HR0112 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0112 LRB099 08461 GRL 28617 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Robert L. Spencer became a District Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, in August of 1977, working with landowners and county officials in Perry County to conserve our natural resources; and

WHEREAS, When the 1985 Farm Bill was enacted and all the fields had to be planned, Robert Spencer and his staff wrote all of the farm plans for Perry County landowners; and

WHEREAS, Robert Spencer worked with the landowners to help install sediment control structures, such as grassed waterways, ponds, and block chutes, as well as organizing the installation of filter strips and helping landowners put farmland into the Conservation Reserve Program; and

WHEREAS, Robert Spencer assisted landowners in the use the federal Wetland Reserve Program and Environmental Quality Incentive Program to increase conservation efforts on their farms; and

WHEREAS, Robert Spencer helped the Perry County Soil and Water Conservation District Board serve as the reclamation review committee for the Perry County Board of Commissioners to review mining permit applications; and

WHEREAS, In 2007, Robert Spencer served on the Perry County Zoning Board to help write the county zoning ordinance; he has also served on the Perry County Zoning Appeals Board to help protect agriculture in Perry County since 2008; and

WHEREAS, Robert Spencer worked with the community and the Shawnee Resource Conservation and Development Area to secure funding for a handicap fishing pier on Pinckneyville City Lake and to secure dry hydrants to be installed throughout the county to provide water for fire protection in areas where they have inadequate water supplies for the fire trucks; and

WHEREAS, Robert Spencer retired from the Natural Resources Conservation Service on January 5, 2015; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Robert L. Spencer on the occasion of his retirement and thank him for his service to Perry County and to the State; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Robert Spencer as a symbol of our esteem and respect.