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. Dates Mar. 29-30, 2006.
·
SW
District – Hasn’t had any fund raising efforts. Chris will check with the
district. They have only one-day schools.
·
Central
District – Lyle has handled 3-day school fund raising efforts in June.
·
Metro
– Dawn Horner at HDR did the fund raising at the 3-day school in April.
·
NW –
3-day school in December has been handled by Troy Hall for fund raising
efforts.
·
NE –
3-day school in April is handled by Cory Lubevich
·
Rural
Water is not participating
·
Golf
Tournament @ fall conference, hole sponsors pay $200 to WFP. Longest drive and
putting contest also go to WFP. ( closest to the pin goes to endowment) The
Twins tickets in the past have also gone to endowment fund. The collection at
the banquet has gone to WFP.
Raffle gifts are usually $25-$50 and are provided by
exhibitors or speakers.
Annual fund raising efforts have been $10,000 to $15,000.
Bernie discussed he has been talking to MAC about an
alternative sponsorship where MAC members would make a annual WFP contribution
or combination WFP/Endowment contribution for a year and receive recognition in
the Breeze, a sign for their booths, and at the golf tournament. MAC is interested and has set up a
sub-committee to pursue it further.
Bernie is on the sub-committee.
There was also discussion on other groups to pursue for
contributions:
·
Water
Quality Assoc.
·
Well
Drillers
·
Minnesota
Ground Water Assoc.
·
Rural
Water Assoc.
·
Waste
Water group
·
APWA
·
ASCE
·
CEAM
·
Rotary
·
Underground
directional drillers
·
Large
regional corporations outside of National’s pursuit.
·
John
Packard – Culligan
·
Glenwood
– Inglewood
There was also discussion on a spring walleye fishing
contest, or a skeet shoot.
The next meeting will be Feb. 16 @ 10:30 at Eden Prairie
City Hall. Bernie will present current
videos or Power Points available for the conferences.
The activities of the Scholarship committee have focused on
the management institute
scholarship. An announcement of
management scholarship was mailed to approximately 700 public water systems
that would qualify for the scholarship based on the number of service
connections. This year we received 12
applications. Three applicants did not
qualify for the scholarship because of not meeting the membership
conditions. Six scholarships were awarded. The process developed by Jon Eaton and the
scholarship committee has worked very well.
The scholarship application has been taken off the website at this time
as we are now past the deadline. It
will be reposted in April or May as a reminder for utilities in their budget
planning.
The advanced degree scholarship application has been updated
is available on the Section website. An
announcement and application has been placed in the January Breeze Light. The same announcement and application will
be published in the director (February) edition Breeze Light and Directory
Issue. The same announcement will be
sent to MRWA for their spring edition of the “Today” publication. Plans are in the works to have the
scholarship materials available at the schools and at the AWWA Section booth at
MRWA.
Membership activities should be wrapped up in February.
Work on the new scholarships and review of existing
scholarships is on track, and an update on this information will be available
for the spring board meeting.
The committee met in Maple Grove on November 18, 2005 and
conducted a conference call meeting on January 20, 2006. Major accomplishments of the committee since
our meeting in October 2005 are outlined below.
The committee developed a guidance document to introduce structure within the committee and
direct committee members now and in the future. The committee will vote to accept this document at the March
meeting.
Four sub-committees
were created; membership, social, public affairs (community involvement), and
fresh ideas. All YP members are
encouraged to participate in at least one sub-committee. Decisions and work will be conducted within
the sub-committees and updates reported to all YP committee members.
The membership
committee will focus on building membership within the YP committee as well
as within the section. This committee
plans to conduct a lunch seminar at the University of Minnesota. The seminar will include a discussion of
career opportunities and invitation for membership to AWWA.
The social committee
is planning an event in conjunction with Minnesota Rural Water Association
Conference in March. The event will
include a social meeting at the Green Mill Restaurant followed by a tour of the
Cold Stone Brewery. The committee will
be extending invitations to all AWWA members as well as MRWA members. In addition, the social committee will be
working with the conference committee to plan a social event sponsored by the
YP committee at the sections annual conference.
The public affairs
committee was developed to focus on YP involvement within the
community. The committee is currently
working on organizing two events. The
“Water Tower Competition” will target grade school students through teacher
involvement. The “Student Poster
Competition” will involve any student who would like to submit a poster,
including AWWA member children.
The fresh ideas
committee has developed preliminary documents to initiate a competition as
directed by national AWWA. The
committee is currently working on ideas for implementing the program including
participation, prizes, and logistics.
The next YP committee meeting is scheduled for March 9, 2006
in St. Cloud, MN.
Training Council (K. Peterson)
The Northwest District of Minnesota AWWA had its fall school
in Thief River Falls postponed because of a storm. The district has rescheduled the event as a one-day school, which
will be held in Thief River Falls on Tuesday, February 22.
The various districts in the section have been holding
planning meetings for their spring schools and are using the training-needs
survey, which was among superintendents of municipal water systems in Minnesota
last year, to help determine their agendas.
This will be the last year that the Metro District will hold
its spring school at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington. Costs for meeting rooms at the Thunderbird
have risen significantly and will take an even bigger jump in 2007. As a result, the district has scheduled its
2007 school for the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center.
The Education Committee will be conducting Water
Works! Drinking Water Institutes for Educators at the Minneapolis Water
Works ultrafiltration plant in August.
The committee is continuing to work with Hamline University’s Center for
Global Environmental Education (CGEE) to expand the scope of the Institutes
through a module on a CD-ROM and on-line learning. In November, Dean Huschle, Karla Peterson, and S. Thornley met
with the CGEE staff to begin developing the content for the module. The Minnesota Department of Health has given
Minnesota AWWA a grant of $25,000 (and will eventually pay another $5,000 for a
license to use the program on its web site).
Minnesota AWWA has committed $20,000 for the program with another
$10,000 pending after it receives a progress report. John Shepard of the Hamline CGEE, along with the other committee
members, will present this report at the February 17 Minnesota AWWA board
meeting.
March 13-15, 2006 at the University of Minnesota
Sponsored by: American Water Works Association (AWWA) and
College of Continuing Education, University of Minnesota
In Cooperation with: Suburban Utility Superintendents
Association (SUSA)
For complete program information, please visit our web site:
http://www.cce.umn.edu/management_institute
Key Objectives:
*Learn new skills to enhance an individual's ultimate
effectiveness in an organization
*Provide new supervisors with technical backgrounds an
opportunity to gain valuable insight into management issues
*Discuss issues and approaches with others in the water
utility industry and build a network for sharing information in the future
*Offer experienced managers a chance to enhance their
current strengths and compare their present practices with approaches discussed
at the Institute
*Investigate new approaches to management with outstanding
instructors
Program Topics:
Monday, March 13
"Introduction to Supervision"
"Leadership: Getting Work Done Through Others"
Tuesday, March 14
"Understanding and Positively Affecting Organizational
Behavior"
"Building Teamwork and Commitment"
Wednesday, March 15
"Delivering Great Service"
"Exercising Organizational Influence"
If you have questions, please contact:
Julie Grazier
University of Minnesota
College of Continuing Education
Continuing Professional Education
PH: 612.624.3044 FX: 612.624.6225
Purpose:
To
draw a bridge between small systems and AWWA by bringing these systems into the
organization, providing mentoring opportunities; and as a result, gaining
valuable input from these small systems.
Action Items/Tasks:
1)
Intends to meet three times per year.
2)
Plans to host at least one informal coffee session for small system operators
in each district.
3)
Also intends to recruit 10 new small system operators as members.
Budget:
..... Revenues........ $0
..... Expenditures... $1100
Water Utility Council (K.
Johnson)
The meeting was
held on Thursday January 19, 2006 at the New Ulm Civic Center, 1212 North
Franklin St., New Ulm, Minnesota.
Attendance
Lisa Andrews (for Dennis Martenson), Bernie
Bullert, Steve Gleason, Carol Blommel
Johnson, Kurt Johnson, Allen Lamm, Doug Mandy, Dick Nagy, Dave Scheerer, Ed
Sorensen, Don Volk.
Housekeeping
Kurt Johnson chaired the meeting. The Water Utility Council was welcomed by
the Mayor of New Ulm and Director of Utilities.
Meeting Minutes
The Meeting Minutes of October 5, 2005 were
approved. Motion by Allen Lamm; second
by Steve Gleason. Motion approved.
Congressional/EPA Update: No Report.
Legislative report from LMNC
Representative: No Report.
State-Related Water Issues
a. Gopher
State One-Call (GSOC) No Report.
b. Environmental Quality Board (EQB) Ed
Sorenson
Nothing to report from September to present.
Reports
a.
Minnesota Rural Water Association. No Report.
b.
Metropolitan Council. No
Report.
c.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. No Report.
d.
Association Director. No
Report.
e.
Minnesota Department of Health - Doug Mandy
1.
MDH notified State water utilities via letter of need to collect
$6.36 drinking water fee effective July 1, 2006.
2.
EPA has promulgated 2 new rules, LSIITSR and Stage II …which are
being implemented and interpreted by the Minnesota Department of Health.
3.
Legislative Agenda:
a.
Legislation is being proposed that would make address information
of sites for lead and copper sampling throughout the State protected by data
privacy.
b.
Interconnect between Saint Paul and Minneapolis. While the Governor did not include this
initiative in the proposed bonding bill, other legislative committees may
include this initiative in their recommendations. MDH will be available to provide technical information about the
project.
c.
Drive to Excellence:
i.
Under this State initiative all “codified” departments report to
the Department of Labor and Industry.
This means the plumbing program is no longer a function of the
Department of Health.
ii.
It is proposed all State “certifications” be issued through one
department. MDH is concerned Water
Operator Certification and Licensing should remain a function of MDH.
4. Anti Terrorism Monies:
a.
MDH may request monies currently earmarked for anti-terrorism
activities from CDC be re-directed toward developing a State-wide water
emergency response/resource web-site.
MDH envisions a “water web-site” listing equipment, staff and/or other
mutual aid resources that may be available to a town or utility in time of
need. MDH would like to know cities,
utilities etc are interested in development of such a resource before working
to re-direct any funding.
b.
Discussion: (MN APWA)
Metro area Public Works Association has mutual aid pact that lists equipment
that may be available and might serve as model. Similarly, police and fire departments throughout the state
operate under mutual aid agreements that might be modeled. WUC undertook a similar initiative following
the flooding of Grand Forks. Draft
mutual aid documents are likely available.
Perhaps hiring a consultant to birddog the initiative and follow through
to implementation would be desirable. A motion to request the AWWA Board of
Directors take steps to formally support MDH making investment in a statewide
emergency response/resource web-site was made by Allen Lamm. Second by Don Volk. Motion approved. WUC is recommending investment in this
initiative. Further, Doug Mandy
suggested he could prepare a written description of the project vision for the
Board’s consideration. Bernie Bullert
and Allen Lamm will try to find draft copies of previously prepared but never
executed mutual aid agreements. Monies
directed to this initiative would ideally include consulting costs.
Discussion/Action Items
1. Calling Tree
This is a proposed initiative for creating an SOP for
“effective” notification of members.
Currently MN AWWA does not operate with paid staff. Accordingly, communications are most
efficiently passed along via e-mail. However,
not all members operate e-mail and further, a phone call from a “neighbor” may
be well received and be more meaningful.
A calling tree would be a mechanism that might be used for
emergencies or for getting feedback (grass roots response) on pending
legislative issues with short timelines, etc.
Further, a calling tree would compliment the proposed emergency response
“water web-page”.
Al Lamm will look for a
map he had identifying all the water systems in Minnesota that have AWWA
membership. Doug Mandy offered to
provide a report of member water systems as needed. WUC would like to review
such a map in considering if a calling tree might be best organized around the
AWWA districts.
2. Service Lateral Locating Rule.
Under newly legislated rules, municipalities are required to
field locate all buried sewer and water utilities installed in the R-O-W after
January 1, 2006. MNOPS may reconvene a
rules committee to continue review of the GSOC rules. Don Volk will keep WUC advised.
3.
Continuing items
a.
DNR Emergency/Conservation Plan Guidelines
No change for now. However, new reports are due from municipalities in fall 2006 so
it will be helpful to find out the results from DNR later.
b.
Water Appropriations
No change for now.
4. Washington Fly-in.
a. National AWWA is
offering to finance [travel, room and board] the attendance of one (1) Mn
Section AWWA representative for the 5th annual “Water Matters”
Fly-In in Washington, D.C., on March 29-30, 2006. Kurt Johnson, as Chair of the WUC, has twice represented MN
Section. It is a complex process to
arrange for meeting Minnesota’s representatives in the Senate, Congress etc. It is difficult to get appointments etc.
b. A motion recommending
the Chair of Water Utility Council attend this program and further recommending
(for Board consideration) Mn Section AWWA finance [travel, room and board] a 2nd
attendee to become familiar with the appointment process and further to bring
more to bear on each issue. Motion by
Al Lamm. Second by Doug Mandy. Motion approved.
Kurt Johnson will send out an e-mail to determine if another member is
interested in accompanying him to the program.
5. Energy Committee
a. The Energy committee is
organized under the auspices of WUC.
The group is convening on Friday January 20, 2006. Dave Wagner, SPRWS, is committee chair. The committee plans to review rates proposed
by Excel energy, consider pros and cons of intervening in a rate case and may
look to WUC for assistance in taking any actions.
Legislation being advanced: Last year a proposed bill senate file No. 1009, relating to
landlord and tenant; which proposed to make unlawful collection of outstanding
water utility charges by way of; 1. Attempting to collect from the property
owner who has not contracted for the service 2. Conditioning service on payment
of an outstanding bill when previous customer has vacated the property 3. Placing
a lien on property whether created by local ordinance or otherwise … was not
advanced. It may be advanced during the
2006 session.
A motion for WUC to prepare letter of objection
should this legislation be advanced was made by Steve Gleason. Second by Al Lamm. Motion approved.
The league of Minnesota Cities objected to the bill in 2005.
Will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday March 16,
2006 in Lakeville, MN.
Meeting Adjourned
There being no further business, Kurt Johnson
adjourned the meeting at 12:00 noon. Motion by Allen Lamm; Second by Steve
Gleason. Motion approved.
ADHOC
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Policies &
Procedures (Cockriel)
No
report at this time.
Section Staffing
(Lapointe)
Meeting Participants:
John Lapointe, Section/Committee
Chair David Brown, Section Assistant
Secretary
Jon Eaton, Section Secretary
Treasurer Glen Gerads,
Section Director
Doug Rovang, Member Myron
Volker, Past Section Chair
Meeting Notes:
1.
Chair
Lapointe called the meeting to order at 12:00 noon.
2. A
brief initial discussion took place regarding whether Lapointe should be
chairing this Ad Hoc Committee. The
point was made that the Section Chair usually appointed other Section members
to such a committee. Lapointe suggested
that another Committee member volunteer to Chair the Committee. Dave Brown noted that the 10/7/2005 Section
Board meeting minutes reflect that the Board approved formation of the
Committee with Lapointe as Committee Chair.
The Committee then moved on to a discussion of the Paid Staff issue.
3. Chair
Lapointe asked other committee members if they felt there was a need for the
Section to have any paid staff. He said
if no one felt there was a need, then the purpose of the meeting would be
fulfilled, and this conclusion could be reported back to the Section
Board. Each person presented
comments which generally reflected a belief there were areas of Section
activities that could benefit from paid staff resources. On that basis, Chair Lapointe suggested that
the Committee move on to a discussion of his listing of possible duties of paid
staff .
a.
Managing Section finances:
1)
Budget
- The Section Secretary-Treasurer and
Finance Committee take care of this responsibility.
2)
Check
Book - Barb Woolsey is taking care of the Section checkbook now with oversight
from the Section Secretary-Treasurer.
3)
Audit
- Outside Auditor every three years or
whenever a new Section Secretary-Treasurer is appointed. The Section Finance Committee provides
oversight.
4)
Taxes
- Taken care of by an outside accountant. The Section Secretary-Treasurer provides
oversight.
The Committee concluded the existing arrangement is working
well, and no additional resources are needed in this area.
b.
Supporting the Section Board:
1)
Schedule
/ organize / attend meetings – The Secretary-Treasurer and Assistant Secretary
currently take care of what is needed in preparation for Section Board
meetings: put together agendas; Board meeting minutes; meeting setup; capturing
Board actions (motions, etc.); and putting together the Board meeting minutes
after Board meetings.
2)
Meeting
minutes - The recent establishment of
the Assistant Secretary position (unpaid volunteer Section member) has assumed
the responsibility for preparing meeting minutes from the Section
Secretary-Treasurer’s notes and an audio tape of the meeting. This has been a real time-saver for the
Section Secretary-Treasurer.
3)
Disseminate
information - Again, the Section
Secretary-Treasurer and Assistant Secretary currently take care of this
responsibility.
The Committee concluded that the existing arrangement is
working well, and no additional resources are needed in this area.
c.
Managing the Fall Section
Conference, including registration, exhibits, awards, etc:
1)
The
Fall Conference site and program related arrangements have been the
responsibility of the Conference Council (which includes the Program Committee
and the Local Arrangement Committee).
This has worked well in the past.
Also, with the selection of Duluth as the site of the Conference for at
least the next three years, and because of little input recently from Northeast
District Section members, the work load on the Conference Council Chair has
increased substantially. The comment
was made that the intention is that the rotating “host District” should be able
to provide Section member resources to assist the Conference Council Chair
during the Conference. Another thought
was that an “Assistant Conference Council Chair” position could be established,
or just the addition of more Section members to the Conference Council could
reduce the work load for the Conference Council Chair.
2)
Secretary-Treasurer
Eaton noted that he has been responsible for the conference attendee
registration and vendor registration which has taken a substantial amount of
his time. He noted that he has talked
to Doug Mandy at the MDH about the possibility of Jeanette Booth assuming some
of this responsibility (as she does for the District schools). He also noted that collecting some
additional information from District School attendees (such as updated phone
numbers, e-mail addresses, etc.) would be very useful to the Section – MDH
doesn’t seem to collect much information from District School attendees.
The Committee concluded there could be some improvements in
this area (as noted above), but also concluded that additional resources could
generally be provided by Section volunteers, with the exception of the
possibility of MDH being more involved in the Conference attendee registration
process.
d.
Clerical:
1)
Answering
Section phone - The Section
Trustee-At-Large has been answering the Section cell phone. Secretary-Treasurer Eaton indicated the
Section receives 10 - 15 phone calls per month to this number. The Trustee-At-Large has indicated he
carries the Section cell phone with him during work hours and he says it is
working well from his standpoint.
2)
Archiving
Section records - Secretary-Treasurer
Eaton indicated Section archived records are kept by the Section
Secretary-Treasurer (currently at the Bloomington Water Treatment Plant).
The Committee concluded the existing arrangement is working
well, and no additional resources are needed in this area.
e.
Marketing:
Section marketing is the
responsibility of the Public Affairs Council through the Public Information
Committee. Committee members noted that
this Committee has been inactive in recent years. (Stew Thornley is currently the Public Information Committee
Chair.)
The Committee needs to continue discussions related to how
additional paid staff resources could benefit this area.
f.
Membership:
Membership is the responsibility of
the Administrative Council through the Membership Committee. Lapointe noted that paid assistance to the
Small Systems Committee (Drew Anderson, Chair) in membership raising activities
might be helpful. That Committee’s
budgeted resources are currently minimal.
However, Gerads suggested that activities directed at increasing the
number of small system operator members may not be productive in light of the
role of Rural Water in Minnesota. The
need for at least once-per-year contact with Section members was mentioned by
Eaton as not being done currently. (See
related comment about better contact with Section members and attendees of the
District schools under c. above.) Lapointe noted the Membership Committee’s
difficulty in attempting just to contact Section Utility members – the time involved, the multiple
attempts needed to reach the then current representative at each Utility, the
rapid personnel turnover in the smaller Utility member cities. It was noted that the Membership Committee
has approximately ten members. Lapointe
questioned whether the Section was interested in increasing membership, and
Gerads reminded the Committee that AWWA has a goal of increasing membership by
3% per year.
The Committee needs to continue discussions related to how
additional paid staff resources could benefit this area.
g.
Publications:
1)
Section “Breeze” publication -
Currently, Bloomington collects information for each edition of the
Breeze (content, advertising, etc.).
The actual “Breeze” copy preparation is done by Eric Juhl, a Bloomington
City employee. The Section pays him for
doing this on his own personal time ($500 for each of the two large editions
each year, and a lesser amount for each of the two smaller editions each year.)
The Committee concluded the existing arrangement is working
well, and no additional resources are needed in this area.
2)
Section Web site - Eaton
indicated that he created the original Section Web site, and Stew Thornley
currently is maintaining the Web site.
Eaton says the Section Web site is the “public image” of the Minnesota
Section, and a professional web site developer should be hired to overhaul the
site. Myron Volker was asked to contact
Stew Thornley about determining what might be involved in such an effort. David Brown will also look into what it
would cost to get professional help on the web site.
The Committee concluded additional paid contract resources
could benefit this area.
h.
Followup to Section Board Meetings /
Management of Volunteers:
Near the meeting end, Rovang noted
that an area Dave Brown brought up in his initial meeting comments (but which
was not on the meeting agenda) also needed to be considered by the Committee –
that being what Brown had referred to as “Followup to Section Board Meetings”
and “Management of Volunteers”. Gerads
noted that the Section Strategic and Business Plan is to serve as direction for
Section Council and Committee activities, and that the Section Board should not
have to insert itself more directly into the follow-on activities. Rovang felt that was an abdication of the
Board’s (and particularly the Section Executive Committee’s) leadership role
and motivational responsibility.
The Committee agreed to continue to discuss the possible
benefit of paid staff resources in this area at its next meeting.
4.
In
bringing the meeting to a close, Chair Lapointe provided the following meeting
summary:
1)
The
Committee concluded full-time paid Section staff is not needed at this time.
2)
Paid staff
resources are not needed in the following Section activity areas:
i.
Managing
finances
ii.
Supporting
the Section Board (as relates to quarterly Board meeting activities)
iii.
Managing
the Fall Section Conference (other than possible MDH assistance with the attendee
registration process)
iv.
Clerical
activities (Section phone, record retention, etc.)
v.
Publications
production (Section “Breeze”)
3)
Use of
paid resources should be further evaluated for the following Section activity
areas (the Committee will continue discussions and evaluation of the needs of,
and potential benefits to, these activity areas):
i.
Possibly
the Fall Section Conference attendee registration process (if MDH assistance is
not forthcoming)
ii.
Section
Marketing activities (related activities of the Public Affairs Council)
iii.
Section
Membership activities (related activities of the Administrative Council).
iv.
Updating
the Section Web site
v.
Followup
to Section Board meetings / Coordination of Section Volunteers
5.
The
suggested next meeting date for this Committee was early January, 2006, prior
to the next Section Board meeting (which is scheduled for the second week in
February). This would permit the
Committee to complete its work and bring its recommendations to the February
Section Board meeting.
6.
Meeting
Adjourned at 1:15 p.m.
Motion
to approve the consent items except the Director, Finance, WFP, and Management
committee reports were made by Stai, second by Halvorson, and approved
unanimously.
4. CONSENT DISCUSSION ITEMS
Director’s Report (Gerads)
Nilash
K, WI section, was voted AWWA president-elect.
Other
ideas expressed at the winter board meeting were:
1.
Sections offering PE exam reviews at their annual conferences to attract YPs
and students
2.
Michigan Section has a new member luncheon attended by new members and
committee and council chairs.
Ask
Glen if you have any questions regarding the governance changes.
Management Institute Committee (Gerads)
We
have record attendance so far; at 30 participants with one month to go. The
section is sharing work (marketing, cost sharing, etc) with the U of M. If
attendance is high enough, all the section financial obligations will be
covered.
AWWA
is trying to take control of the management institutes (reviewing and directing
content, control mailings, etc.), but brings nothing to the institutes (no
educational content). AWWA wants to make sure the quality of the institutes is
adequate for them to affix their AWWA brand. But in Glen’s opinion, the AWWA
personnel who are reviewing the programs for the institute have no little to no
expertise in management education to be able to make qualified decisions. The
only positive is AWWA will post the WUMI notice on their web page. Gerads asked
the board for direction on the issue. The board agreed with Gerads that if AWWA
doesn’t bring enough to the table that the section will better benefit by
hosting the institute ourselves.
Finance Committee (Eaton)
Eaton
discussed the changes to the financial policies and that the committee has been
working on them for the past 1.5 years. The board accepts the report but will
not act on the recommended policy changes until the APC chair has a chance to
review them.
WFP Committee (Gerads)
Gerads
discussed the association’s Ken Miller award. Glen explained that each section
make’s the determination of who gets the award basically by filling out a form
and putting that person’s name forward to AWWA. There is no review process at
AWWA. The WFP committee will assist
Gerads in completing form for a section member nomination.
Motion
to approve the consent discussion items were made by Moultan, second by Volker,
and approved unanimously.
5. UNFINISHED
BUSINESS
A. Strategic/Business
Plan Update (Volker)
Volker will begin working on
the 2007 business plan. Gerads requested a small group work on a flow chart so
the business plan follows a predictable schedule. Glen volunteered to be in
this small group. Volker will pull a group together to address the issue in the
next couple of weeks. The draft business plan should be reviewed by the board
at the May board meeting. If people want to be on the committee, email Volker.
B. Hamline
Educational CD (Peterson)
Thornley stated the contracts
were signed, the first payment sent, and work began in November. The schedule
has the project completed and available on line by end of June 2006. Thornley
distributed a draft document with story boards and stated Hamline will be
performing consumer/student testing to achieve the expected quality.
C. Policy
& Procedure Update (Cockriel)
Cockriel intends to hold a
meeting in March to address this issue. He intends to have information and/or
recommendations at the May board meeting. Initial reviews will include
nominations, awards, and finances. Bob
will come up with, by the board meeting in May, a recommendation for a revised
procedure to address the Thompson Award nomination procedure. This is required because Jim Haugen’s death
means there will be four Thompson Award committee members instead of the five
required by our current procedures.
D. Section
Staffing Update (Lapointe)
See the AdHoc committee meeting minutes
in the consent agenda. No further meetings are planned. Recommendation is to
have the various committees include the hiring of paid staff as part of their
budgeting process.
6. NEW
BUSINESS
A. 2006 Association Meetings – Who’s going
where? (Lapointe)
Washington
Fly-in – (Apr) Kurt Johnson. AWWA pays for one member from each section to
attend fly-in. The board agrees with
the WUC recommendation to send a second delegate from the section and suggests
the council place the item in their next year’s business plan and budget for
the opportunity.
ACE – (Jun)
Jon Eaton will be attending as representative of MN section. It is the 125th
AWWA celebration. MN Section has purchased one of 15 tables for sections to get
together with their members. This cost will be paid from the MAC budget.
WFP Summit –
Jul 28/29 in Denver, CO. John L. says he has committed to WFP that one person
from our section will attend this event.
Membership/Leadership
Summit – Jul 28/29 in Denver, CO. We budget for four people to attend. The
following plan to attend: Karla Peterson (TEC), Carol Blommel (Metro Trustee),
Corey Lubovich (NE Trustee), Pete Moulton (SW Trustee). Last year it was
suggested that we come up with a plan for which people, based on positions,
should attend. Finance committee is working to come up with a travel policy.
Regional
Meeting of Section Officers (RMSO) – Oct 20/21 Madison, WI. We budget for five
people to go.
B. “Value
of Membership” Video (Lapointe)
This
request is for a section oriented video for the small systems and membership
committee members to use to recruit new members (at conferences, schools,
workshops, and personal meetings). One cost estimate was $6k. This issue should
be referred to the public information or membership committees for 2007
business plan submission and budgeting. John will bring this to membership
committee at their next meeting in March 2006. John said that membership
committee would come forward with a plan by the May board meeting.
C. Water
For People (Bullert)
Bullert
has formed a committee, including district representatives, to present WFP
issues at the district level. The committee is also soliciting corporate
donations and hopes to raise $20K-$30K this year. Various corporations were
suggested to pursue.
Lapointe
expressed a desire that our section be more involved in WFP tours. The typical
tour cost are $2k-$2.5k; $1k to WFP and $1.5k to cover travel expenses. The
committee is encouraged to incorporate the WFP tour idea into their business
plan for 2007. Glen encouraged WFP
committee members to update their strategic/business plan because of all the
changes they are implementing.
D. Drinking
Water Institute Grant to Canby School District (Thornley/Eaton)
Motion
to approve the one time grant request from Canby School District as a special
allocation from the scholarship budget was made by Sadler, second by Stai, and
approved unanimously.
The
motion was amended that further requests for unfunded grants not be considered
until a policy statement is created by the scholarship committee and approved
by the board by Peterson, second by Cockriel, and approved with one nay.
E. Surface Water Treatment Workshop –
April 25th through 27th. Fargo, ND.
Third annual workshop
sponsored by MN, SD and ND AWWA sections.
Karla encourages everyone to attend.
7. NEXT
BOARD MEETING
Friday May 19, 2006 at a SW District location to be
determined.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to
adjourn by Stai, second by Volker, unanimously approved at 11:56 am.