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NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD
MINUTES
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2011 - 6:00 P.M.
City Council Chamber, 1225 Main Street, Sebastian
1. Chairperson Graves called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
3. ROLL CALL:
Present:
Robin Graves - Chair
Albert Alvarez
Jane Schnee
Eric Spokas — Vice Chair
Ann Lucier
Hank Kriss
Lori Bender
Gilbert Gordian Jr.
Un- Excused Absence:
Tara Howe
Staff Present: Ginny Sieferd, Board Liaison and Donna Cyr, Recording Secretary
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: June 7, 2011 regular meeting, June 23, 2011 field trip and
July 23, 2011 field trip
MOTION by Mr. Spokas and SECOND by Mr. Alvarez to approve the June 7th, 2011
minutes as written, motion carried.
MOTION by Ms. Graves and SECOND by Mr. Alvarez to approve the June 23rd, 2011
minutes as written, motion carried.
MOTION by Mr. Kriss and SECOND by Ms. Graves to approve the July 23rd, 2011
minutes as written, motion carried.
5. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Chairperson Graves welcomed each of the new board members. They all gave a
brief description of their background.
6. PUBLIC INPUT:
No public input.
7. OLD BUSINESS:
Recap of Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup, July 23rd, 2011: Everyone felt the event
was a big success. Ms. Graves said from the three islands that she worked on they
picked up at lease 250 pound of trash. Mr. Gordian was the boat captain taking people
Natural Resources Board Meeting
August 2, 2011
Page Two
to spoil island IR1 and he said that they had well over 200 pounds of garbage. Ms.
Lucier confirmed that on IR1 they removed a leather office chair, pallets, and beach
chairs, beer bottles, etc. It was noted that someone had been living on the island
because of the tent and supplies. Ms. Sieferd said she found a lot of fireworks caps
confirming it is a great time to cleanup right after the 4th of July. Ms. Graves thanked
the City for the use of their boat as well as Mr. Gordian for the use of his boat. In
response to Mr. Spokas' question, no one noticed an excessive amount of plastic
grocery bags. Ms. Graves mentioned that people use the fire pits as garbage dumps
and think that burning the trash helps. She said it doesn't and Mr. Gordian said he goes
to the different islands to cleanup and mentioned that she was correct and that was why
they were trying to reduce the number of fire pits. Ms. Bender asked if putting recycle
bins on the islands was a good idea. It was explained that there wasn't anyone to go
back out on a regular basis to remove the bins. Mr. Gordian did note that it looked like
people were good about not disturbing the vegetation on the islands. Visitors weren't
cutting down branches or trees to make fires.
Ideas for new board activities:
Mr. Spokas suggested sponsoring seminars every couple of months at the North
County Library to cover special interests of the board and the community. Topics such
as Stormwater runoff, evasive wildlife & plants, barrier island preservation were
suggested. Ms. Graves and Ms. Sieferd suggested having the speakers as part of the
regular Natural Resources Board meeting because meetings were now being televised.
The Council Chambers can accommodate all the media and technical requirements of
the speaker. Ms. Sieferd said she is on the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System) board for the City and having speakers televised will fill some of the
required meetings that she needs to have. She could recruit speakers also. Suggested
groups are the Agricultural Extension Office, the Audubon Society, Indian River State
College, the State's Clean Marinas.
Ms. Graves suggested that the new members check out the Letterboxing program that
the board has at the Stormwater Park. Ms. Graves asked the board secretary to get the
new members the information /clues on this. Ms. Graves said she would be going to the
Stormwater Park to check on the boxes and make sure they were in order. If everyone
liked the program, the board could think about putting more boxes at the Park or try an
additional park location.
Ms. Schnee requested that the board review the landscaping requirements in the Land
Development Code. She would like to see the code changed to offer more natural ways
to fertilize and to ban the use of phosphates is fertilizers. After some discussion
regarding products containing phosphates, it was suggested that this would be a good
topic for a speaker to discuss. It was brought up that the best way to get people to stop
using harmful products was to educate them.
Mr. Gordian asked about the cement structure in front of Squid Lips. Ms. Sieferd
explained that she was pretty sure it was private property so the City can't take it down.
Ms. Sieferd will double check and report back to the board.
Ms. Schnee asked about the status of the Champion Tree measuring. The board
secretary updated the board that the letters for non - champion trees went out and that
there were only two champions designated. The Red Maple and the Pigeon Plum will be
Champions and Ms. Cyr will get the information together to be presented before Council
for the proclamations.
Natural Resources Board Meeting
August 2, 2011
Page Three
8. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Florida Coastal Cleanup on Saturday, September 17th, 2011: After some
discussion it was decided that the board would participate in this annual event.
Everyone will meet at Main Street boat ramp at 8:00 am. Ms. Sieferd will see if we can
borrow the City's boat for trash removal. This will be the third island cleanup for the
year.
B. Friends of St. Sebastian River "Family Fun Under the Sun" event on October
22nd at Friendship Park: Ms. Schnee filled in the board on her conversation with
Tim Glover regarding the event. Mr. Spokas made a motion to participate in the event.
The board will have a table with environmental & educational literature to pass out. It's
an all day event. Ms. Schnee is leading a bird walk in the park area. Once the City
approves the event, Chris McCarthy, Parks Superintendent will get the board secretary
information. Ms. Graves suggested setting up a small letterbox hunt in the park, having
literature on fertilizer issue, and promote natural Florida yards. The board voted
unanimously to participate in the event.
9. MEMBER MATTERS:
No member matters.
10. STAFF MATTERS:
No staff matters.
11. Being no further business, Ms. Graves adjourned the meeting at 6:42 p.m.
Natura\t<esources Chairperson Signature
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