigned to work with the RC&D Councils to develop projects.  I could not confirm whether a similar VDOF position exists to work with our area.

During her report, Sharon Ruggi, President of the National Association of RC&Ds, had some good news.  The House restored the funding of RC&Ds in their version of the Congressional budget to $51.6 million, the same level as last year.  The Senate will consider their appropriation bill in June and will need to hear from us.  Sharon told us that legislators have been flooded with mail about RC&Ds and now know how vital we are to our communities.  However, she encouraged us to “take credit for the work we’re doing”.  We no longer want to be considered “the best kept secret.”

Sharon also reported that the NRCS has produced several reports (in cooperation with NARCD) that describe topics of interest: energy and biomass, and water supply protection and maintenance.  They are looking for local success stories to highlight.

Following the agency reports, we heard “Success Stories” from each of the RC&D Councils (Table 1.)  I found this part of the business meeting to be the most interesting.  I presented the Waste Solutions Forum as our success story.  I found the Black Diamond RC&D story of their litter problem and solutions particularly interesting and considered how we might implement a similar project in our area. 

Thursday was the “tour” day and I joined the Rural Tour.  On this tour, we visited Virginia State University (VSU) to learn about their projects in fish farming (aquaculture), goat production and marketing, hydroponic greenhouse production of tomatoes, and cut flower production.  VSU runs lots of workshops for Virginia farmers and seems to specialize in niche markets for agriculture and in extension to minority farmers.  After the VSU tour, we visited a former schoolhouse in Dinwiddie County that had been converted to a recreation center and local library.

Table 1: Success Stories from RC&D Councils in Virginia

On Thursday evening, I attended the awards banquet at Pamplin Park.  Awards were given in recognition of the work by RC&D Councils, and individuals that have served in RC&Ds or supporting agencies.  Jerry Walker, VARCD president, was inducted into the RC&D “Hall of Fame”.   I enjoyed the banquet meal and the Pamplin Park exhibits highlighting the experiences of the Civil War soldier.

On Friday morning, Jeff Cole (McNeary Consulting) gave a presentation of his risk analysis for RC&Ds.  He summarized some survey results and presented insurance issues that RC&D Councils should consider.  In particular, I learned that the VA Code holds directors of 501c(3) organizations immune from liability (§8.01-220.1:1) when serving on a volunteer basis.  However, our Directors and Officers (D&O) policy should include a clause that requires the insurer to cover the costs of our defense in the case of a claim against us.  Also, I learned that we need to investigate how the USDA would handle an accident claim from riders in RC&D vehicles (the federal government is self-insured.)  As volunteers, we may need to sign a waiver-of-liability form when riding in government vehicles.

The final speaker for the meeting was Dr. Virgie M. Binford from VSU, an 80-year old author and a bundle of energy and enthusiasm.  She gave a motivational talk that was very well received.

Sincerely submitted, Thomas R. Benzing

VA Ass’n of RC&D Councils Annual Meeting Report – Comanor

My comments supplement those of Tom Benzing regarding the meeting.  I attended the Urban Tour which focused on the redevelopment of 2 nearby towns (Hopewell and Petersburg).  In Hopewell, we toured an old movie theater from the 1920’s that was in the early stages of restoration; the project director indicated they needed to raise about $7 million to complete the work.  In the meantime a major portion of the building in which it was located had been restored to be used for meetings, wedding receptions and other public activities – it was very well done.  Hopewell’s town council had committed over $20 million for the core downtown rehabilitation effort – the funds are being raised by a 5 cent increase in property taxes (they preferred this local commitment rather than attempting to raise funds piecemeal from regional and national foundations).  In Petersburg, economic redevelopment was well underway – they have several city blocks of buildings dating to the eighteenth century and its original character is still intact.  Their economic development director took us on a tour of the downtown and described the various renovation projects underway.  The street level space is being targeted for commercial use while the second and third stories of each building are targeted for residential use.  They described activities, such as Thursday night concerts, to bring people back to the downtown.  A lot of reconstruction and rehab efforts were visible.  On our return we viewed their industrial park and some planned development scheduled for the outskirts of the town.  Two local RC&D Council members from these communities participated on our tour.  It made me think about what, if any, efforts similar to these might be appropriate for Shenandoah RC&D Council to consider.

The remainder of my comments focus on the whole meeting as a model for what Shenandoah RC&D Council might do when it is the annual meeting host in 2007.  The South Centre Corridors RC&D did an excellent job of organizing the event, and clearly obtained contributions from local sponsors (we had a very nice welcome kit, there were a number of hospitality options available, the tours were excellent, food was good, the meeting location good and economical, the featured speakers very good, gift baskets for the featured speaker were lovely), and we had access to a special facility for our banquet (Pamplin Park). Two state elected officials attended the banquet.  We will be challenged to be as effective!