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MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION 
c/o Robert King High
1407 NW 7 St.,  Suite D
Miami, FL  33125

  Phone 305-644-0544
Fax 305-642-1136

I. Team Metro Melrose Presentation - Mr. Bibeau noted Miami-Dade County ’s Team Metro Melrose, working in partnership with the Solid Waste Management Community Task Force, had previously requested to make a presentation regarding illegal dumping at today’s meeting.  Mr. Bibeau noted they were unable to attend, yet added he had extended them an invitation to present during the MRC’s Urban Infill Working Group meeting on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 .

II. Status of the Wagner Creek and Seybold Canal Dredging Permits and Corrective Action Plan – Mr. Jose Lago , City of Miami Department of Capital Improvements, was unable to attend today’s meeting to present his progress report.

III. Update on the Adoption of the Wagner Creek TMDL – Ms. Diane Waters, City of Miami Public Works, stated the draft Wagner Creek Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) water quality parameters for Wagner Creek remains awaiting final approval/signature from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Secretary.  Ms. Waters noted Mr. Fred Calder , the FDEP Watershed Planning and Coordination Administrator for the TMDL program estimated the new FDEP Secretary will formally adopt the new Wagner Creek TMDL by the end of February.  Ms. Waters added that the Basin Management Action Plan will consist of a study to understand the sources of coliform and a list of current, proposed, and historical best management practices for reducing coliform loads.  The study will determine whether statewide water quality standards are appropriate for Wagner Creek  As part of the BMAP, Ms. Waters added the City will also initiate a monitoring plan for Wagner Creek.  Mr. Bibeau stated perhaps the City may use DERM’s water quality testing results, taken from several testing stations in Wagner Creek as a component of the monitoring plan which FDEP is requesting from the City.  Mr. Abdelrahman noted the State is slowly leaning away from calculating total coliform levels. Mr. Abdelrahman added he would reach out to the South Florida Water Management District to discuss potential future coliform studies.  Ms. Waters noted FDEP will re-examine the TMDL every 5 years.  Mr. Roy Stratman, DERM, stated the FDEP is requiring a TMDL for dioxins in Wagner Creek by 2011.

Mr. Abdelrahman distributed DERM’s “Third Quarter Miami River Basin Water Quality Improvement Report,” July-September 2006. Ms. Ashley Chase, MRC Assistant Managing Director, stated she had emailed SSC members a copy of the report several days prior to the meeting, and agreed to post the report online at www.miamirivercommission.org. Mr. Abdelrahman noted he did not include fecal coliform levels in his third quarterly report, but agreed to obtain that information for next month’s SSC meeting. The report, noted Mr. Abdelrahman, currently tracks total coliform, total nitrogen, total phosphate, total coliform, and turbidity levels in Wagner Creek, Seybold Canal and the Miami River .  The SSC thanked Mr. Abdelrahman and DERM for the progress report 

IV.  Status of WASD Smoke Testing of the Wagner Creek Western Sub Basin –Mr. Rod Lovett , WASD, reported Steve Blair, DERM, had recommended the upcoming areas to be smoke tested by the WASD: between NW 17^th and 19^th Avenue, north of NW 20^th Street and South of NW 28^th Street.  Mr. Bibeau asked if the $15,409 in potential SWIM funding would cover the recommended testing area, and Mr. Lovett replied he would provide an estimate to smoke test in the aforementioned area.  Mr. Bibeau stated the MRC’s contract with the SFWMD hasn’t been amended to include the additional potential funding for smoke testing.

Mr. Lovett noted once the next City owned sub-basins are selected, they must be cleaned by the City of Miami ’s vacuum trucks 30-40 days prior to testing, in order to provide effective smoke testing.  Ms. Dianne Waters, City of Miami Public Works , asked Mr. Lovett to provide her with the sub-basin timeline so that the City could look into potentially providing the aforementioned cleaning service prior to testing. Per Mr. Abdelrahman’s request, Ms. Waters noted she would check to see if the trucks operate on a routine schedule, and pinpoint the last time cleaning services were provided.

V. New Business – Ms. Waters noted the City of Miami recently held the “Florida Stormwater Erosion & Sedimentation Control Inspector Training”, sponsored and certified by the FDEP.  Ms. Waters noted the City of Miami trained 15 individuals to become certified inspectors.  Mr. Bibeau noted with nearly 4,000 units currently under construction along the Miami River , there are numerous development sites to inspect.  Mr. Roy Strattman, DERM, noted that DERM and the City closely monitors the contractor’s compliance with de-watering techniques, while enforcing contractors to follow proper procedure and responding to citizen complaints.  Mr. Bibeau asked if any warnings or citations had ever been issued along the Miami River , and Ms. Waters replied, to her knowledge, yes.

Mr. Lovette stated the WASD was considering installing a faucet at the new NW 2 ST riverfront pocket park, which would be kept under lock for their maintenance crew to use for watering the site with a hose.  Mr. Lovett stated the WASD maintenance crew would mow the pocket parks new grass in the near future.

Mr. Lovett stated he had met with one of the two restaurant owners adjacent to Pump Station #1, because the other was unable to attend at the last moment, to negotiate the terms of their potential use of the County’s adjacent vacant parking lot.  Mr. Lovett added that, per the request of the WASD, Garcia’s Seafood agreed to prepare a formal proposal for consideration, which would include terms for insurance, hold harmless, etc.

Mr. Bibeau stated the renditions of the façade treatment for the WASD’s riverfront Pump Station #1, in a similar architectural fashion as the adjacent historic Scottish Rite Temple , were favorably received by the MRC, Greenways and Urban Infill subcommittees. Mr. Bibeau noted he would provide a letter on behalf of the MRC approving the façade treatment for the structure and recommending the additional landscaping before next month’s meeting.

The SSC thanked the WASD and Mr. Lovett for their continued support.

Ms. Chase noted presentation of Agency Quarterly Reports in implementing the MRC SSC’s Miami River Basin Water Quality Improvement Plan will be on the SSC’s March agenda.  The next regularly scheduled public noticed SSC meeting was confirmed for the first Wednesday of the month, March 7, 2007, 10 am, Miami River Inn, 118 South River Drive .

Meeting was adjourned.

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