Chair David Schultz called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m.

Present: David Schultz, Terry Reisch, Gerry Mahon, Bernie Bullert, Jon Eaton, Glen Gerads, Yasser AbouAish, John Thom, Ed Sorenson, Petrona Lee, Jim Haugen, David Allen, Stew Thornley, John LaPointe, Richard Nay, Bud Krause, Allen Lamm, Lyle Stai, Myron Volker, Jim Plahn, Bob Keiper, Karla Peterson. Staff present was Scott Franzmeier.

Absent: Jarrod Christen and John Hill.

Motion by Krause to approve the minutes of the January 2000 Board meeting. Second by Lee. Passed unanimously.

D. Allen read a letter to the Board from Scott Anderson thanking the Board for the support of his Water For People Guatemala trip. Allen reported on the upcoming Section Leaders training and asked Board members to consider attending.

Motion made by Lee to discontinue funding Secretary/Treasurer trip to Annual Conference and to begin using the money to pay Board fees to Section Leaders trainings. Seconded by Lamm. Motion passed unanimously.

Allen announced that he and staff were working on completing the Articles of Incorporation for the Minnesota Section. Allen reported that several nominations for National awards were due in October. After some discussion, Mahon agreed to take the lead on nominating individuals for the awards.

Allen presented the financial report March 2000. Total Section assets & liabilities at the end of the period were $266,568.47. Income for the period was $34,541.00 and expenses of $20,769.56 for total net income through March of $13,771.44. The Finance Committee will look at changing the format of the financial statements. Motion by Lamm to approve the financial statements. Seconded by Thom. Motion passed unanimously.

Mahon reported on the below Finance Committee recommendations for the Minnesota Section investment policy. :

The 4/25/00 Finance Committee conclusions and recommendations.

The Finance Committee to create a new investment portfolio, allocating assets in a portfolio that would allow for flexibility of investments of no more than 85% in stocks/15% in bonds and no fewer than 55% in stocks/45% in bonds.

The Finance Committee would review investments annually, make adjustments as necessary and provide a written report to the Board if adjustments are necessary, explaining the reasons for the adjustments.

Finance Committee to review investment portfolio at least twice annually.

After considerable discussion, a motion was made by Lamm to approve the items and seconded by Gerads. Motion passed unanimously.

Allen reported the cost for performing a review audit at the end of 2000 would be approximately $1,600.00. After brief discussion, a motion was made by Allen to perform a review audit at the end of 2000 for the amount of $1,600.00. Seconded by Thom. Motion passed unanimously.

AWWA Director Allen Lamm presented an AWWA survey for the board. Lamm will return the survey to AWWA when it is completed.

AWWA Director-at-Large Yasser AbouAish recommended three agenda items for September: 1) Consider applying to host a National technical conference; 2) National Drinking Water Trust Fund; 3) Merging AWWA and WEF. AbouAish will provide details on each of these before the September meeting. AbouAish also reported briefly on several National items.

No report from Northwest District.

Bud Krause reported on the upcoming Northeast District Operators School.

Dick Nagy reported on the upcoming Central District Operators School.

Glen Gerads gave the Metro District report. Metro District Board working on a process for easier transition on the district Board. Gerads also reported that 289 registrants, 49 exhibitors attended the three-day Metro District Operator School. Announced the death of long term member Al Barnes.

Terry Reisch reported that 89 participants attended the one-day Southwest District Operator School.

Myron Volker reported that over 100 people participated in the three-day Southeast District School.

Motion by AbouAish to accept the District reports. Second by Lee. Motion passed unanimously.

Administrative Council - Full written report provided by LaPointe.

Action Now Committee. There was a brief discussion about whether or not continue the committee. LaPointe will contact Pete Moulton to discuss activities.

Breakfast Committee. Breakfast meeting is arranged during the National conference. A motion was made by Lamm to subsidize the Section Breakfast at $5.00/person. Seconded by Keiper. Motion passed unanimously.

Commercial Committee. The Commercial Committee recommended several improvements for the exhibitor portion of the conference. A motion was made by Lamm to accept the commercial committees standards as recommendations. Seconded by Haugen. Motion passed unanimously. LaPointe also reported on the Commercial Committee's recommendations for minimum standards for exhibit space. A motion was made to accept the recommendations as reported. Seconded by Gerads. The motion passed with one no vote.

Endowment Committee. Mahon reported on the recommendations of Wayne Enney for the Endowment Program. After some discussion, a motion was made by Lee to name the Endowment Fund the David Morris Scholarship Fund. The Endowment Committee will provide specific policies at the September Board meeting. Seconded by Gerads. After additional discussion, the motion passed unanimously.

Finance Committee. No additional report from the Finance Committee.

Fuller Award Committee. No report.

L.N. Thompson Award Committee. No report.

Meritorious Service Award Committee. No report.

Chair-elect Nominating Committee. Lee reported that one candidate had accepted the nomination despite significant efforts. Lee motioned to have the Board approve the nomination of only one candidate for the 2000 election. Seconded by Lamm. A roll call vote was taken: Those voting "yes" were Reisch, Gerads, AbouAish, Lee, Allen, Lamm. Those voting "no" were Thom, Nagy, Keiper. Those abstaining were Haugen. Motion passed with 6-yes, 3-no and 1 abstention.

Scholarship Committee. No report.

Water for People. Scott Anderson will provide an in-person report on the Guatemala trip at the Board meeting in September. LaPointe provided a brief update on efforts to secure funding from the Rotarians. LaPointe recommended that Water for People be placed under the Public Affairs Council. After brief discussion, a motion was made by Thom to move Water for People to the Public Affairs Council. Seconded by Lee. Motion passed unanimously.

Public Affairs Council - Full written report provided by Bullert.

Membership Report. Bullert briefly reported on the ongoing efforts of the Membership Committee to increase Minnesota Section membership. The Board discussed whether or not to have a member/non-member rate for operator schools. The Board asked Bill Spain to review this and report back to the Board in September.

Public Information Committee. Bullert reported the committee is reviewing the possibility of a tank calendar; CCR awards have gone out; LCMR grant application is in process and should be reviewed by the LCMR sometime in May.

Bullert explained what the PI Committee was doing to try to make the loss on the Breeze (including staff time) less extensive than it was in 1999. Bullert also asked the Board to consider increasing only the full color ad rates for the Breeze from $1,045 annually to $1,600 annually. After some discussion, a motion was made by Lee to increase full color ad rates. Seconded by Nagy. Motion passed unanimously.

James Plahn asked the Board to consider reorganizing or moving the Small Systems Council to another council and create a Small Systems Committee. After some discussion, Thom agreed to bring Don Christianson to the September Board meeting to consider options for the council.

Technical/Professional Council - Full written report provided by Eaton.

Energy Committee Report. Eaton briefly reported on the activities of the Energy Committee.

Research Committee Report. The research Committee program in the Spring at St. John's was very successful both for attendance and financially.

The Conservation Committee has been reorganizing and will soon be active again. Eaton said he would report on their activities at the next meeting.

Gerads and Eaton reported on concerns related to the following items:

Better Greater Minnesota representation on all Section Committees - After considerable discussion, the Board agreed to discuss this at greater length at the next Board meeting.

Clarification of Secretary/Treasurer and Ewald Consulting - David Allen and Scott Franzmeier will develop a list for Board members that will be provided to new Board members.

Clarification of income and expenses on financial statements - Will be addressed by Finance Committee.

Section Equipment - What does AWWA own? After some discussion, Eaton agreed to check with MDH to see what AWWA owns and determine a course of action.

Breeze recommendations. Look at going to a smaller format. Look at more volunteer ownership.

A motion was made by Nagy to purchase the domain address www.mnawwa.org for $70 (for 2 years) and to approve an increase in webpage fees to $400.00 annually. Seconded by Lamm. Motion passed unanimously.

Training Council - No written report from Hill, Jr.

Stew Thornley reported that the Education Committee was working on soliciting funding for the Youth Curriculum project. Thornley explained that this was a very large project that would include the writing, training of teachers, and coordination of a K-12 curriculum to be used throughout the State of Minnesota on water usage and treatment. Thornley explained the process the committee had gone through to solicit funding. After considerable discussion, a motion was made by Gerads to approve funding the project in the amount of $10,000.00. Seconded by Keiper. There were concerns with duplication of other similar projects. Motion passed unanimously.

Yasser Abouaish reported on the recent Water Management Institute program and provided specifics in a written report.

No report from the Safety Committee.

Water Utility Council - No written report provided by Sorenson.

Sorenson reported it had been a very slow session in 2000. After discussions with the Minnesota Department of Revenue on second hand tax issues. The section will pursue legislation in 2001 on this issue.

John Thom announced the program was nearly complete. A third concurrent session has been added for Thursday. A motion was made by Reisch to charge $20 for members and $35 for non-members for the Thursday session only for water operators. Seconded by AbouAish. Motion carried with one no vote.

Conference spouse program has been arranged.

No unfinished business was addressed.

Ambassador/Mentor Program. Haugen announced the planning continued to move forward.

Joint Powers tabled until the September meeting.

The Fall Board meeting was set for Monday, September 11, 2000, at 6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in Mankato, MN

Meeting adjourned at 3:14 p.m.