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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDRAFT CFFCOC Special Meeting Summary 20251118 P a g e 1 | 5 http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us * Decisions and action items are indicated in bold font. Members Present: Tom Backman, District 3; Carol Bernthal, Interim Vice Chair, District 1; Tom Ehrlichman, District 2; Rob Harbour, Interest – Working Lands; Cheryl Lowe, Interest – Habitat Values; E. Ryan McMackin, Interest – Wetlands; Joanne Pontrello, District 2; Ron Rempel, Chair, Interest – Wildlife Conservation Biology; Dave Wilkinson, District 1 Members Absent: Laurie de Koch, District 3; Robert Simmons, Interest – Watersheds County Staff Present: Kimberley Cole, Public Health Finance; Tressa Linquist, Clerk; Apple Martine, Administration and Finance Director; Tami Pokorny, Natural Resources Program Coordinator I. Call to Order, Roll Call, and Determination of Quorum Chair Ron Rempel called the meeting to order at 3:00 PM. Apple Martine welcomed the group and said that she would be hosting the in-person meeting and helping with tech. A quorum was present. II. Public Comments III. Minutes of Previous Meeting Tom Ehrlichman requested tabling the 10/14/25 JC CFFCOC minutes until he had a chance to work with County staff to make specific edits. Tom Backman made a motion to delay approval of the minutes from the 10/14/25 JC CFFCOC Meeting until the next JC CFFCOC Meeting; Joanne Pontrello seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. IV. Old Business • Discussion of officer elections held 10/14/2025 Ron Rempel explained that there was some concern expressed that Ron had made an error by asking staff to call for the vote for the election of officers at the last meeting. Conservation Futures Fund Citizen Oversight Committee (CFFCOC) Special Meeting: Hybrid between Jefferson County Public Health, Pacific Room and Online via Zoom November 18, 2025 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM Draft Summary P a g e 2 | 5 Tom Ehrlichman made a motion that the Committee void the election from the 10/14/25 JC CFFCOC Meeting based on a violation of Bylaw 7.E and immediately hold a new election for Chair; Joanne Pontrello seconded. Rob Harbour read aloud the JC CFFCOC Bylaws 7.E, which reads: Absence of Officers. The Vice-Chair shall officiate as Chair in the Chair’s absence. In the absence of both Chair and Vice-Chair at a meeting, members shall elect a temporary Chair to perform their duties for that meeting. Discussion on the motion followed, specifically over whether the last election was valid or should be rescinded, since the presiding Vice-Chair asked County staff to call for the election vote. Apple Martine clarified that as this current meeting was posted as a Special Meeting, and that the agenda did not include an election decision, a new election would need to be moved to another meeting where notice was given. Ron Rempel asked staff for clarification from staff about how to handle the motion because the motion included both nullifying the previous election and holding a new election today. Tami Pokorny said that her instructions from the prosecuting attorney’s office were to not delay a motion once it was seconded. After the vote, she could provide direction to the Committee. Ron Rempel restated the motion: to nullify the last election under violation of Bylaw 7.E and hold a new election today. The motion failed with two votes for, five against, and one abstention. Rob Harbour made a motion to nullify the election from the 10/14/25 CF CFFCOC Meeting, and to hold a new election at the Special Meeting scheduled for February 2026. Tom Ehrlichman seconded. Discussion followed regarding the consent of candidates, and how to proceed with the election of an Interim Chair. Apple Martine noted a discrepancy between the Bylaws, which indicate that a candidate must consent to their elected position prior to nomination, and Robert’s Rules of Order, which imply that a candidate can consent after they are elected. She suggested that it would be wise and reasonable for the Committee to ask staff to discuss this point of difference with the prosecuting attorney’s office between this meeting and the next one. The motion passed with seven votes for and one against. Joanne Pontrello nominated Rob Harbour as Interim Chair; Tom Ehrlichman seconded the nomination. The nomination passed by majority. Rob agreed to serve as Interim Chair until the next election. • Election: Vice Chair Joanne Pontrello nominated Laurie de Koch for Vice Chair, who was absent, but Joanne said that Laurie had already agreed to the position. Ron Rempel nominated Carol Bernthal for Vice Chair, who also agreed. Tami Pokorny pointed out that the Committee had just passed a motion to postpone the election of both Chair and Vice Chair. Tom Ehrlichman asked for the opinion of the staff regarding making a motion to P a g e 3 | 5 rescind the action taken a few moments ago that scheduled an election for Vice Chair at the next meeting, and instead hold the election now as stated on the agenda. Tami Pokorny said she could ask permission from the Committee to consult the prosecuting attorney’s office on the process. Apple Martine added that deferring to the prosecuting attorney’s office was always the best answer, but that it was up to the Committee to decide as either option was legitimate. Joanne Pontrello made a motion that the Committee hold the election of the Vice Chair today; Tom Ehrlichman seconded. The motion passed with all in favor. Joanne withdrew her nomination for Laurie de Koch and nominated Carol Bernthal for Vice Chair. The nomination passed with all in favor except for Carol. At that point, Carol took over leading the meeting from Rob as Vice Chair and Acting Chair. • Review and approval of changes to 2026 Program Materials Carol Bernthal gave an overview of the Materials Sub-committee, which met twice, looking at past Committee and staff recommendations for administrative changes and revisiting the scoring criteria. They sent out three modified documents to the full Committee: the Application, Scoresheet, and Manual. The edited documents were displayed for the Committee to review. Ron Rempel added that the Sub-committee recommended the inclusion of a table, Appendix F, that crosswalks the criteria with the Application questions; an overview of the funding cycle; and reporting on O&M in acquisition applications. They also worked on loosening up the wording regarding peer reviewed data so that good data could be included in projects even if it was not peer reviewed. Carol said that they also changed the requirement around the preapplication; it is no longer required, but the sponsor is allowed to make changes up to a certain point. Tom Ehrlichman asked if the Committee would wait on the approval of Appendix F as he felt it included several issues with how it related questions to the criteria, suggesting at the minimum including a statement about the connections between the criteria and Application questions being preliminary. The group discussed the value of Appendix F as a useful tool or starting point for understanding the way the questions relate to the code criteria; allotting points to the other criteria that were currently missing from the project evaluation process; and how to better articulate Committee materials. Tressa Linquist added a note on page three of the Manual: “For each funding cycle, the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) reviews and adopts the Conservation Futures Fund Program Application, Score Sheet, and Manual. Appendix F of this manual displays a cross walk that illustrates possible connections between JCC Conservation Futures Program Criteria and questions in the Application and Score Sheet. It also displays the maximum score by question and JCC Criteria.” She also changed the wording in the Score Sheet to remove the “Adjusted Criteria” heading. Ron Rempel moved to accept the Material Subcommittee recommendations as presented. Tom Backman seconded for discussion. Discussion followed over the relation between the criteria and questions, the use of Appendix F for Committee-only use rather than public purposes, and the suggested changes to the wording around peer reviewed data. Dave Wilkinson proposed changing the peer review wording on 7.C to “Peer reviewed P a g e 4 | 5 citations/sources are preferred, but others may be considered if they are of substantially equal quality and appropriately attributed.” Ron accepted this change and the other suggested modifications as a friendly amendment to his motion. Modifications to the materials included the removal of “Adjusted Criteria” on the Score Sheet, the suggested language about the cross walk on page three, the adjusted wording about peer reviewed documents, and the addition of Tribes under Eligible Applicants after consultation with the prosecuting attorney’s office about correct wording. The motion passed with seven in favor and one against. V. Sub-committee Reports • Storymap Sub-Committee The Storymap Sub-Committee, which includes Rob Harbour and Cheryl Lowe, with staff assistance, are working through how to categorize different projects. They have a set of photos and some ideas on how to present the projects in the GIS storymap format. They are working with the technical team and hope to have something to present in the spring. *Tom Backman volunteered to join the Storymap Sub-Committee. • Material Sub-Committee The Material Sub-Committee, which includes Carol Bernthal, Dave Wilkinson, and Ron Rempel, with staff support, plan a deeper dive in the next three months on the questions and criteria, particularly criteria 6. Tom Ehrlichman requested adding to the agenda for the next meeting or two a round table conversation to formulate the big policy questions of the Committee as a whole. VI. New Business There was no new business. VII. Announcements Tressa Linquist announced that some Committee members still needed to complete their Open Government training. The prosecuting attorney’s office confirmed that the training applies to all members without exception for professional experience or licenses. *If Tressa has been in touch with any members about training, it needs to be completed by the end of the year with the signed certificate sent to Tressa. VIII. Public Comments P a g e 5 | 5 Tami Pokorny reminded the Committee that there is an opportunity to schedule a retreat or extended meeting. Recommendations and ideas can be sent to Tami or Tressa. The next meeting is scheduled for February 18, 2026. IX. Adjournment Acting Chair Carol Bernthal adjourned the meeting at 5:05 PM. *Note: For additional details on discussion items, please contact County staff for a copy of the meeting recording and transcript. Meeting summary prepared by Rebekah Brooks. Action Items: *Tom Backman volunteered to join the Storymap Sub-Committee. *If Tressa Linquist has been in touch with any members about training, it needs to be completed by the end of the year with the signed certificate sent to Tressa.