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February 27, 1998
Fall Board/Leadership Meeting Rescheduled for September 24-25. . .
Following a tally of Board votes, the fall meeting of AMSA's Board of Directors and committee leadership has been rescheduled. The 1½ day meeting, originally scheduled for October 19-20, has been moved to September 24-25. The meeting will take place at the Marriott at Metro Center in Washington, DC, the site of our 1999 & 2000 National Environmental Policy Forum.
Ninth Competitiveness Workshop Added. . .
In response to member demand, AMSA and AMWA have added a ninth Thinking, Getting & Staying Competitive workshop to the eight already slated for 1998. The ninth workshop is scheduled for June 8-9 in Seattle, Washington and will follow workshops held the previous week in San Francisco and Los Angeles. AMSA members in the Pacific Northwest were compelling in their request for a Washington-based workshop and have assured the National Office that they will aggressively recruit attendees. Registrations for the regional workshops are being received daily by the National Office and we anticipate a positive response overall.
Second State-Local Clean Water Forum Meeting Set. . .
The second meeting of the State-Local Clean Water Forum has been scheduled for March 17. The Forum met for the first time in January and brought together staff and members from various Washington, DC-based organizations to look for common ground on Clean Water Act issues. Staff for the local representatives, including AMSA's National Office, have developed a proposal in follow-up to the state-developed summary of nonpoint source discussion issues from the January meeting. It is hoped that the local proposal will be the focus of discussions at the March meeting. Organizations involved in the Forum include, AMSA, the National Governors' Association, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies. AMSA Board Member Robert P. Miele, head of the Technical Services Department for the County Sanitation Agencies of Los Angeles County, and AMSA Wet Weather Issues Committee Chair Buddy Morgan, general manager of the Montgomery Water Works Board, Ala., represent AMSA in the negotiations.
Water Quality Issues Selected as Summer Conference Topic. . .
At Board leadership request the National Office has revisited the topic for AMSA's 1998 Summer Conference in Colorado Springs. In light of WEF's early July biosolids-related specialty conference, it was deemed appropriate for AMSA to re-evaluate its selection of waste management practices as our summer conference theme. Alternately, the Executive Committee has approved staff's recommendation of Water Quality Criteria & Standards. . .Facing Challenges, Making Choices for the theme of AMSA's July 14-17 conference. The conference will examine a wide range of issues associated with the development, implementation and revision of water quality standards and criteria.
New Members & Affiliates Join AMSA/'97 Total Corrected. . .
The National Office is pleased to report the addition of the Greenwood Metropolitan District of South Carolina to AMSA's members. We have also received a commitment to join from the City of Palo Alto, California. This month URS Greiner, Inc. also joined AMSA as an Affiliate.
We are also pleased to be in the position to correct an error in your February board books. Our new Member/Affiliate total for 1997 is twelve. Included in the 1997 group are the following:
City of Sacramento Department of Utilities Sacramento, Calif. City of Pueblo Wastewater Department Pueblo, Colo. Gainesville Regional Utilities Gainesville, Fla. City of Tallahassee Water Utilities Tallahassee, Fla. Springfield Water & Sewer Commission Springfield, Mass. Clark County Sanitation District Las Vegas, Nev. Gloucester County Utilities Authority Thorofare, N.J. Somerset Raritan Valley Sewerage Authority Bridgewater, N.J. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Charlotte, N.C. City of Lima Utilities Department Lima, Ohio Sasser and Littleton, P.C. Montgomery, Ala. S & E Engineers, Inc. Hackensack, N.J.
Board ListServ Available. . .
We were happy to announce this month the availability of a number of committee listservs on AMSA's web site. In utilizing the new Board of Directors listserv, Board members should be aware that messages forwarded on the listserv will not reach the full Board, as all Board members do not have e-mail addresses. Additionally, both Executive Director Ken Kirk, and Deputy Executive Director Paula Dannenfeldt, participate in the Board's listserv.
AMSA Position Statements to Receive Needed Overhaul. . .
Following the Winter Conference, AMSA's Positions Workgroup met by conference call to discuss an overhaul of the Association's Position Statements. It became apparent, as a result of the review process undertaken in February, that a new approach may provide AMSA with more meaningful, widely-read, and better utilized statements. At the direction of the Workgroup, the National Office is proceeding with the development of new issue-oriented position statements. Each will focus on individual topics such as the MACT for POTWs, Superfund Liability, Control of NPS (legislative & regulatory), Implementation and Codification of National CSO Control Policy, SSO policy/ enforcement issues, TMDLs, Pretreatment Streamlining, etc. The statements will also contain a separate listing of overarching principles of AMSA, regarding watershed management, the reuse of biosolids and other similar tenets of the Association. Proposed statements drafted by the National Office will be reviewed by AMSA's committees and forwarded to the membership for their consideration in advance of the May meeting where they will be adopted.
May Policy Forum to Focus on Action. . .
The Administration's Clean Water Action Plan will serve as the focal point for much of the agenda of AMSA's 1998 National Environmental Policy Forum and 28th Annual Meeting on May 16-20. Speakers from involved federal agencies and affected stakeholder groups will react and respond to the content and progress-to-date of the Action Plan.