Over 50 Governing Board members and their proxies met for a day and a half meeting to hear reports from committees and to approve far reaching motions related to the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint watershed. We welcome the observers from all three states.

The detail meeting notes of presentations and actions taken can be downloaded here.

• Hold Annual Meeting of the ACFS;

• Approve ACFS officers and executive committee (EC) members for 2012;

• Adopt 2012 budget and authorize EC to enter into professional services contracts;

• Learn about agricultural water use and conservation in the Flint River basin;

• Learn about the results of the Sustainable Water Management Plan and Instream Flow and Lake Levels Assessment (SWMP/IFLLA)  project initiation meeting, discuss next steps;

• Approve  a more specific SWMP/IFLLA Technical Oversight Work Group charge;

• Hear a report from the Reservoir Study Work Group;

• Discuss and seek agreement on Issues Committee recommendation on 2012 Annual Plan and updates to the Five Year Planning Program;

• Hear updates from River Forecast Center, NIDIS and USGS Water Smart program;

• Learn about other ACFS committee and work group activities, and organize next steps including:

o  Financial report and learn about ongoing fund raising activities;
o  Update on the work of The University Collaborative (TUC);
o  Membership Committee recommendations addition to Operating Procedures; and
o  Intergovernmental Affairs and Education and Outreach.

• Suggest topics for next Governing Board meeting and plan next steps.

Meeting Summary:

Over 50 Governing Board members and their proxies met for a day and a half meeting to hear reports from committees and to approve far reaching motions related to the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint watershed.

The motions approved were:

• Authorization to proceed with Phase 1 tasks of a Sustainable Water Management Plan project. Contract negotiations will begin with Black & Veatch for modeling and consensus building for alternative water management plans and with Atkins for an instream flow assessment. This is subject to final approval by the Governing Board when contract details have been developed.

• Authorized the Executive Committee to consider a proposal from a consortium of universities consisting of the University of Georgia, University of Florida, Florida State University and Auburn University related to institutional structures to manage the ACF Basin.

• Approved the formation of a work group to further evaluate the role the ACF Stakeholders should take in recommending a study of the federal reservoir’s full pool action zones.

Other actions:

• Received comments from the USACE regarding the status of the Water Control Manual and their actions regarding the recent 11^th Circuit decision.

• Received a report from the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute on water usage Best Management Practices survey. Work is ongoing with a final report to be available for the December Governing Board meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for December 8 and 9 in the Flint sub-basin. Location and agenda will be posted on the organization’s website, www.acfstakeholders.org