Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

21 February 2006, Waste Management Offices, 8310 S. Valley Hgwy.,#200, Englewood, CO 80112

ATTENDANCE:

Present: Debby Barton (late arrival), Leonard Butler, Kathy Claes (late arrival), Roger Doak, Cindi Etcheverry, Stephen Gillette, Susie Gordon, Dick Sprague, Cathryn Stewart

Absent: Laurie Batchelder Adams, John Briest

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 10:45 as 7 of 11 directors present for a quorum. (Note: Barton and Claes arrived a few minutes after the meeting started).

ADOPTION OF AGENDA: Gillette/Doak moved/seconded to adopt the agenda. Motion carried unanimously.

MINUTES:

January minutes previously approved via email.

TREASURER:

Gillette provided a hard copy of treasurer’s report. He noted that check number 1672 has been outstanding for at least 3 or more years so he has added the amount back into the balance. The debit cards authorized last month for Butler and Gillette have been issued and received by the two. Program budget status will be reported at the next meeting. Gordon asked why the chapter had such a high amount in savings and investments. Butler and Sprague commented that we had a goal of keepng funds in reserve to respond to emergencies or scholarships or for those instances when the meetings do not break even. In addition, the chapter received a large boost from the 2002 arid landfill symposium in Grand Junction.

COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Membership: The chapter has 147 current members. Claes is still researching delinquent members. She commented that Summit County members will be changing as personnel have changed.

Newsletter: The newsletter was sent out. A hard copy was sent by Claes to about 13 people who do not have email access.

Annual Meeting 2006: Discussion held on offer from Alamosa to host the 2006 meeting. Batchelder Adams/Claes moved/seconded to select Alamosa and San Luis Valley for 2006 Annual Meeting to be held between 4 and 6 October 2006. Motion carried unanimously. Barton directed to notify the Alamosa Chamber of Commerce. Discussion on the potential of inviting Ken Salazar to speak as he will be serving on the national Bi Partisan Senate and House Caucus for recycling (see legislative report below). Discussion also held that a follow up to the February luncheon should be considered for the meeting agenda with the emphasis on options on meeting the law from 2005 SB 141.

Technical Programs: There are 43 pre-registered attendees for the luncheon meeting today. Several individuals indicated interest but not able to attend the meeting. The presentation will be online in a few weeks for access by SWANA members.

Meeting for May 23 (Tuesday) is scheduled. This is the fourth Tuesday of the month and will be the May board meeting also. Calendars will need to be changed. The meeting will be in Boulder with a tour of the Boulder recycling facility.

Online training with partnership between CDPHE and SWANA-Colorado Chapter is still being discussed. Bob Wolfe, National SWANA is working with the chapter on the best time and resource for the training. Others options besides the SWANA e-sessions will also be considered. CDPHE is willing to host session in their larger room in Denver. Current thought is to have this session in July.

Discussion held on the need to have good speakers on the e-sessions. Butler will work with Bob Wolfe to see if a change to preview the session is possible to make sure the session is not monotone or poorly delivered.

Annual Meeting 2006: Discussion held on the contract with the Inn of the Rio Grande in Alamosa. As modified, the consensus was to go ahead with the contract and to develop a solid theme base. The number of rooms at Glenwood Springs last year were 2 less than planned for this year. There were also some rooms on the Friday night. Gillette commented that for the northern tier, coming in Wednesday night would be preferred and he anticipates there will be at least 2 or so rooms taken for Wednesday night. A lot may depend on speaker needs also. There is no theme yet for the annual meeting. Gordon/Sprague moved/seconded to approve the Inn of the Rio Grande contract. Motion carried.

Professional Development: No report on professional development. Sprague/Barton moved/seconded to provide a $1,000 scholarship for the children of Kip White ($500 per child) to use during their sophomore year of college. Discussion held that this would be in addition to the scholarship provided for one year. Concerns were raised about setting precedent for a second year scholarship without requiring competition for scholarships. In addition, concerns raised about whether any scholarships granted should be in the solid waste related field (recycling, composting, landfill) or any general (business administration, graphic arts, etc.). Discussion held that it would be better to request the children of Kip White to submit a scholarship application and compete for any funds rather than giving a second scholarship. The first scholarship was a memoriam for the support and long-term membership in SWANA by Kip White. Question called to vote on the motion. Motion was defeated with one aye and the rest nays. Briest and Doak will be asked to send out email blast on professional scholarship available as well as student/educational scholarships. Gordon will do some research at CSU to determine how to advertise scholarship availability there. Discussion held that the applications would assist the board in determining criteria for all scholarships.

Nominations: No report.

Legislative: Batchelder Adams sent out a legislative notice earlier in the day as she would not be attending this board meeting. Full contact information for Cindi Etcheverry was obtained and forwarded by Butler to Batchelder Adams for legislation updates.

International Board: Report will be due next meeting as the IB met in Albuquerque last week during the SWANA conference.

OTHER BUSINESS/REPORTS:

Website/Webmaster: No report.

SWANA (National) Officer’s Call: The next conference calls are scheduled for 11 am Mountain Time on: 18 April 2006 (Tuesday) and 25 July 2006 (Tuesday). Any director may attend.

Next Board Meeting: Barton requested a telephone conference call for March, if possible. By consensus, the board agreed. Next board meeting will be 21 March 2006 at 7:00 am as a telephone conference call. Butler will set up and send information out to the board.