Northwest Regional Planning Commission

Northwest Regional Planning Commission held its Executive Committee Meeting at their Spooner Office on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and the newly appointed members. New members included Don Taylor – newly elected chair of Burnett County; Steve Sather – newly elected chair of Washburn County; and Russ Kapitz – newly appointed alternate representative for Price County.

John Gozdzialski, Northern Regional Director with the WI DNR and Mike Leudke also with the WI DNR were in attendance.  Minutes of the March 17, 2010 Meeting, Vouchers, 1^st Quarter Financials and Contracts were all approved by the Board.  Executive Director Myron Schuster presented a project proposal on Carbon Credit Aggregation and 1^st Quarter Financial report, along with the Executive Director’s Report. A County Issues Roundtable discussion was also held.

John G with the WI DNR provided an update on DNR happenings in our Region. John touched on changes in deer management, the impact of being in our 6^th year of drought and a petition for de-listing wolves in the State of WI. For more information please visit www.dnr.state.wi.us or to reach John Gozdzialski, please call him at 715-635-4002.

Section Report updates from Planning, Housing (Sheldon Johnson), Website (Chad Kostner), Financial (John Stroschine), Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser) and ITBEC (Dave Dumke) were presented to the Board.

The meeting adjourned around 11:55 a.m. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner.

Northwest Regional Planning Commission held its Executive Committee Meeting at their Spooner Office on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.
Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and special guest speaker John Will with WITC. John Gozdzialski, Northern Regional Director with the WI DNR was also in attendance. Minutes of the January 27, 2010 Meeting, Vouchers and Resolution #10-01 were all approved by the Board. Executive Director Myron Schuster gave a NADO Policy Conference and Board Meeting Report along with the Executive Director’s Report and an update on the Regional Economic Development Recognition project with the WI Department of Commerce. A County Issues Roundtable discussion was also held.
A PowerPoint presentation on Regional Presence was given by John Will of the WI Indianhead Technical Colleges (WITC). WITC has 4 campuses that serve 11 Counties, including 8 of the 10 counties NWRPC serves, covering 10,500 square miles of our Region. The following are highlights of the presentation:

• 73% of the 1,733 graduates were employed within the WITC District (Region)
• 83% of all graduates were employed in the State of WI
• 85% of all graduates were hired within 6 months of graduation with an average salary of $30,500
• 61% of students are females with an average age of 28 and 40% of these female students are enrolled full time

Please visit www.witc.edu for more information.
John G with the WI DNR provided an update on DNR happenings in our Region. John mentioned the winter severity index was low this year, which was a good thing, since winter is the hardest time for the deer. For more information please visit www.dnr.state.wi.us or to reach John Gozdzialski, please call him at 715-635-4002.
Section Report updates from Planning, Housing & Environmental (Sheldon Johnson & Bill Welter), Financial (John Stroschine) and Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser & Mark Mueller) were presented to the Board.
The meeting adjourned around 3:30 p.m. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner.

Northwest Regional Planning Commission held its Executive Committee Meeting at their Spooner Office on Wednesday, January 27^th, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and special guests Tom Beekman and Brent Pickard with the WI DOT. Colene Frye and Karen Johnson, Planner’s with the St. Croix Chippewa Tribe were also in attendance.  Minutes of the October 28, 2009 Meeting, Vouchers, Contract List and sponsorship for Superior Days were all approved by the Board.  The 4^th Quarter Financial Report and Executive Director’s Report was given along with a County Issues Roundtable discussion.

A PowerPoint presentation was given by Tom Beekman of the WI DOT Northern Region. The DOT Northern Region services 20 counties, including 8 of the 10 Counties NWRPC serves. The presentation was a breakdown of funding distribution and a look at local projects taking place over the next 2-3 years. Please visit www.dot.wisconsin.gov for more information.

Mark O’Connell, Executive Director of the WI Counties Association called into the meeting for a brief explanation of Senate Bill 440. For more information please visit www.legis.state.wi.us or to reach Mr. O’Connell, please visit www.wicounties.org.

Section Report updates from Planning & Housing (Sheldon Johnson), Financial (John Stroschine) and Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser) were presented to the Board. Dave Dumke with ITBEC also provided an update. For more information regarding ITBEC, please visit www.northwestwisconsin.com.

The meeting adjourned around 12:30 p.m. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be on Wednesday, March 17^th, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner. Please note that there is no February meeting due to Superior Days (www.superiordays.com). Therefore, the March meeting will be moved up to the 3^rd Wednesday of the month instead of the last Wednesday of the month as usual.