GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

July 10, 2003 Ayres Associates - Fort Collins
 

Meeting Attendees
 

Name

Organization

David Bennetts

UDFCD

Chris Carlson – Outreach Chair

Ayres Associates

Joe Chaplin

City of Loveland

Aaron Cvar

Northern Engineering

Dan Evans

City of Loveland

Julie Eyre

Mesa County

Jeremy Franz – Scholarship Chair

Ayres Associates

Stuart Gardner – Chair

CDOT

Kevin Gingery – Membership Chair

City of Loveland

Debbie Haferman – NE Rep

HEI

David Hollingsworth

City of Longmont

John Hunt – Secretary

Ayres Associates

Robert Krehbiel – Conference Chair

Matrix Design Group

David Krickbaum

Olsson Associates

Kevin McBride – Stormwater Chair

City of Fort Collins

Mike Meininger – NW Rep Proxy

Mesa County

Walt Pennington

Boyle Engineering

Chris Pletcher

RTW

Trent Prall – Treasurer

City of Grand Junction

Georgia Simpson

City of Arvada

Doug Stewart

Boyle Engineering

David Thaemert

SEH

 

 

The following is a summary of the interactions, comments and future items discussed. While this summary is not intended to represent a complete or comprehensive account of the meeting, it is intended to reflect the salient points raised or issues for further consideration. Should the attendees believe that anything may be misrepresented or misleading, please bring this to the attention of John Hunt, CASFM Secretary.

 

1.      Secretary Report

 

The minutes from the May 2, 2003 meeting were approved. The secretary determined that a quorum was present, with Mike Meininger acting as proxy for the Northwest Regional Representative.

 

2.      Chairman’s Report/ASFPM Conference Discussion

 

Stuart Gardner represented CASFM at the ASFPM annual conference in St. Louis in May. Approximately 900 people attended the conference. The tenth anniversary of the 1993 Midwest floods was a major focus of the conference. Some insights that were gained at the conference:

On membership – one reason we don’t see more involvement by federal employees in CASFM (and other organizations) is that the federal government is reluctant to cover membership fees for professional organizations. Several federal agencies have engineers in Colorado, such as FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the NRCS, etc. Stuart encouraged existing CASFM members to forward names of federal engineers in Colorado that we know and work with to Kevin Gingery, who can invite them to join and participate in CASFM.

On Map Modernization – Anthony Lowe of FEMA made a presentation at the conference. He stated that the total MMIP effort is expected to cost around a billion dollars. FEMA will focus the use of FY 2003 money on the Map Modernization needs of the most populated areas of the United States, expected to be on the order of 150 million dollars. CASFM member Bill DeGroot of Urban Drainage also presented on the topic of Map Modernization at the conference.
 

3.      Treasurer Report

Trent Prall distributed a budget report. As of July 8, 2003 the savings account balance stood at $20,060 and the checking account at $25,578. The budget currently appears very positive because of incoming revenue from the Scour and Stream Stability course. Kevin Gingery pointed out that overall we’ll lose some money on the two NHI courses (Scour and Stream Stability and River Engineering for Highway Encroachments). It was pointed out that the workshop expenses budget needed to be increased to show the actual projected expenses.

 

4.      Regional Representatives Reports

 

Northeast Region: The summer social was held on July 8, consisting of a tour of the Sheldon Lake project in Fort Collins followed by a happy hour at CB&Potts. The tour was well attended, but the happy hour was slightly less so.
 

5.      Committee Reports

 

Floodplain: Mike Meininger reported that Kallie Sampish will be the official proctor for the CFM exam this year. Like last year, a CFM refresher course will be offered at the conference. Anyone taking the CFM exam at the CASFM conference will be required to be a member of CASFM, and a nominal fee will be charged to help defray CASFM's costs for proctoring and the review class. Mike reminded members that those interested in taking the CFM exam must register through ASFPM at least two weeks before the conference.

Stormwater Quality: Kevin McBride distributed a flier and explained the Stormwater Quality Bus Tour to take place on July 25, with stops at Cherry Creek State Park, the Stapleton Redevelopment, the Left Hand Creek project in Longmont, and the Land and Water Building in Boulder.

Kevin recently attended a retreat hosted by the Colorado NonPoint Source Council. The focus was on agricultural and silvicultural issues. Kevin reported that the NonPoint Source Council, which dispenses Section 319 grants, is not currently inclined to provide grants for municipal stormwater projects under NPDES Phase II, unless it is for a project that goes above and beyond the requirements of the permit.

Scholarship: Jeremy Franz reported that the new application is on the CASFM web site. As of July 10 there had been no response. The committee expects more interest to be generated once the graduate students return to campus in late August. The scholarship timetable is as follows:

  • September 15, 2003 notify short-listed candidates

  • Week of September 22, 2003 conduct interviews with short-listed candidates

  • September 29, 2003 notify successful candidate

  • October 6, 2003 dispense first $1,000 check

  • February 2, 2004 dispense second $1,000 check upon verification of full time enrollment

The current scholarship recipient, Jeremy Shaw, will make a presentation at the annual conference.

Outreach: Chris Carlson reported that Kallie Sampish of the Applegate Group and Chris Longo of Ayres Associates attended the Colorado Municipal League (CML) annual conference. The most significant event at the conference for CASFM was the roundtable workshop, where several attendees spoke with the CASFM representatives. The most common question topic was stormwater quality. Chris recommends, therefore, that we try to set up a two-hour lunchtime seminar at CML headquarters on the topic of stormwater quality. Chris also noted that floodplain issues were a big question area at the conference. Most small communities are fearful of the FEMA map modernization program due to their perception that it will lead to more interference by the federal government. Chris was happy to report that there were no expenses to CASFM for our involvement in the CML conference. Mike Meininger asked about doing the same kind of thing with Colorado Counties Incorporated (CCI) which is the county counterpart to CML.

Membership: Kevin Gingery reported that we have over 500 members for the first time ever (503 total). In July of 2002 there were 420 members, 378 in July 2001, and about 350 in July 2000. Kevin feels that actual mailings are more effective than email in building membership. The chair pointed out that the record membership level that we have now was obtained almost entirely through e-mail. However, a combination of an e-mail campaign along with postal mailings and some follow up phone calls would be the most effective method of renewal and recruitment. Stuart also brought up some ideas for increasing membership, such as complimentary membership for selected federal employees. For example, as an idea for consideration, complimentary memberships could be offered for to up to five people each from FEMA, the Corps, the NRCS, the USGS, etc. The idea was well-received, because there are so many federal employees working in agencies that are CASFM-relevant in Colorado and their participation would be beneficial not only to current CASFM members, but would help with the agencies' missions as well. No motion was made, but discussion will continue at future meetings. Members, however, are encouraged to come to the November meeting with names of potential members in Colorado working in the federal government.
 

6.      Workshops and Seminars

 

Kevin Gingery reported that the NHI Scour and Stream Stability course scheduled for July 15 through 17, 2003 had full enrollment. As of July 10, the River Engineering for Highway Encroachments course scheduled for August had 21 enrollees. Fee collection for the workshops was going well.

Other relevant (non-CASFM-sponsored) courses that are on the CASFM calendar include Geo-Spatial Hydrology using HEC-GeoHMS and HEC-HMS at UC Denver (August 2003), a CUHP-UDSWMM course at UC Denver (August 2003) and Western Water Rights and Water Engineering at UC Denver (October and November 2003).
 

7.      Conference Planning


Robert Krehbiel reported that the conference mailer will go out to the general membership within the next few days and will include a registration form. The conference hotel rate at Beaver Run resort is $99 a night. They have 100 rooms available at that rate. Robert distributed copies of the program.

All of the technical sessions are filled. Nine award projects were submitted. Tom Noel of UC Denver will give the keynote address “A History of Colorado Drainageways.” The plenary session, topic will be “Impacts of the 2002 Drought and Fires.” The plenary panel will include John Henz of HDR, Rocky Wiley of Denver Water, Lee MacDonald of CSU, and Bob Jarrett of the USGS.

Robert asked for and got volunteers to moderate all of the technical sessions.

Eleven vendors have committed to the conference, one of which is the state Office of Emergency Management. The vendor space is essentially full.

Mike Bartusek has organized the golf tournament at the Breckenridge Golf Club. The tournament will begin at 1:00 pm on Friday.

Stuart Gardner has agreed to be the Master of Ceremonies for the Awards Banquet again. Only problem is, after last year’s magic show, he may have a very difficult time enticing people to get on stage again.
 

8.      Newsletter Report

 

The next issue of the newsletter will be out in August.
 

9.     Other Items not on the Agenda


 The candidates for the CASFM Board for 2003-2004 are:

Brad Anderson, Chair - Anderson Consulting Engineers

Jamie Cribbs, Vice Chair - McLaughlin Rincon

Dave Krickbaum, Secretary - Olsson Associates

Trent Prall, Treasurer - City of Grand Junction

David Thaemert, Northeast Regional Rep - Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. (SEH)

Mike Meininger, Northwest Regional Rep - Mesa County

Kevin Stilson, Southeast Regional Rep - Pikes Peak Regional Building Department

Scott Farnham, Southwest Regional Rep - Civil Design Team

Peter Kozinski, Metro Region Rep - Colorado Dept. of Transportation

 

NEXT MEETING:


General Membership breakfast meeting at the annual conference. Thursday September 11, 2003 beginning at 7:30 am.
 

ACTION ITEMS:

  • Membership committee, with help from members, compile list of potential members from federal government agencies.

  • Those wishing to take the CFM exam, register through ASFPM as soon as possible.

  • Scholarship committee, follow timetable for scholarship award and dispensing.

  • Outreach committee, work with Stormwater Quality committee to arrange a lunchtime workshop at CML.

  • Outreach committee, consider outreach to Colorado Counties Incorporated (CCI).

  • Conference committee, finalize all conference arrangements as necessary.

 

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