Dick Bunnell opened the meeting, and all attendees made self-introductions. Please note the following corrections to the July 24, 2002 minutes: the meeting was held at the United Way Building and not the Rosenstiel School Library; in the discussion about the PCA, the County must put together a Financial Plan and not an Economic Report; in the discussion about the bank-to-bank project, the sediment removed is measured in cubic yards not tons.

             Roman Gastesi stated that the County’s Financial Plan must be submitted to the Corps no later than September 13, 2002.  The Financial Plan lists how the local share of the project will be paid.  The Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) is in Jacksonville until the Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) gets approved by the Atlanta division of the Corps.  Once the DMMP gets approved by Atlanta, it will be sent to Jacksonville.  At that point, both the PCA and the DMMP come together and are sent to Washington for USACE approval.  The other requirements of the PCA, which must be provided by the County are the Financial Plan and the Land Certification.  Both of these documents need to be in Jacksonville before the PCA can be sent off to DC.  The Land Certification says that the County certifies that they have land available for the project.  Roman stated that he would like the DMMP to be sent back to Jacksonville from Atlanta by next week.  If the DMMP is not approved by then, he would like the MRC to make calls to expedite the approval; otherwise “slippage” might occur in the project schedule.  The County would like the PCA sent to USACE in Washington by September 1.  It could take up to 60 days to get approval from USACE headquarters in Washington.  Once approved, both the County and the Corps must sign it.  The County does not think that the Request for Proposals (RFP) will be released on October 1, 2002.  Nancy Case O’Bourke urged the MRC to call Congress to notify them that the PCA is on the way to the Corps in DC, so that they might be able to expedite the approval process. 

            Carlos Espinosa, from DERM, reported that they had a meeting with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in Tallahassee, along with the County, and the Corps regarding differences in conditions between conceptual Corps and County permits.  The Corps permit is for the area inside the federal navigable channel, and the County permit is for the areas outside that.  Since it is the same material being dredged from those areas, and the same contractor will be working on both areas, they feel that both permits should be consistent.  Some conditions existed in the County permit that did not exist in the Corps permit.    The meeting was successful, as far as the DEP permits are concerned, as they worked out their differences.  The permit conditions will be rewritten and the County is providing DEP with additional information.  This additional information includes the revised permit conditions, and information regarding the past and future planned improvement projects undertaken along the Miami River, for example drainage projects, etc.   Nancy stated that the contractor will be responsible for providing a lot of information to the Corps for the construction permit, although the applicant for the permit will be the Corps.  Carlos assured everyone that the 

clerical error on the conceptual permit was fixed.  This error stated that the dredging depth was to be 12 feet instead of to the bottom of the federal navigable channel.  He also stated that the dredging was maintenance dredging and not new dredging and this was also corrected.  It was reiterated from the last meeting that the 2^nd reading of the Ordinance (amending Section 24-58.2 of the County Code) is scheduled for September 12, 2002.  Carlos stated that he did not see any problems or opposition to its passing.  Bank-to-bank funding is still uncertain.  The best option right now is to push for the TIF.  This would mean redrawing some of the boundary lines.

            Dick announced that there will be a Utility Liaison Update meeting at 10 am on September 9, 2002 at the United Way Building.  The Miami River Commission is holding their meeting on the same day at noon in the same building.  Things are going well with the utility crossings.  Teco Gas is now engaged and working with Pat Hansen at the Corps.  FDOT is planning to start replacing utilities in October.

            The next Dredging Working Group meeting was scheduled for Wednesday September 18, 2002 at 10 am.  The meeting will take place at the Rosenstiel School Library Map Room.