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, June 8, 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 Chrisafulli noted there was a quorum and 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
Chelsea Partridge, Information Officer, Supervisor Group3

Staff members present:
Mike Engelgau, Staff Soil & Water Engineering Technician

Presented Documents.

* Association of Florida Conservation Districts (AFCD), 2022 Area Four Meeting Agenda, June 18, 2022. Host: Hillsborough Soil & Water conservation District Florida.
* Governor Ron DeSantis Receives Seven Bills from the Florida Legislature, News Release by Governor’s Staff, June 22, 2022. With attached summary of Governor’s action on 2022 bills as approved by the Florida Legislature.

Reported for Public Records.

* Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Minutes, May 11th of 2022. With updates.
* Brevard SWCD Treasurer’s Report, May 1st to May 31st of 2022.
* Letter to Governor DeSantis from Brevard Soil & Water District, Subj: Support for Funding of Indian River Lagoon Restoration Projects, Dated: May 18, 2022.

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 May 1st to May 31st , 2022, to the board, with editorial corrections to the report. Balance of the account on May 31st was $49,000.38.

The motion by Chelsea Partridge to approve the May 1st to May 31st of 2022, Treasurer’s Report was
seconded by Adam Tritt. The motion passed without amendment by unanimous vote of the supervisors present. A file copy has been provided to Mike Engelgau for upload to the BSWCD website.

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, May 11th, 2022. A discussion was entered by Chelsea Partridge to clarify the Staff Update reported in the section on the Storm Water Exemption Program. Details of that discussion are reported in the following Staff Update of these minutes. The motion made by Adam Tritt, to approve the May 11th ,2022, Board of Supervisors’ Business Meeting Minutes, was seconded by Chelsea Partridge. The motion without amendment passed by unanimous vote of the supervisors. A file copy has been provided to Mike Engelgau for upload to the BSWCD website.

Staff Update

Storm Water Exemption Program.
Mike Engelgau previously reported that 15 clients have expressed interest in the Brevard County Storm Water Exemption Program. He had visited 14 locations and verified that each has implemented their USDA Conservation Plan for control of stormwater runoff. Since that report in June he has visited and verified the one property where the owner could not be contacted. A sixteenth property owner has now responded to the program invitation letter and has claimed exemption participation in the Brevard County Storm Water Exemption Program. All sixteen locations that responded to the registered letter have been visited and can claim exemption for the Brevard County fee on their property tax bill.

USDA NRCS Cocoa Service Office District Conservationist Report
There was no District Conservationist Report provided to this Brevard SWCD Supervisors business Meeting. Applications for the Brevard/Osceola District Conservationist position closed on May 4th. The USDA/NRCS has not commented on their progress towards filling that open district conservationist position.

Old BSWCD Meeting Business

Update on “Senate Bill 1078/House Bill 783 –Soil and Water Conservation Districts”.

Supervisor Sloan has been following 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 wait period of 30 days. As of June 8 the Governor’s staff report listed CS/CS/CS/SB 1078 – Soil and Water conservation Districts as received from the Florida Legislature. The Florida Governor has until June 23 to act on Senate Bill 1078.
New Meeting Business

Florida Conservation Districts (AFCD) 2022 Area Four Meeting
An update to the Association of Florida Conservation Districts (AFCD) 2022 Area Four Meeting Agenda on Saturday, June 18th of 2022 was distributed to all supervisors. It was noted that the Hillsborough Soil & Water conservation District Florida is hosting the 2022 Area Four AFCD Meeting. The drive over to that location takes several hours and Brevard District supervisors could not make it by the meeting’s 9:00 am start time. The host changed the start time to 10:00 am and will offer a ZOOM link. The supervisors were advised that if they will attend the meeting or join it by ZOOM linkage, then they must complete a registration form and send it to the Hillsborough host email address listed on the form.

State Budget and General Appropriation Infrastructure Items

On May 13th of 2022 Supervisor Sloan was requested, by the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition, to contact the Governor’s Office and voice support for approval of the following list of 2022 legislative appropriations. Finalized funding for the eight General Appropriation projects totals several million dollars and will improve the health and dire water conditions of Brevard County’s Indian River Lagoon.
1. VETO Senate Bill 2508 (Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson <R-Trilby> )
o SB 2508 was inserted in the State’s budget at the 11th hour and would undo much of the progress that is being made to clean up Lake Okeechobee. Please VETO!
2. SUPPORT General Appropriation Act Line 57-FIT Lagoon Inflow Restoration Project
o Line 57 provides $921,500 for a demonstration project to evaluate controlled introduction of seawater into the IRL to help restoration. Please SUPPORT!
3. SUPPORT the following General Appropriations Act Line items that will help restore the Health of the Indian River Lagoon:
o Line 1665A/HB 3697/LFIR 1342 Brevard County Indian River Lagoon Septic Upgrades Phase 2
o Line 1665A/HB 3699/LFIR 1341 Brevard County Indian River Lagoon Quick Connects to Sewer Phase 2
o Line 1650A/LFIR 2714 Riverside Drive Force Main Improvements
o Line 1650A/LFIR 2713 South Beaches WWTP Conversion to AWT
o Line 1650A/HB 3885/LFIR 1340 Cocoa Beach Muck Capping and Dredging
o Line 1665A/HB 2187/LFIR 1091 Melbourne Spring Creek Water Quality Project
o Line 1665A/HB 4159/LFIR 2746 Titusville Osprey Water Reclamation Plant Nutrient Removal Upgrades
On May 18th of 2022 a letter, with Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District’s support for those general appropriations line items, was sent to Governor Ron DeSantis. The VETO of Senate Bill 2308 was not addressed in our letter, since all Lake Okeechobee projects are outside the Brevard District jurisdiction. On June 7th of 2022 the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition notified Supervisor Sloan that Governor DeSantis had approved all eight General Appropriation Act line infrastructure items and there was a VETO of Senate Bill 2508 dealing with Lake Okeechobee environmental improvements projects. Copies of the support letter and the Governor’s actions on the 2022 Senate Bill 2508 and General Appropriations Infrastructure line items for Brevard County were provided to each supervisor and staff member in attendance at the business meeting.

With consensus of the Board, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 5:00 PM on June 8th, 2022.

Prepared for board review and approval by,

James E. Sloan
Secretary
Supervisor Group 2
Brevard Soil & Water Conservation District