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2017-04-24 FCZD Meeting with BOCCFlood Control Zone District Meeting April 24, 2017 Attendees: Commissioner Edna Fund, Commissioner Gary Stamper, Commissioner Bobby Jackson, Erik Martin, Lee Napier, Glenn Carter, Tim Fife, Lara Seiler and Jim Kramer (on conference phone) Recorder: Lara Seiler Meeting Time: 2:34 pm Introductions were made to Jim Kramer from the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority. Jim inquired about the sponsorship for the potential dam. He said he met with Erik and Lee last week and discussed the issues. Jim wanted to know the board’s stance on the sponsorship. Edna said it was decided that the Chehalis Flood Control Zone District would be the sponsors and the three commissioners would be the supervisors. Glenn also noted that the Chehalis Flood Control Zone District would be the sponsor. Jim said that sounded good and asked if this information should be shared with the Dept. of Ecology. Gary noted that he did in fact want the information out there. Further discussion was held. Glenn felt it would be appropriate to do this by resolution. He also suggested announcing that the district is the sponsor of the project at a business meeting. Glenn said the three commissioner’s act for the Board of Health and the Solid Waste Disposal District. This is something that would be carried forward by the board acting as the supervisors of the Flood Control Zone District. The request has been made by flood authority to BOCC as to who would be the sponsor of this project. The BOCC would not be the sponsor but the sponsorship would be tendered by the Flood Control Zone District board. Jim and Lee to work on the resolution language. Jim noted that Erik, as the county engineer, is the responsible official/administrator for the district. Once this is a formal action then we can let other entities know. Jim said he needs to work with Erik and Lee on the details of the project to included budget development. Erik asked what we want to accomplish with the money they are offering. What are the objectives, goals and tasks? What is our role? How will the mechanics of this work? Lee thought that we will probably need to do a loan for the fund when bills start getting processed. Gary noted that he was concerned about budget. Discussion was held regarding Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) contacts. Erik said the budget needs to be specific and RCO needs to recognize what they are reimbursing us for. Discussion was held regarding staffing and Glenn said we need to limit legal staff as we need to keep a handle on the expenses. Lee noted this could be a burden on her staff time as project reviewers. Lee discussed the possibility of doing an MOU with project sponsor (the board) for the costs of project. Jim said he will work with Glenn, Erik and Lee on the details of the project. Jim left the meeting at 2:56 pm Discussion was held regarding Anchor QEA’s programmatic EIS. It was noted that the sponsor needs to pick one of the design options presented by Anchor QEA. Lee said the project sponsor needs to pick which option you move forward with. Discussion was held regarding the different design options presented by Anchor QEA. Erik said that more analysis needs to be done of two of the options and we would want to quantify some of the benefits of the options also. Lee said mitigation has yet to be identified. Erik said the amount of mitigation can vary for the project. This would include stream enhancements, habitat, aquatic species etc. Gary asked if we can afford to take another 400 to 500 acres away from farmland. Erik said work needs to be done on this and the impacts have to match the mitigation. Glenn left the meeting at 3:04 pm Discussion was held regarding the issues with Tacoma Power. Discussion was also held regarding a project manager. Lee said it is important to have staff person who is your advocate and someone who is accountable to the project. Erik said this person would need to commit to the project for at least 5 years and they need technical expertise and political savvy. He also said Kirk Holmes may not be the right person for this portion of the project. This person would need to know the local issues. Erik also noted that Kahle Jennings is not interested in this project long term. It was noted that this position should go through a recruitment process. Erik said it is important that he and Lee have sit downs with Anchor QEA and discuss where they plan to go with the project. This will help formulate requirements for this new position. Jim said will set up meetings with Erik, Lee and Anchor QEA. Anchor is designing the project and putting permits together and we need a representative to be involved with this work and it needs to be the right person. Edna said it would also be beneficial to have someone to update her for flood authority meetings. Gary noted he was worried about ongoing mitigation and how this will affect the tax base. It was noted that the FCZD team needs to have more frequent meetings with the board. They should be twice a month as the flood control zone dist. Glenn, Lee and Erik will work on resolution in the meantime. Gary said he was concerned about staff having enough time to work on regular work and this project too. Erik said that Kirk will still be working with the structure and organization of the FCZD. He will help the county see what kind of organization structure this will look like. Kirk was also hired to work on the Cowlitz Flood Control Zone District. Lee said the funding will be completely different for the Cowlitz FCZD. Discussion was held regarding the press. Erik said we should announce that the board will be having these types of meetings going forward. Meeting ended at 3:28 pm