Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

7 am, 16 January 2007, The Egg & I Restaurant, 6818 S Yosemite, Centennial, CO

ATTENDANCE:

Present: Kathy Andrew, Debby Barton, John Briest, Leonard Butler, Stephen Gillette, Susie Gordon, Dick Sprague, Cathryn Stewart, Tom Strickland

Absent: Laurie Batchelder Adams, Roger Doak

Other Present: Neil Nowak, KRW Consulting

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

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 7:08 as 9 of 11 directors present for a quorum.

INTRODUCTIONS: Introductions made of all individuals present. Tom Strickland was welcomed to the Board having been approved by unanimous email vote by the Board of directors

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

MINUTES:

December meeting minutes previously approved via email.

TREASURER:

Gillette reported checking cash balance as of 1 January 2007of $14,658.01. Savings balance as of 9 January 2007 is $17,977.12 which includes a six-month interest payment of $411.21. The next six-month interest rate is 5.0%. The two e-loans of $10,000 have the following due dates: E-loan #1 due 1 April 07 with an interest rate of 4.5% and E-loan #2 due 1 July 08 with an interest rate of 4.59%. Gillette provided year to date expenses against the approved budget. He also noted that the two debit cards against the checking account have been issued to Gillette and Briest. No further action taken on the report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Membership: Andrew and Briest will work with national to clear up access issues so that Andrew can begin accessing membership reports. She has updated e-mail and land mail addresses for known members as of 30 September 2006. Butler will assist as needed. Discussion held on whether to post the membership directory to the website as it also contains contact information. Consensus was to keep the membership directory off the website but continue to list the directors with contact information.

Technical Program/Meetings:

Annual Meeting: Gillette contacted Otero County and they are eager to host the 2007 convention. Both dates are available. The convention center would have $80 to $125 per day rental for meeting room. Barton contacted Bob Peterson in Steamboat Springs. The local landfill manager is constructing some new projects which may not be ready by this fall and is more willing to consider a 2008 annual convention. Gordon/Strickland moved/seconded to hold the 2007 Colorado SWANA Chapter annual meeting and conference on 4 and 5 October 2007 in Otero County with an alternative date of 27 and 28 September 2007. Motion carried unanimously. Gordon commented that we should make the conference as green as possible. Stewart presented one draft idea for a theme/topic for this year’s conference as “CO SWANA – “More than just another acronym!”. The topic sessions may include Colorado specific, solid waste including recycling and landfilling, association such as an actual training or hands-on session with emphasis on networking or how to get benefit from SWANA membership, and finally North America to include neighbor states, federal or pending legislative impacts. More details will be discussed at the February Board meeting. Strickland volunteered to work on the Annual meeting committee.

Technical/Luncheon Programs:

February: Briest provided copies of the proposed technical session brochure for the onsite groundwater and related environmental sampling luncheon meeting. Registration deadline will be 15 February 2007. Walk in or late registrations will be assessed a $5 “late fee” on top of registration fee. Briest and Butler will work on getting information from SWANA on CEU for the event. Gordon will provide a statement on scholarship availability to be added to the brochure. Brochure is intended for completion by Friday 19 January 2007 for sending out to the SWANA membership.

April or May Hauler Technical Session: The February Board meeting will discuss plans for the April or May technical session on automated loaders and related hauler interests.

Educational Scholarship: : Gordon presented their list of brainstorming ideas for use of scholarships and/or educational grants for membership and students. They also developed a draft application form which could be put on the web site to allow individuals to download and complete and then mail in for review by the Board. Discussion held that the amount for scholarship/grants is $2,250 of which $1000 is earmarked for student type scholarships and the remaining $1250 for member grants/scholarship type activities. This amount does not include Road-E-O scholarship or stipend for the winner to attend the national event. Discussion held on ideas for increasing participation was held. Several dissenting comments received about having a random selection of members to get a “free” registration with a consensus to pull this idea from the table. Question was raised on cost for students to join SWANA as being a lesser amount than public members but exact amount was not known. [Note: Sprague forwarded dues listing to the Board members after the end of this meeting to confirm that student rates are significantly lower than public membership]. Discussion held that changing language from “will award” to “may be awarded” or “wants to award” or “strives to award” or similar language would allow more Board discretion on issuing scholarships. Recommendation made that any sponsor for the individual must be a SWANA member in good standing. Discussion held that presentations for the annual meeting should be broadened to include news articles for the chapter newsletter. The Board expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the amount of work put into the development of the program. A comment was made that there is no information on the chapter website on how to join SWANA.

Nominations: Butler introduced Neil Nowak to the Board as a potential candidate for membership on the Board. Mr. Nowak is with KRW Consulting and has expressed an interest in serving. He will give a brief synopsis to Butler to share with the Board for their deliberation via email before the next Board meeting to be held before the 20 February technical meeting. Butler had no additional recommendations at this time although he put a call out for the Board members to consider additional people that may be willing to serve on the Board of Directors.

Legislative: No report except to note that the Colorado Session has just begun for the year. Comment made that a recycling bill draft has just been released as of today which includes increased tipping fees. CDPHE has not yet had a bill released as they are meeting with their new CDPHE head, Jim Martin, to decide the plan of action for this year and the future.

International Board: No report. Batchelder Adams not present due to a death in her family.

OTHER/NEW BUSINESS/REPORTS:

Website/Webmaster: All updates through end of December have been posted. Ad renewal invoices will be going out by February at the latest date.

Newsletter: The final deadline for final completed news article drafts is 22 January 2007. The newsletter will be completed and sent to Andrew for mailing out to the membership by the end of January 2007.

OLD BUSINESS:

Standards and Policies for supporting non-SWANA initiatives (Research Projects): Sprague incorporated the comments received on the draft and sent the revised draft out to the Board for their review and comment. All comments will be due to Sprague by 4 pm (close of business), Friday, 19 January 2007. A question was raised, would Board members be exempt from scholarships and research projects. Discussion on this issue will continue. One comment was made about private enterprise utilizing research grants for personal use; however language indicates that the research must be regional and be of benefit to at least a regional and preferred statewide solid waste industry.

Road-E-O: Briest has talked to Villalobos. The plans are progressing towards a May date. National has not set date, time, location or sponsoring chapter yet. They are leaning towards Florida for this fall. Discussion held that the winner would receive a stipend to attend the national Road-E-O rather than reimbursing based on receipts. Barton will check historical documents for a hold harmless clause that may be on record. Sprague will check with Nebraska or Utah about sharing Road-E-O as they both do landfill/heavy equipment but not hauler/collection.

Monthly Planner: Future events will include newsletter mailing end of January and the February Board meeting to discuss annual meeting, Road-E-O, and April Technical meeting.

National Training Loan (T-Loan): Sprague/Andrew moved/seconded to table discussion and action until the February Board meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:

CDPHE Stakeholder Meetings: There are three ongoing groups:

Geotechnical: Group will prepare guidelines to suggest geotechnical engineering methods for compliance with solid waste standards.

Section 16, Battery, Oil & Tire or Motor Vehicle Exemption (BOT): Group is discussing the implementation regulations for the banning of residentially generated batteries, tires (passenger car size) and oil. Next meeting will be Wednesday, 31 January 2007 in Denver. This group also has telephone conferencing capability.

CDPHE Staffing: Group met on Thursday 4 January 2007 and has been discussing staffing levels, workloads, integrated waste management and expanded fee structures for facilities not paying fees but receiving guidance or support from the solid waste branch. The intent of this group was to develop ideas for proposed legislation for the 2007 year pending guidance from the newly appointed CDPHE Director.

Denver E-waste Meeting: Gordon commented on an e-waste meeting featuring Sarah Westervelt of the Basal Action Network to be held on Friday, 19 January 2007 on the Auraria Campus, Denver.

Board Information: We were saddened to hear that Batchelder Adams lost her father and was unable to be present today. Doak was also absent enjoying a winter hut trip in the mountains. Gordon commented that she works for the city of Fort Collins on a 0.75 FTE basis and also works for Skumatz Economic Research Associates (SERA).

Next Board Meeting: The next Board meeting will be the third Tuesday, 20 February 2007). Meeting for March will be at The Egg and I, 6818 S Yosemite, Centennial in the back meeting room.

ADJOURNMENT:

With no further business, Sprague/Butler moved/seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:08 am.

Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Barton
Secretary