Floodplain Management Committee Minutes 04/04/2011 R
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Floodplain Management Planning Committee BY: .......................
Ray Smith, Chairman
Phillip Brougham Pierre Bruno
Bob Devlin (Marco I.) Joseph Gagnier
Christa Carrera (Naples) Brooke Hollander
Lew Schmidt Dan Summers
Jim Turner Carolina Valera
Terry Smallwood (Everglades City)
John Torre, Vice-Chairman
Jack McKenna Jerry Kurtz
Travis Gossard Mac Hatcher
Clarence Tears
Duke Vasey
Christine Sutherland
Meeting Minutes for 4-4-11Regular Meeting
Start: 9:00 a.m.
End: 10:37 a.m.
Location: 2800 N. Horseshoe Drive, Room 610
Meeting Attendance: Ray Smith, Carolina Valera, Rick Zyvoloski (alternate for Dan
Summers), Jerry Kurtz, Jim Turner, Mac Hatcher, Jack McKenna, Travis Gossard, Ananta Nath
(alternate for Clarence Tears), Duke Vasey, Joseph Gagnier, Phillip Brougham, Lew Schmidt,
Chuck Mohlke and Robert Wiley.
Absent: John Torre, Brooke Hollander (Excused), Christine Sutherland (Excused), Pierre Bruno
(Excused), Bob Devlin, and Christa Carrera. /
Fiala 1) ~
There were three (3) members of the public or additional staff in attendance. Hiller
Hennin!i; ~
Meeting called to order by Ray Smith, Chairman. Coyle _______
Coletta
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Approval of minutes for the 1-10-11 Regular Meeting - Ray Smith asked if there were any
needed changes to the minutes and if not, then a motion for approval. Duke Vasey motioned
for approval and the motion passed unanimously.
2. FMPC membership vacancy/replacement (Bill Lorenz) - Bill Lorenz reminded everyone that
at the last FMPC meeting he had discussed the reorganization of the CDES and
Transportation divisions into the Growth Management Division and the concepts being put
together for a new composition of the Floodplain Management Planning Committee (FMPC).
He had provided a draft executive summary that staff proposed to take to the Board of
County Commissioners (BCC) because the BCC had adopted Resolution 2006-200 that
constituted and enabled the FMPC. The proposal is to reduce staff membership participation
from the current 10 members to 4 members. The 3 municipal members would remain, and to
balance the committee, the public member participation would be reduced from the current
10 to 7. That would reconstitute the FMPC to a total of 14 members. The FMPC meetings
would continue to be quarterly. The FMPC's scope of responsibility, as outlined in
Resolution 06-200 to develop and at least annually evaluate the Collier County Floodplain
Management Plan, would remain. Nick Casalanguiga may have additional responsibilities he
wishes to discuss with the Committee later in the meeting, but he is in _~~~eting at the
moment.
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Page 1 of 13
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Phil Brougham asked if this is going to go forward to the BCC as currently drafted, or would
there be additional changes. Bill Lorenz responded that Nick wanted to attend the meeting,
but has a scheduling conflict with a budget meeting right now. Phil suggested that the item
be tabled until Nick could attend and make his presentation later in the meeting. Ray Smith
agreed to that request. Bill Lorenz also informed the FMPC that he had a 10:00 meeting
commitment and would have to leave at that time. Phil Brougham stated that the issue had to
be resolved today since the FMPC would not be meeting for another 3 months. Ray Smith
agreed and temporarily halted discussion on this item.
Upon completion of New Business Item 3, the Committee returned to this item for further
discussion. Nick Casalanguida had still not arrived, so Bill Lorenz asked if the Committee
would like to discuss the draft document that you have seen and discuss recommendations for
purpose of membership. Also, if there is discussion regarding scope, perhaps staff could
bring it back. Ray Smith motioned for approval of the draft. Duke Vasey commented on the
fiscal impact on page 3, and he had the impression that the investment of staff hours was
onerous and costing a lot of money. He wouldn't want this to be hampered by someone
saying the Committee only meets quarterly and they meet for 2 hours. There is a lot more
than that. It talks to the research staff must do, correlation with the budget process, getting
approval from supervisors, it is a lot of money to approve this. He didn't know if it was
customary to list a cost estimate, but it couldn't be that the first sentence reads right that we
are reducing the size of the Committee because of the cost of copies. We're reducing the size
of the Committee because it costs a fortune to have those staff hours invested, including
benefits. Perhaps someone will want to know just what that value is. Ray Smith asked if this
would be necessary to place in the executive summary. He asked if the Board had to adopt a
resolution to. make the change to the Committee. Robert Wiley confirmed that this will
require the adoption of a resolution by the Board. Ray then agreed that the fiscal impact of
the executive summary would need to address the issue, but not in the body of the resolution.
Duke agreed with the fiscal information not being in the resolution, but as a manager he
would want to know why he should cut back on the Committee and lose 8 CRS points if it is
just for copies.
Phil Brougham asked if that would be a modification to the executive summary. Duke Vasey
motioned that the fiscal impact be the actual fiscal impact and not the cost of copies. Lew
Schmidt asked Duke for a clarification, which he provided. Phil commented that even if it is
an estimated cost amount for staff time, there must be something to justify a change like this,
not just the cost for copies. Ray Smith then read from the Fiscal Impact section on page 3 of
the draft executive summary, "Reducing the total number of committee members will
proportionally reduce costs of providing hard copies of documents to the committee
members." Duke's explanation is there are additional costs involved, and we should identify
those and provide these to the Board in the executive summary. It is not just the cost in
providing hard copies. The major cost is manpower costs. Lew asked if we are saying that
somebody has to come up with additional words to clarify the fact that we don't know how
many man-hours we need. Ray responded that we discussed the savings associated with this,
how much will the County tax payer save regarding dollars. Ray thought that was where
Duke was leading this. This begins with how many employees are involved and the hours
they spend on Committee work during and outside of Committee meetings. Lew then
commented that we are not prepared to go the Board with this item. Phil Brougham asked
when this item is proposed to go to the Board. Robert Wiley responded that he didn't know
"-since this wlIsbeing totally handled by Bill Lorenz and Nick Casalanguida.
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Phil Brougham commented that they would be back next month on 5-2-11. Ray Smith
brought back the motion on the table as the item for discussion. Rick Zyvoloski discussed
considering the generic cost figure used by FEMA for every hourly employee. He suggested
that since we know we would be losing, go to their rate, develop generalized hours, and
develop a cost estimate. Phil Brougham withdrew his second of the motion, and Ray Smith
withdrew his motion.
Ray Smith then submitted a new motion for the Committee to recommend that language be
placed in the executive summary to show the actual costs and cost savings associated with
this proposal. Travis Gossard asked if there were other areas in the executive summary
needing change, should they be discussed now. The decision was to deal with the particular
motion and then address the other areas. Ray Smith called for a vote and the motion passed
unanimously. Travis then discussed on the second page regarding members of the public, we
aren't reducing the number of public members because of staff, these positions haven't been
able to be filled. Robert Wiley responded that the current public membership is 8 and is
proposed to go to 7. There are two vacancies, and one application has been submitted and on
hold for review since August 2010 for one position. We have not advertised for the second
vacancy since the passing of Mr. Luntz. It appears that if the Board approves this resolution
we will be notifying the one applicant that we will not be filling the position. Phil Brougham
then commented that if staff is reduced to 4, then we must reduce the public to 7 or 5 to keep
an odd number of members on the Committee. Robert commented that there are 3 members
from the cities, so 7 members of the public would produce an even-numbered committee.
Ray Smith asked what would be needed for a quorum. Robert responded that for a 14
member committee, the quorum number would be 7 to have 50%. Phil suggested reducing
the public members to 5, Robert suggested leaving it at the current 8 which would create an
odd number of Committee members. Chuck Mohlke commented that the quorum would be
8. Ray Smith commented that the 4 staff members would be mandated to attend, and if there
are difficulties filling vacant positions now and any current public members leave the
Committee, would we be able to fill those slots to achieve a quorum. Under this proposal, a
quorum may be difficult to obtain as we move on.
Robert Wiley commented that if the Committee wants to provide statements to staff
regarding this issue, they need to do so today. Chuck Mohlke commented that whatever is
the length of term of service, it could be extended by an additional year. Phil Brougham
commented there are not lengths of term for the members of the public. There are currently 8
public members, 3 municipality members, and proposed 4 staff members. Leaving the public
members at 8 precludes someone having to decide who to remove to reduce down to 7, and
gives a better chance of making quorum. He felt the key motivator for this resolution is to
reduce the number of County staff, let them become more productive behind the scenes by
allowing them to communicate with each other and the members of the Committee. Ray
Smith agreed with leaving the public members at 8. Phil commented that on 5-2-11 the
Committee can review the modifications to this resolution, including the estimated dollar
savings to staff time, the revised language to leave the current public members at 8, and we
can approve it on 5-2-11. Perhaps, on 5-2-11 both Bill and Nick can be here in person. Phil
Brougham made that into a motion. Chuck Mohlke informed the Committee that the correct
motion would be to continue the item. Phil agreed to continue the item. Ray Smith called
for the vote and it passed unanimously. The item is to be discussed at the 5-2-11 meeting.
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3. Status Report on New Floodplain Mapping (Preliminary DPIRM) - Robert Wiley provided a
brief update on the project. The County did file an appeal of the Preliminary DPIRM.
PEMA and their consultant, Michael Baker Jr., Inc. (Baker) participated in a conference call
with the County and issued a letter requesting additional information dealing with the
background details of the changes made in the modeling. They want to see the impacts to
calibration of only changing the LiDAR without making other adjustments to bring the
calibration into an acceptable range. They also need to know everything that Tomasello
changed to recalibrate. Changes come about to recalibrate the models with the new LiDAR
and include factors such as land surface roughness factors. Tomasello also changed some of
the weir configurations since two new weirs (Golden Gate #2 and Golden Gate #3) have been
constructed during this time of the study. Baker also sent an external hard drive to the
County so the new LiDAR could be loaded onto it for their evaluation. Baker is seriously
looking at the appeal. So far there have not been any questions asked about any of the
protests submitted by various land owners demonstrating changed ground elevations. Staff
assumes the review of the protests is going forward at the same time as the review of the
County's appeal. The County's appeal demonstrated a rise in some base flood elevations
which is opposite of the typical appeal application that tries to show a lowering of base flood
elevations. Staff still expects to finalize this DFIRM by August.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Annual Report on Beach, Dune, and Coastal Pass Maintenance - Gary McAlpin did not
attend the meeting and give his scheduled presentation. Upon completion of discussion on
New Business Item 4 (FMPC Action Item 6(e) Sub-Committee Deliverables) Ray Smith
asked about this item. Robert Wiley reported that he had placed a telephone call to Gary and
was told that Gary would not be attending the meeting to give the presentation. Phil
Brougham commented that Mr. McAlpin should be informed that since he did not present,
the Committee rejects his report. Robert also reported that Gary said he would not be able to
attend and present the program at the May meeting, but he would prepare a report for
distribution to the Committee.
2. Annual Report on Best Management Practices Outreach Program - Steve Preston distributed
2 handouts to Committee members but he only had 10 copies, so not everyone received one.
[Note: The 4 staff members who did not receive the handouts were subsequently provided
with copies by Robert Wiley.] The County has an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System) permit for operating and maintaining the public storm sewer system
under an NPDES MS4 permit. There is an education component that we have to do both
internal education and public education, with it more geared toward water quality rather than
flooding. We do have an overlap in the education outreach to the public that deals with
flooding, mainly centered on the Greenscape Alliance. This is several local government and
municipal entities and a couple of interest groups that have joined the Greenscape Alliance.
It has to do with certifying and training landscape architects and maintenance contractors to
improve water quality by watching what they do in the landscape. The fIrst handout is a tally
of the training classes given to landscapers, with breakdowns on type of class and hours.
During the classes, the landscapers are educated about their impact to the local homeowner
association stormwater systems, which are basically small scale watersheds. Basically, no
one takes care of the stormwater system but them. The training is also open to Homeowner
Associations, but very few attend. The Greenscape Alliance does a series of articles in the
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Naples Daily News. The second handout is one article to help homeowners to understand
their stormwater system, their yard, their neighborhood, what their and its roles are in
reducing flooding at the most local level (their yards and streets), and how it fits into the
bigger system. We do other education outreach, but most of the rest of it is strictly toward
water pollution prevention.
3. Presentation and Review of the 2010 Floodplain Management Plan Progress Report - Robert
Wiley stated that every year this report must be prepared to identify what was accomplished
in the previous calendar year. This reflects accomplished during calendar year 2010. The
report is taken to the BCC for their review and approval and ultimately it gets submitted to
ISO in the annual recertification process. The purpose of the report is to work towards the
recertification to show we are still addressing floodplain issues, and we are still conducting
programs as we planned. A lot of the report is the standard language used every year with
updates on dates and certain items. We do address some of the major issues, and then there
is a grading of the action plan from last year from our action items within the Floodplain
Management Plan. Last year we had a group of category A items that we must accomplish
each year to meet our mandatory commitments. Category B was our top five that we wanted
to get accomplished in 2010. Category C items were there to accomplish if we could, but
they were not in our top five. In reviewing the listing, it can be seen that we accomplished
the category A items. We also accomplished the category B items, but for some of them it
was decided to not proceed with them after review of the issues. In particular, the one item
was installation of cross drains in Golden Gate Estates. Stan Chrzanowski had discussed the
issue regarding timing and issues of not going forward. Robert asked the Committee to look
at the report and provide comments and discussion on things needing adjustment before
going forward to the Board. That is one of the major purposes of the Committee.
Also, there is a proposed Action Plan for 2011 at the back of the report using the same action
items. Those items which have been completed from the top five are now going to be listed
as category D. Within the 5-year time frame we have before updating the Floodplain
Management Plan, we should be taking all of the category C items and work them up through
the category B and ultimately to completed category D. This year we now have 4 category D
items. The one category B item, dealing with the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, did
get approved, but it is still shown as category B because we have to take the ordinance back
to the Board for amendment to adopt the new DFIRMs since the Board removed the
automatic adoption provision.
Ray Smith asked if there were any comments pertaining to the portion of the report that
discusses what we have accomplished to date for 2010. Duke Vasey asked if that included
the Action Plan portion of the Progress Report. Ray Smith confirmed that. Duke then asked
for an explanation on the meaning of the category A, B and C. Robert Wiley explained that
category A items are the ones we have to do each year, they will always be category A.
Category B was the top five items to complete in 2010. Category C was for all ofthe other
actions items to get accomplished that were not in the top five. Duke requested that a note be
added to the Action Plan spreadsheet to explain the terms. Robert agreed to put that into the
footer.
Ray Smith asked a question regarding the Proposed 2011 Action Plan, although it was also
stated in the 2010 Action Plan. On page 2, the last sentence of the second paragraph says,
"Staff anticipates reactivating efforts to amend the Floodplain Management Plan and
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bringing it to the Board for approval and adoption in late 2011." Ray asked if there was
going to be enough time to do all of that. There are major changes that need to be made
based upon the last Committee discussion, and to do all that and bring it before the Board for
adoption in 2011 will be very tight. Robert stated he anticipated bringing it to the Committee
in October, if not even in July. This is the work that Mike DeRuntz did, and the Committee
voted to proceed, but we continued to have a lot of comments about the large size. Robert
anticipates taking Mike's work and concise it down so the document isn't hundreds and
hundreds of pages thick. He intends to put a lot of the information in appendices which will
make it easier to update in the future, similar to what Rick Zyvoloski did with the Local
Mitigation Strategy. This is not really changing what Mike did, but moving it around and
reducing the size. Ray recommended extending the time frame to mid-2012, and if it
happens in 20 11, that is good. Duke Vasey commented that at one time there was a
discussion about an Administrative Code where most of the generalities could be placed. Is
there any effort to do something like that? Robert stated that the County is in the process of
coming up with an Administrative Code, but he didn't know what was going into it. Fred
Reischl is the planner working on the Administrative Code. Duke stated an advantage of an
Administrative Code is that each task basically has a separate page and the page can be
updated and simply show the revision date on that page. Bill Lorenz informed the
Committee that the Administrative Code referenced by Robert is specific only to the Land
Development Code.
Phil Brougham commented that the Committee is falling into the same traps that we always
do, and unless Robert can supply specific tasks with estimated work hours to perform this
update, then he thought it erroneous to throw out a date and say you are going to try to do
something. How many hours will it take, what is going to be done, and are the hours
allocated in the work scheduled signed off on by your manager? Then we can lock in on a
good solid date. But to say we are going to try to do this in 2011, or even 2012, he felt goes
against the direction of this Committee in the past on work tasks. He advised to not commit
to any date until staff can estimate how many hours it is going to take to do the work, and
have the boss sign off on it. Phil asked if that work appears in the tasks for 2011, to which
Robert responded that they were in his work plan.
Ray Smith then moved discussion to the second portion of the document that states what is
proposed for accomplishment in 2011. Phil Brougham asked if there would be a change in
the document on Page 2 to show a mid-2012 completion time, to which Ray responded that
was his recommendation. Ray Smith then motioned to change the Floodplain Management
Plan (FMP) revision completion date to mid-2012. Duke Vasey asked how long ago was the
current FMP approved. Robert Wiley responded that the current FMP was approved in 2008.
Ananta Nath asked if the County hoped to get all of the FEMA issues resolved before that.
Robert responded that the County hopes to get the FEMA DFIRM finalized by
approximately August of this year (2011). The motion passed unanimously.
Ray Smith asked for any discussion of the proposed Action Plan for 2011, starting on page 7.
Ray questioned if the proposed dates were achievable. He asked Robert Wiley which items
must be completed in 2011. Robert responded that all of the category A items must be done
each year. Robert then selected five items to be the category B "top 5" items, starting with
the proposed revision to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance to adopt the finalized
DFIRM. That item is easy to get before the Board, but there is no certainty on getting Board
approval. The ordinance revision must occur within 6 months of the DFIRM being finalized
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by FEMA. Whether that occurs within calendar year 2011 depends upon when the DFIRM is
finalized and how soon the Board will want to adopt the new map. If the DFIRM is fmalized
by August 2011, that gives 4 months to have the Board adopt it before the end of the year.
Robert thinks it will be late 2011 before the Board updates the ordinance as a summary
agenda item. Ray expressed concern, similar to Phil, about Robert's use ofthe term "hope"
when addressing completion of tasks. It is difficult to establish a plan when you are not sure
if you can achieve the plan. The proposed achievement dates may be admirable, but he
didn't feel comfortable approving dates if we aren't sure we can accomplishment them. Ray
asked if there is a problem with pushing things out to 2012 but achieving them earlier.
Robert said he doesn't have a problem with it, but he wants to get things done as quickly as
possible, and as soon as FEMA finalizes the DFIRM he wants to go to the BOARD.
However, he doesn't know what position they will take, whether they will want to quickly
adopt or wait the full 6 months.
Ray Smith then asked that since we have identified what he must do, can we then identify
what we can achieve regarding these items, the quick achievement, low-hanging fruit items.
Phil Brougham discussed that in 2010 the Committee developed the 2010 Action Plan
Ranking document which was a 2-page spreadsheet that assigned points and evaluation
scoring which led to a ranking to what we should be doing (the category A, B and C
ranking). He though the Committee should go through that same exercise with the additional
input that we should take notice of any of these activities that result in increased points for
the CRS scoring. He didn't know if there were any left or not, but thought it almost a
necessary planning exercise that staff should go through before the Committee can endorse
the 2011 work plan. Going along with previous discussions, and Nick Casalanguida's
commitment 3 months ago, then once we identify what needs to be done, we also need to
identify what staffhours are going to be necessary to achieve it and get the appropriate sign-
off from Nick or the appropriate department management before we commit to do it. In his
opinion was there was still a lot of homework to be done on the 2011 work plan, and if we
have to meet again in a month to review that in more detail, then he would submit that we do
that.
Duke Vasey stated that it looks like we have some sensitivity issues, some concurrent, and
some that are contingent. A lot of these items in this document are contingent upon
something else happening, which suggests that possibly we need to do a sensitivity analysis
on what we are committing ourselves to do. We need to list all of the tasks that need to be
accomplished, but Phil is correct in needing to be realistic in what staff emphasis you can put
on this and what you can really do without relying on somebody else. Phil Brougham noted
that the last 3 months of 20 11 are a new fiscal year with perhaps new staffing. Ray Smith
envisioned the Committee sitting here a year from now looking at what we have
accomplished and the report that is going before the Board and FEMA. He wants it to be a
successful report and show that we made some achievements. He doesn't want to show that
we made some achievements, but failed a lot. He wants to make sure the plan is realistic.
Duke commented we need to address what things we are doing that we can take credit for,
and are there things that we received credits previously that we won't be able to get credit for
now due to the reorganization. Carolina Valera suggested adding statements for items that
are contingent upon Board approval, to show the progress that has been done. Robert said
those type of contingent clarification statements can be added. Ray Smith directed the
Committee's attention to action plan item l(d)(ii) which is described as "Prepare proposed
revisions to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance for adoption by the Board." Perhaps
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that could be changed to say "for presentation to the Board". By modifying the language, if
the Board decides not to adopt, we still have accomplished the task of presenting it to them.
Robert Wiley advised that he was trying to not change the description of the action plan
items from the previous year, but could make the change if that was the Committee's
direction. The description is not necessarily verbatim with the adopted action items in the
FMP by the Board, but is a short representation, so minor changes are not a problem. Duke
Vasey felt that Phil Brougham's position was that if the Board has authorized the County
Manager to spend employee hours on this, they don't want a "maybe". There shouldn't be
any reason why the Board wouldn't approve the items.
Phil Brougham stated that perhaps there is a distinction that can be made here between the
proposed Action Plan document that will go before the Board and the subordinate work plan
for staff which is the real detail. He didn't think we needed to present the detail to the Board,
and if we want to break down one deliverable here into two or three tasks on a work-plan,
that is completely appropriate. That doesn't need to go into the document going to the Board
for approval. The work plan is the substance to getting things accomplished, and that should
break down into an individual task to an individual person, and the number of hours and a
delivery date. The Board wouldn't want to see that, but the Committee would want to see it
and the department's supervisor would want to see it.
Ray Smith asked for a motion on the item. Phil Brougham motioned to table the adoption or
approval of the Progress Report until one month from today or the next meeting, which he
hopes is in May, where the Committee could review a detailed work plan with sign-off by
supervision. During discussion on the motion, Lew Schmidt stated the Committee hasn't
even talked about the items, so why would we want to stop. Is there any reason why we
can't review what has been presented? Chuck Mohlke agreed with the question and
indicated that discussion could occur before acting on the motion. Technically a motion to
table is not discussable, but for information purposes, the discussion could be held. Phil
Brougham commented that his intent is not to cut off discussion, but looking at the list of
items does not give him enough information as to why those items even appear on the list.
Do these move us toward additional CRS points, for example? We can talk about the items
on the list, or about other items that perhaps should be on the list but aren't on the list. We
don't have sufficient information here today to have a substantive discussion on it. Duke
Vasey commented that possibly one of the missing components of the worksheet is the set of
CRS guidelines. They have the task des~ription. We should just reference it. Ray Smith
didn't think that was the discussion of the Committee. He felt the Committee's discussion
was about making a decision we all feel comfortable with so next year when we are putting
together the performance appraisal on what we've done based upon what we said we could
accomplish, and he wants it to be very positive and show progress.
Travis Gossard commented that what he is hearing is very confusing, because by the end of
April he is done with his budget, along with all other staff. That information will be in the
hearings with the Board. He questioned how he was to budget for things in 2011 at this time
frame. If he is given a task to do, it is not going to get done unless he is given special
funding or is directed to do it. He read item 1 (f)(i) "Complete the annual budget and
maintenance schedule for stormwater maintenance programs." He will have that done, and
the next Committee meeting is 3 months from now. He wasn't sure how that will correlate
since basically he is already done with the budget. Phil Brougham commented that is exactly
part ofthe problem. There is a disconnect between the activities of this Committee in
Page 8 of 13
approving or not approving an action plan and the annual budgeting process of the staff
departments that are responsible for executing the action plan. If this Committee and this
plan is going to be effective, we need to get into a work flow process, that we developed two
years ago, where things are sequenced and result in budgets, and everything flows as it
should be because you know what you're going to be asked to do from all different
directions, you decide in conjunction with management what the priority of that work is
versus the hours it takes and the staff available, decisions are made, and that should flow into
the action plan. It should almost be a "no-brainer" for this Committee to say, "We've got
sign off, we know the impact on the FMP, we know how it will benefit the CRS rating, and
with full confidence we can move it forward to the Board." Weare being asked to approve
something that is going to be presented to the Board out of this Committee, and we have no
idea whether there will be staff time available or not. What Travis is saying is he has already
determined his budget, and Phil felt that Travis not alone.
Ray Smith then brought back the motion on the table, and asked Phil to repeat it. Phil
motioned for the Committee take no action on approving the 2011 work plan as presented
here, until we get more definitive action plan task plans, manpower assignments and
supervisory sign-offs at the next meeting which I would submit should be a month from now.
Ray Smith asked if that would be an achievable time line. Chuck Mohlke indicated that was
the motion that he had seconded. Robert Wiley checked on the date of the May meeting and
Phil commented that it doesn't have to literally be 30 days from now, but in early May.
Chuck commented that he was hopeful that everyone would benefit the process by
submitting their comments in writing or bye-mail, because at some point in time oral
communications are going to be burdensome to those who have to make revisions in these
schedules. He knows from prior experience, despite everyone's best intentions, they will rely
on oral reporting and assume that its beneficial to all concerned, and somehow or other, their
oral comments will be translated into a readable document that everybody can use for
purposes of future discussion. Ray Smith commented that oral discussion does go into the
meeting minutes, but if he is referring to telephone conversations, he agreed that those should
be documented. Robert confirmed the room has a standing reservation for the Committee on
5-2-11. Ray directed Robert to schedule the room for 5-2-11.
Phil Brougham asked Robert to redistribute the flow chart for development of the FMP to all
members of the Committee. It shows the overall process for the FMP, and specifically in the
center, it shows how the process should work, so tasks and priorities are assigned prior to
budget, go to the departments to get prioritized and approved, flow back and enter into the
report going to the Board. All we have to do is either amend the flow chart or endorse it and
follow it, and then we have a process. Ray Smith called for the vote on the motion. The
motion passed 13-1.
Ray Smith then directed the Committee back to a completion of Old Business Item 2.
4. Presentation ofFMPC Action Item 6(e) Sub-Committee Deliverables for Action Item 6(e)-
Ray Smith started the discussion by identifying the sub-committee members (Ray Smith,
Stan Chrzanowski, Christine Sutherland, Mac Hatcher, and Travis Gossard). The action
item, as stated on the Project Management Plan (handout) was to "Provide a single point of
contact at the CDES division for all floodplain management assistance, as well as the
development of a web page for that contact point. That point of contact will follow protocols
for distribution of inquiries, a log of all inquiries, as well as actions taken."
Page 9 of 13
-
Ray Smith discussed how this task was broken out into 6 objectives. Discussion will move
forward for each of the objectives which had handouts.
Objective 1 - Establish a single point of contact that will address allfloodplain management
questions. Looking at the handout for this Objective 1 identifies there will be a single point
of contact through the Road Maintenance Department, with telephone number 252-2984,
where all residents can in to the centralized location and if they have any questions, inquiries
or complaints pertaining to flooding and drainage. There is a database kept at that location
that tracts the calls and at that point either a Road Maintenance team will receive a task to
address the complaint or inquiry, or they have a listing of other departments within the
County that also handle issues that would report back to Road Maintenance and that
information would be placed in the data base. The example Ray gave would be for a
complaint concerning pollution, where Road Maintenance would contact Ray, he would
address the issue, and forward back to them what Ray had achieved and they would enter that
into the data base. Travis Gossard clarified Ray's discussion by explaining that Road
Maintenance wouldn't necessarily enter a pollution complaint into the floodplain data base
unless it also included a flooding issue. Depending upon what is called in, Road
Maintenance may actually investigate it, but they receive lots of complaints throughout the
year not related to flooding, so only the flood-related issues would go into the floodplain data
base.
Phil Brougham asked for an explanation of the difference between protocol 1 and 2. Both
items seem to be the same with the exception of the first word or two. Travis Gossard
clarified that the job was to identify a central point of contact. This tells the public which
contact number to call. Robert Wiley further clarified that even though the public may be
informed about the central number to call, other departments can still expect to receive
drainage telephone calls as they have in the past. When these other departments receive the
calls, they are to take down the information and forward it to Road Maintenance so it gets
entered into the data base and then Road Maintenance takes the information and directs it in
the correct sequence for resolution. That is the difference between points 1 and 2. Phil
commented that if this handout is just a reporting back to the Committee, the important thing
is that all staff have been advised of the procedure to follow. As long as the staff understands
what is to happen is the important thing. Robert suggested that perhaps this can be clarified
in the document and revise the wording. Ray agreed with that. Phil asked if this procedure
has been put into place with County staff. Rick Zyvoloski asked about including a contact
number for the Immokalee area. Travis responded that all calls to Road Maintenance,
including Immokalee, now come to the one central number. There is a satellite office in
Immokalee, but the telephone number was discontinued there, and all calls come to the one
centralized number.
Objective 2 - To provide site-specific flood and flood related data, such as floor elevations,
data on historical flooding in the neighborhood or similar information so inquiries can relate
the flood threat to their property. Ray Smith asked everyone to look at the High Water Mark
team document. It goes through the process of identifying and developing a team,
considering safety measures to perform the job safely, and has detail in identifying the
importance of the effort without overstepping the responsibilities for hurricane responses. It
contains data reporting along with the necessary form and safety protocols. Rick Zyvoloski
felt this was an excellent document, but he didn't consider this type of work as non-essential.
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He felt it was an essential type of work to be performed and complements Emergency
Management, it just needs to be looked at from another perspective. This is another
reporting agency providing information on the status of infrastructure (roadways) to help
prioritize where resources need to be committed. He would like to recommend that this team
be considered as essential and go ahead and take them out of the hurricane mix for other jobs.
He recommended considering a pre-disaster component such as knowing where road
flooding is likely to occur and installing appropriate roadway markers before the sheetflow
covers the road.
Ray Smith asked if it would be appropriate for Dan Summers to identify the team members
as essential after an event. Rick responded that by having a pre-disaster component, this
could help with financial reimbursement if we are declared (a federal disaster area). Robert
Wiley discussed that the use of the term "essential" was heavily discussed by the sub-
committee and the term comes from the County's procedures and policies during emergency
declaration times. The "essential" personnel drop their normal work load and report to the
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during declared emergency status. It isn't saying that
the work of the High Water Mark team is not essential, but the sub-committee decided to
keep the term in the meaning of the County Manager's policies. The available staffing for
the High Water Mark teams would be chosen from staffing not listed on the "essential
personnel" roster. Rick suggested calling this work an essential function so it could be
completed from the uncommitted pool of available staffing. Ray Smith recommended the
language remain as proposed. Carolina Valera commented that staff was recently required to
take certain FEMA training (National Incident Management System training) so we all know
that if we get called from the EOC we have to respond.
Duke Vasey asked Travis Gossard ifhe would he evaluating Cartegraph software, or
evaluating this component of the work plan before January 2012. Robert Wiley explained
that the work plan evaluation is intended to be an annual report on how well the effort
worked when implemented, if it was implemented over the previous year. This is a similar
effort to Steve Preston's annual report on the Best Management Practices or Gary McAlpin's
annual report on the beach and dune restoration work. (Note that Robert provided comment
that he had just stepped out to call Gary to determine if he was going to make it to the
meeting for his presentation, and Gary said no.)
Objective 3 - Provide material on how to select a qualified contractor and on what recourse
people have if they are dissatisfied with a contractor's performance. Ray Smith mentioned
that this is already covered by a brochure available at Contractor Licensing. Robert Wiley
agreed with Ray and described how it was Travis Gossard who picked up the information
from Contractor Licensing for the sub-committee's review. We can now document this on
the CRS reporting form.
Objective 4 - Make site visits to review flooding and drainage, and provide one-on-one
advice to the property owner. Ray Smith commented this is done through Road
Maintenance. Robert Wiley commented there was no separate document prepared for this
objective since it is being done as the drainage complaint is handed by Road Maintenance,
Engineering and Stormwater Management. Depending upon the situation, as to whether it is
in a private development or a County right-of-way, different departments respond to go and
look at the situation.
Page 11 of 13
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Objective 5 - Provide advice and assistance on retrofitting techniques discussed in Activity
530 (Flood Protection). Jim Turner prepared a document, "Meeting FEMA Regulations to
Retrofit Buildings", to describe what is being done by the Building Department as calls come
in. Jim Turner discussed his recent attendance at the Florida Floodplain Management
Association annual meeting. There are some proposed changes coming to the CRS program
and the Florida Building Code. The 2010 Florida Building Code, which is supposed to go
into effect in January 2010, will incorporate all of the NFIP requirements, so that will change
things a bit. The CRS reporting requirement is currently on a 5-year cycle, and that will be
changing to a 3-year cycle. He also reported we will receive less credits for the information
that we put in the Libraries and there will be more credits for web site information. The
number of elevation certificates included with the annual CRS recertification will change
from the current 5 to 10 and they must be 90% correct in order to receive the credit points.
Hopefully the NFIP changes in the Florida Building Code will make things easier for
everyone. That would not include all the FEMA requirements, but it will be all of the NFIP
requirements.
Objective 6 - The person providing advice on retrofitting techniques has graduated from the
Emergency Management Institute course on retrofitting. Jim Turner commented that the
County needs to send someone to the upcoming course in Emmitsburg, MD in either
September or October of this year. Rick Zyvoloski commented that the training at
Emmitsburg is mostly of no cost to the attendees, except for the meal ticket. Room is
provided on campus, and travel costs are reimbursed.
Ray Smith then thanked Robert Wiley for his assistance and Stan Chrzanowski, Christine
Sutherland, Mac Hatcher, and Travis Gossard for their work. He also thanked Jack
McKenna for stepping in as Stan's replacement and helping with the process when Stan
retired.
5. Public Comments - None. Chuck Mohlke asked Chairman Ray Smith ifhe was open to a
suggestion on something to add to the May agenda, if we have time. He would like to
discuss some ofthe legislative consequences of some of what is being proposed and the
impact it will have on the municipalities and other jurisdictions represented on this
Committee. The Water Management Districts, the Soil and Water Conservation Districts
will all be impacted in some way. If we could hear the impressions of those represented here
as to what to anticipate, assuming the actions of the Legislature will be signed by the
Governor and put into effect. Some will affect us directly at the beginning of the state's
fiscal year. Ray Smith asked the Committee members for their thoughts, and felt that the
next meeting would already be pretty busy. Chuck reminded the Chairman that this was just
a suggestion. Phil Brougham commented that he felt it was critical for Nick Casalanguida
and Bill Lorenz to attend the May 2, 2011, meeting, or reschedule it to when they can attend.
The substance of the meeting will be the executive summary and the work plan.
Robert Wiley asked the Committee if they had a preference for scheduling the July 2011
meeting to Tuesday, 7-5-11 or Wednesday 7-6-11. There was no opposition to the Tuesday,
7-5-11 meeting date.
Next Meeting: Monday, May 2, 2011, starting at 9:00 a.m. in Room 610 of the GMD-P&R
building located at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104.
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uke Vasey passed unanimously at 10:37 a.m.
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