Meeting Attendees
 

The following is a summary of the interactions, comments and 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 and issues for further consideration. Should the attendees believe that anything might be misrepresented or misleading, please bring this to the attention of Robert Krehbiel, CASFM Secretary.

1)           Secretary Report

The General Meeting and the Board Meeting minutes for the September 17, 2009 meetings were distributed and reviewed. Two amendments were made to the Board Meeting Minutes. The minutes as amended were approved by a motion and vote.  A quorum of officers and regional representatives was present. 

2)           Treasurer Report

Account balances and expenditures were reviewed.  Savings account holds $20,984.33 and the checking account holds $33,006.87. To-date, expenditures for 2009 have been $103,564.95 while the total annual budget is $152,175. The Treasurer’s Report was approved by a motion and a vote. 

The proposed budget was reviewed with a total annual budget of $152,175. The line item titled “Research” was used for a CSU project and should be described better and should remain in the 2010 budget. ASFPM and CML should be included in the budget, even though these items were not paid in 2009. Membership could be paid by credit card. CASFM is now a credit card merchant and we could purchase a swipe machine for $200 and pay $3/month to maintain the service plus 4% per transaction. Or we could set up a Virtual Merchant account through PayPal for $30/month plus a 3% charge per transaction. Many of the Corporate Memberships are paid by check. It was decided that Stuart Gardner will set up a Virtual Terminal account through Paypal for membership dues. One advantage for using the Virtual Terminal is that we could also use it for training sessions or other uses, and processing would not have to be limited to the one person that holds the swipe terminal.  $1000 was added to “Membership” from $2500 to $3500 to cover expenses associated with credit card processing.

3)           Regional Representatives’ Reports

a)      Denver Metro – Deb Ohlinger reported that the next social may be held at CB Potts in Westminster in December or January. Cynthia Peterson from AWARE Colorado is a potential guest speaker. It was noted that she has changed positions to EPA.

b)      Northeast – Basil Hamdan reported on a social held last Wednesday on sustainable floodplain development with 33 attendees. The social was hosted at Ayres Associates office. The social was well received and 2 CEC credits were made available for CFM credits as part of the CASFM “Barstool series.” Benefit cost analysis was discussed. ASFPM is very supportive of the topic and quickly offered continuing education credits for the class. ASCE was interested in the same presentation. The next CASFM training may include three LID projects. CSU is working on monitoring systems for water quality and infiltration. Data collection is progressing and the results can be shared with CASFM. Chris Olson with CSU and Dr. Roesner could present at the social.

c)      Southeast – Liz Staten reported the next social will be held in December. They are very interested in training in southern Colorado. She is also the social chairman for ASCE so there is an opportunity to combine the organizational social meetings.

d)      Northwest – Rick Dorris had nothing to report. He will plan a social after the first of the year.

e)      Southwest – Victoria Schmitt had nothing to report.

4)           Committee Reports

a)      Floodplain/CFM – 22 of 23 attendees passed the CFM exam at the conference. The topic of non-levee embankments is being addressed under this committee.

b)      Stormwater Quality – Holly Piza and Herman Feissner have met to discuss opportunities for the committee. They both presented at American Planning Association (APA) regarding LID into planning. There is interest in working with kids, such as with the Denver Green School. The committee may also organize a field trip to Fort Collins. Michelle Delaria had a lot of information posted on the website. The committee will coordinate with Carrie Herbolsheimer for updates to the website. David sent out questions for committee chairs, and Michelle Delaria was the only member to volunteer. Members are encouraged to join the committee. No regularly scheduled meetings have been set.  

c)      Outreach – Ken Cecil reported via email. The committee is encouraging additional member participation and new members are welcome. The group will meet late November or early December for the next meeting. They will launch the CASFM outreach at the next CML conference in June 2010. They are actively expressing interest to the CML Conference Planning Committee. This is a good venue to get the CASFM message to elected officials. David Mallory requested the committee pursue training opportunities on the Western Slope.

d)      Scholarship – Shea is the new Chair person for Scholarship committee. UWRI to be kept informed of upcoming meetings. The Scholarship Committee is going to start working on selecting the 2009/2010 Scholarship Winners.  This committee is also looking for new members.

e)      Membership – Kevin Gingery reported via email that CASFM has 706 active members so far in 2009.  The membership form is posted on the web site. This form gives people the opportunity to check boxes if they want to join a committee. This data needs to be forwarded to the committee chairs. The 2010 renewal form will need to have space on it to enter credit card information.

f)        Training – Chris Carlson reported 2 of the Barstool series events have been held recently– one in Denver and one in Fort Collins. Both were successful. Regional reps will be given a list of topics.  Chris to send an email to membership asking about interest in training. Chris conducted a workshop on proprietary BMP devices. There is interest in webinar training series such as the format used by ASCE. The Community Rating System is also conducting training meetings.

g)      Website – Stuart Gardner reported they purchased registrations through Cvent. The conference used 250 of the 300 available. CASFM could use the remaining 50 for some smaller event. These 50 registration credits will expire the end of February.  

h)      Community Rating System – Marsha Hilmes-Robinson reported via email that they had a recent committee meeting. The CWCB is revising the state Floodplain Regulations. There are things that the State is already doing for CRS such as help on Hazard Mitigation plans. Another committee meeting is scheduled in January. French Wetmore is contracted with FEMA for a statewide strategy for CRS credit and evaluating existing programs. A strategy will be developed by the end of the year. Communities should be getting points for state efforts, and communities should make sure they are getting the credits that they deserve for multi-hazard planning.  

5)           National Flood Programs and Policies in Review

National Developments -

Bill DeGroot reported on his involvement with NAFSMA. An Intergovernmental committee including NAFSMA, ASFPM, FEMA and the Corps of Engineers (COE) was organized at after a past NAFSMA annual meeting. They are trying to get COE and FEMA to work together regarding levee safety and levee inventories. The committee became a “levee” committee for awhile. They meet quarterly. The White House is working on an update of the principles and standards for COE, Bureau of Reclamation and NRCS. A reissue of EO 11988 is expected to follow.  There is also an Operating Partners Focus Group that includes NAFSMA, ASFPM, FEMA and FEMA’s principal contractors. Their goal is to bounce ideas off the participants.  

Non Levee Embankments (NLE) –

Brian Varrella reported this controversial issue that is impacting communities, and in particular the City of Fort Collins. Mapping requests regarding approaches on NLE appear to be issued without formal guidance being issued by FEMA. Entire communities are being mapped in the floodplain based upon disregarding NLE in mapping. It was noted that the Flood Insurance fund is $17 billion in debt. Caution was expressed that CASFM must not take a stance that may involve the organization in a court case.  

6)           2009 and 2010 Conferences

Overall, comments on the 2009 conference were very positive received by the membership. The conference went smoothly and was well attended at 250 registrants. Attendance was surprisingly strong, given the state of the economy. Suggestions were made to relax the schedule since there was so much information condensed into such a short time period. The conference committee will re-evaluate the daily format. Next year, CASFM will formalize the evaluation process by email.

The 2010 conference will be held in Snowmass September 22-24. No commitments have been made for 2011. 

7)           Other Business

Work on the CASFM Newsletter will begin in January. Dave Bennetts will begin soliciting news articles after the first of the year.

The CASFM General Meeting locations have been established as:

a)      January 14, 2010 at UDFCD starting at 9:00am

b)      March 11, 2010 at CH2M Hill starting at 9:00am

c)      May 14, 2010 at Snowmass starting at noon

d)      July 8, 2010 at the Sandstone Ranch in Longmont starting at 9:00am

e)      September 23, 2010 in Snowmass conference breakfast meeting

f)        November 4, 2010 at Applegate starting at 9:00am