Illinois Water Environment Association
NEWSLETTER
Volume 24, No. 3 - Fall 2003 page 2

Presidents's Forum

Mary Johnson
IWEA President

The President's Forum Column in the Spring Issue of the Clarifier focused on IWEA member contributions. Summer's column focused on educational opportunities. This fall column will focus on business decisions affecting the IWEA's operation and governance.

A nine member Executive Committee manages the affairs of the IWEA. (You can see their names and titles at the bottom of this page.) At its past few meetings, the Executive Committee has made several decisions that will affect the financial health and the business operations of the organization. The Committee believes these decisions will aid the organization in operating in an efficient and economical manner.

Financial Issues
The IWEA is currently in good financial health, with a balanced budget and $20,000 in reserves. To insure this situation continues, the IWEA has addressed auditing and insurance issues.

Sikich, Gardner & Co, LLP performed the IWEA's last professional audit in 2001. The cost of audit was rather steep, at $5000 to audit two years of financial records. Following this audit, the IWEA formed an Audit Committee to examine our auditing procedures. The Committee recommended we change to a system of performing annual internal audits and using professional auditors every three to five years. Second Vice President and Audit Committee Chair Lou Kollias recently completed internal audits for fiscal years ending in 2002 and 2003. He reported our financial records are in good order, books are balanced, and all transactions are well documented.

Also, this year the Executive Committee addressed liability insurance issues. In the past, the IWEA had purchased its liability insurance through a WEF sponsored carrier. It was found our policy was held in aggregate with all other WEF member associations, i.e., if another member association made a claim against the insurance, there would be less funds available for an IWEA claim. In June, the IWEA cancelled its WEF sponsored liability insurance and contracted with Anderson Insurance Agency. Our new policy offers the same coverage as the WEF policy, eliminates the problem of sharing insurance with other member associations, and saves us $500 annually.

The IWEA currently has over $20,000 in reserves in a one year Certificate of Deposit at Community Bank in Wheaton, IL. As we have not drawn against this account in over four years, the Executive Committee voted to put $10,000 of our reserves in a higher interest earning two year CD and another $10,000 in a one year CD. This will allow our organization to earn more interest while still providing access to funds.

Finally, as mentioned in the Summer Issue, the IWEA is endowing an “Illinois Water Environment Association Sylvanus Jackson Memorial Scholarship” at Southern Illinois University. This will remove management of funds and administration of the scholarship from the IWEA while still allowing us to approve all scholarship recipients.

Business Issues
The Executive Committee also has addressed issues related to the business operation of the organization.

An ad-hoc committee of John Drake, Toby Duckett, and Larry Ziemba are working with the Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association, ISAWWA, to put together a proposal regarding a joint conference in 2006. As the Annual Conference is our premier member event each year, as well as a significant source of Association funds, the proposal will require careful crafting and consideration. More information will follow in future Clarifier issues.

The IWEA is also adding another standing committee, a Young Professionals Committee chaired by Mark Halm of Deuchler & Associates. The goals of this committee are to recruit and welcome young and new members to the IWEA, advise the Executive Committee on issues relating to young members, and to provide activities specifically related to young professionals.

Lastly, and the most notable of business issues addressed by the Executive Committee, is the creation of an Affiliate Membership category with a lower annual membership fee. The intention of this new membership category is to encourage more people to join the IWEA. Affiliate Members would join the IWEA without joining the Water Environment Federation. These members would enjoy all membership benefits such as free Clarifier subscriptions and reduced registration fees for IWEA events. However affiliate members would not receive WEF publications nor have reduced registration fees at WEF events. It will be necessary to amend our Constitution & Bylaws if we want to include a new membership category. All members present at the Annual Business Meeting March 9, 2004 will be asked to vote on amendments and changes. We will send a letter to all members regarding these issues in January 2004.