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Home My WebLink About10-16-17 WRC Final Minutes_0TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 2 CCE-Tompkins County 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 A Associate Member Cynthia Brock E Recreation Roxy Johnston P Associate Member Ed Bugliosi A USGS (non-voting) Emelia “Mia” Jumbo P Associate Member Liz Cameron P Co. Environmental Health Jose Lozano A Associate Member George Fowler P At-Large Darren MacDougall A Associate Member Bill George P Municipal Government John Mawdsley A Associate Member Barry Goodrich P Watershed Organization Todd Miller P Associate Member Michelle Henry P EMC Liaison Steve Penningroth P Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Dept. Joanne Trutko E Associate Member Dooley Kiefer A County Government Tom Vawter A Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Linda Wagenet E Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Jon Negley P Soil & Water Cons. District Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Dept. Frank Proto P At-Large 6 A quorum was present. 7 Guests: Hilary Lambert, Ed Gottlieb 8 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at 4:21 pm. 9 Privilege of the Floor – Nope 10 Agenda Review/Changes – None 11 Approval of September Minutes – Action: Barry Goodrich moved approval of the September 18th minutes. 12 Michelle Henry seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote of the members present. Jon Negley 13 abstained because he didn’t attend the September meeting. 14 Hydrilla Treatment Update – Hilary Lambert, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network (CLWN) 15 As executive director of CLWN, Hilary has been spearheading outreach efforts for the hydrilla treatment being 16 done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers off the shore of Aurora, NY. 17 18 She has taken up some of the slack left by James Balcyzak’s departure from the Hydrilla Task Force, in particular 19 making sure the Army Corps is keeping all interested parties informed of the work, as well as tracking what the 20 Soil and Water Conservation District is doing in terms of hydrilla treatment at the south end of the lake. She is 21 also staying up to date on Bob Johnson’s regular monitoring studies. Hilary handed out the latest issues of 22 “Hydrilla Hunter Happenings” and the CLWN newsletter to give members a sense of the Network’s latest 23 lakewide communications efforts to get the public out and looking for hydrilla. She reported that hydrilla was 24 spotted in the lake in the last few weeks. 25 26 Hilary reported that in talks with Angel Hinickle and other members of the Hydrilla Task Force, as well as Tee-27 Ann Hunter of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization, it has become clear there needs to be a 28 unified response from municipalities around the lake to hydrilla treatment and to accessing funding projects from 29 the Army Corps, the Finger Lakes Institute, and other groups from outside the watershed. The goal is to schedule 30 a lakewide community meeting on hydrilla sometime this winter and come up with a more coordinated 31 framework for reporting and responding to hydrilla outbreaks. 32 33 There is a 26-acre flourishing area of hydrilla around the Wells College boat dock, in Aurora, and farther south, 34 still in Cayuga County. The Army Corps has been doing a 12-week granular treatment but has had a real 35 challenge making a dent in eradicating this invasive species. 36 37 Jon reported that Fall Creek was treated throughout the summer. Small patches of hydrilla were found near the 38 golf course lagoon. The inlet, however, was not treated. Roxy Johnston reported that the Hydrilla Task Force has 39 made no decisions yet about hydrilla treatments for next year. 40 41 Roxy also reported that copper has been found to be more effective than some of the chemicals used at treating 42 small hydrilla outbreaks in open water. 43 44 Hilary said there is a workshop Thursday (Oct. 19th) at Wells College on how to use your smartphone to record 45 invasive species data for the New York State iMapInvasives project. 46 47 Steve Penningroth said the PowerPoint presentation from the Community Science Institute (CSI)’s forum on 48 HABs at Greenstar has been posted to their website. He will email the link to everyone in the next day or so. 49 50 Nominating/Membership Candidates for Consideration – Marjory Rinaldo-Lee 51 Marjory reported that the committee met recently to review the applications submitted so far for membership. The 52 committee recommended that Fay Benson and Liz Cameron be reappointed to the WRC, and that Ed Gottlieb be 53 selected as a new member for an At-Large seat. 54 55 Ed introduced himself to the group and spoke for a few minutes on his professional background and qualifications 56 for WRC membership. 57 58 ACTION: Frank Proto moved, and Lynn Leopold seconded, to recommend Fay Benson, Liz Cameron, and Ed 59 Gottlieb for membership on the WRC. The motion was approved unanimously by the members present. 60 61 Michelle Henry, Sharon Anderson, and Bill George need to send in their applications if they wish to renew their 62 seats. The committee will meet again on November 16th. Associate members Joanne Trutko, Steve Penningroth, 63 and Linda Wagenet are also up for renewal and need to submit their applications. 64 65 Committee Reports (as needed) 66 67 Cayuga Lake Monitoring Partnership – Roxy Johnston 68 69 The committee did not meet in October. CSLAP sampling is finished and that data will be ready for sharing by 70 the end of the year. The DEC found water chestnut in the City reservoir this summer and a plan is being hatched 71 for next year to treat the problem. 72 73 Roxy reported that a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo is circulating that postulates, falsely, that the growth of 74 HABs in Cayuga Lake can be directly tied to phosphorous in the lake, which in turn can be tied to the DEC’s lag 75 in completing the TMDL. The letter, which was written by Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting and already has 76 more than 1,200 signatories, agitates for the DEC rushing development of the TMDL as a solution for the HABs 77 problem. Roxy shared copies of the letter and the draft of a rebuttal letter she wanted the Council to consider 78 sending in response. Given the WRC’s extended involvement in the TMDL process, she thinks it is especially 79 well suited to speak out against the scientific inaccuracies being put forward as facts by Dr. Hang’s letter. 80 81 ACTION: Sharon Anderson moved that Roxy’s letter be emailed to all members for review, with comments to 82 be sent to Roxy by the end of the week, and that the Executive Committee agree to review the letter, making any 83 final edits and revisions, by the end of next week. Frank Proto added that Executive Committee should be 84 empowered to act on behalf of the entire WRC. Jon Negley seconded the motion, which was carried 85 unanimously by all the members present. 86 87 Education/Outreach – Lynn Leopold 88 89 The committee continues drafting the clean boating brochure. The members plan to wait until springtime to 90 restock hydrilla kits around the lake because it is already so late in the season for paddling and other watersports. 91 92 Lynn said she would miss the next committee meeting as well as the November WRC meeting. 93 94 Soil Health Committee – Fay Benson 95 96 The next meeting is scheduled for October 24th. 97 98 Grants – Jon Negley 99 100 No report 101 102 Emerging Contaminants – George Fowler 103 104 They are moving forward on their short-term goal of briefing the WRC in six months on emerging contaminants 105 coming from point and nonpoint sources as well as the relationship between sediment transport and emerging 106 contaminants. 107 108 Updated Water & Sewer Study Scoping 109 110 No report 111 112 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 113 114 Darby praised the HABs forum organized by CSI last month and said she would work with Steve to ensure the 115 link to the presentation is shared with the group. 116 117 Staff Report – Joan Jurkowich 118 119 The Legislature’s Budget, Capital, and Personnel Committee supported the Planning and Sustainability 120 Department’s request for more funding for CSI to expand its biological monitoring in local streams. 121 122 Member Announcements 123 124 Todd Miller and Fay attended a two-day meeting of the Northeast Organic Farming Association. David Wolfe, a 125 horticulture expert from Cornell who studies the impact of climate change on soil health and agriculture, gave a 126 talk at the conference. Todd suggested inviting Wolfe to present at a WRC meeting Sharon Anderson said she 127 will contact Wolfe to gauge his interest. 128 129 Lynn shared photos of the MV Teal, a 60-feet-long, 20-feet-wide boat that the Floating Classroom will utilize 130 beginning in the Spring 2018 cruising season. The Teal, which can sit 60-70 people, would allow Classroom staff 131 to take out much larger groups on the lake. 132 133 Adjournment 134 135 Frank moved, and Michelle seconded, to declare the meeting adjourned. The motion was carried unanimously 136 by the members present. Chair Darby Kiley declared the meeting adjourned at approximately 5:41 pm. 137 138 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the WRC at its next monthly meeting, and corrections or 139 notations will be incorporated at that time. Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and 140 Sustainability Department. Approved by Water Resources Council: 12/18/2017 141