Minutes of General Business Meeting

Narragansett Water Pol= lution Control Association

P.O. Box 8805

Cranston, RI 02920

Minutes of Executive Board Meeting=

February 13, 2007

Quonset Point Wastewater Treatment Facility

Meeting Ca= lled To Order by President Bernard Bishop at 12:30 PM.

Members in Attendance: Bernard B= ishop (South Kingstown); Dennis Colberg (Quonset Point); Janine Burke,= Peter Eldridge and Brian Lavallee (West Warwic= k); Scott Goodinson (Veolia Water – Cranston); Brent Herring (Aquarion Services/Narragansett Bay Commission’s Bucklin Point Facility); Dougl= as Nettleton (Narragansett); Paul Desrosiers (Narragansett Bay Commission); David Perrotta (East Greenwich); and Bill Patenaude (Department of Environmental Management).

Web Master Up= date: This item (E-2a under Standing Com= mittee Reports) was moved to the top of the agenda to accommodate the Web Master.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> While the group ate some sandwiches generously provided by host Dennis Colberg, the Web Master (Peter Eldridge= , the son), made a presentation about the NWPCA web site. He provided numerous statistics ab= out the site, the number of visits, the length of stay, etc. He said he spends about 2 hours per month to maintain the web site now that it has been established. He welcomed comments and suggestio= ns from the group on improvements to the web site but, overall, everyone was pleased with the site and the responsiveness of the Web Master, especially = in adding things to the site.

Minutes of= the Previous Meeting: Sco= tt Goodinson mentioned that the meeting location listed on the minutes was incorrect and should be the West Warwick Wastewater Treatment Facility, not Westerly. Bernard Bishop poin= ted out on the second page that he was not the one who said he had been working with Bill Patenaude to put som= ething concrete into place regarding the continuing education requirements and he believed that statement was attributable to Paul Desrosiers. With those two minor changes, Dennis Colberg made a motion to approve the minutes of the Ja<= /st1:PersonName>nuary 9^th meeting. The m= otion was seconded by Brent Herring and unanimously approved.

Officer Re= ports:

Vice Presiden= t: Dennis= Colberg had nothing to report.

TreasurerR= 17;s Report: Peter Eldridge presented the Treasurer’s written report. Peter<= /st1:PersonName> mentioned a few upcoming expenses including $165 to NEWEA for the three operator “scholarships” to the NEWEA Winter meeting in Boston, and $300 t= o NEWEA for NWPCA’s share of the operator luncheon. Janine Burke moved to accept the Treasurer’s report, seconded by Doug Nettle= ton, and unanimously approved.

Secretary: Janine Burke said there really hadn’t been too much correspondence to report, other than membership applications. She said that we had received 134 membership applications to date and noted that there were many new members.&nb= sp; Bernard Bishop said he would be going through the list to make sure every plant in Rhode Island is represented by at least one member.&nbs= p; Janine said she still w= anted to review the membership lists for 2004, 2005, and 2006, for any members who failed to renew their memberships. <= /span>

Director̵= 7;s Report: Paul Desrosiers reported that he would be submitting a request= for reimbursement for the NEWEA 75^th Anniversary Scholarships and wo= uld need copies of the original applications.&= nbsp; Regarding the OPS Challenge Committee meeting, Paul asked if anyone = had received the minutes via email? The answer was no so Paul said he = would forward those to Peter Eldridg= e and Bernie Bishop. Paul said that the OPS Challenge training session was scheduled for April 28^th from 9= :30 AM to 3 PM in Franklin, New Hampshire. Peter<= /st1:PersonName> Eldridge mentioned that he had submitted Paul Fitzgibbons’ name as the Chair of the Laboratory Committee and he asked = Paul Desrosiers to follow up this which he said he would do.

Paul mentioned that there was an Environmental Careers= Workshop scheduled for March 14^th at Springfield Technic= al Community College.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He said the cost for the workshop = was $15, including numerous speakers and panel discussions about careers in the environmental field. Paul sai= d he had copies of the brochure available which he would email to anyone who was interested.

Paul said that they had started planning for NEWEAR= 17;s Spring Meetng agenda. He said= the plant operations committee was looking for panelists or operators who had implemented wastewater treatment facility improvements with limited funding= and staffing.

Finally, Paul mentioned that the Water Environment Federation (WEF) awards deadline was coming up soon. He encouraged everyone to apply, especially those members who qualified for the Quarter Century Operators Cl= ub.

Representativ= e to the Wastewater Operators Certification Board Report: Tom White was not present but Bill Patenaude reported on the mandatory train= ing for license renewal. He said = that instead of the “cookie cutter” approach, he was advocating allo= wing communities to come up with their own programs. He said the Board was also looking= and the issue from the standpoint of unfunded mandates, which he was currently researching. Bill sad the Dir= ector of the Department of Environmental Management was definitely on board in support of mandatory training for recertification or re-licensing of wastew= ater operators.

Standing C= ommittee Reports:

Membership: Janine Burke previously reported 134 members to date (see Secretary’s report= ).

Public Relations/Outreach: Follo= wing up on the Web Master’s report, Bernie Bis= hop said he wanted to address the issue of compensation for the Web Master for = all the time he put into creating the web site as well as maintaining it on a regular basis. He suggested $= 500 as annual compensation. Bill Patenaude mentioned that if there were tr= aining component to the web site DEM might be able to kick in some money. There was some further discussion = about the compensation and Scott Goodinson made a motion to compensate the Web Ma= ster $500 immediately for work done in 2006 and $500 every subsequent January for work done in the previous calendar year. Brent Herring seconded = the motion and it was unanimously approved with Pet= er Eldridge abstaining.

Operator Trai= ning: Mandatory training legislatio= n was previously discussed under Officer reports. Regarding the training for the next generation of plant managers, Bill Patenaude said he was considering allowing each community a couple of slots to sign up staff for management “grooming.” The group agreed to work with DEM = on this and discuss it further.

Rgearding the NWPCA “Course of the Year”, = Bernie Bishop said he will be setting up a mee= ting of the training committee soon at the West Warwick treatment facility. He mentio= ned that the March meeting would be held at Kenyon Industries which should be interesting. He also mentione= d that the Grade I Operators’ course would be starting on February 27^th=.

Finally, regarding training grants to members, Janine said she was supposed to be drafting an application for reimbursement of training expenses for members upon success= ful completion of a wastewater-related training course, such as the Grade I Operators’ course.

Special Co= mmittee Reports:

Operations (O= PS) Challenge: Peter Eldridge reported that the team has met = once and was planning to meet again this month.= He said they will start back up full-time in March. Bernie= Bishop said that Yogi Kenyon had completed the work on the pipe cutting table and would deliver that to the West Warwick plant.

Annual Awards= : Bernie= Bishop said that the performance-based awards would be based on self-reporting by = the plants with confirmation by DEM’s numbers. Bernie said he would be contacting= all of the plants by email or phone to get their numbers which we would need by April. He said we would need = to solicit nominations for the other, individual awards.

Golf Tourname= nt: Scott Goodinson reported that last year’s tournament involved 80 golfers and raised over $2,000 and that= he was improve on that for 2007. He reminded everyone that this year’s tournament was scheduled for June = 14^th at the Cranston Country Club. He said Peter Connell has been in touch with Cranston Country Club and = he will have more information and updates next month. He said Peter Connell and Bill Wilber from Veolia Water Cranston have be= en helping him out, working on the mailing list. Scott said he would be looking for volunteers and will be calling everyone who volunteered last year. He encouraged everyone to talk this event up so we can exceed the 80 golfers from last year.

Trade Show/Cl= am Bake: = Peter Eldridge stated that the clam bake/trade show is scheduled for September 7<= sup>th. He said that he, Bernie Bishop and Brent Herring are spearheading the trade show logistics and they would be meting soon.&n= bsp; Bernie Bishop said that= they would be working on amending the contract that we have with Twelve Acres and would push to get a third horse-shoe court up and running. He also graciously submitted the n= ame of David Perrotta as the judge for the horse shoe competition since he did suc= h a fine job last year.

Training Course Committee: Not muc= h to report. Bernie Bishop stated that the committee is cur= rently comprised of Janine Burke, Peter Eldridge, Brent Herring and himself. He will be setting up a kick-off m= eeting for committee members in the next couple of weeks.

Old Busine= ss:

By-Laws and Constitution: No report o= n this.

NEWEA 75^=
th Anniversary Scholarship Fund: &nb= sp; Bernie Bishop forwarded copies of the applications of the two $500 NEWEA scholarship winners to Paul Desrosiers. Paul will put together an informat= ional package, with a request for reimbursement of $1000, to the attention to Elizabeth Cutone of NEWEA.

NWPCA Scholar= ship Fund: There was discussion among the members about how to issue and track the scholarship funds if they are issued in March or at the May Awards Banquet. After tossing out several ideas, i= t was suggested that the Scholarships be awarded at the Trade Show/Clam Bake in September, since all recipients should have proof of payment documentation = by the time fall classes begin. = Brent Herring made a motion to amend the 2007 NWPCA Scholarship deadline until Ju= ly 31^st. He moved that scholarship applications would be accepted during the period from May 1 thr= ough July 31 and that formal distribution of the scholarships would be made at t= he trade show/clam bake. The mot= ion was seconded by Peter Eldridge= . With no further discussion, the mo= tion passed unanimously.

New Busine= ss:

Bernie Bishop stated that the March newsletter would be used to solicit nominations for N= WPCA Awards. Voting on the awards = would be conducted at the April NWPCA executive board meeting.

Bernie Bishop also floated out the idea of a horse shoe tournament along with a steak fry= for some Saturday. The idea was b= riefly discussed and tabled for future discussion.

Matt Calderiso, Superintendent of the Bristol WWTF, as= ked if NWPCA would like to sponsor him in the American cancer Society’s Spin= for Hope fund raiser. He has prov= ided Bernie Bishop with a link to his donation page= . A brief discussion ensued. Brent Herring made a motion to sponsor Matt Calderiso in his American Cancer Soci= ety fund raiser in the amount of $50. Dennis Colberg seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimousl= y.

Brent Herring mentioned that Channel 10, in conjunctio= n with DEM, would be airing an Eco-watch TV segment highlighting the importance of wastewater treatment. Featured speakers about this topic will be Bill Patenaud= e of DEM and Gil Veilleux of NBC Bucklin Point. The spot is scheduled to be televi= sed on Sunday, February 18^th between 9am and 10am. Bill P= atenaude mentioned that a future Eco-watch segment will deal with Biosolids Disposal= .

Bill Patenaude addressed the rumor that his position was going to be eliminated in the State’s upcoming fiscal year’s budget. Bill assured the group that his employment with DEM is stable. He said that what may be of concern to the Association is the limited level of support that his superiors at DEM displayed regarding his role as treatment plant inspector, operator training coordinator and certification board designee. NWPCA should keep t= he “pressure” on DEM regarding the importance of wastewater treatm= ent in Rhode Island.

Meeting Ad= journed: With no further business = to conduct, Dennis Colberg made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Douglas Nettleton seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 2:15 PM.