Attendance: Michelle Wunderlich, Chuck Howell, Jim Vreeland, John Sipos, Barbara Stewart, Dan Winch, Deb Grantham, Sylvia Hurlbut, David Morehouse, Larry Fabroni, Jackie Cassaniti, Jerry Codner, Karen Harjes, Sue Senecah.

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Deb Grantham at 6:30 PM.

Sue Senecah facilitated a discussion on the fee structure for member municipalities of the IO. Currently, there is a flat fee of $900 per municipality per year, which is not enforced. The inequity has been noted in a number of meetings and some municipalities have raised the possibility of in-kind contributions in lieu of monetary payments. This discussion is being held tonight because is the final deliverable of Sue Senecah's contract. No action has to be taken and probably should not be taken until the IO has further defined its future role and structure.

Sue Senecah: The objective is develop a more equitable formula. A funding formula should make sense and be equitable and affordable. The IO should use this opportunity to build relationships by inviting better involvement from the municipalities.

The Governor has recommended that $125 million from FY2000-2001 be restored to the Environmental Protection Fund and that it be funded with $125 million in FY2001-2002 (and then the State would take back $50 to $100 million for the general budget). In order to be eligible for these funds, we need to show an anticipated budget that is justifiable and shows accountability. The fee formula is part of this budget and also should depend on the budget.

Any formula can include in-kind service or expenditures.

Example factors that can be used in the formula are: area in the watershed; percent area in the watershed; lake frontage; miles of tributaries; pollutant loading; population density; discharge; volume of water consumed; and tourist income.

There was a discussion about the fact that the RPP addresses the entire watershed, including tributaries and groundwater, not just the lake. So municipalities without lake frontage benefit and contribute.

Other comments included: the fee should stay small and flat to encourage participation; upstream communities should be taken into consideration since what they do may not affect their own community very much but may affect downstream communities a great deal; the fee is an easy way to participate; staff time is an easier way to make a contribution than a cash fee; and the IO needs a professional proposal writer (Union Springs has just retained one and will get the information to Deb Grantham).

Many thanks to Sue Senecah for her work with the IO.

Financial report:

The December financial report does not include the $5,000 pledged to the IO by the Tompkins County Health Department for printing of the RPP. A letter requesting the funding was sent to the Health Department in late 2001 and the funding should be forthcoming in January.

Also outstanding is a refund of about $3,500 of unexpended funds from the Central New York Regional Planning Council. That will be transferred to the Town of Ledyard and then to the Town of Dryden, probably in January.

The committee Reports were given:

Deb Grantham again requested that the committees meet and prepare work plans for implementing the RPP. The work plans may involve only the committee members but may involve recruiting others to help with implementation. So far, the Education, Public Participation, and Outreach Committee (EPPOC), the Financial/Grants Committee, and the Technical Advisory Committee have done so.

Technical Advisory Committee (TAC): Deb Grantham reported that the TAC met on January 9, 2002. The TCE spill has been removed from the agenda because the US Environmental Protection Agency has decided to conduct a comprehensive aquifer study. The septage spreading discussion and a fuller response to sediment as a priority issue are underway. The canal issue is still on the agenda.

Deb Grantham sent Bob Brower, RACNE, a letter requesting a tour and discussion of possible collaboration and Jose Losano is working on a date for a tour of the RACNE facilities. The Network will be included in this tour.

TAC is organizing a mini-conference on monitoring (what is being done and what are the gaps in knowledge that need to be filled) to be held at Wells College on March 19 (tentatively 9 am to noon). Speakers are by invitation.

Finance Committee: Deb Grantham is working on an application for funding to the Great Lakes Coastal Watershed Restoration Program, due January 31, 2002. It is a revision of the Bond Act funding application submitted in August, 2001. Jose Losano (Finance and TAC) and Kate Hackett (TAC) have provided input on the application. Other comments are welcome. The Bond Act application is posted on the Web site.

Agriculture Committee: The committee has not met and Chuck Howell agreed to convene the committee to choose a chair, an IO liaison, and begin setting a work plan.

EPPOC: Karin Harjes, Chair of EPPOC, reported that the committee has begun work on a watershed-wide media campaign. We will not know if the funding requested from the USEPA will be received until April or May, but there is some work that can be done with little or no funding. The first task is completing a speaker bureau list. Another task is preparing a standard Powerpoint presentation that IO members can use at municipal and other meetings. And the media campaign task is to write, record and air radio PSAs that provide information about watershed issues, what action individuals can take, and how to get involved in the IO and the Network. Sue Senecah re-iterated her suggestion that EPPOC get a slide presentation into the movie theaters, saying that they are always looking for silent leaders to their showings.

Legislative Committee: John Sipos will convene that committee and make some revisions to the by-laws in preparation for the next meeting. The committee also was requested to think about how to begin getting municipalities to adopt the model ordinances contained in the RPP.

Deb Grantham will get a current list of IO representatives with emails only onto the Web site.

Next meeting: February 27, 2002, Ledyard Town Hall. Finance/Executive meeting at 6:30 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Submitted by: Deb Grantham