Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

7 am, 22 August 2006, Telephone Conference Call – 877-717-3803

ATTENDANCE:

Present: Debby Barton, John Briest, Leonard Butler, Kathy Claes, Roger Doak, Stephen Gillette, Susie Gordon, Dick Sprague (left at 7:30 am MT), Cathryn Stewart

Absent: Laurie Batchelder Adams,Cindi Etcheverry

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

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 7:05 as 9 of 11 directors present for a quorum.

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

MINUTES:

July minutes previously approved via email.

TREASURER:

Gillette reported checking balance of $10,955.57 and savings balance of $17,565.91 as of 31 July.

COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Membership:

Claes commented that the July membership report received is as of 31 May. Both she and Leonard have been unable to get the suspended member list for July. As soon as she receives, she will followup with those members. The membership total for Colorado is 147.

Membership directory edits received from Board members to date have been incorporated. Claes intends on sending out an updated membership directory for final review by the middle of September.

Stewart asked how much effort we should make to talk to heavy equipment operators that are members but are difficult to reach. Butler, Sprague, Barton, Doak all commented that they have left messages or emails twice and then gone on. Briest commented that one of his contacts is not receiving email. Butler and Claes have been working with the member to determine the problem. The issue is that the member’s server might be blocking any mail on a distribution list. Stewart commented that the calls made to members have been good calls and are beneficial to continue in the future.

Technical Programs: Barton and Doak expressed disappointment that more people did not take advantage of the class and the ability for remote site access to decrease travel requirements. National has sent the bill to the chapter in the amount of $850 which is a reduction of $100 as the attendance was lower than anticipated. Gillette commented that about 5 people signed up for the class, did not attend and do not intend on paying the registration fee. Even though the language indicated there were no refunds for no-shows, it did not specify that no-shows would be billed. In one instance, Gillette had problems with their procurement officer not understanding the full amount due. Discussion held on what to do with members who refuse to pay after registering and then don’t show up to an event. Lessons learned:

Change langue for future announcements to state that no-shows will be invoiced/billed

Convey the need for payment as costs are incurred, especially in the case of internet connect fees with national speakers.

Briest/Gillette moved/seconded to pay the SWANA bill in the amount of $850 and to seek no further recourse from those individuals who registered for the program but did not attend and are refusing to pay. Gillette noted that one entity did pay for an individual that was a no-show. Discussion held that this was the first statewide internet offered class and that it was a good first step outreach.
Annual Meeting 2006:

Sponsorship: To date have received commitments from several companies for an amount of $3600 of which $2400 has been received: American Environmental Consultants, AquAeTer, Doty & Associates, Evergreen Analytical Lab, KRW Consultants, Larimer County, Life Span Technologies, Ted Miller and Associates, Waste Management, and Weaver Boos. No response from Golder. Leonard will put together a sponsor board. He noted that the new contact at the Inn of the Rio Grande is Teresa at 719-589-5833 who will assist in the table-top setups.

Electronic equipment support: Doak has a laptop and projector and is requesting that the speaker presentations be provided to him by Friday, 22 September to upload and make sure everything is working.

Speakers: All speakers have been contacted. If additional media is needed, the liaison is Doak.

Meals: All meals selected at the previous meeting.

Door prizes: Claes and Butler will continue on this project.

Speaker gifts: Claes and Butler will continue on this project.

Other issues:

Morning speaker needs 45 minutes and Stewart asked if the next session could start 5 minutes late. Consensus was to allow the speaker the time to discuss the issue. Consensus was if the speaker was present on Thursday evening the evening meal fee would be waived.

Colorado Gators will make a 45-minute presentation on Thursday evening beginning at 7 pm. Normal costs are $100 for speaking. They have asked to partake in the dinner (there are 4 people). Consensus was to allow dinner for 4 individuals only. Discussion held on adding the information on the Thursday evening presentation to the members when sending out a second notice of early registration deadline.

Gillette will not be present at the Alamosa meeting because of family obligations.

Decision made to send out second notice on the annual meeting by about 1 September.

Name tags and lanyards are on order and Barton will prepare the name tags.

Registration packets: Batchelder Adams and Gillette will prepare. Doak will forward copy of last year’s survey to Gillette for updating for this year.

Volunteer still needed for the invocation

Educational Scholarship: Discussion held on whether Colorado SWANA should offer a local scholarship to chapter member’s children, in particular Kaitlyn Edmiston. Briest/Doak moved/seconded to award a $1000 scholarship to Kaitlyn Edmiston upon receipt of a letter of interest from her to receive a scholarship from Colorado SWANA. The Board did not budget an educational scholarship but set aside $1250 for professional development. Concerns were raised about singling out Ms. Edmiston. Discussion held on how to attract students to request funding from CO SWANA as there has been no applications received for several years. Committee did review Ms. Edmiston’s application before forwarding to national so a letter would be adequate for award at this time. Consensus was that if the letter was received, notice could be made during the annual meeting about the awarding of the scholarship which might generate interest in other students to apply for scholarships from the local chapter. Vote was called and motion carried unanimously. Briest will notify Ms. Edmiston of the Board’s action.

Professional Development: No requests received to date.

Nominations: Briest had sent out final ballot draft. Discussion held on having a floor vote in addition to a written ballot. Discussion held that the ballots will be tallied by noon the day of the annual meeting. Spare ballots will be available for those that a) did not turn in a ballot by the meeting date or b) never received a ballot. Consensus was to have Briest finalize the ballot based on edited comments and forwarded the changed ballot to Claes to send out to the membership by 1 September along with the notice of the annual meeting.

Legislative: No verbal report. Etcheverry had previously sent a summary to the Board members via email.

International Board: No report as Batchelder Adams is attending an IB meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS/REPORTS:

Website/Webmaster: If Board members notice any errors on the website, notify Briest so he can work with our webmaster.

CDPHE Request for Colorado SWANA e-mailing list: Doak will follow up with Charles Johnson on the legal review and let the Board know the status.

Road-E-O: Adam Lovato has talked with Butler and Briest about hosting a Road-E-O next year. He will check with his bosses to see if he can help spearhead the effort. Consensus was to add to the annual meeting survey interest in a Road-E-O. Nebraska has a landfill Road-E-O.

Next Board Meeting: Consensus was to host a telephonic meeting at 7 am on 19 September using the same telephone number and pass code.