Meeting Minutes 2015
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HWEA will be the organization of dedicated and knowledgeable professionals
recognized for preserving and enhancing the water environment in the Pacific Island Region.

HWEA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, September 17, 2015, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Sand Island Treatment Center – Conference Room

ATTENDANCE:  
Board of Directors  
Emily Dong President
Staci Taniguchi Vice-President
Audrey Haerle Secretary-Treasurer
Jon Baker PWO Vice Representative
   
Committee – Representatives  
Scott McAdam Conference Committee Co-Chairperson 2015/16 Safety Co-Chairperson
Audrey Haerle Public Education Co-Chairperson, Rebrand Co-Chairperson
Lori Morikami Public Education Co-Chairperson
   
NOT ABLE TO ATTEND:  
Lance Manabe Delegate
Wayne Salas PWO Representative
Pat Markham PWO Committee
Shannon Holman Past President
John Katahira Ad-Hoc Committee
Roy Abe Ad-Hoc Committee
Greg Arakaki Biosolids/Co-Generation Committee Co-Chairperson
Wayne White Biosolids/Co-Generation Committee Co-Chairperson 
June Nakamura Board Advisory/Constitution & Bylaws Co-Chairperson 
Lee Mansfield, Board Advisory/Constitution & Bylaws Co-Chairperson
Kristie Ching Board Advisory/Constitution & Bylaws Co-Chairperson
Jon Nishimura Collection Committee Chairperson
Tina Ono Collection Committee Chairperson
Leland Lee Communications Vice-Chairperson
Mark Goodrowe Communications Chairperson
Lori Kahikina Conference Committee Co-Chairperson 2015
Puna Kaneakua Conference Committee Co-Chairperson 2016
Tim Steinberger Government Affairs Chairperson
Walter Billingsley Government Affairs Vice-Chairperson
Merlita Alimagno Laboratory Co-Chairperson
Layne Otomo Laboratory Co-Chairperson
Joni Tanimoto Membership Chairperson
Edie Alipio Pretreatment/On-Site Treatment Chairperson
Quintin Beltran Pretreatment/On-Site Treatment Co-Chairperson 
Dorreann Kaehuaea Pretreatment/On-Site Treatment Committee
Lori Morikami Public Education Co-Chairperson
Jason Nakata Rebrand Co-Chairperson
Jack Tano Registration Committee Rebrand Co-Chairperson
Carol Zuerndorfer Registration Committee
Trudy Hamic Registration Committee
Roger Babcock, Jr. Research Chairperson
Carly Kaneko Safety Co-Chairperson
Mindy Yoneshige Student Affairs Co-Chairperson
Keith Miyashiro Student Affairs Co-Chairperson
Brad Takenaka Water Quality Co-Chairperson
Jay Stone Water Quality Co-Chairperson
Eassie Miller Water Reuse Co-Chairperson
Elson Gushiken Water Reuse Co-Chairperson
Susan Mukai Young Professional Co-Chairperson
Alyssa Smith Young Professional Co-Chairperson
Jessica Agsalda Young Professionals Co-Chair

 

 

PRESIDING: Emily Dong
RECORDER: Audrey Haerle

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Call to Order

  • The meeting was called to order at 11:55 am.

Approval of August Meeting Minutes

  • Staci was the only one that commented. It was general suggestions so she will submit her specific comments later.

Committee Reports

 A.Board Advisory/Constitution & Bylaws Committee – Lee Mansfield, Kristie Ching & June Nakamura

  • Unable to attend. No report.

B.Board of Certification of Operating Personnel in Wastewater Treatment Facilities – Kevin Nakamura

  • Emily emailed Eassie and has not heard back from him.

C.Biosolids/Co-Generation Committee – Greg Arakaki & Wayne White

  • Unable to attend, sent in CEUs to the board for approval.

D.Collection Systems Committee – Jon Nishimura/Tina Ono

  • Unable to attend.
  • Emily: Will update website soon with conference details.

E.Communications committee – Mark Goodrowe & Leland Lee

  • Unable to attend. No report.

F.Conference Committee 2016 – Scott McAdam & Puna Kaneakua

  • Registration for exhibits opened on the 15th. Sold 29 booths so far.
  • Next meeting will be in the upcoming week.
  • Waiting for draft tech program before opening registration.
  • Jon Baker will attend next conference meeting.

G.Government Affairs Committee – Tim Steinberger & Walter Billingsley

  • Unable to attend. No report.

H.Laboratory Committee – Merlita Alimagno & Layne Otomo

  • Unable to attend. No report.
  • A replacement has not been found, Jon to follow up with Lyle Shizomoto.

I.Membership Committee – Joni Tanimoto

  • Unable to attend. No report.

J.Pretreatment Committee – Quintin Beltran & Edie Alipio

  • Unable to attend. No report.

K. Public Education Committee – Lori Morikami & Audrey Haerle

  • Lori recently attended a lecture by Robert “Bob” Whittier from DOH’s Safe Drinking Water Branch. He is an Environmental Health Specialist on wastewater effects on groundwater. She thinks he will be a good option for the conference or luncheon speaker.
  • CCH October is ‘Make a Difference’ month. See CCH calendar of events online.
  • Beach cleanup is tentatively planned for Nov, pending discussion with Sustainable Coastlines.

L.Research Committee - Roger Babcock, Jr.

  • Unable to attend. No Report.

M.Safety Committee – Scott McAdam &Carly Kaneko

  • No report.

N.Student Affairs Committee – Mindy Yoneshige/Keith Miyashiro

  • Unable to attend. No Report.

O.Water Reuse Committee – Eassie Miller & Elson Gushiken

  • Unable to attend. No report.
  • Emily: Eassie is looking for a replacement.

P.Water Quality Committee – Jay Stone & Brad Takenaka

  • Unable to attend.
  • CEUs to be addressed by PWO.

Q.Young Professionals Committee – Susan Mukai & Jessica Agsalda

  • Unable to attend. No report.
  • Alyssa Smith is moving to Sacramento in November so they transferred duties to Jessica.

 

Board of Directors Items

·Secretary/Treasurer's Report: Audrey Haerle  
o   Account Balances as of 9/16/2015  
ML Conference Checking

$298,613.99

Bank of Hawaii $2,041.25
Petty Cash $50.00
CD Investments $100,000.00
TOTAL: 400,705.24
   
   
   
Total Income $42,305.32
Total Expenses $87,178.88
Rolling Balance ($44,873.56)
  • Will transfer more money from the ML account to the Bank of Hawaii account to accommodate for WEFTEC expenses? $10,000 was transferred last time but

$15,000 might be better now especially if Taryn is transitioning out.

  • Emily requested that we look into the expenses and compare the balance to last years. Should we be running so negative still? Have we not evened out after the joint conference transition? Audrey to follow up.
  • Taryn is unable to continue as our bookkeeper so she is looking for a replacement. She is hoping to leave by October but will not leave abruptly.
    • Should we advertise the position publicly?
    • Emily requested a summary of estimated duties and hours. Audrey will inquire with Corey.
    • Forms will need to be changed when the new person is added.
  • The reimbursement form has been revised and needs to be reviewed. Lance Manabe suggested that the committee chair signs off on the form to ensure communication within the committees and for accountability reasons. Scott suggested that we have the committee chair submit it or at least cc them in the email. The committee decided we should just cc the chair on the reimbursement email or have the reimbursement email be sent by the chair.

·President Report: Emily Dong

  • The new website email system was not reaching everyone so we have had to work out some kinks. The new address can get caught in spam filters, as was the case with the original email server so people will have to unblock it.
  • Emily has received an error message from the website (“time out”) so she is concerned that not all people are getting them.
  • We have 40 followers on Instagram and around 80 likes on our new Facebook page.
  • Operators Study Session Program will be restarted in November.
    • Jon: Results for the exams have not been released yet
    • Emily is interested in the results so she can compare it with those who did not attend the study sessions.

·Vice-President Report: Staci Taniguchi

  • Staci arrives at WEFTEC late Saturday afternoon.

 

  • Tuesday is leadership day, same day as Ops Challenge.
  • Staci volunteered for Women in Water networking session as a scribe.
  • Please send her anything that we would like to pass out.

·Federation Matters: Delegate, Lance Manabe

  • Unable to attend. No report.

·PWO Matters: Jon Baker and Wayne Salas

  • Met with the Board of Certification to discuss CEUs for last conference Ops Challenge:
  • PWO wanted credit for competition preparation, as promised by last board. The board now said that they were not awarded because they did not attend the classes. They will only award 0.75 CEU, as opposed to the previous 1.0 CEU.
  • The board requested that Jon send a letter to request the additional 0.25 CEU.
  • WEFTEC attendance will provide 1.0 CEU.
    • Biosolids/Stormwater conference:
  • Board reviewed the topics for each section of the conference and

explained that the stormwater sessions were more geared towards engineers rather than operators.

  • Jon argued that operators are required to have stormwater training (related to NPDES permitting etc.), so the board will review the CEU and likely overturn the decision.
    • PWO tours:
  • Weather has not been favorable so they delayed tours until October
  • KK Tunnel Tour limit is 10 people so they may do multiple days.
    • PWC Ops Challenge:
  • Team registration for will be in December.
  • Safety, collections and pump events will be open to public and teams are able to register for only one event.
  • Fees and awards will still apply if a team only competes in one event.
    • Non-profit, Hawaii Rural Water Association offers free math training in Oct and Nov but it is not eligible for CEUs.
    • Entry level operator training by Edventer (featuring Steve Paracoboli) is being held in Maui for $1,400 but CCH will not reimburse for it. Not clear if it is eligible for CEU credit.

·Past President: Shannon Holman

  • Unable to attend.

Old Business

  • None.

New/Miscellaneous Business

  • None.

Internet Inquiries

  • None.

 

Sand Island Treatment Center – Conference Room                                                    11:30 am– 1:30 pm

Next Meeting:

Thursday, Oct 22 at 11:30 am

Up-Coming Events:

  • November 22, 2015: Beach Clean-Up
  • December 4, 2015: Collections Systems Conference (call for papers)
  • February 2 – 4, 2016: Pacific Water Conference
  • February 5, 2016: Annual Golf Tournament
  • February 6, 2015: PWC Community Service event

Up-Coming Webcasts

UTILITY MANAGEMENT: Effective Utility Management: Feedback Webinars 10-15-2015
2015-10-15

STORMWATER & WET WEATHER: Faster, Cheaper, Greener Webcast Series 10-21-2015
 2015-10-21

Interactive Knowledge Exchange (IKE)
2015-10-28

Evolving Perspective of Nutrients – Pollutant to Resource
2015-11-05

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:56 PM.

 

 Audrey

 

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Contact Info

Hawai‘i Water Environment Association
PO Box 2422
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96804
General Inquiries: info@hwea.org