INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program on Friday has called a special meeting on Feb. 11 in response to Indian River County officials’ clear message that they are not on board with plans to split from the St. Johns River Water Management District to form a new, nonprofit entity.
Interim Director Maurice Sterling wrote in an email to many dozens of city, county and state officials up and down the lagoon: “As you may know, on January 13, 2015, the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners voted to decline participation in the proposed inter-local agreement that would create the Indian River Lagoon Council—the new sponsoring entity for the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRL NEP).
“In light of this development, and after consulting with attorney Carolyn Ansay, I believe the most appropriate path forward is for the full IRL NEP Advisory Board to reconvene and 1) consider Indian River County’s concerns and 2) decide on a clear path forward.”
After the Jan. 13 vote, Commission Chair Wesley Davis signed off on a letter to Sterling notifying him that Indian River County had rejected the item on the commission agenda asking them to sign on as a partner in the new venture.
“Please understand the Board is concerned about the health of the Indian River Lagoon. The Board has taken significant steps and spent millions of dollars in furtherance of returning the Indian River Lagoon to a healthy condition. The Board, however, does have grave concerns with the proposed Agreement and thus cannot approve it in its current form,” Davis wrote.
“At a minimum, the Agreement must contain a meaningful sunset provision,” the letter stated. In other words, Indian River County does not intend to participate in setting up or funding another perpetual bureaucracy.
The letter also took issue with staff members being given voting positions on the board, saying that only elected officials from the five counties along the lagoon should vote.
Finally, a presentation by Commissioner Bob Solari, which Davis attached to the letter, pointed out what he considers a lack of planning and financial analysis with regard to the proposed organization. (See related story).
The letter concluded by saying, “Please be aware that our County Attorney will be closely reviewing the proposed Agreement and thus may identify additional issues, such as the need for a detailed budget of the new entity.”
Solari said in response to receiving the meeting notice that he was pleased that “Some progress is being made.”
“I am of course very happy the the SJRWD is finally ready to begin a dialogue about the best way to form a new Indian River Lagoon National Estuary group. I would have preferred that they contact me before they decided to have the meeting at their Palm Bay center as I would have suggested our County Commission chambers which I believe is more inviting to the public and could have been televised so more of our residents would be able to see an important facet of their government at work,” Solari said Friday afternoon.
“The Lagoon is important to us all, but so is good government. I hope that this is the start of an open and transparent process,” he said.
The proposed funding for the new organization would overwhelmingly come from taxpayer dollars, roughly a half-million dollars from the federal government’s National Estuary Program through the Environmental Protection Agency, plus a pledged $250,000 in expected state funding from each of the two water management districts that encompass the lagoon, and some local government funding. But as a nonprofit, it could also seek private donations and grants.
How much of that more than $1 million per year would go toward overhead, and how much would directly benefit programs to improve the health of the lagoon is not known. Solari said he’s submitted several records requests for detailed financial information and the agency has not been responsive.
