Minutes of SWANA Rocky Mountain Chapter Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

15 September 2009, Telephone Conference Call, 1-877-879-6929

ATTENDANCE:

Present: Curt Ahrendsen, Kathy Andrew, Debby Barton*, Cameron Beul, Stephen Gillette, Jerry Henderson, Neil Nowak**, Tom Schweitzer, Dick Sprague, Cathryn Stewart, Tom Strickland**

Absent: Brenna Barrett, John Briest, Susie Gordon

Others present: None

Attendance Notations:

* - Member arrived after meeting called to order

** - Member had to leave before call was adjourned

*** - Individual joined via telephone conference call

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

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order by Stewart at 7:07 am as 10 of 14 directors present.

MINUTES:

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

ADOPTION OF AGENDA:

There were no additions or changes to the agenda, so the meeting continued following the agenda provided on 10 September.

TREASURER:

Gillette emailed his report showing a balance of $19,246.12 in checking account and $19,754.28 in savings account with no change in other balances. Gillette emailed proposed 2009-2010 budget. Discussion held and decision was to try to briefly address the budget during the October 8 meeting with making a final decision at the November Board meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Membership: Andrew reported we have 158 members and received $269 from dues reimbursement; however there is still an issue at national in posting new members as none have been posted since June and we have some new members. She is working with National to resolve the issue. To date Schweitzer and Strickland have returned the results from their member calling. She asked that all changes be forwarded to her no later than 1 October to include in the membership directory which she will print out for the annual meeting. At this time there are no unpaid members. She has received several ballots returned by e-mail and has forwarded on to Briest. There are only 10 US Post Office addresses left for mailing.

Technical Program/Meetings:

Discussion held on potential topics for the first quarter technical program (Jan-Mar 2010). Among the ideas were “Turning Trash into Gold” (a recycling program), Litter and odor control and other operational issues for the new operators, and safety issues. The annual meeting survey will be asking for possible technical program topics. Further discussion will be held at the November Board meeting.

Annual Meeting:

Location: Strickland will arrive Wednesday afternoon to finalize any logistics and help with setting up for vendors on Thursday morning.

Program: All PowerPoint presentations must be to Sprague no later than 1 October (preferably earlier) to be uploaded for the computers. Speaker contact information needs to be sent to Strickland no later than 2 October (preferably earlier) so he can prepare a presenter contact list for the annual meeting program handout. There are only three exams being given but the consensus was to offer this annually with the anticipation that the numbers would grow. The cost for the exams increased to $150 on 1 September, however as we have a signed agreement, our cost for 9 October is $100 per exam given. A recommendation was made to consider having the exams given the day before the conference starts instead of the Friday afternoon. Any pictures of SWANA events or activities or people should be sent to Sprague as soon as possible. He has received several of the logos from the sponsors and vendors. Sprague will make a five (5) minute presentation on Thursday, 8 October on the Colorado SWANA history project.

Field Trip: Andrew is working with the Fort Carson contact and will be getting the itinerary soon. The tour should take about 1.5 hours on site to the various locations. The contact will also get final approval as to which entrance gate will be used. Identifications for attendees are a must. To date there are 35 individuals signed up for the tour.

Sponsors and Exhibitors: Nowak reported that there is about $5,400 in sponsorships. It was also reported that logos from all sponsors are required so the sponsorship board can be prepared. Logos must be sent to Sprague by 1 October.

More logistics:

Name tags, ribbons: Ribbons have been ordered and when the registration is closed, Gillette will forward the names to Barton to complete the name tags.

Media: Discussion held on types and placement of microphones. Additional laptops are needed. Barton and Andrew will try to bring backup laptops. Beul recommended that everyone try to bring cameras and take pictures.

Raffle/Door prize: Nowak coordinating the door prizes. Barton to print two coupons for the drawing, to be given to the winners of the complimentary 2010 conference registrations, to aid in tracking the recipients.

Survey: Strickland emailed the draft survey to the Board members. He will add a question on the certification exams and willingness to serve on the Board.

Recognition/Awards: Discussion held on selecting the outstanding member of the year from the top three nominees. Barton/Gillette moved/seconded to approve the outstanding member due to consistent demonstration of professionalism in the solid waste field. Motion carried unanimously. The presentation will be made during the annual banquet.

Appetizer Sponsorship Cost Sharing. Barton/Strickland had moved/seconded in an email discussion to offer appetizer sponsorship cost sharing for the 2009 Colorado SWANA annual meeting with first offer to the highest sponsors with a maximum of 6 locations. To close out the motion, a vote was called and motion carried with one nay. Strickland will distribute the notice of this opportunity to existing and future sponsors. Unrelated, Strickland will print the drink tickets.

Scholarship: No report. No requests have been received by Gillette. Barton unable to find the names of last year’s winners of the registration reduction prize. She will prepare certificate/coupons that can be used for 2010 annual meeting registration which then will be the responsibility of the winner to redeem.

Nominations: Barrett will be stepping down from the Board with deep regrets as her job duties have expanded to extensive travel and she is unable to devote time to the Board. Unless nominations are received during the annual meeting, there will be 12 serving members beginning 1 November.

Legislative: No major solid waste bills are in the works at this time.

International Board: Sprague reported on three items. The fiscal year decision being voted on by the membership normally would be adopted by the IB but this year adoption approval will be delegated to the president for up to 45 days after WasteCon pending the results of the ballot count. Second, there is a change in the name of the membership type. Third, the revision of the policy on what constitutes a Chapter in Good Standing is ongoing.

Web site/Webmaster: Annual meeting sponsors will be eligible for ads on the website, based on their level of sponsorship (greater than $999) and Strickland will get those posted after the annual meeting. Contract negotiations are due in November and will be addressed during the November Board meeting. Ahrendsen stated he had difficulties registering for the annual conference and making payment. Strickland said he had received that comment from a few others; it may be a paypal issue with a specific type or issuer of a credit card. Speakers have been unable to register as nonpaying.

Newsletter: The next issue due out in winter with a time frame of December/January. Henderson would like to have several articles on the annual conference including impressions and discussion. He will do the general overall article. Other articles to be considered would be Scholarships, Colorado Chapter History (Sprague), Technical programs proposed, and award presentations from the annual meeting. Strickland will coordinate the ads from the annual meeting sponsors with Henderson for the newsletter. Henderson also asked for any and all photos to be able to incorporate some of them in the newsletter. Further discussion will be held during the November Board meeting.

Road-E-O: No report. This is a place holder topic for future Board meetings.

OLD BUSINESS:

Bylaws review: Barton explained that the bylaws were sent to National for review against conformity with National bylaws. Mr. Sharnoff, National SWANA’s legal counsel, recommended that a conformity review be conducted for the bylaws with respect to Colorado law which would incur an expense. The conformity review with respect to SWANA’s bylaws is part of the contractual agreement Mr. Sharnoff has with National at no charge to the chapter. Mr. Sharnoff felt it would be about 3 to 4 hours work at $250 per hour to conduct the review for Colorado Law conformity. Discussion was held on trying to find a Colorado attorney willing to do the work on a pro bono (if they are a SWANA member) or reduced fee for the chapter. The ballot was sent out with the proposed Bylaws changes; however these changes may not be acceptable until the attorney reviews for Colorado and National conformity are conducted. Barton will give an explanation during the annual meeting on the status of the Bylaws and the ballot adoption will be put on hold until a legal opinion is received, with the possibility of a new ballot approval being sought for the 2010 annual meeting.

SWANA History Project: See discussion under annual meeting and newsletter.

Air Quality Guidance Document Stakeholder Interest: Communication is continuing between Air Quality and Stewart.

NEW BUSINESS:

Member calling: See discussion under annual meeting.

Outstanding Member: See discussion under annual meeting.

Next Board Meeting: The next Board meeting will be in conjunction with the annual member meeting at 1:15 pm, 8 October, 2009, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado.