GOVERNING BOARD MEETING
1. CALL
TO ORDER (Peterson)
Peterson
called the meeting to order at
2. ROLL
CALL (Thornley)
Position Name Attendance
Confirmed
Chair-elect.................................................. Bill Spain, SCTC Yes
Chair.......................................................... Karla
Peterson, MDH Yes
Past Chair.................................................. Scott
Anderson,
Association Director.................................... Glen Gerads,
Association Director Elect........................... Dave Schultz, MDH Yes
Secretary/Treasurer..................................... Dave Brown, Bluestone Engr No
Assistant Secretary..................................... Stew Thornley, MDH Yes
District Trustees
Northwest................................................... Brian Bergentine, AE2S Yes
Northeast................................................... vacant
Central....................................................... Lyle Stai,
Metro......................................................... Paul Coone,
Southwest.................................................. Pete Moulton, St. Peter Yes
Southeast.................................................. Dean Huschle,
At-Large..................................................... Pat Shea,
Councils and Committees
Administrative & Policy (APC)...................... Bob Cockriel,
Conference (Conf)....................................... Corey Lubovich,
Public Affairs (PAC).................................... Myron Volker,
Training & Education (TEC)......................... Chris Glassing, ACIPCO Yes
Water Utility (WUC)..................................... Bernie Bullert, TKDA Yes
Gary
Peters was present for Lyle Stai, representing the
Central District.
3. CONSENT REPORT (Peterson)
MINUTES APPROVAL:
Corrections/Additions:
FINANCIAL REPORT (Stew Thornley)
As of
ASSOCIATION DIRECTOR’S REPORT (Glen Gerads/Dave Schultz)
DISTRICT REPORTS
Northwest
District (Brian Bergantine)
No report.
Northeast District
(vacant)
The 2008
committee is excited to be back in Ely. This venue will also host the
Central
District (Lisa Vollbrecht/Gary Peters for Lyle Stai)
Lyle
Stai, MN AWWA Central District Trustee, was in a
serious car accident
MN
AWWA Central District Three Day Training planning session was held
The
MN AWWA Central District One Day Training session will be held at
Metro
District (Paul Coone for Carol Blommel
Johnson)
Southwest District
(Pete Moulton)
The
Southwest District officers met in
The
spring school was held in
Welcome
– Mayor Gary Revier
Water
for People Presentation by Chris Voeltz (Saint Peter)
Operator
Certification Questions—Mark Sweers, (MDH)
The
Urban Cycle drinking-water module—Stew Thornley, MDH
Minnesota
Department of Health Update—Lih-in Rezania, MDH
Southwest District Business Meeting – Pete Moulton,
Southwest District Trustee
HDPE
& your Water System - Mark Hines, H. D. Supply
Chlorine
and Chemical Safety, Mike Clemens, Hawkins Chemical
Chlorine
Rooms, Plan-Review Requirements - Lucas Martin, MDH
Direction
of the AWWA - Karla Peterson – Section Chair
New
members include: Jim Plumhoff –
At
the Business Meeting – Dave Marks from Marshall Utilities was elected
Vice-Chair for the upcoming year.
Southeast District (Dean Huschle)
The MN AWWA's
The next fall 1-day
operator's school is tentatively scheduled for October 31st, and will be hosted
by the City of
Trustee-At-Large (Pat Shea)
No
report.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE REPORTS
Administration
Council (Bob Cockriel)
Awards (Yasser Abouaish)
No
report.
Finance (Barb Woolsey)
Finance
Committee meeting of
Present:
Doug Rovang, Barb Woolsey, Christine Meyer, Stew Thornley, Jon Eaton
Barb
will do year-end report with Jon on Friday, April 18.
Investments:
General Endowment Checking
Sponsorship for Jon Eaton for a 10-day
mission trip in June related to drinking water in
Jon
is requesting $1,600 from Minnesota AWWA to pay for the travel expenses for him
and an interpreter. The cost is $1,200
per person ($2,400 total), and Suburban Utility Superintendent Association has
contributed $800. The issue will be
brought up at the May 2 section board meeting.
Hiring of bookkeeper
Doug
crafted an agreement for section administrative services for a contractor to
provide “assistance to the section secretary-treasurer with various section
business matters.”
The
committee would also like to purchase another laptop computer for use by the
section bookkeeper. Stew will check into
the laptop purchase and try to take care of it as soon as possible.
Doug
will provide Stew with the proposed agreement for the May 2 board meeting.
Investment Policy Statement
The
board needs to approve the Investment Policy Statement.
Information Technology (Carol Kaszynski)
On
The
decision was made that each Council Chairperson would ultimately be responsible
for having their section of the website updated. They would collect the information and
forward to the Webmaster, IT Chairperson Carol Kaszynski.
The
IT Chairperson will also send an email to the Chair people once a month,
reminding them to send updated information.
It is not the job of the Webmaster to continually prod and beg for
information.
There
was discussion regarding the inclusion of a “members only” secured site. There was some interest in this but when
discussing the items that would be included on the site, the interest
waned. No decision was made as to the
direction of this item.
There
was discussion surrounding the availability of the MN AWWA letterhead on the
website. The concern is that individuals
could misrepresent the organization by writing letters using official Section
documentation. An illustration of how
easy it is to create letterhead was provided.
No decision was made.
The
IT Chairperson will provide Chairperson Peterson with a webpage “request”
template as well as a listing of the pages that need to be updated.
Membership (Gary Warner)
No
report.
Nominating (Glen Gerads,
Myron Volker)
No
report.
Conference
Council (Corey Lubovich)
The 2008 American
Waterworks Association Minnesota Section Annual Conference will be held at the
Duluth DECC the week of Monday September 22nd.
This is my first year as Conference Chair and I am quickly finding out
just how much work goes into such an event.
Dave Shultz was the previous chair and did a fabulous job at the helm
during his tenure. My goal is to pick up
where Dave left off with a continued effort in making this event as interesting
and worthwhile as possible. I have had a
number of meetings with the staff at the DECC earlier this year to get things
rolling. From these meetings, I have
come away with a good understanding of the timeframes and deadlines that will
need to be met by September. Various
conference sub committees have been meeting and working very hard at shelling
in the items that will be offered each day of the conference. The opening session on Wednesday morning
September 24th will be held at the OmniMax
Theatre. Speakers for this session as
well as the track classes are being sought after and confirmed. A new item, the feature movie "The Grand
Canyon" will be shown to attendees Wednesday morning and promises to be
crowd pleaser. My hope is to have the OmniMax Theatre
as our opening session location in future years as well.
See you at the DECC!
Manufacturers
Council (Tony Belden)
Minutes of the
The
1. Attendance
A. MAC members present at the meeting: Voting Members
- Tony Belden, Dave Scheerer, Todd Bredesen, Rod Ganther, Scott Bredehoft, Greg Johnson, Kelly Lange-Haider,
Brian Zinnel, Brad Forester, and Bob McNutt. Non
Voting Members – Ben Mason, representing the National MAC, Chris Voeltz, representing Water for
People, and Jay Whitaker, Annual Conference program committee chair and Annual
Conference Fishing Tournament chair.
2. Approval of Minutes
A. David Scheerer,
MAC Secretary, presented the minutes from the
3. 2008 MAC Roster
A. MAC Chair presented his 2008 MAC membership
roster.
B. This current MAC roster is attached to these
minutes.
4. MAC Annual Items/Tasks: Tony Belden led the
discussion.
A. Tony noted the activities, commitments, and
responsibilities of the MAC, which include:
1. Annual Conference: the MAC is responsible for the
management of the golf outing, fishing tournament, evening social events, and
product show.
2. National AWWA ACE: the MAC is responsible for the
MN Section meal/social activity at the ACE (typically a MN Section Breakfast).
3. Fund Raising: the MAC supports fund raising for
Water for People and the Endowment Fund.
4. The MAC is a strong supportive council for the
Young Professional council.
5. The MAC will keep all Section members and the
Section Board informed on National MAC activities.
B. Tony asked for other/new suggestions.
1. D. Scheerer suggested
that the MAC mission, in addition to the specific items discussed in item 4.A
above, is to represent the interest of MN Section associate members to the
Section Board and to all other MN Section members.
5. Committee Reports
A. Social Committee: chair Todd Bredesen
gave the report.
1. At this point in time there is little committee
activity. Todd reported that the planned MAC social events at the 2008 Annual
Conference in
a. Ben Mason suggested a new social activity that MAC could
sponsor: a “Day at the Dome” Twins baseball day. Bob McNutt suggested that
perhaps a St. Paul Saints game would be more fun. No action was taken on either
suggestion.
B. Exhibits Committee: Chair Scott Bredehoft, and Jay Whitaker, gave the report.
1. J. Whitaker handed out a map of the DECC and
pointed out the location of the 2008 exhibit hall, concurrent session rooms,
and OmniMax Theater.
2. J. Whitaker reports that the Conference Committee
is planning on holding the Annual Conference opening session in the OmniMax Theater. A discussion followed on the merits of
this idea and on ways the MAC could raise funds to pay for the OmniMax.
a. The Conference Committee Chair, Corey Lubovich, suggested selling 30 second time slots to each
product show exhibitor. These slots would be used by each exhibitor to stand up
before the OmniMax audience and briefly tell about
their company, product, or service.
i. The MAC feels that the logistics of pulling this
off with 70+ exhibitors would be difficult or impossible. It would also be
boring to sit through a succession of 70+ ads.
ii. MAC suggested a limited number of longer time
slots, perhaps 3 or 4, be sold at a premium price to companies that can see the
value in this type of advertising.
b. Scott Bredehoft will
discuss the MAC’s concerns with Corey Lubovich.
3. S. Bredehoft led a
discussion of the merits of technical sessions running concurrently with the
product show. Mixed feeling about concurrent sessions were
expressed.
4. At the last MAC meeting the MAC chair instructed
the exhibits committee to come up with a plan to improving exhibit hall
traffic. S. Bredehoft presented a plan to offer door
prizes in the exhibit hall (must be present to win).
a. A discussion of ideas on how to make this plan work
followed. T. Belden instructed
i. T. Belden appointed Scott Bredehoft,
Kelly Lange-Haider, and Todd Bredesen
to the ad hoc committee.
b. MAC members offered the ad hoc committee several
ideas for the door prize plan:
i. Prizes should be limited to three (3) significant
prizes only. All those paying for full conference registration will be eligible
to win if they are present in the exhibit hall at the time of the drawing.
ii. J. Whitaker stated that he will space three drawing
time slots into the program so that all conference attendees will have the
opportunity to be in the exhibit hall to win one of the prizes.
iii. T. Belden stated that the door prize contest must
do everything possible to avoid any conflict of interest for any product show
exhibitor.
iv. The dollars for the prizes should come
exclusively from exhibit registration fees.
v. The MAC exhibits committee will determine the
value of the door prizes, however, to avoid a conflict
of interest the Conference or House committee should purchase the individual
door prizes.
vi. Door prize winners should be drawn by a non-MAC
person, perhaps the visiting national AWWA representative could do this.
vii. T. Belden gave a brief overview of MN open gambling
laws and the door prize plan will have to adhere to these laws.
C. Endowment Committee: Chair Rod Ganther
gave the report.
1. Rod reported that the Endowment Fund Committee has
set a goal of being able to fund EF activities entirely from EF investment
income by 2010.
2. EF has set a fund raising goal for the 2008
Section Annual Conference of $2,000.
a. EF raised $1,800 at the 2007 conference.
D. ACE Meal/Social: Tony Belden gave the report.
1. The room has been reserved for the MN Section
breakfast at the ACE in
a. Tony is close to getting a guest speaker who will
discuss the drought situation in GA.
6.
A. Tony will be attending the AWWA Region 3 meeting
in May. He will give a report at the next scheduled MAC meeting.
7. National MAC Report: Ben Mason gave the report.
A. Ben attended the National MAC meeting in
1. Nat’l. MAC is drafting a “membership value”
statement that will explain WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) When the document is
completed the MN Section MAC may use it as a foundation to draft our own WIIFM.
2. Ben led a discussion of the need for people to
join the various AWWA Standards Committees.
3. Ben submitted a written report on the
8. Young Professionals: Report given by Brian Zinnel
A. Todd Butz has replaced
B. Zinnel as YP Committee Chair
B. YP will continue with Fresh Ideas poster contest
and the Thursday evening Texas Hold’em tournament at
the 2008 Section Annual Conference.
9. New Business
A. Chris Voeltz has joined
the MAC representing Water for People. Chris gave a brief report on current WFP
activities.
B. MAC members feel it is important to measure the
success of WFP fund raising activities, and the general consensus is that the
MAC should set a WFP fund raising goal number. Chris Voeltz
will discuss this further with the MAC Chair and report back to the MAC with a
goal at the next MAC meeting.
C. Chris made the suggestion that the WFP group
solicit a well known local celebrity to be an honorary spokesperson for WFP.
The MAC thought this is an excellent idea, no action was taken.
D. WFP will again sponsor their Annual Spring Golf
Tournament at Stonebrooke Golf Club scheduled for
E. Jay Whitaker reported that he will again run the
fishing tournament at the 2008 Section Conference in
10. Next Meeting
A. The next MAC meeting is scheduled for
11. Adjourn
A. Dave Scheerer made a
motion to adjourn the meeting. Brian Zinnel seconded
the motion. The meeting was adjourned.
Report by the ad hoc committee to
improve exhibit hall traffic.
Submitted by Kelly Lange-Haider, P.E.
The MAC committee plans to hold drawings for prizes
during the Vendor Exhibition on Wednesday between
Three separate drawings are planned: after lunch (
Public Affairs Council (Myron
Volker)
Public Information (Terry Neuman)
No
report.
Publications (Rod Volker)
No
report.
Water for People (Bernie Bullert)
Water for
People Committee Meeting Minutes
Members
present – Chris Voeltz,
Members
present (phone) – Russ Stammer, Dennis Martenson,
Chad Chlebeck
Spring Golf Tournament-
·
Chris V., Dave
H. to coordinate.
·
Chris to email
PDF file of entry form to all members, please
distribute to all of your contacts and feel free to enter.
·
We need one
volunteer to run the putting contest during the tournament. Call Chris for
information. (507) 934-0670
·
We had 14 teams
(56 people) enter last year; hopefully we can recruit more people this year
(and pray for a sunny day). We raised $700 at the 2007 tournament.
·
Tournament will
be advertised in the MN AWWA light breeze which will be published on April 15th.
MWOA
Annual Conference. July 23-25,
·
Dave H. to give
Water for People presentation at conference.
·
Dave H. and
Butch H. to set up booth at conference. We might need volunteers to man the
booth. More information to come.
·
Chris V., Butch
H. to coordinate fundraiser (putting contest, closest to the hole) at golf
tourney on July 22nd, which is being held at Shoreland
Golf Club in St. Peter.
MAC
Committee. April 3rd.
Chris
to attend meeting to see if there are any concerns by the both committees to
see if there is anything we can do anything different to make our organizations
run smoothly for fundraising activities. MAC committee and its members are our primary sponsor and they play a huge role for all of
our fundraising activities.
Water for People Leadership Workshop
– July 16-18,
Chris V. to attend.
AWWA Annual Conference- September 24-26,
·
Golf tournament
September 23, MAC to coordinate, Chris to set up hole
sponsor signs day of tourney. Chris and Nuzhat to
work on new hole sponsor signs.
·
Fishing contest
– Jay Whitaker to coordinate.
·
Trap shooting –
new event this year. Bernie and Randy Poore to
coordinate.
·
WFP committee
meeting during conference. We need to set up sub-committees for volunteers to
focus on individual events or items that Water for People concentrates on.
MN AWWA Section Website
Water
for People Minnesota section needs to have a link on MN AWWA website for the
activities that we are involved with. Dave H. to make
contact. The following information was identified by the committee to be
useful information on the website:
·
Post minutes
from each meeting.
·
Upcoming events
·
Link to national
Water for People website
·
Committee
members and how someone could become one.
·
·
Money raised from prior years.
World Water Day- April 22nd
Bernie to send Chris information.
Fundraiser Schedule 2008
SE
section
SW section
Metro
section
NE
section Ely May 14-16 Corey L., Dave
Spring
Golf Shakopee May 22 Chris, Dave
MWOA
golf St. Peter July 22 Chris, Butch
AWWA
Golf
AWWA fishing
AWWA
trap shoot.
AWWA
ribbons
SW
section Wells Oct. 2 Chris, Dave
NW
section Fergus Falls Dec. 2-4
2007 earned income - $12,917.34
Next Meeting
September 24 or 25 @
Scholarship (Jon Eaton)
MnAWWA Scholarship
Committee
Draft Working Documents
Purpose:
Current
Responsible for the activities related to the three
scholarship programs. The committee will
establish and maintain rules and applications for each type of scholarship
offered by the Section.
Proposed
To encourage water industry related education and
assistance at all working levels (operations, engineering, management, etc)
through scholarships, grants, contributions, and reduced cost educational
purchases.
Action
Items/Tasks:
Current
·
To review
general application criteria for each of the three scholarships.
·
To establish a
scoring system for ranking candidates.
·
Broaden the
advertisement of the scholarship to increase the number of applications each
year.
·
Have the
scholarships advertised on the Section Web page.
·
Review
membership of the committee. Recruit additional members that will support any
new and existing committee activities.
·
Discuss converting
$750 program contribution to individual scholarship.
Proposed
·
Establish/review/modify
program guidelines and criteria
·
Review/modify the
applicant scoring and ranking system
·
Utilize common
methods to solicit applicants and gather applications
·
Award board
approved scholarships and grants
·
Recruit and/or
maintain committee membership
·
Review &
update bylaws, policies, and/or procedures that apply to the Scholarship
Committee
Budget:
Current
The scholarship committee
proposed a budget increase from $8,970 to $12,070. The roughly $3k increase
came from a $500 increase in the Bachelor/Advanced Degree Scholarships and the
two (2) new $800 Community College Scholarships.
Budget / Programs:
Three
(3) $2,500 Bachelor/Advanced Degree
Scholarships
Six
(6) $495 Water Utility Management
Institute Scholarships
Two
(2) $800 Community College Scholarships
No
Cost College Bookstore purchases of
AWWA materials at section discounted pricing
Variable Water Industry Grant
(Assistance/Educational Materials/Equipment)
Committee
Membership:
Proposed
Committee Chair Jon Eaton,
Member..... John Thom, SEH (third year)
Member..... Allen Lamm,
New Ulm (third year)
Member..... Ben Mason, ACIPCO (third year)
Member..... Gerry Smith, MDH (second year)
Member..... Doug Rovang,
Member..... Ed Sorensen,
Member .... Chris Glassing, ACIPCO (first year)
Member .... Troy Hall,
Member..... Ray Hozalski,
Univ of MN(first year)
Membership Term:
The Scholarship Committee will
expand to nine active MN Section members, plus a committee chair. Each member
will serve a 3-year term. Member terms will be staggered to retain a committee
knowledge base. The committee makeup should include members of the Young
Professionals, Public Information, Manufacturers/Associate Council, and
education related volunteers. The Committee Chair is chosen by the PAC Chair.
See the business plan for the current roster.
Meetings:
The Scholarship Committee should meet annually (I
suggest during the Section Fall Conference). Other meetings should be scheduled
as needed via teleconferencing. Generally the committee communicates (rank
applicants, discuss ideas and issues, etc.) via email.
Programs:
Current
Bachelor/Advanced Degree Scholarships
Water Utility Management Institute Scholarships
College
Bookstore purchases of AWWA materials at Section discounted pricing
Water Industry Grant (assistance, education materials, equipment,
etc.)
Proposed
Community
College Scholarships
Continuing
Education Scholarship
Fall
Conference Scholarship - Small System
Fall
Conference Scholarship – Meritorious Service
2008 Goals (or plan of action):
1.
Review all
programs for maximum effect and to avoid any improbity
2.
Suggest and
submit program improvements to the BOD for approval
3.
Review and
recommend appropriate scholarship amounts
4.
Establish,
document, and institute an independent scoring system for ranking
applicants.
5.
Increase the
number of scholarship/grant applicants through advertising (postings in print
and electronic copy) and section activity (Information Technology, Conference,
MAC, Public Information, Publications, etc).
6.
Review Future
Scholarship issues, such as community college scholarship, continuing education
scholarship, etc.
Suggested
Review Order:
1. Advanced Degree Scholarship
2. Water Utility Management Institute Scholarship
3. College Bookstore discount
4. Water Industry Grant
5. Community College Scholarship
6. Proposed Scholarship Opportunities
Young Professionals (Todd Butz)
2008 Spring
Meeting / Conference Call
Roll Call –
Todd Butz,
John Chlebeck, Chris Glassing, Bo Johnston, Grant
Meyer, Kevin Renslow, Michelle Stockness,
Uma Vempati, Lisa Vollbrecht, Jeff Yeschick and
Brian Zinnel.
Approve
Minutes from Past Meeting – Chris
Glassing motioned to approve; Lisa Vollbrecht
seconded.
Review and
Approve Agenda – Lisa Vollbrecht motioned to approve; Kevin Renslow
seconded.
Unfinished
Business
1.
YPC
will partner with the SE District MN AWWA conference March 12-14 to sponsor a
social activity. Todd Butz will work with Jay Hall to schedule.
New
Business
Annual YP
Summit
Michelle
Stockness will attend representing MN YPC.
Workgroup
Chair Position Reports
Membership
(Bo Johnston/Todd Butz)
An
The
MN Section AWWA has asked for assistance and materials for membership for
YPC. YPC agreed to participate at the
Section level. Todd Butz will lead and will work with Grant
Meyer.
Social
(Michelle Stockness/Lisa Vollbrecht)
The Old Chicago social event on
YPC will invite ASCE YP group to facility tours; they
arranged the Gopher’s Stadium Tour.
c. Cold Spring Brewery,
d. Johnson Wellscreen,
e. Waterous
Manufacturing Facility,
f.
Outreach
(John Chlebeck/Doug Klamerus)
A
draft will be available next week for the Water Poster competition.
Fresh Ideas (Brad
Forester)
The 2007 Fresh Ideas Winner will be attending the
2008 ACE conference.
YPC
will begin encouraging other universities to participate in the Fresh Ideas
poster competition. A brochure will be
created to encourage additional participation.
Tournament (Doug
Klamerus/Chris Glassing)
2006 – 40 participants
2007 – 45 participants
The format will be kept the same for the 2008
tournament. Continue goals of each
participant receiving a prize w/a grand winner & loser prize. (John – try to score some SEH cards.) YPC will make cheat sheets available for
first time players.
Other Items
/ Ideas
YPC Members were encouraged to review and use the
AWWA Website.
Brian Zinnel is a member of
the Minnesota Associates Council (MAC).
The small systems and safety committees
are in needs of new members. This would
be a good opportunity for a YP to participate at the
Section level.
Announcements
and Schedule Next Meeting
Training
Council (Chris Glassing)
The 2008 Water Works! Drinking
Water Institute for Educators Drinking Water Institute will be at the Lakeville
Water Treatment Plant from Monday, August 4 to Wednesday, August 6.
* * * * *
The module on drinking water
being developed by
The module and teacher’s guide
will also be available on the web sites of the Minnesota Department of Health
drinking water program and the Minnesota American Water Works Association.
* * * * *
The following AWWA schools have
been held this spring:
·
Southeast District, March 12-14, Ramada Hotel
and
·
Southwest District, April 2,
·
Metro District, April 14-16,
The following spring schools are
coming up:
·
Northeast District, May 14-16, Grand Ely Lodge,
Ely
·
Central District, June 11-13, Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge, Deerwood
The
2008 Midwest Regional Water Utility Management Institute was held
The
committee is seeking new members to provide ideas on how to improve
participation in AWWA from small systems across
Water Utility Council (Bernie Bullert)
Water Utility Council
Meeting Minutes
Location:
Saint Paul Regional Water Services,
Attendance: Bernie Bullert,
Chad Hill, Steve Gleason, Craig Johnson, Kurt Johnson Adam Kramer, Allen Lamm, Cliff McLain, Karla Peterson, Laurel Reeves, Shahin Rezania, Ed Sorensen, Dave
Wagner
Housekeeping:
Bernie Bullert
chaired the meeting. To update the
roster, he asked members, who had not yet advised him, their start date on WUC.
Minutes:
The
minutes of
Congress,
EPA Update:
Bob Peplin absent. Adam Kramer
stated as a member of AMWA he understands the most significant bill under
consideration is the security bill.
There is still some undesirable language at this time. As part of the agenda for the DC fly-in, WUC
is focusing on the security bill.
Legislative
report from LMNC Representative - Craig Johnson
Craig
summarized 3 relevant activities of the 2008 legislative session as follows:
1. A copy of House File No. 3238 was distributed. Craig
advised the latest bill only contains provisions specific to “Water Supply
plan; demand reduction.” and “Conservation rate structure required.” Craig reported Representative Gardner, the
bill sponsor from
a. Craig clarified under “Conservation rate structure
required” line 2.33 states “The rate structure must consider each residential
unit as an individual user in multiple-family dwellings.” The intent of this statement is: In
calculating rates to promote conservation, individual users should be
considered and assigned appropriate allocations consistent with conservation
efforts. There is no desire to require individual meters for multi-family
dwellings.
b. Craig anticipates the value of water to be a big
issue in coming years. Some of the
concerns he has heard in 2008: Water is not being charged appropriate rate.
Groundwater is being depleted. State
wants to protect groundwater. He noted
further, the focus of discussion regarding renewable fuel was “how much water
is needed to produce each gallon of fuel”.
2. Increase to water appropriation fee is part of Senate
bill
a. For appropriation under 50 MG cost increase is 40%
from $101 per MG to $140 per MG.
b. For appropriations over 50MG, cost increase is 50 cents
per MG.
3. Proposed “Water Standards” have not been brought
forward so far in 2008. However, because they did appear last year as a last
minute amendment, vigilance is still needed.
State-Related
Water Issues
1.
2. Environmental Quality Board (EQB) Ed Sorenson:
a. Ed recommended members review the website eqb.state.mn.us /ongoing project and studies/ water
availability project.
b. A recent EQB charge is to prepare jointly with DNR a water availability and sustainability study based on
existing data and information. The
report is due approximately
Reports
1.
2. Minnesota Department of Health – Karla Peterson
a. Pharmaceuticals and EDC’s
in source water
1. EPA will
report April 4. EPA is not intending to
regulate these compounds yet.
2. AWWA speaking points were very helpful.
3. WUC members expressed appreciation to Stew Thornley and MDH for helping with communications effort.
b. Lead and Copper Short Term Revisions
1. Utility must provide results to private property
owner. Results are confidential to each
individual property sampled.
2. Any change to chemical used for corrosion control
treatment must be reported to MDH for its review.
3. Effective 2008, new language is required to be
communicated to public via CCR advising customers L&C can be issue. Template language proposed by MDH going out
April 4.
c. Total Coliform Rule
1. Any comments should be forward to Jerry Smith of MDH
d. Groundwater Rule
1. Karla passed out a copy of the rule as it stands
now. The focus for MDH will be the 2%-3%
of wells that have a potential for positive e-coli.
3. Metropolitan Council - Chris Elvrum
absent. No report.
4.
a. An administrative penalty order may make it through
the legislature.
b. Water supply plan reviews are in progress.
c. Working with MDH to address concern of timeliness of
DNR issuing well permits. Historically,
the permit may not be issued until after well construction. Goal: DNR desires to provide conditional written
approval prior to well being drilled.
d. Meeting of Representatives of AWWA and DNR on Drought
Action Plan this afternoon Thursday March 27.
5. Association Director.
Glen Gerads absent. No report.
6. WARN Update.
Allen Lamm
a. MN WARN (Water Agency Response Network) exists. Four communities have formally executed
mutual aid agreement;
b. Chris Smith of LMC very instrumental in mutual aid
agreement development. The aid agreement
cannot be changed and must be accepted by all participating communities.
c. Further clarification about the connection between
homeland security, local EOC and member utilities is being crafted.
d. A website connected to Minnesota Rural Water
Association is being developed. Various
efforts to promote widespread community participation are under consideration.
7.
a. Al recommended utilities register to receive regular
publication of construction and plumbing code progress. The website to register is http://workplace.doli.state.mn.us/elists/
b. A proposal to revise Article 4715.2280 of the State
Plumbing Code having to do with water meters is under consideration. Al would like the WUC to review and comment
on proposed language he will forward.
Discussion/Action
Items
Roster and Membership/WUC Policies:
a. Resignations
i.
Don Volk and
Dave Scheerer are retiring and have resigned from
WUC. Bill Angerman
has also resigned from WUC.
ii.
WUC by-laws call
for 11 utility members and 8 commercial members. Next meeting review any recommended changes. Do members believe more utility members would
be desirable?
iii.
Consider any
changes needed to improve effectiveness of WUC.
Next
Meeting:
Next meeting will be held from
The
reports from the Young Professionals, Scholarship, and Water for
People committees be pulled from the
consent agenda because they had not been distributed in advance.
Cockriel moved and Spain seconded to accept the consent agenda,
pending discussion of the items that had been pulled. Motion approved unanimously.
4. CONSENT DISCUSSION ITEMS (Peterson)
A.
Approval
of Investment Policy Statement
Cockriel said we are tracking in conjunction
with overall losses in the investment market.
Moulton suggested that the portfolio should be monitored and actions
considered if the investments continue to drop.
The finance committee was directed to bring a recommendation to the
board with a recommended floor for actions to be taken.
Lubovich moved and Moulton seconded to
approve the Investment Policy Statement.
Motion approved unanimously.
B.
MAC Report on exhibit hall traffic at the Minnesota AWWA annual
conference.
Belden discussed methods
for keeping people within the exhibit hall.
The council has created a ad hoc that
recommended drawings to be held at three separate times during the exhibition
hall. To comply with open gambling laws,
the drawings would be limited to those who had purchased a full conference
registration or a one-day registration for the day of the product
exhibition. The total prize value will
be $1,800. Lubovich
said he would have to review the conference budget to ensure that the $1,800
could be absorbed. Raising the price of
booths for exhibitors was brought up as an option. Belden mentioned that the MAC had not spent
its allotted budget, which was confirmed by checking the budget.
Moulton moved and Bergantine
seconded to allow the MAC to work with the conference committee to work out a
system to allow for the money needed and to comply with gambling laws to have
door prizes at the exhibition show.
Motion approved unanimously.
C.
Young Professionals, Scholarship, and Water for People committees
reports
Volker summarized the
reports he distributed at the meeting for these committees and also gave an
update on the Breeze. The committee reports have been inserted into
the consent agenda. Glassing also
summarized the recent activities of the Young Professionals committee,
including a fundraiser.
5. UNFINISHED
BUSINESS
A. Hamline sesquicentennial proposal
(Peterson)
Peterson said this has
fallen by the wayside, and we have not pursued it.
B. Proposal for contract services for a bookkeeper for the
Finance Committee (Thornley
on behalf of Doug Rovang)
Moulton
moved and Anderson seconded to authorize the section’s secretary-treasurer and
chair to enter into an agreement for financial services within existing budget
guidelines, pending review and approval of the AWWA section services
representative. Motion passed, 15-1 (Gerads opposed).
C. RMSO/Summer leadership meetings
Thornley, Belden, Huschle, Schultz, and Volker will be attending the Regional
Meeting of Section Officers in
Thornley,
D. Web site updates (Peterson)
Peterson recently met
with the Information Technology Committee, and the group agreed that the
individual councils and committees will be responsible for providing current
information to the webmaster. Peterson
will distribute a list of responsibilities to council and committee chairs. It was suggested that the committee include
in its report to have a summary of activity on the web page.
E. Annual conference update
(Lubovich)
We are locked in through
2011 with the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC) for our annual
conference with the plan to have a rolling-year extension so that we always
have the facility booked for three years in advance. This year’s conference will include the
adjacent OmniMax for a session. This year’s movie at the OmniMax
will be on the
F. ACE – MAC (Belden)
A room has been reserved at the host hotel for the section
breakfast on Monday morning, June 9 at the annual conference in
G. Minnesota AWWA attire (Gerads)
The person who handled
attire in the past is out of business.
Moulton and Volker will investigate other vendors.
H. Seven
Measures of Success book distribution (Gerads)
The books were
distributed to the board members, who will peruse and ponder. Schultz will facilitate a discussion about
the book at the retreat meeting in January.
I. NE District trustee vacancy and possible
realignment (Thornley)
The Northeast District
will discuss the vacancy at its upcoming school. Lubovich has been
carrying out the trustee duties and is willing to continue to do so rather than
change the alignment of the district.
6. NEW BUSINESS
A. Hamline/AWWA Association teacher’s
on-line education proposal
B. Approval of district
scholarships/sponsorships (
This was taken care of
during the conference update (noted in item E in unfinished business). In addition, trustees were asked to poll
their members at district schools to determine how much interest there is in
riding a bus, to be provided by the section, to the annual section conference
in
C. Honorary member travel reimbursement
(Peterson)
Doug Mandy will be
honored as an honorary member as the annual conference in
Cockriel moved and
Glassing seconded to have the board provide $500 to Doug Mandy for his travel
expenses to receive this award. Motion
approved unanimously with Schultz, Peterson, and Thornley
abstaining.
D. LaCuesta project (Peterson)
Jon Eaton is traveling
to
E. 2009 Association award nominations (Cockriel)
Our deadline for
association level awards for 2009 is
Schultz distributed
criteria for the section’s Volunteer of the Year Award and board members are
asked to consider candidates for the award.
F. Chair-elect nominations (
Pete Moulton and Adam
Kramer have agreed to be candidates for section chair-elect.
Other items:
This was Gerads’s last section meeting as association director. Gerads was
recognized and thanked for his service to the section and association.
Bullert gave an update on the
recent Fly-in to Washington, D. C., and Bergantine
gave a report of the Surface Water Treatment workshop held earlier this week in
7. NEXT
BOARD MEETING
8. ADJOURNMENT
Gerads moved and Volker
seconded to adjourn. Meeting adjourned
at