DeLand, FL – The Volusia County Council narrowly refuses to endorse a proposal aimed at fixing Mosquito Lagoon’s water quality.
The VCC voted 4-3 against the Estuary & Waterways Enhancement Trust plan in an afternoon debate that featured some confusion about who voted for what and some heated words from council members about the role VCC Chairman Jason Davis has with that non-profit organization.
Davis – who sits on the EWET’s Board of Directors – did not recuse himself from the nearly 45-minute presentation and discussion, something that Volusia County Attorney Dan Eckert said wasn’t necessary because Davis isn’t being paid for being on the board and wouldn’t derive any benefit no matter what the VCC decided to do.
Davis, At-Large Representative Joyce Cusack and District 2 Representative Josh Wagner were in favor of the plan, with everyone else voting against. The confusion came when Davis thought District 4’s Doug Daniels voted in favor when he actually voted against.
The EWET proposal – expected to cost around $40 million – called for the use of specialized devices aimed at monitoring the lagoon’s oxygen levels and installing “reef balls” under existing boat docks.
The plan also called for way to increase tidal flow through the Intercoastal Waterway, primarily by retrofitting the county’s old bridges to increase oxygen flow in the water and using “ocean manifolds” to be installed by EWET.
Prior to the afternoon debate, District 1’s Pat Patterson made a motion in the morning session to postpone the EWET plan discussion indefinitely, saying that he wasn’t impressed with the plan and that there were “too many questions” about it.
During that discussion, District 3’s Deb Denys said she wasn’t happy about Davis’ role with the EWET and with the fact that the group has only been in place for the past 3 months. She also pointedly asked Eckert in the afternoon debate if Davis needed to recuse himself because of his position with the EWET.
Davis apologized for his fellow members thinking he was hiding his role in the group and hiding his desire to see the plan endorsed but didn’t feel he needed to step aside because no county money was being spent or sought by the EWET.
Patterson’s motion to postpone failed by a 4-3 vote, with Daniels, Cusack, Davis and Wagner voting to hear the presentation.
Also during the morning session, the VCC voted 7-0 to not pay a $50,000 membership fee to the Indian River Council, a group tasked in part with finding ways to fix the pollution issues in the Indian River Lagoon.
It’s the members of that group who are expected to team up to pay for the EWET plan, according to Daniels in an interview last week with WNDB’s Marc Bernier.
Some of those issues include algae blooms and marine animals dying along the Indian River Lagoon – which Mosquito Lagoon is part of – as well as high nitrate levels, a key reason why the VCC made changes to the county’s fertilizer regulations last year.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.