Brevard Soil and Water Conservation District

Brevard Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors
Business Meeting Minutes

The Brevard Soil and Water Conservation District met in regular public session on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at 4:00 p.m., in the conference room of the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard Co., at 3695 Lake Drive, Cocoa, FL.

Chairman Bud Crisafulli called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.

Board members present: Bud Crisafulli, Chairman, Supervisor Group 5
Adam Tritt, Co-Chairman, Supervisor Group 1 Jim Sloan, Secretary, Supervisor Group 2 Jonathan Schuman, Treasurer, Supervisor Group 4
Chelsea Partridge, Information Officer, Supervisor Group 3

Staff members present: Joe Walter, Agriculture Extension Agent, UF/IFAS Extension Brevard
Beth Shephard, UF/IFAS County Extension Director, Brevard County

Visitors and Presenters: Walter Albarran, Supervisor, Area 3 for Field Operations,
USDA-NRCS

Presented Documents.

No documents were presented by the Staff, Presenters and Supervisors for information review, committee reporting, approval by motion and/or authorization vote of the Board.

Reported for Public Records.

No documents were presented by the Board Supervisors which must be published in the public record as attachments to these Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District, Board of Supervisor business meeting minutes.

Guest Presentations.

No guest presentations were provided to the Board of Supervisors.

Review and Approval of the Current Treasurer’s Report.

The board treasurer, Jonathan Schuman, provided the treasurer’s report for March 1st to March 31st, 2022, to the board, with a report that the check for $2500 to UF/IFAS for 4H programs had cleared the Bank of America checking account before closing date of his report. Balance of the account on March 31st was $49,100.38.

The motion by Adam Tritt to approve the March 1st to March 31st, 2022, Treasurer’s Report was
seconded by Chelsea Partridge. The motion passed without amendment by unanimous vote of the supervisors present.

Review and Approval of Minutes for the prior Board of Supervisors meeting.

The board secretary, James Sloan, presented the business meeting minutes for the previous public business meeting held on Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, with no reported corrections, changes or comments after review of the supervisors.

The motion made by Adam Tritt, to approve the March 9th,2022, Board of Supervisors’ Business Meeting Minutes, was seconded by Chelsea Partridge. The motion without amendment passed by unanimous vote of the supervisors.

Staff Update

Storm Water Exemption Program.
Mike Engelgau was not available at the meeting to report on the current number of those expressing interest in the Storm Water Exemption Program and whether changes in phone numbers was due to clients moving or selling property may be a contributing factor to the low contact rate by the NRCS Cocoa Service Center staff.

Supervisor Partridge, along with other NRCS Cocoa Service Center staff, will jointly attend future meetings at the Viera government center. They will review procedures and requirements, as well as provide verification of commitments and accomplishments of participants in the Brevard County Storm Water Fee Exemption Program.

USDA NRCS Cocoa Service Office District Conservationist Report
There was no District Conservationist Report provided to this Brevard SWCD Supervisors business Meeting by the USDA NRCS Cocoa Service Office for the March 2022 period. The current report will be emailed to each supervisor, so an updated District email list has been forwarded to Walter Albarran. Walter Albarran of USDA/NRCS Area 3 provided an update on the Cocoa office conservationist position vacancy and USDA/NRCS program access for agricultural producers and their progress on managing accepted and funded contracts with producers within Area 3.

Old BSWCD Meeting Business

Update on “SB 1078/HB 783 –Soil and Water Conservation Districts”.

Supervisor Sloan has followed the progress of Senate Bill 1078 as it reportedly moved from legislative approval and enrollment to the Governor’s desk for his signature, his veto or to automatically become law after a 30 day. As of April 12th the Florida Governor’s 2022 Bill Actions did not list any action on Senate Bill 1078.

The board was informed that there will be a ZOOM discussion with the Districts and FDACS/OAWP on Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 at 9:00 am EST to follow up on the questions gathered by AFCD. The link for joining the ZOOM meeting and/or phone number for joining by audio only can be found on the AFCD email message from Charlene Meeks that all supervisors received on Friday, April 8th.

Update on Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District Support of Urban Agriculture.

Reference: News Release, by USDA NRCS Florida State Office. Gainesville FL, March 7, 2022. Subject: USDA NRCS Accepts Applications from Florida Producers, Landowners for EQIP Urban Agricultural Initiative

Urban Agriculture Initiative USDA NRCS Funding Schedule Milestones:
* 3/7/22 -News Release from USDA NRCS Florida State Office $500,000 funding.
* 4/8/22 – Batching date.
* 5/13/22 – Deadline for participants to meet eligibility.
* 5/27/22 – Screening deadline.
* 6/8/22 – Assessment for assessment/ranking/cost estimate.
* 6/17/22 – Deadline to send intent to proceed letter.
* 7/29/22 – Obligation deadline

Supervisor Partridge reported that the committee for proposing Urban Agriculture projects in Brevard County had not completed that phase of their study. Beth Shepherd of the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County advised the committee members that she could not be a conduit between the two organizations for working proposals. She will be coordinating with Chelsea Partridge on direct contact information for one-on-one meetings with those departments of her extension office having specific responsibility and interest areas relating to urban agriculture initiatives. The noted deadlines for documenting joint proposals from the committee in order to get USDA NRCS Florida State Office $500,000 funding were reaffirmed by Walter Albarran. Chelsea Partridge, Jonathan Schuman, and Adam Tritt all commented on the difficulty of remotely working on proposals among their committee, as well as coordinating proposals directly with different departments of the UF/IFAS Extension office staff.

Joe Walter announced a locally operated livestock processing facility in central Brevard County has made application to operate as a USDA inspected processing plant eligible for retail sale of locally grown meat products. The funding of plant retrofitting and USDA Inspection service was made possible through a USDA monetary grant from their Florida office in accordance with the current USDA policy to decentralize meat processing facilities throughout the United States. He emphasized that he has verified that the requirements for onsite wastewater processing and disposal from the processing plant were included in the facility permitting process.

Chairman Crisafulli commented on a development that has a master plan with small residential areas/communities around a farming area that can be used for community or urban agriculture by the residents. He also asked Beth Shepherd to bring each of her different department heads to next month’s meeting for introductions and Q&A from the supervisors about each department’s function and services.
New Meeting Business

Florida Commission on Ethics new Electronic Financial Disclosure Management System (EFDMS
Notifications for the upcoming financial disclosure filing will be accomplished though emails from the State of Florida Commission on Ethics using their new Electronic Financial Disclosure Management System (EFDMS). Supervisor Sloan was designated in January 2022 as the coordinator for updating and confirming the District’s mailing list of supervisors who must file financial disclosures. The emails will generate from EthicsFDMSinfo@mail.disclosure.floridaethics.gov, so look for those emails and respond to the instructions for online filing of your financial disclosure. State law imposes a fine of $25.00 per day on persons who fail to file the annual disclosure form in a timely fashion.

It is also noted that the following notice is posted on the Commission on Ethics EFDMS log-in website:
* The electronic filing system launched in January. However, since that time, the Legislature passed HB 5003. Once signed into law, it will push the mandatory electronic filing of Form 6 to 2023 and require paper forms for the remainder of 2022.
* Any Form 6 disclosures submitted electronically, prior to the bill becoming law, will be deemed as fulfilling the 2021 financial disclosure requirement.
* Immediately upon the Governor signing HB 5003, the Commission will publish paper versions 2021 Form 6 on its website and the e-filing system will no longer be accessible to Form 6 filers and candidates for Form 6 office(s), for the remainder of 2022. Any unsubmitted drafts in the system will no longer be accessible.

With consensus of the Board, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 5:20 PM on 4/13/2022. Prepared for board review and approval by,
James Sloan Secretary Supervisor, Group 2
May 10, 2022