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Home My WebLink About06-19-17 WRC Final MinutesTOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, June 19, 2017 2 TCAT Main Office Conference Room 3 Final Minutes 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson P Cooperative Extension Elaine Quaroni P At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Marjory Rinaldo-Lee A Environment Fay Benson A Agriculture Michael Thorne P At-Large Chris Bordlemay Padilla P Water Purveyor Cynthia Brock P Recreation Brad DeFrees P Associate Member Ed Bugliosi A USGS (non-voting) Kristen Hychka P Associate Member Liz Cameron E Co. Environmental Health Roxy Johnston P Associate Member George Fowler P At-Large Emelia “Mia” Jumbo P Associate Member Bill George P Municipal Government Jose Lozano A Associate Member Barry Goodrich P Watershed Organization Darren MacDougall A Associate Member Michelle Henry P EMC Liaison John Mawdsley P 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 A Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Tom Vawter P Associate Member Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Department Linda Wagenet P Associate Member Jon Negley P Soil & Water Cons. District Frank Proto P At-Large A quorum was present. 6 Guests: None 7 8 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at 4:18 pm. 9 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers 10 Agenda Review/Changes – None 11 12 Approval of May Minutes 13 Action: Lynn Leopold moved, seconded by Barry Goodrich, to approve the minutes of the May 15th meeting. 14 The motion passed. 15 16 Drinking Water, Stormwater, and Watershed Resources from the Syracuse University Environmental 17 Finance Center – Kristen Hychka and Brad DeFrees 18 Associate members Kristen Hychka and Brad DeFrees spoke to the group about their work at the Syracuse 19 University Environmental Finance Center (SU-EFC). Brad gave an overview of the Center’s mission, describing 20 it as the “glue between rural communities and state and local environmental agencies.” The SU-EFC is primarily 21 funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA Rural Development Agency. 22 Kristen discussed two of its projects: DEC Climate Smart Communities and the Highway Assets Database. 23 24 More details can be found in their PowerPoint and other supporting documents from their presentation, which are 25 posted to the WRC webpage. 26 27 Committee Reports with 2018 Budget Requests 28 29 Updated Water and Sewer Study – John Andersson 30 31 Nothing to report 32 33 Emerging Contaminants – George Fowler 34 35 Committee will meet in a week to go over their strategic plan ─ eg., calendar/schedule, division of 36 responsibilities.. 37 38 Grants – Jon Negley 39 40 Jon brought before the Council resolutions seeking to amend the previously approved FFLOWPA Annual Work 41 Plans for 2016-17 and 2015-6. 42 43 Action: Frank Proto moved, and Joan Jurkowich seconded, to approve the amendments to the 2016-17 and 2016-44 15 FFLOWPA Annual Work Plans. After some discussion among members, the motion passed. 45 46 Education and Outreach – Lynn Leopold 47 48 • The committee met earlier that afternoon. They are working on the clean boating brochure, but will not be 49 collaborating on a multi-lake publication because the Canal Corporation does not have sufficient 50 resources to support that project properly. Instead they are planning to produce a brochure that folds out 51 to be a large map (11 x 17 or 8 x 14, for easy readability). It will contain all the clean boating guidelines 52 as well as important points of interest, such as where to find restrooms or purchase gasoline. They are 53 looking to acquire a special nautical map that shows contours in the terrain underwater. 54 • It will probably cost a fair amount to print the clean boating brochure. They’d like to print it this year, but 55 could wait to use funds from next year’s budget. They estimate it would cost roughly $500-600. 56 • They also want to print another 1,000 copies of the paddling brochure, due to the high demand. That 57 would cost $175-200. 58 • In terms of budget, the members had no issue with the costs associated with both projects. 59 60 Workshop to Protect Water Resources – Joan Jurkowich 61 62 Their committee will update the entire Council on plans for the Fall Workshop at next month’s meeting. They 63 received feedback from TCCOG (Tompkins County Council of Governments) on potential topics and were able 64 to narrow them down to three. 65 66 Monitoring Partnership – Roxy Johnston 67 68 • There is still no news on the TMDL. According to NYSDEC staff, a notice will be posted on the 69 Department’s website when it’s ready. 70 • CSLAP volunteers have finished their training, and equipment was mailed out end of last week. Floating 71 Classroom and the Community Science Institute would like to try monitoring in shallower areas, but are 72 waiting to hear about funding. 73 • NYSDEC is including harmful algal blooms in their monitoring projects for all of the Finger Lakes this 74 year. If any are found, more intensive sampling will be done in that location. 75 76 Watershed Rules and Regulations – Chris Bordlemay Padilla 77 78 • Chris was not able to attend the last committee meeting so Roxy gave the report instead. 79 • Their committee won’t meet again in person until October. In the meantime, they will communicate and 80 update each other via email. 81 • The last meeting yielded some feedback for drafting flood protection zone maps. 82 • The Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council is holding public meetings on updating their 83 watershed rules and regulations. Roxy hopes to attend the next meeting, which takes place in Moravia this 84 Wednesday (June 21st). 85 86 Soil Health – Fay Benson 87 88 Fay was absent from the meeting so there was nothing to report. Darby said the committee planned to meet the 89 following week. 90 91 Announcements 92 • Cynthia Brock: Jose Lozano (Ithaca Wastewater Treatment Plant), in partnership with Susan Allen-Gil 93 (Ithaca College), received a $50,000 grant from the Park Foundation to monitor microplastics in Cayuga 94 Lake. (The WRC wrote a letter endorsing Drs. Lozano and Allen-Gil’s proposal earlier this year.) 95 • Darby Kiley: The only budget request for 2018 was from the Education and Outreach Committee for 96 $500-600 for publication of the clean boating brochure. Joan Jurkowich confirmed that no further action 97 is needed by the WRC to approve this request. 98 • Jon Negley: In regards to a hydrilla update, permits have been sent to the NYSDEC for Sonar fluridone 99 treatments of Fall Creek. Not planning to treat Cayuga Inlet this year. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is 100 taking charge of the infestation in Aurora. 101 102 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 103 The 2016 Annual Report is ready to go to PDEQ. Any comments or suggestions should be submitted as soon as 104 possible. 105 106 Staff Report – Joan Jurkowich 107 None 108 109 Member Announcements 110 • Frank Proto asked Brad DeFrees and Kristen Hychka to pass along their website info (efr.syr.edu) to 111 Kristin or Darby. Brad also offered to send along a matrix of local, state, and federal funding resources 112 for New York State municipalities. 113 • Frank F. Proto asked if anyone had news on what would happen to the spoils dredged from Cayuga Inlet 114 and Cascadilla Creek if Southwest Park is acquired by Maguire and no longer earmarked by the City as a 115 sediment management facility (SMF). 116 • Cynthia Brock said she believes the engineering design is under way for an SMF at Southwest Park, and 117 that the City plans to dredge the area around the Haunt while it awaits funding for the main part of the 118 Inlet. Michael Thorne said a new site within Southwest Park has been selected for the SMF, but it is still 119 an active proposal. 120 121 Adjournment 122 123 Chair Darby Kiley declared the meeting adjourned at approximately 5:42 pm. 124 125 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the WRC at its next monthly meeting, and corrections or 126 notations will be incorporated at that time. Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and 127 Sustainability Department. Approved by Water Resources Council: DRAFT 128