Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

15 February 2005, Waste Management, 8310 S Valley Highway, Englewood, CO

ATTENDANCE

Present: Curt Ahrendsen, Debby Barton, Laurie Batchelder Adams (late), Leonard Butler, John Briest (late), Roger Doak, and Cindi Etcheverry

Absent: Stephen Gillette and Dick Sprague

Minutes are in the order of the agenda and not necessarily in order of discussions.

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 10:03 as 5 of 9 directors present for a quorum (2 additional directors joined just after meeting called to order).

ADOPTION OF AGENDA:No changes made at the beginning of the meeting.

MINUTES:

Doak/Ahrendsen moved/seconded to approve January meeting minutes. Motion carried unanimously.

TREASURER:

Treasury Status: Checking balance is $9,898.75, Savings is $16,786.11 and e-loan remains at $10,000. These amounts do not include any registration fees for the day’s meeting or costs associated with it as final accounting to be completed at the end of the meeting.

Program Budget Status: Ahrendsen did not have a budget status as there is none based on the first board meeting. By March should have income/expenses against the budget format for the board to review and check status of finances. Butler requested Ahrendsen to prepare a monthly summary from the treasurer to the board provided the bank statements are in to be able to reconcile. Ahrendsen stated statements are usually received by the 10th of the month.

Bank Search: Discussion held on changing bank or staying with the bank. Bank charges are about $2 per month and are based on actual activity. Concerns rose about the difficulty in starting a new account to include signatures and related. Discussion held on obtaining a debit card to use for meetings rather than relying on individual board member’s use of credit cards. Consensus was that this should be tabled until a need arose necessitating obtaining a debit/credit card for training transactions, etc.

IRS Reporting: Discussion held on the requirements for tax filings for a 501 c (3) which the chapter is. Barton will research and inform the board via email of any filing requirements. Gross receipts for the last fiscal year ending 31 October was $22,729.92.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership/Newsletter: Sprague absent. Newsletter was successfully sent to the mailing list via email and land mail. The Colorado SWANA welcome letter has been drafted and vetted by Butler and Sprague. They will be sending out the end of February. Butler reported on the ease of using the Chapter Officer Webpage to get 4 types of reports: electronic member roster, unpaid member listing (those that have failed to renew), the membership list for the month and posting state newsletter to the national SWANA website). There is a required nondisclosure statement to allow only 2 people to have access to the Chapter Webpage. Last year was Sprague and Claes. By consensus, the board determined Sprague (as newsletter/membership chair) and Butler (as president) should be the two designees.

Programs: Discussion held on how to improve/increase attendance at meetings and trainings. Program today had 19 pre-registered, some late comers and some called to cancelled. Food for 25 was ordered. The May training will be 10 May (2nd Tuesday) in Yuma. Doak has been in discussion with Alberta Naill of the NE Landfill Operators group. Topics of interest include interpreting ground water and soil lab data, alternative final covers, comparison/discussion on the different ground water standards (drinking, ag, stream health, etc) and e-waste management. Question was asked if the training offered by the chapter includes CEU for MOLO and related courses. Comment made that all training registrations state CEU available for attendees. Etcheverry commented that the registrations attached to emails might not be best way to get information out as some folks don’t/can’t download the information. Agenda for the May meeting will be presented at the March board meeting. Tentative plans are to start at 10 am and end around 2:30 and include a working lunch. Discussion held on registration costs with consensus that registration fee should be charged to cover at least the meal and possibly some of the travel costs of presenters. Discussion held on the partnering effort planned by the chapter to reimburse presenters from CDPHE. Question was asked as to what would be reimbursed and consensus was that meal and travel (mileage) should be paid by SWANA but not wages/salary/time. The meeting should also list NE Landfill Operators as co-sponsoring the event as they will help find the meeting place and hopefully get the information out to promote attendance.

Annual Meeting: Etcheverry brought draft contract to the meeting. Note that copy of draft contract is attachment 1 to these minutes. Among concerns raised was number of blocked rooms and responsibility for payment (Etcheverry had informed hotel that the rooms were individual responsibility and not the chapter), availability for vendor display and meeting area, payment requirements (including financial statement for treasurer to pay with check versus one of the director’s paying with credit card with reimbursement from the chapter), actual meeting times, costs to post banners, costs for vendor table rental (to include electrical and related utilities), and the length of time for guarantees. Consensus reached to have a Thursday pm program to include a light lunch/registration prior to the “meat”, a Thursday reception and banquet, Friday breakfast and Friday am session. Tour would include going to a “local” restaurant for lunch then on to Pitkin County landfill for the tour. Discussion held on needing to send constant reminders out about the annual meeting with the first major push being May to set aside dates, place and registration fees, and mid-July to send out registration packages. Next meeting a draft budget will be developed and program ideas gathered.

Scholarship: Briest has held discussions with Colorado School of Mines (CSM), University of Colorado (CU) engineering, and Colorado State University (CSU) engineering departments about scholarships. All are okay with the concept and will publicize the availability when SWANA sends the information. Goal is to announce in late March for award to be used in the fall of 2005. Briest is recommending a minimum of a 1 page essay, copy of transcripts, and no membership requirements. Per the budget, only one scholarship is proposed. Discussion held on whether to compete from all three schools or limit to one school this year to test the water. Consensus leaned to work with CSU this year. Briest will bring back recommendations to the next board meeting.

Nominations: No response received to date from the newsletter bullet.

Legislative: Batchelder Adams that the table on the 4 bills currently in the state legislature was provided to Briest to get to Erin Doak to post to the web page. In addition to the two bills mentioned last month, SB 141 is the landfill ban, sponsored by SEN Steve Johnson of Larimer County, and is undergoing major amendments and revisions based on comments from CDPHE and others. The other new bill is HB1256, the recycling bill, sponsored by REP Annie Paccione of Larimer County. It will be heard in committee next week and is anticipated to have some major revisions and amendments because of some controversial items. The table of information will be updated weekly to the web site.

Audit: Report completed and received by National SWANA.

OTHER BUSINESS/REPORTS:

All other business deferred to the March meeting because of time constraints.

ADJOURNMENT

The next board meeting was rescheduled and will be held the SECOND TUESDAY, 8 March 2005. Location is LaPeep's Restaurant, 8081 E Orchard, Englewood, CO (just west of I-25 on the north side Orchard. With no further business, Barton/Doak moved/seconded to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 11:35 am.

Attachments:

Draft Hotel Contract for Annual Meeting in Glenwood Springs, CO, 15-16 September 2005.

NEXT BOARD MEETING(S)

Mar 8: 7 am, LaPeep’s Restaurant, 8081 E Orchard, Englewood, CO
April 19: Location and time to be determined
May 10: To be determined if held in conjunction with training session.

OTHER IMPORTANT DATES TO NOTE

May 10:Landfill Operations Class, 10 am – 2:30 pm, Yuma, CO (co-sponsors: CDPHE & NE Colorado Landfill Operators)
Jun 6-9:SWANA Landfill & Planning Symposia, Boulder, CO
Jun 20-21:CAFR Annual Meeting, Breckenridge, CO
Jul 31:Colorado State Secretary Filing follow-up
Sept 15-16:Colorado Chapter Annual Meeting, Glenwood Springs, CO
Sept 26-30:WASTECON, Austin, TX
31 Oct:End of Chapter Fiscal Year
15 Dec:Program and Fiscal Report Due National

Reports/projects due March Board Meeting