York County Supervisor, Sheila Noll, was recently elected as chair the Chesapeake Bay Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC). Councilwoman Debbie Ritter from Chesapeake and Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson from Virginia Beach also represent the region on the committee.
 
The committee's mission is to share the views and insights of local elected officials with state and federal decision-makers and to enhance the flow of information among local governments about the health and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. HRPDC staff has been working with our local LGAC representatives to improve communication with the state and focus Virginia’s advocacy on changes to the Bay Program that will help localities develop cost effective programs. We have provided several recommendations to the state related to the Bay TMDL and Virginia Watershed Implementation Plan including the following:

•    The state should send quarterly updates on Virginia’s actions and progress on the TMDL to all PDCs in the Bay watershed.
•    The state should offer to attend PDC meetings twice a year to answer questions about policy decisions that impact local implementation.
•    The state should review the Phase II WIP input from localities and provide feedback on the state’s support or conflicts with local recommendations on policy, technical, and financial incentives.
•    The state should create data submittal forms for localities to document their implementation progress and establish due dates for the data submittals so the data can be used in the state’s progress reports to the Bay Program.

Russ Baxter, newly appointed Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources for the Chesapeake Bay, offered to work more closely with LGAC representatives and the HRPDC in his new role. He attended the HRPDC Regional Environmental Committee on March 6th, reviewed the updated Chesapeake Bay Agreement and answered questions from local stormwater and planning staffs.

For more information visit the LGAC webpage, http://www.chesapeakebay.net/groups/group/local_government_advisory_committee