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The Employee Organization would like to thank Heidi Fleury, formerly of Lake County Conservation District and David Laufenberg, formerly of the Madison County Conservation District, for coming up with the idea for the Employee Round Tables in 2020. Topics are selected by the employees of Conservation Districts across the State.

If you have an idea for a RoundTable, please email the Employee Organization at eo@macdnet.org.

October 16, 2024 Roundtable

Today’s Roundtable was presented by Sydney Ligotti of the Gallatin Conservation District and centered on creation of Education and Outreach programs for Conservation Districts.

September 18, 2024 Roundtable

Today’s Roundtable was presented by Radley Watkins from the Missoula Conservation District. It was about Conservation Districts hosting Realtor Workshops in their areas, and had tips on working with Realtors to ensure that property buyers have good information on buying property with natural resource concerns.

July 17, 2024 Roundtable

This Roundtable was presented by Becky Clements at Gallatin Conservation District and Samantha Tappenbeck at Flathead Conservation District. It was all about the Stream Permitting Program in Montana from the CD Employee perspective.

Gallatin CD’s Slides

Flathead CD’s Slides

Flathead’s Forms and other materials

May 15, 2024 Roundtable

This Roundtable was presented by Caroline McDonald from Lake County CD, and Bryan Vogt from Missoula CD. They talked about their experiences in planning for projects, budgeting for and applying for grants, and then managing those grants and projects.

Grant Budget Combined Spreadsheet

Grant Expense Tracking

Project Budget & Match-Final Report

April 17, 2024 Roundtable

The April Roundtable was presented by Becky Clements from the Gallatin Conservation District and was facilitated by Kay Webb.

March 20, 2024 Roundtable

The March Roundtable was a follow up Question and Answer session to a Strategic Planning and Staff and Supervisor Succession Planning presentation by Terry Profota, Sage 4 Success.

Materials provided included:

Contact and Document Inventory template

Sample Policies

Ready for Succession Checklist

DIY Strategic Planning Handout

Strategic Planning Ten Minute Training

Strategic Planning FAQ

Emergency Succession Plan Template

Creating a Cohesive Conservation District

Slides from Terry’s presentation

The prior Strategic Planning presentation noted can be found here

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February 21, 2024 Roundtable

The February roundtable was presented by ComPsych who work with the State of Montana. It was a presentation on Emotional First Aid/Resilience. The recording can be found here.

Materials Provided were:

The Feelings Wheel
From Surviving to Thriving-Slides of the presentation
How Values Light the Way
Mindset Exercise
Values List

January 17, 2024 Roundtable

This Roundtable focused on Supervisor Elections

The Employee Organization would like to thank Heidi Fleury, formerly of Lake County Conservation District and David Laufenberg, formerly of the Madison County Conservation District, for coming up with the idea for the Employee Round Tables in 2020. Topics are selected by the employees of Conservation Districts across the State.

If you have an idea for a RoundTable, please email the Employee Organization at eo@macdnet.org.

Montana CD Roundtable, December 20, 2023

Today’s Roundtable was CD basics. From Partners to Acronyms and everything in between, we tied up loose ends for the year. We took some tours through partner websites.

Notes from Roundtable

The acronyms list that we talked about can be found here.

The CD Accountability Assessment is here.

Graphic that shows a better representation of the 310 jurisdiction is here. Thanks Kay Webb!

Montana CD Roundtable, October 18, 2023

Today’s Roundtable focused on hiring new staff for CD’s including forms for the NRCS in co-located buildings, new hire forms for the IRS and State of Montana, onboarding new employees, and the tools available to do all that. There was also some discussion about Worker’s Compensation Claims. Links to some of the information shared are below.

CD Toolbox

Onboarding Employees in a co-located building

New Employee Orientation Guide

CD Employee Handbook

DNRC’s website (personnel section)

Worker’s Comp Grab & Go Kits-SafeMT.com

MSF-Report and Injury (montanastatefund.com)

Montana CD Roundtable, September 20, 2023

Today’s Roundtable was all about planning for our Districts futures! We talked about strategic plans, annual/operations plans and the new version of the DNRC/CDB’s CD Operations Audit.

Materials included the Lake CD Governance Calendar & Lewis & Clark’s Strategic Plan

Montana CD Roundtable, June 21, 2023

Today’s Roundtable was facilitated by Wendy Jones and focused on the Fuel Mitigation project that the Lower Musselshell CD has been doing, providing some resources for CDs who might want to get more involved in this project and the Montana Fire Adapted landscape group.

Email addresses shared were for Henry DeLuca-henry.deluca@mt.gov

Websites shared: https://www.fireadaptedmontana.org/become-a-member, https://www.montanaforestactionplan.org/

Montana CD Roundtable, May 17, 2023

Today’s Roundtable focused on Local Work Groups and how to make them work for your Conservation District.

Resources from today’s session are:

National Conservation Planning Partnerships-Local Work Groups (videos)

NCPP Local Work Group Guide

There was also discussion about what happens in the event of a government shutdown, upcoming Spring Meeting in Helena in June, and the upcoming Statewide Employee Training in August.

Montana CD Roundtable, April 19, 2023

This Roundtable focused on financial concerns of Conservation Districts, primarily payroll, payroll liabilities, quarterly reporting and budgets.

Montana CD Roundtable, March 21, 2023

This Roundtable focused on the NRCS/CD partnership issues, cooperative work agreements, space, computer/network etc.

Montana CD Roundtable, March 15, 2023

This Roundtable reviewed available materials previously recorded about the Permissive Mill Levy for benefits. These recordings can be found on the DNRCS website on the Trainings link under CD Finances. The most recent recording was done in 2022 by a representative of Local Government Services and is the last one in the list.

Other topics covered during the Roundtable included a discussion about next week’s extra Roundtable on USDA/NRCS related topics

Montana CD Roundtable, February 15, 2023

This Roundtable was focused on the use of Canva for doing special outreach, and the pro Canva account hosted by MACD for all the Conservation Districts. Because login and password information is shown in the video, it can’t be hosted on YouTube, but you can view the video with this link.

Montana CD Roundtable, January 18, 2022

This Roundtable was focused on the current legislative session in Montana and how it relates to Conservation Districts.  Rebecca Boslough-King gave an update to districts on what the Montana Association of Conservation Districts is working on, and some brief information on how districts can work with their legislators and/or provide testimony during the session.

The Employee Organization would like to thank Heidi Fleury, formerly of Lake County Conservation District and David Laufenberg, formerly of the Madison County Conservation District, for coming up with the idea for the Employee Round Tables in 2020. Topics are selected by the employees of Conservation Districts across the State.

If you have an idea for a RoundTable, please email the Employee Organization at eo@macdnet.org.

Montana CD Roundtable, December 21, 2022

Today’s Roundtable centered on the Sam.gov issues that CDs are having across the state.  A representative of Big Sky EDA in Billings Montana presented on the topics and the help that she can give to Districts.

The video couldn’t be posted on YouTube but can be  viewed here.

October 19, 2022 CD Roundtable

This Roundtable focused on Supervisor Training need recommendations and also recommendations for delivery of training, as well as CD Cost Share Programs from Gallatin, Missoula, Lewis and Clark and Roosevelt CDs.

September 21, 2022 CD Roundtable

This Roundtable focused on Conservation District Websites and the fact that MACD is planning to create simple landing pages for every CD that doesn’t have a web presence.

August 17, 2022 CD Roundtable

Funding for hosting a Soil Corps member, and all about changes to the CDB/DNRC Conservation District Grants program.

July 20, 2022 CD Employee Roundtable

This roundtable was about 310 permitting, primarily emergencies, as well as Water Reservations.

PDF files of Randell Hopkins’ presentation

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The May 18, 2022 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

This Roundtable was about procurement requirements for Conservation Districts handling grant funds.  Hailey Graf, DNRC CD Specialist, gave a thorough “101” on requirements depending on type of project and cost of project.

PDF of Hailey’s slides with notes

PDF of Hailey’s slides without notes

The April 20, 2022 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

The April 20,2022 Employee Roundtable mostly covered more questions about the Permissive Mill Levy.  Other things were discussed, including the upcoming Spring Training on Finances on June 15th.

For the first recording where Darla Erickson presented specific information on the Permissive Mill Levy, go to the recording.

The March 16, 2022 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

This Roundtable featured Assistant State Conservationist, Kyle Tackett, and a discussion about the Local Work Groups that Conservation Districts are supposed to convene to assist NRCS in program delivery, and identification of resource concerns in their Conservation District.  Documents and links shared in the Roundtable chat are linked below.

NRCS Definition of role of local working group

Sample of Resource Concern Questionnaire

Sample of LWG Process in other counties

Sample LWG Agenda

Missoula County LWG 2021 follow up report

Link to current Targeted Implementation Plans for examples

February 16, 2022 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

This roundtable covered a number of topics, including the activities of the Employee Organization working with Partners such as MACD, DNRC and NRCS to define roles and responsibilities and provide training.  Upcoming potential training was discussed, including a possible QuickBooks training in the spring.

Also discussed is the situation with ARPA funding being subbed in for state funding on a number of grants recently and the added requirement to have an active DUNS number and be current with sam.gov.

January 19, 2022 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

This Roundtable was all about supervisors, the various types, the election information, working with supervisors etc.

The Employee Organization would like to thank Heidi Fleury, formerly of Lake County Conservation District and David Laufenberg, formerly of the Madison County Conservation District, for coming up with the idea for the Employee Round Tables in 2020. Topics are selected by the employees of Conservation Districts across the State.

If you have an idea for a RoundTable, please email the Employee Organization at eo@macdnet.org.

December 15, 2021 Montana CD Employee Roundtable

All about succession/continuity for Conservation Districts in Montana with Staff and Board turnover. Included tips and tools on making transitions smoother.

September 15, 2021 CD Employee Roundtable

This Roundtable focused on Personnel Management topics, specifically policies related to Montana’s Conservation District Employees and Supervisors. It also touched on Maintaining Employees, with discussion about opportunities to improve the stability of staffing at Conservation Districts and also Growing CD Programs and Planning for Expansion.

August 18, 2021 Roundtable

This session of the Employee Roundtable for Montana’s Conservation Districts is focused on District Owned Equipment. Many CDs own no-till drills, fabric layers and tree planters, and many other types of equipment

July 21, 2021 Montana CD Roundtable

Efforts by Conservation Districts across Montana to fight the spread of aquatic invasive species, and the various outreach and education efforts by CDs to new streamside landowners about permitting and riparian health.

The June 16, 2021 Employees Organization Roundtable

Discusses the changes to the EO webpage, Fiscal Year End, Department of Administration/Local Government Services Annual Report, Grant reports for the Admin Grants from DNRC, Calendar year end tax forms and considerations with 1099’s, and the Permissive Mill Levy for Employee Benefits process.

2023 Statewide Employee Training
Talents
We Listed our Talents
And we shared the Roles That We Play

MACD Legislative Update-Rebecca Boslough-King

Slides from the presentation

CD Authority from the Perspective of past DNRC staff, Current Supervisor at Lewis & Clark CD

Slides from Karl Christian’s presentation

DNRC/CDB Update-Veronica Grigaltchik & Kasydi Lucas

Review of updated Grant Program Guidelines

Conservation District Project Planning Form

Riley Slivka-AgriStudios

iPhone Film Master Class

DNRC Grants-Changes to reporting, vendor invoices etc.-Autumn Coleman

All the Google Presentations! By Girl Geek, Miranda Gilbert

Learn the Basics of Google Docs-pdf slides

Learn the Basics of Google-Handout

Using YouTube to Grow your Business-pdf slides

Using YouTube to Grow your Business-Handout

Communicate with Calendar and Gmail-Handout

Communicate with Calendar and Gmail-pdf slides

Administrator Bootcamp 2022

Not all of the videos are complete, since we had some processing issues. Apologies. Other content will continue to be loaded as we get it.

Taxes-Sharon Flemetis

310 Permitting-Jason Garber

Leadership-Mary Hendrix

Board meetings, budgets and CD Admin transitions-Chris Evans

Working on finding this recording to upload-Sorry for the inconvenience.

Board meetings, budget and CD Administrator transitions, Q&A-Chris Evans

Monthly Duties-Wendy Jones and Angie Stahl

QuickBooks Training video

We also had a presentation from Joel Thompson at the Montana Public Employees Retirement Administration.  Joel gave out handouts on the 457 plan (Deferred Compensation) and talked about the PERS retirement program that Conservation Districts are eligible to make an agreement for with MPERA.

If your CD is interested in participating in either of these, call Joel at 406-444-3154 or email him at jthompson3@mt.gov.

Welcomes and attendee introductions

Jason Garber and Panel of CD employees-310 permits and discussion

PDF of slides

Eric Rannestad, MACD, CDOWG and Communications Toolkit

PDF of slides

Eric Rannestad, Basics Markety/Outreach

Laura Parvey-Connors, Meld Media-More Advanced Marketing/outreach

Press release sample

Worksheet

PDF of Slides

Sarah Klaus, Lake CD and Samantha Tappenbeck, Flathead CD–Their CD Outreach Efforts

Women’s History Project with Gail Cicon and Brief review of Employees part of the MACD website with Chris Evans

The following YouTube videos are sessions 1, 2 and 3 of the 2021 QuickBooks training for the Employee’s Organization.

In addition, there were some other documents made available.

Class List Examples:

Chart of Accounts with the BARS numbers Lewis and Clark CD

QuickBooks Volunteer Time Tracking description

QuickBooks Training Document used during the sessions

Paper and electronic records can get to be a nightmare.  What do you keep?  How do you keep it?  What are the rules?

***Update on Board Meeting Minutes–DNRC has requested that Conservation District Board meeting minutes be sent to them in “final” form, which means, signed by a Supervisor and the Recorder, and dated.  This could be done when you send the signed minutes to your County Clerk and Recorder’s office for certification.  DNRC will accept hardcopy OR scanned meeting minutes.  They should be sent to Amy Personette.

This series of slides, taken from a records training that was done at the 2019 convention and revised a bit for presentations in 2021, give some of the basic details on the rules that Montana Conservation Districts must follow to dispose of records and gives some thoughts on how to consider keeping electronic files.

And here’s the webinar that was recorded in March of 2021

These 4 documents are from a Training done for the Employees in 2015.  Some of this may be outdated.

Operating Grants PowerPoint

Grant writing 101

CD Administrator workshop June 2015

CD Administrator workshop June 2015lb

These files are from a QuickBooks Training done in 2015.  The zip files are large, especially the Training Presentations.  You’ll need to download these and then extract the files to a location that you can easily find on your computer.

QuickBooks Chart of Accounts zip file
QuickBooks Training Presentations zip file
QuickBooks Account List

At the 2017 Convention, Missoula CD’s Jen McBride gave a presentation on checking the County Mill Levy for your district.  If you missed the presentation, and would like to watch it, you can view it here:

Mill Levy Presentation

Virtual Welcome Wagon 2020
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