The February 17, 1998, meeting of the Land Committee was called to order by its Co-Chairman, Mr. Jim Lundgren, at 7:11 p.m. Attendance was recorded by a sign-in sheet, the original of which was kept by the Secretary of the meeting. The Chairman informed the body that the Co-Chairman, Joe Jeffrey, was ill and could not attend, that the Chairman of the Third Party Impact Subcommittee was unable to attend and there would be no report from such Subcommittee, and that the Secretary of the Committee was unable to attend and Jim Doyle would be appointed Acting Secretary.

The next order of business was the approval of the minutes for the January 21, 1998, meeting of the Land Committee. It was moved by Larry Reynolds and seconded by Paul Matson that the minutes be approved. A vote was taken and the motion passed.

The next item before the body was a report by the Chairman of the Information/Education Subcommittee, Paul Tebbel. Mr. Tebbel presented the program that has been developed for public presentation to explain the Cooperative Agreement and the development of a proposed program.

The next matter before the body was a report from Mr. Larry Wells, Chairman of the Mapping Subcommittee. Mr. Wells delivered a written report which was reviewed by the body. A motion was made by John Shadle and seconded by Gary Lingle that the report be approved and accepted. A vote was taken and the motion passed. A copy of the mapping subcommittee report to the Land Committee dated February 17, 1998, is in the records of the meeting kept by the Secretary. A copy of the report was made available to all members of the body.

The next matter bef ore the body was a report by Mr. Gary Lindstrom on behalf of the Habitat Criteria Subcommittee. Mr. Lindstrom reviewed the February 3, 1998, Recommendation of Criteria for Program Habitat Conservation with the body. A copy of the report is in the meeting records kept by the Secretary. A copy of the report was made available to all members of the body.

The next matter before the committee was a motion made by Larry Reynolds and seconded by Gary Lindstrom that the Land Committee obtain a legal opinion to see if Nebraska law needs to be changed to accomplish the goal identified in item VI C under category I of the habitat criteria recommendations and if the legal opinion says a change is needed, a recommendation be made to the Legislature and the Governor to change Nebraska law accordingly. A discussion ensued, a vote was taken and the motion carried.

The Co-Chairman of the body directed Jim Doyle to contact Jim Cook to solicit a legal opinion from the appropriate source, including the Nebraska Attorney General. Category I, item VI C of the Habitat Criteria Recommendations reads as follows:

Program will avoid shifting tax burdens to adjacent landowners or communities, pursuant to Milestone L4-1. It is preferred that any in lieu of tax payments would be indexed to the surrounding property's tax payments to prevent any tax shift through the years. This might require a change in Nebraska statutes.

The next matter before the body was a report by Paul Matson, Chairman of the Land Interest Ownership Research Subcommittee. Mr. Matson advised the body a meeting of the subcommittee will be held on March 17, 1998, at 2:00 p.m. in the conference room of Cook, Wightman & Doyle at 115 West 6th Street, Lexington, Nebraska, to further research the appropriate entity to hold the land interests for the program.

Mr. Jim Lutey gave a report on the Governance Committee meeting, the activities of an outreach committee, and reviewed the public EIS scoping meetings.

Mr. Mark Czaplewski gave a brief report on the timelines, schedules and the progress of the work he and Mr. Shadle are pursuing concerning the timelines.

The Co-Chairman reported there was no new information on the budget and no discussion of the matter was required.

The following upcoming meetings were discussed by the body:

There being no further or other business before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned by the Co-Chairman.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Doyle, Acting Secretary