MINUTES
OF MEETING
SUNSHINE
WATER CONTROL DISTRICT
The meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Sunshine
Water Control District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Mary Macomber Vice President
Philip Sobers Secretary
Also present were:
John Petty Manager
Bruce Cranmer Attorney
John McKune Engineer
Cory Selchan Field Superintendant
Janice Larned
Mona Slaughter
Numerous Residents
FIRST ORDER OF
BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr. Petty called the meeting to order and
called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of
the July 12, 2006 Meeting
Mr.
Petty stated the Board members received a copy of the minutes of the
Ms. Macomber stated I have some changes
and I will give them to you.
All corrections received will be
incorporated into the record.
On MOTION by
Mr. Sobers seconded by Ms. Macomber with all in favor the minutes of the
Mr. Petty stated we have a lot of
people in the audience tonight.
Ms. Macomber stated welcome again,
everybody and I see at least one commissioner I recognize.
Mr. Petty stated we have
polled most of the people in the crowd and their topic seems to be trees which
is to be discussed under the manager’s report and if it is alright with the
Board we would like to move it to the next item.
Ms. Macomber stated by all
means.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
C. Superintendent
Mr.
Petty stated at the last meeting we took comments from the public on the issue
of trees within the District’s drainage right-of-way, the concerns the District
had in addressing the drainage and flood control issues, what we have seen
since Hurricane Wilma and residents concerns and suggestions. The Board has awarded a contract but has said
we will not issue a notice to proceed until this Board has evaluated options
staff was to bring to you. These
included options our sister districts were also working out within the city
with residents and with the City of
Tonight
we would like to share with you a short powerpoint and forgive me for using
powerpoint but there are a couple of items which are useful. Our sister district, Coral Springs
Improvement District, hired an independent arborist to give the issue of what
do trees need since we are not experts in trees. He had some good observations we would like
to bring to your attention as well.
Before we start let me say when this
states discussion of proper plantings for canal banks and waterways this is
coming from the arborist and not the District.
We would like you to consider these but certainly some are arborist
concerns and may not be applicable to drainage.
Powerpoint Presentation – Prepared
by John Sutton of Sutton Consulting Arborist, Inc.
Tree
and Canals
Slide
1: Root Structure
o
Rootball Structure
o
Radial Roots – Water table
Slide
2: Roots
Slide
3: Shallow roots make trees unstable
in storms
Slide
4: Preventative pruning reduces damage
in storms
Slide
5: Common mistakes in planting
o
Planting too close to waters
edge
o
Over planting restricts access
to canal banks for maintenance
Slide
6: Hazards
o
Roots do not grow into water
Slide
7: Buffer or Maintenance Problem?
Slide
8: Maintenance is Essential
Slide
9: Limited Support – no roots on
waterside
Slide
10: Residences along canal
o
At risk for damage from trees
in a major wind event
o
The loss of property and
possibly life could be avoid by removing trees prior to a major wind event
Slide
11: Example –
o
Root system failure
o
Time does not remedy these
situations
Slide
12: Example –
o
Stand of trees damaged
o
If not corrected could pose a
threat to residences
o
New plantings should allow for
360o root space
Slide
13: Potential for Castrophe
o
Large number of residences
along canals in
o
Trees increase the odds for
property damage
o
Does not necessarily take a
hurricane
Slide
14: Example – Pines growing too close to
the water and too close together
Slide
15: No Ficus
o
Not a nusiance tree, now an
ornamental
o
Expansive surface roots
o
Prone to breakage
Slide
16: Example - Vegatative buffer –
planted without respect to property line
Slide
17: Example - Safe way to prune trees – no
way to make hurricane proof
Slide
18: Root Barrier – to close to the edge
Slide
19: Example – water supposed to rise
Slide
20: Excessive rain makes trees unstable
Slide
21: Skipped
Slide
22: Skipped
Slide
23: Skipped
Slide
24: Canal Maintenance – Summary –
Enforcements
Mr.
Petty stated what we would like to talk to you about tonight is we know we have
an issue concerning safety, we know we have an issue concerning flood control
and we also know from the residents who were at the last meeting in July that the
residents would like to keep as many trees as possible as long as it does not
hurt them. I certainly do not think
there was anybody who was for flooding but they certainly wanted to save as
many trees as they could. The Board
listened and asked staff to look for options.
We are going to mirror what Coral Springs Improvement District (“CSID”) did
after their Town Hall meeting where they took similar comments from residents
in their district.
In
this view basically we are going to have a very defined top of bank. Your yard maybe more sloped and we may have
to put a stake there to show you. For
reasons of understanding what we are proposing we would like for safety and
flood control we would like to remove all trees between the waters edge and top
of bank beginning with nuisance species only.
This mirrors what CSID did and we will be asking our Board to consider
tonight. We are working with the city
with the CSID board and we would like to collarborate with them as the Sunshine
Board, if the Board allows, to work with the city on the issue of mantaining
canopy above top of bank. We have looked
at the cost of maintaining our canal areas and
right-of-way. Typically in the
past on top of bank is where we drove our equipment, it is where we are
expected to take our draglines to clean the canals. What we found after Hurricane Wilma was
several contractors who are available who have barges who can come here and
remove very large material including such things as dredging canals in the
future from the water body. For this
reason wherever we can put a barge in we would recommend to the Board we only
remove trees below top of bank. If there
are nuisance species issues where removal is considered a different priority,
we may consider it, but basically focus on this area beginning with nuisance
trees and then working with the city on the ornamentals. For the nuisance trees there is a long list
the city has and we will go by their list.
The Australian Pines, Florida Holly and Melaleuca are the biggest names
there; but there are several others on it though.
This is what we will focus on but there are
ornamentals. Say you have a Hong Kong
Orchid, it is considered an ornamental and we would not take it down; not in
this phase. We
would still talk to the city to say we still think this tree in the water
containment area is a threat but we will work with them in their canopy
restructuring program which they started after Hurricane Wilma to see if we
could do a plant someplace else nearby to try to offset the cost and the impact
of removing the tree.
Mr.
Candy asked what about small shrubs and gardens? I do not have any but there are people who
have them. A guy put a lot of very nice
ornamental garden stuff and bricks all around it built up from the bank so that
it is terraced. It is 3’ to 4’ from the
water. I cannot see where any storm
damage and if little shrubs fell in there, in all honesty, what damage is it
going to do? We were told at the last
meeting you were taking out everything.
Mr.
Petty stated I am about done with this; do you want to take comments from the
public at this time and we can address this gentleman?
Ms.
Macomber asked are you through?
Mr.
Petty stated this is pretty much the recommendation at this time. I will summarize and then we can talk about
the comments.
Basically,
CSID has completed their program and it has resulted in their concerns being
alleviated by about 85% which in our case is a much better position than where
we were after Hurricane Wilma. For the
residents during Hurricane Wilma we had about 50% of the trees in our drainage
area taken down. We are doing this by
volume not by counting. We are
estimating about 50% of the trees are still there and we do know by count how
many we have moved out; it is over 5,000 trees.
Ms.
Macomber asked are you talking about trees which were down?
Mr.
Petty responded trees downed by the hurricane.
This leaves in the 5,000 to 6,000 range left. We were hoping to get this done before peak
hurricane months, which is now, and we were not able to do it.
We
have a couple of issues. One is we have
a contract and we will not give a start date.
It has gone through so much time we would ask you to allow staff to
re-bid it under whatever is approved by this body. We do not have to make a decision tonight; we
are just asking you to consider these options.
We think they have validity and we think our sister district has done
pioneer work here. We think we can start
with it and be effective with going after the trees below top of bank and
designed high water level, nuisance trees first and then working with the city
on ornamental trees. I believe the city
calls it a mitigation bank or something similar. They have a specific program for removal
of ornamental trees and even though we consider it a problem of safety; we may
want to work on mitigation issues because it is the canopy of
Ms.
Macomber stated it is paramount we work together with the city; we are in this
thing with the city. We must help each
other to get through this. I think this
has been very enlightening from my point of view.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor’s Request and
Audience Comments
Mr. Petty stated we had a gentleman who
spoke earlier and brought up a specific scenario.
Ms.
Macomber stated I would like to have them come up to the dais please.
Mr.
Petty stated please give your name for the record.
Mr.
Jim Candy,
Mr.
Petty stated it is a very good question.
If you have just brush material is it an issue? It is typically not an issue and what we will
recommend in this discussion and consideration is brush material which cannot
grow into a tree, and the reason I say this is because ficus is a separate
little animal, but roses bushes, flowers and this type of thing is not an issue
for anybody other than in the slope area because you may cause erosion to the
bank and is the only reason why we are concerned there. Otherwise it does not cause a hinderence in a
hurricane it is just a concern of does it cause erosion and in your specific
example the homowner had built a brick facility there. If you recall at the beginning of this I said
the District in adopting this policy will still hold its right to bring in equipment
if necessary and if he has a brick structure there it causes me a
hinderence. Brick and wood structures
are a problem, brush materials are not with the exception of trees like ficus
where a homeowner has a nice ficus hedge in his back yard about 6’ tall, well
trimmed and kept. It is not a problem if
it is above top of bank. The issue is if
he moves is the next person going to keep them at 6’ high and how do I enforce
it. It may be a policy this Board has
adopt now and then modify in the future.
Mr.
Candy stated they have to maintain it.
Mr.
Petty stated the key is we do not have much enforcement power here and we are
asking the city now to be tree policemen in backyards and it is a tough job,
there are a lot of dogs back there. It
is something we have to talk about but right now we are not going after bushes
with the exception of some ficus trees there will probably be future discussion
but we are not even asking the Board to consider it today.
Mr.
Candy asked what about chainlink fences and stuff like that? Where people have chainlink fences going all
the way down say if they have dogs preventing their dogs from going in someone
elses yard?
Mr.
Petty responded the District currently has a policy of no structures including
fences allowed in the District’s right-of-way or easements. If there are such structures they are not by
permit or if they were issued a very special permit from the old days it is
subject to the District taking it out at anytime it seems desirable for the
maintenance of the canal. In effect what
I have told people over the phone is I do not have a fence policeman who is
going to come out and harrass you what is going to happen one day though when I
do have to do maintenance you will have to understand when I come through you
will end up shy 50’ of fence because I had to do something.
Mr. Candy stated this is if you have to
come down the bank and not from the canal.
Mr. Petty stated the city will not allow
you to build down to waters edge, they understand the right-of-way is there but
again they cannot be there all the time and some things are done without
permits as well.
Mr. Candy stated when you go on a lot of
the canals a lot of people have chainlink fences that go right down to the
water. I have only lived here seven
years but I have not seen those cause trouble.
A wooden fence I could understand maybe if you had a tremendous storm
but the hurricanes have not taken down any chainlink fence.
Mr. Petty stated we are not worried about
the fence failing. We are worried about
the fence impacting a repair project. As
you saw with Hurricane Wilma these fences may pose a hazard and in most
instances where the fence was still there we were able to address it from the
barge. As I tell most residents who ask
me on the phone we will not take it down unless we have to so if I need to get
in there we will exercise our right, it is our property we will go in to
maintain it for flood control and maintenance but until that time I am not
going to go after a guy who has had a fence there for 15 years.
Mr.
Dave Burke,
Mr.
Petty responded even the arborist said certain palm trees have a phenominal
staying strength in storms. You are
correct that the issue with the palm trees is not going to be that big of an
issue. There are palm trees which do not
have that holding capability; the queen palm is one.
Mr.
Burke stated mine is a Royal Palm.
Mr.
Petty stated I do not know about Royal Palms.
I did ask about Sabal Palms and they said their root strucutre is rock
solid. Most palm trees planted at top of
bank and back should not be a concern.
If you are planted close to the water it is something the Board may want
to consider because it will be part of the ornamentals we will ask the city to
work with us on to try and either move them or try to mitigate them into some
other type of canopy.
Mr.
Burke stated my entire point was all trees do not have the same kind of root
structure and the palm tree is one which does not fit your mold.
Mr.
Petty stated you are absolutely right.
Mr.
Burke stated my next question has to do with the top of the bank. We are going to make a whole lot of
decisions, personally. I look at my
house and everything you talk about tonight talks about this top of bank. Who is going to show me where that is?
Mr.
Petty responded I can tell you how to find it.
If we adopted a program of such control we would do similar to what we
did in other districts and the suggestion there by staff was to stake the
locations so the homeowner can see what they have to move. There we put out doorhangers to give the
residents notice that if you have any personal belongings in this area move it
back, if you have trees in this area which you can move and you feel like doing
so please do.
Ms.
Macomber asked is top of bank determined by the engineer?
Mr.
Petty responded a better definition for top of bank is designed high water
level. These canals are designed to hold
water.
Mr.
Burke asked are you telling me that could occur on my property?
Mr.
Petty responded the design high water level, yes.
Mr.
Burke stated then I can affect where your canal ends if the water will not flow
into my yard because I built something there.
Mr.
Petty stated I wish it was that simple.
Mr.
Burke stated it seems to be that simple.
If the water will not flow in my yard you have nothing to remove.
Mr.
Petty stated there have been recordings of plats which define these
right-of-ways.
Mr.
Burke asked why would I have a problem with the right-of-way?
Mr.
Petty stated the design high water level is based on elevation. You are right if you have a raised elevation
because you are on a hilly part of
Mr.
Burke stated I am talking about my property; I do not care about your
property.
Mr.
Petty stated your property is fine.
Mr.
Burke stated therefore I can affect your top of bank.
Mr.
Petty stated I have not heard that yet but it is a strong point. If a homeowner on his property put up a
seawall for example would it keep us at that elevation. If it is outside of the right-of-way, of
course it will because it is your property.
If it is inside the right-of-way the District still reserves the right
to maintain it and you cannot build anything in there so you would not be
allowed that option. On your personal
property you would set the design high water level. Design high water is not supposed to be on
your property; it is supposed to be in my right-of-way. If it comes on your property I am worried
because my job is to keep your place from flooding.
Mr.
Burke stated I have lived on my property for about 10 years and over that 10
year period my property seems to be getting smaller and I think maybe your
water is getting bigger.
Mr.
Petty stated that is a good point.
Mr.
Burke stated part of the problem is not me because I do not shovel my bank into
your canal but I do notice your guys coming around occasionally and killing
whatever is growing on my bank. Those
things die, the rains comes and then I have to step back another foot. What will prevent you from doing that?
Mr.
Petty responded the aquatic plant maintenance program is based on the residents
request over 30 years to remove unsightly aquatics on the banks and is why we
go out to spray. If the aquatic plants
come out and you see the spatterdock, they look like lilies but they get the
little yellow flowers which really never open up. It can cover a canal system and catch all
kinds of debris. Our maintenance guy
goes out and sprays the heck out of it to clear the canal space. Other plant materials grow below the surface
which we are concerned about for flowway.
At the edge it is strictly the aesthics of the neighborhood after
hearing 30 years of residents ask for it.
We know of your issue on the erosion control and in particular in the
Sunshine Water Control District we have a lot of hard cut canals which you have
heard referred to as box-cuts. We have
box-cut canals which were basically scooped out and wherever the dirt landed
after you pulled the dirt out is the way they left them. It was not until the late 1970’s early 1980’s
that they started coming up with a four-to-one slope requirement around canals
and this was basically due to the drowning incidents. They made it so all future drainage systems
had a walk out capability but existing drainage systems were not required
because if you did not have the land you could not stabilize. In our case we have had the problem for a
long time and this year for the first time our staff has been looking at what
they call a geosock, which is mirrafie fabric, it comes in various sizes up to
2’ to 3’ in diameter. Typically you put
two to three out at a time. They are
long pipes you fill with sand, you pump out, you push it along the bank, you
have one supporting below the waterline and one on top of the waterline, you
take the sod and put it down right on top.
No aquatic plants can grow there because there is mirrafie there to keep
the weeds out. The sod can grow in the
little bit of soil underneath it but this is all that is going to grow
there. It will take the wave action and
stabilize the bank. For the time we have
put money in the budget ot run test sites within Sunshine this year to see how
the sock works because we see the same thing you see. We see lake banks moving backwards and while
we are still within our right-of-way we have those same concerns and we want to
maintain and stabilize it to the best of our abilities.
Mr.
Burke asked if this so called top of bank is on my property?
Mr.
Petty responded it cannot be.
Mr.
Burke asked it is not going to be on my property it is going to be within your
easement?
Mr.
Petty responded by design it is within the easement unless the elevations have
been changed by the homeowner or landowner.
Mr.
Burke stated then what I need to consider is looking at my little piece of land
and the little curved line which runs around my canal.
Mr.
Petty stated from your survey which you can get from the property appraisers
office you can measure from a corner of your house backward to our right-of-way
line. It is shown on the property
appraisers website.
Mr.
Burke stated anything on my side of the line.
Mr.
Petty stated it is yours I cannot touch it.
Mr.
Gary Rung,
Mr.
Petty responded no. It is owned by you
as all government lands are.
Mr.
Rung stated but that little section is not mine.
Mr.
Petty stated it is not private property and you do not pay taxes on it.
Mr.
Rung stated you have a serious consideration and I think you are taking it
seriously. I know I appreciate what
happened the last meeting and how you tabled things to look forward. You are the oldest water district, this is
the heart of
I
did not bring any graphics or anything but there have been a lot of things
thrown out like the 5,000 trees. What
percent of the trees were the nuisance trees because we have to strip those out
because they should go.
My
apologies for being somewhat rude in the last meeting. We got off to a bad start we should not have
got off to because it was known by some here what the permitting rules are for
the county and the City of
I
appreciate what Mr. Petty does for a living and I think he is very good at it
but it is you the Board members which I want to appeal to relative to keeping
the spirit of
The
bottom line is I ask for some consideration on this. I know my neighbor is here and would extend
the same in we would be happy to have you come for a walk through to see what
we have. It is a beautiful backyard with
great wildlife and you should see the other side. If you have been down the canal in a boat you
are only seeing the one side and that is the back side to my property. You should see the front and then ask
yourself is this really, really a problem.
Ms.
Macomber stated thank you very much, Mr. Rung, we appreciate your
comments. As I said the last meeting we
are you. In fact, I know my collegue and
I have lived in
Mr.
John Rochester, Deer Run, stated we have what this gentleman called a box-cut
canal. If you squared off the top of the
bank it is probably about 4’ in and he is correct if you fall in you are not
getting out. I am assuming what you are
saying is everything from flat portion at the top of the bank is not going but
you are using the phrase “this phase”.
What do you mean by that? It
sounds like a beginning not an overall plan.
Mr.
Petty responded it is. The
recommendation will be anything below the design high water level is considered
to be a problem and we will go after the nuisance trees first and then go after
the ornamentals after talking with the city to try to figure out a better way
of protecting the canopy may be coming up with a tree for a tree program or
something like that but not going above designed high water. We will suggest to the Board we have a policy
of maintaining from the water wherever possible, only going on the bank when it
was not possible or as the District needed and remove any trees or hinderances
at that time. It would be a storm event
if I came on the right-of-way at the top.
Mr.
Rochester stated we have South America Palms, probably the only the only ones
outside of the botanical gardens in this part of the state. It has taken 25 years and they are right at
the top of the bank. I would like to
save them. I cannot move them they are
way to heavy and they were well over 40’ before the tops got broken but they
are growing back.
Mr.
Petty stated one of the items our sister district, CSID, and the gentleman said
about them calling us a guenia pig, we use them for the same thing because they
started their tree removal and is why we held off our contract to see what
happened to them first. In this case
CSID granted the manager authority to make exceptions on a case by case basis
and if it is an issue of is it at the top of the bank of 6” around it we would
do an inspection to evaluate whether there is a material problem and make an
exception if possible. In this case it
is what are people have talked about as the reasonableness factor of applying
this. Not going out and saying a rule is
a rule and that is all there is to it.
They are trying to be reasonable in the application with the exception
that everything below the design high water level is a risk.
Mr.
Rochester stated I understand and it makes total sense. Would you bring up basically a appeals
process? Will we be notified before they came through to destroy
something? When FEMA came through they
would not even talk to a homeowner, they would walk away while you were trying
to talk to them come back with a chainsaw and take the tree down.
Mr.
Petty responded the process we did in CSID is one where it was done in the
field where residents upon notice we were coming to the area were given the
opportunity to call the District and ask for an exemption. We would talk to the resident on the phone
call, explained the designed high water level as being not exemptable but
everything above being exemptable.
Mr.
Rochester asked will it be a letter? The
newspaper which not everybody reads, a door hanger? How will this be done?
Mr.
Petty responded door hangers is how we did it in the sister district although
this body may elect any type of notification they see fit.
Mr.
Rochester stated a lot of times someone tells me the read it in the
newspaper. I do not read it and I missed
it.
Mr.
Petty stated we find door hangers are probably the best way.
Mr.
Rochester stated with the top of bank in our yard it is probably about 4’ from
the water. My aunt has the new sloped
bank and it is about 15’. She has four
Queen Palms almost to the top of the bank, is she going to lose those?
Mr.
Petty responded let me suggest to you this.
One of the ways we can define top of bank, nature giving us the
opportunity, we can temporarily block water in an area, pump water in and raise
the water table for a short period of time to the elevation. Other than that we will bring out survey
crews. One of the two methods will be
used. If we had a lot of high water at
the time which would not be a threat we may able to block the outlets and raise
the water for a short period of time to mark the design high water line.
Mr.
Rochester stated sounds expensive.
Mr.
Petty stated surveyors cost a bit on money, too.
Mr.
Rochester stated there is that but you will also have everybody saying you are
drowning my grass and I would not blame them but I also see your side of
it.
Mr.
Petty stated one of the two methods would be used to try to give the residents
the opportunity from the design top of bank.
Mr.
Rochester stated she is concerned aboout her palms.
Mr.
Petty stated the other way to do it is to give out to anybody who asked the
control water elevations at the time.
Our people know where the water level is in your area. We have markers through out the District. We can say the water in your backyard is at elevtion
8, go 4’ up from that, draw a staight line over to your lot and this is where
the line is. This gives you a good
eyeball reference without incurring cost.
Mr.
Rochester stated you were talking about a mitigation program for planting other
trees.
Mr.
Petty stated this is what the city currently calls their program. If you cut down a tree in
Mr.
Rochester stated this is street trees they are talking about.
Mr.
Petty stated you are right and the city’s program is not perfect by any
stretch.
Ms.
Macomber stated but they are working with us on it and this is something we
have to be happy about.
Mr.
Petty stated this is why we are saying we are working with the city. We are asking the city to help us out on this
matter for ornamentals.
Mr.
Rochester stated I have a large bamboo which starts at the top of the bank and
goes all the way to the water. Are they
going to take the whole plant or just half of it?
Mr.
Petty responded bamboo is a plant we have not discussed. I am familiar with bamboo, my father grows
it. I am familiar with the root
structure and I cannot imagine it causing a problem to the bank. I cannot imagine the root structure being
uprooted by anything. The only thing I
can see it as if I have to drive there during a storm event I am going to have
mow it down and I think everybody understands that during a storm event. It may be a plant we want to talk about
specifically and say it is not a tree it is a bush.
Mr.
Rochester stated a 30’ bush but yes.
Mr.
Petty stated I do not know how it is botanically classified.
Mr.
Rochester stated it is a grass. I am a
tree surgeon by trade and I am a fanatical plant collector.
Mr.
Petty stated I can tell you the reasonableness factor says if the tree a threat
to blocking flow or destroying bank if it should come down in a rain event and
that is anything below that bank. Bamboo
because of its special characteristics may not be considered a threat. I will have to check on it but personally
from my own knowledge I cannot see where it is but I would want to ask somebody
about it to see if there is something I do not know.
Mr.
Rochester stated sounds reasonable, thank you.
Ms.
Macomber asked does anyone else have a comment?
Also, I must say we are very grateful you have come out and shown this
interest. We sometimes think we are the
lone rangers up here trying to figure out what we should be doing or what you want
us to do. It is really nice to have your
imput.
Mr.
Greg Michael,
Mr.
Petty responded before this last contract of Pine Tree Water Control District I
would have said no we do not want to incur the cost of marking the trees but
then I had a very well meaning contractor go through and take out about 300’ of
right-of-way. I am more inclined to
think about marking the trees now than I had been in past now that I have seen
a contractor err.
Mr.
Michael asked will you mark the trees or not?
Mr.
Petty responded it would not be my decision per say but I am leaning toward
recommending it to the Board. Understand
staff is not asking the Board to make a decision tonight on this. We would want to make a written policy so
everybody has a chance to see it including the residents.
Mr.
Michael stated I would like you to define clearly reasonable distant? Is it the distance a tree may fall? Is it the
distance from the water? Is there such a
distance you are thinking about?
Mr.
Petty responded at tonight’s meeting I do not have a distance per say but I can
tell you generally what I had intended to talk to the Board about tonight and
at the next meeting where we would write this up; my first draft will be below
design high water level is a threat and I cannot see any way other than to call
it a threat.
Mr.
Michael stated the threat will be removed.
Mr.
Petty stated unless we talked about a couple of things. One was bamboo; can I apply a reasonableness
factor to it and come up with a reasonable reliance that it is not a
threat. I will be very honest with you I
would write it up so this body made that determination whether it was
reasonable.
Mr.
Michael stated it is the term reasonable that I am scared of having some friends
in
Ms.
Macomber stated if it is any consolation I think we heard what you are saying
and I think we have taken into account what Mr. Petty said about the
occurance.
Mr.
Michael stated I have a question and I do not mean to insult you in any manner
but would you be doing this if you were not making a profit on it?
Mr.
Petty asked would I work for the District without being paid?
Mr.
Michael responded Severn Trent.
Mr.
Petty stated no.
Mr.
Michael stated Severn Trent is the profit center, the business is for
profit.
Mr.
Petty stated the management firm for these drainage districts has always been a
for profit management company since the beginning. I have worked for them under the name Gary Moyer,
under Moyer and Associates, and under Severn Trent. I have been here 25 plus years.
Mr.
Michael stated this is motivated by profit.
Mr.
Petty stated I am. Not tree removal but
working for the District.
Mr.
Michael asked next year in 2007 is there a budget to continue with the trimming
and maintenance of the canals? After
this money, the $576,000, what is the 2007 plan? Will it continue, will you mow it and
maintain it? Does it revert back to us
to maintain this stretch of land?
Mr.
Petty responded there is a budget for tree removal because we expect to still
be working on it in this fiscal year which started October 1st. I do not have a budget for fiscal year 2008
yet it will be prepared in the late spring of 2007. There is money in it this year for the
removal of trees because we are still looking at it from design high water
level.
Mr.
Michael stated we are going to be sure and spend all the money to remove all of
the trees.
Mr. Petty stated every year this District typically has a carry forward which is applied to keep the assessments low. If you have lived in Sunshine fo