HomeMy WebLinkAboutSurface Water Work Session November 14 20171
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Whatcom County Council
Surface Water Work Session
November 14, 2017
CALL TO ORDER
Council Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. in the Civic
Center Garden Level Conference Room, 322 Commercial Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
ROLL CALL
Present: Barbara Brenner, Satpal Sidhu, Barry Buchanan, Ken Mann, Todd
Donovan and Carl Weimer
Absent: Rud Browne
SURFACE WATER WORK SESSION (AB2017 -024)
1. WATER PLANNING UPDATE
Gary Stoyka, Public Works Department, reported on the activity among the Water
Board staff, local government caucus, Planning Unit, and water supply group to reengage
everyone on water issues. Also, The flood budget will be before the Council next week.
Councilmembers and Stoyka discussed the level of service options chart and deciding
on and funding the level of service going forward in 2018. Councilmembers will schedule a
work session to discuss increasing flood fund revenue to increase the level of service.
2. PLANNING UNIT PRESENTATION
The following Planning Unit members and staff submitted information on the
Planning Unit outline for discussion (on file), gave a presentation, and answered questions:
• Dan Eisses, water districts caucus
• Andy Ross, non - government water systems caucus
• Steve Jilk, Public Utility District
• Jon Hutchings, Public Works Department Director
The framework is the mechanism and prow
Watershed Management Board is developing its woi
questions are the role of the Planning Unit, hoi
Management Board, and whether the Planning Unit
management plan or will it do something else. There
2005 Watershed Management Plan. The Council
Management Board.
ss for accomplishing anything. The
< plan. The outstanding framework
it interfaces with the Watershed
will implement the 2005 watershed
isn't a commitment to implement the
is one member of the Watershed
Councilmembers asked questions and discussed how to incorporate the Watershed
Management Board into the framework, the Planning Unit recommendations to Council on
spending money, and Planning Unit staff needs.
Brenner moved to add an adequate amount of staff to the Planning Unit to work on
all water issues in the water resources inventory area (WRIA) 1.
Surface Water Work Session, 11/14/2017, Page 1
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Councilmembers, staff, and Planning Unit members continued to discuss the Council
identifying what it wants the Planning Unit to do; identifying an appropriate level of staffing;
the County as the lead agency in an administrative role to pass funds through and approve
contracts, on recommendation of the Watershed Management Board, which is in charge;
and whether the County Council can reject funding a recommendation of the Watershed
Management Board.
The motion was seconded.
Councilmembers, staff and Planning Unit members continued to discuss staffing
levels and framework for the Planning Unit.
Ross submitted a handout (on file) and reported on Recommendation 1, to
implement Instream Flow Selection And Adoption Plan, and on Recommendation 3, data
collection, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation.
The motion carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Brenner, Mann, Sidhu, Buchanan, Weimer and Donovan (6)
Nays: None (0)
Absent: Browne (1)
3. POLLUTION IDENTIFICATION & CORRECTION (PIC) PROGRAM UPDATE
The following staff submitted and read from a presentation (on file).
• Erika Douglas, Public Works Department
• Aneka Sweeney, Whatcom Conservation District
• Mike Kim, Health Department
All water is connected, and land uses impact water. Too much bacteria is going into
the marine waterbodies. The PIC program addresses all the sources of bacteria.
Partnerships are required to solve the source problems. An online resource shows historic
data collected. The PIC program allows them to reach out to people and give them tools
needed to make changes. The Health Department is working on source problems from
septic systems. The solutions are working.
Whatcom County has 37 percent of all the livestock in Puget Sound. The
Conservation District implements a voluntary stewardship program. Trusting relationships
with the community are necessary. There are several programs to assist landowners.
The Health Department notifies property owner to complete the operations and
maintenance for their onsite septic systems. They hope to inspire voluntary compliance
through a cultural shift. In the last two and a half years, over 12,000 inspections were
done. Compliance is defined as completing the system status evaluation. Kim described
the results of the OSS inspection programs. They continually review and streamline the
process. With recent changes, they receive higher quality evaluations.
Other partners include the City of Lynden, which has begun to waive fees for hooking
up old septic systems to the new sewer system. The Health Department will develop a
more comprehensive educational campaign with different messages for different people,
including more use of social media. Everyone in the community can take action to fix the
water problems.
Surface Water Work Session, 11/14/2017, Page 2
1 Councilmembers and staff discussed the types of messages that people respond to
2 that have nothing to do with water quality improvements, such as doing chores more
3 efficiently, helping neighbors, animal health, and taking care of the investment and the
4 reasons why septic systems fail.
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7 ADJOURN
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9 The meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
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11 The Council approved these minutes on January 30, 2018.
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Surface Water Work Session, 11/14/2017, Page 3