Over 100 attend annual Soil Conservation meeting

The Cloud County Conservation District held their 73rd Annual Meeting on February 7, 2019, at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church Parish Hall. The Ladies from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church served a meal of baked steak, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, roll, salad and cobbler.
Rhonda Coffman, District Manager, welcomed the 110 guests in attendance and introduced Pastor Matthew Carder of Crosspoint Church, who gave the invocation.
Among those attending the banquet were Cloud County Commissioners Bill Garrison and Bill Czapanskiy; and Kristin Conley, the State Agricultural Representative from Senator Jerry Moran’s Manhattan office.
During the meeting the district's financial affairs and activities were open for full public disclosure. Board Chairman Dallas Breen declared that Keevan Portenier’s name had been placed on the ballot for re-election to another three-year term. Portenier was elected by a 23-0 ballot vote.
Breen then introduced Kirk “T.J.” Tjelmeland from the Kansas Water Office. Tjelmeland presented a short program on the Milford Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The program is designed to reduce the amount of phosphorous draining into Milford Lake, which is contributing to the harmful algae blooms in the lake. Since 2011, harmful algae blooms have shut down large sections of the lake in the summers, harming the fish and bird populations and threatening the drinking water of Kansas communities downstream. The frequency of harmful algae blooms affecting Milford has steadily increased over the last ten years.
Rhonda Coffman then presented the awards and certificates for 1st and 2nd place winners in the Annual Poster Contest sponsored by the Cloud County Conservation District. This year’s theme was “Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper”.   
Tyler Husa, Crop Production Specialist with the River Valley Extension District, then gave a short speech explaining how the River Valley Extension Office and the Cloud County Conservation District work together.
Husa then introduced Luke Kramer of the Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism office. Kramer presented the 2018 Kansas Bankers Association Wildlife Habitat Award to Doug Smith.   
The singing group The McKinney Sisters - Mykil and Randyl of Moundridge, Kansas - were the evening's entertainment.