November 19, 2025 Minutes

Noxious Weed Management Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

November 19, 2025

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. Board members present included: Kevin McFarling and Jason Brent. Also present was Public Works Deputy Director Kevin Hettinger and County Commissioner Jason Maxey. Board members Gillian Smith and James Johnston were excused. Deputy Director Duane Naibauer was also absent.

Tina explained the board consists of 5 regular board members and 2 alternates so that the quorum is 3 members. There are currently 1 regular and 2 alternate open board member positions. It would be great if the word was spread to encourage others to apply.

Tonight’s meeting failed to meet the quorum. So, no official business was voted on. The meeting was an informational meeting for the two board members present.

Old Business

OLD BUSINESS

2025 Program Update 

Events

January 28-30 Colorado Farm Show – 100 participants at the booth

January 29 Weed presentations at the Farm Show – 60 participants

February 18 WGCD Job Fair for High School Jr/Sr – Cancelled weather

April 7 South Platte Historical Society – Weed Presentation - Kathy Griffee – 20 partic.

April 23 Mountain West PEST – Western Invasives Short Course: Spray Drone demo - 40  

May 7 Children’s Water Festival – North (Kevin & Tina) – 250 plus youth and adults

May 15 Code Compliance Training for Municipalities – 21 participants from 8 munic.

July 23 Weld County Fair – Creative Weeds 

July 29 Spray Drone partnership with Larimer County at CR 13 for Hairy Willow-Herb

August 4-15 Purple Loosestrife  

August 8 WGCD Annual BBQ – 200 participants at the event

August 22 Spray Drone demo for CSU restoration workshop partnering with City of Greeley

September 5 Rush Skeletonweed manual treatment – 10 participants / partners

October 2 Children’s Water Festival South Chose not to participate; need a presentation.

October 7 State of the County Address

October 22 Fox 31 News – Prairie Zombies

November 7-9 7 News Story on the Spray Drone

November 8 Biological Working Group for SB 11-17 with ECMC and CPW (~12 month)

Facebook Posts and Other Outreach

Facebook and Twitter: 36 posts from March 17 – October 20, once a week. 7 on Public Works Operations; 29 on plants, control and pollinators. 

Spraying

Bare-ground Acres: 66.65 acres this spring. This fall 25.45 acres have been treated.

Handgun Acres: 47.32 

Roadside Acres: 775.79 Lane Miles: 6072.5

Pawnee National Grassland: Spot treated about 2.83 acres out of 2458 acres using 252 gallons of solution (80-100 gallons/acre handgun treatment). $32,162.30 left of the 2025/2026 funds for summer 2026.

Rush Skeletonweed: Boom treated 94.5 acres on 4 parcels (Espinoza, UP RxR, Weld County x 2)

Landowner Specialists

Field Contacts: 7492 (checking on properties, looking at complaints, meeting with landowners, etc.)

Office Contacts: 3534 (identifying properties, letters, phone calls, follow-up, records, etc.)

Legal Notices mailed: 9 Compliance: 9 Enforcements: 0  

Mowed: 6; Disked: 0; Sprayed: 2; Pull: 1

Mower Staff

Lane Miles: 2299.5 or approx.1149.75 miles out of 748 miles of paved roads (two passes). Target goal is 2500 lane miles/year. 1 tractor was down for a month because of a computer issue. Currently working on gravel roads till 12/12 with 2 of the tractors. The 3rd one is mowing pavement and some gravel roads.

Boom Mower: John Deere meets minimum specs, but the support arms broke late last spring. Looking at renting a larger tractor to try before we buy and demo-ing the MowerMax on Dec. 9 to see which is a better fit.

Special Projects

Soil Regeneration at 5 sites around the County. Project is scheduled for 2025 through 2029.

Cost Share Funds available

Weld County: $ 10,000.00 Funds Left: $ 649.85

50% up to $600

People signed up: 28 Funds spent: $ 9,350.15

People cost-shared with: 22

West Greeley CD: $9,560.71 + $20,000 Funds Left: $ 17,667.65

50% up to $600

People signed up: 34 Funds spent: $ 11,893.06

People cost-shared with: 30

Make America Beautiful: $80,000.00 Funds Left: $ 53,102.01

80% up to $1200

People signed up: 32 Funds spent: $ 26,897.99

People cost-shared with: 32

II Soil Regeneration Plan and Training: Oct 15th was going to be a training event with NRCS employees. However, the federal budget situation ended that. Tina is talking with NRCS contact about rescheduling to April/May of 2026. In the meantime, mixing the manure that was hauled into 2 sites with the existing soil and leveling the fields. The reclaimer was able to mix things at 18 inches. We have missed the fall seeding window but will seed as soon as we can in the spring. Hauling manure into a 3rd sandy site for top dressing. Working on things to learn what we can share with landowners as well as mimic efforts they would have available to themselves. There is a call on Dec 10th to talk about moving forward.  

III Spray Drone Update: Tina received the FAA part 137/44807 for two more years in August.  That was a fun learning experience figuring out the process and correct forms to complete. At the end of August, a treatment was started at the Peters 313 pit and had 2 motor thrust issues at the same time. The unit fell about 12 feet out of the sky on a slope, so it tipped over when it landed. In September staff worked to replace motors, blades, software and firmware updates to get it air born again. The unit is ready for next year. In October Tina got the new hybrid F150 for charging the batteries. The group is excited to try it. Just a couple of small modifications to the equipment being carried for everything that is needed for the system to work as planned. Tina gave copies of the spray drone handout that was created for the State of the County event. 

IV Legal Notices: Tina provided copies of the different postcards and legal notices that are used along with the SOP for when and who gets the legal notice. Tina has always been asked to have staff make friendly contact with landowners before a legal notice is mailed. This has been done with a phone call, talking to them in person, email or a grey postcard. The top example postcard is what we have used until next year. The second one is what they are talking about going to. First one is all pre-printed. Circle the weed species, sign your name and parcel number. However, staff felt like people that got the card rarely called them to communicate. Communication is our goal. So, we adjusted the language slightly in the new postcard that will be printed in house as needed and only list the specific weeds a landowner is dealing with. Commissioner Maxey didn’t feel that it was very friendly. He suggested that Tina reach out to the PIO for ideas and suggestions. Tina said she would follow up on this. The goal was still to get the landowner to comply without having to send a legal notice.  The postcard was friendlier than the certified signature required on the legal notice. The status properties receive a green postcard acknowledging the presence of noxious weeds the year before and that spring is here to start thinking about controlling them. 

The next packet is the legal notices. The first couple of pages are from the SOP book that summarizes the timing of when the various legal notices would be used based on the growth stage of the noxious weeds. Then in what instances a legal notice would be mailed out followed by 3 copies of the specific legal notices. The only information that staff are allowed to change is the owner, parcel, TRS, weed species, dates and their contact info. The letters were created before Tina started with the County and are based on State Law that gives landowners 10 days to come into compliance or be actively working on it. 

V Weed Division Treatment Plans/Timing: This topic was in the minutes from July. Tina was not sure what the board wanted to cover or talk about regarding this subject. So, the handout of events is a rough timeline of major projects and when they are started along with the division’s typical focus on noxious weed species.

New Business

1. Rush Skeletonweed Situation: Tina provided a handout summarizing the rush skeletonweed activities in 2025 along with explaining the mapping pictures. CDA is willing to reimburse Weld County for the chemical costs in 2025. Tina is working on a new grant application for 2026. In 2025, $7189 was spent on broadcast treatments and estimated $9713 in-kind for time and equipment including clipping, bagging, mapping and carrying out the herbicide treatments on the 94.5 acres. The 2026 application is asking for $8000 for herbicide with $10,874 in-kind match. In-kind is all monitoring, mechanical treatment and broadcast spraying with spray trucks or spray drone as needed. Tina asked for a little more in case they discover additional acres that need to be treated and to offset any terrif/inflation cost for the herbicides. 3 different mixes were used in varying cost in 2025. 2026 will be interesting to see the quality of treatment that they get so that the division can determine the best option for Weld County moving forward. Tina did reach out to close contacts to inquire about the various herbicide options to help create the treatment plan. Seed viability is up to 3 years. With luck Weld County will have the population eradicated within the next 5 years.

   II Board Elections: Tabled until a quorum is available.

   III Advisory Board Questions: None at this time.

   V Announcements:

   Colorado Farm Show January 27-29, 2026; Presentations on 28th from 9-12

   9: Understanding the Timing of Herbicide Applications

   10: Herbicide Selection: It’s More than the Upfront Cost

   11: Q&A Panel on the Use of Spray Drones (Crop Air, Weld, and ADS)

   2026 Board Meetings: March, July and November 2026

   VI Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.