WRIA 56/HANGMAN CREEK Watershed Implementation Team Meeting Tuesday, September 4, 2007 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Spokane County Conservation District Conference Room 210 N. Havana Spokane, WA Meeting Summary Attending: Reanette Boese, Spokane County Steve Bortfeld, Hangman Hills Water District Walt Edelen, Spokane Conservation District Scott Fields, CDA Tribe Peter Grunte, Watershed Resident Susan Gulick, Sound Resolutions (Facilitator) Sara Hunt, Dept. of Ecology Gary Ostheller, Fairfield Grange Bill Rickard, City of Spokane, Environmental Programs 1. Review Meeting Summary q The Meeting Summary from the August 28th meeting was approved with no changes. 2. Review and Discuss Revisions to the DIP and 2008-09 Work Plan q The WIT agreed that it would prefer to conduct a joint adoption process with the WRIA 55/57 Plan. This will delay WRIA 56 adoption until the end of the year. If the WRIA 55/57 plan is unexpectedly delayed, the WIT will proceed with the WRIA 56 plan adoption independently. q The DIP will include a new action in 2010 to determine the organizational structure of the WIT after Phase IV is complete. q Walt will review the list of SCCD actions planned for 2008-09 and note actions that need specific funding (to be noted with a star). Walt will include the role of facilitating and coordinating the WIT as part of the SCCD responsibilities. q Susan will prepare a list of all the starred items before the next meeting. At this meeting, the WIT will determine how to allocate Phase IV funds to specific projects in 2008-09, as well as the Watershed Council support funds. q The WIT discussed whether implementation could be better coordinated between WRIA 56 and WRIAs 55/57. It was concluded that the current system is sufficient unless there is a groundswell of interest in WRIA 55/57 to make changes in the organizational structure. q Walt proposed adding a new implementation action to the DIP: “The SCCD, and the WIT will assist/coordinate in the development of a cross-state group of stakeholders to organize efforts to protect water quality in the Hangman Creek Watershed”. The effort would encompass the TMDL process for Hangman as well as similar efforts by the CDA Tribe and the State of Idaho. Walt will send out the wording to the WIT for consideration. q At the next meeting (without Susan present) the WIT will discuss whether to have a WIT member facilitate meetings after the DIP is adopted or hire a consultant to facilitate and coordinate WIT activities. 3. WIT Membership q The WIT approved adding the Ridge at Hangman as a WIT member. Ray Soltero will be the primary representative and Bill Bealer will be the alternate. 4. Updates/Other Issues
q In an earlier meeting the WIT had approved using the remaining early action funds to cover the O&M costs of the stateline stream gauge. Walt discussed this with USGS and they are willing to maintain the stream gauge, although there is not quite enough early action money to cover the costs. Walt will approach other agencies to contribute funds to make up the difference. There is also the option of adding temperature monitoring to the stream gauge. This will cost an additional $3,000. Sara will talk to Ecology’s water quality staff about the value of this. Walt will distribute additional cost information if it becomes available. q Walt distributed the draft checklist for consistency of water system plans. WIT members should e-mail Walt any revisions. Walt will ask the engineering firm who prepared Tekoa’s plan to fill out the checklist. After the completed checklist is returned, the sub-committee of Walt, Reanette and Bill will review the water system plan and make a recommendation to the WIT on whether or not the plan is consistent with the watershed plan. q Ecology is interested in presenting information to the WIT on its pre-adjudication process. Susan will work with Sara to schedule this. 1. Upcoming Meetings q Tuesday, October 2nd at the SCCD conference room in Spokane. NOTE: This meeting will be from 1:30-3:30. q Tuesday, October 16th at the Harvester Restaurant in Spangle; time to be determined. If you have questions or comments, please contact Susan Gulick of Sound Resolutions at (206) 548-0469 or by e-mail at Susan@Soundresolutions.com.