** 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA CASE NO. 88-1886-CIV-HOEVELER UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) VS. ) ) SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT ) DISTRICT; JOHN R. WODRASKA, ) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOUTH FLORIDA ) WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT; ) FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ) REGULATION; AND DALE TWACHTMANN, ) SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ) ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION, et. al., ) ) Defendants. ) / DEPOSITION OF BETH COLAVECCHIO TAKEN ON BEHALF OF THE PLAINTIFF *** DATE: August 28, 1990 PROFESSIONAL REPORTING SERVICE Commerce Center 324 Datura Street, Suite 303 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 (407) 659-4046 ** 2 INDEX August 28, 1990 DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS BETH COLAVECCHIO By Ms. Beverly Nash 5 By Mr. Joe Richards 17 ** 3 The deposition of Beth Colavecchio, in the above-entitled and numbered cause, was taken before me, KAREN BAUER FRY, C.S.R., Court Reporter and Notary Public for the State of Florida at Large, at Professional Reporting Service, Commerce Center, 324 Datura Street, in the City of West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, in the State of Florida, beginning at the hour of 11:00 o'clock a.m., on August 28, 1990, pursuant to the Notice in said cause for the taking of said deposition, which is annexed to the Court file herein, on behalf of the Plaintiff in the above-entitled action pending in the above-named court. The appearances at said time and place were as follows: Beverly Sherman Nash, Esquire U.S. Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division P. O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Attorney for Plaintiff Joseph Richards, Esquire Peeples, Earl & Blank, P.A. Two South Biscayne Blvd. One Biscayne Tower, Suite 3636 Miami, Florida 33131 Attorney for Cities of Belle Glade and Clewiston ** 4 Katharine Stollman, Esquire Allison Burdette Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom 1440 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 Attorney for South Florida Water Management District Jackie Waters, Esquire So. Florida Water Management District Box 24680 3301 Gun Club Road West Palm Beach, FL 33416 ALSO PRESENT: Toni Lafuente Mike Rose David Buker Ray Roberts ** 5 THEREUPON, BETH COLAVECCHIO being by me first duly sworn to tell the whole truth, as hereinafter certified, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. NASH: Q. Ms. Colavecchio, I'm Beverly Nash. I'm counsel for the United States in this litigation. We're here to understand what the Water Management District has in the way of computer systems, how they're set up, how they operate, what the data is on them, and how that data is formatted. You have been selected as a representative of the Water Management District having knowledge in one or more of the areas that we are interested in. Have you been shown the list of categories? A. Yes, I have. Q. And to which categories are you responsive? A. I believe parts of No. 2, and 4, and 6. ** 6 Q. What is your present title or position? A. Regulatory administrator. Q. In what division or department? A. I am in the regulatory administration division of the regulation department. Q. What are your job responsibilities? A. I am responsible for the incoming applications and processing of such, and putting the permit information into the data bases. Q. And how long have you been in the role of regulatory administrator? A. Four years. Q. Have you had other positions with the Water Management District? A. Yes, I have. Q. And what positions are those? A. I was clerk/typist when I started, then, an administrative secretary, then, a data management technician, an administrative assistant, and a regulatory administrator. Q. Were all of these jobs in the regulation department? A. When I first started, we weren't actually a department yet, but it was within the same group of people. ** 7 Q. What is your educational background? A. I have a high school diploma and some college. Q. Who are your supervisors? A. Ann Roth. Q. What is her title? A. She is division director of regulatory administration. Q. Are there employees in the division that work for you? A. Yes. Q. Who are they and what are their job positions? A. Loretta Scragg, Permit Technician II, Lynn Cox, Data Entry Technician, Fran Beatty, Permit Technician I, Anna Cover, Temporary Permit Tech I. Q. What computers do you utilize? A. Could you repeat the question, please? Q. What computers do you utilize? A. I use an IBM PS2. Q. Any others? A. No. Q. Do you access data on any of the other computers in the Water Management District? A. Yes. ** 8 Q. On which computers is that data stored? A. The VAX. Q. What data do you access from the VAX? A. We access our permit and application information. Q. What work do you do on the IMB PS2? A. We input the data for the applications and the permits and we make changes. Q. Does this data base in which you put in application information have a name? A. It's an Oracle data base. Q. Does it have a specialized name? A. The regulatory permit data base, the general permit data base, the exemption data base and the application tracking system. Q. What is the source of the information in the application tracking system? A. The application setter received, the additional information letters that go out, the responses that are received, and the dates the permits are issued. Q. And how far back does the data go that's in this application tracking system data base? A. I'm not sure. Q. Who would know? ** 9 A. Marie-Christine Leavitt. Q. Are reports or analysis done from the data in the application tracking system data base? A. Yes. Q. What is the nature of the analysis or reports? A. We do statistical information for quarterly reporting, and also reports for management to let us know how many applications we are in the process of working on, if any have missed deadlines, when deadlines are up. Q. Which offices in the Water Management District do these reports go? A. Regulation department. Q. To any others? A. Not that I know of. Q. What is the source of the data in the exemption data base? A. The exemption permit letter. Q. And how far back does the data go in this data base? A. Since we first started issuing exemptions. Q. Do you know when that was? A. Not exactly. Q. Are any reports or analysis done on the ** 10 data in the exemption data base? A. Quarterly reporting information. Q. What's the information in the quarterly reports? A. How many applications that we've processed, how many permits we've processed, how many people it takes to do the work. Q. And to what entities in the Water Management District do these reports go? A. I believe they're submitted to the executive office. Q. You indicated that there was a general regulatory data base? A. Yes. Q. And what is the source of the data in that data base? A. The general permit letter. Q. And how far back does the data in that data base go? A. Since we first started issuing general permits? Q. Do you know when that was? A. Approximately 1983. Q. And are your reports or analysis done on the information in the general regulatory data ** 11 base? A. Quarterly reporting. Q. What is the information in the quarterly reports? A. How many permits we've processed. Q. And to whom do those reports go? A. The quarterly reports, when they're completed, go to the executive office. Q. You indicated that there is a regulatory permit data base? A. Yes. Q. What is the source of the information in that data base? A. The permits that are issued, the staff reports that are written by the engineers, the applications that were originally submitted with the application, and I believe that's all. Q. And how far back does the data in this regulatory permit data base go? A. Since we first started issuing permits. Q. And when was that? A. Approximately 1974. Q. And are there reports and analysis done on the data in the regulatory permit data base? A. We do quarterly reporting. ** 12 Q. What is the information contained in the quarterly reports? A. Statistical information. Q. What is the nature of the statistical information? A. How many permits we've processed, when they were processed, what types of permits have been processed. Q. And to what entities in the Water Management District do these quarterly reports go? A. To the executive office. Q. Where is the regulatory permit data base stored? A. It's on the VAX Q. And the General Regulation Data Base? A. On the VAX. Q. And where is the exemption data base? A. On the VAX. Q. And the application tracking system data base? A. On the VAX. Q. Which VAX are you referring to, the 8820 or the -- A. I believe, it's the 8820. Q. What software packages do you utilize? ** 13 A. Oracle, Word Perfect 5.0, occasionally Symphony. I think that's all. Q. Do you utilize any manuals to assist you with your work on the computers? A. Yes. Q. What manuals? A. The books that we get with the software packages, the documentation that was written up on the tracking system. Q. Who wrote the documentation on the tracking system? A. I believe it was Dean Corry and Marie-Christine Leavitt. Q. Does that documentation for the tracking system have a name? A. I can't remember. Q. Are back-ups done on the data in the application tracking system data base? A. I think so. Q. Who does the back-ups? A. I think tech services does. Q. Do you know on what schedule? A. I'm not sure. Q. Do you know what the retention period is for the back-ups? ** 14 A. No, I don't. Q. Who does the back-ups for the exemption data base? A. I think tech services does. Q. Do you know the schedule for the back-ups. A. No, I don't. Q. Do you know the retention period for the data base -- A. No, I don't. Q. -- for the back-ups? A. No, I don't. Q. Do you know who would know? A. Possibly Marie-Christine Leavitt. Q. Are back-ups done for the general regulatory data base? A. I believe tech services does. Q. Do you know what the schedule is? A. No, I don't. Q. And do you know what the retention period is for the back-ups? A. No, I don't. Q. Who would know? A. Possibly Marie-Christine Leavitt. Q. Are back-ups done on the regulatory permit data base? ** 15 A. I think so. Q. And who does that? A. I believe tech services does. Q. Do you know what the schedule is? A. No, I do not. Q. Do you know what the retention period is for the back-ups? A. No, I do not. Q. Who would know? A. I believe Marie-Christine Leavitt. Q. Do others within the Water Management District have access to the regulatory permit data base? A. No. Q. Do others within the Water Management District have access to the general regulatory data base? A. No. Q. Do others within the Water Management District have access to the exemption data base? A. Could you clarify the question? Q. Others outside the regulatory administration? A. Yes. Q. Who outside the regulatory administration ** 16 has access? A. Within the regulation department, everybody within the regulation department. Q. Do others outside the regulation department have access? A. No. Q. And how about to the application tracking system? A. Within the regulation department. Q. Only? A. Right. Q. Are there any entities outside the Water Management District, that you're aware of, that have access to any of these four entities? A. No. Q. Are any permanent records maintained of the quarterly reports you indicated are done on the data bases? A. I think so, yes. Q. Where are those permanent records maintained? A. I don't know. Q. Who would know? A. Ann Roth. Q. Other than the quarterly reports you've ** 17 mentioned, are there any other reports generated from these four data bases? A. Could you clarify, please? Q. Any other reports other than the quarterly reports that you have already described? A. We have management reports. Q. And what are the management reports? A. Deadlines approaching, which projects are being reviewed by which reviewers, trying to keep track of who has the heaviest workload, when 30-day letters are due, when permits are due to be sent out. There's numerous management reports. Q. Are those reports internal to the regulation department? A. Yes, they are. MS. NASH: I have no further questions. CROSS-EXAMINATION QUESTION BY MR. RICHARDS: Q. Ms. Colavecchio, my name is Joe Richards. I represent the cities of Belle Glade and Clewiston. For these data bases that you mentioned, ** 18 are there individual managers for each of the data bases? A. I'm not sure I know what you mean. Q. Is there one individual of the department responsible for managing the data base? A. Marie-Christine Leavitt is our data base manager. Q. And that would apply to all the data bases you discussed? A. Yes. Q. Are you aware of any guidelines to maintain the integrity of this data base, all four of them? A. I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. Q. Are you aware of any guidelines to protect the data in the data bases? A. We have security. Q. Could you explain that security process to me? A. Not everybody is able to input or delete or make changes to the data bases. Everybody in the department has access only. Only a few people are allowed to make any kind of changes. Q. Read only access; is that what you mean? ** 19 A. Right. Q. Are you aware of a data base that contains a listing of the permits that are issued to the district by other entities? A. No. Q. Are you aware of whether these data bases can be searched by geographic location? A. We have section, township, and range, in the data base, but it's not complete. Q. Is it possible to search these data bases by permittee? A. Yes. Q. Are you aware of quality assurance or quality control guidelines for data entry procedures? A. Yes. Q. Is there a manual for those guidelines? A. Yes. Q. What's that called? A. It is the documentation for the tracking system. Q. What about the other data bases? A. No. MR. RICHARDS: I have no further questions. Thank you. ** 20 (The deposition was concluded at 11:20 o'clock a.m.)