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Item L1 r&6 ~ IIi!J 11/5/00 C0 6:42 PM D 1/1 . KONA KAI RESORT & GALLERY KEY LARGO, FLORIDA From the Desk of Joe Harris Phone: 305-852-7200, 852-6914 - Fax: 852-4629 E-Mail: konakai@ao1.com: visit us at www.konakairesort.com November 2, 2000 TO: Jim Roberts, County Administrator SUBJECT: Sounding Board - November Key Largo BOCC Meeting via Fax 305-292-4544 Dear Jim: I am requesting a Sounding Board position at the upcoming Key Largo Board of County Commissioners meeting. My subject will be Watel Quality . You have heard some of my remarks on this subject at the last few BOCC meetings. I would like this opportunity to address the entire board at length about water conservation, reuse, environmental affects, etc. This issue has not been discussed at length at a Board meeting and is one of major significance for all members of the commision, both new and old. I am available either day of the meeting and only request that, if possible, the time be set aside early in the day so the Commissioners have not been burdened with much of the day's business. Please advise where you have scheduled me. I can be reached at the numbers above. Sincerely Joe Harris Sincerely Joe Harris ,.-~, November 21, 2000 To: The Board of County Commissioners Hello and welcome new commissioners, mayor and vice mayor. I wish you well as you more forward in representing the citizens of Monroe county. For this opportunity to address you and the citizens of Monroe County on the subject of Water Quality, I thank you and I thank county staff. My name is Joe Harris. I am Chairperson of the AEFFI<, a small environmental organization that has chosen to focus on issues relating to the very broad subject of Florida Keys water quality. As you convene as our new County Commission you already realize the host of major issues confronting you: - tourism, hurricane evacuation, highway widening, stormwater, wastewater, downstairs enclosures, restructuring government, affordable housing, and a few I am sure I have overlooked. Because each of you have focused on these subjects individually, you perhaps already realize that - Every good idea starts with a majority of one! Today I am here to inspire you to consider a good idea that could help address every one of those issues while also uniting Monroe county under one comprehensive issue. I am here to suggest you address these issues and simultaneously unite this county under the umbrella of WATER QUALITY. Taken individually, the big issues facing us today obscure any dear vision of the future. It is no surprise that citizens and government are mixed up, mis- informed and often misunderstood. Clearly divided on some issues, less dearly so on others, the county and it's citizens are in terminal deadlock. Commissioners, your most important charge is to resolve that deadlock. Working side by side with your electorate, you must set a straightforward, clear vision for our county, then implement it and stick with it. Needless to say, we all know how difficult reaching that vision will be. We have been trying - albeit not with much success -- for some years now. My purpose in speaking today is to inspire us all toward a singular vision. What it seems we have not yet found is the common starting point. So, I'm here to offer one: Water Oualitr. Lefs make Monroe County The. Water Quality Capital of the World - and lets enlist every citizen as a Water Quality ambassador! Water is the essence of all life on our planet and here in Monroe county, we're daily becoming more keenly aware that what is of the utmost importance to all life here in the Keys, is the quality of that water. But, it isn't Comments made before Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, November 21, 2000 by Joe C. Harris., Jr. As Chairman of the Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys page #1 l-. \ that simple because water quality that is good for one, might not be good for another. Water Quality for many of our trees and plants, means salt free, nutrient rich water. For our unique coral reefs, salt free, nutrient rich, water will bring almost certain death. Our shoreline mangroves, need some nutrients and a wee-bit of salinity. But just off-shore too many nutrients and not enough salinity spell trouble for our marine life and our sea-grasses. Rainwater, once a friend to all, now more often becomes an enemy to all as it turns from rainwater to stormwater. And, water-water everywhere, is no longer a chorus in Florida, as water quantity becomes a significant part of the water quality equation. For us in the Florida Keys, is it not realistic to claim that Water Quality is the foundation of our lives? And is it not possible, therefore, that Water Quality is the singular unifying point of a vision for Monroe County in the 21st century? Because we've come to understand that the quality of every drop of every kind of water that comes near our Florida Keys has a significant impact on something else we cherish, are we not ready to realize that almost everything we do affects some aspect of our water quality? Build another house and we significantly affect the quality of almost all of our water types in numerous ways. Add another tourist and we do the same. Take another sponge from our bay waters and again - we affect our water quality. Add another delivery truck or car to our traffic and we affect our water quality. Put another diver or snorkeler on our reef and again we affect our water quality. Build another injection well and we affect our water quality. Put another boat or jetski on our waters and we affect the water quality of our bay or ocean, both on the surface and on the seafloor. Take out another mangrove and we affect our water quality. Restore another gallon of Everglades sheet flow and we affect our water quality. Find a way to reuse a few gallons of greywater or wastewater and we affect our water quality. Catch and release another fish and we affect our water quality. Aerate another canal and we affect our water quality. Plant some bushes along a piece of canalfront and we affect our water quality. Widen another bridge or roadway and we affect our water quality. Pave another parking lot and we affect our water quality. Use another bag of fertilizer and we affect our water quality. Build an airport and we affect our water quality. Put in a treatment plant and we affect our water quality. Add reuse to that plant and we again affect our water quality. Increase our allotment of aquifer water and we affect our water quality . Comments made before Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, November 21, 2000 by Joe C. Harris., Jr. As Chairman of the Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys page #2 This list could go on and on. Everything we do in and around our precious islands affects our quality-of-water and thus our quality-of-life. Today in a new century and with a new County Commission, terms like "water quality" and "secondary impacts" are already part of our everyday conversation. Isn't it time we made them part of our everyday actions? Isn't this exactly is why you need to make Water Quality Job One in Monroe County? We should look to all citizens of Monroe County and to all citizens of the world to help us. We must look far beyond isolated mandates that might positively impact one aspect of our water quality job while negatively impacting another. We must be creative and we must be brilliant. Together, with everyone's co-operation, knowledge, experience and help we can become The Water Quality Capital of the World. But it is you who must lead us in that direction. So, exactly what am I asking of you? I am asking you to make Water Quality the unifying vision of Monroe County. I am asking you to reunite the citizens of our incredible county under the flag of The Water Ouality Capital of the World. The task will not be easy and it will require huge commitments of time and money. But the result will be a worldwide example of a new community of islands where man and nature live in perpetual harmony. At previous County Commission meetings, I offered a proposal for a resolution that could have been the foundation for a fully funded and staffed Water Quality Action Group. I've offered a similar resolution to the board of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority. So far, both have been ignored. Today, to a new county commission, I am offering a similar resolution. The resolution recognizes the many faces of Water Quality and calls for the establishment of a full time, fully funded, Water Quality Action Group, charged with specific goals and objectives. I am suggesting an organization that would become the leader in raising public awareness so that all of Monroe county understands the complexity of water quality and rallies behind the admirable job of making Monroe County, The Water Quality Capital of the World. I am suggesting this group initially be spearheaded by our designated county government leader, the County Administrator, under the direction of this BOCC, so that from the beginning every level of government is involved. I am suggesting that major funding be provided by those who come here to temporarily enjoy our beautiful environment through the establishment of a new one-half penny bed-tax. Comments made before Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, November 21,2000 by Joe c. Harris., Jr. As Chairman of the Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys page #3 I am suggesting a Water Quality Action Office be set up and that eventually an Executive Director experienced in public relations and lobbying be selected to spearhead our entire Water Quality job. I am suggesting that director be surrounded with world-class experts and staff that will draw knowledge from all of our already existing volunteer Water Quality groups, as well as from experts from all corners of the world. I am suggesting we continue to meet the requirements set forth in our current five year work plan; the monitoring requirements of our Comprehensive Plan and the analysis begun under the September 1999 Water Quality Concerns Report. Making Water Quality Job One in Monroe county could be the most significant thing Monroe County does this century and it certainly would be the most significant thing any Monroe, Board of County Commissioners, has ever done. Making Water Quality Job One in Monroe County would be the impetus to help preserve for generations to come everything we and our visitors cherish so much. Making Water Quality Job One would serve as the best example of tourism's positive environmental impact, something now being studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And more than fishing, diving, or tourism, making Water Quality Job One would provide a unified reason for all of us to take pride in our islands. I ask that you carefully consider this idea; make it your own by drawing upon your own knowledge and imagination to expand and enhance it. I am asking that you actively strive to find the means to make Water Quality Job One for every person who sets foot upon our islands, be they here for a minute, an hour, or a lifetime. I thank you for your time and consideration and offer you a copy of the words I have shared with you today along with a suggested resolution calling for establishment of a Water Quality Action Group and a vision for Water Quality as Job One in Monroe County. H time allow~ I will be happy to answer any questions you might have. -0- Comments made before Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, November 21, 2000 by Joe C. Harris., Jr. As Chairman of the Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys page #4 RESOLUTION RELATING TO WATER QUALITY FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS, CREATING THE MONROE COUNTY WQAG - WATER QUALITY ACTION GROUP - BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, THIS 21st DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2000. Be it resolved that: Whereas, water quality is the most pressing issue facing us... being inextricably linked to our environment, our economy and our quality-of-life; Whereas, individually solving our water quality problems could ha,ve numerous unintended results that in and of themselves might be even more detrimental to our environment; Whereas, a wastewater master plan has only recently been completed, a stormwater masterplan is underway, a 1999 Water Quality concerns in the Florida Keys and other water quality related reports have been authorized and deliverd or undertaken, and the SFWMD, with state and federal government have begun to address related Everglades water quality issues; Whereas, proposals for wastewater treatment, stormwater management, water reuse and conservation systems for our unique islands need extensive, independent, highly qualified technical and environmental study, before, during, and after implementation; Whereas, co-ordination and planning with all Florida Keys water quality activities must be done so there is the most possible effectiveness and the least possible disturbance to the environment, the economy and the citizens; Whereas, mitigation for "quality-of-life" improvements should be considered as water quality solutions are implemented; Whereas, care must be taken to assure that water quality improvements do not dramatically change current and future "keys culture or lifestyles" nor alter environmentally intelligent carrying capacities of our islands which could potentially cause even further degradation to our water quality; Whereas, solving water quality issues will likely have serious impact on our major industry - tourism; Whereas, we must plan in advance and actively seek all federal and state and other funding opportunities which would reduce the burden on our citizens; Whereas, costs of water quality protection and improvement, estimated at 5.5% of the long term asset value of our natural resources, are a relatively small proportion of the non-market economic user value of our natural rescouses. Whereas, visitors are as culpable as residents; Whereas, water quality should become a rallying cry for government, citizens and visitors as well as the overall focus of the county; We hereby establish and fund an independent Water Quality Action Group (WQAG) that shall exist through December 2010, or later if renewed. Funding shall be through the addition of one-half penny to the bed tax or other available taxes. Staff is hereby directed to determine our funding options and prepare the necessary ordnance to establish and authorize funding and formation of a WQAG. This WQAG shall have three distinct actionable objectives: I. Oversee implementation of a major and continuing water quality public awareness program and oversee implementation of all water quality projects in unincorporated Monroe ll. Co-ordinate all water quality reports and issues within the county, providing concise summarized information to county commissioners, county staff and all other interested parties. ID. Provide scientific , environmental and economic direction for implementing water quality management programs throughout unincorporated Monroe. This Water Quality Action Group shall, as it's main mission, . Encourage development and understanding of inter-related water quality issues; · Encourage best water quality practices by citizens and visitors; . Encourage development of new technologies that will meet our various water quality needs; .Collaborate worldwide with scientific and recognized environmental bodies to study water quality throughout the Keys; "< · Encourage brilliant solutions to our water quality issues through new technology solutions in favor of old technology · Encourage water conservation and seek adoptable water conservation methods for residents and businesses · Encourage all water reuse options and develop water reuse guidelines, etc. Additionally, the Florida Keys WQAG shall be charged with interpreting our water- quality and growth masterplans to seek the most innovative, least intrusive, most ecologically conscious means of coordinating and implementing water quality controls that will resolve the majority of our locally induced water quality problems with the most efficiency and effectiveness and without undue secondary impact or harm to our existing environment or economy. The Florida Keys WQAG shall establish a full-time staffed Water Quality Public Information Office(s) that shall be open at hours convenient to county citizens, and shall include suitable weekend and holiday hours. The Florida Keys WQAG shall co-ordinate all activities and develop a comprehensive water quality environmental advisory policy for Monroe county, integrating water quality solutions with growth and carrying capacity concurrency concepts and projections. Such policy shall be presented to the BOCC and the public no later than [March 2002] and an approved policy shall be ready for presentation to the DEP, DOH and Governor's office no later than [11/1/ 2002]. The Florida Keys WQAG shall establish a extensive internet site within the first four months of it's existence that shall have available all documentation collected and generated by the group; shall have an organized downloadable presentation of it's work and progress current to 7 days and shall have both a monthly printed and weekly e-mail newsletter along with a chat room and opinion room for interested citizens and scientists. All documents shall remain available so long as the WQAG shall exist. The Florida Keys WQAG shall be established and operating by [April 2001], with specific timetables for water quality actions and goals set by this BOCC no later than [July 2001]. The FK-WQAG office shall be staffed by world-renowned salaried expert consultants, as well as a full-time public relations management and administrative staff selected by a search committee and approved by this BOCC. The WQAG shall be empowered to draw upon the resources of county, state and federal governments, universities, research labs, environmental organizations and independent scientists and corporate research labs. Approved this ....day of .... by the Board of County Cmmissioners, County of Monroe, Florida. Resolution suggested by Joe Harris Chairman, Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys