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Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

16 June 2009, 44 Union BLVD, Suite 300 (Golder Associates Conference Room)

ATTENDANCE:

Present: Curt Ahrendsen, Kathy Andrew***, Brenna Barrett Debby Barton, John Briest, Cameron Beul, Stephen Gillette, Susie Gordon***, Jerry Henderson, Tom Schweitzer, Dick Sprague, Cathryn Stewart, Tom Strickland

Absent: Neil Nowak

Others present: None

Attendance Notations:

* - Member arrived after meeting called to order

** - Member left before meeting ended

*** - Individual joined via telephone conference call

Gordon had to leave at 8:21 am for another meeting so was unable to be present for the entire meeting.

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order by Stewart at 7:09 am as 11 of 14 directors present.

MINUTES:

March meeting minutes were previously emailed and approved by e-vote.

ADOPTION OF AGENDA:

Strickland/Sprague moved/seconded to adopt the agenda as amended. Motion carried unanimously.

TREASURER:

Gillette stated checking account balance is $17,553.67 and savings account balance is $19,522.02.

COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Membership: Andrew emailed membership report with apology for being unable to attend the meeting. There are 157 members with $292 reimbursed for dues. There are 3 unpaid members with no response to date on contacts to renew.

Technical Program/Meetings:

• Webinar/Third Quarter training: There has been no response from Joe Kaul regarding liner training. Additional information is being sought on what type of technical program is wanted for school districts and what the concern is from an urban versus rural perspective. Geotech is still available on 21 July to host a technical program and is also open on 18 August.

Annual Meeting:

• Logistics: Further discussion will take place to determine the tour and logistics for the tour.
• Sponsors: Nowak is the contact for sponsorship for the annual meeting. Sponsorship levels are now associated with mountain peaks thanks to the efforts of Tom Strickland.
• Program:
  • Presentations: Ahrendsen went over the draft agenda for the annual meeting. Andrew will contact a local official for the 9 October presentation. Barton will follow up with the city of Durango as a possible presenter for the impacts of the economy on rural recycling programs for the 8 October time slot. Discussion held on the possibility of including DIA’s composting project in one of the tracks in case Mesa County was unable to present on composting. All information is to be directed back to Ahrendsen as soon as possible.
  • Tour: Consensus of the board was to tour the Fort Carson sustainable projects provided the logistics for getting on to the post under heightened security levels could be met. Andrew will try to follow up with the logistics. Barton offered assistance in case of problems.
  • Entertainment: Discussion will continue on having entertainment in the form of a “Karaoke” or something similar.
• Miscellaneous: Erin Doak will have information about the conference including registration on the web page very soon. There will also be the ability for sponsors to register separately from the attendee registration to try to keep things separate for accounting purposes. National has a display board that might be available during the annual conference. Buel will confirm this information.

Scholarship: Nothing new to report.

Nominations: No further nominations presented at this time as the Board has 14 active members. Briest will prepare the ballots by the deadline date of 9 August to send to the membership for voting.

Legislative: State legislature in recess. Gordon commented that an e-waste task force was being appointed to begin looking at e-waste legislation with a report due early December or sooner.

International Board: Sprague reported on several items from the IB meeting the end of May. In particular SWANA is doing okay in a down year with investment income being significantly down but the operating income is relatively stable. There is discussion of a new chapter forming in the Virgin Islands as the Puerto Rico chapter has become a fact. For the first time in many years, the proposed officers for SWANA are all public sector with no private sector representation. A ballot issue will be sent to the entire membership concerning the addition of a director from each of the technical committees to the international board. The international board currently has 61 members and this proposal would add another 6 or so members. There will be a sunset provision for the addition of the technical division representation. National is also proposing to change the fiscal year to 1 July due to upcoming WasteCons being held in August which would create some accounting problems with having two WasteCon in any fiscal year. The chapters would not have to change their fiscal year nor would the annual reporting date be changed. This change will also be sent to the membership for voting. The scholarship fund(s) is not a separate line item under national SWANA and this will probably be changing in the future to improve accountability and visibility.

Web site/Webmaster: Website is current at this time. Discussion held that the website costs seem to be escalating faster than expected for the current workload. Discussion held that this may be a time to consider a RFP as many public entities do after a five year period or so to make sure that the wisest use of funds is proceeding for the level of workload expected.

Newsletter: Henderson reviewed proposed newsletter article topics and assignments. Due date for all articles will be 30 June 2009 with a target date of 15 July to publish the newsletter. The newsletter will be put into a .pdf format and Andrew will email to list and send hard copy to the few members without email. Stewart offered to help proofread the newsletter before it is sent to the membership at large. The following articles/assignments were listed:

• President’s Corner: Stewart
• April Technical Meeting: Henderson
• Road-E-O: Strickland (date and location)
• Annual Conference Update: Ahrendsen
• International Board Update: Sprague
• New Member List: Andrew
• New Board Member Highlights: Barrett, Buel, and Ahrendsen to send their short bios to Henderson.
• SWANA History Update: Consensus was to hold until the annual meeting
• Memorial for Gary Price: Strickland
• Financial Report: Gillette
• Notice of Proctoring of Exam Certifications
• Check Website for news: Henderson

Road-E-O: The event will be held 1 August 2009 at the Denver Coliseum in the West Side Parking Lot. There is no income yet and no expenses to date. Volunteers and judges will be needed.

OLD BUSINESS:

Bylaws review: Report will be given at the July board meeting with any changes prepared for the ballot to be sent to the membership between 9 August and 8 September 2009 for voting.

NEW BUSINESS:

SWANA History Project: No report.

Air Quality Guidance Document Stakeholder Interest: Briest and Stewart have drafted a letter to CDPHE-Air Pollution Division offering the services of Colorado SWANA to help develop guidance checklists for solid waste facilities in the same manner as the solid waste unit. If the board members have any comments on the draft letter, they are to send them to Briest by 23 June to be incorporated into the letter. The letter will be sent on the chapter’s letterhead.

Broadcast Events: Geotech requested having their field days broadcast to the SWANA membership to notify them of a technical session to review various field equipment. Discussion held on how best to provide this information as a precedent is being set. Consensus is with the developing calendar on the website, such notices of Geotech’s field days, Waste Management open house at DADS and similar would be part of the member services. Consensus was to send a “summer event” calendar blast to the membership detailing information on solid waste related events. Andrew agreed to send out such a notice.

Engineers without Borders contest: Sand Sculpture contest will be held sometime in August in Bear Creek and several SWANA engineers may be involved in the contest. Waste Management is providing the sand for the contest.

SWANA Certification Testing: Consensus was to offer this during the annual meeting on the Friday afternoon. Barton will check with national on her status as a proctor and determine the requirements for such a test event. She will also check on how individuals can obtain the training manuals without attending the classes as several public entities will not be allowed to travel out of state due to current economics, especially those that are incorporating furloughs.

Next Board Meeting: The next Board meeting will be 7 am, Tuesday, 21 July at 2400 West Union Conference Room, Waste Management Recycling Operations.

ADJOURNMENT:

Sprague/Gillette moved/seconded to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried and meeting adjourned at 09:02 am.

Respectfully submitted,

Deborah Barton
Secretary