International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River
Study Board
April 6, 2004
9:00 - 11:00

SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE CALL

In attendance were: Gene Stakhiv, Doug Cuthbert, Ed Eryuzlu, Steven Renzetti, Frank Quinn, Marcel Lussier, Dan Barletta, Al Schiavone (for Sandra LeBarron), Arleen Kreusch, Sylvain Martin, Wendy Leger, Bill Werick, John Osinski, Luc Lefebvre, Diane Johnston, Roger Gauthier, Elaine Kennedy, Russ Trowbridge, Tom McAuley, Brad Parker.

(The conference-call agenda items: below)

• PFEG Leads will arrange to meet with PIAG member-clusters to brief them face-to-face on the Shared Vision Model, Performance Indicators, Criteria, and proposed plans prior to the June 2-3 meeting.
  
  
• The Communication group will prepare the presentation for the upcoming public meetings and provide it as draft at the June 2-3 meeting; Gene will lead this initiative.
  
  
• PFEG will hold a meeting in Washington DC April 21, 2004; those who will be there are welcome to attend.
  
  
• The June 2-3, 2004 meeting to be held in Syracuse NY:
  • June 2: full day Board meeting
  • June 3: ½ day Board meeting and ½ day PIAG meeting
  Tony Eberhardt will make the logistical arrangements and notify participants.
  
  
• PFEG will revise list of Criteria presented at the March workshop according to comments received; revised list will be provided to the Study Team prior to the June 2-3 meeting.
  
  
• June 15, 2004 Commissioners Briefing will be in Windsor (Ont), expected to be at 2:00 for about two hours – date and time remain to be confirmed by the IJC. Bill and Wendy will represent PFEG; Dan and Marcel will represent PIAG; Frank Quinn will also be present.
  
  
• Direction to PFEG:
  • The October 20-21 workshop will be held in Ottawa targeting Board and PIAG members and will focus on the decision process based on the penultimate final PIs expected to be ready for the workshop;
  • PFEG will have the integrated model ready for the workshop.
  • Subsequent Study workshops are planned for January 26-27, 2005 as an all study participant workshop in Greece and a Study Board/PFEG workshop on March 23-24, 2005.
  
  
  
• Canadian ETWG y-4 work-plans and budget at $750 Cdn were approved (subject to confirmation by Board members who did not participate in the conference call) (*). This is a reduction from the $779 proposed by the ETWG (Ref. Attachment 1 showing page-one only; all other details will be submitted after the document is finalized reflecting work to be performed consistent with approved budget)
  
  
  • Work by Christiane Hudon ($55K) to be reduced to cover attendance at the St. Lawrence Conference (Cornwall) and to attend at the PIAG public meetings in August-September this summer;
  • All Study results to be available end-September 2004;
  • TWG Leads and Christiane will be the main participants at the PIAG public meetings being held in August-September;
  • Brad's salary and travel for the next six months will by covered under the budget, as shown in Attachment 1;
  • Brad will review and revise the travel allowances shown in the proposed budget with the view to bring the total to $750K including the temperature modelling work proposed by Jean Morin;
  • Brad will resubmit the revised y-4 ETWG work plan and budget.
  
  
  
• Information Management y-4 work plan and budget: (Ref Attachment 2)
  
  
  • Roger Gauthier outlined the proposed work plan; there is an additional $40K Cdn requested to cover:
    • The Ontario distributed web node ($25K),
    • Document management ($8K),
    • SVM Linkage ($5K), and
    • Long-term info management ($2K). This will cover the work by Dianne Johnston (EC-Ont) to adopt new document management software.
      
      
  • Russ Trowbridge cautioned that the Board should not assume the IJC will decide to continue the post-Study IM strategy; basically, the IJC has not decided yet on supporting the long-term approach and the Board should avoid committing significant resources for the long-term strategy until the IJC makes a decision.
    
    
  • Board approved the proposed $40K increase in Cdn IM budget from $75K to a total of $115K, subject to confirmation by Board members who did not participate in the conference call (*).
    
    
• The Canadian y-4 budget will be revised to reflect decisions noted above and reissued (Attachment 3, showing revisions). The IJC Canadian Section have advised that they will cover any amount not transferred in year-3 to the US Section for work related to the Coastal TWG. Therefore, the attached final approved budget does not make any provision for this purpose.
  
  
• Information Items
  
  
  • Tony Eberhardt has completed and forwarded the Spring 2004 semi-annual report to the Commission.
  • A draft of the PowerPoint presentation for the April 20 semi-annual meeting with the Commission has been prepared, and circulated to Board members. Additional comments for this presentation should be sent directly to Gene Stakhiv, copy to Tony.
  • Year-3 report: PFEG advised they will not be able to produce the report. The Co-directors and GMs will consider at a later date how to proceed to make it happen.
  • Elaine Kennedy advised that 37 science presentations on study findings plus a PFEG panel session have been submitted for presentation at the May 18-19, 2004 St. Lawrence River Environmental Institute Conference. Attendance by Study Board, PIAG and other study participants is encouraged.

(*) Footnote:

In addition to the conference call participants, a draft of these notes was provided to all Board members shortly after the conference–call, specifically requesting Board members who were not on the call to take note of the decisions and advise as soon as possible if any member does not agree with any of the decisions. No member indicated disagreement.

Prepared:
Ed Eryuzlu
27 April 2004

Agenda Items for Study Board Conf-call
April 6, 2004
9:00 – 11:00

Critique (briefly) the March 12-13 PFEG Workshop – what is follow-up?

Review/Approve ETWG Canadian section work plan and budget
Consider revisions/increases in CDN IM TWG work plan/budget
Review of June 2-3 Board meeting format
Direction to PFEG on what we expect of them over the next 6 months,
     i.e. plan formulation, testing of different plan configurations.
Focus of August/September PIAG public meetings
Problem(s) resolution

Attachment 1
(Submitted by Brad Parker for Board consideration at the 6 April 2004 conference call)

2004/2005 ETWG Budget and proposals

1.  Introduction
The following report was developed for the Environmental Technical Work Group, Integration Sub Group and for the Study Board Conference slated for April 6, 2004. It will be used as background information for discussion of the ETWG work plan for Year 4 of the study.

1.1  Summary Canadian Budget

Assumptions: Does not Include Cornwall Conference, and PIAG, PFEG travel not included.

Attachment 2

IM Proposed y-4 work plan and budget

(Submitted for Board consideration at
the conference call held on 6 April 2004)

Introduction

During the January 28, 2004 Board meeting, the Information Management Technical Work Group (IMTWG) was directed to consider the implications of a reduced Canadian funding level of $75,000. The reduced funding level is $40,000 less than that proposed under the IM strategy approved by the Board in September 2002 for Study Year Four. Specific directives were not provided by the Board on which tasks would need to be curtailed. The U.S. funding level has been accommodated in the current IMTWG work plan.

1.   Distributed Web Mapping Application:

A distributed web mapping application has been developed for the study. This service provides access to a wide array of geospatial datasets compiled for the study and provides links to data sources.

Consequence: Current allocations cover system costs for the EC-Quebec Region node. Funds are not available to support the OMNR-LIO node for updated geospatial datasets for Ontario. The additional $25,000 would be used to provide minimum OMNR-LIO functionality.

2.   Metadata Compilation and Posting

The IMTWG is continuing to compile metadata for all study datasets and reports and ensure that they are served through international clearinghouses. This work will now be addressed by the U.S. side of the IMTWG.

Consequence: This shift of workload to the U.S. will provide minimum coverage only.

3.   Document Management System

The IMTWG plans to implement a comprehensive document management system for the study, being developed by staff of the Environment Canada – Ontario Region, in cooperation with the Great Lakes Commission.

Consequence: The revised estimate reflects a bare-bone price for anticipated EC – Ontario Region programming support. Work would need to be scoped to available funds. The additional $8,000 is needed to insure minimum functionality.

4.   Database Management

The IMTWG plans to expand and maintain database storage and retrieval options, including FTP services throughout Study Year Four.

Consequence: None – ftp services will be continued by EC-Ontario Region.

5.   Shared Vision Model Linkage

The IMTWG will develop and implement linkages between the IMS and the Shared Vision Model for the study to facilitate access to source documentation.

Consequence: The additional $5,000 is needed to cover EC-Ontario Region costs for developing and implementing linkages in cooperation with the GLC on the U.S. side.

6.   Long-term Information Management

The goal of the IMTWG is to address all of the information management issues facing the study in a comprehensive manner.

Consequence: The additional $2,000 is needed to cover EC costs for supporting IJC long-term IM planning.

Attachment 3