Agenda - 05-15-2007-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Meeting Report Board of Health and Commission for the Environment Joint Work Group on Water Resources Management January 18, 2007 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Southern Human Services Center, Room D Present: Worlc Group Members (Bill Kaiser, Jessica Lee, Hervey McIver, Bernadette Pelissier, Alan Rimer, Matt Vizithum). Staff: David Stanch, Director, Environment "and Resource Conservation Department; Rosemary Summers, Director, Health Department. Andy Sachs, Facilitator, Dispute Settlement Center. Convene The Work Group adopted the proposed meeting plan. Discussion to Clarify Draft Job Descriptions Work Group members reviewed five draft job descriptions (developed by Kaiser, McIver, Pelissier, Stanch, and the Board of Health delegates collectively). The following points were made during the discussion to clarify the drafts: In response to questions, the Board of Health delegation clarified that it does not intend for the new position to be the County's lead or "point person" with respect to all the different water resources management activities within the County. The delegation intends for several different County staff persons to continue having responsibilities for different aspects of water resources management, and would like to see better coordination of all these efforts. The Board of Health delegation's purpose in proposing technical assistance to certified well contractors is to build the capacity of well drillers to institute "best practices." If "best practices" is a goal, then the County should work closely with contractors to help them develop those practices. In this regard, the Health Department will be responsible for enforcing new State rules after July 1, 2008, and the County (through the Board of Health) would be allowed to develop and enforce local rules that are more stringent than the State's. There appears to be a consensus among work group members that the position will not have direct enforcement functions, although his/her work products may very well be used to develop broad policies as well as in reviewing specific development proposals. This will require close collaboration with the Planning Department, for example. McIver and Stanch, in response to questions from Dr. Sluniners, said that they would want the person to provide technical advice to the County's development review team, and to identify trends from data in support of any new regulatory initiatives that the Board of County Commissioners might be interested in pursuing. Mr. McIver's draft, for example, includes duties for "predicting impacts from increased impermeable surfaces (development)" and "predicting impacts of increased water withdrawals..." and Mr. Stancil's draft includes "review new development proposals and provide input on water resources." • Dr. Rimer did an informal survey of job amiouncements on the websites of several environmental engineering consulting firms, and suggested to the work group that it might be best for the work group to articulate the over arching values for the new position, as opposed to detailed administrative requirements. The person's supervisor would want to add such details as "write a particular report three times a year" or possess certain specific analytic skills.