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Home My WebLink About12-19-16 WRC Final Minutes TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, December 19, 2016 2 TCAT Main Office Conference Room 3 Attendance 4 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson A Cooperative Extension Frank Proto P At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Elaine Quaroni P At-Large Fay Benson P Agriculture Marjory Rinaldo-Lee P Environment Chris Bordlemay E Water Purveyor Michael Thorne P At-Large Cynthia Brock P Recreation Brad DeFrees P Associate Member Ed Bugliosi E USGS (non-voting) George Fowler P Associate Member Liz Cameron E Co. Environmental Health Michelle Henry P Associate Member Sarah Dwyer P At-Large Roxy Johnston E Associate Member Bill George P Municipal Government José Lozano P Associate Member Barry Goodrich A Watershed Organization John Mawdsley A Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Department Todd Miller P Associate Member Dooley Kiefer P County Government Steve Penningroth E Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Joanne Trutko P Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Tom Vawter E Associate Member Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Department Linda Wagenet P Associate Member Jim McGarry A Environmental Management Council Jon Negley P Soil & Water Cons. District A quorum was present. 5 Others: Mia Jumbo (WRC applicant), Nidia Trejo (IAWWTF), and Kristen Hychka (WRC applicant) 6 7 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at approximately 4:15 PM. 8 9 Agenda Review/Changes – Dooley Kiefer asked to update the group on the High Hazard Pipeline Inventory 10 report. Elaine Quaroni was curious to learn more about the controversy over the new salt mine Cargill wants 11 to build. Frank Proto asked Darby if she would be updating group on Executive Committee meetings. Darby 12 answered yes she would, during the Executive Committee Report. 13 14 Approval of Minutes – Motion by Jon Negley, seconded by Michael Thorne, to approve the minutes of October 15 17, 2016. Motion passed unanimously. 16 17 Opener – Darby asked everyone to go around the room and briefly introduce themselves. 18 19 Nominating Committee (Update on Board Recruitment) – Elaine Quaroni 20 21 The following people were recommended, and approved unanimously, for appointment and reappointment to 22 the WRC: 23 24 • Michelle Henry, at-large (Joan Jurkovich motioned, Lynn Leopold seconded) 25 • Cynthia Brock, recreation (Frank Proto motioned, Marjory Rinaldo-Lee seconded) 26 • Chris Bordlemay, water purveyor (Jon Negley motioned, Cynthia Brock seconded) 27 • Jon Negley, soil & water cons. district (Frank Proto motioned, Fay Benson seconded) 28 • Lynn Leopold, municipal government (Marjory Rinaldo-Lee motioned, Frank Proto seconded) 29 30 Committee chair Elaine added that the business & industry seat is still empty, as is one at-large spot. The Ithaca 31 Beer Company was mentioned as a possible lead for business & industry. 32 33 Elaine and the other members thanked resigning member Sarah Dwyer for her dedication to the Water Resources 34 Council. 35 36 Lynn Leopold motioned, and Cynthia Brock seconded, the following associate members for reappointment to the 37 board: Roxy Johnston, Jose Lozano, John Mawdsley, Todd Miller, and Tom Vawter. They were all approved 38 unanimously. 39 40 Elaine stated that the committee will continue to interview potential candidates (associate membership and the 41 remaining at-large seat) and asked if everyone on the council should receive the applications even if the 42 Nominating Committee has not met before the January meeting. 43 44 Joan answered yes because the committee is only making a recommendation so everyone on the WRC should get 45 a chance to review the applicants. She also thought it could be beneficial for the committee in case other members 46 know some of the candidates and could give their feedback ahead of the interviews. 47 48 Frank Proto asked that we proofread the applications for missing data and signatures before submitting them to 49 the Legislature. Joan explained that we are limited in what we can correct because the PDF comes from the 50 Legislature website, and we do not have permission to edit it. 51 52 Elaine also asked the members to let her know by January 9, 2017, if they would like to be nominated as chair, 53 vice chair, or second vice chair. 54 55 56 Year-End Committee Reports 57 58 • Watershed Assessments – John Andersson: Committee is editing final sections of the report. They met 59 almost every month, reviewed old assessments, and were given recommendations to look at the two major 60 watersheds yet to be assessed: Cascadilla and the Owasco Inlet. The old assessments needed to be re-done 61 because in the past they mainly dealt with flood prevention and protection but new assessments should 62 cover the health of the whole watershed. 63 • Watershed Rules & Regulations – No report was given because Chris Bordlemay was unable to attend the 64 meeting. 65 • Cayuga Lake Monitoring Partnership – Darby provided a report in Roxy’s absence. The Partnership is 66 looking at a new monitoring program to bridge the gap in between what Lake Source Cooling had been 67 collecting versus what was collected in recent years because there are several years of missing 68 information and the data are inconsistent. They are putting together a proposal to address this issue, and 69 there should be a draft TMDL coming out in the next month or so. Elaine brought up the issue of 70 consistent monitoring being dependent upon consistent funding. 71 • Grants – Jon Negley: In the beginning of the year, they came up with a 15-20 page list of available grants 72 and posted it on the WRC website. They did recommend a FLLOWPA budget, which is one source of 73 funding for water monitoring. 74 • Education & Outreach – Lynn Leopold: They have been working on the brochures and are in the process 75 of redoing the paddling brochure. Mike Hall, who is working with the Soil and Water Conservation 76 District, may be able to help where James Balyszak was working on the brochure. The clean boating 77 brochure has been going through a major redesign and possible content restructuring. Lynn asked Jon if 78 he could give a quick update on the Hydrilla program. He said the focus is shifting to monitoring and 79 maintenance. Lynn reiterated that the committee members would be willing to help with that program. 80 • Executive – Darby Kiley: They have had a couple of meetings to discuss capacity of wastewater and 81 drinking water facilities and have considered asking municipalities to review their capacities while 82 looking at other projects. Also examined a 2010 water & sewer feasibility study, which might need to be 83 updated given the upgrades that have been done since then. Frank has not heard back from TCAD, but the 84 group is looking into more funding opportunities to help and may possibly form a small committee to 85 develop a scope of work. 86 • High Hazard Pipeline Inventory – Dooley reported that in connection with the City’s water plant 87 expansion attention was paid to the creek and erosion was found around the pipelines there. As a result, 88 the County Planning Department secured a technical assistance grant from the federal government to 89 investigate the pipelines most threatened by erosion. The County hired consultants, but unfortunately the 90 grant was not big enough for them to look at all the areas that needed examining. Perhaps the biggest flaw 91 is that NYSEG, which is the source of many of the City’s pipelines, gave no feedback. Bottom line: There 92 needs to be follow-up, but there is no funding for it. However, information from the consultant will be 93 forthcoming. The committee will need to have a meeting about it in 2017. 94 Per Elaine’s request, Darby gave a quick summary of what she knows about the Cargill mineshaft 95 project. Dooley added that the lack of information made available to the public in this case is appalling, 96 and it has become apparent that it is a segmented project, which is a no-no. She also detailed the EMC’s 97 efforts in bringing the project to the County’s attention. 98 99 Chair’s Report – In closing, Darby informed the group that the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal 100 Organization received state funding, which will help with administration and implementing the watershed 101 management plan. 102 103 Staff Report – Joan asked everyone to make sure they update their contact information on the sheet being passed 104 around. She also reminded the group that the January and February meetings would be pushed back a week, to 105 Jan. 23 and Feb. 27, respectively, because of the federal holidays. 106 107 Member Announcements – Frank asked people’s thoughts on the revised EPA report on the impact of fracking on 108 water quality. Darby added that the Stormwater Coalition has been working on the draft MS4 permit that the 109 municipalities have been under. 110 111 Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 5:37 pm. 112 113 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Administrative Assistant, Tompkins County Planning Department 114 Approved by Water Resources Council: DRAFT 115