MINUTES
APPROVAL:
January
25, 2007 – Governing Board Working Session
January
26, 2007 – Governing Board Meeting
Corrections: none noted.
FINANCIAL
REPORT (Brown)
The Section Monthly Financial Status, as of April 1, income was $40,126 and expenses were $24,632
for a net income of $15,495. Investments are up since the beginning of the year
by $3,639.
ASSOCIATION
DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Gerads)
The
Association Board of Directors has not met since our last meeting. Nothing to
report.
DISTRICT
REPORTS
NW District
(Bergantine)
A
planning meeting is scheduled for May 22, 2007 at 10 am at the Northland Inn in
Crookston, MN.
NE District (Lubovich)
Nothing
to report at this time.
Central
District (Stai)
The Central District again
hosted a one-day school at St. John's University on October 18, 2006, with 84
people in attendance. The "Water For People" raflle netted $289. A
drawing was held for two complimentary AWWA memberships. Toby Koltes, Utility
Systems Operator from Sartell, was drawn for the regular membership and Jill
Rymer, who attends the St. Cloud Tech Water and Wastewater Training Program was
drawn for the student membership.
The Central District
Education Committee met on February 16th to prepare the agenda for the next
annual three-day school to be held at Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge by Deerwood, MN
on June 6 - 8, 2007. This school should again be very interesting for the
people who attend it. A block of rooms has been reserved for early arrival on
the 5th of June. The Central District Business Meeting will be held on
Thursday, June 7th. At this time, elections will be held to fill the posts of
District Trustee (3 year term) and District Vice Chair (one year term). For
registration forms for the conference, you can contact Jeanette Boothe at the
MN Dept. of Health (phone: 651-201-4697) or Lyle Stai at the Willmar Municipal
Utilities (e-mail: water@wmu.willmar.mn.us or phone: 320-212-8590).
Metro
District (Blommel-Johnson)
SW District
(Moulton)
The
2007 AWWA Spring School was held on April 4, 2007 at the Redwood Falls Area
Community Center in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. A total of 70 were in attendance
for this one day event. The following were speakers and participants at the
school.
·
Stew Thornley provide
an overview on the CD-ROM Module on Drinking Water that is being produced by
Hameline University for the Minnesota Section AWWA.
·
Dave Holland and Chris
Voeltz provided a PowerPoint presentation on Water for People activities and
announced an upcoming “Water for People” golf outing in Shakopee on May 24th –
please call Chris at 507-934-0670 if you are interested.
·
Shawn Mulhern of KLM
Engineering discussed tower maintenance; he covered construction inspection,
maintenance, chlorination and return to service activities.
·
Gary Alme of McCarthy
Well reviewed the basics of new well construction and maintenance of existing
wells.
·
Steve McCuskey of Hach
reviewed multiple sampling techniques and the requirements to keep your samples
within compliance standards.
·
David Rindahl and
Lih-in Rezania gave us a brief overview of new and existing MDH updates.
The
Southwest Section also held their annual business meeting
·
Items discussed were
attendance at the annual conference in Duluth.
·
Section school times
were discussed and it was decided that the Spring school would be held in the
western area of the SW Section and that the Fall school would be held in the
eastern area of the section.
·
Formation of the Water
and Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) in Minnesota was discussed and
the benefits for AWWA members
·
Election of Section
Officers was held and the following members will hold the following posts
starting in September after the Annual Conference.
o
Section Trustee (3-year
term) – Pete Moulton of St Peter
o
Section President
(1-year term) - Steve Nowak of Wells
o
Section Vice President
(1-year term) – Chris Voeltz of St Peter
o
Secretary / Treasurer
(1-year term – John Blomme and Mark Sweers of the MDH will share the
responsibility
SE
District (Huschle)
The MN AWWA's Southeast District Operators School was held this spring at the
Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in Rochester. The 3-day school ran from Wednesday, March 21st to Friday, March 23rd. There were 102 full registrations. The vendors display continues to be a
popular item and our guest speaker, Mr. Al Batt, gave a very entertaining talk
at the operator's breakfast. The Water
for People raffle raised $685. Myron
Volker was recognized for all of his accomplishments working with the SE
District.
The next fall 1-day operator's school is
tentatively scheduled for October 26th, and will be hosted by the City of
Northfield.
Trustee-At-Large (Shea)
Nothing
to report.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Administration
Council (Cockriel)
No
report.
The Finance Committee met on May 14, 2007 at the
Bloomington Water Treatment Plant. Barb Woolsey (chair), Doug Rovang, Karl
Streed, Jon Eaton and David Brown were present. Stew Thornley, the proposed new
assistant secretary, was also present.
The section financial status and investments as of
March 31, 2007 were reviewed. The Section continues to be slightly ahead of the
financial plan.
Action items from the previous finance committee
meeting (January 2007) were reviewed and board action noted.
The assistant secretary will change at the conference
from Jon Eaton to Stew Thornley. The committee appreciates the efforts given by
Jon Eaton over the last six years and how he helped turn the section around
financially during that time.
Jon Eaton is preparing the documents to be sent to
the auditor, accounting firm KDV. The
documents are expected to be received by KDV in the next two or three weeks.
An extension has been filed for the taxes. Taxes and
audit need to be completed by August 15.
Jon will contact UBS (UBS is AWWA’s financial
advisor), USBank and Wells Fargo to get proposals for managing the Section’s
investment funds. Wells Fargo is currently managing Section investment funds,
and the committee feels the current management fee the Section is being charged
should be reduced. The committee will review these proposals and make a
recommendation on which firm to use to manage our investment funds at our
September meeting.
Committee discussed a new five year financial
plan. Committee decided to prepare a
new five year financial plan that they can recommend to the board for approval
at the annual conference this fall.
The
IT Committee has recruited seven presenters for the IT Session at the Annual
Conference in Duluth. The topics range
from the MN AWWA webpage reconstruction project to mobile technology, to GIS,
and distribution modeling. We have a good representation from the public and
private sector.
The
Committee has been diligently working with Fredrickson Communication on the
design oand development of the MN AWWA webpage. The goal for the website is to:
·
Effectively communicate
what MN-AWWA is
·
Make the navigation
consistent throughout the site
·
Provide a simple,
intuitive site, with the right balance of information on the home page
·
Provide up-to-date
information for the site’s audience
·
Provide education for
the state’s youth via links to downloadable files, etc.
·
Provide online
registration for conferences and other events.
There
have been several meetings to define the business objectives, conduct the needs
assessment, and inventory the current site content.
The
next step in the project will include obtaining feedback and input from a
select group of representatives. This group includes management, Operators, and
MAC members. The testing will be conducted within the next couple of weeks.
The
results will be analyzed, discussed, and incorporated into the final product.
Membership committee met on March 7, 2007 at the Green Mill
in St. Cloud (MRWA Conference). The committee discussed the value of membership
CD. John Lapointe agreed to prepare a proposal that would be sent to at least
two companies who can prepare the CD for us. John has completed this draft
proposal.
John Berrigan submitted a letter of resignation from the
Membership Committee on May 14, 2007. John expressed his enjoyment at serving
as the Chair of the Membership Committee for the last several years. He hopes that the board feels that he served
the interests of the Administrative Council and the Board of Directors to our
satisfaction. The reason for John’s resignation is that he has accepted a new
position that will require him to move from the State of Minnesota.
John Lapointe has been assisting in making sure that we have
continuity during the transition.
Gary Warner of Tonka Equipment Company has offered his
services to assist the Membership Committee as well.
No
report.
Conference
Council (Schultz)
The
91st Annual Minnesota AWWA conference is set for September 19th –21st 2007 in
Duluth at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. (DECC). We have a new location this year at the
DECC, City side of the convention center.
The MAC is excited about the new vendor show area this year. The city
side has a larger facility that will accommodate trailers displays. Jay Whitaker is finalizing a great technical
program for this year’s conference.
Monica Watry and Brenda Spain have re-energized the spouses program and
are in the planning for this year’s event.
We are excited about our new location and plan to have bigger and better
conference then last year’s.
Manufacturers
Council (Norton)
The
April 19, 2007 MAC meeting was held in the conference room of Plant &
Flanged Equip. Co., in Blaine, MN.
MAC
members present at the meeting: Jim Norton, Dave Scheerer, Tony Belden, Rod
Ganther, Bob McNutt, Tom Mumm, Scott Bredehoft, and Kelly Lange-Haider.
Nonvoting
MAC members present at the meeting: Brian Zinnel, YP Chair.
Guest
present at the meeting: Jay Whitaker, MN Section Program Committee Chair
National
MAC Meeting Report
National
MAC representative, Ben Mason, was absent.
Jim Norton presented Ben's written report to the MAC. Ben's report can be found at the end of
these minutes. No action was taken on Ben's
report.
Committee
Reports
1. Social Committee: Todd Bredesen was absent. Jim Norton presented Todd's written report.
a. Todd reported that the planned MAC social event, at
the 2007 Annual Conference in Duluth, will be the same as the 2006 event, which
was a social and sporting competition at Grandma's Sports Saloon.
2. Tom Mumm reported that the 2007 Tuesday Annual
Conference Golf Tournament, will be the same time, place, and format as the
2006 event.
Exhibits
Committee: Committee Chair position is vacant at this time, Jim Norton gave the
report.
1. 2007 Annual Conference exhibits will be held in the
Edmond Fitzgerald Exhibit Hall at the DECC.
a. There will be 80 exhibits spaces available in 2007,
this is 20 more than in past years.
2. Scott Bredehoft agreed to serve as Exhibits Committee
Chair.
a. Exhibit Committee members in addition to Scott will
be David Scheerer, Jim Norton, and David Brown.
3. A Top-Ops contest in the exhibit hall was
discussed. The general consensus was
that this event is not necessary, but no action was taken.
Endowment
Committee: Reported by Rod Ganther
1. Rod reported that he is working on Endowment Fund
activities for the 2007 Annual Conference.
National
AWWA Conference / ACE: Reported by Tony Belden
1. Tony reported that there will be a Traditional Minnesota
Breakfast at the ACE in 2007
a. Location - Sheraton Centre Toronto, Simcoe/Dufferin
Room
b. Date and time - Monday, June 25, 2007 at 7:00 AM
2. Cost will be $25.00 if RSVP before 6-8-07 and $35.00
for RSVP after 6-8 & for walk-ups.
3. Engineering America will handle the collection of
money and issuing receipts.
4. A breakfast speaker has not been selected yet.
a. Tony will try to get someone from National AWWA to
speak.
b. Other speaker suggestion are welcome, please contact
Tony ASAP.
5. Tony will add the MN Section logo to his breakfast
notification flyer.
Water
for People Report
1. Bernie Bullert, WFP Chair, was absent. Jim Norton
gave the report.
2. Jim reported that WFP will sponsor a Spring Golf
Tournament on May 24th, 2007.
Young
Professionals Committee Report
1. Brian Zinnel, YP Committee Chair, gave the report.
2. Brian reported that a YP Texas holdem tournament will
again be held at the 2007 Conference in Duluth. Proceeds will benefit the David B. Morris Scholarship Fund.
3. Although the success of the Fresh Ideas poster competition
was somewhat limited at the 2006 conference, Brian reported that YP will
continue to support this event and grow it in the future.
Fall
Conference '07 Exhibit Space Report
1. See Exhibits Committee report above.
MAC
Roster
1. Jim Norton presented an updated MAC roster. Refer to Appendix C for the updated roster.
a. Bernie Bullert and Heath Picken resigned from the MAC
on 1-1-07 and 4/1/07 respectively.
b. David Scheerer and Bob McNutt, whose terms expired on
1-1-07, were re-appointed to the MAC.
c. Kelly Lange-Haider and Scott Bredehoff joined the MAC
New
Business
1. Jay Whitaker updated the MAC on the 2007 Section
Conference program
a. No action was taken by the MAC regarding the 2007
program
2. Jay Whitaker reported on the Annual Conference
Fishing Tournament
a. The 2006 fishing event was the first and it was held
at the same time as the 2006 Golf Tournament.
b. Jay reported that the 2006 fishing event was a
success.
c. Jay said that he'd like to continue with the event in
2007.
d. The MAC discussed Jay's request.
e. Jay handled the 2006 fishing tournament on his
own. It was agreed that the MAC would
sponsor this event in 2007 and in the future.
f.
The following motion
was made: MAC will sponsor a Fishing Tournament at the Minnesota AWWA Annual
Conference in Duluth.
i.
The motion was made by
Tom Mumm and seconded by Bob McNutt. A
vote was taken and the motion passed.
ii.
Jay volunteered to
continue to coordinate the fishing tournament.
g. A second motion was made: MAC will cover the cost of
any fishing boat deposits. Fishing
Tournament registration amounts will be set at an amount that will allow for
reimbursement to the MAC for the deposit amounts.
i.
The motion was made by
David Scheerer and seconded by Tom Mumm. A vote was taken and the motion
passed.
ii.
MAC will use money from
their budget to pay boat deposits
iii.
The MAC budget will be
reimbursed for any money paid for boat deposits from the money collected from
fishing tournament registration fees.
iv.
It was agreed that MAC
would sponsor up to three boats in 2007.
MAC
approved Section associate and commercial members sponsoring individual fishing
boats.
1. Boat sponsorship would be conducted in the same
fashion as hole sponsorships are for the golf tournament.
2. Profits made from boat sponsorship would be given to
Water for People.
Jim
Norton noted that at the December 8, 2005 MAC meeting a motion was made and
approved to combine the corporate fund raising activities of the Water for
People committee and the Endowment Fund committee.
1. Jim Norton directed that in addition to their
standard MAC meeting reports, the chairs of WFP and EF should be prepared to
give a short financial report at future MAC meetings.
2. Rod Ganther stated that he will work with the YP,
Water for People, and the Endowment Fund committees to coordinate fund raising
activities in 2007.
Next
Meeting - The next MAC meeting is scheduled for 9:00 AM, Thursday, July 19th,
2007, at American Cast Iron Pipe offices in Lakeville, MN.
Ben
Mason's National MAC Report
Unfortunately,
I will be unable to attend the April MAC meeting. I am traveling in OR and WA
all week. Also, I missed the spring MAC meeting in Phoenix so have little to
report.
There
are a couple of items the MAC should discuss.
A.
As I understand it, WEF would like to merge the two organizations to have
"one voice for water". AWWA
wants to find areas to work cooperatively with WEF before considering the
concept of one organization.
1.
I support the concept of one organization from the standpoint of reducing the
number of industry organizations and functions the Service Provider membership
is expected to participate in. As you
know, the cost for belonging to two organizations, attending local and national
conferences sponsored by two organizations, exhibiting at those conferences,
providing sponsorships at those events, advertising in two separate
periodicals, and volunteering to serve in two organizations, is considerable.
2.
I went to the AWWA WEB site to see if I could find anything on the subject and
was unable to.
B.
I was asked as a member of the National MAC to offer comments to the Dues Study
Committee. Pay particular attention to the first item delineating the revenues
generated by the Service Provider group to AWWA. My feeling is that our input in this AWWA/WEF debate is not proportional
to our financial stake in AWWA, or more accurately stated, AWWA's financial
interest in our group. I would like to
see the issue discussed and debated in the local sections but more information
about AWWA's position and thinking is needed.
I suggest MN MAC invite Glen Gerads to the meeting as he is probably the
one person in our section with the most knowledge about the subject. Please note my comments AWWA dues.
1.
It appears that about 1/3 of total revenue is generated from dues, and 2/3 from
other sources. I assume a significant portion of the other sources include
conference registrations, exhibit fees, and sponsorships. I further assume that
a significant proportion of these other revenues are contributed by the service
provider membership. Any dues restructuring should seek to preserve current
proportionalities to insure that the service provider community is not asked to
bear an even larger portion of the total revenue stream.
2.
Based on the historical "growth" rates, I would suggest a budget plan
based on a zero growth rate. That way, if membership does increase, actual dues
revenues will be greater than projections. Similarly, if membership declines,
the impact on the budget will be somewhat reduced from what it would be if the
dues revenues are projected based on an increased membership level.
3.
The Life Membership category is the only financial "incentive" to
maintaining membership. If that incentive is removed, it is not likely to go
over well with those members who have diligently paid their dues over the
years. Some portion of those annual dues could even be considered akin to
social security. In other words, I paid in all of those years for others to
have a free membership so that when I get my thirty years in, I can enjoy that
same benefit. From my perspective I think it would be better to continue free
membership to Life Members but change the definition of what is required to
qualify for that status, perhaps 35 years and age 60 instead of 30 years at
whatever age.
4.
Utility membership fees based on volume of water sold will have a
disproportionate impact resulting from the different pricing structures of the
utilities. Thus, it seems to me that the per connection basis would be more
equitable. What does it cost AWWA to provide their benefits and services to
utility members? Certainly those costs
for larger utilities will be greater than for smaller ones. If you can
determine what that range is, you should be able to develop a graduated
structure that results in more total revenue from the larger utilities but at a
lower rate per connection than what the smaller ones would be subject to.
Public
Affairs Council (Volker)
Public Information (Terry Neumann)
No
report.
Publications (Erik Juhl)
I
am writing to offer my resignation as Publications chair and as editor of the
Breeze. The time constraints that have hampered me this spring will remain in
place for at least another year, and so for the short term at least, I conclude
that I am not going to be your best option in either capacity.
I
am extremely interested in making the transition to a new graphics person as
painless as possible. If you want me to stay on through the summer Breeze, for
example, I'd be more than happy to put it together for you.
If
you want some help finding a graphic designer to take over, I have a suggestion
as to someone whom I think you could approach -- it's Cassandra Tracy, who
among other things does the layout for the City of Bloomington's award-winning
bimonthly newspaper
(http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/main_top/4_news/briefing/briefing.htm).
She has mentioned an interest in doing some work in her evening hours. She
would bring in lots of design experience and a fresh approach that would be of
great benefit to the publications.
I
don't know what kind of compensation the Section and she would agree to. I
suspect that she would be more expensive per-hour / per issue than I have been.
However, she may not require the use of a Section-owned Mac, as she has her own
setup at home, so you may be able to use some of the computer-replacement money
allocated in this year's budget to offset her costs and the Section would still
come out pretty good financially.
In
addition, you can sell the G4 and get its residual value back into the coffers.
If you allow me to, I will make you an offer for it, if only so as to avoid
having to figure out how to keep my e-mail history intact -- I don't think
there's any way to transfer it from the Mac to our Dell PC!!
Some
sections have outsourced their newsletters to design firms that specialize in
cranking them out for other AWWA Sections. This alternative may also be worth
exploring, though I don't have a particular contact company to start with. I
think this option would be the more expensive one; it would almost certainly
offer less flexibility than finding someone local would ... but the newsletters
do look well-designed.
I
have enjoyed working on the Breeze so much. For quite some time I have resisted
the accumulating evidence that I should step back from my role. Perhaps after I have finished grad school I
will be better able to take on the work. If at that time you have need of me, I
would love to get back in the loop with you. However, if by then you have moved
beyond the need of my services, I will remain very supportive of your success
and will always be grateful for the years that I have had in playing a part in
advancing the Section's publications.
Water for People (Bernie Bullert)
Metro
School -- $100 raffle each of the three days—raised $811
MAC
meeting that Bernie attended is working on section-wide policy for raffle
prizes
MWOA—the
board will turn over the raffle to WFP and would ask for 20-30% of the funds
raised to go towards the library fund
MWOA
Golf tournament in Willmar as an opportunity to raise more WFP monies
Registration
for District Schools does show information about the WFP raffle; MnAWWA will
have to show it on their registration
WFP
Spring Golf Tournament—so far, seven teams of four have registered
Bernie
is working with Denver WFP to arrange for a speaker at the Fall Conference;
they need some costs paid for by section
Bernie
attended the Starbuck’s movie in Minneapolis—Water World Event—about 30 in
attendance
Fall
Conference—golf, selling ribbons, fishing activities to raise monies; looking
at same hotels as last year’s conference for prizes
WFP
will probably share a table at the Fall Conference with the Young Professionals
and Endowment Fund
Details
for Fall Conference will be handled by e-mail
Next
meeting will be at the Fall Conference
Bernie
has an extensive list of “to dos”—he will call Dennis Martenson about writing
an article for the AWWA about our WFP activities, he is going to call the
Central District about their needs of WFP supplies for their school, and we
need a banner and tee signs for the fall conference
Funds
raised to date: MWOA St. James $245; SW
District Redwood Falls $241; SE District Rochester $685; Metro District $811;
NE District $225
Scholarship (Jon Eaton)
No
report.
Young Professionals (Brian Zinnel)
No
report.
Training
Council (Bill Spain)
Even though the project is not finished, the module on
drinking water being developed by Hamline University’s Center for Global
Environmental Education (CGEE) is receiving an award from the Minnesota
Association of Government Communicators (MAGC) in the 2007 MAGC Northern Lights
Contest. The award it receives
(Excellence or Merit) will be revealed during the Northern Lights Awards
Banquet.
This module is being paid for by Minnesota AWWA and the
Minnesota Department of Health, and it will, when finished, be available on the
web sites of those organizations as well as on a CD-ROM.
The module should be finished later this year, after a group
of teachers develops a teachers’ guide to go with the module.
The teachers on this committee are graduates of the Water
Works! Drinking Water Institutes for Educators, which the Education Committee
has been conducting since 2001. The
module on drinking water will become an important component in future Drinking
Water Institutes. The next Institute
will be held June 18-20, 2007 at the Outdoor Learning Center near Ely. More information is available at
http://mnawwa.org/education/youtheducationprogram.html.
Four of the districts within Minnesota AWWA have completed
their spring schools.
• Southeast School, March 21-23, Ramada Hotel and Conference
Center, Rochester, 103 attendees
• Southwest School, April 4, Redwood Falls Area Community
Center, 61 attendees
• Metro School, April 18-20, Earle Brown Heritage Center,
Brooklyn Center, 234 attendees
• Northeast School, April 25-27, Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge
near Grand Rapids, 52 attendees
Still to go is the Central School, June 6-8 at Ruttger’s Bay
Lake Lodge near Deerwood
The Management Institute was held March 12-14 at the
University of Minnesota's Continuing
Education and Conference Center in St. Paul.
The attendance tied the record set last year (41).
As an additional note, the committee notified the
Association that the Management Institute was going solo under the banner of
the Minnesota Section. The Association
responded with a gracious letter thanking the Section for its leadership over
the past 25 years.
No
report.
No report.
No
report.
Water
Utility Council (K. Johnson)
The Water Utility Council has had a busy agenda
recently, following a Bill Introduced in the Minnesota Senate. This Bill is known as SF2171 and passed
through the Senate and into the House both very quickly. The Bill provides for
the transfer of cash reserve from the state government special revenue fund
into the state general fund. Of particular concern to all municipal rate-paying
water customers is the $6.36 fee paid to support the MN Department of Health
testing program. Once in the House, Craig Johnson, representing the League of
Minnesota Cities (LMC) worked together with the MN Section WUC to oppose and
stop this transfer of funds from the Minnesota Department of Health. A letter was drafted and sign by the Section
(WUC), MRWA and the LMC. Furthermore,
while in conference committee, an amendment was added that would result in the
State legislature mandate to set new standards for commonly occurring water
contaminants to the more stringent level of either the EPA MCL or the State
HRL. The WUC, LMC, and MRWA battled to
derail this bill and its amendment. The
Governor has vetoed the Bill and we are working to remove the amendment and
keep the Legislature hands off of our water fee. The WUC has also facilitated a presentation on the Reuse of
Treated Municipal Wastewater for Industrial Purposes, funded by a grant from
the Metropolitan Council (MC). The WUC
has also provided representation to the MC to investigate Water Security and
Safety on a regional basis and to a MN Department of Health initiative on WARN.
March 29, 2007 Meeting Minutes
Invited Speakers
Adam Kramer presented information about Homeland
Security Grants and Urban Area Security Initiative. Yasser AbouAish reviewed a slide presentation he had prepared on
Department of Homeland Security Grants and America’s Water Systems.
• Minnesota’s
Homeland Security program requires direct application to the State,
applications are reviewed by emergency preparedness personnel (mostly police
and fire). Past grant focuses have been
on public safety, optimistic that more focus will be on water and wastewater
infrastructure security protection.
• Urban
Area Security Initiative - The Twin City Metro area is eligible to apply. The
Urban Area Administrative Council administers the program. The qualified entities include the Cities of
Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Counties of Hennepin, Ramsey, and Dakota. Washington and Anoka County’s are
participating but not qualified entities.
The group is currently preparing a list of grant recommendations. You must apply to this group to receive
grant consideration.
• Yasser
prepared a draft letter which references: Water Systems, our Nation’s Critical
Infrastructure and DHS 2007 Grants, from MN Section AWWA, addressed to
Department of Homeland Security and Governor Tim Pawlenty.
Patti Craddock, Craddock Consulting Engineers,
presented information and facilitated discussion on “Recycling Treated
Municipal Wastewater for Industrial Water Use”
• MCES
received a grant from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources to look
at water reuse and municipal wastewater from non potable uses.
• Part
1 looked at supply and demand; part 2 looked at treatment technologies. Where does Minnesota go now? Looking for issues, concerns, and
recommendations.
• Requesting
1 or 2 members (preferably from utilities) to participate on April 24 meeting
(1 PM). Kurt Johnson to put out
invitation to WUC utility members to attend meeting and participate in process.
• Scheduled
to give a report to the legislature in June.
• Miscellaneous
discussion items included: City of
Mankato and Cal Pine water reuse partnership, Mdewakanton Sioux Community water
reuse for golf course irrigation, CA and FL implement water reuse programs for
lawn irrigation, Moorhead area ethanol plant looking at 20 mile pipeline to
facility, Empire WWTP water diversion from Vermillion River to Mississippi
River, the DNR has not been involved in this initiative yet, no established
regulatory structure currently in place for water reuse.
Congress, EPA Update
No report, Bob Peplin was not in attendance;
information is forwarded to WUC members by e-mail as it becomes available.
Legislative Report from LMNC Representative
Craig Johnson was unable to attend.
Karla Peterson reported
• State
to lower atrazine level from 3ppb to 1ppb, no Minnesota communities affected
• Campgrounds
non continuous flow backflow preventors are allowed, cities can require
specific type.
• Service
connection fees – a bill has been introduced to increase fees related to
additional water testing related to PFC monitoring
• Discussion
on Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill 2171 where funds from the MDH special
revenue fund would transfer to the state general fund. A portion of the revenue in the special
revenue fund is the water testing fees collected by the cities for each service
connection. This fee was recently
raised to $6.36 per connection from $5.21 annually. Recommendation that letter be drafted to legislature expressing
concerns that communities are collecting money for a specific purpose, these
funds should not be transferred to other areas within the state budget. Kurt Johnson and Ruth Hubbard to work
together to draft letter and send template to cities, MDH will provide
background information.
• Motion
– WUC/MRWA to draft letter to author of bill and committee, expressing concerns
about transfer of money from existing program(s) and highlighting the successes
of the program which may be lessened if funds are transferred. Joint letter from WUC and MRWA. Send copy of letter to WUC members
o Motion
by Dennis Martenson,
o Seconded
by Allen Lamm
o All
in favor, zero opposed, motion approved
• Request
that when legislature is in session, other topics are brought to the Boards
attention by email.
State Related Water Issues
GSOC - Adam Kramer
• Feb
9 MNOPS meeting
• Number
of locates is down
• Base
maps sent out to all subscribers to verify accuracy
• A
small number of accounts are using positive response to track ticket status
• No
apparent interest in tackling bill again in the near future.
Environmental Quality Board – Ed Sorenson
• The
Governors Water Cabinet is now a committee of the Environmental Quality Board
• The
DNR and EQB submitted their water resources report to the legislature
MRWA – Ruth Hubbard
• Ethanol
plants – creating a new rural water district to govern plants
• Groundwater
Awareness Day at the Capital – not well attended by legislators; but, great
opportunity to discuss water issues with other agencies including, MRWA, DNR,
AWWA, Groundwater Well Association, etc.
• MRWA
conference - very well attended
MDH - Karla Peterson
• Minnesota
Department of Agriculture is looking at chlorine incidents (Woodbury had a
release approximately 1 month ago). MDA
will investigate incidents.
• Backwash
waste into infiltration basins are being looked at
• Funding
available to do tabletop security exercises one on one with communities, groups
of communities, or may work with WARN
committee to develop exercises.
MCES – Chris Elvrum
• Phase
II Water Supply Plan
• NIMS
training – evaluating regional benefit
• DNR/MCES
– Drought Response Plan, developing requirements of surface water and ground
water suppliers
• Resource
Availability Assessment – technical analysis, water conservation toolbox (web
based, links/tools/tips, consistency across region)
DNR – Laurel Reeves
• Emergency
and Conservation Plans are being reviewed
• Groundwater
Day at the Capital
• Irrigation
wells in areas with public suppliers
• Surface
water appropriation letters
WARN – Ruth Hubbard/Bob Cockriel
• MRWA
has had two meetings
• Determining
need and purpose
• Meeting
April 26
• Bob
Smude, MDH, setting up
Plumbing Code Revisions – Allen Lamm
• Request
to be included on list of trade organizations that have input on revisions
o Compression
fittings
o C900
for service pipe
• Ground
water cooling systems – no authority to prohibit in WHP areas, MDH as heating
and cooling wells, MDH to look at issue.
• Plumbing
now under Department of Labor and Industry
• Motion
– Letter requesting the WUC be included on advisory committee for Plumbing Code
Revisions. Allen Lamm to draft
letter.
o Motion
by Allen Lamm
o Seconded
by Dennis Martenson
o All
in favor, zero opposed, motion approved
PFC’s found in Southern Washington County wells -
Bernie Bullert
• 8
cities affected to date
• Long
term vs. short term effects
• Concern
that the water industry doesn’t know how to react
• Affects
both private wells and municipal wells
• As
testing methods improve, more substances will be identified, AWWA/WUC must be
able to address issues
• AWWA/WUC
must encourage discussion and be proactive
Association Director
• No
report, Glen Gerads not in attendance
Discussion/Action Items
None
Next Meeting
June 14, St. Paul.
Dave Wagner and Steve Gleason, SPRWS, will host