4.         Regional Representative’s Update

4a: CASFM Happy Hour Social Activities: Doug Triest, who has been coordinating the Metro socials, could not attend the meeting but requested suggestions on a topic or speaker for the next social. None were offered and it was suggested that he continue pursuing the Urban Drainage speaker. Stuart Gardner hosted a social for the NW region. They had a panel discussion on drainage issues in the Grand Valley. The regional representative for the NE Region, Debbie Haferman is working on a social for her region in the spring.

4b. Future Meeting and Field Trips: There were some suggestions on potential field trips which included, Ocean Journey to view their recycling water system, the new football stadium’s drainage features, an UD&FCD Roller Compacted Dam under construction, Horsetooth Dam Remediation work, and to view the past CASFM conference award winning projects. Volunteers to coordinate field trips are welcome to contact Doug Triest and or John Doerfer.
 

5.         Workshop and Seminar Scheduling

Floodplain 101 Workshop – Brian Hyde is working on this. It is planned to offer the course in the Denver Metro area and also in Alamosa. We also discussed other potential topics for workshops. Funding sources as a topic was brought up, and Debbie agreed to look into a workshop on this. It was also announced that the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District will be having a workshop on the draft criteria manual on March 8th at the Holiday Inn in Northglenn. You can register for the UD&FCD workshop by visiting the District’s website at www.udfcd.org (seminar information including a tentative agenda is located under “Conferences.”)

6.         ASFPM Memorandum of Affirmation Update

The Memorandum of Affirmation from ASFPM is about the role of ASFPM and the state chapters. CASFM put in comments on this document to our district representative, Don Glondis, and they will have a meeting in January to discuss this document, and any comments received. We have not paid our membership due yet, awaiting the outcome of this discussion. This was approved by ASFPM until the issue is addressed.

ASFPM also sent out a request for input regarding the top five priorities for the new Bush Administration. CASFM members should have received this through e-mail. Any comments should be sent to Kevin Gingery who will forward them together to ASFPM. FEMA’s need for $750 million for map modernization was brought up as an issue.

7.         Reaching out to Colorado Communities

Anna Lenahan from Ayres & Associates presented ideas for reaching out to Colorado Communities. CASFM members have helped smaller communities in the past with drainage issues and would like to be more active in this area. This was also brought up as an idea at the conference. Anna gave suggestions on how to reach out to the Colorado Municipal League (CML) who has members from most of the smaller communities. In many smaller communities, the floodplain administrator may have little technical knowledge about floodplain and drainage issues. Ideas included having a booth at the CML Annual Conference (Snowmass in June anyone?), putting on a CML sponsored workshop, attending CML meetings and even being an Associate to CML. A committee for outreach to small communities was formed at the meeting to start looking into how CASFM members can reach out to Colorado communities. Volunteers for the committee thus far includes: Anna Lenahan, Kallie Sampish, Roy Vestal and Stuart Gardner. Other volunteers are welcome and encouraged to participate by contacting Anna Lenahan at 970-223-5556. The committee will present an “Action Plan” for year 2001 at the next General Meeting.

8.        Larimer County Request

Ed Woodward from Larimer County brought up an issue that they were wanting information and potential support on. The issue is how the County can assess fees for drainage for developments that don’t go through the subdivision process. Currently, state statues will allow for fees to be charged for developments through the subdivision regulations, but if a new development isn’t required to go through this process they can’t collect fees (ie infill development of commercial properties, house and building additions, etc.). Obtaining the Legal authority to do this may require a change in state statue, or another mechanism to implement the fee structure. This would be a one time development fee, not an annual fee. One potential mechanism is to form a special district whose duties include drainage and have them assess the fee and be responsible for drainage. A contact was offered for the Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority who has implemented this program. It was also brought up that CASFM has not in the past taken an active role in legislation at the State level. This is something we may want to consider in the future.
 

9.        2001 Conference Planning

Mark Glidden has been looking into planning the accommodations for the 2002 conference. A desire to stay at a mountain resort has been expressed by many CASFM members. The four areas he looked into include, the Sheraton Steamboat again, the Beaver Run Resort and the Great Divide/Village at Breckenridge Resort in Breckenridge, and the Vail Cascade Resort in Vail. He handed out a summary stating the dates available for each resort, the rates for the rooms and comments for each one. A primary consideration is the date for the conference. It was decided to stay away from the Labor Day weekend as this may be a conflict for many people. After eliminating those resorts that didn’t have availability for our desired weekend, this left the Great Divide/Village at Breckenridge and Steamboat. The conference has been held in Breckenridge years ago, but the facilities have been changed since we were there last. There was some desire expressed to try a new location as this will be our fourth year in Steamboat. It was suggested that Mark take a trip to Breckenridge to evaluate the facilities there to ensure the conference and vendor space is adequate and the rooms are nice.

The 2001 conference will be held at the Steamboat Sheraton on Wednesday, September 19 through Friday, September 21st. Jamie Cribbs handed out the conference planning documents for 2001 which include the conference committee positions, draft request for presentations and the conference planning time schedule. A few more volunteers were found and the conference committee positions are summarized below. There was discussion on what theme we should have for this conference. It needs to be broad enough to attract as many presentations as possible. We brainstormed a little on potential areas for presentations and conference themes. These included:

• Riding the Storm Out

• 2001, A Drainage Oddesy

• Not Just a Hole in The Ground

• Managing the Flood of Growth

• Failures: What went wrong and why?

• Innovative Techniques

• Legislative Delimas

• Watershed Protection & Planning

• Certified Floodplain Managers

• Water Quality

• Bioengineering

• Public Participation

• Landscape Architecture and Drainage

It was decided that the conference theme will be, 2001 A Drainage Oddesy. Jamie will incorporate the above ideas in the Request for Presentations which is scheduled to go out in February.
 

2001 Conference Committee

NEXT MEETING:

9:00 am on March 15th at City of Loveland. Call Kevin Gingery at 970-962-3571 if you need more directions. The basic directions to the City of Loveland Service Center are: I-25 to US 34 (Eisenhower Blvd.), west to Wilson Avenue (on the west side of town by Safeway and Kmart), left (south) on Wilson Avenue and over the Big Thompson River to 200 N. Wilson Avenue (Service Center entrance on the left – east – large sign), parking on the west side of the Service Center building. Enter the main entrance lobby and ask for the CASFM meeting room.