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Home My WebLink About12-18-17 WRC Final Minutes_0TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, Dec. 18, 2017 2 TCAT Main Conference Room 3 Final Minutes 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson P Cooperative Extension Elaine Quaroni E At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Marjory Rinaldo-Lee P Environment Fay Benson P Agriculture Michael Thorne A At-Large Chris Bordlemay Padilla E Water Purveyor Kristen Hychka P Associate Member Cynthia Brock P Recreation Roxy Johnston P Associate Member Ed Bugliosi P USGS (non-voting) Liz Cameron P Co. Environmental Health Jose Lozano P Associate Member George Fowler E At-Large Darren MacDougall A Associate Member Bill George E Municipal Government John Mawdsley A Associate Member Barry Goodrich E Watershed Organization Todd Miller P Associate Member Michelle Henry P EMC Representative Steve Penningroth P Associate Member Emelia “Mia” Jumbo P At-Large Joanne Trutko A Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Dept. Tom Vawter E Associate Member Dooley Kiefer P County Government Linda Wagenet P Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Kristin McCarthy Co. Staff Jon Negley P Soil & Water Cons. District Frank Proto E At-Large 6 A quorum was present. 7 8 Guests: Scott Cook, supervisor, and Anthony Prestigiacomo, research scientist, New York State Department of 9 Environmental Conservation (DEC) Finger Lakes Water Hub (FLWH); Mara Alper, Ithaca College 10 11 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at 4:17 pm. 12 13 Privilege of the Floor – Guest Mara Alper spoke about the future of water withdrawal regulations within 14 Tompkins County. She encouraged anyone interested in this issue to contact her. Steve Penningroth commended 15 her for bringing the topic to the Council’s attention, and Darby said it was something to keep in mind when 16 updating the County’s Water Quality Strategy in the next couple of years. 17 18 Agenda Review/Changes – None 19 20 Approval of October and November 2017 Minutes – A motion by Liz Cameron, seconded by Jon Negley, to 21 approve the October 12, and November 9, 2017 minutes was passed by the members present. 22 Finger Lakes Water Hub Overview – Scott Cook and Anthony Prestigiacomo, FLWH 23 • Scott Cook and Anthony Prestigiacomo spoke to the WRC about the work of the FLWH as well as the 24 reasons for its establishment and the professional backgrounds of its staff. 25 • The overarching mission of the Hub, which is non-regulatory and thus separate from the rest of the DEC, 26 is to safeguard all 11 Finger Lakes and their watersheds. To make this happen, Hub staff members 27 collaborate with colleagues from the DEC Central Office and Regions 7 and 8, research institutions, 28 State/Federal agencies, citizen groups, municipalities, and watershed councils. 29 • Some of the historic and ongoing water quality issues it is addressing include erosion, nutrient and 30 sediment enrichment, and invasive species. More recent concerns include TMDL/9E watershed plans, 31 harmful algal blooms (HABs), and algal toxins in Auburn’s water supply in 2016. 32 • Scott and Tony could not give a release date for the draft TMDL for Cayuga Lake, but assured the group 33 that the process is moving forward. 34 • Their PowerPoint presentation is accessible online via the WRC website for anyone seeking more 35 information. 36 Nominating/Membership – Update on Board Recruitment (Marjory Rinaldo-Lee) 37 Action: Marjory Rinaldo-Lee moved, and Lynn Leopold seconded, to recommend Sharon Anderson (CCE-TC), 38 Michelle Henry (EMC), Kristen Hychka (Municipal Government), and Linda Wagenet (At-Large) for voting 39 membership. The motion carried. 40 41 Action: Marjory Rinaldo-Lee moved, and Cynthia Brock seconded, to approve Bill George, Steve Penningroth, 42 and Elaine Quaroni for associate membership. The motion passed. 43 44 Marjory requested that members interested in serving as officers contact her before the January 22, 2018, meeting. 45 The Business and Industry seat remains vacant. 46 47 Committee Reports (as needed) 48 49 Darby reminded everyone to think about their end-of-year reports, adding that it would be preferable to finish 50 them by late January so the information can be incorporated into the work plan. 51 Monitoring Partnership – No report 52 53 Watershed Rules and Regulations – No report 54 55 Soil Health – Fay Benson 56 57 Committee is meeting more regularly. Members continue to brainstorm over possible initiatives, including 58 creating an educational brochure. Mia said they are not trying to capture a new audience, but rather to support an 59 audience already interested in soil health and water quality issues. 60 61 Emerging Contaminants – No report 62 63 Grants – Jon Negley 64 65 A written copy of the Grants Committee report can be found in the agenda packet for this WRC meeting. A few 66 highlights from Jon’s report appear below: 67 68 • There are no changes to the Finger Lakes-Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance (FLLOWPA) 69 work plan so Jon is not submitting a resolution. He told members to contact him if they have any 70 objections so he can make any necessary amendments to the work plan. Scott from DEC added that the 71 Water Hub will oversee FLLOWPA moving forward. 72 • The Regional Economic Development Council Awards (Consolidated Funding Application) were 73 announced December 13th. The Finger Lakes Land Trust received $640,000 to place perpetual 74 conservation easements along the Six Mile Creek Watershed, the Soil & Water Conservation District was 75 awarded $564,000 for its Cayuga Lake Assessment and Implementation Program, and the Town of 76 Danby got $400,000 for the Brown Road Creek Streambank Stabilization Project. 77 78 Education & Outreach – Lynn Leopold 79 80 • Members are working on the clean boating brochure, with spring as the tentative publication deadline. 81 Michelle has been compiling GIS data layers for the map. Committee is debating whether the brochure 82 should cover Tompkins County or all of Cayuga Lake. 83 • Cynthia asked people to pass along names and emails, etc., of anyone they know in other counties who 84 might be interested in collaborating. 85 • Sharon offered to send contact information for WRC counterparts in Seneca and Cayuga Counties. 86 • Tony from DEC said to email him for bathymetric data. 87 88 Workshop to Protect Water Resources – Joan Jurkowich 89 90 • Committee is thinking ahead to its goals for 2018, which include looking at stream buffer protection. 91 • A lot of the legwork has been done already to organize a training on ditching practices and how they 92 impact water quality. 93 • A few members attended an in-house training on that topic at Cornell Cooperative Extension. One 94 takeaway was that a training seminar for highway superintendents should cover more practical topics, 95 such as equipment needs, budgeting, etc. Another idea was to invite elected officials who set budgets for 96 this kind of work to give them a better understanding of the costs involved. 97 • Goal in the near term is to work with the highway superintendents group and/or storm water coalition to 98 determine the best time to schedule trainings and select the most relevant topics for discussion. 99 100 Updated Water & Sewer Study Scoping – No report 101 102 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 103 104 There was no report. However, Darby thanked retiring legislator Dooley Kiefer for her years of service to 105 Tompkins County. Dooley remarked that she might apply for associate membership but not in the near future. 106 107 Staff Report – Joan Jurkowich 108 109 • Katie Borgella was appointed Commissioner of Planning and Sustainability. The Department is hiring for 110 four positions: Deputy Commissioner, Business Energy Navigator, Housing Planner, and Tourism 111 Program Director. 112 • Jason Molino will serve as the new Tompkins County Administrator. 113 114 Member Announcements 115 116 • Michelle reported that the Environmental Management Council is hosting a public outreach event on 117 March 15, 2018, at the Tompkins County Public Library. 118 • Dooley asked if anyone had heard about the U.S. Department of Agriculture announcing its intention to 119 withdraw the Organic Animal Welfare Law. 120 121 Adjournment 122 123 Chair Darby Kiley adjourned the meeting at 5:50 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: 01/22/2018. 128