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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-20-2020 IPM MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FL JULY 20, 2020 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mr. Benton at 3:00 p.m. II. Roll call Present: Mr. Thomas Carrano Ms. Ruth Callaghan Dr. Graham Cox -- (Zoom) Ms. Jessica Lovell -- (Zoom) Ms. Kathy Brothers -- (Zoom) Absent: Christine Kelly-Begazo -- Excused Also Present: Brian Benton, Leisure Services Director Kim Haigler, Environmental Technician Janet Graham, Technical Writer -- (Zoom) III. Approval of Minutes -- June 7, 2020 Mr. Benton called for a motion to accept the Minutes as presented. Dr. Cox noted a pagination error beginning on Page 3. The date should read July 7, 2020 on Pages 3, 4, and 5. A motion to approve the Minutes of the June 7, 2020 meeting, noting the page numbering error, was made by Mr. Carrano, seconded by Ms. Callaghan, and approved unanimously via voice vote. IV. Announcements A. Last Meeting Ms. Haigler announced that this meeting is the last one on the Parks and Properties IPM Plan. She stated the Sub -Committee will meet again in March 2021, and discussion will surround the data that is available to date and how the program is being implemented so that the Sub -Committee can address any strengths, weaknesses, or anything that may need to be adjusted, having now had the experience of working through the IPM Plan for INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF JULY 20, 2020 MEETING Parks and Properties. Staff will continue to keep the Sub -Committee members informed regarding what is happening with major IPM activities such as air potato beetle release or the manual removal of vegetation. Staff will make sure the members are notified ahead of time in case they want to see those things in action or know more about them. Mr. Benton gave a brief update on the manual removal. He has spoken to Mr. Ken Griffin, who is the Director of Stormwater. That department has been given the okay by City Council to proceed. They have given the purchase order and the approval to the contractor who is going to handle the mechanical removal for the City. That was approximately $25,000.00, and it is going to be for an area that is approximately 1600 feet of mechanical removal. Mr. Griffin did mention that the entire canal is about 8.15 miles. So that provides a rough estimate of the area that is being talked about for that price. Mr. Benton said once he has dates on the mechanical removal, staff will send emails out to the entire Sub -Committee. The locations for the mechanical removal will be given as well. Ms. Lovell asked regarding the mechanical removal. She asked if that information will be included in the waterway IPM plan. Mr. Benton stated it will. He further stated that the present Plan only addresses parks and properties. Any canals or lakes that are in the City parks will all be covered under the Stormwater Integrated Pest Management Plan. V. Public Input -- None VI. New Business A. Approval of the final IPM Plan Ms. Haigler thanked the Sub -Committee members for getting their suggested revisions/additions to her so quickly. She reviewed a few items where changes were made: • On the Acknowledgements page at the bottom, there will be added in "Reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Committee, the Natural Resources Board", and the dates that they approved it. The last sentence will be "The aforementioned collectively will present this IPM Plan and accompanying Resolution to City Council for approval on the 27th day of August 2020." Ms. Haigler stated this wording will show that this Sub -Committee as well as the other two Boards support the Plan when it is presented to City Council. That wording will be listed again on Page 4 under IPM Policy. • On Page 20, Treatment Notification, under Conditional Exemption, wording will be added to identify who does the authorization, those being the IPM Coordinator INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF JULY 20, 2020 MEETING and the Leisure Services Director, and all documentation regarding this will be saved and reported in the Annual Report. Ms. Haigler stated those are the only major changes. She thanked Christine Kelly- Begazo and Ruth Callaghan for their help with the Concentration Application Rate section on Page 19. Ms. Haigler asked for comments or suggestions regarding the changes/additions. Ms. Callaghan reviewed that at the last meeting it was talked about the the monthly IPM log be changed to be more of a monthly view, like a calendar view. Ms. Haigler stated she did not make that change because there are weekend days in the calendar view when things are not being applied. Mr. Benton stated he thinks the IPM Log is going to work the way it is, and the applicators will just have to fill in the dates. Ms. Callaghan also stated she thought, relative to the field use EIQ for the application rate, that it was going to be explained that some of the rates came from what was on the product label as the suggested rate versus others, because the City has had values in the past that were going to be put in there. Ms. Haigler stated the City never applies more than what the label says. So she suggested a sentence is missing which explains that the City never applies more, but the product could be applied at a lower application rate as per industry standard for this area. She suggested that information be noted on the table as a footnote. After an extensive discussion, Mr. Benton suggested on an annual or semi-annual basis there be a separate chart that will show where the field use EIQ information was begun and compare it with what the application rate is currently. It would be a on separate chart every year or every six months rather than adding it to the existing chart. Ms. Callaghan agreed. Dr. Cox referred to page 26 where it talks about recommendations. He suggested having it say "Recommendations for Future Consideration." Dr. Cox referred to wherever the term "data" is used, that word denotes plural, so that the verb following that word should be "are." He also referred to page 20 where it says "sign," it should say "signs." He stated he will email a note to staff listing those changes. He inquired whether staff is considering a press release to go with the report once it is published. Mr. Benton suggested once the Plan is approved by City Council, something like a press release can be put on the website. Dr. Cox had a list of questions and answers that might be covered in any type of press release. He will send those questions and answers to Ms. Haigler. Ms. Haigler suggested that Sub -Committee members who are able come to the City Council meeting when the Plan is presented stating their support of the Plan, and if they cannot be at the meeting in person, attend via Zoom so they can voice their support. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF JULY 20, 2020 MEETING Ms. Haigler suggested once the Plan is approved, it should be passed on to the Indian River Lagoon Council. Mr. Benton agreed. Dr. Cox suggested that the Minutes of every meeting of this Sub -Committee should be put on the website in order to show how much research and detail went into the Plan. Mr. Benton stated that all the Minutes for these meetings are on Laserfiche on the City's website. He will make sure he can access those so that information can be put on the Integrated Pest Management website. Ms. Lovell asked if all the chemicals that were previously used by the City have been vetted and analyzed by this Sub -Committee. Mr. Benton said everything that is included in the table includes the chemicals that have been used since December 2018. He does not know if there are records that go back past that time. Ms. Haigler stated there was discussion at the previous meetings regarding the chemicals that have been used by the City in the past. Ms. Lovell also recommended further expanding the current section that is already in the Plan under Staff Training. She asked if it would be possible to create a training document that City staff could be trained on as well as contractors. Mr. Benton stated he requires the entire Park staff, whether they are applicators or not, to go through the University of Florida IFIS Green Industries Best Management Practices program. That is also required of the City's contractors. Ms. Haigler suggested, since the classes are held here at the City, the IPM Plan policies be included in the classes. Ms. Lovell called attention to the tracking data that is covered on page 25. She thinks it would be a good idea to list specifically what is being looked for and asked if it is possible to distinguish between new and restricted products in the data and to have the EIQ calculations in with that and also have that linked to a location and the number of applications. Mr. Benton stated that the amount of product that the City uses on an annual basis is minimal. With what is used, he does not think it is going to be that difficult to accurately track it. After much discussion, Mr. Benton suggested showing on the Annual Report how much of each product is left. Ms. Haigler stated that in six months when this is looked at, that will create outlines for the Annual Report. So staff will start itemizing and organizing this data. Ms. Lovell commented relating the thresholds, she would recommend that, if it is not possible to change the category that would enable the Sub -Committee to do some sort of numerical unit of measurement, it be at least defined what very low and very high mean using a lay person's description. After much discussion regarding the subject, Ms. Haigler stated that it is difficult to generally define what very low and very high are, INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF JULY 20, 2020 MEETING because it is unique to each pest. She stated that the applicator certification training is very in depth and is very clear. There are a lot of points that rely on the applicators' knowledge or assessment of things. They receive this knowledge when they successfully attain their certification. Staff have to trust them because of their certification to make those choices. However, she wrote in the Plan that if there were a problem in the future, something more quantitative could be looked at. She stated she has faith in the ability of the applicators to make the right estimates. Mr. Benton stated this subject is something that can be worked towards for the six-month review. Ms. Haigler said that is what is contained in Future Recommendations. Dr. Cox suggested that a side bar that repeats what Mr. Benton suggested, and that will emphasize what discussion was had. Mr. Benton's concern is that adding completely different areas to this document with the Sub -Committee approving the Plan today, what is presented to Parks and Recreation on Monday could look different based on some of these recommendations. Ms. Haigler suggested that, if it is accepted that this document is dynamic, and that is why it requires an annual review and why there will be a six-month review, it shows that these things are constantly being looked at to see how the Plan is working. Mr. Benton said staff will insert three or four sentences that explain threshold levels and put that into this document. He thinks that would be better than putting it in a side bar, because City Council may question that. Ms. Haigler said that there is not a simple way to sum it up in three sentences because of the fact that these descriptive words are different for every pest. Mr. Carrano added that sometimes it is difficult to quantify something that is subjective. He thinks that, if an actual number cannot be arrived at for every specific situation, it is best to leave it unsaid. It should go to the people who have the training to make that determination. Mr. Benton suggested letting what is in the Plan now stay, and it can be addressed in six months if it is a major concern. Mr. Benton called for a motion for approval of the final IPM Plan. He reviewed the few changes that are going to be made: • On page 25 add "Staff Training." • A footnote on Figure 5 for the actual field use EIQ chart. • Change "data is" to "data are. • On page 26 "Future" will be added to the header. • On page 20 change "sign" to "signs." Ms. Haigler added: • In how this Plan is reviewed, the NRB and the Parks and Recreation Board are both mentioned.