May 10, 2023

The Titusville Environmental Commission (TEC) of the City of Titusville, Florida met in regular session at City Hall in the Council Chamber located at 555 South Washington Avenue on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 5:30pm.

XXX

Chairwoman Thompson called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Present were Vice Chairman Myjak, Member Perez, Member Tucker, Member Delgado, and Member Young.  Member Yount and Member Flis were absent. Staff present was Community Development Director Brad Parrish, and Recording Secretary Laurie Dargie. 

XXX

Member Perez made a motion to approve the minutes from the April 12, 2023 meeting as presented. Member Myjak seconded. There was a unanimous voice vote in favor.

Member Perez requested that the January 11, 2023 meeting minutes be brought up for discussion so that it can be clarified that he would like the Titusville Environmental Commission meetings broadcast live and also recorded visually in addition to the audio recording that is already done. 

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak regarding this item.

Member Perez made a motion that the January 11, 2023 meeting minutes of the Titusville Environmental Commission be put on the June 14, 2023 agenda for discussion. Member Delgado seconded. There was a unanimous voice vote in favor.

XXX

Petitions & Requests from Public Present

Stan Johnston of 860 Poinsettia Avenue Titusville, Florida came to speak about his concerns with sewage spills and that he has sent emails to the new Director Kevin Cook.

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak. Ms. Lortie said that the sewage spill concerns brought up at the April meeting were not put on tonight’s agenda. Ms. Lortie said she has video recording this meeting and a representative of Talk of Titusville is recording a live stream of tonight’s meeting. Ms. Lortie also spoke about roles of the Titusville Environmental Commission.

Bill Klein of 3 Indian River Avenue Apt 906 of Titusville, Florida came to speak.  Mr. Klein requested that the Titusville Environmental Commission review the sewage spill that occurred on December 19, 2020.  Mr. Klein also strongly encouraged water quality testing of the ponds at Sand Point Park.

Chairwoman Thompson agreed with Mr. Klein and reported that there is a grant approved citizen initiative that can be done with the support of City Council and permission to allow this citizen to have access to city property in order to do the sampling of the city’s outfalls.

The Titusville Environmental Commission members were all in agreement to have testing done by this citizen initiative.

Stan Johnston of 860 Poinsettia Avenue Titusville, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

XXX

Member Delgado made a motion recommending to City Council to support the citizen initiative and grant permission to the citizen to have access to the city’s outfalls to collect water samples and report their findings back to the Titusville Environmental Commission. Member Myjak seconded.

Roll call was as follows:

Member Perez                         Yes

Vice Chairman Myjak             Yes

Member Delgado                    Yes

Member Young                       Yes

Member Tucker                       Yes

Chairwoman Thompson          Yes

Motion passed.

XXX

Old Business

None

XXX

New Business

Aligning Titusville Environmental Commission (TEC) Recommendations with City’s Annual Strategic Planning Process 

Chairwoman Thompson said she had a meeting with Mr. Parrish about this and it was explained that the city’s strategic planning process is an internal set of guidelines for staff.

Mr. Parrish went into a greater explanation as to how the performance measures provided in the agenda packet is one of the City Manager’s tools used for internal tracking purposes for the annual budget.   He said it helps serve the purpose of tracking priorities and achieving goals.

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

Bill Klein of 3 Indian River Avenue Apt 906 Titusville, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item. 

The Titusville Environmental Commission had discussion regarding the following:

1. Whether or not to be involved with providing input on the “City of Titusville FY23 Strategic Goals & Objectives”. 
2. TEC should solely focus on objectives that pertain to their charter
3. TEC should create their own Strategic Goals & Objectives to help stay more focused and organized 
4. Integrating their goals and objectives with City Council and city staff’s goals so everyone is working as a team
5. Data collecting in order to help have meaningful goals and objectives to assistant in achieving environmental goals  

Chairwoman Thompson asked to know what the city’s current initiatives and actions are to improve the Indian Rive Lagoon as listed in the Goal 1. Quality of Life chart.

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

Bill Klein of 3 Indian River Avenue Apt 906 Titusville, Florida came to answer a question from the TEC about water testing.

The Titusville Environmental Commission had discussion as to the need to maybe table this item to allow more time for the Commission to review information that was sent via email from Kristin Lortie earlier today.  Chairwoman Thompson said that she would like for the TEC to have time to be able to review Ms. Lortie’s emails and attachments and she would like for the two documents from Ms. Lortie to be included as part of the agenda packet for this item at the next meeting in June.  Mr. Parrish asked for clarification as to which attachments specifically Chairwoman Thompson is referring to.  

Specific email is as follows: From Kristin Lortie email dated May 10, 2023 sent to Brad Parrish at 1:58pm.  The specific documents (which will be included as part of all records request from this meeting date) is titled as follows:

Mr. Parrish asked if these two documents are the only items being requested as part of this agenda item for the June meeting. Member Myjak asked that Mr. Parrish also include pages 23 through 32 of tonight’s agenda packet as part of the item on the June agenda. 

XXX

Member Myjak made a motion to table this item to the June 14, 2023 Titusville Environmental Commission meeting and to include the two documents from Ms. Lortie as discussed and also include pages 23 through 32 of the agenda packet from tonight’s meeting as part of the agenda item at the June meeting. Member Delgado seconded. 

Roll call was as follows:

Member Young                       Yes

Member Delgado                    Yes

Vice Chairman Myjak             Yes

Member Perez                         Yes

Member Tucker                       Yes

Chairwoman Thompson          Yes

Motion passed.

XXX

Member Myjak made a motion to extend the meeting until 8:00pm. Member Delgado seconded. There was a unanimous voice vote in favor.

Tree Technical Manual

Mr. Parrish directed the TEC to page 96 of the agenda packet to view City Council’s direction for this item and also to see his email to Sheema Laguerre with Kimley-Horn for the city’s requested tasks. Mr. Parrish said that this will be presented by the consultant to the Titusville Environmental Commission at the June 14, 2023 meeting.

Member Myjak requested that a column be added to the list to identify the Florida Friendly species. 

Chairwoman Thompson requested that the Titusville Environmental Commission thoroughly review the list themselves and provide feedback to Mr. Parrish regarding the list. The Commission also voiced that they would like for any members of the “Tree Team” to have opportunity to review the list and provide feedback. 

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item. Ms. Lortie read an email from Kay St. Onge. 

Mr. Parrish requested that any comments and feedback be provided to staff by May 17, 2023 so that staff has enough time to provide the information to the consultant and the consultant has enough time to review and make changes before the June 14, 2023 Titusville Environmental Commission meeting. 

XXX

Member Young made a motion to recommend that the Titusville Environmental Commission review the tree technical manual list and that the list be made available to the public for review and that all comments and feedback be provided to Mr. Parrish no later than May 17, 2023 to allow time for the consultant to prepare for the June 14, 2023 presentation to the Titusville Environmental Commission. 

XXX

Petitions and Requests

None

XXX

Reports

Community Development Video Presentation

Chairwoman Thompson asked if this video presentation could be emailed to all of the Titusville Environmental Commission members so that they could view it at their own leisure. 

Mr. Parrish will provide the Community Development video presentation to the TEC members via an email link.

XXX

Semi-Annual Report

Mr. Parrish said this will be presented to City Council at their June 13, 2023 meeting.

Chairwoman Thompson said she is unable to attend this City Council meeting and asked for a volunteer to present he semi-annual report. Member Myjak said he would be able to attend and would give the report. 

Member Delgado asked for a copy of the previous semi-annual report.

Member Myjak made a motion to extend the meeting an additional ten minutes. Member Perez seconded. There was a unanimous voice vote in favor. 

Kristin Lortie of 5524 Brilliance Circle Cocoa, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

Chairwoman Thompson said she would like for the comment about requesting the Titusville Environmental Commission meetings to be LIVE broadcast into the semi-annual report.

XXX

Member Myjak said he would be requesting a leave of absence from City Council for July through October 2023.

Member Myjak suggested that there be a beautification committee to be involved with and overseer the beautification projects around the city.

Member Perez said that there is a grant that was obtained from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and it is for mangrove plantings. 

Chairwoman Thompson provided a handout to all of the TEC members, which was in regards to an email she received from Angelique Rinaldi Legislative Aide State Representative Thad Altman, Florida House of Representatives, District 32 to request help garnering support for a local funding initiative – Restore Indian River Lagoon (IRL) Inflow Project. Chairwoman Thompson said she wanted TEC to request the support of City Council and have a letter of support from the City of Titusville to be sent and also encouraged the TEC members to provide letters of support. The handout provided gives an example draft script that can be used. (This handout is available as part of a records request for this meeting).

XXX

Member Myjak made a motion to recommend to City Council that they write a letter of support from the City of Titusville in support of the $4.9M in the state budget for the UCF Restore Indian River Lagoon Inflow project. Member Perez seconded.

Roll call was as follows:

Member Young                       Yes

Member Delgado                    Yes

Member Tucker                       Yes

Vice Chairman Myjak             Yes

Member Perez                         Yes

Chairwoman Thompson          Yes

Motion passed. 

XXX

Discussion of Future Agenda Items

1. January 11, 2023 Meeting Minutes
2. Performance Measures
3. Tree Technical Manual

XXX

Adjournment 8:09p.m.