GOVERNING
BOARD MEETING
May 20,
2005
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair
Myron Volker called the meeting to order at 8:13am.
2. ROLL CALL
Position Name Attendance Confirmed
Executive Board of Directors
Chair-elect.................................................. John
Lapointe, Earthtech................. Yes
Chair.......................................................... Myron Volker, Owatonna.................. Yes
Past Chair.................................................. Doug Rovang, Rochester.................. Yes
Director...................................................... Bernie Bullert, St Paul..................... Yes
Secretary/Treasurer..................................... Jon Eaton, Bloomington................... Yes
Assistant Secretary..................................... Dave Brown, PCE............................ Yes
District Trustees
Northwest................................................... Troy Hall, Moorhead........................ Yes
Northeast................................................... Corey Lubovich, Hibbing................... Yes
Central....................................................... Lyle Stai, Wilmar............................ Yes
Metro......................................................... Bert Tracy, Oakdale........................ Yes
Southwest.................................................. Pete Moulton, St Peter.................... Yes
Southeast.................................................. Paul
Halvorson, Rochester............... Yes
At-Large..................................................... Jim Sadler, Maple Grove.................. Yes
Councils and Committees
Administrative............................................. Yasser AbouAish, Minneapolis......... Yes
Conference................................................. David Schultz, MDH........................ Yes
Manufacturers / Associates......................... Jim Norton, SEH............................. Yes
Public Affairs............................................. Kelly Lange-Haider, CH2M Hill.......... No
Training...................................................... Karla Peterson, MDH....................... Yes
Water Utility............................................... Kurt Johnson, TKDA......................... No
Guests:
Director-elect.............................................. Glen Gerads................................... Yes
PAC Representative.................................... Scott Anderson............................... Yes
3. CONSENT REPORT
MINUTES
APPROVAL:
January
26, 2005 – Evening Training Session
January
27, 2005 – Consent Agenda
January
27, 2005 – Board of Directors meeting
Corrections: none noted.
FINANCIAL
REPORT (Eaton)
The
Section income for 2004 was $244,681 and expenses were $198,663 for a net
income of $46,018. Investments were up in 2004 by $12,099.
ASSOCIATION
DIRECTOR'S REPORT (Bullert)
There
has not been a lot of activity since the last meeting but I will highlight what
is happening.
·
The MTBE issue is still out there and looming in the future when the
energy bill comes up again
·
The CCL2 contaminant list is out
·
The EPA has issued a lead reduction plan
·
On the financial front for AWWA
o
Revenue is $82,000 under for the first 2 months of 2005
o
Expenses are $576,000 under for the same period
o
As a result net income is up $494,000
·
The ad-hoc committee on AWWA governance has some documents out which I
believe I sent to all of you or they are available on the web. There will be
discussion at the June conference so if you have any thoughts for me, please
let me know. The section could discuss it more thoroughly in Oct. and it will
be a major topic at the fall Regional meeting. The plan is for further
discussion at the January Board meeting with changes adopted at the June 2006
meeting.
In the past year I have been on the nominating
committee, the public officials committee, the finance committee, and I wrote a
letter to the Board with issues that will be part of the Governance committee
changes. I also worked with Terry Rolan
on the membership restructuring issue and I hope Terry can be successful in
making it more of a value for utilities to be members of AWWA.
As this is my last Section Board meeting as Director,
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for my chance to work with
this Board over the last 3 years. It
has been a pleasure to serve this Section as its’ Director and to serve AWWA.
Glen, I’m sure will do a great job as the next Director. Give him your help as
he assumes the new job.
DISTRICT
REPORTS
NW District
(Hall)
The
dates for the 2005 NW District Water Operators’ School will be November 29 to
December 1. The Best Western at Thief River Falls will be the site of the
school. A planning meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, May 24 at the
Best Western at Thief River Falls. The planning meeting will begin at 10 AM.
NE District (Lubovich)
The
Northeast District held its 2005 AWWA Waterworks Operator School on April 13-15
at Superiors Shores Resort in Two Harbors Minnesota. Attendance for this school was very good with over 55 individuals
registering. A host of topics were offered which included safety audits,
hydrant maintenance, water tower troubleshooting, and pump
selection/maintenance. The United States Coast Guard Duluth branch conducted a
class on Port Security. Regulatory updates were given by the Minnesota
Department of Health. A tour of the EPA
Labs near Lester River in Duluth was also offered.
One
the highlights of the school was a talk given by Scott Anderson (City of St.
Louis Park) on the basics of human relations.
Everyone in the room seemed to relate to this topic that focused on the
idea of treating individuals as you would want to be treated. Scott will be
back again next year to once again bring his positive, motivational spin on
life to our school.
Bud
Kruase, outgoing trustee for the Northeast district recently retired from
Comfort Systems of Duluth. Bud has offered
his knowledge, humor, dedication and tireless support to the Northeast District
for many years. Thank you Bud for all your help. Corey Lubovich (City of
Hibbing) has assumed the duties of the Northeast District Trustee. Jerry
Lavigne (Silver Bay) has been elected Chairperson of the Northeast District for
2005.
The
2006 Northeast District Water Operator School will be held at Ruttger's Sugar
Lake Lodge near Grand Rapids MN, with the dates yet to be set.
Central
District (Stai)
The Central District annual three‑day
school will be held at Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge at Deerwood from Wednesday,
June 8 through Friday, June 10. Rooms have been set aside on Tuesday, June 7,
for those who want to arrive early. For lodging arrangements, contact Ruttger's
at 800‑450‑4545 and mention that you are attending the Water
Operator's School.
In late February, all AWWA MN Section
members that have their e‑mail addresses on file with AWWA should have
been sent a notice of this school. In mid‑April, a program brochure
should have been mailed to all water operators in the Central District. You can
also e‑mail me at: water@wmu.willmar.mn.us and I will furnish you with
the needed information.
We will also be having a "Gimmicks
and Gadgets" contest with prizes: $75 for first‑place, $50 for
second‑place, and $25 for third‑place. For more information on this
contest you can contact me at my e‑mail address or you can contact Jim
Sadler (who is commonly known as "Bulldog") at 763‑494‑6377
or his e‑mail address: jsadler@ci.maple‑grove.mn.us. The first‑place
entry will be submitted to the MN Section Annual Conference that will be held
at Duluth October 5 ‑ 8.
The Central District one‑day school
will be held at St. John's University at Collegeville on Wednesday, October 26,
2005. Information for this school will be available this summer after the
Central District Education Committee (a really "cool" group) has met.
Metro
District (Tracy)
Metro
District quarterly meeting will be held Wednesday May 25, 2005, at David Fongs
9329 Lyndale Ave. S. Bloomington, this meeting is held in conjunction with
Suburban Utility Superintendents Association (SUSA).
The
Metro District Operators School was held at the Ramada Airport and Thunderbird
Convention Center in Bloomington, Wednesday April 6 through Friday, April 8,
2005. The School attendance and profit
is down from last year.
The
Metro District has begun planning the 2006 Spring School. Tentative dates are Wednesday, April 5
through Friday April 7, 2006, we are waiting for confirmation from the Thunderbird
for these dates. Registration fees will
be raised $10.00 for 2006, to $135.00 ($170.00 at the door or after March 24,
2006).
Carol
Blommel from Apple Valley will be the new Metro District Education Chair for
the 2006 school.
Revenues:
245 @ $125..................................................................................................... $30,625
8 @ $160............................................................................................................ 1,280
1 @ $100............................................................................................................... 100
47 product exhibitors @ $150 each (includes
money paid for extra breakfasts).................. 7,378
Total................................................................................................................ $39,383
Expenses:
Thunderbird Hotel......................................................................................... $24,994.63
Planning Lunch 12/16/04..................................................................................... $70.00
Top Ops Plaques................................................................................................. 80.00
Buses............................................................................................................ 2,456.25
Speaker (Baron Von Raschke $300).................................................................... 300.00
Total........................................................................................................... $28,287.35
Gross Profit................................................................................................. $11,095.65
Assessments
254 @ $5 (Youth Education Program).................................................................. $1,270
254 @ $9
(Minnesota Section)........................................................................... $2,286
Net Profit...................................................................................................... $7,539.65
SW District
(Moulton)
The
Southwest Section of the Minnesota AWWA met in New Ulm on March 30, 2005. There
were over 70 people in attendance for a very good program. New Ulm Mayor Joel
Albrecht was there to humor the crowd and welcome them to the community after
which the following speakers made presentations.
Jerry
Balbach from Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratory gave a presentation on the
proper sampling and preservation techniques when preparing and delivering water
samples for analysis.
Karla
"better late than never" Peterson presented a Compliance Update from
the Minnesota Department of Health.
Jeff
Domras from Bolton and Menk Engineering explained AWWA standards and their proper
use during the course of watermain and utility construction projects.
Jim
Japs from the Minnesota DNR office explained new and proposed guidelines for
Water Conservation Plans and explained future requirements.
Dave
Brown from PCE Consultants was there to explain the purpose of the "Young
Professionals" group of the Minnesota AWWA.
The
New Ulm police department gave a presentation on Meth Labs and their impact on
society and Utility Operators.
Allen
Lamm from New Ulm discussed a recent security breach and explained the proper
procedures and steps that were taken to assure the quality of the New Ulm water
supply was protected.
Richard
Rone of Locators & Supplies of Fergus Falls gave a demonstration on proper
use of locating equipment that included a field demonstration.
There
was one gimmick and gadget entrant, information will be available at the Annual
Conference.
David Sanderson of Kilkenny Minnesota was the winner
of the AWWA membership drawing.
SE
District (Halvorson)
The
3 day Southeast District Waterworks Operator's School was a great success again
this year. The school was held at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in
Rochester March 22-24, 2005. There were 118 total registered operators. There
were 28 vendor booths occupied during the Exhibitor and Product Fair. There
were 26 Operators taking certification exams. At the business meeting, Dennis
Duchene from the City of Faribault was brought in as chair elect. Corey Aadalen
from the City of Red Wing takes the chair position held by Wylie Rindels of
Rochester Public Utilities.
The Southeast District
fall one-day operator's school will be held October 28, 2005 at the American
Legion in Faribault.
Trustee-At-Large (Sadler)
2004 Gimmicks and Gadget awards when to:
1st place Bob Doll, City of Lakeville
Utility Service line flusher using a
garden hose.
2nd place Rick Wozniak, City of
Cokato sander lift with wheels
There have been no entries so far this
year.
Enter your tool or device at your
district schools and have your trustee contact me. 763‑494‑6377
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Administration
Council (AbouAish)
The
second Annual Governing Board Retreat/Training Session was held at Riverwood
Inn in Monticello on January 26-27th, was well attended and again was a
success. An indexed/marked-up copy of
the Section Governing Board, Council and District Policies were discussed at
the January Board meeting. It was also
later distributed to the non-board members of the Ad-Hoc Committee. Several comments were received, and a
meeting is being planned to review and discuss them. An Interim Report is expected by the fall, prior to the Annual
Section meeting in Duluth.
Committee Reports
No
report.
The Finance Committee met on May 10, 2005
at the Bloomington Water Treatment Plant. Barb Woolsey (chair) and Jon Eaton
were present. Dave Peterson and Karl Streed were absent.
The section financial status and investments as of April 30, 2005
were reviewed.
Action items from the January committee meeting were
reviewed and board action noted.
The 2004 financial audit, year-end report and tax
returns were reviewed. All documents represent the financial status of the
section at the end of 2004. No accounting irregularities were found. The tax
forms were signed and sent. The committee approved and recommends the Board
approve the year-end report for publication in the Fall Conference Breeze.
Discussion
and planning needs to begin about the income / expense gap. At the current
pace, all financial goals will be achieved in two to three years. Program
spending (either existing or new) must begin to pick up so the section does not
overshoot its goals. The Finance Committee will review the section investment
strategies with our Wells Fargo Investment representative to assure our needs
and goals are aligned.
The
committee reviewed the current bylaws, policies, and procedures that apply to
section finances. All recommended changes were forwarded to the APC Council
chair for Task Force review.
Action Items:
1. Approve the 2004 year-end report for
publication in the conference Breeze.
Following
is a brief overview of recent IT committee activities.
1.
Work on the Section
website has continued and additional features and links have been
included. The new Discussion Board will
allow members to exchange information and ideas on Section relevant topics of
their choosing. We encourage all those
with ideas on what features they would like to have added to the site to
contact a member of the committee.
2.
The toll free
teleconferencing services are available through each committee. The feed back so far has been positive,
especially from the non-metro Section members.
3.
The committee is
working on the following action items.
·
Expanding the use of
technology to support other committees.
We are requesting that committees bring their ideas forward and we will
jointly work on implementation.
·
The reduction in
circulation of the printed Breeze to those willing to accept an electronic copy
is still planned. A deadline and final
logistics have not been recommended to the Administrative Council at this time.
·
New committee
initiatives are under consideration and will be further developed over the next
6 months and placed into practice or brought to the Administrative Council as
appropriate.
4.
By way of showcasing
water treatment technology advances that have been implemented in Minnesota,
the Minneapolis Water Works, Membrane Filtration Plant in Columbia Heights will
be the featured facility for tours on August 1st during the American Membrane
Technology Association annual conference as well as and on September 14th
during the national American Public Works Association conference.
The Membership Committee met in St. Cloud on Tuesday March 8th
to review the goals for the year and plan membership recognition, retention and
recruitment efforts at the district schools, annual Section meeting and other
organization meetings through the year.
Attending were Herb Watry (Litchfield Utilities), Bill Spain (St. Cloud
Tech), Brian Vos (City of Cologne), Jayme Klecker (ERI, Inc.), Drew Anderson
(City of Waconia), and John Lapointe (Earth Tech).
The committee is seeking volunteers for the committee representing
operators, a mid-sized utility, small system members, a consultant, a manufacturer and MDH. The following people have volunteered to
participate in the Membership Committee:Todd Johnson, MDH, Bemidji, MN; Grant
Meyer, AE2s, Inc., Brainerd, MN; Michael McNab, Hydro Metering Technology,
Burnsville, MN
Progress toward Committee Goals and Objectives include:
Individual Membership
While the Minnesota Section has added 50 members since the
beginning of 2005 but is not outpacing retirements, moves, etc. enough to reach
our goal of 1000 members (without including multi-section members) by the end
of the year. Membership not including
multi-section members is currently at roughly 950 members (948 in March and 943
in April). We are reviewing causes for
attrition as well as re-emphasizing member-to-member recruitment. We have a number of bad addresses in the
database. The committee will be
dividing up the list to correct the database.
Utility Members
The Minnesota Section has bet its goal of 115 Utility Members and
will continue to promote utility membership.
As a point of reference, in July 2003 there were 109 Utility
Members. We have discovered that some
utility members are not taking full advantage of named representative and
additional named member benefits.
Utility members will be contacted if the committee finds an opportunity
for them to add named members to their utility membership.
Recruitment
Congratulations to Jim Dillman, Pete Moulton, Allen Lamm, and Keith
Redmond for being named as endorsers for new members in the last two
months. There was a large push late
last year to provide mailing lists to AWWA for a mass mailing. The Section received 3 new members as a
result of a mass mailing to water plant operators not already in AWWA. The committee consensus was that more focus
on recruiting new members through person-to-person contact would be more
effective.
Young Professionals
Grant Meyer of AE2S was recommended as a liaison between Young
Professionals and Membership to replace Dave Brown, who has the Assistant
Secretary.
Small Systems
Drew Anderson is focused on recruiting small and medium sized
utilities. He will be presenting how
AWWA greatly benefits small and medium sized utilities and the staff running
these utilities. It was suggested that
AWWA MN Section produce a DVD or other presentation on the “Value of AWWA
Membership” that could be played at every operator’s school / seminar.
Membership Committee Activities at the District Schools
The committee is planning to have the membership booth set up and manned at the Annual Conference, the MRWA Conference and the Metro Operators School. At the other events, it the committee will be asking for a five minute presentation on the benefits of membership, and have a supply of application forms to hand out.
Nominating (Bernie Bullert, Doug
Rovang)
Nomination
for the Section Chair-Elect is in progress.
Please contact Doug Rovang for recommendation/s. Section Director and Trustee-at-Large are
not due this year.
Conference
Council (Schultz)
The Annual Conference in Duluth is shaping up nicely. All major components have been booked. A great conference agenda has been put together by John Crooks and the Conference Agenda Committee.
The banquet this year has been booked for the Historic Depot this year. Our Chair has requested a buffet style meal with a business casual dress for this event. Many exciting events are planed for the banquet social. Including the Champagne Lady.
I
have been checking into conference locations and availability for 2006
annual. There has been a lot of
discussion with District Trustee’s regarding a three-year central location.
Agenda items to discuss:
Should
we have a three-year central location for the Annual AWWA Conference? If so where?
A
new trend in Conference organizations is to e-mail the conference and vendor
notices. The organizers who have done
the e-mail notice approach have said it has saved $$$ in shipping and printing
cost.
This
new approach has been well received by members. Should we try this new advertising approach for the Duluth
Conference???
Program Committee (John Crooks)
No
report.
Manufacturers Council (Norton)
The
meeting was called to order by Council Chair Jim Norton at 9:00 AM on April 15,
2005, in the Conference Room of American Ductile Iron Pipe, 21695 Highview Ave,
Lakeville, MN.
Attendance
A. MAC members present at the meeting were Jim
Norton, Dave Scheerer, Jerry Ackerman, Tony Belden, Tom Mumm, Ron Vasko, Bernie
Bullert, and Heath Picken. Myron
Volker, Minnesota Section AWWA Chair, attended as a representative of the
Section Board, and Ben Mason attended as a liaison from the National MAC.
B. Jim Norton reviewed the MAC roster. Several changes to the roster are
required. David Scheerer will make the
changes and present the updated MAC roster to Jim Norton.
C. A vacant position still exists for a
Manufacturer representative on the MAC. Ron Vasko and Ben Mason stated they
would be meeting with a potential candidate and report back as to his
availability.
2. Minutes
A. David Scheerer, MAC Secretary, presented the
minutes from the December 3, 2004, MAC meeting. Tom Mumm made the motion to
accept the December 3, 2004, minutes.
Ron Vasko seconded the motion.
Motion passed.