Brevard Soil and Water Conservation District

The Brevard Soil and Water Conservation District met in regular public session on Wednesday, August 12,2020, at 4:00 p.m., in the UF/IFAS auditorium, UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County, 3695 Lake Drive,
Cocoa, Florida.

The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Bud Crisafulli, at 4:00 p.m. COVID-19 personal and environmental protection procedures for public meetings in Brevard County buildings and areas were in effect at the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Board members present were: Bud Crisafulli; Henry Minneboo; Jonathan Schuman ; and James Sloan.

Staff members present: Joe Walter

Guests present: Chelsea Partridge

Attached Documents

Passed by Motion & Vote –

* Treasurer’s Report for the Period of July 8, 2020 to August 11, 2020.
* Minutes for the July 8, 2020 Board of Supervisors meeting.
* Minutes for the June 10, 2020 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Reported for Public Records –

* Memorandum for Record. Dated July 9, 2020. Subject: Telecon meeting with Virginia Barker, Director Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department.

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

Motion by Henry Minneboo, seconded by Jim Sloan to approve meeting minutes for June 10, 2020. The motion was passed by unanimous vote of the supervisors.

Motion by Henry Minneboo, seconded by Jonathan Schuman to approve meeting minutes for July 8, 2020. The motion was passed by unanimous vote of the supervisors.

Review and Approval of Treasurer’s Reports.

Motion by Henry Minneboo, seconded by Jonathan Schuman, to approve treasurer’s report for period July 8, 2020 to August 11, 2020 as presented for Adam Perez. The motion passed by unanimous vote of the supervisors.

Old Business

Jim Sloan provided an MFR, for public record, of his scheduled meeting by telephone with Virginia Barker of the Brevard County Department of Natural Resources Management on July 9th. There were several issues discussed that concern plans by her department and/or the Brevard County Commissioners for continuation of the biosolid disposal moratorium and possible actions if there is a reoccurrence of contamination in the Lake Washington water reservoir.   A memorandum for record was prepared to document the discussion and was distributed to Supervisors for review prior to the August board meeting.

Jim Sloan has withdrawn his proposal for preparation of an update and status report from the Brevard District to Director Pettit, FDACS Agriculture Water Policy, concerning the upper St Johns river basin soil & water testing project at the permitted biosolid deposit areas upon agricultural property. The report was to include Brevard County, St Johns Water Management District and UF/IUS Extension Agriculture Agency recommendations and policy on control and remediation for environmental impact of permitted biosolid deposits upon agricultural land use areas. The format for the report was to be as a PowerPoint presentation with supervisors receiving draft slides in .pdf format for review prior to consideration as an agenda item during the August board meeting. The timeliness for presenting such a report to our cooperating support agency is impacted by the current political election season and COVID 19 pandemic environment, as well as, budget and Clean Waterways Act appropriation reviews at State government level agencies. The consensus of the supervisors was that the proposal should be taken up again after the January 12, 2021 organizational meeting of the District Board of Supervisors. Emphasis will be placed on gaining the support of the FDACS Commissioner and FL Governor for procurement, by FL DEP, of a pilot biosolid combustion processing plant using innovative technology that provides a wide range of beneficial end products from regional WTTP biosolids processing.

Adam Perez had stated that, as per the January 8, 2020 meeting minutes, his term as Board Secretary and Board Treasurer was to expire at the July 8th board meeting. Jim Sloan has assumed the role as Board Secretary. After discussion about the transition of Bank of America checking and CD accounts, Jonathan Schuman volunteered to accept the Board Treasurer position for the remainder of this calendar year, AD 2020. Due to the logistics of getting a new account holder authorized onto the District’s bank account, the Board had proposed and agreed to simply retain Adam as the account holder until his term in office expires on January 12, 2021. This agreement and Jonathan Schuman, as Board Treasurer, will be taken up with Adam Perez in attendance and confirmed as old business during the September 9, 2020 board meeting.

Jonathan Schuman asked for discussion of the source of revenue from St Johns Water Management District and its impact on District fund levels and audit requirements. Our Treasurer’s reports show that the St Johns WMD grazing-rights lease payments by L. F. Bar, Inc. are provided annually to the Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District. The 2019 lease payment of $3,900 was made by L. F. Bar, Inc. and deposited to our checking account on 7/17/2019. The 2020 lease payment of $3,900 was made by L. F. Bar, Inc. and deposited to our checking account on 1/21/2020. Bud Crisafulli stated that the accounts audit requirement comes into play when our end-of-year account balance total is $50,000 or greater, therefore, necessary expenditures should be completed and paid before the end of calendar year 2020 to keep the total accounts balance below $50,000.

New Business

Joe Walter, UF/IFAS Extension Agricultural Agent, announced that he has submitted an abstract and poster, high-lighting multiagency project cooperation, to the National Association of Agricultural Extension Agents. The lessons learned about our soil and water testing at the Deer Park Ranch biosolid permitted spread acreage made two points. The first was that multiagency cooperation was needed to answer the question as to whether there was biosolid contamination runoff into the St Johns river basin. The second point was that the question was answered as stated in cooperative project test findings reported by the soil and water sampling agencies.
Jim Sloan provided some commentary and notes on the Florida Statute Chapter 2020-150 (called the Clean Waterways Act of July 1st 2020) as enacted by Governor DeSantis as a result of an omnibus bill passed by the Florida Senate. It supports the Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ promotion and advocation for water quality projects, as well as, supports emphasis on best management practices for agricultural land-use areas, along with interagency rules for biosolid applications and remediation of subsequent  environmental contamination. He urged the supervisors and staff to open the new Law of Florida – Chapter 2020-150 “Clean Waterways Act of July 1st 2020” at http://laws.flrules.org/files/Ch_2020-150.pdf. and read the 3-page executive summary. It leads into the changes in environmental resources and management activities (Development, Reporting, Monitoring & Remediation) that our supporting State agencies will make over the next two years. Two sections of the act; Best Management Practices and Biosolids Management; cover issues directly relevant to our work within the Brevard district; and cooperating support we request from those agencies mentioned in the statute. The presentation was limited by available time, so the chairman asked for continuation of the presentation at the September board meeting.

Upon consensus of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Prepared for board review and approval by ,

Secretary, Board of Supervisors
James E. Sloan
8/31/2020