Minutes of the November Business Meeting

Wisconsin Section – Central States Water Environment Association

November 10, 1999

Manchester East Hotel – Milwaukee, WI

The annual business meeting of the Wisconsin Section of Central States Water Environment Association was called to order by Chair Carol Strackbein at 3:10 p.m. on November 10, 1999 at the Manchester East Hotel in Milwaukee, WI.

Chair, Carol Strackbein presided and Secretary/Treasurer Tom Sigmund was present.

Board Members present:

• Carol Strackbein, Chair
• Paul Nehm, Past Chair
• Dan Lynch, Trustee
• Tom Steinbach, WWOA Liaison
• Tom Sigmund, Secretary/Treasurer

Vice Chair Ken Sedmak was absent. 17 members of the Section were present.

Approval of September 15, 1999 Board Meeting Minutes: John Leonhard moved the previously distributed minutes of the September 15, 1999 Board Meeting be approved as distributed. Second by Dan Lynch. Motion carried.

CSWEA Trustee Report: Trustee Dan Lynch presented a written report. Items of note were that the CSWEA annual meeting will be held at Pheasant Run Resort and Convention Center from May 16 through 20, 2000. The CSWEA directory will be subdivided by State Section and posted on the CSWEA web page; the date of implementation is as of yet unknown. The Executive Committee voted to discontinue the Lab Practices committee at the CSWEA level. CSWEA funding of ABC certification of laboratory analysts will also be discontinued. A bylaw change will be introduced and voted on at the annual meeting in May 2000.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Tom Sigmund reported that there was a balance in the Section’s accounts of $6,144.61 as of November 8, 1999. Dan Lynch moved that the Treasurer’s report be accepted as presented. Second by Rusty Schroedel. Motion carried.

WWOA Liaison Report: Tom Steinbach presented a written report. Tom was recently appointed by WWOA President Wally Thom to be the WWOA Liaison to the Wisconsin Section, replacing Judy Tholen. The WWOA annual meeting in Stevens Point was well attended and set a record for registrations. A new membership directory was distributed at the conference. A bi-annual dues increase from $24 to $40 was approved.

Committee Meetings

Chair Carol Strackbein recessed the meeting at 3:20 p.m. for the Committee meetings. The meeting was reconvened at 3:45 p.m.

Committee Reports

Collection Systems: Tom Krueger presented a written report prepared by Chair Floyd Finney. The tentative date for the 2000 Collection System Seminar is June 1 in Watertown. That date will be confirmed soon with Paul Lange. A nomination has been submitted for the WEF Golden Manhole award which is to be awarded for furthering education on collection systems with either the public or within facility operations.

Government Affairs: Rusty Schroedel presented a verbal report. Jay Kemp, Bill Desing, and Dan Busch were added as new committee members. The committee is working to revitalize the tracking of codes and regulations.

Groundwater Protection and Toxic Waste: No report was received.

Industrial Waste: Randy Wirtz presented a written report. He continues to add committee members and the committee is working to define a focus for their activities. They are making contacts with industries to identify important issues. The committee will work to develop an ongoing role in CSWEA conferences and may propose a separate industrial waste seminar in the future.

Membership: No report was received.

Operations & Management Seminar: John Olson presented a verbal report. He noted the Wisconsin representatives on the 1999 WEFTEC Operations Challenge. He is working to update the committee membership list in order to get more activity from the committee. He is preparing to submit the Operator of the Year and Hatfield award nominees to CSWEA by the end of December.

Bill Marten presented a written report on the Management Seminar. He reviewed the written survey responses that were received. It appears likely that the Management Seminar will be held in the last week of August in 2000. The location would likely be in Madison. Their next planning meeting is in January and they are looking for additional Wisconsin Section members to serve as members of the Management Seminar committee.

Public Education: Carol Strackbein presented a written report prepared by Chair Scott Thompson. Scott resigned as chair and Carol Strackbein appointed Max Anderson to serve as the chair of the committee. Tom Foltz and Jim Shaw have volunteered to serve on the committee. The science teacher conventions that we attend will be held in February and April of 2000.

Safety: Tom Sigmund presented a written report prepared by Chair Ari Mathos. The committee is working to select a Burke award recipient, set up a safety area on the CSWEA web site, and submit safety articles for publication in the WISILLMINN.

Lab Practices: Tom Sigmund presented a written report prepared by Chair Jeff MacDonald. The report and the discussion that followed was on CSWEA and Wisconsin Section support of the laboratory analysts certification program. It costs CSWEA $600 per year to be able to give the exams and recertification. It was noted that there are a small number of certification exams actually given each year. Analysts can be recertified on their own, but at a higher cost than under the CSWEA umbrella. The committee also nominates someone for the WEF lab analyst award.

Watershed Management: Paul Nehm presented a written report prepared by Chair Mike Doran. A 303d list update will be prepared by DNR for submittal to EPA next year. DNR is in the process of updating NR 104. EPA has drafted revisions to the TMDL rules, with comments due to EPA by 1/22/00. EPA is developing a National Nutrient Strategy with the technical guidance materials complete by 12/2001. Effluent trading is being considered in three pilot programs on the Rock River, Red Cedar River, and Fox-Wolf Basin. EPA Phase II Stormwater Rules are finalized and will be published soon in the Federal Register. A number of Wisconsin communities in metro areas >50,000 population will be impacted.

Representatives Reports

Spring Biosolids Symposium: Paul Nehm presented a written report prepared by Dave Taylor. The 2000 Spring Biosolids Symposium will be held on March 14^th at the Holiday Inn in Stevens Point. Dave is requesting that the Wisconsin Section select another representative to replace him as liaison to the committee.

Water Wastewater Education Association: Rusty Schroedel presented an oral report. The Wisconsin Section needs to appoint another representative to WWEA. Carol Strackbein will follow up to identify a candidate. As usual, dates of wastewater meetings should be sent to Peg O’Donnell for posting on the calendar.

Election of Officers

Paul Nehm presented a written report from the Nominations Committee. The committee was chaired by Nehm and included Ken Sedmak and Tom Sigmund. Nominees were presented for Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer. The nomination for Vice Chair was Dan Busch. The nomination for Secretary/Treasurer was Tom Sigmund. Strackbein called for nominations from the floor three times for the position of Vice Chair and three times for Secretary/Treasurer. Rusty Schroedel moved that the nominations be closed and that a unanimous ballot be cast. Second by Dan Lynch. Motion carried. The new officers will begin their terms of office at the May 2000 annual meeting.

Old Business

Approval of Changes to Constitution and Bylaws: Paul Nehm presented the proposed changes to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Section as described in the meeting notice mailed to all Section members. Bill Marten moved that the changes be accepted as published. Second by Tom Krueger. Motion carried.

New Business

2000 Wisconsin Section Draft Budget: Tom Sigmund presented a draft of the 2000 budget for the Section, and reviewed the status of the 1999 budget versus actual to date. The adoption of a reserve fund was suggested. It was also suggested that some money be included in the 2000 budget for funding our Operations Challenge commitment, if needed. A request was made to the committee chairs to submit their budget requests for 2000 to Tom Sigmund by January 15, 2000. The Board will review and approve the budget at the February Board Meeting.

1999 Audit Committee: Chair Carol Strackbein appointed Paul Nehm and Jeff Brochtrup to perform the audit of the Section’s financial statement for 1999.

CSWEA Education Seminar: Bill Marten announced that the 5^th Annual CSWEA Education Seminar is scheduled for April 4, 2000 at the Monona Terrace in Madison. The theme of the seminar is “Practical Aspects of Nutrient Control Strategies”. The seminar will feature national experts on wastewater treatment topics.

CSWEA/WEF Awards: John Leonhard encouraged all committee chairs to submit nominations for awards by the end of December so they can be awarded at the May meeting. He noted that WEF has lots of awards and that the Wisconsin Section should submit qualified candidates for consideration.

WISILLMINN: CSWEA is looking for someone to take over as the WISILLMINN editor and someone to take over as the advertising coordinator.

CSWEA Web Site: Leonhard encouraged the Section to make more use of the CSEWA web site. The Section should post information on upcoming events and meetings. Committees can use this site to publish information of interest to the entire membership. Contact Jeff Mazanec (920-830-6321 or e-mail Jmazanec@OMNNI.com) to get information posted on the web site.

Stockholm Water Prize: Paul Nehm noted that the Stockholm Water Prize is an international competition for high school age students. He asked the Section members to encourage students to apply and for Wisconsin Section members to consider serving as judges.

John Leonhard moved that the meeting be adjourned. Second by Rusty Schroedel. Meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.

The Winter Board meeting for the Section will be held on Wednesday February 23, 2000 beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the Madison Nine Springs WWTP.

Respectfully Submitted,

Thomas W. Sigmund

Secretary/Treasurer

Wisconsin Section – CSWEA

Cswea\Secretary-Treasurer ‘99\WI Section Board Meeting 11-10-99.doc