Meeting minutes of the June 2, 2004 MRWC meeting
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Outreach and Education: They are in project mode, working on our upcoming Solstice event at Tyee winery on June 19th. Tickets are available at Grassroots bookstore, First Alternative Coop or at the winery, and at some Portland locations.
Water Quality: Liz Dent has agreed to be project manager, but the funding for the entire project is being delayed by politics.
Land, Air and Water Use: 1) Responses to Ken Kraus' survey indicated universal interest in, but low to none-skill levels in using, a GIS. So, Ken concludes that we need a user-driven web based GIS for our watershed.To use this you will need a high-speed internet connection and web browser. Benton Co. Development Dept. plans to host the website and will provide some technical support. Please send any input or comments you have to Ken by August 15th.
2) The comment period regarding Evanite's proposal to reduce the amount of water monitoring ends June 30th. If 10 people request, there will be a hearing. Contact Kirk.
3) Suggestion that there be an open workshop for the Philomath community, including business people and residents, to learn about conjunctive use (surface water/ground water) issues, to be held instead of our July meeting.
4) A course on hydrology of the Willamette Valley will be given (for credit) for 6-12th grade teachers beginning June 21-July 2nd in Salem. Tuition is paid from Title 3B money. The sessions are all-day, every day for 2 weeks. Contact Jesse Ford if interested.
Fish Passage: Always in need of volunteers to go out to look at culverts and inform the committee which ones need replacement. Their work on Beaver Creek and Blakesley Creek is on schedule.
Steering Committee: Met on May 25th and talked about the protocol for selecting projects.Tara Nierenberg and Sandra Coveny began putting down the criteria that will be used to select projects, hoping that this will begin the process for the present and future, including a list of tasks. This can be amended as we go on. They also discussed Philomath's rejection of our proposed plan of study for the water issue. Chuck Lane planned to go to the May 10th Council meeting to ask them to reconsider or explain the rejection. Out of this came the decision to hold a public workshop during the summer which will be data-driven, whose intent is to get information to the general public. Discussion followed about the date and what would be included. Ken Schaud is the contact person at the Philomath City Council for this.DATE OF WORKSHOP IN PHILOMATH is July 6th.
COORDINATOR'S REPORT: Sandra explained OWEB's mandatory evaluation. A healthy discussion followed covering topics such as membership, participation, website, goals, ways to increase citizen involvement and explain what's in it for different interests. Meeting adjourned at 9:04.