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Home My WebLink About11-20-17 WRC Final MinutesV2TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, Nov. 20, 2017 2 TCAT Main 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 E Environment Fay Benson E Agriculture Michael Thorne A At-Large Chris Bordlemay Padilla P Water Purveyor Kristen Hychka E Associate Member Cynthia Brock E Recreation Roxy Johnston P Associate Member Ed Bugliosi A 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 P Municipal Government John Mawdsley P Associate Member Barry Goodrich P 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 E Associate Member Joan Jurkowich E Co. Planning Dept. Tom Vawter E Associate Member Dooley Kiefer E County Government Linda Wagenet E Associate Member Darby Kiley E Municipal Government Lynn Leopold E Municipal Government Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Dept. Jon Negley E Soil & Water Cons. District Frank Proto P At-Large 6 A quorum was not present. 7 Guests: Andy Zepp 8 Call to Order – Vice Chair Frank Proto called the meeting to order at 4:25 pm. The start of the meeting was 9 delayed in hopes that enough members would arrive to achieve quorum. Frank chaired the meeting on behalf of 10 Darby Kiley, who was on vacation. 11 Privilege of the Floor – No one spoke. 12 Agenda Review/Changes – None 13 Approval of October Minutes – Minutes were accepted by consensus with no changes requested by the 14 members present. They will be formally approved at the next meeting of the WRC. 15 Expanding Efforts to Mitigate Nutrient Runoff – Andy Zepp, Finger Lakes Land Trust 16 • Andy Zepp, director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT), summarized the history of the Land Trust 17 and its organizational mission. He then explained how the work of the FLLT has expanded in recent years 18 and continues to grow in new directions. In discussions with partner organizations, lake water quality and 19 nutrient run-off topped the list of issues the Land Trust should focus on moving forward. 20 • While bad agricultural practices and stronger storms seem to contribute to the growth of harmful algal 21 blooms (HABs) it’s wise not to generalize about causes for cyanobacteria. 22 • Andy said he would love to see the creation of an internal group like the Finger Lakes Water Hub at the 23 DEC be created within the New York State Department of Transportation. This group would address the 24 problem of increased nutrient run-off in relation to roadside ditches, among other issues. 25 • Steve Penningroth told Andy the Community Science Institute (CSI) has nutrient data for all sorts of 26 water bodies that he would be happy to share with the Land Trust. Andy said he would surely reach out to 27 Steve at CSI in the near future and would appreciate assistance with interpreting the data. 28 29 Committee Reports (as needed) 30 31 Nominating/Membership – Chris Bordlemay Padilla 32 The Council could not vote to recommend candidates for membership because there was no quorum. There was 33 also a fair amount of discussion among the members regarding the Municipal seats on the WRC, specifically 34 whether the members holding them are supposed to represent their village, town, or city of residence, or the 35 interests of municipal government in general. Frank said that he and Kristin McCarthy would consult the Bylaws 36 and other relevant documents for the answer and report their findings to the rest of the membership. 37 38 Cayuga Lake Monitoring Partnership – Roxy Johnston 39 • The Council has yet to receive a response from the governor’s office to their correspondence rebutting 40 Walter Hang’s letter connecting HABs to phosphorous in Cayuga Lake and the lack of a TMDL. 41 • The committee talked about several developments that seemed relevant to the TMDL. One topic was the 42 City of Ithaca’s Flooding Task Force, which has been examining the risk of flooding downtown and 43 possible pinchpoints or opportunities upstream to alleviate it. 44 • Volunteers have finished collecting Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) data for the 45 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC plans to have the CSLAP 46 data compiled and ready to share by the end of the year. 47 • The water quality samples from the HABs pilot are in but testing is still being performed. 48 • On November 6th, Roxy attended a talk on HABs by Greg Boyer, director of the Great Lakes Research 49 Consortium and professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. His presentation, 50 which focused on HABs and drinking water, took place at Cayuga Community College in Auburn. 51 • Roxy passed along an article on the Cayuga Lake Modeling Project by Liz Moran of EcoLogic. The 52 article appears in the Fall 2017 issue of Clearwaters magazine. 53 • No concrete news on the TMDL. Roxy reported that her contacts at the DEC sound more optimistic, 54 however, and might be running the last batch of models. 55 56 Watershed Rules and Regulations – No report. 57 58 Soil Health Committee – Emelia “Mia” Jumbo 59 60 The Committee is still working out the details for an educational brochure. 61 62 Emerging Contaminants – Jose Lozano 63 64 As reported by George Fowler at the October meeting, Jose Lozano relayed that the committee’s scope of work 65 will include analyzing point and nonpoint sources of emerging contaminants. On a related note, Jose said there 66 have been significant developments in research on the ability of sediments to carry emerging contaminants. 67 68 Grants – No report. 69 70 Workshop to Protect Water Resources – Sharon Anderson 71 72 Sharon Anderson and Michelle Henry attended a presentation on Cornell’s roadside ditch management program 73 by Rebecca Schneider, of the Department of Natural Resources, and David Orr, of the Local Roads program. She 74 plans to contact them about possibly giving a presentation in the spring. Michelle subsequently met briefly with 75 fellow committee member Kristen Hychka to fill her in what transpired at the meeting. 76 77 Education & Outreach – Todd Miller 78 79 Work continues on the clean boating brochure; however, the committee is having a difficult time finding a current 80 bathymetric map of Cayuga Lake. Jose said he will reach out to a colleague who might know how to locate one. 81 82 Updated Water & Sewer Study Scoping – No report. 83 84 Executive – Frank Proto 85 86 The committee reviewed the letter to Governor Cuomo and incorporated everyone’s changes. 87 88 Vice Chair Report – No Report. 89 90 Staff Report – No report. 91 92 Member Announcements 93 94 Frank reminded everyone that the January and February meetings will be held one week later because of the 95 Federal holidays. In 2018, the meeting dates fall on January 22nd and February 26th. 96 97 Adjournment 98 99 Vice Chair Frank Proto adjourned the meeting at 5:55 pm. 100 101 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the WRC at its next monthly meeting, and corrections or 102 notations will be incorporated at that time. Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and 103 Sustainability Department. Approved by Water Resources Council: 12/18/2017 104