Commissioner's Comments
by Commissioner Howard Kessler
(A summary of the Special Joint Workshop of April 10, 2008 held at Wakulla Springs including The City Commission of Tallahassee, Leon County Board of County Commission and hosted by Wakulla County.)
The word “historic” was heard to describe the fact that all of the policy makers and decision makers most closely tied to Wakulla Springs were in one room agreeing to find ways to better protect our ground water and Wakulla Springs.
The high point of the workshop, in my opinion, was the very professional joint presentation of the Wakulla County Planning Department and the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department. An overview of spring’s protection activity in our area as well as other areas throughout the state was done. Insight into current steps that are being planned and the close coordination of that planning among the three represented governments was cited. Although it was a joint presentation, anyone from Wakulla County would have been extremely proud of Wakulla County’s Planning Department. Under the leadership of Lindsay Stevens with support from Melissa Corbett and Somer Strickland it was obvious that Wakulla County has entered a new era of planning for our future and protecting our natural resources. Anyone who has had the occasion to recently come in contact with our planning department and the other members of that department (Will Wright, Pamela Joy, Sybil Taylor), knows that this is a department composed of dedicated, people friendly, hardworking professionals.
Of course the Commissioners all had an opportunity to speak. Commissioner Brimner pointed to the level of cooperation that is taking place between the three governments.
Mayor Marks talked about regionalism and the need to achieve uniformity and consistency throughout the region. Commissioner Sauls joined in agreement.
Commissioner Thaell thanked the staffs for their presentations and their good work. He also talked about regionalism and the need to also address issues within our geographic boundaries. Commissioner Thaell also voiced concern of how sprawl contributes to issues of climate change and increases our carbon footprint, which adds to the pollution problem.
Commissioner Rackleff spoke about LIDAR mapping in the Wakulla Springs Basin and the fact that we use entirely too much water for our landscaping. He pointed to a statistic that in Broward County 70% of the residential water use was used for irrigation on landscape.
Commissioner Lightsey spoke about the money that the City of Tallahassee is spending and is going to spend in to fix its sewer system. She said this will markedly increase the sewer bills of the citizens. She echoed Mayor Mark’s words saying that this is what is needed and what the city and the citizens are committed to achieve. She talked about a price signal that shows how important water and its protection are to us all. She too stressed the need for consistency within our region.
Commissioner Proctor voiced concern that the areas that most needed protection included some of the most limited household incomes and that economic aid was needed to help pay for these protective measures. He echoed Commissioner Lightsey’s concerns of a future in which Wakulla water was piped to south Florida.
Commissioner Daley expressed his concern about Lake Jackson and all the run-off that is now flowing into Lake Jackson and finding its way through the sinkholes and karst into Wakulla Springs.
Commissioner Depuy expressed his thanks for quality of the presentations as well as the wonderful lunch prepared by the lodge.
Commissioner Green said that he really enjoyed the workshop.
Commissioner Lawhon echoed the importance of the day by declaring it historical.
And Commissioner Kessler, who is writing this summary, also had a few things to say. I began by thanking Jim Stevenson, who had presented during our lunch. Jim has and continues to do the heavy lifting in efforts to protect Wakulla Springs. Few could have kept the faith that Jim has kept while waiting for the others around him to come to the realization and then to finally take actions needed to protect our spring.
I mentioned that although advanced wastewater treatment is certainly a great step forward in how we treat our sewage, there are still serious problems ahead of us. What happens to all those medications and household and industrial organics that are flushed down our toilets? Reducing our Carbon Footprint is important in order to help try to reduce our level of pollution. But we also need to think about reducing our WATER FOOT-PRINT.
As global warming continues to be of great concern and as growth continues to increase water demand and continues to draw down our water tables, we need to do all we can as fast as we can to protect Wakulla Springs. We shouldn’t be worrying about water from Wakulla going to south Florida. We should first worry about keeping our as water clean as we can. It may not be too far off that some of that water is going to be needed, not to be shipped south, but for our neighbors to our north, for the City of Tallahassee.
This article originally published on April 13, 2008.
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