Comprehensive Report: Volusia County Environmental Meeting Analysis

This report summarizes the Volusia County, Florida, meeting held on October 7, 2018, focusing on environmental issues and initiatives. The primary agenda item was the awarding of a contract to Uppercase, Inc. for a community-based social marketing campaign to address environmental concerns. The meeting highlighted the 'Save our Springs and Rivers' education program, funded with a $240,000 grant. Discussions involved the importance of public participation, the allocation of funds, and the timeframe for the project's completion. The County Council addressed concerns about local hiring and research activities. The report also touches upon related discussions about affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization, emphasizing the County's commitment to public welfare and social responsibility. The report also highlights the contributions of the Florida Coastal & Ocean Coalition and the need for collaboration between various stakeholders, including Uppercase, Inc., and the public, to maximize the program's impact.

Volusia County of Florida
Meeting held on 10/07/2018
Agenda: Contract for community-based social marketing consulting services with Uppercase,
Inc., 18-SQ-63BB
Item 01 S
Report for Aspen Environmental Group
Hundred thousands of residents and tourists enjoy swimming in the springs located in
Orlando and Florida every year. Unfortunately, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency asserts that the residents of Florida are vulnerable to climate change because they live in
a region with low elevation hereby subjecting them to rising sea levels (United States
Environmental Protection Agency, 2018). Unfortunately, the members of the public are the
primary contributors when it comes to global warming and climate change. For instance, Patnaik
(2017) claims that humans are to blame for deforestation as well as charcoal burning. The
burning of fossil fuels is a causal factor for air and soil pollution.
Similarly, the springs and rivers in Orlando and Florida are threatened by urban
development and pollution. Urban developers are increasingly erecting constructions in water
catchment areas in a bid to create employment and investment opportunities. However, their
actions are destroying rivers and springs due to disposal of solid wastes. Construction materials
are clogging and blocking drainage systems. Together with household wastes, construction
wastes have caused water pollution thereby making the water unfit for human consumption while
chemical wastes are to blame for the destruction of plants and animals that live in the water
(Alkaabi, 2016).

During the meeting, the Chair of the County Council stated that they wished to solve the
issue by conducting a social marketing campaign. The County Council of Volusia ratified a grant
worth $240,000 and allocated the funds to the “Save our Springs and Rivers” education program
on 6th February 2018. Approximately $63,000 of this budget was allocated to a consultant
mandated to design as well as implement a social marketing campaign for the entire Volusia
community. Uppercase, Inc. was the only consultancy firm that made an application to be
awarded the proposal for the social marketing campaign. As such, the County Council used the
recent meeting to award the contract to Uppercase, Inc. after ascertain the qualifications for the
latter’s personnel. The “Save our Springs and Rivers” education program
The staff members of an administration should furnish other stakeholders involved in
community projects with complete information to help them understand all facets of the
underlying undertaking (Arxer & Murphy, 2018). As such, the staff members including the
Deputy Clerk, Recording Secretary, and Administrative Aide were heavily involved in
discussing the merits of the project to the society. In particular, Sue Hilson (Administrative Aide)
presented a speech on the importance of preserving water bodies. She argued that global
warming is real and, thus, Volusia County must manage her resources well to avoid unnecessary
struggles witnessed in other regions. She quoted an article published by the Los Angeles Times
stating that Florida is struggling with rising seas and accelerating storms (Helvarg, 2016).
The County Council welcomed public participation and involvement during the debates.
According to Wirick (2011), public participation is a key necessity when handling community-
based projects because the residents are the primary stakeholders affected by every decision.
Several members of the public completed a public participation slip indicating the issue that they
wished to address and waited for the County Chair to give them a chance to raise their points.

The members of the public were mostly interested in knowing the budget allocated for the
activity. Others were mostly concerned with the timeframe for the completion of the program.
Several members of the public also requested the County Council to ensure that the
contractor selected would hire local residents. Community-based programs should benefit the
residents of an area on all fronts. According to Kassel (2016), a large number of public projects
create an employment opportunity for the locals. Therefore, public participants felt that
Uppercase, Inc. should hire skilled labor from the youths living in Volusia County to handle
basic tasks as opposed to importing labor from other counties. At the end of the meeting, the
members of the public who got a chance to speak made it clear that they were happy with the
progress made by the County Administration in regards to environmental welfare.
At a personal level, it is important to state that the most important input was made by the
Florida Coastal & Ocean Coalition. The Florida Coastal & Ocean Coalition had a representative
involved under public involvement. The representative raised a question regarding how the
County Council intended to handle research activities related to the land and water management.
Research activities help specialists to understand scientific aspects of routine tasks associated
with land and water management (Randolph, 2011). The representative was well furnished with
information because she quoted research done by renowned scientists in different parts of the
world unlike most public participants whose questioned were tailored towards budget and
timeline issues. In this regard, the County Council promised to handle the issue during the next
meeting.
During the meeting, the City Council discussed various other issues that were similar to
environmental interests discussed above. The governing body discussed and ratified an
agreement with the New Smyrna Housing Development Corporation, which was given a

mandate to develop affordable housing units under the State Housing Initiatives Partnerships
program. Another key agenda discussed involved the amendment of the Neighborhood
Stabilization Program as the governing bodies seeks to create thriving communities in her area of
influence. The similarity between these three issues is that they promote public welfare in
Volusia County. The idea is to uphold social responsibility by building better place for future
generations.
With this understanding, Aspen Environmental Group should be an active participant
when similar issues are discussed by the governing bodies. Nongovernmental bodies like Aspen
Environmental Group should send representatives to express the interests of the environmental
activists. The organization should also communicate more with two key groups. The first group
is the management of Uppercase, Inc. so that the two parties can work collaboratively to
maximize the outcome of the undertaking. The second group is the members of the public
because the City Council is emphasizing the need for public participation in environmental
issues.
References

Alkaabi, S. (2016). Construction Waste Management: Iraq Case Study. Saarbrücken, Germany:
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Arxer, S. L., & Murphy, J. W. (2018). Dimensions of Community-Based Projects in Health
Care. New York: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61557-8
Helvarg, D. (2016, December 2). Is Florida’s climate change model — denial at the Capitol,
frantic action at the beach — in store for the U.S. under Trump? Los Angeles Times.
Kassel, D. S. (2016). Managing Public Sector Projects: A Strategic Framework for Success in
an Era of Downsized Government (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.
Patnaik, P. (2017). Handbook of Environmental Analysis: Chemical Pollutants in Air, Water,
Soil, and Solid Wastes (3rd ed.). oca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
Randolph, J. (2011). Environmental Land Use Planning and Management (2nd ed.).
Washington, Dc.: Island Press.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2018). Southeast Florida Compact Analyzes
Sea Level Rise Risk. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/southeast-
florida-compact-analyzes-sea-level-rise-risk
Wirick, D. (2011). Public-Sector Project Management: Meeting the Challenges and Achieving
Results. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.