Friday, March 27, 2009

Support water conservation funding

Florida's Soil and Water Conservation Districts are facing budgetary cuts that would significantly reduce our ability to perform our obligations. Please contact your representatives in the State House and Senate and let them know you support continued funding for these vital state agencies.

Sample letter:

Dear Representative

As an Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Committee member or Representative, we felt it imperative to send you this information for consideration. Your support can help provide critical help to Florida’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

Please see our urgent request to help over 300 public officials, 60 districts and 60 employees with a renewal of our contract of only $50,000 with Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agriculture Water Policy.

This critical contract is the ONLY statewide source of information to help Florida’s soil and water conservation districts, keeping them in operation and in compliance with state requirements. As you may already know, these districts and programs provide millions through private, state and federal dollars which benefit the state and citizens of Florida.

Many of our soil and water conservation districts have lost their county funding and this is the only statewide help they receive.

$50,000
Contract Funding Renewal 2009

Request: Renewal of Association of Florida Conservation District’s (AFCD) $50,000 Contract for support services to ALL of Florida’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agriculture Water Policy. (FDACS/OAWP)

The funding provided through this contract helps support:
300 Public Officials throughout the state of Florida
60 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), which are governmental subdivisions of the State of Florida
68 SWCD District Employees
This is the only funding assistance that goes directly to ALL of our SWCDs. No funds have ever been allocated through the State of Florida to directly assist districts in their mission to implement soil and water conservation practices within their districts.
This contract supports the 300 unpaid elected officials whose districts and programs provide millions through private, state and federal dollars which benefit the state and citizens of Florida.
This contact helps to keep districts in compliance. For instance, if any of our districts are dissolved, due to non-compliance, FDACS has the financial statutory responsibility to create a new district which could possibly cost millions to the Florida taxpayers.
According to F.S. 582.055 and582.08 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Water Policy is to provide assistance to Florida Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
Critical Services Provided by Contract
o Supervisor and Employee Training Presentation which include Supervisor’s powers, duties and legal responsibilities; Supervisor Elections; Sunshine Law; history of districts; conservation programs including cooperative programs, demonstration projects, educational workshops, education programs, and planning and rulemaking; personnel management; funding sources through grants, sponsors, donations, cooperative agreements, and county funding; and compliance and operating procedures. These workshops have been held for individual districts, regions, and for statewide audiences.
o Supporting SWCDs in fulfilling statutory requirements with regards to reporting including: Annual Financial Report through the Department of Financial Services; Independent Audit and reporting for the Auditor General, Special District Fee and Report for the Department of Community Affairs, Division of Treasury Form 014-1009, among others.
o Update a quarterly roster of all the District offices, current elected Supervisors, employees, District Conservationists, and Extension Agents to provide partnership and outreach.
o Review and provide current information for SWCD Supervisor Handbooks.
o Respond to hundreds of requests from District staff and officials for critical District operation information.
o Supervisor Handbook Distribution
o Best Management Practices (BMP) manual distribution.
This contract of $50,000 provides the ONLY source of information for Soil and Water Conservation Districts Statewide.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Water wars continue

Please check out http://www.myfloridariver.com/ for the latest stories about the ongoing water wars. Today, Jacksonville couple to donate $150,000 for legal fight and City of Jacksonville to ask water management district to delay Seminole's plan to pump from the river until ecological studies are complete.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Protest sewage injection into aquifer

From Save our Aquifer:

Dear friends and families,

Here is your chance to participate in a public demonstration! Wednesday, March 4, 2009, participants will be gathering on the sidewalk on the northeast corner of Barton Ave. and Huntington Lane (Rockledge City Hall) to show their concerns and objections to the City's plan to annually inject 180 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Floridan aquifer, the purest aquifer in Floridan. It is called the Underground Source of Drinking Water (USDW) by State and Federal agencies. It is the aquifer our drinking water comes from.

Once this underground source of drinking water is contaminated with partially treated sewage from the Rockledge Sewage Treatment Plant it will be permanently contaminated with carcinogens, heavy metals, toxic chemicals pharmaceuticals, etc,, and this valuable and viable resource would be lost forever.

Demonstration signs will be made in advance for participants to hold or you may create and bring your own.
Bring your family, friends and neighbors to this important community demonstration.

The right to clean drinking water, and a healthy coastal ecosystem are basic needs. We can not allow the City of Rockledge to take these basic needs away from us, impact our property values, and take away our rights to clean, safe water.

Please plan to attend this important community demonstration asking our local officials to stop this dangerous plan and "Keep Sewage Out!"

Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Time: 5:00 p.m. until dusk
Location: Rockledge City Hall, 1600 Huntington Lane, demonstrators will gather on the corner of Barton Avenue and Huntington Lane


Please forward this information freely.
Sincerely,
Amy Mosher
321-636-2229