Board Notes
The MWOA Executive Board met on March 22, 2001at the Thunderbird with President Randy Stetler calling the meeting to order. Highlights from the meeting follow:
Planning for the 2001 Annual meeting in St. Cloud was ongoing. Speakers for the sessions had been contacted. Entertainment was a three-piece band, Preston & Paulzine. An early bird prize to be drawn at the General Session was decided on to increase preregistration and attendance at the General Session. Since the prize will be a wildlife print, it should be a good turnout.
This will be the 25th Annual meeting, so it was suggested to have a special pin commemorating that milestone. Del Haag will see that it’s special.
The program should be mailed by June 1st.
There was discussion of offering an exam refresher and exams at the Annual. Is this something the operator’s want/need? It will be offered this year in St. Cloud.
The Education Committee met on March 7, 2001. Biosolids training was discussed. MPCA may be dropping the Biosolids program and the committee felt that MWOA should take a more active role in Biosolids training. Additional meetings with MPCA are needed for more information.
MPCA plans on keeping the large Annual conferences and has training planned through December 2001.
The committee also felt it would be a good idea of having joint training sessions with MRWA, AWWA, etc. They will address this at the next Board meeting.
The Training Coalition held their meeting on February 7, 2001. MDH, MPCA and MRWA reported the training schedules for 2001. MWOA needs to put together a list of all the training events on a yearly basis and have a training calendar with all the Section Meeting dates on it. This would also help to avoid overlapping with another organization’s training.
Operator Award nominations have been trickling in to Steve Duerre. The nomination form is on the web at MWOA.net. The deadline is May 1, 2001.
On March 15, 2001, Jerry Balbach met with Lisa Thorvig, MPCA Deputy Commissioner, and Leslie Goldsmith, Training Supervisor, to discuss the future of operator training at the MPCA. Thorvig indicated that MPCA is committed to continuing operator training. The Agency is working on changing their funding methods at the Legislature called Environmental Tax Reform. If this does not pass in the Legislature, they will be forced to eliminate positions further. If funding is cut they could cut training.
Rick Ashling brought in a nifty 5” x 3” Biosolids Land Application Field Guide published by the Iowa DNR. It was suggested the MWOA in partnership with Central States could do a 503 Regs. booklet. This could be expanded to include digesters, clarifiers, etc.
The Board approved Jim Miller to purchase a pc or a laptop.
The Board also approved the resignation of Kurt Bertilson and appointed Dan Johnson as the new Editor of the Wastewatcher. Kurt will stay on through the end of the year and help Dan during this transition. Thanks Kurt and Renee for all the effort you put into this publication.
The Board will meet again at the Kelly Inn in St. Cloud on Friday, June 1, 2001.
