WRIA 14 PLANNING UNIT MEETING

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

2:30-4:30 p.m.

Shelton Civic Center

Shelton, WA

 

 

Meeting Summary

 

Attendance:

Government Members Present:

John Konovsky, Squaxin Tribe

Dick Wilson & Ron Gold, Mason County PUD # 1

Theresa Parsons, City of Shelton

Allan Borden & Lynda Ring-Erickson, Mason Co.

 

 

Government Members Absent:

Thurston County

Dept. of Ecology

 

Other Planning Unit Members Present:

 

Warren Dawes, SWPSWC

Bob Simmons & Emily Piper, WSU Co-op Extension

Constance Ibsen, LHCWIC

Diane Cooper, Taylor Shellfish

Al Frey, Ric Byrd & Marlene Taylor, Port of Shelton

Harry Paul, Thurston PUD

 

Others Present:

 

Gary Yando, City of Shelton

Susan Gulick, Technical Project Mgr/Facilitator

 

 

1.      Updates

q      Watershed Plan

ü       A list of options to be considered in the plan has been distributed to the Planning Unit.  The next step will be to discuss the options and develop consensus recommendations. 

ü       The Technical Committee will develop a schedule for plan development, including public workshops and other public involvement activities.

q      Hydro-geologic Study

ü       The Port has given approval for use of their wells.  The project is progressing.

q      Storage Grant

ü       The Dept. of Ecology has confirmed that SLR can move forward with the pump test for this study.  The Port Commissioners need to give final approval at their next meeting but they do not expect any problems.

q      Public Involvement

ü       Bob has been contacting interest groups to try to fill vacancies on the Planning Unit. 

ü       The next newsletter will focus on the topics addressed in the watershed plan.

ü       The Planning Unit would like a couple of weeks for review of any materials that are being sent to the public.  Bob suggested distributing copies of drafts at a Technical Committee meeting and then finalizing the materials at the next Planning Unit meeting (two weeks later).

 

2.      Revisions to the Planning Unit Operating Procedures

q      The PU reviewed the draft operating procedures and made some suggested revisions.  Susan will work with Phil on a revised draft.  This will be submitted to the PU for final approval at a future meeting.

 

3.      Planning Unit Membership

q      Bob has been working to find members to fill some of the vacancies on the Planning Unit.  Susan and Bob will also begin to call Planning Unit members who have not been attending meetings to determine whether they still want to be listed as members of the Planning Unit.

q      The PU voted to approve Terri Jeffries to represent the Realtors on the Planning Unit.

q      Mason and Thurston County staffs should verify whether there are any flood districts in WRIA 14; if not, this category will be deleted.

 

4.      Port Request to Change their Voting Status on the PU

q      The PU voted to approve the Ports request to have the same voting status as initiating governments.  The list of initiating governments will be replaced with a list of consensus-voting governmental agencies (Mason County, Thurston County, City of Shelton, Mason PUD #1, Squaxin Island Tribe, State Dept. of Ecology, and the Port of Shelton). 

q      This approval had two conditions:

1.        Thurston County and the Dept. of Ecology must agree (since they were absent at the meeting); and

2.       The Port must sign an addendum to the 2001 Intergovernmental agreement forming the Planning Unit and state that they agree with all the terms of that agreement.

 

5.      Budget Review

q      The PU reviewed the budget status for the Planning Unit. 

q      Most projects are in good shape, and it is projected that the PU will have approximately $20,000 remaining at the end of the process.

q      John gave an early warning that there may be a request for additional funding for well survey costs on the hydro-geo study; he is working with Jim Mathieu to find a no-cost option but is not sure this will be possible.

q      There may also be a need for some additional money for public involvement, depending on how many workshops and newsletters the PU wants before the plan is adopted.

 

6.      Letter from the Squaxin Tribe

q      The Squaxin Island Tribe has responded to a letter the City and County elected officials on the Planning Unit sent requesting a meeting to discuss the watershed plan.

q      The Tribe’s response is that they are willing to meet with the local governments in the WRIA but they would like the discussion to be broader than the WRIA process or the WRIA 14 plan.

q      The PU agreed that the it would be most effective for the Planning Unit to continue to work with the tribe’s representative (John Konovsky) on the plan issues. 

q      If the elected representatives want to meet with the tribe to discuss regional water issues they should do this as elected officials and not as representatives of the Planning Unit.  This is because the PU believes the dialogue will be more productive if the discussion is not focused on specific WRIA 14 plan issues.  Plan issues will be worked on with John.

q      Lynda will coordinate a meeting between City and County elected officials and staff to discuss a response to the Tribe’s letter.

q      The tribe submitted a written list of options to be considered in the plan because John was not able to attend the retreat.  John believes this list will give PU members a better understanding of the tribe’s interests for the plan.  Susan will e-mail this list to the PU mailing list.

 

7.      Upcoming Meetings

q      The next Technical Committee meeting will be from 10-12 on Wednesday, May 11th, at the Shelton Civic Center.

q      The next Planning Unit meeting will be from 2:30-4:30 on Wednesday, May 25th, at the Shelton Civic Center.