INTERMUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION MEETING

10/18/00, 7:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Ithaca-Tompkins County Transit Center

Ithaca, New York

R=designated representative for municipality

RA=designated alternate representative for municipality

*Municipality has signed and submitted the “Call for Cooperation” (intermunicipal agreement)

1. Welcome, Introductions, Approval of Minutes: Meeting began at 7:10 P.M. S. Hurlbut welcomed everyone. Introductions were made of all attendees. Acceptance of minutes from 9/20/00 meeting moved by D. Morehouse. J. Lozano seconded. K. Bertuch confirmed future IO meetings would be scheduled on the 4th Wed. of each month. All in favor. Motion carried.

2. Issue Prioritization and Wells College Presentation: D. Zorn stated that 27 municipalities returned completed Issue Prioritization forms. He noted that municipal participation in the IO is weakest on the west side of the lake and suggested that efforts to boost membership in that area be made.

The Wells presentation will focus on the top 15 issues as ranked by watershed municipalities. Much of the presentation will focus on highlighting the relationship between the priority issues identified by municipalities and the issues identified in the preliminary characterization report.

IO members had an opportunity to observe and comment on the scheduled presentation. Due to the number of slides and comments received from the audience, the presentation ran longer than the 10 to 15 minute allotted time frame. Slides will combined/eliminated to reduce overall time of the presentation.

3. EOPP Committee Report: J. Codner distributed a list of questions developed by the EOPP Committee. The Committee intends to distribute the list for completion by municipal officials attending the Wells program. The completed sheet will be collected as a form of requested feedback. The questions will also be used to stir discussion at the tables.

D. Winch stated that municipal officials in attendance will want to learn about specific actions they can suggest to their boards and the question list will not facilitate this educational process. S. Hurlbut suggested that it would be more effective to have municipal officials take the sheet back to their municipalities and use it to stir discussion among their boards. D. Winch suggested that a single page of benefits associated with the management plan should be distributed.

D. Keifer stated that small group discussions need to be focused and facilitated. J. Lozano suggested that a representative from each group be responsible for drawing conclusions and reporting back to the larger audience. It was noted that there are no plans to have small group reports.

J. Lozano questioned the need to devote 45 minutes to the small group discussion. D. Keifer suggested that some portion of the discussion time be re-allocated to D. Zorn’s opening presentation and discussion of the priority issues. J. Codner agreed that the table discussions should be restricted to 30 minutes.

The EOPP Committee is scheduling the first set of four public participation meetings in January. Snow dates will be arranged and publicized ahead of time. The meetings and snow dates will be scheduled between January 9 and Feb. 10.

S. Hurlbut distributed the Manhasset Bay model for developing a pro-rated method of assessing IO Membership dues. Members were asked to review the model and be prepared to discuss development of a similar method for the Cayuga Lake Watershed during the November IO meeting.

J. Lozano stated that the cost of producing the CD ROM version of the Characterization report have risen by $195. The cost increase is the result of a need to modify the computer files provided for production. D. Morehouse moved to increase CD ROM expenditures previously approved by the IO by the amount of $200. D. Keifer seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.

When available, the CD-ROM will be distributed by U.S. Mail. The cost will be covered by the IO membership fund, however without knowing how many copies will be distributed, a specific funding request could not be approved.

At the November meeting the IO will be asked to approve the payment of $2,000 to G-FLRPC to cover expenses associated with preparing the Characterization for publication on the Internet and for use in the development of the CD-ROM.

D. Winch was unable to secure estimates for printing the draft and final Management Plan reports due to uncertainties related to the ultimate length and layout of the document. K. Bertuch reported printing estimates from two sources that suggested the final cost for printing the draft could be done within the $2,000 budgeted by DOS ($1,063 for 125 B&W copies [NO COLOR GRAPHICS] of a 100 double sided page document, no frills cover, copies generated from an existing hard copy). All estimates for printing the final Plan exceeded the $3,000 budgeted under the DOS contract. These estimates ranged from $3,640 to $10,549. No action was taken to approve funds for printing at this time.

J. Lozano requested the IO’s support for a funding initiative that promotes coordination between all water quality programs within the counties of the Cayuga Lake watershed and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Management Plan. After some discussion, D. Morehouse stated that while he agrees with the reasoning behind this initiative, he needs a clearer understanding of what is being asked. S. Hurlbut requested that J. Lozano re-write his description of the initiative and re-submit the request for IO support at the November meeting.

The IO will meet on the fourth Wed. of each month through the remainder of the project. However, because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the November IO meeting will be held on the 5th Wed. of November (November 29). The IO meeting schedule for December will be discussed at the November meeting in Seneca Falls.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 P.M.