9/4/1985 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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SEP 4 1955 Boa 61 Fauc 933 appropriate staff to attend the meeting in Palatka to argue our case for as much representation as we can get. Commissioner Scurlock believed there is a fine line involved here. He did not want to push the District to the extent that we can't work with them. Mrs. Wilson agreed; she felt the District has made a big step by even forming the committee and did not want to put them on the defensive. John Minton, our local representative with the St. Johns Water Management District, emphasized that this Advisory Council is only going to advise the District Board. He noted that he is a local resident, and the County, therefore, does have local representation on the Board. He agreed that even though the District covers 19 counties, most of the efforts of the Recreation Council will be in -'this area, but informed the Board that the organizations that will have representatives have been requested to pick local representative; so, he felt our county actually will have more representation than is now anticipated. Chairman Lyons stated that he personally would be inclined to accept the District's amended representation as a reasonable compromise, and he wished to know how Mr. Minton felt about us trying to argue for more representation. Mr. Minton did believe that it would hurt the County's case. He noted that people in Jacksonville will want to know why they are spending so much money in Indian River County, and the District has to sell this project at both ends. He agreed land will be taken off the County's tax roll, but most of that land is marsh and wetlands, which does not contribute greatly to taxes in any event. There are so many state restrictions that a lot of this land cannot be used for anything, and it was Mr. Minton's opinion that if the state is recommending these lands can't be used, the state should own them. 50