HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources May 22 2007WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Natural Resources Committee
May 22, 2007
Committee Chair Dan McShane called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. in the
Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
Present: Absent:
Seth Fleetwood None
Carl Weimer
Also Present:
L. Ward Nelson
Barbara Brenner
Sam Crawford
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION
1. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE COUNTY'S VARIOUS NATURAL RESOURCE
PROGRAMS AND HOW THEY ARE DISTRIBUTED AMONGST COUNTY
DEPARTMENTS (AB2007 -160)
McShane stated money is set aside in the budget to prioritize natural resources
issues. The administration has had meetings on this issue. He would like to hear the
administration's thoughts.
Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated members of the administration met to
gain clarity about the services and support available and planned for the next few years.
The administration asked for a multi- department review of the various programs, expected
outcomes, and assignment of staff and resources during the 2007 and 2008 budget cycle.
He submitted information (on file) that includes a comprehensive list of programs in the
budget. As a result of the administration's review, they discussed how to address a
fundamental program to develop a summary of all goals, policies, and objectives in many of
the plans, identify gaps, develop criteria -based model, and a process to be used to prioritize
and decide on the key next steps they have to deal with. They've developed a draft
strategic plan and organizational structure for natural resource programs and services in the
future. The handout includes that draft plan. He hopes to combine strengths and resources
from specialized consultants along with the staff. One idea is to create a short-term action
team from various departments to work on some of the desired outcomes for this
integration project. The short-term action team would work on an action plan and identify
resources. He asked if this is the kind of information this committee is seeking and whether
this plan is consistent with the direction in which the Council would like to go.
Fleetwood stated the handout references the water resource plan. He asked if this
effort is just about water or broader natural resource issues. Desler stated the most recent
plan is called the water resource integration project. There are also issues related to
agriculture preservation and forestry that may impinge on this. The administration is trying
to focus on water issues. They are trying to carve out sections of activities from many
departments to focus on water issues. This is not an integration program of all activities,
but only of water resource activities. The administration needs assistance from the Council
to design the boundaries of the program. He wants the program to be flexible enough to
encompass a larger scope if appropriate.
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page i
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2 Fleetwood asked if phase three of this effort would get to a financial strategy by
3 which they can identify and prioritize water related projects countywide. He asked if phase
4 three of this effort would get to a comprehensive financial plan for implementing projects
5 countywide. Desler stated the material from phase two and phase three are not funded.
6 The budget supports phase one. The details of the later phases will be determined at the
7 conclusion of phase one.
8
9 Fleetwood asked if a financial strategy will be developed in phase two and how long
10 this project would last. Desler stated phase one will be done before the end of this year.
11 Then they would start on those elements of phases two and three that will be built and
12 recommended during the first few months of phase one. They wouldn't deal with phase two
13 until 2008.
14
15 Fleetwood stated phase two says that a financial strategy will be developed. He
16 asked if they will have a plan resulting from phase two that would identify and prioritize all
17 the water efforts. Desler stated there will be recommendations for a financial strategy.
18
19 Weimer stated he appreciates this information. Phase one is looking at existing
20 plans, identifying gaps and common themes. He asked if it takes six months to do that.
21 This is something that's been talked about for years. Desler stated there are other priorities
22 and constraints. He wants a product that is not sloppy or inadequate. Key staff is
23 changing. He can commit to talking about this in this committee every two weeks. It will
24 take at least two months.
25
26 Weimer stated the people who are on the short-term action team are doing this work
27 already. Don't slow down projects that are already in process. He asked if implementation
28 of this will slow down other plans. Desler stated it will. New assignments from the Council
29 come to the administration often. He proposes to modify the proposal to have staff build
30 the first phase with targeted assistance from a consulting team. If this isn't the next thing
31 the administration should do, the Council should tell him that.
32
33 Nelson stated this is a way to get a good product. They don't want to rush it and get
34 a poor product. The Council must monitor this as it goes along. Look at economic impacts
35 and projects that make sense for the entire county. They must also consider forestry and
36 agricultural practices and fish habitat restoration. They must have a slow and deliberate
37 process, and connect the effort countywide. He is in favor of the administration's team
38 approach. Make sure phase one is clear about reviewing management systems and other
39 existing programs from other entities. Get a handle on fiscal impacts, ecological
40 maintenance, and habitat protection items. It's more important to tie everything together.
41
42 Weimer stated he likes the idea of using their own staff. They will get better
43 answers. The problem is that they never seem to get to where they want to go. They must
44 figure out how to get the results they want.
45
46 McShane stated they must agree on the Breadth of this effort. Councilmembers in
47 this committee have concerns about some of the issues. The short-term action team
48 doesn't include agriculture and forestry representation. He asked if that is something they
49 want to include.
50
51 Nelson stated they can add County staff related to those issues. Wait to add
52 agencies such as the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) until phase two, when
53 they are starting to identify particular geographical areas and impacts to other resources.
54 Ultimately, those other groups will have to participate in the process. It will take an effort
Natural Resources Committee, 5 /22/2007, Page 2
I of other groups and jurisdictions that have funding mechanisms and geographic legal
2 boundaries to solve Lake Whatcom problems. From phase one, he hopes to clearly
3 understand what is out there and what they need to do with those resources for each
4 ecologic function they are trying to work on in each region. Later in the process, identify
5 groups that have jurisdiction and will contribute to efforts in a certain region. Phase one
6 can identify the participants for different areas.
7
8 McShane asked if they want to include someone from the Bertrand Creek Water
9 Improvement District (WID), for example. There is a link between water and agriculture.
10 There are other similar links with other districts. The Council is frustrated at the time it's
11 taking to process the two agriculture - related docket items. These natural resource planning
12 decisions will inform the agriculture and forestry processes. He asked if the Council wants
13 to make those links on the short-term action team. Involve people in the Planning
14 Department who are working on those types of projects. They could also include staff
15 related to surface mining, which is also a natural resource. He can be comfortable leaving
16 agriculture and forestry out of this for now. The County is short on forestry staff, and
17 current programs may suffer for this effort.
18
19 Nelson stated a consultant will look at commonalities among the regions. He doesn't
20 have a problem encompassing all natural resources in phase one. One of the deliverables is
21 to find gaps. Outline clearly in the request for proposals (RFP) process what they want to
22 accomplish. They can't look at issues countywide, but by region -by- region. In phase one,
23 the consultant must identify strengths, weaknesses, and the commonalities among the
24 geographic regions.
25
26 McShane stated identify gaps that can be addressed in the organizational structure.
27
28 Crawford stated he is comfortable with the breadth of the plan as presented. All
29 County staff identified for the action team are aware of the Council's concern about
30 agriculture and forestry. As the contractor and staff get involved, they should continue to
31 dialog with the members of the water resource inventory area (WRIA) Planning Unit. Key
32 County staff are leaving. The County is losing some institutional knowledge of what WRIA
33 did all those years. He is concerned that WRIA efforts continue to be a part of the process.
34 The institutional knowledge of the WRIA process should be sustained into the future.
35
36 Fleetwood stated a question is whether the title should be about comprehensive
37 water resources or comprehensive natural resources. Keep the parameters limited to this
38 basic scope, concentrating on water. Keep this effort distinct from the agricultural effort,
39 but maintain the links. To a large extent, they know what the big project needs are. They
40 can sit down and identify them quickly. The question will be a concentrated discussion on
41 financing. They won't have money to fund even a small portion of what they need to fund.
42 It comes down to whether the Council will identify funding. He asked the reason for the
43 concern for forestry.
44
45 Nelson stated they must have answers to share with the public that make sense.
46 They must protect forestry in agriculture and water resource areas. That issue is important
47 in the North Fork and South Fork regions. When looking at the regional processes, consider
48 the commonalities, efforts, and existing programs.
49
50 Weimer stated that when he brought this issue up, he was thinking about something
51 broader and about implementation and enforcement of existing plans. He is comfortable
52 with the breadth of people on this team and not including agriculture and forestry at this
53 point. These people will realize the connection, and call on those specialists to identify
54 gaps. There is another issue regarding things that are put forward, such as Comprehensive
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page 3
1 Plan amendments, that never come back. That is a different issue. However, he was
2 focusing on implementation.
3
4 McShane stated the committee seems to be fine with the breadth of the plan. Desler
5 stated the administration will continue to dialog with the committee.
6
7 Weimer stated there is a new draft out of a WRIA governance plan. Make sure that
8 is integrated into this. The draft governance plan is broader, but overlaps, with this plan.
9
10 Brenner stated this plan looks like what they said they would do quite awhile ago.
11 She is concerned they are going through the same process they've already been through
12 many times, especially when it comes to reviewing all these plans. They never go to the
13 next step. Stop going in circles, and move on into implementation. She likes that there are
14 people from different departments who are going to work together. That should be done as
15 they do implementation, rather than do yet another review.
16
17 Nelson stated they have moved forward with many programs, such as flood and
18 critical areas issues. Millions of dollars are being spent on implementation now. The
19 administration and staff should be credited for that.
20
21 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.)
22
23 Nelson continued to state he is concerned about going too fast. They are at a point
24 where they can begin to help the regions of the community understand the County's limited
25 resources and help them get connectivity with other areas of the community in which they
26 can get help to complete all the public's expectations.
27
28 Brenner stated she likes the idea of connectivity. She likes the idea of developing a
29 central theme on which the Council can make priorities, if that is to be a result.
30
31 McShane stated that will be an objective. There are many action items in all the
32 plans. The Council is aware of them. The County government is not capable of
33 implementing those items in the next ten years, so they must prioritize them. That is what
34 this is about. They must do prioritization and see how other entities are partnering with the
35 County for funding. The Council must establish its own priorities. The administration
36 establishes many of the priorities, but they must integrate the Council's and the
37 administration's policies and priorities. That's where there is some friction. The most
38 important thing is to come up with an organizational structure to prioritize the action items
39 in the most appropriate way, so they are funded and completed. At a future meeting, go
40 through the list in the handout to see if this is where their priorities are. He's comfortable
41 with the direction at this point. Set up the organizational structure to be conducive to
42 setting priorities appropriately, whether it's done internally or with a consultant. He asked
43 if the committee is comfortable with how the administration is approaching this issue at this
44 time.
45
46 Brenner stated she is pleased with the people who are listed as those who may be on
47 the action team. She would like to make sure they are working on it. Make sure they don't
48 repeat what they've done in the past.
49
50 Weimer stated people may feel like they've done this before, but they really haven't.
51 They've just talked about doing it. He is in favor of moving forward with this. Don't drop
52 certain high - priority things from the table in favor of this, however.
53
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page 4
1 Fleetwood asked if everyone here on staff can just sit down and identify the key
2 projects region -by- region. He fears they are putting aside a considerable amount of time to
3 do this. He asked why identification of projects is so complex.
4
5 McShane stated he agrees with Councilmember Fleetwood. Each program has action
6 items. The issue is the organizational structure. The last bullet item on page three is the
7 most important sentence in the entire document. It's about accountability. Develop a
8 structure and program to take in all those issues and create accountability for staff, the
9 administration, and the Council. The Council must play a significant role, but has been
10 dancing around the issues. They've never organized things.
11
12 Fleetwood asked if that language addresses how things are funded.
13
14 McShane stated funding issues will be a result of that language. Desler stated the
15 organizational structure has been on the table for years. Now, the administration proposes
16 discussing it openly during phase one. The people on the list are very capable and
17 committed. Get their recommendations rather recommendations from a consultant.
18
19 Frank Abart, Public Works Director, stated phase one is about prioritization. The
20 focus of the group, the County experts in various fields, is to share information about their
21 expertise, programs, and processes to evaluate what they have on the table today and
22 develop an objective and unbiased prioritization process for all the things that will come
23 forward. Provide the administration a mechanism with a process for prioritizing projects.
24 Higher priority should be given to projects that have a non - County match or benefit more
25 people in the county rather than fewer people. Let the staff determine what they need from
26 the consultant. Be careful about widening the scope. First develop a process for
27 prioritization and, second, review the organizational structure for efficiency. There will be
28 project delays from these staff people being diverted to this issue. Six months is a
29 reasonable timeframe. The administration needs the support of the Council and staff for
30 this to be successful.
31
32 Brenner stated she brought this up a year ago. There will be major delays due to
33 the huge change that is about to happen in the administration. The County has lost a lot of
34 institutional memory. She's very nervous about that. It will make things more difficult.
35 She asked if they are bringing County government to a standstill. Desler stated they are
36 not bringing County government to a standstill. They will have work plans for all the
37 involved staff. They must have good, quality communication. The administration will bring
38 forward information on their progress at each Natural Resources Committee meeting.
39
40 Fleetwood stated spend more time on the process of addressing how to fund these
41 things and less time on prioritization. Have a sober reality check of all the things they can't
42 do. Desler stated the process will take a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of people,
43 including the County Council. The short-term action team is a resource the Council should
44 rely on.
45
46 Abart stated funding mechanism evaluation is not a part of the first phase. The
47 method of prioritization, by which they determine the funding they need, is the first step.
48 Determining the funding mechanism is the next step, after they determine how much
49 funding they need.
50
51 Fleetwood stated he would like that by phase three, not phase one.
52
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page 5
Weimer stated the bottom line is to decide how to fund things. Funding and
prioritization will be controversial because the County can't do it all. He wants staff to bring
forward those hard decisions, and have a transparent process.
Nelson stated phase one is organizational structure, refining what they currently
have, and developing models. Phase one doesn't include the management options in
relation to ecosystems, with consideration of size of the ecosystem and fiscal impacts on the
geographic areas. They can't go into phase two to identify regions and costs without that in
mind. That must be an element of phase one. Understand the relationship to cost. Don't
identify geographic areas that are unable to support the ecosystems in those areas.
Incorporate the historical knowledge of the local communities to address the problem of
institutional knowledge.
McShane asked if the idea is that there will be an organizational structure for how
they tap into those resources.
Nelson stated the idea is to enhance those resources. They may not be using the full
capability, because their focus may not be the same as the County's focus. They may have
other mechanisms that the County hasn't considered. In phase one, everything possible
should be gathered at the same time so they can go into phase two fully informed about all
the resources available. There is tremendous resource capacity among all agencies. The
County must facilitate the planning and efforts put in by the entire community. The
objective is to organize that, so they can get full capacity from the community.
Jeff Chalfant, Planning and Development Services Department, stated the project
contemplates that they will have prioritization on two scales. One scale is a basin scale, and
the other is a countywide scale. They will look at the ecological needs of each basin, but
will also look at the countywide prioritization effort.
Nelson stated the regions shouldn't be identified by watersheds. Look at regions
with commonalities. There are many other natural resource basins.
Brenner stated the group should be an ongoing action team. A short-term action
team in County government is an oxymoron. It should be ongoing, so they don't keep
starting over.
McShane moved to support the phase one plan as presented by the administration.
Motion carried unanimously.
McShane stated one option is to have routine meetings between the Natural
Resources Committee and administration to discuss this and the agricultural resources
program. Those are the committee's two priorities.
The committee concurred.
McShane stated the administration lists all the current programs in the handout. He
asked if the committee would like to discuss these at a future meeting.
Fleetwood stated they can discuss them in the update process with the
administration.
Abart asked if they should update the Council in the surface water work session or
the Natural Resources Committee.
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page 6
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McShane stated he prefers to have updates to the entire Council in the surface water
work sessions.
The committee concurred.
Fleetwood stated Councilmember Brenner requested changing the name from short-
term action team to ongoing action team. The idea of short-term is related to this specific
process and phase one. They could create an ongoing thing after phase one. Abart stated
that is correct. There must be a beginning and end for these people to be involved, so
there is a sense of urgency and expectation.
McShane stated the organizational structure is key. The Council has great faith in
the talents and abilities of staff who are here today. It's a great group of people. In his
experience, staff must have enthusiasm for things they are working on. The administration
should consider that when talking about priorities. There must be enthusiasm, interest, and
a sharing of priorities to be successful. He encouraged all the staff to speak up about their
ideas. He encouraged the senior management to consider the staff's ideas. These staff will
do more to be successful than consultants.
Desler stated he also encourages the staff to speak up as well. Leadership is a
combination of direction and persuasion. They have a responsibility to motivate, inspire,
and coach people with persuasive techniques. That's what they'd like to do. At some point,
the organization needs to balance that out with some direction. This is also a development
process. The administration came up with some ideas, asked the Council to vet those ideas,
talked to staff about the ideas, and brought together the plan that is presented. This is the
first time they've had a chance to discuss it in depth with the Council.
OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business.
AD30URN
The meeting adjourned at 10:35 a.m.
Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
D6pa Br%%&* �bunc,� Clerk
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
b'616 McShane, Committee Chair
Natural Resources Committee, 5/22/2007, Page 7