Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting
7 am, 14 November 2006, Crackerbarrel Restaurant, I-25 & 120th Ave, Thornton, CO
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Debby Barton, Laurie Batchelder Adams, John Briest, Leonard Butler, Roger Doak, Stephen Gillette, Dick Sprague, Cathryn Stewart
Absent: Kathy Claes, Susie Gordon
Other Present: Charles Kamenides and David Villalobos, City of Longmont and Adam Lovato, City of Thornton
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 8 of 10 directors present for a quorum.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA: Butler/Gillette moved/seconded to adopt the agenda. Motion carried unanimously.
MINUTES:
October member minutes previously approved via email.
TREASURER:
Gillette reported checking cash balance as of last statement date of $15,190.95 and reconciled balance of $15,131.96. There is a savings balance of $17,565.91 [Note: next interest payment will be made on 31 Dec 2006] and the e-loans balance of $10,000. No outstanding commitments. The annual meeting had a profit of $6,732.06 after all bills were paid. There was an official attendance number of 66. Gillette commented that he has a problem trying to reconcile actual insurance payments withheld by national from the member’s dues. Gillette has requested information three times from SWANA headquarters with no response to date. Batchelder Adams stated that Colorado’s insurance bill is $941.03 which she had as an officer for SWANA. She will check with headquarters on how to better get the information out to the chapters. Gillette has found only one e-loan promissory note. He will be asking for copies from SWANA to bring his records up to date and current as pertains to the loans. Gillette will get with Briest to update signature cards and add Briest as a credit card holder and remove Butler for the next year. Gillette presented a draft budget to begin discussion for various programs, training, scholarships, and other activities. He stated these figures were to be used as discussion points as we refine the annual budget based on planned technical programs, annual meeting and other events. Gillette thanked Butler for getting the sales tax exemption. Gillette cautioned the Board members that there are limits on the exemption and we need to be aware of those exemptions when working with vendors such as hotels and when food in included in the event fees.
COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:
Membership: Claes not present so unable to confirm her willingness to continue in the membership committee chair role. Briest will check with her. Questions were asked of Butler on how to access membership information at national. He is willing to continue getting the information and forwarding to the Board as the chapter is limited to two officers accessing and currently Butler and Claes access the information. No decision made at this time.
Technical Program/Meetings:
- Annual Meeting: Stewart summarized the surveys received at the annual meeting. A comment was made that having a potential reward for completing the surveys is providing a better product as more input is being received. Overall, the meeting was well received with comments that the varied and unusual topics presented was much appreciated. Comments also received about having the annual meeting start at 8 am on Thursday and end by noon on Friday. Comment also received about moving the Board meeting to a different time of the day instead of taking time away from technical sessions. Barton commented that the meeting is the annual member’s meeting, not a Board meeting. Discussion was held on the best time to host the annual membership meeting with a consensus that having the member’s meeting at the beginning of the Thursday banquet may get more attendees and not take away from the technical presentations. A copy of Stewart’s summary will be attached to these minutes. Barton noted that with the NRC congress in Denver, 16-19 Sep 07 plus WasteCon in Reno, NV in October this may be a good year to stay close to the Denver area for the annual meeting. Consensus was to discuss the annual meeting committee chair appointment at the December Board meeting (consensus was that Stewart did an excellent job this past year and is highly encouraged to volunteer). Gillette volunteered to help Stewart if she headed the annual meeting planning committee. She will give her answer at the December Board meeting.
- Technical/Luncheon Programs: No one volunteered to chair this committee at this time. Ken Niswonger is willing to make his presentation during a luncheon meeting as he was unable to be present at the Alamosa event. Consensus was this should be a February luncheon with details to be worked out during the December Board meeting. Based on input from annual meeting as well as contacts made by Board members with SWANA members, a collection technical session possibly in Longmont to have an opportunity to look at automatic collection options should be considered for a May event. Comment was made that small operators might not be able to come during a week event but might be available for a Saturday training event. Decision will have to make sure there is no conflict with the proposed collection Road-E-O event (see later discussion notes).
Educational Scholarship: Gordon has volunteered to chair this committee per discussions with Briest in the recent past. The check was delivered to Edmiston for the scholarship and the amount and scholarship was much appreciated.
Nominations: Per the bylaws, Butler is the chairman of the nominating committee. Some individuals have indicated an interest on serving on the Board or working with the Board on projects and Butler will follow up with them. Sprague asked what was the required minimum number of Board members per bylaws. [Note: bylaws state a minimum of 9 Board members and we currently have 10 members.]
Legislative: Batchelder Adams will continue serving and she commented that per the bylaws two Board members are to serve on the committee: one from private sector and one from public sector. Last year Cindi Etcheverry was the public sector for the entire year even though she moved into the private sector part way through the year. Gordon has indicated an interest and may be willing to serve as the public co-chair representative.
International Board: Batchelder Adams had forwarded a copy of her report to the Board members via email on Monday, 13 November 2006. A copy is attached to these minutes for the record. She emphasized key points listed below.
- SWANA will continue to hire junior staff that will work in specific areas, however, for the future members will need to email the areas rather than a specific person. As the junior staff tend to rotate out of SWANA, the personal emails get lost so the decision was made to have emails go to a topic/division and whoever is on staff will respond.
- T-Loans will be requested from headquarters and will be run in the same manner as the e-loans. The purpose of the T-loan will be to update current training offerings and then develop strategies and infrastructure to keep all training materials up to date and in line with progressive technologies.
- A new IB director for the Colorado chapter should be appointed in the near future and for sure before WasteCon 2007. Batchelder Adams will not be able to represent the chapter as she assumes the role of SWANA president and has to represent all SWANA members. Two members were suggested to fill the role: Butler and Barton. Discussion on this will continue in the December Board meeting.
- WasteCon 2007 Hospitality Room. If the chapter wants to do this activity, plans need to be made as soon as possible (read: by 31 December 2006). Further discussion on this point will be made during the December meeting.
OTHER/NEW BUSINESS/REPORTS:
Website/Webmaster: Doak will take over the liaison duties for the Board to the webmaster. Gillette will continue to review the bills with Doak prior to payment. New contract was approved in October but has not been signed. Briest will be executing the contract for the approved 2 years.
Annual Meeting Gifts: Butler presented Gillette and Sprague annual meeting gifts for serving on the Board last year. They were not present at the annual meeting in Alamosa and so he made the presentation during the Board meeting. He still has a gift for Claes to be presented at the next Board meeting.
Road-E-O: Adam Lovato, Charles Kamenides, and David Villalobos presented to the Board a request for a Colorado Chapter sponsored Road-E-O. They have formed a small workgroup involving Longmont, Denver, Thornton, and Loveland to develop a time, date and structure. Lovato is willing to secure sponsorships for the event but will turn over the actual operational aspects to Villalobos. The current plan is to have a Road-E-O the end of April or beginning of May. Barton commented that in order to sponsor or support the Road-E-O, SWANA will need to obtain and carry insurance [Note: from SWANA headquarters] and be the primary agent for the event. Discussion held on developing a proposed budget and using the SWANA treasurer to receive funds and disburse funds. Sprague/Batchelder Adams moved/seconded that Colorado SWANA chapter adopt the Road-E-O committee to support a Road-E-O in late April or early May and that David Villalobos will be the liaison for this committee to the chapter Board. Motion approved unanimously. Villalobos will send agendas and minutes of the committee to Barton to forward to the Board members and to attach to the Board minutes for the future. The three gentlemen left the meeting. A question was raised after they left as to whether a non-SWANA member could compete in the local and/or national competition or if the competitors would have to become members in order to compete. Information will have to be obtained from National SWANA on this question.
Monthly Planner: Briest had forwarded a draft monthly planner for the Board to use in determining goals and objectives for the next year. Changes will be made to reflect February and May technical programs and the spring Road-E-O. Consensus was the planner was an excellent tool and should prove useful for the Board members.
Audit/Annual Progress Report: Barton presented her audit of the checking and savings account balances. The audit balance reconciles to the checkbook and savings account balance. She changed some category titles to better match to the SWANA financial report. Batchelder Adams/Sprague moved/seconded to accept the 2005-2006 Colorado SWANA audit. Motion carried with one abstention (Barton). Board members will review the annual progress report sent out by Barton and send in any additional comments. She will update to reflect the current plan for technical sessions and Road-E-O and forward by Thanksgiving to National SWANA along with the completed/signed financial report.
Glassphalt Research Request: Batchelder Adams recused herself from the motion and voting process as she is the contractor for the project. Comment was made that the chapter does not pay for a lobbyist because of the diverse nature of the membership and we have not funded research in the past, partially because of the diverse nature of the group and because we don’t have a protocol in place. Much discussion was held on what procedures and protocols we should use to determine funding research projects and how to set a proper precedent. One comment was made that we should fund $500 for the research just to test the waters. Concerns raised about setting such a precedent without having a clear procedure in place to rank or rate a proposal. Comment made that scholarship standards had been set before issuing scholarships and we should develop standards for research. National SWANA’s research is conducted under the auspice of a foundation and is NOT part of their operating budget. Butler/Sprague moved/seconded to recognize the value of the Boulder proposal but deny the request for monetary partnership as no protocols and policies exist to determine funding, however standards and policies will be developed for future considerations. Further discussion held that the Board members endorse the project but are not able to fund the project because no policies, standards, and/or procedures are in place. Vote was called and motion was approved with one abstention (Batchelder Adams). Barton, Gillette and Sprague volunteered to work on drafting standards, policies, protocols and procedures for research funding in the future. They will try to get information from the SWANA foundation as well as researching what other chapters do for research funding.
Next Board Meeting: The next Board meeting will be the third Tuesday, 19 Dec 06 as a breakfast meeting at 7 am as well as a year end wrap up for the Board. Location to be determined by Briest and the Board will be notified via email. The following topics at a minimum will be on the table: 2007 annual meeting, February technical session, committee chair assignments and budget related issues, IB director replacement, Road-E-O status, and WasteCon 2007 hospitality room.
ADJOURNMENT:
With no further business, Sprague/Batchelder Adams moved/seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:05 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Barton
Secretary
Attachments:
A - IB Report
B - Summary of Annual Meeting 2006 Survey results
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