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01/15/2003 ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY BOARD CITY OF CLEARWATER JANUARY 15, 2003 WORK SESSION Present: Rev. Sandra Jamieson Chairperson Alan Smith Vice Chair Clorinda Gilreath Board Member D. Michael Flanery Board Member Also Present Al Carrier Asst. Dir. Of Engineering/ESM Andy Neff Public Utilities Director John Milligan WPC Supervisor Robert Powers Leslie Dougall-Sides Assistant City Attorney Norma Skinner Staff Assistant II Absent David Rhame Board Member The Chair called the Work Session meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. Items for Discussion Current Issues to be Brought Before the Board After attending the Work Session, the Chair reported the EAB is doing their job. The City Commission would like the Board to be more visible and proactive. Chair asked the members that whenever they see issues of environmental concern, to bring them before the board by calling them in to Al Carrier or Norma so that they may be put on the next meeting’s agenda. Al Carrier stated that we are going to have another public meeting around the end of February or beginning of March to give the public an update regarding the soccer field and lights. He will keep the EAB informed so they may attend the meeting. Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPP) Robert Powers, the Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator from Public Utilities gave a presentation on the pretreatment of wastewater. He covered the purpose, government regulations, goals and the grease program. The pretreatment program is a Federal requirement under the Cleanwater Act. The goals of IPP are to protect the health and welfare of the community, to protect the wastewater treatment process and also protect our investment in capital infrastructure by reducing maintenance. Regulating and monitoring the industries, that discharge to the wastewater system accomplishes this. Several years ago grease was identified as being a major problem within the city. Since then, an ordinance was developed to start enforcing the grease program. The grease inhibits the biological process, clogs the filtration system and can pass into the environment. The wastewater facilities treat by using a biological process. The Environmental Protection Agency requires that we issue permits to industrial users that discharge to the sanitary sewer and inspect each facility, at least, yearly. They also require annual reports in order to have enforcement. Minor users and residential users also impact the system. In the future, user education regarding grease control is planned through public workshops, web sites and pollution prevention. Chair asked if the county is on the same level in terms of their water treatment management. Mr. Powers said that they have a slightly different process, but also have an industrial pretreatment program for wastewater. Mr. Neff gave a brief update on a couple of major projects. The water plant is still under construction. Completion is expected in August ’03. The reclaimed projects of notable importance are Harbor Oaks and Drew and Union Street The Harbor Oaks project is in the last stages of the design review. It will probably be presented to the City Commission at the 2nd meeting in March for their consideration. The Drew and Union Street project ran into some snags due to right of way and technical issues. The Seville and Sunset project has been approved for funding by SWFWMD, but we are awaiting the contracts. As soon as the contracts are received, they will be presented to the City Commission. The next phase is the Del Oro area in the southeastern side of the city. One of the other items of interest is the Aquifer Storage and Recovery project (ASR). This is still in the feasibility study stage. There are multiple locations in Florida and throughout the United States using ASR, but for reclaimed water, there is not a completed project in Florida, although there are some in the cycle testing stage. Readdress the Mission Statement Chair asked the members if they wanted to make any change to the Mission Statement. Member Flanery suggested changing the statement to read: “...to improve the quality of life in the City of Clearwater”, instead of “...for the citizens of Clearwater”. This will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. Environmental Board Policy Manual Revision Chair discussed the EAB policy manual. Member Rhames had some concerns regarding the manual and had offered to update it. He asked that it be typed and presented in a more professional form. He requested to have current materiel in the front and old items in the back under history. Chair asked staff to have a draft of the policy manual ready for review at the next meeting. Environmental Concern List The environmental concerns that we need to look at are the waterways, land use, recycled water, water quality, erosion, coastal issues, and vegetation changes, such as Brazilian pepper. There isn’t a category for sea turtles or manatees. Al Carrier suggested adding the heading of marine habitat for marine life. Mr. Flanery said it would be a good idea to add ecotourism to the environmental concern list. Pinellas County is an ecotourism county; they have designated themselves as such. If we state we are maintaining the ecology to bring in the tourists, it makes money sense and becomes cost effective. Some of the things Mr. Flanery listed on his ecotourism list include underwater springs, underwater archeology and reef diving. Chair suggested adding these items to the list of environmental concerns for review at the next meeting so they can vote on it. List of members’ expiration dates will be included in the next packet. Rev. Jamieson’s term as Chair expires in April. She would like to see someone elected as chair and another person as vice-chair, with the understanding that when the chair’s term is over the vice-chair will take over as chair. Meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.