International Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Study Board
Meeting in Ogdensburg, New York
September 19, 2002 (1000 - 1730) and September 20, 2002 (0800 - 1300)

SUMMARY OF MEETING

Board members in attendance were: Eugene Stakhiv; Doug Cuthbert; Frank Sciremammano; Andre Carpentier; Pete Loucks; Sandy LeBarron; Ian Crawford; Marcel Lussier; Henry Lickers; and Jim Snyder along with Study Managers Tony Eberhardt and Ed Eryuzlu. Others in attendance for all or part of the meetings were: Elaine Kennedy; Dan Barletta; Scott Tripoli; Anjuna Langevin (alternate to Ivan Lantz); Stephanie Weiss; Al Will; Sandra Lawn; Paul Webb; John Osinski; Michel Gagne; Henry Stewart; Max Streibel; Jack Manno; Bill Werick; Mark Lorie; Wendy Leger; Roger Gauthier; Ian Gillespie; Joe Atkinson; Rob Read; David Fay; Ralph Moulton; Tom Bender; Jon Brown; Tommy Brown; Roger Haberly; John Ching; Tom McAuley; Russ Trowbridge; Amanda Morelli; Arleen Kreusch; Commissioner Dennis Schornack; Commissioner Herb Gray; Murray Clamen; Fabien Lengellé and Frank Bevacqua.

Thursday, September 19 (1000 to 1200): Joint Board/ PIAG Meeting

1. Introductions - New Members:

• Dan Barletta and Elaine Kennedy were introduced as interim U.S. and Canadian PIAG leads, respectively.
• Marcel Lussier was introduced as the new Canadian lead effective October 1, 2002.
• Scott Tripoli was introduced as a new U.S. PIAG member and Anjuna Langevin was introduced as an alternate to Canadian PIAG member Ivan Lantz.
• Jim Snyder was introduced as a new U.S. Board member replacing Shawn Martin.

2. Discussion between PIAG and Board regarding issues raised during the September 18 PIAG meeting:

1. Ed and Tony should ensure that PIAG liaison are aware of TWG meetings.
2. Tony to assist PIAG with the hiring of a group like the Human Dimensions Research Unit of Cornell University to compile and analyse data from surveys (like those conducted for rec. boating, PIAG and development of the IS curves). This will be an activity of the Common Data Needs/ Information Technology Group.
3. Arleen will pursue through Syracuse University the possibility of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications assisting PIAG through course participation formulating alternative for outreach.
4. Bill Werick will formulate a simplified Shared Vision Model (SVM) easily understood by non-technical audiences. More technical information would be available upon request.
5. A team consisting of Gene, Doug, Tony, Ed, Marcel and his U.S. counterpart, Arleen and her Canadian counterpart, Russ, Tom McAuley, Fabien and Frank Bevacqua will develop a communications strategy for years 3 through 5.
6. All agreed that a group handling the specific communication activities was important, but a statement of purpose should be developed. Those identified in item 2 (e) above will draft a statement with input from all participants.

Thursday, September 19 (1300 to 1730) and Friday, September 20 (0800 to 1300): Board Meeting

1. Agenda approval: The agenda was approved with a minor shifting of items.

2. Review of action items from St. Catharines Board Meeting and June 20 and September 4 Conference Calls:

1. Regarding awards, Ian and Sandy will draft a proposal to the IJC regarding recognition for participation and/ or departure.
2. Administrative support was moved to the TWG update part of the agenda and discussed on a case-by-case basis.
3. Unresolved issues:
   • Water quality issues are being addressed for the lower St. Lawrence River by the Environmental TWG. Joe will look into WQ issues on Lake Ontario, such as algae and other concerns related to municipalities as mentioned by Max;
   • Each TWG should address the issue of future development in terms of sensitivity analyses.
   • Propeller vibrations in the vicinity of Akwesasne: Henry Lickers will identify problem areas. Roger Haberly will look at these sites and during what times problems occur, although problems may be related to ship operations rather than water levels.
   • The H&H and Environmental TWGs will address the issues related to peaking and ponding. They will also assess water temperatures as they relate to ice formation and wetlands.
4. Communication plans:
   • Andre and Frank Sciremammano will provide liaison to the St. Lawrence River Board of Control.
   • PIAG will conduct a survey at the evening's public meeting regarding the preferred medium for information (e.g., brochures, newsletters, CDs, videos, etc.)
   • Regarding annual reports, the Board recommended that Study reports (like the Year 1 Report) would be developed at the end of Year 3 and 5.

3. Budget Update: Tony and Ed gave status reports on funding by activity. They will provide summaries of obligations and expenditures to the Board.

4. Updates from TWGs: Each of the TWGs was directed to work with PFEG in the development of Performance Indicators. During the TWG updates, it was determined that a number of TWGs are developing "Black Box" models that do not allow evaluation in the approved manner directed by the Board and incorporation into the Shared Vision Model.

1. PFEG:
   • Paul King-Fisher, Andre Plante, Mark Lorie and Debbie Lee are proposed new members of the group.
   • Membership of the Economic Advisory Group is almost complete.
   • The PFEG will assess alternatives in terms of existing and proposed criteria.
2. Environmental:
   
   • Rob Read will be a coordinator, but not Canadian lead of the TWG.
   • A letter will be sent from the IJC to Environment Canada and the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources regarding a replacement for Christiane Hudon.
3. Recreational Boating:
   • Serge St-Martin was accepted as the new Canadian lead.
     
   • The TWG proposal for Year 3 U.S. funding for a Boater Survey and Marina Survey for an amount totalling $144K US was approved in principal, pending the availability of U.S. funds. The issue and other Rec Boating Year 3 requests totalling an additional $70K US will be discussed again at the next Board meeting.
     
4. Coastal: U.S. work for Year 2 is on schedule with 95% of funding obligated. Ralph will report on how Year 4 work will be undertaken, prior to the November Board meeting since Coastal TWG work was scheduled to end after Year 3 in the Plan of Study.
5. Commercial Navigation: Three contracts are being let in Canada regarding data assessment and the development of a common data file for assessment.
6. Hydro: Ian Crawford, Andre and Henry Lickers will develop terms of reference to hire a consultant to assist this group with the development of performance indicators.
7. Water Uses: Results from the phase 1 report by Planning and Management Consultants, Limited should be made available to the Board prior to distribution to the public.
8. H&H: A workshop on water level forecasting techniques as they relate to a regulation plan alternatives will be held in Toronto in mid-October.
9. Common Data Needs
   
   • The group will become the Information Technology (IT) Group.
   • All metadata must be bilingual.
   • Each TWG must send a representative to a workshop in Burlington on meta-data being held September 25-26, 2002.
   • The Board will decide at its November meeting which of the Group's options to approve.
10. PFEG: At the November meeting, PFEG will address the issue of criteria review. Mark Lorie will interview the Board about criteria.
    
• PFEG and the General Managers were asked to list substantive decisions and agreements made as the study progresses in order to build up a bibliography and basis of our work and eventual recommendations.
11. All: Each TWG was asked to provide regularly updated lists or bibliographies of completed work, reports and surveys either directly or through the GMs to all Board members, PIAG members and TWG leads.

5. Review of presentation and logistics/ protocol for evening public meeting: (summarized).

6. Information Management Strategy: covered during TWG updates.

7. Discussions regarding the September 19, 2002 public meeting:

• The Board decided that future public meetings would be separate from the Control Board, but dates and locations would be co-ordinated.
• Bill Werick and Elaine will summarise feelings expressed by participants of the meeting.
• Andre and Frank Sciremammano will provide information on how the Control Board ftp site can be accessed.

8. Institutional Structure: Ed and Tony will distribute the Board's letter to the IJC.

9. Semi-annual Progress Report: Ed will finalise and distribute to the IJC on September 23, 2002.

10. Discussion regarding PFEG initiatives: (A brief presentation was given leading to the revelation that some TWGs were preparing to evaluate alternatives rather than provide input to the Shared Vision Model.)

• Each TWG will provide simplified relationships in terms of Performance Indicators to the PFEG to fully integrate their work with the Shared Vision Model process.

11. Future Study Planning and Budget: (deferred to the November Board meeting).

12. Other business: (Canadian Rec. Boating and Environmental TWG leads were discussed and addressed under earlier items).

13. Future meetings:

1. October 30, 2002: PIAG workshop/ public meeting in Belleville, Ontario - Ian Crawford and Doug Cuthbert to represent the Board. U.S. Board attendance required.
2. November 12-15, 2002: Board/ PIAG/ TWG Workshop in Buffalo, New York - Tony in charge of logistics
3. November timeframe: PIAG workshop/ public meeting in Trois-Rivières, Quebec - Andre and Marcel to represent the Board. U.S. Board attendance required.
4. January 22-23, 2003: Board meeting to discuss Year 3 work plans in Toronto, Ontario.
5. March 2003: Board meeting in NY location.

Submitted by Tony Eberhardt and Ed Eryuzlu,10/11/02.