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Evidently a new ruling came about recently that affects the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) directors. The SWCD's are kind of a hybrid governmental unit. One half of their funding comes from the State of Minnesota through a legislative appropriation funneled through the Board of Water and Soil Resources. The other half comes from a local property tax levy in each county. The districts are set up using county boundaries. The SWCD's are governed by an elected board of five members who must reside in the county.

The new ruling is that these SWCD board members must fill out financial disclosure statements every year. They must list assets like: farmland, stocks, homes, businesses etc. Some county SWCD boards are very upset about this ruling and some have resigned in protest. Most of the current SWCD elected officials indicate that the process just takes time and the ultimate result is it may discourage people from running for these boards. "It is hard enough to find people to run for this office - especially younger folks," stated one SWCD director. And we all know that we are not in this for the money! The directors are paid only a per diem and expenses.

Could it be that there was some personal agenda behind this new ruling? end