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 LISA SMITH
- - -
VOLUME I
DATE: December 17 & 18, 1990
1
I N D E X
Direct Cross Red. Rec.
WITNESS: LISA SMITH
BY MS. THRONE-CONTE 3
BY MR. HALL (Vol. II) 247
E X H I B I T S
LS-1 Pg. 5 LS-17 Pg. 207
LS-2 Pg. 24 LS-18 Pg. 212
LS-3 Pg. 32 LS-19 Pg. 216
LS-4 Pg. 61 LS-20 Pg. 218
LS-5 Pg. 88 LS-21 Pg. 218
LS-6 Pg. 99 LS-22 Pg. 218
LS-7 Pg. 107 LS-23 Pg. 218
LS-8 Pg. 112 LS-24 Pg. 224
LS-9 Pg. 117 LS-25 Pg. 224
LS-10 Pg. 125 LS-26 Pg. 224
LS-11 Pg. 131 LS-27 Pg. 224
LS-12 Pg. 179 LS-28 Pg. 231
LS-13 Pg. 181 LS-29 Pg. 233
LS-14 Pg. 181 LS-30 Pg. 234
LS-15 Pg. 190 LS-31 Pg. 234
LS-16 Pg. 194 LS-32 Pg. 348, Vol II
2
The deposition of LISA SMITH, a witness in
the above-entitled and numbered cause, was taken before
me, S. Elaine Smith, Court Reporter and Notary Public
for the State of Florida at Large, at The Royce Hotel,
1601 Belvedere Road, in the City of West Palm Beach,
County of Palm Beach, in the State of Florida,
beginning at the hour of 10:05 o'clock a.m. on the 17th
day of December, 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:
DEXTER W. LEHTINEN, U.S. ATTORNEY
155 South Miami Avenue
Miami, Florida 33130
by B.J. THRONE-CONTE, AUSA
by RICHARD HARRISON, AUSA
SOUTH FLORIDA MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
3301 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, Florida 33416-4680
by JACQUELYN L. WATERS, ESQ.
PEEPLES, EARL & BLANK
One Biscayne Tower, Suite 3636
Two South Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, Florida 33131
Attorneys for Cities of Belle Glade
and Clewiston
by KARL E. HALL, JR., ESQ.
3
1 THEREUPON,
2 LISA SMITH,
3 being by the undersigned Notary Public first duly
4 sworn, in answer to questions propounded, was examined
5 and testified as follows:
6 DIRECT EXAMINATION
7 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
8 Q Ms. Smith, I don't know if you have ever been
9 deposed before. I am going to ask you several
10 questions. I want you to answer them to the best of
11 your ability. If I ask you something and you don't
12 understand it, let me know and I will be more than
13 happy to rephrase it for you.
14 Basically, I am concerned about finding out
15 about your involvement in the SWIM planning process.
16 Would you please state your current address?
17 A My address is 7730 Nemec, N-e-m-e-c, Drive
18 South, that is in West Palm Beach, 33406.
19 Q What is your current business address?
20 A My business address is 3301 Gun Club Road,
21 West Palm Beach.
22 Q Are you represented by Counsel today?
23 A Yes, I am.
24 MS. THRONE-CONTE: Ms. Waters, are you
25 representing Ms. Smith as an employee of the
4
1 District.
2 MS. WATERS: Yes, I am.
3 MS. THRONE-CONTE: For the record, I would
4 like to note that it is approximately seven
5 minutes after ten and there is no Counsel present
6 for the cities of Belle Glade and Clewiston.
7 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
8 Q Where are you currently employed?
9 A I am currently employed by the South Florida
10 Water Management District, Planning Department.
11 Q How long have you been so employed?
12 A Thirteen years.
13 Q Has that always been in the Planning
14 Department?
15 A No, it hasn't.
16 Q What other departments were you employed at?
17 A I have worked with the Office of Public
18 Information at the beginning of my career with the
19 District. I have worked with the Office of Resource
20 Assistance in the Community Relations Division. I have
21 worked in the Department of Resource Control, and I
22 worked again with the Office of Resource Assistance
23 prior to my work with the Planning Department.
24 Q You were asked through your subpoena duces
25 tecum to bring with you a copy of your curriculum vitae
5
1 and you have done that today?
2 A Yes.
3 MS. WATERS: For the record, I have provided
4 a copy of Ms. Smith's resume to Ms. Throne-Conte
5 and I am providing a copy to the Court Reporter.
6 MS. THRONE-CONTE: I would like that marked
7 for identification, please.
8 (Whereupon, Exhibit LS-1 was marked for
9 identification.)
10 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
11 Q Ms. Smith, I am looking at your curriculum
12 vitae, which we have identified as LS-1. The first job
13 you got at the District, where would that be on your
14 curriculum vitae here?
15 A That is not represented here. This goes back
16 to, well, Information Services, which is now called the
17 Office of Communications, would be the first job that I
18 had with the District was in a Water Resources Office
19 in Pompano that existed for about a year.
20 Q What were your duties there?
21 A My duties, I began as a secretary for about
22 six months and then I was promoted to a technician
23 position. I prepared public information materials
24 having to do with water conservation practices and also
25 general public information materials that explained the
6
1 policies and activities of the South Florida Water
2 Management District.
3 Q And then what job did you have after that?
4 A I continued with the Office of Public
5 Information for about five years. I was promoted to
6 officer position, a professional position, and most of
7 the highlights of that work are represented at the
8 bottom of this page under "Public Information
9 Specialist, Information Services."
10 Q And that is with the Office of Public
11 Information?
12 A Information Services, it was called then.
13 The name changed several times.
14 Q And that is currently called the Office of
15 Communications now?
16 A That is currently called the Office of
17 Communications.
18 Q Did you receive any special training from the
19 District on putting together these technical public
20 information materials?
21 A I did attend courses on editing and
22 publishing, putting together print shop requisitions,
23 preparing and described how to arrange and format
24 public information for readability. I did attend a
25 couple of coursees during that time.
7
1 Q I see your degree is in social sciences and
2 history. How did you get into the technical field for
3 something like that?
4 A My degree is in education, secondary
5 education. My emphasis was in social sciences. My
6 first job with the District was in a public education
7 facility, and that is how my training allowed me to
8 work for the Water Management District.
9 I began there preparing presentations for
10 general audiences, not technical audiences. I also did
11 develop materials and programs for schools, which was
12 also one reason why my background fit to what the Water
13 Management District needed at that time.
14 As a result of my experience in the Public
15 Information Office, I did become more exposed to the
16 technical aspects of the District, the regulatory
17 aspects, the research aspects through covering
18 governing board meetings and having to respond to
19 authorities about our technical programs and regulatory
20 programs and policies. So it was on-the-job experience
21 in that regard.
22 Q So you would consider that you acquired a
23 large amount of on-the-job experience in technical
24 issues?
25 A As it relates to the Water Management
8
1 District activities, yes.
2 Q What years were you at the Water Resources
3 Office in Pompano Beach?
4 A That facility was open for about fourteen
5 months, fourteen, fifteen months. I began in 1978 and
6 I think the facility closed and the staff was moved to
7 West Palm Beach the following year in July of '79.
8 Q When the staff was moved to West Palm Beach,
9 is that when you were promoted to a Public Information
10 Specialist?
11 A To a technician position. I held that
12 position for a couple years.
13 Q When were you promoted to the Public
14 Information Specialist?
15 A I think about three years after I began with
16 the District. That would be '81.
17 Q How long did you hold that position?
18 A I held that position until I transferred into
19 the Community Relations Division of the office in 1985.
20 Q What position did you hold when you
21 transferred into the Office of Community Relations?
22 A It was Public Issue Specialist position.
23 Q What is that?
24 A That work dealt with external organized
25 groups, civic groups, environmental groups, other
9
1 government agencies, local government entities, to
2 explain District programs and policies to those
3 specific groups.
4 Q During that time, did you -- it says you
5 supplied staff support to the Governing Board. Could
6 you explain that?
7 A The staff support to Governing Board members
8 who were representing the District on local water
9 resource advisory boards. At that time we had one
10 Governing Board member represented on the advisory
11 board in Broward County, and another on an advisory
12 board in Palm Beach County.
13 Q How long were you an Issue Management
14 Specialist at the District?
15 A Until I transferred to the Regulatory
16 Department. I have to think now, until February of
17 1988.
18 Q And that is when you became what you have
19 termed a Review Coordinator, Developments of Regional
20 Impact?
21 A Yes.
22 Q Tell me about the work you did coordinating
23 and documenting interagency, public meetings for LOTAC
24 II and SWIM Indian River Lagoon?
25 A The LOTAC II council met on about a monthly
10
1 basis from September through March of each year of its
2 existence, and for each meeting my major responsibility
3 was to attend the meeting, make notes about the
4 council, presentations, council discussions, action
5 items that the council members would identify, any
6 votes that were taken and prepare a meeting summary
7 that would highlight those council activities at the
8 meeting.
9 Q Was it also one of your major
10 responsibilities to do a similar type action for the
11 SWIM meetings?
12 A For the Indian River Lagoon, those meetings
13 were SWIM planning meetings that involved two water
14 management districts. So my role there was to perform
15 the similar task when the agencies met together to
16 discuss how they would address Indian River Lagoon SWIM
17 matters. That was in the first year of the Indian
18 River SWIM Lagoon effort and in the SWIM planning
19 effort.
20 Q Did you ever have occasion to prepare
21 summaries for any Everglades SWIM meetings?
22 A Yes, I have.
23 Q Was that part of your responsibilities as an
24 Issue Management Specialist?
25 A Yes.
11
1 Q I notice you have termed yourself after your
2 name on your curriculum vitae Senior Issue Management
3 Specialist, is that correct?
4 A That is my position.
5 Q What does ORA stand for?
6 A Office of Resource Assistance, which is where
7 I was working when this material was prepared.
8 Q When was this curriculum vitae prepared?
9 A August of '89.
10 Q Why did you prepare it?
11 A As a result of the reorganization and the
12 formation of the Planning Department, I was being, the
13 Office of Resource Assistance was being reorganized and
14 I was being transferred into the Planning Department
15 into a new division, and to work for a new division
16 director, Tony Federico.
17 He had asked that all of the members of the
18 newly-organized division or upcoming division, we were
19 not official until October 1, we would prepare a very
20 brief summary of our education and our experience with
21 the District and this is what I repaired in response to
22 that request.
23 Q Is there anything else you want to add to
24 this since the date you prepared this in August 1989?
25 A I don't think so, not at this point.
12
1 Q Why was the promotion -- how did it come
2 about that you became a Review Coordinator for
3 Developments of Regional Impact?
4 A It was an open position in the agency. I was
5 familiar with the regulatory aspects of the District as
6 part of my work with the Public Information Office.
7 I attended regulatory review meetings, as
8 part of my work, to keep informed about regulatory
9 issues, and I was aware of the review or DRI review
10 process.
11 When the position became open, I made some
12 inquiries about it and I applied for it and I was hired
13 for the position.
14 Q You were then transferred over to the Office
15 of Resource Control?
16 A Yes, to accept the position. The Review
17 Coordinator position was in the Resource Control
18 Department.
19 Q This was during a time that the Planning
20 Department --
21 A No, that was prior to the formation of the
22 Planning Department. I transferred or accepted that
23 position, began work there in February of 1988.
24 Q DRI stands for what?
25 A Development of Regional Impact.
13
1 Q FQD?
2 A Florida Quality Development.
3 Q Your curriculum vitae indicates you
4 contributed to the design and supervised the production
5 of computerized project tracking and mapping report;
6 does that have a specific name?
7 A At that time it was called DRI Tracking
8 Report.
9 Q What is it called now?
10 A I am not certain what its name is now. A
11 similar report is prepared, but I am not sure what its
12 formal title is now.
13 Q This tracking report was only for
14 Developments of Regional Impact?
15 A Yes.
16 Q I would like to go back to your previous job
17 as an Issue Management Specialist. Who was your
18 supervisor during that time?
19 A For most of that time -- I began under the
20 direction of Fred Schiller. Shortly after I began work
21 there, within three or four months, Fred Schiller moved
22 to another division in the District and I began working
23 for, his place was taken by Dick Feeney.
24 Q Did you supervise any other employees?
25 A No.
14
1 Q In your job as a Review Coordinator, who was
2 your supervisor when you started?
3 A Sarah Lockheart.
4 Q Who is it now?
5 A Now?
6 Q Yes.
7 A My supervisor is Sharon Trost. I am sorry,
8 Sharon is my division director. My immediate
9 supervisor is Dean Powell.
10 (Whereupon, Karl Hall, Esq. enters the
11 deposition Room.)
12 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
13 Q In your curriculum vitae you refer to your
14 current job as a Senior Management Specialist, correct?
15 A Yes.
16 Q Is that the same as Review Coordinator?
17 A No.
18 Q Tell me what the difference is?
19 A Review Coordinator position was specific to
20 agency reviews of Developments of Regional Impact.
21 Developments of Regional Impact is a land development
22 review process that is administered by the Department
23 of Community Affairs.
24 The Review Coordinator position with the
25 District was devoted to reviewing applications that
15
1 were prepared as part of the Development of Regional
2 Impact process. It is a review process that has
3 existed for sixteen years. It is fairly standardized
4 and I conducted agency reviews, which essentially
5 involved transmitting that application to individuals
6 within the Regulatory Department, that would in turn
7 look more in depth at the water supply elements of that
8 application, the surface water management elements, the
9 natural resources elements and the water quality
10 elements.
11 From their technical reviews, I would prepare
12 requests for additional information and I would prepare
13 final impact assessment reports that summarized
14 concerns that the agency would have with the project,
15 and also provide some indication to the applicant the
16 types of issues that they would need to address when
17 they came back to the Water Management District at some
18 point in the future for a permit from the agency.
19 The Senior Issue Management Specialist
20 position is not as structured. It involves working
21 with primarily external audiences, agencies, groups
22 that the District would like to have be informed about
23 its programs and policies, or groups that may be
24 affected by District programs and policies and would
25 need to have their input brought into our policy
16
1 development process.
2 Q How long have you held that position?
3 A The Senior Issue Management position I have
4 held since February of 1989.
5 Q Who was your supervisor when you got in?
6 A When I returned to Community Relations,
7 Pat Walker was the division director.
8 Q Who is your supervisor now?
9 A My supervisor now is Dean Powell.
10 Q Do you supervise any other employees?
11 A No.
12 Q How many employees have the title Senior
13 Issue Management Specialist at the District?
14 A I know of one other.
15 Q Who is that?
16 A Woodie Vanvoorhees, and he is with the
17 Government Assistance Division.
18 Q Would you consider that you do pretty much
19 the same work?
20 A Yes.
21 Q How would you categorize it, that he is in a
22 different division than you are?
23 A He is working primarily with Indian Affairs.
24 Q What do you work primarily with?
25 A Right now I am working on programs in the
17
1 Upper Kissimmee region of the District.
2 Q Does the scope of your duties now as a Senior
3 Issue Management Specialist include working on the
4 Everglades SWIM Plan?
5 A Not currently.
6 Q When did you stop working on that specific
7 issue?
8 A I think the last time I had any involvement
9 would have been December of last year, 1989.
10 Q How is it that you stopped with this
11 particular area?
12 A My work with Everglades SWIM was geared
13 primarily to working with the Everglades SWIM advisory
14 group. December was the time of their last meeting,
15 and that was when I concluded my activities at that
16 time.
17 Also around December, an opening to take on
18 these responsibilities in the Kissimmee emerged within
19 my same division and I was asked by my division
20 director if I would be interested in working in that
21 area, and I said I would be. So I took on those
22 responsibilities towards the end of December/January
23 1990.
24 Q During what time period were you involved
25 with the SWIM planning process?
18
1 A I was from about March of 1989 through
2 December of 1989.
3 Q What were your primary duties?
4 A My primary duties were to assist the project
5 manager at that time, Joycelyn Branscome with the
6 advisory group, the Everglades SWIM advisory group.
7 Also to assist in preparing, assist Joycelyn in
8 preparing some of the materials that were used for her
9 presentations for the advisory group and to the
10 Governing Board.
11 Q From March of 1989 through December of 1989,
12 were you also involved with preparing summaries for
13 LOTAC II?
14 A Yes.
15 Q What other summaries were you involved with
16 preparing during that time?
17 A I did prepare a summary for internal use
18 relating to a special Governing Board meeting that was
19 held in August to review SWIM, Everglades SWIM issues.
20 Q I am sorry, I didn't catch the name of the
21 group that you prepared that for?
22 A It was just for internal use. It was a
23 public Governing Board meeting. My responsibility was
24 not to prepare the summary for that meeting per se, but
25 to prepare a summary for internal use for people who
19
1 were working on the SWIM Plan, and also to provide some
2 background to the other agencies that we were dealing
3 with, to provide background to LOTAC and to Everglades
4 SWIM advisory group meetings about what was discussed
5 at that particular Governing Board meeting.
6 MS. THRONE-CONTE: For the record, I would
7 like to note that we do have a representative for
8 the cities of Belle Glade and Clewiston.
9 MR. HALL: I represent the cities of
10 Belle Glade and Clewiston.
11 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
12 Q Also on the front of your curriculum vitae
13 you have a notation under education concerning your
14 special education.
15 A Yes.
16 Q You say, "This training has come in handy
17 during the last few years."
18 A Yes.
19 Q Please explain that.
20 A Well, the District had gone through quite a
21 bit of readjustments and we had taken on quite a bit of
22 new responsibilities and there were reorganizations
23 going over the last couple of years, and I think that
24 reference was made to indicate that that awareness of
25 how people react to stress and how groups deal with
20
1 each other, how important it is to keep people informed
2 about things that are matters of concern.
3 I felt that that training, that sensitivity
4 to other points of view, stood me in good stead when a
5 lot of that change was going on.
6 Q Would you say it is accurate to say that the
7 type of open communication that you are just talking
8 about is part of your job as a Senior Issue Management
9 Specialist?
10 A Yes.
11 Q It is very important to keep these lines of
12 communication open?
13 A Yes.
14 Q Did you take any courses in getting your
15 Bachelor of Science that had to do with environmental
16 issues or water quality issues?
17 A No.
18 Q Did you have any type of technical background
19 at all?
20 A No, other than what is normally required as a
21 minimum requirement. I had some freshman biology and
22 freshman physics that I needed to take as part of my
23 degree requirements, and that is as technical as my
24 college education became in environmental issues.
25 Q When you first started with the District in
21
1 1978, did you find it difficult dealing with the
2 technical terms and issues?
3 A My audiences were not technical in nature and
4 I, working at the Water Resource Center, I did have an
5 opportunity to education myself about the District over
6 time.
7 I spoke with two very general audiences who
8 did not have any, whose interest was not technical and,
9 therefore, I had time to acquire an understanding of
10 the technical issues from the agency's point of view.
11 At first it was difficult. It did take a while to sort
12 through things, sort things out, but I was not dealing
13 with technical audiences, so it was not a problem. I
14 was dealing with general audiences.
15 Q In preparing documents for the public, is it
16 accurate to say that you review the technical
17 information first, make a summary of it and then
18 disseminate it to the public in some way in your job as
19 a Senior Issue Management Specialist?
20 A I am not sure. In my job as a Senior Issue
21 Management Specialist I am not preparing materials for
22 public education purposes.
23 Q Who are you repairing these for then?
24 A They are meeting summaries that are being
25 prepared for the, in the case of LOTAC, for the council
22
1 itself.
2 Q Would you consider it then that you are
3 preparing summaries of technical issues for other
4 parties who do have some knowledge of the area?
5 A I am preparing a summary of discussions that
6 occur at LOTAC meetings. They are principally geared
7 to provide a record of LOTAC activities. I am not
8 preparing them for any other audience.
9 Q In preparing these summaries, say, for
10 example for LOTAC, did you find that you needed to know
11 the technical aspects of whatever it was you were
12 hearing a summary of in order to be able to accurately
13 summarize it?
14 MS. WATERS: Object to the form of the
15 question.
16 THE WITNESS: Could you rephrase the
17 question?
18 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
19 Q In preparing your summaries, say, for example
20 for LOTAC, did you feel that it was necessary that you
21 had an understanding of what it was that you were
22 summarizing in order to make an accurate summary of
23 that issue, whatever it was?
24 A The accuracy of my summaries was based on my
25 review of video tapes of the meetings. If I was
23
1 uncertain or unsure about a particular word that I had
2 heard, I would either use the videotape or consult
3 someone else who was in the meeting, or consult the
4 individual on the council who made the statement.
5 Q If you had questions, would you, say, go to
6 Joycelyn Branscome for guidance?
7 A Not for LOTAC.
8 Q What would you go to her for?
9 A I am not sure I understand the question.
10 Q You stated before that Joycelyn Branscome was
11 your supervisor.
12 A No, I did not.
13 Q I am sorry. How is it that you have a
14 connection with Joycelyn Branscome?
15 A She was the SWIM project manager.
16 Q Was it one of your duties to assist her in
17 special projects?
18 A Yes. Excuse me, no, not in special projects.
19 Only for Everglades SWIM.
20 Q As part of your duties you helped her to
21 prepare presentations, you said, to the Governing
22 Board; is that accurate?
23 A Yes.
24 Q If you had questions on what it was that you
25 were summarizing and preparing, would you go to her for
24
1 guidance?
2 A Well, I assisted her at her request. So if I
3 had -- usually she was pretty specific about the type
4 of material that she would need to have prepared,
5 either overheads or, in many cases, my assistance was
6 just in distributing the information to people who
7 needed to have it in advance of the meeting.
8 If I would have any questions about the
9 instructions that she gave me, yes, certainly I would
10 consult her.
11 Q In assisting the SWIM advisory group, who did
12 you mostly deal with?
13 A I dealt principally with Joycelyn.
14 Q And in preparing summaries for LOTAC II, who
15 did you primarily deal with?
16 A Frank Lund.
17 Q I am going to hand you a document and we can
18 get this marked. Please take a moment to look at it.
19 A (Witness complies.)
20 (Whereupon, Exhibit LS-2 was marked for
21 identification.)
22 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
23 Q This has been marked as LS-2. Can you please
24 identify this for me?
25 A It is an original chart for the Environmental
25
1 Planning Division.
2 Q To the best of your knowledge, do you know if
3 this is an accurate representation of the Environmental
4 Planning Division as it stands right now?
5 A As of this date, the Environmental Planning
6 Division does not exist.
7 Q So this is not accurate then?
8 A For present day, that is correct.
9 Q And when did the Environmental Planning
10 Division cease to exist?
11 A That change was made as of October 1st of
12 this year.
13 Q Was there a massive reorganization or just
14 several positions were changed, or how updated is this?
15 A Well, the date is shown at the lower
16 righthand corner of this chart 5/90, May of 1990.
17 There have been significant shifts within the Planning
18 Department since that date. Three divisions were
19 essentially consolidated into two divisions and
20 renamed.
21 Q What three divisions were consolidated into
22 what two divisions?
23 A The three prior, previously existing
24 divisions were Environmental Planning Division, Basin
25 Planning Division and Water Supply Planning Division.
26
1 Q What did they get consolidated into?
2 A They became -- well, as of today they are
3 currently titled the Upper District Planning Division
4 and the Lower District Planning Division.
5 Q Where are you located?
6 A I am not Upper District Planning Division.
7 Q Is Tony Federico still the division director?
8 A He is the director of the Lower District
9 Planning Division.
10 Q And who is the division director of the Upper
11 District?
12 A Sharon Trost.
13 Q You said your immediate supervisor was Dean
14 Powell, correct?
15 A Currently.
16 Q Who is his supervisor?
17 A Sharon Trost.
18 Q Do you know if Philip Lund is in the Lower
19 District?
20 A He is not.
21 Q Do you know where he is located now?
22 A He is with the Government Assistance
23 Division.
24 Q What about Joel Van Arman?
25 A Joel is in the Lower District Planning
27
1 Division.
2 Q What about John Mulliken?
3 A John is with the Lower District Planning
4 Division.
5 Q What about Kevin Rodberg?
6 A Kevin is with the Lower District Planning
7 Division.
8 Q What about Lynn Gulick?
9 A Lynn is also with the Lower District Planning
10 Division.
11 Q Debra Burns?
12 A Same for Debbie.
13 Q What about Paul Whalen?
14 A Lower District Planning Division.
15 Q Eric Flaig?
16 A Lower District Planning Division.
17 Q Dewey Worth?
18 A He is with the Lower District Planning
19 Division.
20 Q Daniel Haunert?
21 A Dan Haunert is with the Upper District
22 Planning Division.
23 Q Sarah Bellmund?
24 A Lower District Planning Division.
25 Q Guy Germain?
28
1 A Lower District Planning Division.
2 Q David Black?
3 A Lower District Planning Division.
4 Q Lorraine Janus?
5 A Lorraine has left the Water Management
6 District.
7 Q David Swift?
8 A Right now Dave is a member of the Upper
9 District Planning Division, I believe.
10 Q You say that with a little bit of hesitancy.
11 A Well, I know he is transferring into the
12 division and I believe it is effective, but I can't be
13 certain.
14 Q Into the Upper District?
15 A Upper District Planning Division.
16 Q What about Herbert Grimshaw?
17 A Lower District Planning Division.
18 Q Brent Moll?
19 A Lower District Planning Division.
20 Q Louise Bos?
21 A Upper District Planning Division.
22 Q Leslie Vilchek?
23 A Upper District Planning Division.
24 Q Patricia Sime?
25 A Upper District Planning Division.
29
1 Q Tamara Germain?
2 A Tammy is currently with the District's Office
3 of Counsel.
4 Q Is Tammy Germain related to Guy Germain?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Are they husband and wife?
7 A Yes, they are.
8 Q When you were involved with the Everglades
9 SWIM Plan, did this represent, did this exhibit LS-2
10 represent an accurate reflection of how the division
11 was set up?
12 A LS-2 represents an accurate picture of the
13 division only during my involvement with Everglades
14 SWIM only from roughly September of 1989 onward to the
15 conclusion of my involvement with Everglades SWIM in
16 December.
17 Q How was it different before that, before
18 September 1989?
19 A I was part of the Office of Resource
20 Assistance, Community Relations Division and this
21 Planning Division did not exist at that time. So all
22 of the people on here were elsewhere.
23 Q I am sorry, I don't understand. I thought
24 you said that you were with the Office of Resource
25 Assistance from 1985 to 1988?
30
1 A Yes.
2 Q And then from February of 1988 to February of
3 1989 you worked with the Office of Resource Control, is
4 that right?
5 A Say that again.
6 Q From February 1988 to February of 1989 you
7 worked with the Office of Resource Control as a Review
8 Coordinator for the DRI?
9 A Right.
10 Q And then from February 1988 to, excuse me,
11 February of 1989 to, I guess it would be, January of
12 1990 you have been working --
13 A No.
14 Q Or from February 1989 to the present you were
15 working as a Senior Management Specialist?
16 A No. That is my title, yes.
17 Q I am sorry then, I guess I don't understand
18 how your title is different from the different offices
19 that you have been in.
20 A My title is not different. My title has
21 remained the same. The division in which I am working
22 has changed.
23 Q So in February 1988 you were working in the
24 Office of Resource Control as a Review Coordinator?
25 A Yes.
31
1 Q And it is my understanding that that job
2 evolved into the Senior Issue Management Specialist
3 because of the change in the division?
4 A No.
5 Q Then how did you get to be a Senior Issue
6 Management Specialist?
7 A There was an open position in the division of
8 Community Relations, which was in the Office of
9 Resource Assistance. I applied for that open position
10 and was hired by Pat Walker, who was the director of
11 Community Relations at that time. So I returned to the
12 Community Relations Division to accept the position,
13 the title that I now hold, Senior Issue Management
14 Specialist.
15 Q As a Senior Issue Management Specialist, it
16 was during that time from March of 1989 through
17 December of 1989 when you worked on the Everglades SWIM
18 Plan?
19 A Correct.
20 Q When you rejoined the Office of Research
21 Assistance in February of 1989 --
22 A Resource Assistance.
23 Q Office of Resource Assistance, how did the
24 division look as compared to exhibit LS-2? How was it
25 different?
32
1 A The Community Relations Division was composed
2 of Senior Issue Management Specialist that worked on a
3 variety of District activities. It was mostly
4 coordinating with external entities.
5 Many of the professionals were also assigned
6 to a support staff to local government assistance
7 programs and to support local government
8 representatives in those efforts.
9 There were people in that division who -- the
10 division no longer exists as a result of the
11 reorganization that resulted in the creation of the
12 Planning Department.
13 Q Is there a Senior Issue Management Specialist
14 or some type of Issue Management Specialist assigned to
15 each of the divisions?
16 A No.
17 Q Other than Woodie Vanvoorhees, do you know of
18 anyone else who holds a similar type of position in the
19 District?
20 A No, I don't know of any other.
21 Q I am going to hand you another document we
22 will mark as LS-3.
23 (Whereupon, Exhibit LS-3 was marked for
24 identification.)
25
33
1 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
2 Q Can you please identify Exhibit LS-3?
3 A It is a distribution list relating to
4 distribution of SWIM materials within the Water
5 Management District.
6 Q And is your name included on it?
7 A Yes, it is.
8 Q To the best of your knowledge, did this
9 represent an accurate list of the people who were
10 contacted concerning SWIM documents and SWIM planning
11 and process review.
12 MR. HALL: Object to the form.
13 THE WITNESS: Would you rephrase the
14 question, please?
15 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
16 Q To the best of your knowledge, did this
17 represent, as of March 1st, 1989, the date that is on
18 it, an accurate representation of the parties who were
19 contacted concerning Everglades SWIM Plan?
20 MS. WATERS: Object to the form of the
21 question.
22 THE WITNESS: The distribution list may not
23 have been all inclusive. These were people who
24 were -- this was used to distribute materials to
25 primarily people who were involved in steering
34
1 committee activities.
2 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
3 Q Was there a separate distribution list for
4 Everglades SWIM Plan?
5 A I don't know of one.
6 Q Was it part of your duties, and I am going to
7 be focusing on the time that you were involved with the
8 Everglades SWIM Plan for quite a while, so you know
9 exactly what I am talking about, was it part of your
10 duties in carrying out that function to distribute
11 documents to scientists, to other people in the
12 District?
13 A Yes.
14 Q Did you have a distribution list you worked
15 off of?
16 A The distribution list I used was to
17 distribute documents relating to Everglades advisory
18 committee meetings. That was in the spring of 1989,
19 and I did -- this would have been the list that I would
20 have used to distribute Everglades SWIM materials to.
21 Q Was there a different distribution list for
22 the SWIM advisory group.
23 A I am not sure I understand what you mean.
24 Q The way I understand what you just said, this
25 could be accurately used if you were to distribute to
35
1 Everglades SWIM Plan people in the District; is that
2 right?
3 A Some of the people on this list were working
4 on Everglades SWIM in particular. This list, its title
5 is General SWIM Distribution List, which means all SWIM
6 planning activities.
7 Q So I asked if there was a specific one for
8 Everglades SWIM Plan?
9 A I answered I did not know of one specific to
10 Everglades SWIM.
11 Q If you needed to send something out to people
12 who were involved with the Everglades SWIM Plan, could
13 you use this list?
14 A I could. Not everyone on this list was
15 working on Everglades SWIM.
16 Q If you needed to contact the people working
17 on Everglades SWIM, how would you do it?
18 A Well, in March of 1989, work was really
19 beginning in earnest on the plan, so at that time it
20 was organizational. In context, I would have consulted
21 with Joycelyn Branscome at that time about who needed
22 to be provided materials if she did not specify.
23 Q To the best of your knowledge, do you know if
24 there was a specific distribution list for Everglades
25 SWIM Plan, District employees?
36
1 MR. HALL: Objection, asked and answered.
2 MS. WATERS: Asked and answered.
3 THE WITNESS: I do not know.
4 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
5 Q Was there a specific distribution list for
6 LOTAC II committee meeting documents?
7 A The LOTAC meeting documents were distributed
8 to the council. Each meeting summary would return to
9 the council at its next meeting, and they were reviewed
10 and approved as the meeting summary and it became a
11 matter of record.
12 There was no standard list of distribution.
13 Anyone who requested a meeting summary could be
14 provided with one.
15 Q How many different committees or groups were
16 you involved with at the time that you were Senior
17 Issue Management Specialist in the course of your
18 duties?
19 A In addition to working with the LOTAC II and
20 with the Everglades SWIM advisory group, I did do some
21 meeting coordination, coordination of public meetings
22 associated with the rule-making procedures associated
23 with the work of the District rule.
24 I also assisted in preparing several public
25 meetings having to do with District water shortage
37
1 activities that were going on in the spring of that
2 year.
3 Q Did you ever do any work with or for the SWIM
4 steering committee?
5 A I attended those committee meetings.
6 Q Was it part of your duties to attend those
7 committee meetings?
8 A Yes.
9 Q How many did you attend? Were they weekly,
10 biweekly?
11 A The schedule varied.
12 Q When did you start attending them?
13 A When I rejoined the Office of Resource
14 Assistance in March of 1989. It would have been the
15 first time I would have attended a SWIM steering
16 committee meeting.
17 Q What was the purpose of the SWIM steering
18 committee meeting?
19 A Informational, for the most part, to gather
20 people who were working on various aspects of SWIM
21 planning throughout the District and to report progress
22 on SWIM plans that were in development or plans that
23 were being updated, and to discuss personnel
24 allocations, to discuss, plan whatever public meetings
25 or board presentations or briefings that needed to
38
1 occur either within the District or outside the agency.
2 Q Approximately how often did the committee
3 meet?
4 A I am really not certain. Initially it was
5 weekly and then at some point it became biweekly.
6 Q Where were these meetings held?
7 A In District conference rooms.
8 Q Did you make a written summary of these
9 meetings?
10 A I did not, no.
11 Q Do you know if there was a written summary
12 ever done?
13 A Summaries were prepared.
14 Q Who prepared them?
15 A Ginger Brooks.
16 Q What is her title at the District?
17 A I don't know her title.
18 Q Is she a support staff or technician or can
19 you categorize her?
20 A She is support staff. I am not sure to whom
21 she reports directly at this time.
22 Q If you needed to get a copy of minutes or
23 whatever from the steering committee, would you talk to
24 Ginger?
25 A I would go to her first to obtain a copy,
39
1 yes.
2 Q Tell me about the advisory committee; when
3 did you first become involved with that?
4 A In March.
5 Q And that is also when you got back to that
6 division?
7 A Yes.
8 Q Was the advisory committee in existence
9 before you got transferred back?
10 A Yes.
11 Q What was the purpose behind the advisory
12 committee?
13 A They were representatives of government
14 agencies, environmental groups, agricultural industry,
15 organizations that were within the Everglades SWIM
16 planning area boundaries.
17 Q What was the extent of your participation in
18 this committee?
19 A I attended advisory group meetings, assisted
20 in the preparation of some staff presentations that
21 were made, principally presentations made by Joycelyn
22 Branscome.
23 I did do some follow-up to the meetings. If
24 there were advisory group members that needed any
25 additional information that the District had, I
40
1 arranged for that to be provided. I did work to try to
2 list discussion items that occurred during advisory
3 group meetings for follow-up in whatever way was
4 appropriate, either if it was relevant to SWIM Plan
5 development, if it was issues that would need to be
6 addressed at the following meeting in some fashion, I
7 prepared those sorts of summaries based on advisory
8 group discussion.
9 Q Besides the summaries that you prepared, was
10 there anyone else who was given the task of making a
11 formal written record of these meetings?
12 A No.
13 Q So if there are any summaries that exist at
14 all, they would be ones that you authored?
15 A Yes, and they are informal. They were not,
16 the advisory group was not formed to function as a
17 decision making group, but rather to provide input to
18 the development of the SWIM Plan.
19 So we did not seek votes or consensus or
20 decisions from them necessarily, and so they were not
21 provided with formal meeting summaries that they signed
22 off on. The notes I made were for internal use.
23 Q Who did you address the summaries to?
24 A They were not formally addressed. They were
25 notes that I would sometimes prepare if, at a later
41
1 date, they were relevant to presentations that were
2 being held or in planning for public meetings.
3 If we begin to see the same issues
4 reoccurring, people who had to plan those, either
5 writers of the SWIM Plan or people, District staff
6 making presentations at public meetings, board meetings
7 needed to be aware that these concerns existed. The
8 concerns I elicited from the advisory group were part
9 of preparing for those events.
10 Q Were the summaries routinely reviewed or
11 looked at by anyone at the District?
12 A They were discussed within the Community
13 Relations Division by myself and Joycelyn Branscome and
14 Pat Walker.
15 Q What action, if any, would come out of these
16 discussions with the Community Relations Division?
17 A It depended on the nature of the issues.
18 Sometimes it would be to let other agency people know
19 who would have to respond to those issues at a later
20 date, that this question had been raised. It was
21 informal discussion mostly.
22 Q If someone in the advisory committee
23 expressed a concern, say, about the Everglades SWIM
24 Plan and you summarized this, and I take it then it
25 went to the Community Relations Division for some type
42
1 of discussion, or is it possible that this concern
2 could be replayed back to the people who were actually
3 writing the SWIM Plan at that time?
4 A Yes.
5 Q Did that happen quite often?
6 MS. WATERS: Object to the form.
7 THE WITNESS: It happened as necessary.
8 BY MS. THRONE-CONTE:
9 Q Do you remember any issues in which this
10 happened?
11 A I don't recall any specific issue.
12 Q Is there any documentary thing that would
13 help you remember that?
14 A My notes, whatever notes that I made as a
15 result of the meeting are in my files which have been
16 provided.
17 Q Were you responsible for following through
18 with anything that was brought out in the advisory
19 committee, to take it back to say the Everglades SWIM
20 planning team, whoever was writing the SWIM Plan?
21 A No.
22 Q Whose responsibility was that?
23 A That determination was made by Joycelyn.
24 Q And she would normally, in the course of her
25 duties, assign someone to look into the matter more?
43
1 A I am not sure how she wo