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March 2003 Board Briefs

Member Pipeline - Board & Committee Information - Board Briefs - March 19, 2003

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March 19, 2003

2003 Policy Forum to Offer Opportunity to ‘Make Our Voices Heard’
AMSA’s 2003 National Environmental Policy Forum & 33rd Annual Meeting will be held May 17 – 21, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. With the theme, Making Our Voices Heard… Mobilizing in Support of the National Clean Water Agenda, the conference program will provide attendees with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the national clean water agenda and engage national policy makers on issues of local importance. The National Office is in the process of extending invitations to a number of prominent speakers including the Honorable James M. Inhofe (R-OK), Chair, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate; the Honorable George V. Voinovich (R-OH), Member, Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. Senate; the Honorable Don Young, Chair, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives; and, G. Tracy Mehan, III, Assistant Administrator for Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Board members are encouraged to reserve your hotel room today by calling the Hyatt Regency at 202/737-1234, to ensure the special room rate of $219 single/double. The deadline for hotel reservations is Tuesday, April 22, 2003.

Board of Directors Nomination Process Underway
AMSA’s 33rd Annual Meeting will provide a forum for the election of new members to the Board of Directors, and the re-election of a number of current members of the Board. On March 12, MU 03-04 was forwarded to AMSA’s membership, advising members that nominations for both the re-election of existing Board Members and the election of new members of the Board, will be accepted until April 18. Three vacant Board seats have resulted from the retirement of Gurnie Gunter (Region VII), and decisions by Jon Schellpfeffer (Region V) and Harold Gorman (Region IV) to not seek re-election. The National Office extends its sincere appreciation to these three individuals for their significant contributions to the leadership of AMSA.

WIN Events Take the Stage Following Policy Forum
Following the adjournment of AMSA’s National Environmental Policy Forum & 33rd Annual Meeting, the Hyatt Regency Hotel will be the site for the Water Infrastructure Network’s (WIN) Funding Gap Forum. The Forum is slated for Wednesday, May 21, from 1:00 – 4:30 pm. The WIN Forum will feature speakers who will address federal water funding trends, current wastewater funding mechanisms, and long-term funding alternatives.

Later in the day, the Sequoia Restaurant along Georgetown’s beautiful waterfront is the destination for the 2003 WIN Water Celebration. The Wednesday evening dinner is WIN’s major fundraising event of the year and will honor several ‘clean and safe water champions’ in a great setting at the Washington Harbor.

Action Anticipated on AMSA Excellence in Management Program
At the February Winter Conference, AMSA’s Board of Directors received a copy of the Awards Committee’s recommended proposal for the Excellence in Management Recognition Program. As proposed, the Excellence in Management recognition program will recognize successful competitiveness programs (over a continuous three year period) adopted by AMSA member agencies that address the range of management challenges faced by public wastewater utilities in today’s competitive environment.

In the coming weeks, the National Office will solicit any final comments from the Board of Directors and finalize the new recognition program. It is anticipated that the nominations for the Excellence in Management Recognition Program will be solicited over the summer months, and the program’s first awardees will be recognized at AMSA’s 2004 Winter Conference in Los Angeles, Calif.

Member Comment Sought on AMSA Business Plan
A new draft of AMSA’s 2003-2004 Business Plan is being readied for review by the Association’s membership. This new draft will incorporate additional comments received from both the Strategic Planning Committee and AMSA’s Board during the February 2003 Winter Conference. The Business Plan is slated to be forwarded to Members and Affiliates on March 28, with a request that comments be provided to the National Office by April 16. A final draft of AMSA’s 2003-2004 Business Plan, as well as
a proposed process for routinely reviewing and updating the Business Plan, will be included in the May 2003 Board of Directors notebooks for consideration by the Board of Directors.

Mark Your Calendar Now for Upcoming Meetings & Conferences
Mark your calendars now for AMSA’s upcoming 2003 Conferences!

  • AMSA’s 2003 Summer Conference, Water Quality and the Wastewater Community: Emerging Pollutants, New Challenges, will be held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, Mass., July 15-18. This topic could not be timelier as in the past few years the wastewater treatment community has witnessed an explosion in the number and complexity of water quality related challenges. In addition, the development of water quality management tools, such as watershed management and water quality trading bring new challenges to the clean water community.
  • The dates and venue for the 2003 Fall Leadership Retreat & Strategy Session and Board of Directors Meeting have been confirmed. The meeting will be held September 18-19 at The Watergate Hotel. Additional details will be forthcoming as the meeting approaches.
  • The location and dates for AMSA’s 2003 Developments in Clean Water Law Seminar have been finalized. The 2003 Seminar will be held November 5-7 at the Sonesta Beach Resort Key Biscayne in Miami, Fla.
  • Lastly, the 2003 AMSA/EPA Pretreatment Coordinators Workshop will be held at the Renaissance Madison Hotel in Seattle, Wash., on November 19-21.

Don’t forget to check AMSA’s web site often for the most up-to-date program information and online registration, www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings.

AMSA Legal Cases Moving Forward
AMSA’s litigations remain busy and active. This Friday, AMSA will file its opposition to EPA’s October 2002 motion to dismiss the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association v. Whitman (PMAA) wet weather case. The PMAA case seeks answers to sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), blending, and peak flow treatment issues critical to AMSA members. In November 2002, the court ruled that AMSA and the plaintiffs’ responses to EPA’s motion to dismiss would be due only after EPA produced internal documents on wet weather issues to the plaintiffs. EPA did in fact provide a number of helpful documents, excerpts of which the plaintiffs attached to their March 14 opposition to the motion to dismiss. After the government replies to AMSA and the plaintiffs’ oppositions, the court will make the ultimate decision on whether PMAA will move forward to any final decision.

AMSA recently notified the Board of our plans to file an opposition to the farm group petition for U.S. Supreme Court review and reversal of Pronsolino v. Nastri (Pronsolino). AMSA’s opposition originally was due mid-March. However, the Court granted an extension to the government, and all parties supporting it, to April 16. AMSA was a party to Pronsolino before the California district court and the Ninth Circuit, and supported these courts' eventual findings that even nonpoint source-only impaired waters are to be included in the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program. AMSA’s opposition will emphasize that TMDL program will be seriously undermined without nonpoint inclusion.

Finally, on March 7 AMSA filed an amicus curiae brief in support of EPA's February petition for the Ninth Circuit to rehear the Phase II municipal separate storm sewer (MS4) regulation case. Environmental Defense Center Inc. v. EPA (EDC). If left to stand, the EDC case could lead to increased pressure by citizen groups and regulatory agencies to include numeric effluent limitations to meet water quality standards in MS4 permits. The National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, the National League of Cities, and the American Public Works Association joined AMSA on the brief. We expect the Ninth Circuit will rehear the case, given that it recently asked EPA to send additional copies of its rehearing petition by March 27.

AMSA Member Testifies in House for WIN
AMSA Secretary Bill Schatz, General Counsel, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), was tapped by the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) to present testimony to the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on the wastewater infrastructure funding shortfall. Schatz’s March 19 testimony focused on the need for a long-term, dedicated funding source to meet the infrastructure needs of wastewater treatment agencies. Schatz gave a personal touch to the WIN testimony by highlighting Cleveland’s infrastructure needs and anticipated funding gap. In addition to receiving WIN testimony, Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) also heard from a mayor, a county environmental official, a utility contractor and a rural community assistance program representative.

National Office Moves Forward with Emergency Preparedness Initiatives
Building upon ongoing efforts to heighten the security of AMSA’s National Office, recent weeks have seen the staff take additional steps to increase the level of emergency preparedness. Although the National Office had created a Security Team and provided AMSA staff with laminated wallet-size card with contact information for the entire staff, building tenants and relevant organizations, the heightened terror alert level prompted the action.

The first step taken was the appointment of an Emergency Coordinator to serve as a central point of contact for preparedness activities as well as in the event of an emergency. To ensure the staff could comfortably stay within the building for up to three days (as was recommended by government authorities) AMSA assembled an emergency supplies kit that includes non-perishable food, first-aid supplies, and a battery powered radio. Each floor of the building was also outfitted with a flashlight and first-aid kit and at least two staff members on each floor have been assigned the duty of shutting down the ventilation system in the event we are instructed to do so. In addition to these initial activities, the Emergency Coordinator has been assessing the overall preparedness of the staff and building for any emergency. The operation of fire escapes, fire extinguishers, and the building's local alarm are all being evaluated. Furthermore, the Emergency Coordinator is drafting evacuation procedures for the building in the event of a fire or other emergency.

In the information technology arena, AMSA is now generating daily backups of critical accounting, application and e-mail data. One set of weekly backup tapes is stored off site, to ensure recoverability in the event of the loss of or damage to the national office building. Additionally, all software running on AMSA servers and client computers is upgraded to the latest service releases and/or security updates within a few days after they become available by the vendor or a third party. Among other services AMSA is a subscriber of Microsoft's Security Bulletin and implements all recommended security measures.

The National Office will continue to monitor government warnings and recommendations about emergency preparedness and take the steps necessary to protect all of its employees.

Affiliate Forum Yields New Ideas
During the 2003 Winter Conference, AMSA hosted an Affiliate Forum Luncheon, which was designed to explore additional opportunities for Affiliate members to contribute to the Association through a variety of channels. A number of ideas were shared during and after the February Luncheon. The following summary provides some of those ideas:

  • Affiliate involvement in developing session and presentation ideas for Association conferences (specifically the Winter and Summer conferences) —Following the Winter Conference, the National Office reached out to the Affiliate community requesting ideas for the 2003 Summer Conference. Interested organizations were asked to submit a brief proposal outlining their idea for a conference session or specific presentation and identify Member Agency representatives as potential speakers.
  • The development of an Affiliate member listserv — It is envisioned that the listserv could be used by AMSA’s leader to gather information and identify resources in support of the Association’s advocacy needs, as well as a means through which Affiliate members could communicate.
  • The establishment of an Affiliate/AMSA Leadership committee — This committee would be comprised of Affiliate members and AMSA’s leadership to work on specific issues of interest, keep the communication channels open and explore additional ways for Affiliate members to get involved in the Association as well as ways AMSA could benefit from the services of Affiliate members.

To continue the productive dialogue that came out of the February Forum, AMSA will host a second Affiliate Forum on Tuesday, May 21st, during the 2003 National Environmental Policy Forum & 33rd Annual Meeting to further explore ideas that were brought to the table.