Alberta Water & Wastewater Operators Association Chateau Louis Hotel Edmonton, Alberta ATTENDANCE: Present Nancy McAteer, Chair Bert Miller, Vice Chair Allan Kendrick Andy Bebbington Dave Harrison Dwayne Cikaluk(Oct. 15 left at 1:15 p.m.) Ed Spohr Garth Carl George Wybenga Norm Grexton Paresh Dhariya Ryan Ropcean Tim Gourley (Oct. 16 only) Quentin Syryda, Past Chair (Oct. 15 arrived at 2:30 p.m.) Kathy Abramowski, Alberta Environment Rep (Oct. 15 arrived at 10:45 a.m.) Tanya Hunter, Alberta Environment Rep (Oct. 15 arrived at 11:14 a.m. and left at 1:00 p.m.) Darren Demchuk, NAIT Rep Dan Rites, Executive Director Cathie Monson, Recorder 1.0 CALL TO ORDER The Chair, Nancy McAteer, called the meeting to order at 8:40 a.m. Motion # 2.0 ADOPTION OF AGENDA SPOHR/WYBENGA - MOVED THAT the agenda be amended adding Water for Life TV Special, Careers the Next Generation, Environment Canada and Rate Comparision for Seminar and Board/Committee Composition. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-757 3.0 ADOPTION OF MINUTES ROPCEAN/PARESH MOVED THAT the executive meeting minutes of June 17, 18 & 19, 2015 be adopted as distributed. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-758 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT Office Update RITES: Read his report (see Appendix A). Membership Update RITES: Reported that there are currently 2213 AWWOA members (see Appendix B). Membership cards have been mailed out. The office is now looking after the AWWOA memberships and the transition has gone very well. Audit/ Financial Statements RITES: Presented the Auditor s Report and Financial Statement (see Appendix C & D) KENDRICK/GREXTON MOVED THAT the 2014 2015 Financial Statements and Audit letter from KBH Accountants be accepted as information.
Page 2 Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-759 5.0 COMMITTEE BREAK OUT SESSIONS The Training Committee and Banff Seminar Committee met to discuss upcoming events. 6.0 COMMITTEE REPORTS 6.1 Nominations KENDRICK: Reported that there are seven positions that will need to be filled at the upcoming election in 2016. ROPCEAN/SPOHR MOVED THAT Nominations report be accepted as presented. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-760 6.2 Annual Seminar Committee SPOHR: Reported that for the Guest program the participants will do pottery at Crockadoodle and also a lunch will be provided. CIKALUK: Advised that he is looking into the entertainment for the Banquet. SPOHR: Reported that there will be a Fun Casino on the Wednesday night and will look into possibly having a company sponsor this. The committee decided that the food for the Monday night would be pizza. The delegates gifts will be a compusling and a power pack for charging portable electronic devices. Doug Thorson submitted a Charitable Donations Report (see Appendix E). MILLER: Suggested documenting what needs to be done for hosting of the AWWOA Seminar Silent Auction. SPOHR: Offered to look into having a phone application for the Seminar. RITES: Suggested for the Seminar Friday session that Melanie Goetz be hired for a cost of approximately $3,500. GREXTON/KENDRICK MOVED THAT the Annual Seminar report be adopted as presented. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-761 6.3 Training Committee WYBENGA: Reported that for the development of Level III/IV Water Distribution Certification Preparation material Kurt Stogrin be hired. The following will be the developers for upcoming course development (see Appendix F). Support Systems & Math: Crystal Eggert Cert Prep Level III & IV Water Distribution: Kurt Stogrin Math Correspondence: Mike Roppo Water Chlorination: Crystal Eggert Suggested creating a list of course reviewers. RITES: Advised that there are currently people that are willing to do the reviews that can be utilized. The reviewers are paid a honorarioum based on the amount of work involved. SPOHR/KENDRICK MOVED THAT the Training Committee Report be accepted as presented. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-762 6.4 AEP Drinking Water & Wastewater Operator Certification Team Lead ABRAMOWSKI: Introduced Tanya Hunter, who is her replacement as she is retiring. HUNTER: Gave a brief overview of her past experience, which included over 15 years of environment experience.
Page 3 6.5 Communications & Publicity ROPCEAN: Read through the highlights of his report (see Appendix G). RITES: Will work with Ryan Ropcean on the Term of Reference for the Communications & Publicity position. 6.6 WCW BEBBINGTON: Read through his report (see Appendix H). Is looking for operator profiles, which will be used for future magazine articles. 6.7 Awards DEMCHUK: Read his report (see Appendix I). Explained the process for the selection of the recipients of the NAIT Scholarships (see Appendix J). CARL/KENDRICK MOVED THAT the NAIT South Schlorships in the amount of One Thousand Five Hundred ($1,500.00) Dollars be awarded to Zhixin (Bruce) Hu and Kyle Mywaart. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-763 GARTH: Suggested that if there is a nomination for the Ron Bayne Service Award, that it not be posted on the web page. 6.8 Finance BEBBINGTON: Presented the proposed 2015/16 AWWOA Financial Budget (see Appendix K). SPOHR: Asked that the following items be increased: Delegate gifts to $22k and the Ap for Seminar $5k. 6.9 Alberta Environment & Parks ABRAMOWSKI: Read through her report (see Appendix L). 6.10 NAIT DEMCHUK: Read his report (see Appendix M). Reported that there were 90 applicants for 25 spots in the NAIT program in Calgary. In Edmonton there are currently 134 applicants of which 54 will be accepted for the program. WYBENGA/KENDRICK MOVED THAT the Committee Reports be accepted as presented. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-764 7.0 REQUEST FOR DECISION 7.1 EWMCE Agreement RITES: Explained that this agreement was signed in December 2007. EWMCE are in agreement with the termination of this agreement (see Appendix N). ROPCEAN/KENDRICK - MOVED THAT the Joint Venture Agreement between AWWOA and Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence and The City of Edmonton be dissolved. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-765
Page 4 7.2 Finance Policy RITES: Presented a draft policy (see Appendix O). CARL/MILLER MOVED THAT the AWWOA Finance Policy be accepted for review and brought forward to the January 2016 Executive Meeting. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-766 7.3 Course Completion Certificates DHARIYA/BEBBINGTON MOVED THAT Course Completetion Certificates be withheld until payment has been received for individuals that are on a list that is created of those that have been previously delinquent in payment. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-767 8.0 STRATEGIC PLAN REVIEW MCATEER: Read through the Strategic Plan and updates were noted. 9.0 BUDGET BEBBINGTON: Presented the AWWOA Budget for August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016 (see Appendix P). WYBENGA/GREXTON MOVED THAT the 2015 2016 AWWOA Budget be accepted as presented. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-768 Meeting resumed at 8:42 a.m. on October 16, 2015. 10.0 10.1 ROUND TABLE Personal Information Protection Act (Pipa) RITES: Explained how the collection of individual contact information is only to be used for the purpose in which it was collected. The information that AWWOA collects from our members when they are applying to be a member of the AWWOA has an opt out box. Discussion ensued and it was decided to monitor how many opt out. 10.2 Confict Of Interest/ Oath of Confidentiality MCATEER: Explained that all executive members have signed a Conflict of Interest and Oath of Confidentiality Agreement. Will be sending out a board evaluation to all board members to ask for input on the composition of committees on the AWWOA Board and other board related questions. 10.3 AWWOA Representation At WCW and CO Conference MCATEER: Feels that it is important that AWWOA send a representative to these conferences. Proposes that if the Chair is not available that the Past Chair,Vice Chair or a Board Member attend these conferences. BEBBINGTON/WYBENGA MOVED THAT the Association pay for an AWWOA Board representative to attend WCW and CO Conferences. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-769
Page 5 10.4 Voices of Nature Water for Life TV Special RITES: The AWWOA has been asked to sponsor a project by Mighty Motion, which will be a tv special called Water for Life with 2,500 participants. They have also asked to have access to the AWWOA videos. Discussion ensued. SPOHR/WYBENGA MOVED THAT Up to $20,000.00 be provided as sponsorship based on information received; AND THAT the budget be amended to reflect this expense; AND FURTHER THAT the AWWOA videos be shared for this tv special. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-770 10.5 Careers the Next Generation RITES: Advised that he was approached by Careers, who were looking for help with placements. MILLER: Suggested that further information be sought. Discussion ensued and it was decided that this request be tabled. 10.6 Seminar Information Request Environment Canada sent a request for information on attendees at the 2014 AWWOA Seminar. Discussion ensued and it was decided that the Seminar attendee information would not be shared with Environment Canada. HARRISON/GOURLEY MOVED THAT the AWWOA not provide seminar attendee information until a legal request has been made. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-771 10.7 Banff Seminar RITES: Looked into the cost of having the annual seminar at another location. The costs for hosting the seminar in Calgary or Edmonton would be significally more. Discussion ensued and it was decided to publish the results from this comparision with the membership. This can also be an information item at the AGM to inform the membership why the Seminar is held in Banff. PARESH/SYRENDA MOVED THAT the benefits of having the seminar in Banff as general information be published in the AWWOA newsletter and web page. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-772 11.0 AQUATERA PRESENTATION MCATEER: Introduced Jeff Johnson from Aquatera. JOHNSON: Gave a brief overview of Aquatera, which is owned by the City of Grand Prairie, Town of Sexsmith and County of Grande Prairie. Spoke on the history of the Aquatera conference, which is now called Water Week North and is held every year. Was created because of the remote location of Grand Prairie. This year 100 registered for the conference being held next week. Would like to continue with having support from AWWOA. Asked that consideration be give for the use of the AWWOA logo and including this on the AWWOA calendar. Would like to establish a partnership with AWWOA and does not feel Aquatera are competition.
Page 6 12.0 PROMOTIONAL SERVICES GUIDELINES RITES: Presented a draft document of guidelines for the promotion of external water and wastewater events and news items (see Appendix Q). MCATEER: Asked for feedback and this will be discuss further at the next executive meeting. MCATEER: Suggested reviewing the AWWOA Strategic Plan and then reviewing the draft guidelines. Discussion ensued and it was decided to discuss this further at the AWWOA January meeting. 13.0 ALLOCATION OF AWWOA ASSETS Discussion ensued on the Allocation of Assets (see Appendix R). CARL/WYBENGA MOVED THAT the Restricted Fund Distribution be amended to include an allocation for a Building Fund starting at 23% of total asset value; AND THAT the allocation of Assets be approved as presented in Appendix R. Vote on Motion Carried (unan.) 15-773 14.0 IN-CAMERA 15.0 NEXT MEETING The next scheduled meeting of the AWWOA Board is January 21 and 22, 2016. 16.0 ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned by consensus. Appendix A: Executive Director s Report Appendix B: AWWOA Memberships Appendix C: KBH Audit Letter Appendix D: Financial Statements Appendix E: Charitable Donations Report Appendix F: Course Re-development Plan Appendix G: Communications Report Appendix H: WCW Report Appendix I: Awards Committee Report Appendix J: RFD NAIT Scholarships Appendix K: 2015 2016 Budget Appendix L: Alberta Environment & Parks Report Appendix M: NAIT Report Appendix N: EWMCE Agreement Appendix O: Finance Policy Appendix P: AWWOA Budget Appendix Q: Draft Guidelines for Exteral Communications Appendix R: Allocation of Assets