David Miller opened the meeting and asked Carlos Espinosa, Miami-Dade County DERM to provide a status report concerning the bank-to-bank part of the project.  Carlos advised that the county is in the process of sending out the letter to riverfront property owners requesting they sign a consent form concerning the bank-to-bank project.  Espinosa thanked the MRC for their helpful revisions to the draft letter, which clarified the final product.  Ed Swakon commented on the permitting process and stated that the Corps has a draft water quality-monitoring plan that they are comfortable with and will be forwarding to FDEP for approval.   Ed reported that the bank-to-bank permit has been submitted to the Corps for review.  Also, Susan Kaynor is no longer with the Corps and the new Miami Corps representative is Robert Kirby.  There were no developments with the funding of the bank-to-bank project.  Roman Gastesi reported that there is a project funded to clean-up C-25, which is the Taimiami Canal, but he did not have details of the C-25 project. 

Roman reported that the non-federal partner financial certification was submitted to the Corps and the county assumes the Corps has accepted the certification.  The land certification is still pending, as one of the properties is still not finalized.  The county does not know for sure if the Corps will need the property.  Roman stated that the land certification is needed before the final RFP goes out and that the county and property owner are ready to sign an agreement, if it is necessary.  It really boils down to the question – does the dredging project require this property?  

David Miller provided the Dredging Working Group with the status of appropriations for the dredging project.  The County and MRC requested $1.5 million at the Dade Delegation public hearing from the Florida Legislature for 2003.  The State has already provided $6.375 million for the project.  This years federal appropriations are on hold until Congress reconvenes in January 2003.  Currently the House of Representatives has 8 million and the Senate has 5 million in their respective appropriation bills.  When Congress reconvenes this appropriation request will go to Conference Committee where the Senate and House members finalize the appropriations.  Miller distributed hard copies and CD’s of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  The EIS public comment period ends December 23, 2002. 

Miller stated that MRC has taken a position recommending that FDOT remove the 75-year old 5^th Street Bridge prior to the dredging.  This bridge is built into the federal navigable channel and therefore would impede the dredging project at that location.  The bridge is scheduled for replacement by FDOT in 2007.  FDOT would have to dredge the channel in way of the bridge area when they replace the bridge.  The group agreed this would be good for the dredging project, but was somewhat pessimistic that FDOT would or could concur.  

Pat Hansen, ACOE stated the Draft Request for Proposals was placed on the Corps website on December 11, 2002.  Discussion ensued about the problems everyone was having retrieving the draft RFP.  Pat stated she would check into this when she returns to Jacksonville.  She stated that the Jacksonville office is in the process of physically relocating and this probably caused the website troubles.  Hansen provided copies of the dredging project time line, which estimate the RFP release by January 30, 2003 and a notice to proceed by May 15, 2003 with dredging commencing June 15, 2003.  The timeline showed the federal channel project would take two years and the combined federal channel and bank-to-bank project would take 2 ½ years.  In addition, the ACOE provided copies of utility crossing site identifications and relocation status.  Utility relocation drawings show that there are 18 utility crossings that need to be relocated deeper below the channel.  Some of these locations have multiple utilities. Discussion ensued.

Under new business, Pat addressed questions on how the selection process would work.  She stated that the Corps is not looking for untested methods and they want to see a process that is proven and has a good track record.   Evaluation standards will be covered in the RFP.  Discussion ensued concerning the conceptual water quality permit and how that would be included in the RFP, which eventually led to the request that Kent Edwards, FDEP and Glen Schuster, Corps attend the next dredging working group meeting to answer water quality and permitting questions.  David stated he would contact Edwards and request his attendance.  Susan Markley, DERM, provided an overview on the various sediment and water quality tests that have been completed in the past.

     The next meeting of the MRC Dredging subcommittee was scheduled for January 15, 2003, 11:00 AM, in the Rosenstiel School, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.