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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-23-2020 CC IPM WS Minutesma SEBAST_N HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS WORKSHOP PUBLIC NOTICE AGENDA THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 - 1:30 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA 1. Mayor Dodd called the Sebastian City Council Workshop to order at 1:31 p.m. 2. A moment of silence was held. 3. Mayor Dodd led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. Members Present Mayor Ed Dodd Vice Mayor Charles Mauti arrived at 1:41 pm Council Member Damien Gilliams Council Member Pamela Parris Members Absent: Council Member Jim Hill Staff Present: City Manager Paul Carlisle City Clerk Jeanette Williams Public Work Director/City Engineer Ken Griffin Administrative Services Director Ken Kilgore Leisure Services Director Brian Benton Golf Course Director Greg Gardner Procurement Manager Ann -Marie Fraser Senior Planner Robert Loring Zoning Technician Michelle Faulkner Public Facilities Director/Airport Director Scott Baker Police Officer Donald Hart 5. WORKSHOP ITEM A. Introduction by Daniel Kolodny, Chief Operating Officer of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program and the Indian River Lagoon Council. Mr. Kolodny Introduced himself and said he works directly for Dr. DeFreese and he is filling in for him today as mediator. He manages the contracts, grants and the financial aspects for the National Estuary Program. He has a Bachelors Degree in Marine Biology & Agriculture he also has a Masters Degree in Environmental Resource Management from Florida Technical College. Mr. Kolodny thanked the Mayor and Council for having the workshop and said the goal of the workshop is for the Community to provide input and suggest ideas. B. Discuss Options for Best Management Practices Mayor Dodd conveyed the overall objective is for the City to put together an Integrated Pest System Plan that covers the treatment of the canals, the parks and the golf course. Dr. David Cox who is the Superintendent of Indian River Soil & Water Conservation District and Board Member also a Member of the Audubon and Pelican Island Board offered a few names of experts available to help with the Plan. • Christine Kelly-Begazo, County Extension Director of the Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences who is an expert at Integrated Pest Management. • St. Johns River Management District has done a lot of canal work and coastal stream clean up over the last 20 years. • Chuck Jacoby, Indian River Lagoon Council Member, is available for consultation. Eugene Wolff of Wimbrow Drive shared his 23 years of experience living on the Collier Canal. He has witnessed four different methods for removing weeds from the canal: • Spraying Method where the material is being applied in a flooding fashion which over soaked the plant and the material would end up in the water. Another spray method used was line application where material was applied through an open pipe into the water. • Wader Method where residents went into the canal in waders to remove weeds. • Boat Method where residents went out in boats and pulled weeds off the canal walls. • Spillway Method is when it rains the canal fills up and forces all the material to go over the spillway. He said both of the spraying methods are inefficient and very expensive. If the spray method is used there needs to be a specific target control. Steve Jaconski of County lane lives by a retention pond that is overgrown by duckweed. He suggested using Asian grass eating carp. The City Manager said there is certain vegetation that carp won't eat and also carp have to be contained. The stormwater ponds may be a candidate for the carp but that requires a permit from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission. Diana Bolton suggested an organic solution for fire ants which was studied at Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University and Texas A&M, It's called D-Limonene, commercially known as Orange Guard or Monterey Garden Insect Spray and it's made from citrus peels. Ms. Bolton said the Audubon Society recommends putting plants along shoreline. She gave an example of residents setting up a water pond at home; she cited a brochure stating a certain amount of plant coverage is necessary to prevent algae. Dr. Graham Cox suggested names for the City Manager to contact when looking at doing Whack out Weeds (WOW) testing: Dr. David Cox and Jane Schnee who are both familiar with local plants. Dr. Cox provided a copy from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences websile stating their recommendation for treating fire ants. It would also be helpful if we asked our neighboring governments what they do for the fire ants. Dr. Cox said the Board of County Commissioners had presentations by the County department heads regarding the use glyphosate. The department heads suggested having staff level discussions with the local agencies regularly. Bob Harkins said he remembers that there was wild life on the canal before they started working on the canals and now he doesn't see any wild life. He blamed it on spraying. He suggests getting a pontoon boat and go up and down the canal a couple times a month to clean up the growth. Council Member Parris asked Mr. Wolff his idea of which method should be used removing the weeds from the canal. Mr. Wolff responded that dredging was not the answer; training and the use of some type of sophistication would be better. If the method is going to be spraying then the equipment should have an adjustment to control the droplet size. Patty Augustyn of 685 Wimbrow said she is not in favor of using Round Up or any other pesticides. Her business for the past 25 year has been drinking water filtration. She helps manufactures make carbon block filters to take out of the water all of the things we put in. Kevin Kirwin, Parks Director for Indian River County, said the only thing in their Parks they've been applying is a minimal amount of Top Choice to treat fire ants. Mayor Dodd asked Mr. Kirin what they do for weed control in their ballfields. Mr. Kirin said they cut at least twice a week with a mulch mower. They only use fertilizer if there is a shock event like a deep freeze or an overspray of salt water. They use a natural fertilizer called Milorganite. Rich Szpyrka, Public Works Director for Indian River County, said they are experimenting with dish soap, vinegar and salt. It was recommended by the Agriculture Department from the University of Florida. They are using it in the stormwater areas, the median islands and around the facility to control weeds. They found it to be 50% effective. They to try to control the weeds the best they can by hand but they can't keep up so they are use the herbicide Tribune to help. They do not spray any ditches, they are cleaned mechanically. They use mechanical equipment on - Abe truck hoes and rubber tired hoes and on the Gradall excavator. _ Beth Powell, Assistant Director of Parks and Conservation Resources for Indian River County, .explained that she's in charge of Conservation Area Land Management. She recommends - segmenting the Integrated Pest Management Plan for the different application needs. She said they do use herbicides as a regular part of their Integrated Pest Management for conservation areas. One important strategy she recommends is to address a problem before it gets out of hand. She further explained in the conservation area, the herbicide that is used is specific to the species being treated. The same species is treated over a period of time with the goal to eradicate the species and after the species is eradicated the use of that herbicide is no longer necessary. Ms. Powell suggested making a list of the species needed to manage. One Species that is a priority is the Old World Climbing Fern; it is an invasive vine which is prevalent in our area due to the lack of hard freezes. This fern proliferates in canal systems and when it gets out of hand it can be very problematic. Identifying what you are controlling and why you are controlling it is an important aspect to each of the segments. Ms. Powell said they don't use any organic chemicals. She said it is important to use the herbicides according to its label. She only uses the herbicide that is listed on the label for the specific plant that is being treated. The County's Best Management Practices are provided by the University of Florida. She said the pilot project utilizing goals is very expensive and time consuming. They learned that goats are browsers not grazers. They do not eliminate the vegetation because they only eat what is at the height of their mouths. The University of Florida after 20 years of research has started releasing the Brazilian Pepper Thrips. Melaleuca weevil and the beetle have also been released and they have had very good results with both. When cutting and treating the Melaleuca stands it helps with regrowth and it delays spraying for a long period of time. Ms. Powell recommends doing two assessments on the canal system. One assessment should be for the management and function of the canal. The second assessment should be to find out what invasive species could potentially spread outside the area. Ms. Powell shared a few ways to get help identifying invasive species: • Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has an on-line app with all of the invasive species. This app is helpful for identify different invasive species. • The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences can identify any plant either by a picture or by looking at a cutting of the plant. • University of Florida has a link on their website of all the invasive species. Mayor Dodd thanked everyone for their input and said the next step is for the City Manager to gather the information and start to put together a preliminary document. After that is done the Council and the Community will figure out how to apply these ideas to each of the areas within the City. The Mayor made it very clear that the City will create an Integrated Pest Management System Plan to ecologically solve problems. Council Member Gilliams asked the Finance Director for the total amount in stormwater management account and for the total brought in annually from the taxation on the slromwater fees. The Finance Director responded with a Stormwater account balance of $700,000 - $750,O00_and _> .- approximately two million in taxation on the stormwater fees. - 6. Mayor Dodd adjourned the workshop at 3:49 p.m. - Aaxosd at the FFtnH[y 12, 2020 mjul City 0= 1 Ivigsb+g. 4 mx,Kr�� A �- � aty ci -