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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 12 06 CFFCOC Special Meeting Final Summary  * Decisions and action items are indicated in bold font. Members Present: Mary Biskup, District 1; Guy Dobyns, Vice Chair, District 3; Richard Jahnke, Interest – Coastal Areas; Cameron Jones, Interest – Equity; Kalyn Marab, District 3; Joanne Pontrello, District 2; Jessica Randall, Interest – Ecosystem Services; Ron Rempel, Interest – Wildlife Conservation Biology; Craig Schrader, Interest – Climate Change; Dave Wilkinson, District 1 Members Absent: Rob Harbour, Interest – Working Lands County Staff Present: Tami Pokorny, Environmental Public Health Others Present: Rebekah Brooks, Recorder (Rebekah Brooks Contracting) I. Call to Order Vice Chair Guy Dobyns called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM. II. Welcome and Introductions III. Approval of Minutes The group reviewed the minutes from the 11/8/22 JC CFCOC Meeting. Ron Rempel requested clarification of some of the numbers put forward in Jessica Randall’s presentation. Jessica offered to schedule a separate time to go over the science behind ecosystem services in greater detail. Mary Biskup moved to accept the 11/8/22 JC CFCOC Meeting Summary as written; Joanne Pontrello seconded. The motion passed with one opposition. IV. Public Comments None V. Old Business Bylaws: Staff Update Tami Pokorny reported that she had received a copy of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) Bylaws, which had been recently approved by the prosecuting attorney’s office. *She will distribute a copy, along with the current JC CFCOC Bylaws, and a draft of revised CFCOC Bylaws after reviewing the SWAC Bylaws. Tami welcomed any help from volunteers or a Subcommittee to go through the SWAC Bylaws and update a draft of the CFCOC Bylaws. VI. Sub-committee Reports 2023 Cycle Program Materials Recommendations Ron Rempel walked the CFCOC through the suggested changes to the Manual made by the Subcommittee. The Committee decided to go through the changes and make their recommendations under New Business at the same time. VI. New Business CFF Committee Recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) for 2023 Cycle The Committee went through the suggested edits made by the Subcommittee. As the Application and Scoresheet were both reviewed and accepted at the last CFCOC meeting, the group discussed the proposed changes to the Manual. The group accepted the addition to the Manual under Membership Changes on page 9: “…lands primarily for their open space, wildlife habitat, agriculture and forest values and their associated non-monetized ecosystem service values.” Additional technical changes to member names, abbreviations, and Manual edition year were accepted. The Committee discussed the proposed addition of the word “objective” to page 10 #5: “…unless compelling objective reasons…”. Cameron Jones moved to remove the word “objective” from page 10 #5; Mary Biskup seconded. The motion passed with two opposed. Dave Wilkinson asked for discussion after the motion was seconded prior to the vote. Arguments for keeping “objective” included the urgency in the conservation movement to prove decisions with science, and the justification behind moving one project up while not choosing to move another project up. Arguments against the word “objective” included maintaining the flexibility within the Committee to accept compelling reasons for accepting a project when there might be little to go on, and the different values that can weight a project that might be less quantitative. The motion to remove the word “objective” from page 10 #5 was revoted with one opposed. The motion passed. The group accepted the change in #6 from “The Committee will provide justification” to “The Committee must provide justification.” The group discussed clarification to the wording in the paragraph on page 11 under Additional Reportings, which concerns the right of the CFCOC to request project reports after the time frame of the required reports. Reports are required for up to 10 years after a project closes, but as properties are required to be conserved in perpetuity, the Committee may request reports beyond the required reporting time frame. Joanne Pontrello moved to not accept any changes to the Additional Reportings paragraph; there was no second. The motion failed. The Committee accepted the proposed changes. Tami Pokorny suggested some minor changes a paragraph under the heading “The CFF Committee prefers that project change requests be presented as follows:” #5: adding “and always requires CFF Committee review and recommendations to the BoCC.” The change was accepted. Manual, Application, and Scoresheet Ron Rempel moved to accept the revised Manual, Application, and Scoresheet; Rick Jahnke seconded. Dave Wilkinson brought attention to a typo in the Scoresheet under #11 where x5 was accidentally struck out. The typo was corrected. The motion passed with all in favor. Possible Future Directions Ron Rempel led discussion on possible future directions for the CFCOC, which came up in the Subcommittee meeting. Ideas included how to better reflect the values of the local community, how to get more projects submitted, and whether the multipliers still reflected the program ideals and where it was headed. This could be addressed in the new year with more discussion from subcommittees or full Committee meetings. Jessica Randall mentioned that she is building a spreadsheet on what other Conservation Futures committees are doing. Ron added that another discussion topic is that JC is not at the full tax rate for Conservation Futures. Cameron Jones pointed out the goal of addressing equity with outreach to other organizations and revising CFCOC materials. Mary Biskup suggested a Subcommittee to collect and bring information and options to a special meeting of the full Committee. *Cameron Jones, Joanne Pontrello, and Jessica Randall volunteered to be on the Subcommittee. *The Subcommittee will arrange to meet, and will give notice to the full Committee for a special meeting to discuss their findings. *Jessica said she would have her spreadsheet ready by 1/15/23 and will send to Tami Pokorny for distribution. VII. Announcements/Administrative Staff Update Tami Pokorny announced two vacancies on the JC CFCOC. *Joanne Pontrello volunteered to be on the interview panel with Guy Dobyns since there was no Chair currently; Rick Jahnke also offered to be available if needed. The application deadline is by the end of the month, and the next elections will be at the presentation meeting in April. Next Meeting Site visits are scheduled for 3/28/23. Tami Pokorny mentioned that there is always the possibility for a project on the west end of Jefferson County, which would require a long site visit day. The next full Committee meeting is scheduled for 4/4/23 and will be the presentation and elections meeting. A special meeting may be called prior to the presentation and elections meeting to discuss Subcommittee findings. VIII. Public Comments None IX. Adjournment Jessica Randall acknowledged the disagreement between herself and Ron Rempel at the beginning of the meeting; she wished to resolve it, and invited anyone to participate. Tami Pokorny reminded the group that any gatherings may not violate the Open Public Meetings Act. Guy Dobyns added that healthy disagreements were part of the function of the group; they just needed to be able to agree on their recommendations to the BoCC. Tami noted that the revised Committee documents would be presented to the BoCC in the middle of December. Vice Chair Guy Dobyns adjourned the meeting at 5:14 PM. Action Items: *Tami Pokorny will distribute a copy of the SWAC Bylays, along with the current JC CFCOC Bylaws, and a draft of revised CFCOC Bylaws after reviewing the SWAC Bylaws. *Cameron Jones, Joanne Pontrello, and Jessica Randall volunteered to be on the Subcommittee. *The Subcommittee will arrange to meet, and will give notice to the full Committee for a special meeting to discuss their findings. *Jessica said she would have her spreadsheet ready by 1/15/23 and will send to Tami for distribution. *Joanne volunteered to be on the interview panel with Guy Dobyns since there was no Chair currently; Rick Jahnke also offered to be available if needed. Meeting summary prepared by Rebekah Brooks.