Introductions- Present:  Roger Karsnitz, Walter Lyon, John Seitz, Betty Conner, David Jostenski, Marshall Goulding, Cindy Metzger, Jack Stabley, Jr., Elmer Knaub, Kevin Breen, George Lazorchick, Sara Henke, Randy Hurst

Minutes: Correction to the minutes made by George Lazorchick. Under "Basin Conditions" George clarified that the basin conditions are updated monthly, not daily. Minutes were approved as amended.

Treasurer’s Report- Treasurer’s report (Attachment A) showed that no dues have been paid for this fiscal year. Bills have not been sent out because of a communication problem.

Budget: Betty Conner handed out the Budget (Attachment B) that was drafted in July 2003. Jennifer McDonel prepared the final budget with the new fee schedule based on water use instead of connections. Motion was made to approve budget, was seconded and passed. Board directs Jen to send out invoices now.

Lower Susquehanna Plan of Study-Request for Funding- Walter Lyon

Walter offered three options for funding.

1. Amendment to appropriations bill that is coming before the House. The Corps has standing authorization for funding some studies that meet certain criteria. The Board would need a letter from a Congressmen asking for an "add-on" for money for the Study. This is due March 11.

Walter and Marshall Goulding spoke to Bob Lindner of the Baltimore Corps of Engineers and he has asked his Deputy to look into the standing authorization to see if the LS Study fit’s the criteria. If so, then he would help the Board with the language the Congressmen’s letter should contain.

2. Walter spoke to the staff of the House Public Resources Commission.  They have a water bill that has already passed the House, HB-135, and this Bill can be amended to include funding for LS Study. This is not due until June. This funding is harder to get, but it covers the entire amount.

Walter handed out a shortened version for the scope of study for Phase 2 (attachment C) to include with the information we provide for the Congressman. This document is basically the product that came from the Phase 1 Study with 2 changes. Both changes refer to the product of the study.  Rather than producing a plan, Walter specified that this would be a system, a GIS based water management system.

Walter pointed out that Act 220 Lower Susquehanna Region includes several other counties besides our 8 county region, and he asked if we wanted to change our study to also include those counties? George Lazorchick pointed out that if we were going to include these other counties we would have to do studies on them as we did our 8 counties to bring them to the same level of study that we are moving on to. The Board agreed that it would be best to keep our scope that way it is.

SRBC has announced their intentions to do Susquehanna Basin Study called the Susquehanna Environmental Restoration and Low Flow Management Study. It is primarily a low flow study. It will be done in parts. This would make a significant contribution to the Phase II Study. DEP would like to coordinate efforts of the CRWB and the River Basin Commissions.  All the organizations want to work together to share information that is already gathered.

John Seitz asked if any of these proposed studies are going to include data that has already been gathered at the local level. He said that the Codorus Creek Watershed has been studied in every way it can and that his concern is that no one is spending money to fix the problems that were identified in the studies. Walter Lyon pointed out that a lot of plans have been implemented in the Codorus Creek.

Dave Jostenski said that the information available at the municipal level would be included in the Study. The Phase 1 study included the information available from the municipalities and will be updated to include any additional information before Phase II begins.

Betty Conner said that there is a new policy with Growing Greener Grants starting this year favoring implementation projects, not studies.

Marshall Goulding offered that the 3rd option would be to pursue funding apart from the other studies.

Act 220 LSRB Regional Committee Meeting- Betty Conner

Betty reported that the Committee at its February 2, 2004 meeting discussed priority issues and identified data gaps.  These were categorized under the five headings of Water Quantity, Water Quality, Land Use, Groundwater and Surface Water.  Issues included under Water Quantity were water budgets, current and projected demands, shortfalls, storage, availability, interbasin transfers and minimum instream flows.  The members were each given a CD with the first chapter of the State Water Plan and maps of the sub basins.

Pam Bishop had a very good power point presentation about PA Water Law and Betty would be happy to give anyone interested a copy.

Walter pointed out that the major element missing from water planning is policy analysis.

Walter motioned that if the results of the Capital Region Water Board Meeting with DEP concerning water planning are positive and favor proceeding expeditiously, then this group would approve our asking a appropriate congressmen to request an "add-on" to the US Corps of Engineers appropriation to fund the Phase II Study. Roger Karsnitz 2nd the motion and motion passed.

Walter motioned that if the "add on" idea didn’t work, that we pursue funding with an amendment to the Water Resources Planning Act either in the Senate version or the Conference version. This would give us 100% funding. We would need a Senate sponsor for the Senate version or a House member for the Conference version. Marshall Goulding 2nd the motion. Motion passed.

Ground Water Committee Report- Kevin Breen

Kevin reported that he has two new members on his Committee, Tom McElroy and Tom Wattington. They will be working this month on building a database for ground water users in this Region for the Membership Committee

Kevin suggested that we update our web-site to include a more detailed map including watersheds. Kevin will email some maps to Jeff Hines for the web site. Walter asked if USGS has the ground water studies that have been done in this Region. He said that all of the studies are available on the USGS website. Walter asked if we have a link to USGS from our web site and Cindy said she would check into it and get one put on if it isn’t there.

Kevin reported that currently they are working on a water budgeting tool to assess water accessibility throughout the state. Walter asked if DEP/USGS would do a presentation about the work being done. Dave Jostenski said that he would coordinate such an effort for the next meeting.

Membership Committee- No report

Web Page- No report

Bylaws Committee- Dave Jostenski announced his resignation from the Board because of his office policy stating that it was a conflict of interest. He agreed that he would still attend meetings and give his opinion, but that he would no longer vote or head any committees. So he deferred to Marshall Goulding for the Report of the Bylaws Committee. Marshall reported that the committee will be working on the bylaws and there will be recommendations coming.

Walter expressed disappointment in the new policy at DEP saying that government professionals and private professionals have always worked together for the best product. He believes that this policy is not in the best interest of the commonwealth. Walter asked the Board to take a stand on this issue.

The Board asked that Cindy make some letterhead for the Board. She agreed and will forward a sample to Marshall Goulding.

Insurance- Roger Karsnitz reported that he had lost touch with Louise Knight since Louise changed jobs. Walter gave him her new address and Roger will be contacting her for advise.

Basin Conditions- George Lazorchick

George reported that in this area the groundwater recharge has been slow due to frozen ground. They have been keeping a close eye on the river ice, not a problem this year. Going into spring /summer this year we are in good shape.

New Business- Susan Obleski and Mattie Buskirk informed us of a letter writing campaign to Congress asking for restoration of federal funding for SRBC and also to ask for funding for several projects. They asked if CRWB and individuals would write and fax a letter to Congressmen Petersen, and they provided a sample. Walter moved that the Board write a support letter and asked that individuals also join in this effort. The motion was 2nd and passed.

Next Meeting- April 12, 2004

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon.

 

BUDGET 2003-04

	WATER UTILITY		2002-03		2002-03		2002-03		2003-04		ANNUAL
	CONNECTIONS		OPERATING		SWATARA		TOTAL		TOTAL		WATER
	PER 2002		BUDGET		STUDY		BUDGET		BUDGET		USE
			INCOME		INCOME		INCOME		INCOME
PA AMERICAN	46357	27.33%	$2,963				$2,963		$2,639.00		5,740 MG
UNITED WATER	32200	18.99%	$2,058				$2,058		$2,324.00		5,055 MG
CITY OF HARRISBURG	22400	13.21%	$1,432				$1,432		$1,497.00		3,257 MG
LEBANON CITY AUTHORITY	15470	9.12%	$989				$989		$1,203.00		2,617 MG
EAST PETERSBURG BOROUGH	1784	1.05%	$114				$114		$57.00		124 MG
MYERSTOWN WATER AUTHORITY	1700	1.00%	$109				$109		$88.00		192 MG
YORK WATER COMPANY	49660	29.28%	$3,147				$3,147		$3,004.00		6,534 MG
SUSQ ARE AIRPORT AUTHORITY	32	0.02%	$3				$3
SRBC SWATARA STUDY					$5,000		$5,000
MEMBERSHIPS			$1,700				$1,700		$1,700.00
EXISTING FUNDS			$4,000				$4,000		$5,300.00
INTEREST									$68.00
TOTAL	169603	100.00%	$16,515		$5,000		$21,515		$17,880.00
			EXPENSES		EXPENSES		EXPENSES		EXPENSES
OFFICE COSTS			$630		$625.00		$1,255		$1,255.00
SECRETARIAL COSTS			$4,000		$625.00		$4,625		$4,625.00
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES			$7,560		$0.00		$7,560		$5,000.00
AUDIT & LEGAL ANAL.			$2,500		$0.00		$2,500		$1,500.00
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION			$250		$3,750.00		$4,000		$4,000.00
INSURANCE			$500				$500		$500.00
WEBSITE			$600				$600		$500.00
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE			$250				$250		$250.00
GROUNDWATER COMMITTEE			$250				$250		$250.00
TOTAL			$16,540		$5,000		$21,540		$17,880.00