- September 14, 2024
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The Volusia County Council made new appointments to its Environment and Natural Resources Advisory Board on Tuesday, Sept. 3 — but not before a motion that would have eliminated the board on Dec. 31, failed due to a tied vote.
After hearing from staff that the board had been given presentations from staff on stormwater, the focus given to the board back in March, County Councilman David Santiago said he was reluctant to reappoint members.
"I think the intent of the council, at least the majority of the council at that time, was to bring this board in to a closure, and I think we're there," Santiago said. "I'm prepared to let the terms expire until we need to reactivate them to anything specific. I say 'Mission accomplished.'"
This was the second time this year council members have discussed sunsetting the board, which was previously active from 1987 to 2003 and was reinstated in 2022 for the purpose of advising the county on minimum standards for environmental protection. In March, after the community pushed back against the council regarding the possibility of several boards being axed, the 14-member ENRAC was directed to focus on flooding and stormwater issues.
But has ENRAC completed its charge? According to one board member, the answer is no.
ENRAC has only been able to hold two meetings about flooding, which have been educational, said board member Wendy Anderson at the council meeting. Before starting to discuss flooding, the board had to bring its work on the county's tree standards to a pause, and the meetings in June and August were canceled, the first due to staff needing more time to answer board questions and the latter due to a lack of quorum.
"We have not started on policymaking, on actually working on the language of the code," said Anderson, a professor of environmental science and studies at Stetson University. "We have a lot more work to do."
Santiago said that, prior to refocusing ENRAC, the board's scope was "all over the place" and he didn't see successes coming out of it. When the board was created in 2022, some of the tasks listed were proposing changes to the county's tree preservation ordinance, wetland standards, and the implementation of Low-Impact Development standards.
"We don't need additional layers of government," Santiago said, adding that the county already has its Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission to review related standards and ordinances.
Councilman Danny Robins agreed.
"I know for me, as long as we are reducing some of these layers of bureaucracy and not having as much overlap, I think we're heading in a better direction," Robins said.
Just because the county has minimum standards regarding development, doesn't mean they are "minimal," he said, citing higher standards compared to the state and federal regulations, an argument he would later raise to Council Chair Jeff Brower during his closing comment, as the chair had said the county needed to change how it developed.
Brower, and Councilmen Matt Reinhart and Don Dempsey were against disbanding ENRAC. Councilman Troy Kent was absent from the meeting.
Dempsey said the board had "heavy hitters" in terms of expertise and pointed out they were all volunteers.
"We need these people to maybe offer better ideas later on and just to sit here and say, "We don't need you, we're smart, we'll take care of it,' I think is wrong," Dempsey said.
Brower agreed and said he didn't believe disbanding ENRAC and handing its duties to the PLDRC and county staff would make the county more efficient.
"I think the information we're getting from these professionals is really beneficial and flooding and LID — Low-Impact Development — are two of the most important things we face for our future," Brower said.
County Councilman Jake Johansson said that disbanding the board wouldn't mean taking away expertise. He argued that disbanding the board would free the members from being under Sunshine Law constraints, allowing them to meet whenever they'd like and discuss issues, which they can then email the county about.
"I do not foresee any one of these environmental advocates shutting down their email, going home and planting flowers," he said. "They're going to keep on emailing us."
Brower said the council would not be acting responsibly if the board was disbanded. Yes, board members could then meet privately, but synergy would be lost, he said.
"They need to be allowed to continue their work," Brower said. "They can tell us when they're done. At least give them another year."
Because the motion was tied in a 3-3 vote, it failed, reverting back to what the council was first set to vote on: appointing members for another two-year term. Eleven of the incumbents wished to return for a new term, and there is one vacant seat on the board. The council appointed twelve people. Kent will appoint the remaining two at a later date.
