Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutM020209 District No.1 Commissioner: Phil Johnson District No.2 Commissioner: David W. Sullivan District No.3 Commissioner: John Austin County Administrator: Philip Morley Clerk of the Board: Lorna Delaney MINUTES Week of February 2, 2009 The meeting was called to order at the appointed time by Chairman David Sullivan in the presence of Commissioner Phil Johnson and Commissioner John Austin. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: The following comments were made by citizens in attendance at the meeting: two citizens stated that they think the public should be able to review the actual documents on the Commissioner's agenda before the Commissioner's meetings; a business owner who is taking the County to court suggested that instead of putting restrictions on current businesses, the County needs to encourage them because the services that a business provides helps to bring in more revenue than just property taxes; a person reported that the Jefferson County Democratic Party passed a resolution stating their opposition to the increased presence of the Border Patrol on the Olympic Peninsula; and a person noted that he is pleased that there are more discussions on the Board's agenda regarding important issues that the public needs to know about such as the Urban Growth Area and State Department of Ecology' s proposed instream flow rules. APPROVAL AND ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT AGENDA: Commissioner Austin moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Commissioner Johnson seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. \. RESOLUTION NO. 10-09 re: Creating a County Project Designated as CRI827 (Center Road and Chimacum Road) 2. REVISED HEARING NOTICE re: Proposed Ordinance to Increase Department of Community Development Fee Schedule; Hearing Scheduled on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. in the Commissioners Chambers 3. AGREEMENT re: Project SEARCH Program; Jefferson County Public Health; Skookum Corporation 4. AGREEMENT NO. C14950, Amendment No. 13 re: 2007-2011 Consolidated Contract; Jefferson County Public Health; Washington State Department of Health 5. AGREEMENT NO. E09-121 re: Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Funds; Jefferson County Sheriff; Washington State Military Department, Emergency Management Division 6. Access / Maintenance Easement Affecting County Property Located Off SRI 01 South of Quiicene; Jefferson County Public Works; Jacoba and Robertus Van de Weghe 7. Bid Award re: Supply of Liquid Asphalt Products; Jefferson County Public Works; Albina Asphalt 8. 2009 Certification of Road Levy; Jefferson County Public Works; Washington State County Road Administration Board (CRAB) Page I Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2,2009 9. Advisory Board Resignation; Jefferson County Marine Resource Committee (MRC); Hyatt Barnes, Recreation Representative 10. Advisory Board Appointments (2); Jefferson County Marine Resource Committee (MRC); I) Jerry Gorsline, Environmental/Conservation Alternate; and 2) Stephen Lewis, Recreation; Terms Expire February 2,2013 II. Payment of Jefferson County VoucherslWarrants Dated January 26,2009 Totaling $444,228.77 12. Payment of Jefferson County Payroll Warrants Dated January 20,2009 Totaling $98,546.56 and Dated January 26, 2009 Totaling $42,492.74 and AlP Warrants Done by Payroll Dated January 26, 2009 Totaling $25,612.76 COMMISSIONERS BRIEFING SESSION: Each Commissioner reported on the following subj ects. Commissioner Johnson: . He noted that the Board is going to the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) Legislative Rally in Olympia on Thursday and Friday. He received a phone call from one of the Clallam County Commissioners asking if the Board would let them join in the appointments that Jefferson County already has set up with the Legislators. After a brief discussion, the Board members agreed that Clallam County can be included. Commissioner Sullivan: . Proposed State legislation would adjust the 25-year window on the Public Infrastructure Fund to begin on the date the act was revised instead of when it was originally passed. . Last week, a delegation from Jefferson County and representatives from the State Department of Ecology met with Representative Kessler in Olympia about water issues. . He is optimistic that Representative Van De Wege will reintroduce a water barrel bill. Commissioner Sullivan noted that he would like to see it revised to allow more flexibility with the instream flow rule. . He discussed a bill that could result in possible changes in the use of the 1110 of I % Mental Health Sales Tax. . The Irondale/Port Hadlock Sewer System Team and consultants have recommended that it would be beneficial for him to travel to Washington, DC next week to lobby for sewer grant funding. Commissioner Austin: . He was pleased to see that the newspaper covered the Drug Court graduation. He thinks it is a great program that helps to turn people's lives around. . The Emergency Management Incident Management Team met last week and there was a discussion about the recent earthquake in the area. The Team will take part in a simulated exercise in response to an earthquake emergency in April. . He attended the open house at the Sportsmens Club's where the Army Marksmanship Team gave a shooting demonstration. County Administrator Philip Morley: . He reported that the Board's agenda is posted on the Thursday before a regular meeting and the packet information is available in the Commissioner's Office at that time for the public to review. Page 2 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2,2009 . The Board's meetings with State Legislators on February 5 in Olympia will be noticed and conducted as special meetings. . The County is negotiating with the Jefferson Equestrian Association (JEC) to develop a site plan for their proposed equestrian facility near the County Transfer Station. A main goal of the agreement is to have the facility fit with the future needs of the transfer station and biosolids facility. The Board concurred that it is important to meet the County's needs and the equestrian facility's needs. . He has begun preliminary discussions with the City of Port Townsend regarding the regional services contracts for 2009. . Shortly after the earthquake last week the County Road Crew inspected all the bridges to identify if there is a need for an actual engineer's inspection. There was no damage. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Austin moved to approve the minutes of December 8, 2008 as presented. Commissioner Johnson seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Discussion and Possible Approval of Resolution to Reallocate Conservation Futures Funds and Transfer $7,500 from the Tarboo Creek Conservation Project to the Upper Tarboo Creek Conservation Easement Project in Accord with Ordinance No. 06-0708-02 to Provide a System of Public Open Space: Water Quality Program Manager Neil Harrington reported that in 2008 Conservation Futures Funds totaling $7,500 were awarded to the Tarboo Creek Conservation Project. This was not the full amount requested by Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI), the project's sponsor. As a result NWI applied for other grant funding which paid for the entire project. In 2007, the Upper Tarboo Creek Conservation Easement Project was also awarded partial funding from the Conservation Futures Fund. NWI had requested $163,890 in the application, but was only awarded $150,000 because it was the second ranked project. They still need funding and are requesting that the Board authorize the transfer of the $7,500 to the proj ect. Peter Bahls, NWI, reported that the Conservation Futures Citizen Oversight Committee met and voted to recommend this transfer to the County Commissioners. Neil Harrington added that this action is consistent with the ordinance. Commissioner Johnson moved to approve RESOLUTION NO. 11-09 to reallocate Conservation Futures Funds and transfer $7,500 from the Tarboo Creek Conservation Project to the Upper Tarboo Creek Conservation Easement Project. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Update re: IrondaleIPort Hadlock Urban Growth Area (UGA): Joel Peterson, Project Manager for the Irondale/Port Hadlock Sewer System, submitted a letter to the Board from the General Sewer Plan Review Committee. The Committee is formed according to statute and is charged with reviewing the general sewer plan and making a recommendation to the Commissioners. They have Page 3 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2, 2009 approved the Irondale/Port Hadlock Sewer Plan and recommend that the Board approve it. The Department of Community Development is recommending that approval of the sewer plan be done at the same time the Board takes action on the other UGA compliance issues. The consultant that is working on financing for the project is tracking the State and Federal Stimulus Packages and Congressional appropriations and has recommended that the County apply for a State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG). The consultants have also recommended that Chairman Sullivan travel to Washington, DC to lobby the Legislators for the STAG funding. They will also be contacting Legislators in Olympia. Joel Peterson noted that it is important for the Board to help sell the project and solicit letters of support. The STAG grant application is due February 19. Approximately 30 interested citizens attended the UGA open house last week. They reviewed the plans for the sewer facility, the funding and financing for the project, and the UGA compliance efforts. As part of the process, the County will be establishing a UGA Stakeholders Committee. Joel Peterson reported that the Planning Commission meeting this week will focus on a sewer project overview and compliance efforts. He explained that the County received a Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board (WWGMHB) decision and order in May, 2005 that overturned the UGA designation and the development regulations. Since then the County has been working to address the issues and all the components are completed. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on February 18 and make a recommendation to the Board. The County Commissioners will need to hold a public hearing in March. This is also a 2009 Comprehensive Plan amendment, MLA09-24, entitled UGA Compliance with the goal of reestablishing urban levels of development and services. The Jefferson County Code will need to be revised. The UGA Sub-committee of the Planning Commission has been meeting to make recommendations on the development recommendations and changes to the Comprehensive Plan. Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez reviewed the WWGMHB schedule that the County is required to follow. This includes compliance for development regulations for the UGA due on April 2, 2009. Joel Peterson noted that the land use planning compliance portion is due on March 31, 2009. Director of Community Development Al Scalf explained that they will need a legislative decision from the Board before March 31 on the master land use application. David Alvarez reviewed other important WWGMHB deadlines in April and noted that the Compliance Hearing isn't scheduled until June 2,2009. Joel Peterson added that the County must be in compliance in order to be approved for a Public Works Trust Fund grant and that application deadline is in mid-May. Chairman Sullivan explained that minor changes can be made on the compliance work that has been done when it is opened for public comment, but sweeping changes, such as changing the UGA boundaries, would affect all the other studies that have been done to come into compliance. Al Scalf noted that the Sewer Facility Plan is a good example because it has already been approved by the State Department of Health and Department of Ecology. Although, this document will be open to public comment, the Department is recommending that no changes be made. He thinks that the majority of comments will be made about the development regulations. Page 4 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2,2009 The Board discussed the process over the next few months. Commissioner Johnson noted that he would like DCD to schedule a workshop with the Board on the development regulations. Washington State Department of Ecology Draft Instream Flow Rule: Neil Harrington and David Alvarez presented several documents to the Board regarding the instream flow rule including correspondence from various agencies. Neil Harrington explained that the instream flow rule will manage new water withdrawals in Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 17 which includes the area north of Brinnon to the Clallam County line. This is a revision to the Washington Administrative Code. The Department of Ecology first proposed the change in 2005 which was met with widespread opposition. The County Commissioners passed Resolution No. 68-05 at that time that explained the County's position on the proposal. The Department of Ecology has worked with various stakeholders since then and issued preliminary draft rules on January 9 and 21. They are accepting comments until February 13 and expect to have a final draft available by the end of February. In April, they will formally file the draft and an economic and environmental analysis at the Code Reviser's Office. A hearing and public comment period will follow and it will be signed into law in six months. This rule will affect new uses of water such as exempt wells for domestic use. The goal is to preserve stream flows for fish habitat. Groundwater reserves and a new conservation standard of 500 gallons a day maximum with an average of 350 gallons a day will be set. The Little Quilcene, Tarboo, Thorndyke, Ludlow, Salmon and Snow watersheds have reserves. A very small reserve has been set for the Chimacum watershed and new domestic use is limited to indoor use. The rule does allow for mitigation of new water uses. This will become effective when someone wants to use water outside in the Chimacum water basin or when a reserve is used up in one of the other watersheds and people still want to build a residence. To do this, a home owner will have to mitigate water for water. In the Walla Walla basin, where the instream flow rule was put in about a year ago, one of their mitigation strategies was to buy a parcel of water from an irrigation company that was put into trust and will stay in the stream. If someone builds a new house, they pay for a mitigation certificate which means that the irrigation district will not use that amount of water. The Planning Unit has begun to brainstorm about creating mitigation structures that will give landowners options upfront to be able to have full use of their property. There was a discussion about whether options to improve the stream habitat for the fish would be considered in the mitigations or if they would be limited to water for water. Several other possible mitigations were discussed. The County's Water Team sent a comment letter on the proposed instream flow rule to DOE last week which was signed by the County Administrator. The letter stated the County's concerns. DOE also received a comment letter from the National Marine Fisheries Service that County staff is concerned about. The Fisheries Service is charged with preserving stocks of fish. They are recommending that no reserve of water be allowed in Chimacum, Salmon, Snow, and Little Quilcene River water basins. The draft rule allows the use of a small amount of surface water from the Big Quilcene and Chimacum to be used in winter months. The Fisheries Service is asking that this use be removed from the document. This would reduce the reserve in the Big Quiicene River from 200,000 gallons to 20,000 gallons. The Fisheries Service stated that they are concerned about Summer Chum habitat in low flow years. Page 5 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2,2009 Chairman Sullivan noted that over the years, the stakeholders have worked with DOE to come to agreement on reserve numbers. This comment by the Fisheries Service is not based on any new data. Chairman Sullivan stated that the boundaries of the water basins do not correspond to parcel boundaries. A parcel can overlap into two water basins. He noted that maps will be important during the public comment period because property owners will want to know what basin their property is located in. There was a discussion about the creation of a water bank and new agricultural uses in the Chimacum basin. Neil Harrington stated that a water right may be sold, transferred, or leased for a number of years. However, any water right mitigation that DOE approves has to be certain over time. There is currently a study being done on the feasibility of water banking and the information is expected to be available to the public by the end of the year. There was continued discussion about water for new residences versus new agricultural uses. The County Administrator added that another issue to be addressed by monitoring and enforcement is if a land use changed. The Board is promoting new agriculture in the County and the cost of water from the water bank would have to be adjusted down for that agriculture. There was also a discussion about the need to create a Water Policy Board and how their activities would be funded. County Administrator Briefing Session: County Administrator Philip Morley reviewed the following items with the Board. . Finance Committee Meeting. The Finance Committee met today and revised investment policies to temporarily allow Treasurer Judi Morris more flexibility in investing County funds to safely respond to the present changing financial environment. The Committee will review the policy on April 27, 2009. . Coordination of Lobbying Efforts in Olympia. Lobbying priorities, including water banking bills, mineral extraction severance fees, ferry funding, retaining Old Fort Townsend and Bogachiel State Parks, retaining State funding for chemical dependency programs and potential changes to provisions for the 1/10'" of 1% Mental Health Sales Tax, funding for the Irondale/Port UGA Sewer System, and State and federal economic stimulus submittals by Jefferson County. . Agriculture in the County. Finding continued funding for agriculture support programs by Washington State University/Cooperative Extension, the Jefferson County Conservation District and others. . Proposed Paradise Bay Large Onsite Sewer System(LOSS): The current status of the Paradise Bay project to use $96,000 previously awarded by the Hood Canal Coordinating Council for a sewer line; and whether connecting the Brinnon Community Center to the State Parks sewer line might be a contingency use for the funds if the Paradise Bay project runs into problems. . Agreement with Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP): The status of this agreement which is for operating the community centers and an opener in the agreement to allow the Quilcene/Brinnon Chamber of Commerce to make their case that they should take over the operation of the Brinnon Community Center and Hotel instead of having OlyCAP continue their program at Brinnon. Page 6 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of February 2, 2009 . Access to Commissioners Packet Materials and Meeting Proceedings: Staff is doing research on increasing public access to these documents and meetings. The Board emphasized their support for making improvements that are affordable and practical due to budget and staffing constraints. NOTICE OF ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Austin moved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 3 :04 p.m. to the Special Meetings with State Legislators in Olympia on February 5. Commissioner Johnson seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ~~ / / L / ,,/' __'C / ~.. . Dav1 u 1" , air MEETING ADJOURNED ATTEST: ~~~ CfT1C Clerk of the Board i4t/~ Phil Johnson, Member ~Q& Page 7