FLORIDA ARCHAEOLOGICAL COUNCIL, INC.

POSITION ON THE PROPOSED MERGER BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

It is the opinion of the Florida Archaeological Council, Inc. (FAC) that the proposed organizational changes have the potential to severely impact the state’s ability to carry out its historic preservation duties as mandated by federal and state law. As a result, there would be adverse economic consequences as well as a potential loss of important cultural resources.

There are four elements that the FAC believes must be included in any merger proposal:

1) The present structure of the Division of Historical Resources must remain intact. The Division now consists of two Bureaus: the Bureau of Historic Preservation, which includes Compliance and Review, the Florida Master Site Files, and Survey and Registration, and the Bureau of Archaeological Research, which is primarily responsible for managing cultural resources on state lands but also includes the office of State Archaeologist, the CARL program, archaeological collections and archival materials, and a state-of-the-art conservation lab. We have heard of a proposal to divide these Bureaus into two separate agencies, each with its own administrative director. We believe this would be a terrible mistake and would not increase administrative efficiency, but would instead increase redundancy and inefficiency in the administration of the state’s historic preservation program.

The duties of the Division and its Bureaus is mandated by state and federal law, specifically the Florida Historical Resources Act (Ch. 267, F.S.) and Section 101 of the National Historic Preservation Act. These duties include 1) cooperating with federal and state agencies, local governments, and private organizations to direct and conduct a comprehensive statewide survey of archaeological and historic resources, 2) maintaining an inventory of such resources, 3) developing a comprehensive statewide historic preservation plan, 4) identifying and nominating eligible properties to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), 5) assisting federal and state agencies and local governments in carrying out their historic preservation responsibilities, 6) and providing public information, education, and technical assistance related to historic preservation. As currently structured, the Division works exceptionally well in performing these duties and in many instances the two Bureaus must coordinate with one another to ensure that this occurs. No state agency should be immune to efforts to increase productivity and efficiency. However, it is our opinion that with regards to the Division of Historical Resources, this effort should focus on fine-tuning the existing structure rather than radically altering it.

2. The historic preservation programs administered by the Division and its Bureaus must remain intact, fully funded, and adequately staffed. Some examples of the kinds of programs that we fear may be compromised by the proposed merger include:

a) The Compliance Review, Site Files, and Survey and Registration programs of the Bureau of Historic Preservation. These programs are mandated by state and federal law. Compliance Review staff review development projects for potential impacts to archaeological and historical sites. The Florida Master Site File is the central repository for information on all recorded archaeological sites and historic structures in the state. Survey and Registration staff are responsible for assisting the public in the documentation of historic resources and in reviewing nominations for the National Register of Historic Places. During a typical, legally mandated cultural resource project, it is not uncommon for a private consultant assisting a client in Section 106 or Chapter 267 compliance to be involved in multiple acts of coordination and consultation with various parts of the Division. The types of projects are varied and include highway projects that receive federal or state funds, energy projects that require Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, cell towers and other communication projects that are permitted by the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge and fill projects, activities on military bases, DRIs, DEP and water management district permits, mining projects, and many others. In addition, as part of its program of providing assistance to local governments, the Compliance Review Section serves in a review capacity for locally mandated archaeological and historic preservation projects, since few local governments have qualified personnel on staff to perform these.

If the ability of the state to administer these programs is compromised through reorganization, government agencies, private developers, and other permit applicants will be unable to comply with federal, state, and local laws related to cultural resources. This will result in unnecessary project delays, which could cost agencies, developers, or other permit applicants hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost time. In some cases it could result in no surveys being conducted at all.

b) The archaeological collections and conservation lab must be kept intact, adequately staffed, and fully funded and their facilities must be adequate to ensure the continued preservation and curation of these collections for use by the public. The primary purpose of the archaeological collections is to curate archaeological remains recovered from state-owned or state-administered lands and to make them available for future research. It is important to note that these collections are for use by the public (which may include professional archaeologists as well as other interested persons); in other words, their purpose is not necessarily for museum display. In fact, only a small percentage of the collections are display quality materials. The state has a responsibility to adequately curated archaeological materials recovered from state lands and to ensure that these collections are made available to the public for research as well as museum display.

3. The state’s historic preservation grants program. We have heard a number of proposals regarding the grants program. Primary among these is to combine all state grant programs under a single administrative roof. Another is to disperse state grant monies to local governments and allow them to decide how it is spent. Currently, the historic preservation grants program is administered by the Division’s Bureau of Historic Preservation. The FAC believes this program works exceptionally well as it is currently structured. If all state grants programs are combined into a single agency, we have no guarantee that historic preservation projects will be funded adequately. Moreover, the FAC strongly opposes the proposal to give local governments the authority to disperse grant monies as they see fit. Once the grant monies are dispersed to local governments, the state will lose control of how they are distributed and there will be no guarantee that any of it will go to historic preservation projects. The historic preservation community has worked long and hard with past administrations in Tallahassee to develop a grants program that is fair, equitable, and effective.

4. Finally, the FAC believes that any final proposal for reorganization, merger, and legislation to authorize and appropriate should be made available for review by the public, constituent organizations, and legislative analytical staff before approval. This will insure that the proposal meets statutory requirements and that the public will have a final opportunity for input via letters or emails to their legislators. This step is critical to ensuring wide-spread acceptance and passage in the legislature of any Executive Branch proposal.

As you know, each state historic preservation program is reviewed annually by the Secretary of the Interior and if found to be deficient in terms of staffing and performance, federal funds to the state may be terminated. Thus, it is very important that we ensure that Florida’s historic preservation program remains intact, adequately staffed, and adequately funded so that these duties can be carried out efficiently and there is no loss of federal funds. And we must not forget the potential impact that a compromised historic preservation program will have on our state’s archaeological, historical, and cultural sites. Without a strong historic preservation program that operates efficiently and in a timely manner, fewer surveys will be recommended, fewer sites will be discovered and assessed, and more irreplaceable resources will be destroyed.

I hope these few examples make clear not only the interrelated nature of the Division’s bureaus, but also the importance of the tasks they perform for the residents of our state. In our opinion, merger and reorganization have the very real potential to destroy the very integration that enables the Division to work so effectively now. The FAC urges the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Legislature to take the appropriate steps to maintain the Division of Historical Resources as a strong, integrated agency staffed with qualified professionals who are committed to protecting our state’s cultural heritage.