AMSA Board Briefs - April 1, 2004

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April 1, 2004

With the theme, 24/7: Focused on Our Community, National Public Works Weeks is slated for May 16 - 22, 2004, and immediately precedes AMSA’s National Environmental Policy Forum & 34th Annual Meeting. National Public Works Week involves over 500 agencies and includes numerous regional and local events including parades, displays of public works equipment, open houses, and media events. The occasion is marked each year with scores of resolutions and proclamations from mayors and governors. Numerous events are planned in Washington, DC, as well, to elevate our nation’s leaders’ awareness of the role of public works and the critical needs of our public infrastructure. To learn more about National Public Works Week, we invite you to visit www.apwa.net.

We are also awaiting a report reflecting the outcome of the March 10 Strategic Program Analysis conducted by Paul Meyer, our consultant, the National Office Staff and Buddy Morgan and Bill Schatz from our leadership. The full day session included the assessment of current programs, services and activities based on two sets of criteria: 1) Program Attractiveness (the degree to which the program, service, or activity is attractive to AMSA as a basis for current and future resource deployment) and 2) Competitive Position (the degree to which AMSA is in a strong position to support the program). Nine key AMSA programs and initiatives were analyzed through this process.

Board Members will receive both the revised Draft Strategic Plan and our Strategic Program Analysis well in advance of the next leadership meeting on the Strategic Planning Initiative – Friday, May 21, 2004 in Washington, DC. Association members will also learn more about the initiative through upcoming Clean Water News articles and a dedicated section of AMSA’s web site that will include an overview of the process, as well as the final reports resulting from the qualitative and quantitative surveys.

Second, AMSA Secretary Dick Champion has brought to AMSA’s attention a Missouri case in which activists are suing EPA for failing to ensure correction of shortcomings in the State’s water quality standards (WQS). Pressure from the lawsuit is leading the State, under direction by EPA Regional personnel, to consider dramatic wholesale changes to the State WQS, including automatically assigning a designated use of whole body contact (WBC) to every water body – which would mandate disinfection of all POTW discharges to all State waters regardless of the waters’ depth, flow, or use for recreation. The Executive Committee discussed the case on its call today, and recommends that AMSA become involved in the case as an intervenor. AMSA would file the motion jointly with the Urban Areas Coalition (UAC), which includes AMSA Missouri member POTWs and some non-member POTWs, to avoid the WBC and other problematic outcomes of the ongoing global challenge to the state’s WQS. The UAC also is working work these issues through the state regulatory process. A ballot seeking Board votes on this matter will be distributed tomorrow, and a call will be held for Board members who would like to obtain additional information on the case before voting on Wednesday, April 7 at 2 p.m. eastern. The dial-in for this voluntary call is 1-877-394-0659, pin 483474#.

The National Office is also working with WERF to explore ways of better utilizing WERF’s research products in support of AMSA’s advocacy efforts and to maximize AMSA member input into the research agenda setting process in the future.