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Minutes
March 7, 2007
4:04 – 6:00 pm , Room 116, Island County Ann ex
Coupeville
www.islandcountymrc.org
PRESENT: Chair Dick Toft , Hi Bronson , Tom Campbell , Joe Hillers, Ian Jefferds, Phyllis Kind , Ken Urstad , Benye Weber, Executive Director Rex Porter , Communications Mgr. Dan Pedersen . ALTERNATES: None. ABSENT: Don Meehan , Rolf Seitle, Johnny Palka, Jeff Tate. VISITORS: John Dean, Island County Commissioner. CALL TO ORDER: 4:04 pm . QUORUM: Declared. AGENDA: Adopted. MINUTES of 2-21-2007 : Adopted. Motion by Weber, second by Urstad, no objections. CORRESPONDENCE: None.
SUMMARY OF DECISIONS
Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC) Request for Proposals. With a few modifications, members approved the executive committee's proposed ranking of projects to include in our NWSC action-grant request for the next biennium. Porter will revise the ranking to include the water quality buoy among Group 1 priorities and add climate change to the Community Involvement project.
Meeting days and location. Toft will continue to explore whether the MRC can secure the Commissioners' Hearing Room on Thursdays. In the meanwhile, the MRC will continue to meet at Heller Road Firehall on the first Wednesday of each month and at Trinity Lutheran Church on the third Wednesday.
VISITORS
Toft welcomed County Commissioner John Dean, sitting in today.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Port of Coupeville Draft Comprehensive Plan. Weber announced the Port of Coupeville is currently gathering public input for its draft comprehensive plan. Deadline for comments is March 31. Copies are available at the libraries in Coupeville, Oak Harbor and Freeland, and at the port office. She said several MRC members already have commented – Meehan, Pedersen and Jefferds.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Strategic planning session. Toft said he believes Meehan has not yet been able to make arrangements with Duane Fagergren to facilitate our strategic planning session. Porter commented we had tentatively considered holding this session in lieu of our March 21 meeting, but it now appears we should go forward with a regular meeting on that date.
Educational speaker update. Porter said he is filling the last few slots for educational speakers for the second meeting of each month for the remainder of 2007, except for the summertime when we cut back to one meeting. He invited MRC members to provide recommendations. Porter said Hillers had suggested a speaker on eelgrass propagation. With respect to others, Toft asked Kind whether any possibilities arose at the recent Northwest Straits Commission meeting at Battelle Marine Biology Labs in Sequim. Kind said projects at the lab included using solar panels to increase the amount of light reaching eelgrass beds beneath docks and creating the hydrodynamic modeling system for Puget Sound . Kind pointed out that Andrea Copping is now employed at the labs.
NEW BUSINESS
Northwest Straits Commission Request for Proposal (RFP). Toft explained that because the NWSC anticipates a reduction in Congressional funding for the next biennium, we expect our NWSC action grant to be smaller for the two-year cycle that begins July 1. We must prioritize the projects for which we request funding. The executive committee developed a list of 21 current or potential projects and ranked them in three categories, of which they considered those in Group 1 the most essential. Our purpose today is to review this with the full MRC and discuss any changes in priorities the group would like. Then, Porter will set to work on developing a contract with the NWSC, which will be held by the Department of Ecology and funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, under the Congressional appropriation. Porter pointed out the NWSC has advised us to budget for about $94,000. The eight items in the executive committee's Group 1 total $99,500. These are MRC staff, the Cornet Bay restoration projects, bluff birds, estuary seining, shoreline signage, Shore Stewards, community involvement and derelict gear.
RFP Discussion. Item 9 on the executive committee's list is a new suggestion from Toft for a demonstration project or feasibility study of oil/water separators . Toft explained that several MRC members had expressed a desire for more on-the-ground work. He suggested we allocate $2,000 in year 1 and $15,000 in year 2, and propose to Public Works to install at least one oil/water separator in a developed area of the county to stop hydrocarbons from reaching marine waters. Weber expressed disappointment that the water quality buoy was ranked so low – in priority group IV. She pointed out the Port of Coupeville has been working with WSU Beach Watchers to develop a science exhibit on Coupeville Wharf and that the buoy is part of this project. The port already has invested in this exhibit, having built the cabinets for the computer terminal that will display the buoy's data, and she does not want to see the MRC fail to follow through on the buoy. Porter pointed out that the $2,000 earmarked for the buoy is an estimate of what might be required for ongoing maintenance. The actual number could be different, and there might be other sources of maintenance money such as Beach Watchers. Porter said he will revise the rankings to include the buoy above the cutoff for funding. Kind pointed out it is possible we will receive more funding than the $94,000 on which we are basing our thinking. Porter will continue to accept input from MRC members until Friday, at which time he will formalize his proposal to the NWSC. Campbell suggested we add climate change to our community involvement projects, since this is the subject of the Lyceum series and we may be able to take advantage of some resources at little or no cost. Porter said he would make this change – adding climate change and sea-level rise. Pedersen suggested we add tidal energy to that list as well. Porter will circulate a new version of the list that moves the buoy into category 1 and that adds climate change. Weber congratulated Porter and the executive committee on their work on these rankings and others also expressed their approval.
PROJECT REPORTS
Shore Stewards. Bronson reported that Scott Chase is focusing right now on shoreline workshops to be held in conjunction with seining at Elger Bay , Race Lagoon, Harrington Lagoon and Ala Split. He said Chase also will be attending workshops on low impact development, where he will recruit more Shore Stewards.
Water's Edge. Pedersen reported he had delivered 208 books to Rose Ann Alspektor of the Tourism Committee and that she planned to deliver several copies today to Gov. Gregoire. He said the book continues to sell very nicely and that we have distributed about 3,000 copies and are on course to reprint probably this summer. Kind mentioned she had shared the book with the Northwest Straits representative from San Juan County who expressed great interest and purchased it.
Shoreline signage. Toft reported that he and Pedersen will meet March 14 with the Port of Coupeville to update them on our proposal for signage on Coupeville Wharf . Pedersen reported he has drafted four local panels to install at Clinton Beach and is working with the Port of South Whidbey on those. He said we also hope to install the common panel at quite a few locations in the county by June 30.
Water quality. Hillers said he had not been in touch with Bob Buck and did not know whether the water quality buoy is ready to deploy again. He said he'd have a report at the next meeting. Jefferds said his crew is ready to help when the time comes.
Estuary seining. Urstad said the seining team found Chinook in the lagoon at Ala Spit, but did not seine Race and Harrington yet.
Bluff birds. Kind reported that our poster is ready for the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Research Conference. She and Frances Wood will work with Porter on an Aquatic Lands Enhancement Act grant to help support an intern.
Holmes Harbor Shellfish Protection District. Porter estimated more than 100 people showed up for last week's public meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church , including three MRC members. Hillers said the county speakers gave excellent presentations that were well received. The county commissioners unanimously passed the ordinance creating the district. Jefferds reported that a change in state law is pending that would allow for creation of these districts as soon as an area is threatened, rather than wait for a more serious problem.
Creosote. Urstad said he is meeting next week with Bredensteiner, Cooley and Wyatt from the DNR to put together a plan for mapping creosote debris on Whidbey.
Derelict gear. Urstad said he had nothing new to report.
LEADERSHIP REPORTS
Chair – Toft
E-mail survey on meeting days and times. Toft reported he heard from all but two MRC members about changing our regular meeting days to either Tuesdays or Thursdays, which we hope will make it possible to change our meeting location to the Commissioners' Hearing Room. Both days work for everyone, except that Campbell has a standing conflict with the third Tuesday and Seitle has a near-term problem. Palka is not available on Tuesdays during April and the first part of May because of his obligations with the Lyceum Series. Across the board, all members favor changing the meeting time to 3-5 pm . But Toft has learned the room is reserved for at least the next two months, so he needs to further explore options for us and for the party currently using the room. Motion by Toft, second by Urstad, carried unanimously, to change our meeting time to 3 pm effective with the March 21 meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church . Urstad said he will check with the church to make sure there is no conflict. Until we secure the Commissioners' Hearing Room we will continue to meet the first and third Wednesdays at Heller Road Firehall and Trinity Lutheran Church . Note: This decision was subsequently changed at the March 21 strategic planning retreat. Effective April 4, the MRC will regularly meet from 3:30 – 5:30 .
Executive Director – Porter
University of Washington interns. Porter reminded the group that a couple months ago we applied to the UW for several interns to create an adaptive management annex to the Salmon Recovery Plan. This would involve synthesis of several disciplines – science, policy and business. He said the university responded that they like our proposal but it seems daunting, so he has furnished them some further clarification.
Cornet Bay restoration project. Porter said he met Friday with the Northwest Region manager and technical director of Washington State Parks. They made a verbal commitment to provide the $18,500 Porter had requested, which is basically half of our matching funds. This will be in the form of engineering time and other services. He said the Department of Natural Resources may contribute about $15,000 in creosote removal, and if these things happen we are in great shape for a $250,000 project.
Financial report. Porter presented a one-page summary of our current financial condition showing the total budgeted, total expended and balance remaining for each MRC project. Signage and water-quality monitoring are behind schedule. Pedersen said we expect to spend much, if not all, the signage money in the next three months as we complete our installations at Coupeville and Clinton Beach , and deploy the common panel to a number of locations throughout the county.
Congratulations to Porter. The group enthusiastically praised Porter for his clear summary of finances.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Toft declared the meeting adjourned at 6 pm
MRC Meetings
Spring
3:30-5:30 pm, Wednesdays, twice a month, alternating between Oak Harbor and Freeland
April 18 Trinity Lutheran Church , Freeland, speaker Jim Johannessen, “Shoreform Issues & Sea Level Rise”
May 2 Heller Road Firehall, Oak Harbor
May 16 Trinity Lutheran Church, Freeland
Summer
3:30 – 5:30 pm, Wednesdays, once a month, alternating between Oak Harbor and Freeland
June 6 Heller Road Firehall, Oak Harbor
July 18 Trinity Lutheran Church , Freeland
Aug. 1 Heller Road Firehall, Oak Harbor
Fall
3:30 – 5:30 pm, Tuesdays, twice a month, all meetings at Commissioners' Hearing Room in Coupeville
Sep. 4
Sep. 18
Oct. 2
Oct. 16
Nov. 6
Nov. 20
Dec. 4
Dec. 18
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