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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDRAFT CFFCOC Special Meeting Summary 20251014 Page 1 | 6 http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us * Decisions and action items are indicated in bold font. Members Present: Carol Bernthal, District 1; Laurie de Koch, District 3; Tom Ehrlichman, District 2; Cheryl Lowe, Interest – Habitat Values; Ron Rempel, Vice Chair, Interest – Wildlife Conservation Biology; Robert Simmons, Interest – Watersheds; Dave Wilkinson, District 1 Members Absent: Tom Backman, District 3; Rob Harbour, Vice Chair, Interest – Working Lands; E. Ryan McMackin, Interest – Wetlands; Joanne Pontrello, Chair, District 2 County Staff Present: Tressa Linquist, Clerk; Tami Pokorny, Natural Resources Program Coordinator I. Call to Order, Roll Call, and Determination of Quorum Vice Chair Ron Rempel called the meeting to order at 3:09 PM. Ron announced that Richard Jahnke resigned from the CFCOC in order to have more time for other commitments, and Joanne Pontrello was taking a leave of absence. A quorum was established. II. Public Comments Tami Pokorny announced that there is a program in Kitsap County that is looking at natural resources as public utilities, called the Kitsap Natural Resources Asset Management Project. Jefferson Land Trust is interested in the information. Details can be found at: https://www.kitsap.gov/dcd/Pages/KNRAMP.aspx. III. Minutes of Previous Meeting Ron Rempel moved to approve the April 22, 2025 Draft Minutes; Robert Simmons seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously without changes. IV. Old Business There was no old business. V. Sub-committee Reports Conservation Futures Fund Citizen Oversight Committee (CFCOC) Special Meeting: Hybrid between East Jefferson Fire and Rescue Station #7 and Online via Zoom October 14, 2025 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM Draft Summary Page 2 | 6 • Storymap Sub-Committee Tressa Linquist explained that the Storymap Sub-Committee (Tressa, Rob Harbour, and Cheryl Lowe) met in the spring and created an outline of the Storymap content and message. They discussed representing the different projects as natural processes and ecosystem services and showing how those services give benefit to everyone in Jefferson County. Tressa and Cheryl also met with the GIS team. • Material Sub-Committee Ron Rempel went over the material review process: the CFCOC reviews the Committee materials, which include the Scoresheet, Bylaws, Manual, and Application. The Committee then presents their recommendations for changes to the documents for the upcoming year to the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC). Today’s meeting was intended to discuss any suggested changes from the Material Sub-Committee. Final changes would be reviewed and up for approval by a majority vote at the next meeting. Ron started with the Application, on page 8, not proposing any changes to the questions, but identifying possible ways to group the questions to make clearer connections between them and the language in the criteria of the code, which is referenced in the Manual. Criteria 1 in the Jefferson County code is regarding what land should get priority for conservation through the CF fund and emphasizes property uniqueness, and the threat of development and resource extraction. Application questions 4 and 5 deal with those criteria. Criteria 2 is about supporting habitat for threatened or endangered species. Questions 7 and 8 address those criteria. Criteria 3 focuses on lands that have community benefit. Questions 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 follow those criteria. Criteria 4 pertains to leveraging CF funds with other resources. Question 1 connects to these criteria. Criteria 5 relates to the stewardship and long-term management of the lands protected through long-term management plans. Questions 2, 3, and 6 focus on these criteria. Ron asked whether it would be helpful to the Committee and the project applicants to connect the code criteria to the Application questions. Several members agreed that it would be useful to address the connection first, and then as a next step address any duplication. Dave Wilkinson noted he did not feel compelled to require Page 3 | 6 the applicants to connect all the Application questions to county policy, but that it was important that the Committee understands the connection and to at least loosely organize the materials so that it makes sense. Robert Simmons moved to reorganize the Application to reflect the criteria in the questions that refer to those criteria. Cheryl Lowe seconded the motion. Tom Ehrlichman asked where the criteria show up in the CF materials. Tami Pokorny clarified that the Bylaws reference the code criteria, but do not explicitly quote them. Discussion followed on whether the criteria should be included in the Application, Manual, or Scoresheet, and if so, how to sequence the alignments between the documents; how well the Application questions elucidate the code criteria; and the challenge of discerning how the answers to the Application questions align with the code criteria, which may be approached slightly differently by each Committee member. Tom Ehrlichman made a friendly amendment to Robert’s motion, that the Committee reorganize the Application to list the relevant criteria under each question instead of rearranging the questions according to the criteria. Robert Simmons did not accept the amendment because he thought it would make the Application too cumbersome. Robert Simmons restated his motion: to reorganize the Application questions based upon the criteria. It was noted that this recommendation was to put this into more final form to bring back to the Committee for discussion at the next meeting and then decide whether to present those suggested changes to the BoCC. The motion passed by majority with one dissention. Tom clarified that he voted for the motion to get it to the next phase of discussion, but that he would probably want to see what was written because the key question for him was to get the Scoresheet reorganized around the criteria and then align the Application with the Scoresheet. Discussion continued on the main goal of encouraging applicants to respond with more thought to the questions and how the questions might pertain to the code criteria. Next, Tom presented his proposed amendment to the CF Application regarding the development potential of a property, including water rights and threat of development, to help the Committee evaluate and prioritize properties when funding is limited. Tami explained that there is boiler plate language dictated by the Trust for Public Lands to the Jefferson Land Trust as an accredited organization, which usually covers issues like water rights. If the Committee is interested, Tami can arrange to have folks from the state’s various matching programs describe the thinking behind what the deeds of rights say about farms, salmon habitat, and other land values. The Land Trust could also speak to how they ensure that conservation values remain with the protected lands. Tressa Linquist added that every easement she had read had stated that water rights could not be transferred. Ron suggested transferring this proposal to a Sub-committee. Tom asked to substitute his proposal with two questions: 1: On a scale of 1-5 how likely is it that this property would be developed for residential use within the next five to ten years? If the sponsor responded that development was likely, a follow up question could be asked during the interview: Why do you think that? Question 2: Do you concur that the Page 4 | 6 conservation easement will prevent the transfer of any water rights? He would like more information on the threat and value of the property and would like to see this issue addressed in this cycle. He suggested withdrawing his proposal and writing the questions for the Committee to consider at the next meeting whether to add them to the 2026 Application. *Tami said she would provide language on the Land Trust’s conservation easements around water rights, and that county staff could consider additions to the standard CF deed language. Tom Ehrlichman moved to draft an amendment to the Application that would request additional information about whether development is imminent or not, to be reviewed for possible adoption by the Committee at the next meeting, just like the criteria piece. Discussion followed on how much could be accomplished prior to the next meeting; concerns over postponing key topics for another year; the importance of getting feedback from applicants; and how to help the Sub-committee generate effective results. Tom withdrew his motion. He said he would be happy to work with the Sub-committee or county staff on formulating language around property development to add to the Application. Committee members currently on the Materials Sub-committee are Dave Wilkinson, Carol Bernthal, and Ron Rempel; there is room for one more member. The group discussed Material Sub-committee meeting dates; they were scheduled for October 31, 2025 from 1 to 3 PM and November 14, 2025 from 1 to 3 PM. Tressa led an overview of the other suggestions from the Materials Subcommittee and county staff, including whether to keep the preapplication optional. Robert Simmons moved to make the preapplication required instead of optional; Carol Bernthal seconded. Cheryl Lowe pointed out that keeping it optional allows more time for the applicants. The group discussed the program schedule and how to maximize support for the applicants while keeping the Committee clearly informed of any changes to the applications. The motion passed unanimously. Tom Ehrlichman moved to pass forward all of the staff recommendations for final action at the November meeting; Carol Bernthal seconded. The motion passed unanimously. VI. New Business • Staff Update Tami Pokorny thanked the Committee for their hard work on the materials over the years. She suggested having a retreat if folks wanted to dedicate a day to think about the CF program, what it has accomplished, and big picture ideas. The group was responsive to the idea. Ron Rempel suggested inviting the County Commissioners. Tami proposed setting a date after the current funding round and encouraged the group to think about ideas. • Current CFFCOC Vacancies Page 5 | 6 Tressa Linquist announced two open vacancies on the CFCOC. They are both open interest seats and are not confined to districts. She will be posting a vacancy advertisement in the Port Townsend Leader that will be published on October 22, 2025. *Robert Simmons requested a link to the ad so that Committee members could distribute it to interested individuals. • Election of New Officers Ron Rempel said he would be willing to be Chair next year. He would like the Vice Chair to move into the Chair position on an annual basis. Tom Ehrlichman moved to postpone the election of new officers to the next meeting. The Bylaws were reviewed and it was found that the election of new officers was required to take place during the first scheduled meeting after the presentation of the funding recommendations to the BoCC, which was this meeting. The motion failed for lack of a second. Tom requested a recess for a few moments so that he could make a phone call. Tami asked the group if everyone would be able to stay for an extra few minutes to accommodate a recess, but Carol Bernthal said she had to leave shortly. Tom announced that he was leaving the meeting. Tami asked for additional nominations for Chair; there were none. Tami asked for any objections to Ron Rempel accepting the position of Chair; there were none. Robert Simmons nominated Cheryl Lowe for Vice Chair, but she said she could not accept. Ron Rempel nominated Laurie de Koch for Vice Chair, but she also declined. The group went around the room to see if there were any volunteers for the Vice Chair position, but there were none. Cheryl asked if there was room for postponing the elections. Tami explained that there was no room for postponement. Dave Wilkinson pointed out that Joanne had done a wonderful job as Vice Chair as a new member and that it was a good position for someone new to the Committee. Ron asked if anyone present was willing to serve as Vice Chair on an interim basis until the end of the year, in light of new members joining the Committee during that timeframe. Carol Bernthal agreed to be interim Vice Chair until the end of the calendar year. There were no objections. • Review Draft 2026 CFF Cycle Calendar The group reviewed the Draft 2026 CFF Program Calendar. Robert Simmons noted that he had a conflict with the February 18th, 2026 meeting, which was not a required meeting. VII. Announcements There were no announcements. VIII. Public Comments There were no public comments. Page 6 | 6 IX. Adjournment Chair Ron Rempel adjourned the meeting at 5:05 PM. Meeting summary prepared by Rebekah Brooks. Action Items: *Tami Pokorny said she would provide language on the Land Trust’s conservation easements around water rights, and that county staff could consider additions to the standard CF deed language. *Robert Simmons requested a link to the CFCOC vacancy ad so that Committee members could distribute it to interested individuals.