Chairman Wise began the meeting at 2:00 p.m.

He stated that since there are only three Recreational Council Members, the Council would not be able to make a quorum.  There must be four members from each side of the aisle to reach a quorum.  Any action needed today will be deferred to the July meeting.  Chairman Wise noted to the Councilors that the seat formerly held by Edward Sullivan (recreational) is still vacant and if they had any suggestions to who they would like to fill that seat, they should contact the Speaker of the Assembly with their nomination.  He recognized the fact that many of the councilors do travel a great distance to attend the meetings with the expectation that they will be able to make recommendations to the Legislature.  Having a vacant seat increases the likelihood of an inability to reach a quorum each meeting.

Chairman Wise introduced Sgt. Peter Fanelli of the NYSDEC Law Enforcement Division who then announced the name of their new Director, Robert Lucas.  Chairman Wise suggested inviting Sgt. Lucas to one of the future Council meetings.

Chairman Wise went over the meeting’s agenda.

Gordon Colvin handed out information with regard to budget updates.  He spoke about the financial report for the conservation fund which runs through the end of the fiscal year.  This does not encompass carry out expenses paid through the end of June.  In terms of the final state budget, The General Operating Funds for the Department, Marine Resources in particular, they are essentially level funded.  The State’s the hiring freeze continues which will affect their ability to fill vacancies when they occur.  When the budget was initially adopted at the end of March, certain elements of the budget were not yet complete; subsequently additional budget bills have been passed.  One of those is the Environmental Protection Fund budget.  Matters of interest to the council would be the Hudson River Estuary Plan did receive a $5,000,000 appropriation, a $1,000,000 appropriation for the Rivers and Estuary Center on the Hudson, $600,000 for the South Shore Estuary Reserve (these are all related to Marine Resource concerns.)  The original Governor Budget Bill included a new proposal to reinstitute permit application fees for tidal and freshwater wetlands, then place the revenue in the Conservation Fund enabling the Conservation Fund to support some improvement in delivery of regulatory services.  The legislature did NOT enact that part of the budget, it struck out.  The Governor subsequently submitted that bill as a separate Governors Program Bill.  The expectation is that if that bill is enacted, there will be additional conservation fund revenue to help with those programs.

Joe McBride requested an update regarding the eel meeting that had been held the night before.  Gordon said they would get copies of the ASMFC Public Information Document (PID) by the end of the meeting today.

 

Page last modified Thursday, June 30, 2005 by George E. Carroll