GOVERNING
BOARD MEETING
February 17, 2006
1. CALL TO ORDER (Lapointe)
Called to order at 8:32am
2. ROLL CALL (Eaton)
Position Name Attendance
Confirmed
Executive Board of Directors
Chair-elect............................................... Scott
Anderson, St. Louis Park.... No
Chair........................................................ John
Lapointe, US Water............. Yes
Past Chair................................................ Myron Volker, Owatonna.............. Yes
Director.................................................... Glen Gerads, Bloomington.......... Yes
Secretary/Treasurer................................ Jon Eaton, Bloomington............... Yes
Assistant Secretary................................. Dave Brown, Bluestone Engr...... Yes
District
Trustees
Northwest................................................. Troy Hall, Moorhead..................... Yes
Northeast................................................. Corey Lubovich, Hibbing.............. Yes
Central..................................................... Lyle Stai, Wilmar.......................... Yes
Metro........................................................ Carol Blommel, Apple Valley....... Yes
Southwest................................................ Pete Moulton, St. Peter................ Yes
Southeast................................................. Paul
Halvorson, Rochester.......... Yes
At-Large................................................... Jim Sadler, Maple Grove.............. Yes
Councils and Committees
Administrative & Policy (APC)................ Bob Cockriel, Bloomington.......... Yes
Conference (Conf)................................... David Schultz, MDH..................... No
Minnesota Associates (MAC)................. Jim Norton, SEH.......................... Yes
Public Affairs (PAC)................................ Kelly Lange-Haider, CH2M Hill...... No
Training & Education (TEC).................... Karla Peterson, MDH................... Yes
Water Utility (WUC)................................ Kurt Johnson, TKDA..................... No
Guests:
PAC
Representative................................ Stew
Thornley.............................. Yes
Educational
CD Project........................... Dean
Hushle................................ Yes
3. CONSENT REPORT
MINUTES APPROVAL:
October 3, 2005 – Board of Directors meeting
October 3, 2005 – Consent Report
October 4, 2005 – Board of Directors meeting
October 7, 2005 – Board of Directors meeting
Corrections: none noted.
FINANCIAL REPORT (Eaton)
ASSOCIATION DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Gerads)
The AWWA Board of Directors met in
Austin, Texas the weekend of February 11, 2006. Following are the highlights from the meeting.
Election of Officers
The winter board meeting is the
event where new officers are elected.
The newly elected officers officially take office this summer at the
ACE. They are:
President-Elect: Nilaksh Kothari, Wisconsin
Vice-Presidents: Luis Aguiar, Florida, Glenda Dunn, Texas, Joseph Mantua,
Chesapeake, Janice Skadsen, Michigan, Craig Woolard, Alaska
Director-at-Large: Trina Mastran, Virginia Section
Treasurer’s Report
AWWA had a great year in 2005,
recording the second highest net income on record. Other items worth mentioning in this arena include:
·
A
subcommittee of the Finance Committee is evaluating the qualified defined
benefit pension plan for AWWA employees; and
·
The
reinstitution of approximately $30,000 to support AwwaRF. This money was removed from the budget a few
years ago due to fiscal restraints. It
equates to approximately $1 per individual member.
Jon Eaton is on the Association’s
Finance Committee and would be more than happy to discuss any of these and
other AWWA financial information in more detail.
Ad Hoc Committee on Governance and Structure
Approved several items including:
·
Grant
voting rights to WFP and AwwaRF representatives on AWWA Executive Board;
·
Add
one additional Vice-President;
·
Assign
one Vice-President to each Council as liaison member;
·
Create
a standing committee on Governance; and
·
Vice
President becomes VP for remainder of term (I tried to kill this one
unsuccessfully).
Affinity Credit Card Program
Basically you can get a credit card
with the AWWA logo on it and AWWA will get a kickback based on charges
incurred. There is no financial risk to
AWWA and minimal impact to staff.
Similar programs yield up to $300,000 yearly.
AWWA Wastewater Standards Development
Presently no one is doing this or
plans on doing it. It will take awhile
to get the program up and running, but in the long-term it will be an
additional revenue stream for AWWA.
Miscellaneous Items Worth Mentioning
·
Nebraska
Section offers P.E. exams at their annual conference as a way to attract YP’s
and students;
·
Michigan
Section has a new member luncheon attend by new members and committee
chairs. New members are offered
committee assignments;
·
The
Association has the 125th Anniversary logo available; Fiesta 125;
·
…and
we will be receiving a survey from the Association on risk management.
DISTRICT REPORTS
NW District (Hall)
The NW District water operators’ school scheduled for
November 29 to December 1 in Thief River Falls was cancelled due to an ice
storm in the northwestern part of Minnesota. A one-day school has been
scheduled on February 22, 2006 at the Best Western in Thief River Falls, a
Wednesday. The program will be similar to the first day of school that was cancelled.
A split session will be held in the afternoon, a Small Systems session and a
Treatment Issues session. A business meeting will be held just prior to lunch.
A new Northwest District trustee and vice Chair will be elected at this
meeting.
A planning meeting for the three day school later in 2006
will be held in May. A location and official dates will be selected at the
February 22 business meeting.
NE District
(Lubovich)
The
AWWA Northeast District planning committee re-conviened on Tuesday January 10th
2006 to carve out the schedule for their 2006 Northeast District Water Operator
School. Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge,
Grand Rapids will be the location of the school. Class dates are Wednesday, April 26 to Friday, April 28,
2006. Registration will be $115.00 per
person, with an increase to $125.00 per person after April 19th. Ruttger's is holding a block of rooms until
March 26th. Studio rooms will be $65.70
per night and Lodge rooms will be $104.03 per night. This pricing includes tax. Attendees may call 1-800-450-4555 and
mention American Water Works Association to get the special rate. This will be
the first time the Northeast District has held its school in the Grand Rapids
area.
Wednesday,
April 26 will begin with a welcome from the Mayor of Grand Rapids. The morning topics of discussion will be
Grant Monies, Water System Security and Water Resource Programs. The afternoon session will consist of the
Northeast District Business Meeting, Gopher State One Call updates, and
Recreational Surface Water Technologies.
Thursday,
April 27 will consist of two off site tours.
The morning will include a guided tour of the Blandin Paper Mill. The afternoon will offer a $4.00 per person
guided tour of the Forest History Center.
Friday,
April 28 will touch on such subjects as Meters, Hydrant Maintenance,
Automation/Flow Control, Sampling Techniques/Preservation, as well as a Panel
Discussion on Operator Issues.
The
Northeast District is anticipating a great turnout and encourage AWWA members
as well as non AWWA Operators to attend.
Central District (Stai)
The next
Central District Three-Day School will be held June 7 - 9, 2006 at Ruttger's
Bay Lake Lodge located at Deerwood, MN. A block of rooms has been reserved for
people that want to arrive the day before. The Central District Education
Committee will be meeting soon to set up the agenda for this school.
There
were 115 registrants (75 regular and 40 students) for the annual St. John's
School which was held October 26, 2005. Due to popular demand, this school will
again be held at the same site this fall with the date yet to be determined.
Metro District (Blommel-Johnson)
Meeting was held at the Champlin Legion on 1/25/06 and
moderated by Paul Coone / District Chair.
48 Member were present.
An election was held for the vice-chair for the metro
district with one nominee; Mark Hartfiel / City of Brooklyn Center. Paul Coone
announced the election winner. Mark Hartfiel – City of Brooklyn Center. Mark
was not present. Paul extended a thank you to Mark and the City of Brooklyn
Center for accepting the nomination and position as vice-chair.
Trustee Report / Carol Blommel – Carol stated that she
attended the Regional Meeting in Chicago with other section officers. She met
many new people in the AWWA organization and enjoyed the opportunity. She
learned more about the direction and vision the AWWA has for our section.
Water Utility Council / Curt Johnson– Met on January 19th
and discussed Legislative involvement regarding impaired water issues / Xcel energy and pumping rate structures /
Discussed how to structure Mutual Aid on an AWWA level. / Discussed the
creation of a “calling tree” for a quick response to our legislators when
needed for hot issues.
Glen Gerads / Its election time and we have four candidates
running for president elect and seven for vice president. Glen would like any
input you can share on the candidates.
Energy Committee – Vern Jacobsen – Ed Sorenson/ Vern stated
that all large and small utilities should plan on rate increases in the upcoming
year. Anywhere from seven to sixteen percent depending on the size of your
utility.
Education Committee – Stew Thornley stated that Metro school
dates are April 18th – 20th. This will be the last year
we hold our Metro School at the Thunderbird due to rising costs and The
Thunderbird indicated their profits with our school are poor and they will
increase their rates to nearly double what we are currently paying. The 2007
Metro school will be held at the Earl Brown Center located in Brooklyn Center. Estimated
costs are 5500 to 6000 dollars. You can expect registration fees to increase
about 40 dollars per person next year.
Paul Coone asked any new members and guests to please stand
and introduce themselves to the group. He thanked them for there involvement.
Paul Coone solicited any new business. With none received,
he adjourned the meeting.
SW District (Moulton)
The
officers and school planning committee of the Southwest District of the
Minnesota AWWA is scheduled to meet on January 26, 2006 at the Mankato office
of the Minnesota Department of Health. The topics to be discussed include the
following:
1. Discus and set an agenda for the April
4, 2006 training session to be held in Wells, Minnesota.
2. Discus and set a preliminary agenda
for the October 12, 2006 training session to be held in Windom, Minnesota
3. Prepare and set locations for 2007
training sites
4. Conduct an officer's business meeting
to examine budget requirements and future expenses
5. Discuss and solicit District Officers
for the upcoming calendar year
SE
District (Halvorson)
The S.E. District Fall One-day water school was held Friday,
October 28, 2005, at the American
Legion in Faribault. There were 45
operators in attendance.
On January 5, 2006, the planning committee held a meeting at
the Southeast District Office of the Minnesota Department of Health to plan the
upcoming Spring Water School.
Attending: Myron Volker, Owatonna; Dean Huschle, Northfield; Bob Keiper,
Winona; Karla Peterson, Stew Thornley,
Jeanette Boothe, Cindy Cook and
Paul Halvorson, all from MDH.
The S.E. District Three-day Water School will be held
Thursday thru Friday March 29-31, 2006
at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in Rochester: http://www.ramadarochester.com/
The tentative agenda and a registration form are linked at:
http://mnawwa.org/section/southeast.html
The Southeast District business meeting will be he held the
last morning of the school on Friday March 31, 2006 at 8:30am.
The registration fee for the school will be held at the same
level of the past several schools; $125 pre-registration (before March 20) and
$135 at the door.
Trustee-At-Large
(Sadler)
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE REPORTS
Administration Council (Cockriel)
The Finance Committee met on February 1, 2006 at
the Bloomington Water Treatment Plant. Barb Woolsey (chair), Doug Rovang, Dave
Brown, and Jon Eaton were present. Karl Streed was absent.
The section financial status and investments as
of Dec 31, 2005 were reviewed.
Action items from the previous
committee meeting (Sep 05) were reviewed and board action noted.
The
committee was told the board approved the expenditure for the creation of an
educational CD through Hamline University. The section and MDH have each
approved a $30k expenditure (total of $60k). The contract has been modified and
returned to Hamline with the first of three payments. The second payment is
expected to be due around the May board meeting and the final payment in July
2006.
The
secretary/treasurer will review and clean of old information from the archive
(records management).
A quote was requested from KDV to
prepare and file the section 2005 tax return. The committee recommends
approving the $800 budgeted expenditure.
We’re on
track with our financial plan! Expenses have increased this past year and the
profit was lowered from $42K to $21K.
The committee reviewed all bylaws, policies,
and procedures applicable to the committee. The following policy/procedure
changes are recommended:
ARTICLE VI
SECTION FINANCES
The Section has approved a dues
assessment of ten
dollars ($10.00)5%
of annual AWWA member dues that will be charge annually to each
member of the Section at the time of a new or renewed membership. This assessment does no apply to students or
retired members. Per bylaw 6.1.
The Section will charge an administrative fee of three
dollars ($3.00) per registrant per day for all schools and conferences. This fee will be used for the general
support of the Section. Per bylaw 6.2.
The Section will pay the expenses of the Association
Director and his spouse to attend the Association Winter Board meeting.
The Section will pay the expenses of the
Secretary-Treasurer to attend the Annual Association Conference and Exposition.
The Secretary/Treasurer shall utilize the free ACE registration given to the
section by AWWA to attend to Section business and volunteer at the annual
conference.
The Section will pay the expenses of the
incoming chair (chair-elect)
to attend appropriate leadership training (RMSO, Summer Leadership, etc) sponsored by the
Association.
The Section will pay the registration and hotel
accommodations for the visiting Association Representative at the Annual
Section Conference.
The Section will pay the expenses of the Assistant
Secretary to attend the Annual Section Conference
The Section books will be audited by the financeial
committee annually. The books will be
audited by a professional auditor every three (3) years. Per bylaw 6.4.
The fiscal year shall be the calendar year
The Section Chair, Director,
Secretary/Treasurer, and Association Representative MnAwwa Fall Conference
hotel accommodations will be paid by the section.
The Section will waive the registration
fee for other Association Section’s Officers to attend MnAwwa Fall Conference.
The section should adopt a reimbursement
and travel policy.
The section should adopt an investment
policy.
The Section will waive the banquet ticket
fee for the AWWA Life Member awardees and their spouses to attend the Fall
Conference banquet.
The Section will charge district approved
and/or section approved fees to support the Drinking Water Institute: ten
dollars per fall conference registrant (approved at the Fall 2003 conference),
five dollars per 3-day school registrant for the NW, NE, Central, Metro, and SE
districts and two dollars per school registrant for the SW district.
Fund levels should be maintained as
follows:
Operating Fund – Money retained
in the checking account to cover expected expenses without transferring money
from the reserve. This is a contingent liability operating fund for the current
fiscal year, not a long term reserve The Board approved the minimum amount to
be 10% of the budgeted expenditures.
Reserve Fund – The amount of
money (capital) retained for future or contingent liabilities. The Board
approved the minimum amount of 50% of the annual budgeted expenditures.
David Morris
Endowment Fund – The investment interest of this fund will provide a perpetual
source of money for section scholarships needs.
All target financial levels should be
reviewed every 3-5 years to assure they meet the Section’s goals and needs.
ARTICLE VII
SECTION GOVERNANCE
Section
Secretary-Treasurer
The Secretary-Treasurer shall
be responsible for the preparation of the business and recording of the
proceedings of the Section and Board Meetings.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall
perform such other duties as the Board may direct.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall
prepare a budget for review and adoption at the pre-conference
Board meeting of each year.
The
Secretary/Treasurer shall provide monthly updates of the section finances
including any investments.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall
prepare a financial statement based on a financial year beginning January 1 and
ending December 31. This statement
shall be audited by an Auditing Committee appointed by the Administration Council
Chair. The Committee shall report the
findings of the audit at the annual Section business meeting.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall pay be responsible for payment of all
authorized bills.
All
by checks, which
shall be signed by the secretary/treasurer, countersigned
by the Chair, and initialed by the section bookkeeper (if one exists).
The secretary/treasurer may utilize a debit
card issued against the section checking account to pay authorized expenses.
Assistant Secretary
The Section
Assistant Secretary shall be responsible for the preparation of the business
and recording of proceedings of the Section and Board Meetings in the Section
Secretary-Treasurers absence.
The Section Assistant Secretary does not have Board
voting privileges except in the absence of the Section Secretary-Treasurer.
The Section Assistant Secretary has general
responsibility for the registration and financial
documentation of the Annual Section Conference.
ARTICLE IX
COUNCILS/COMMITTEES
Assigned To: APC as a committee
Purpose:
To manage the financial activities of the Section
and to advise the secretary treasurer on financial matters.
Members:
The committee consists of five (5) members: three
members are appointed by the Section chair, the fourth member is the Section
Secretary-Treasurer, and the fifth is the Section Assistant Secretary.
Members appointed by the Section Chair serve three
(3) year terms that are staggered so that one new member is appointed each
year.
The committee chair is appointed by the Section
Chair to a 1 year term. The chair can
be appointed for multiple terms.
Policies, Procedures,
Activities:
See bylaws (article 6), policies, and procedures
(article 6 and 7) for specific guidelines.
The
committee recommends a letter be sent to Dave Peterson thanking him for his 3
year service to the finance committee.
Items for
the next committee meeting include reviewing the year-end report and auditing
the 2005 financial records.
Action Items:
1. Approve the 2005 tax preparation cost as
presented
2. Approve the policy & procedure changes as
noted
The IT Committee met in January 2006 at the Bloomington
Public Works building. Scott Anderson,
Carol Kaszynski (chair), Stew Thornley, and Lisa Vollbrecht were present. Dave Wagner was absent.
As a relatively new committee, a good portion of the meeting
was spent determining the goals, objectives, and direction for the upcoming
year.
Conference Council (Schultz)
We had a great turn out for this year’s conference in
Duluth. Total number in attendance was
425. This is the largest number in
attendance ever for Minnesota Section AWWA.
The weather could have been a little better but it was fun to watch the
15 foot waves come in from lake Superior.
Total net profit for the conference is $22,381. This is $1,266 better
then budget.
Next years annual conference in Duluth will be held
September 20th – 22nd 2006. We are well into the planning of this conference. We are working hard to improve the
conference and attendance to make this years conference even better then last.
Manufacturers Council (Norton)
The MAC
Consent Report consists of the minutes of our 12/8/05 MAC meeting held at
Engineering America's Office. The minutes of this meeting were also handed out
at our Business Plan Meeting Friday, 12/9/05, held at Bloomington Fire Station
#1.
The only
change since that meeting is that MAC will not be hosting the Minnesota
Breakfast at the National Conference in San Antonio since this is the 125th
Anniversary and we will participate in that special function
instead.
There will not be a Minnesota Breakfast in San Antonio. We talked about picking
that up again in 2007 and that is the plan for now.
Public Affairs Council
(Lange-Haider)
The
Public Information Committee continues to put out a "This Month in
Minnesota AWWA" bulletin with news for AWWA members. The committee also had a booth at the
Education Minnesota Professional Conference on October 20, where it promoted
drinking water as a career as well as our annual Drinking Water Institute for
teachers. The committee is planning on
having a booth at this conference again this fall.
Also, by
next year a new chair should be in place to take over this committee. Stew plans to remain active on the committee
as a member. Committee members have
been informed of this desired change and to determine if any current members are
interested in becoming chair.
For 2005, the Publications Committee had an income of
$18,658.50 and expenses of $15,189.39.
The expenses included computer and software maintenance, bulk mailing
fees, and all graphics layout, printing, and mailing expenses. Please note the
Autumn Breeze expenses are not included as the publication was not mailed until
January 2006. Even with that “minor bump in the road”, income exceeds expenses.
Some errant design elements were introduced into the Autumn
Breeze (Issue 122) by our print provider. (Did you notice, for example, the
"Emphatic Phrase: Here" at the top of the first page, or the missing
logo in the banner?) None of the aberrations resulted in any factually
incorrect information in the magazine's content, so rather than demanding that
they reprint and resend the run, we agreed to a 50% discount for the cost of
printing.
The committee produced four issues of the Breeze and all the
2005 Conference materials including the exhibitor registration, conference
registration, and conference program.
The Publications Committee expectation continues to be that
we will break even or have positive income in 2006.
The Water for People Committee met on 1-5-06. Present were
Scott Anderson, Bernie Bullert Ed Sorenson, Lyle Stai, Chris Voeltz, and John
Chlebeck.
Summary of discussion:
Scott listed where he raised funds last year.
· SE District – Rochester 3-day school, Myron Volcker and Shawn Mulhern put on a raffle. </