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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM051503 Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee Minutes Thursday, May 15, 2003 Present: Anne Murphy, District 2 Rex Rice, Environment Jeff Gallant, District I Dan Tittemess, Jefferson County Commissioners Judy Damore, District I Larry Crockett, ex-officio, Port of Port Townsend Gabrielle LaRoche, Marine Science Practitioner Pat Pearson, WSU Cooperative Extension Clair Candler Andrew Palmer, District 3 (Chair) Absent: Bill Kalina, ex-officio, U.S. Navy, Indian Island Spike Hall, District 3 (Vice Chair) Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend Guests: Michelle McConnell, Lead Contractor Joanna Sanders, Secretary Mike Fleming, Citizen OPENING BUSINESS Chair Andy Palmer called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM in the Jefferson County Library Conference Room, at the WSU Cooperative Extension, Port Hadlock, Washington. There was a quorum of members present. Minutes of the April 17 meeting minutes were approved. The agenda was revised to include a report from the Lead Chair Meeting. ANNOUNCEMENTS Anne Murphy urged members to attend upcoming Marine Science Center beach walks led by state professionals and experts on coastal geologic processes (handout: brochures for upcoming walks). Upon request, Anne agreed to send an electronic file of the brochure to Pat Pearson for forwarding to Water Watchers. Michelle McConnell distributed copies of an April 21 article in the Peninsula Daily News on Jefferson and Clallam Counties' receiving Northwest Straits funding. OBSERVER COMMENTS - None OLD BUSINESS Year 3 Project Updates - Final Report: Pat Pearson agreed to send members the final report, including project reports on the Year 3 Grant, which were submitted earlier this week. She also distributed a budget update for the Year 4 Administrative Grant and urged members to submit all requests for reimbursement. She circulated a brochure with expense guidelines, which she also agreed to mail to members, along with the expense reimbursement form. Year 3 Project Updates - Olympia Oyster: Judy Damore made copies of the draft Olympia Oyster newsletter insert available for members, noting that there are still modifications to be made. Year 3 Project Updates - Habitat Stewardship: Jeff Gallant distributed the article "Systemic Barriers to the Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems" that tribal liaison Doug Dobyns had provided some time ago. He believes its discussion of the problems with conventional management and benefits of community~ based efforts relates to the Year 3 and Year 4 projects. He also distributed a handout given to those attending the recent Habitat Stewardship Subcommittee meeting, which showed MRC activities associated with Year 1 through Year 4 action grants. The committee also reviewed some of the deliverables ITom previous action grants that have led to identifying priority habitat areas and implementing areas of habitat protection. He Marine Resources Committee - May 15,2003 Page: 2 offered to make this information available to other members upon request. They also discussed design issues of the Anchor Protection Zone and talked about the importance of involving interest groups early in the process. Others who attended commented that the background information was informative. Year 4 Project Updates - Dabob Seining: Anne Murphy noted that this project continues, with seines occurring yesterday and today. The Northwest Watershed illstitute (NWI) did not receive a SRF (Salmon Recovery Funding) Board Grant, but it might still be possible for them to receive funding mid-year. She suggested that once the seines are complete and the data is received, the NWI should recommend how the MRC can best continue to support this project. Year 4 Project Updates - Olympia Oyster: Anne Murphy reported that although this year's work plan reflects that monitoring oflast year's seeding would occur in April and September, it would actually occur in May and September. Betsy Peabody would work with the tribes on this element. Andy Palmer suggested the subcommittee look at the report produced by Skagit County to see if the Jefferson County data might be presented in a similar format. OLD BUSINESS Business Rules Proposed Changes: Based on discussions at the retreat and the April regular meeting, members reviewed the following proposed changes to the business rules submitted by the Executive Committee: . Section 5.2 Meetings - changing the day of the month on which the MRC meets from the third Wednesday to the third Thursday. To allow for flexibility in rescheduling meetings, the recommendation was to state that the MRC would meet "monthly" instead of "on the third Wednesday of each month." ill order to comply with the open public meetings act, it was instead suggested that the MRC continue to specify the day of the month on which it would meet. Jeff Gallant moved that the MRC recommends that the Board of County Commissioners adopt a proposed amendment to the MRC Business Rules Section 5.2. Sentence one should now read "Regular meetings of the MRC are held on the third Thursday of each month in the Madrona Room of the WSU Learning Center." The motion was seconded and approved by consensus. . Section 13 Parliamentary Procedure - dropping the consensus procedure and stating that "Robert's Rules of Order shall govern matters of procedure.. ." It was understood that the MRC would use a relaxed Robert's Rules of Order, meaning abiding by the general structure, but not strict adherence. Gabrielle LaRoche moved that the MRC recommends that the Board of County Commissioners adopt a proposed amendment to the MRC Business Rules Section 13. Sentence one should now read "Robert's Rules of Order shall govern matters of procedure, except as otherwise provided in these rules or in Washington State law." The motion was seconded and carried by unanimous vote. Organizational Structure Changes: Based on discussions at the retreat and the April regular meeting, members discussed a structure proposed by the Executive Committee to encourage more member involvement in activities and improve coordination, wherein there would be three main subcommittee groupings 1) Steering/Executive, 2) Project/Technical, and 3) Communications/PR. The listed work groups would not necessarily meet each month. Members reviewed a sample tasks and timelines tracking sheet used by the Skagit MRC, which might aid in the monitoring of workgroup projects and make meetings more productive. The workgroup would only need to address the MRC as a whole when they have completed a deliverable or need more direction. Workgroups could also include community members interested in a particular issue - and who might possibly be interested in becoming an MRC member. Rather than continuing to discuss the structure among the whole MRC, it was suggested that the Business Rules indicate the Chair has had the authority and responsibility to order organizational changes such as this. Andy Palmer questioned whether the business rules provide the broad authority referred to and expressed his Marine Resources Committee - May 15,2003 Page: 3 desire for a more collaborative approach. Others commented that even though the flow of information - which members had found frustrating - has improved with the hiring of a coordinator, it was felt that such a restructuring might make this coordination and the sharing of information clearer, while spreading responsibility and ownership. Anne Murphy moved to adopt the organizational structure as presented, with the caveat that the Chair has the authority to make changes as necessary. The motion carried. Jeff Gallant abstained. Blackboard Training: Pat Pearson reported that she, Spike Hall and Joanna Sanders attended the April training of this "virtual office" software. Pat recognized Spike's efforts at organizing the training and said a recommendation that surfaced during the training was that Staff be the first to try Blackboard, to be followed by a training of the Executive Committee and then the MRC as a whole. If, after the trial period, the MRC did not feel it was of much value, the Executive Committee and/or Staff might still have the option of using it. Vertical Structures: Judy Damore reviewed her research into possible presenters/points of contact for information on vertical structures. It was suggested that the discussion of this topic not be limited to creosoted pilings, but include concrete pilings, rock jetties, etc. It was noted that Whatcom County has a project to remove creosote logs washed up on beaches and that Island County might also seek funding to explore this topic further. In the absence of a formed Habitat Stewardship Committee, Larry Crockett and Dan Tittemess agreed to investigate to see if this issue is worthy of further exploration by the MRC. It was noted that Ports and Ferries have collected a lot of information on this topic. Committee/Workgroup Assignments: The roles and responsibilities of the Habitat Stewardship work group was then discussed. Although not a deliverable under the Year 4 Action Grant, Barbara Nightingale's efforts with the Discovery Bay Baywatchers might be continued by the Habitat Stewardship workgroup. The next step on the Anchor Protection Zone would be to arrange a work group meeting of those interested to solidify a strategy within the goals and deliverables as established in the grant proposal. A tentative meeting to discuss this project was set for May 2ih at 5:30, to include Commissioner Tittemess, Judy Surber, Gabrielle LaRoche, and Andy Palmer. Recognizing that the working groups need task assignments, it was suggested that anyone previously involved in the listed workgroups put forth suggestions to Michelle McConnell so that Staff can ensure that all grant tasks are being covered. BaCC Presentation: Michelle McConnell previewed a draft PowerPoint presentation based on an outline produced by Pat Pearson, Judy Damore and Jeff Gallant. The presentation to the BOCC is scheduled for Tuesday, May 27 at 10:00. Michelle received several suggestions from members for altering the presentation. It was suggested that the MRC ask the BOCC for support on the anchor protection zone, being specific about the request and providing a copy of the letter of support from the Yacht Club and mentioning a partnership with the Northwest Maritime Center. Other suggestions were to shorten the overview section and focus on one or two areas of work, listing the agencies and partners with whom the MRC has worked, and talking briefly about regional efforts. Another recommendation was to maintain the same format in each briefing. Quarterly updates (even brief ones) were thought to be important. Michelle also noted that she would include graphics of the Olympia oyster project and a sample page from the newspaper circular as well as provide copies of the Habitat Stewardship report and possibly suggest a follow~up work session. NEW BUSINESS Northwest Straits Commission: Andy Palmer reported that at the last meeting, the Puget Sound Action Team had said they now have a complete inventory of MP As in state waters, a copy of which should be requested for the MRC library. The next Northwest Straits Commission meeting is Friday, May 30 at Fort Worden. All MRCs would be giving presentations and sharing successes at the Fall Training Conference, to be held at Ft. Worden on October 24/25th. The Commission has also hired someone to work on a gaps analysis. Anne Murphy stressed the importance of getting good photo documentation ofprojects. Marine Resources Committee - May 15,2003 Page: 4 Member Representation: The open District 3 and commercial fishing representative positions were believed to have been advertised by the BOCC. Members reported having contacted several possible candidates for the latter. A suggestion was to ask the BOCC what type of assistance would they like from the MRC regarding recruitment and member selection and to recommend that any nominee attend two meetings before being appointed. Jeff Gallant recommended moving the Port from a non-voting to a voting position to represent economic interests. It was noted that if the MRC were to want to do this, it would also need to recommend that the BOCC amend the resolution. Larry Crockett suggested instead asking a true commercial interest, such as New Day Fisheries. ChairsILead Meeting Update: There was support for Michelle McConnell organizing a group discussion to get the MRC working on its own gaps. Anne Murphy, Jeff Gallant, Pat Pearson, Judy Damore, and Gabrielle LaRoche agreed to meet on Tuesday, June 10 at 5:00, possibly at the Marine Science Center Natural History Exhibit. Noting that MRCs could submit a letter of intent as soon as May of this year, it was suggested that this be a discussion item in June. OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE - None OBSERVER COMMENT - None PREPARE AGENDA / ADJOURN The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, June 19,2003 at 7:00 PM in the Madrona Room Port Hadlock , , Washington. The meeting adjourned at 9:18 AM.