Rocky River Watershed Council Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2015 ▪ 4:00 PM Cuyahoga County Public Library – Strongsville Branch, Meeting Room A 18700 Westwood Drive, Strongsville MINUTES Present Jared Bartley Mike Durkalec Bethany Eppig Matt Hrubey Ed Kelly Steve Lizewski Pat Nortz Jeremy Peppeard Alice Prahst Linda Schneider Colleen Sliwinski

Excused Mel Hauser Jill Morton Stacey Yanetta

Unexcused

Guests Kathleen Bradley Cathleen Kortyka

1. Call to Order & Welcome Guests The meeting was called to order at 4:08 pm by Chairman Kelly. 2. Approve Past Meeting Minutes Peppeard motioned to approve the minutes of the September 23, 2015 Board of Directors meeting without revision. Schneider seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. Reports a. Treasurer’s Report: The beginning account balance as of September 23, 2015, was $60,899.33. Ending balance as of November 18, 2015, is $60,874.46. See Attachment 1 for an itemized list of account activity. Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District has not yet invoiced us for Bartley’s salary, which comes from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) grant. Prahst asked that the invoice be submitted before the end of 2015 as it will help with the filing of our annual Form 990. This represents about half of the remaining funds in our bank account.

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Approximately $13,000 remaining is also allocated for the Bucks for Buffers program. Invoices for those expenses should be forthcoming as well. b. Committee Reports: Executive Committee: No report. Development Committee: The Development Committee is meeting Tuesday, November 24 to finalize brochure language and discuss grant opportunities including US EPA’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program. Eppig reported that NASA Glenn is also looking into the Five Star grant, but she does not feel comfortable, as a NASA employee, facilitating a partnership with the RRWC. She provided the contact information for Jennifer Rock, NASA’s stormwater contact person. NASA is considering research on best management practices during winter. Eppig mentioned an interest in placing mercury traps at outfalls into Abram Creek. In October, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy awarded RRWC a $2,500 mini-grant to establish a riparian buffer and signage in Mill Stream Park in Valley City. Outreach Committee: A chairperson is still needed. Schneider reported that the final quarterly meeting of 2015 was held Wednesday, October 28 at the Columbia Branch Library in Columbia Station. Approximately 40 people attended. The goal of engaging Lorain County residents was accomplished. The speakers discussed how homeowners can improve the watershed through actions on private property. A discussion followed in which the Board developed a tentative schedule for the 2016 quarterly meetings. The 2016 Annual Meeting will be January 27 at the Rocky River Nature Center. Durkalec will secure the venue. Schneider said she would be interested in repeating the October 28, 2015 quarterly meeting program in April 2016 at Medina County Library. Durkalec recommended repeating the picnic agenda from 2015 and simply rotating the location around the watershed. For July 2016, the venue will either be Hinckley Lake or Brunswick Lake. Nortz met a gentleman named Tom Allen at an event in Columbus, and Tom is interested in speaking at a RRWC event about steelhead fishing. Nortz will ask Allen when he would like to speak, though the October 26 quarterly meeting will be suggested. Kelly asked if there was a plan to reach out to all the green teams that exist throughout the Rocky River Watershed. There currently is not. c. Stream Team Reports: Abram Creek: Hauser submitted the following report in his absence (Attachment 2): RRWC, Southwest General Hospital, and Cleveland Metroparks personnel will meet November 20 to discuss a collaborative project to market and inform patients, employees and visitors at Southwest about Fowles Marsh. Over the winter, the stream team will attend and present at City Council meetings in Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, and Berea to insure local council people and administrators are aware of the RRWC and its mission. The Abram Creek Greenway Study is complete and formal recommendations and the report are both forthcoming.

Baldwin Creek: The stream team t-shirts are ready and need to be picked up and paid for. Kortyka is in limbo with the City of Middleburg Heights regarding one of the stream crossing signs that still needs to be installed. Brunswick Area: Kelly held a stream cleaning in early October over a two-day period. One day was spent cleaning Plum Creek, the other Brunswick Lake. Attendance and volunteerism was better the second day due a local Girl Scouts troop. Jim Spetz had requested volunteers for a tree planting at Princess Ledges Nature Preserve. The turnout of volunteers was not good. Spetz was particularly disappointed in the RRWC’s showing of volunteers. Gary Ditch is being renamed Goodyear Creek. Kelly reported there may be delays because Brunswick and Brunswick Hills Township typically have a contentious relationship. Coe Creek: The stream team is planning for 2016. A WRRSP grant application to remove the Coe Creek culvert was denied. A Section 319 grant application is still outstanding. Hrubey is looking to take on officially naming Coe Creek. A public meeting will take place in the future at Fairview Park City Hall to demonstrate the stormwater management systems the City of Fairview Park recently installed through a Section 319 grant. The stream crossing signs for Coe Creek are still not up. Sliwinski’s students and their sustainability activities were featured at a Fairview Park Board of Education meeting on November 16. Her students are designing an interpretive sign for the Coe Creek Streambank Restoration Project, funded by an Ohio EPA SWIF Grant. The students also worked with multiple partners to conduct a tree assessment and repair of the trees planted in Bain Park in April of 2015. As a result of these activities, the Earth Day Coalition awarded Sliwinski’s students the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Award for Environmental Excellence. Upper East Branch: Patagonia has a world trout grant opportunity with an annual deadline of August. The Cleveland Metroparks would like RRWC to apply for that grant for restoration work in Meer Valley. The grant applicant is required to be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. West Branch: Schneider sent out a thank you note to stream team members that also touched on activities for 2016. d. Watershed Coordinator Report: Bucks for Buffers has been delayed due to an issue with procuring trees. The National Park Service purchased a bulk order of trees from the nursery we typically use. There has been no official word on the 2016 NEORSD grant, though unofficially it sounds good. NEORSD contacted Bartley for permission to use the table format he used for the RRWC’s grant application. Bartley received most of Ohio EPA’s watershed data from their 2014 monitoring. Much of the watershed has shown improvement, including many areas in the main stem, west branch, and east branch. Cleveland Hopkins Airport has been discussion with Ohio EPA to change Abram Creek from a warm water habitat to a modified warm water habitat, which would make it easier

for the airport to obtain permits. The Rocky River Watershed Action Plan will be revised in 2016 in order to be eligible to apply for federal funding. Bartley spent a good deal of time recently finishing up the reporting for the sediment reduction grant that funded the cover crop program and the Baldwin Creek BHEI project. Business Items a. Review of Draft 2016 Budget: Bartley presented a basic budget to the board as a starting point for the 2016 budget (Attachment 3). This budget is exclusively an operating budget for the RRWC organization and does not include project-specific expenses. The plan is to approve a final budget at the December board meeting. b. Rocky River Watershed Action Plan Update: This topic was discussed during the Watershed Coordinator report. c. 2016 Annual Meeting: This topic was discussed during the Outreach Committee report. d. Bucks for Buffers – Program Update: This topic was discussed during the Watershed Coordinator report. e. Update from Dog Park Sign Committee: Schneider has been working on confirming sources for the data presented on the draft sign. f. Watershed Stream Signage – Project Update: This topic was discussed at several points during the various stream team reports. 6. Miscellaneous None. 7. Adjourn Schneider motioned to adjourn the meeting. Prahst seconded and the motion was approved. Approved by Board of Directors: December 16, 2015

Attachment 1 Sheet1 TREASURER'S REPORT November 18, 2015 Beginning Balance September 23, 2015 Ck#1415 Matt Hurbey -33.78 Deposit 9/24 donation fundraiser 40.00 donation fundraiser 100.00 Kathleen Bradley 12.00 Mel Hauser 12.00 Alice Prahst 12.00 9/28 paypal Stacey Yanetta 12.00 -0.65 Sept 30 balance

60899.33

Deposit 10/6 Linda Schneider 10/28 Ck#1416 Sundae Funday 10/29 Ck31417 Alice Prahst 10/31 Quickbooks October 61052.90

188.00

-34.43

60899.33 Thank Yous Ray Lisowski NTH Consult T shirt T shirt T shirt T shirt 61052.90

12.00

T shirt food mtg. supplies mtg.

-114.00 -41.92 -34.52 12.00

-190.44

Page 1

60874.46

Attachment 2

Abram Creek Stream Team Report- November 18th, 2015 Facilitated Stakeholder Meeting Rocky River Watershed, Southwest General Hospital and Cleveland Metroparks personnel will meet on Friday, November 20 to discuss a collaborative project to market and inform patients, employees and visitors at Southwest about Fowles Marsh. Also its being hoped to increase the awareness and usage of the Lake-To-Lake Trail adjoin the hospital’s property. City Council Meetings Over the winter, we will attend and present at City Council Meetings in Brook Park, Middleburg Heights and Berea to insure our local council people and administrators know who we are and what our mission is. In Middleburg and Berea, the Baldwin Creek Stream Team will attend also and help provide a one-two whammy. With the recent elections, it was decided to let the lame-ducks leave before our appearance. Abram Creek Greenway Study The official TLCI study is over and we await the formal recommendations and published report by Environmental Design Group for the City of Brook Park. As mentioned in earlier reports, RRWC was involved on the Steering Committee and attended all of the meetings. We will continue to stay engaged as an advocate for this project as the real work will now begin. Funding.

Attachment 3