Stillwater Valley Watershed Council

“Compensation of treasurer 8248 for 2024. The treasurer is paid 65/hour was voted on by board based on what a prior accountant was charging. Her current normal hourly rate is 95/hour. The treasurer recused herself from the discussion and vote when board was determining her annual allowance. The treasurer does substantial bookkeeping, invoicing, and budgeting. The treasurer also efiles Form 1099 MISC, 1099 NEC and prepares and efiles Form 990. Compensation of Coordinator 40,400. She procures grants that align with our tax exempt mission. If a grant is awarded it is the responsibility of the Coordinator to oversee grant compliance on our behalf. The coordinator is also responsible for planning our fundraising events. The Coordinator has no voting power, and no authority over management decisions. We also have an assistant coordinator to oversee RATT and his compensation was 950.”

“A copy of Form 990 was presented to the board on November 15th prior to efiling and draft copy was uploaded to the Treasurers secure portal and all board members can be invited to the portal.”

“SVWC is located in a rural area of Montana and recruiting board members can be a challenge. SVWC would like to disclose family relationships in existence on the current board. Timothy Schaff Chairman family relationship with Tyrele Schaff Board Member. Tom Kircher Board Member is an employee of Sibanye Stillwater Mining Company in their environmental department. Sibanye Stillwater Mining Company made a 25,000 contribution in 2024. Noel Keogh Board Member has a family relationship with Penny Keoh who on the Board of the Nye Community Foundation an unrelated organization and they are a grant contributor. The board has procedures in place to insure no conflicts of interest arise when voting or discussing board matters.”

“Copies of Form 990, and amended Bylaws are available on our website. Governing Documents, Letter of Determination, Conflict of Interest Policy, and Form 990 Schedule B-Schedule of Contributors can all be obtained by contacting our Coordinator at svwc2010hotmail.com.”

“Program Service Expenses 24,349, Grants and allocations 21,540, Revenue 0 RIVER ASSESSMENT TRIAGE TEAM RATT. The 2022 flooding of the Stillwater and East Rosebud River was on a scale never seen before. RATT was modeled after the concept used as a response to the disaster along the Musselshell River near Roundup, MT. Tallies for 2024 RATT received a grant of 33,500 from Stillwater Conservation District to pay for debris removal. RATT spearheaded post-flood debris removal efforts on the Stillwater River, collecting 10 dump truck loads of non-native debris from 12 sties along riverbanks and islands from Nye to Columbus. One contractor was paid 16,040 for debris removal and two flood relief grants were awarded for head gate stabilization project 5,500.”

“Program Service Expenses 8,245, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 STILLWATER-ROSEBUD WATER QUALITY INITIATIVE SRWQI was new in Fall of 2020. SRWQI is aimed at continuing a watershed assessment project, monitoring the health of streams and developing geographic information system GIS mapping capability in the watershed. The SRWQI completed the fourth year of collecting baseline water samples at nine sites on four tributaries encompassing 116 river miles in the Stillwater-Rosebud drainages. The SRWQI rallied seven volunteers to lead water sampling and data collection efforts. The SRWQI assisted Montana State University with compilation of a comprehensive 3-year summary of data that had been collected from the SRWQI. The data collected by this project is of a non-regulatory nature, intended to provide some basic indication of stream health to inform the residents of the Stillwater Valley and protect all the uses we make our streams for this generation and those to come.”

“FEES FOR SERVICES OTHER TOTAL IN 2024 264,923. Fees for Service consists of the following expenses Contract labor CWCP commercial applicators fees 34,724 HAZ FUELS commercial tree masticaton 153,067 RATT debris removal 16,040 SRWQI fees to Energy Labs for water sample testing 1,919 WHIP commercial applicator fees 59,172.”

“Accounting method change from Cash to Hybrid. SVWC has prepaid CWCP program revenue and it is correctly reported as a Liability-Deferred revenue. The amount is not material.”