ILLINOIS WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
Volume 25, No. 2 - Summer 2004

WEFMAX 2004 Report

On behalf of the IWEA, Greg Brunst, Lou Kollias, and Toby Duckett attended the WEFMAX 2004 meeting in Indiana-polis, Indiana, May 6-8. Representatives from nine member associations (MA's) along with four WEF staff attended for a total of 49 present. The MA's were Central States, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and Pacific Northwest. The theme could have been “Going the Distance” as on May 8, 35,000 plus runners started a mini marathon right behind our hotel. It was a very interesting event to witness.

There is no way I can relay all the good information learned from WEF staff and other MA officers, but the key thing I would encourage is for every member of our IWEA to consider going to one of these meeting in 2005. This is especially valuable if you are an officer or committee member because you can learn so much about achieving success and avoiding failure from stories presented there. Start planning now to attend one of the following meetings:

You might ask yourself WHY should I attend next year? The main reason is for the exchange of information in a small forum which permits open discussion directly with WEF Staff and other MA members in your shoes. This is one of the only ways you can have time to discuss issues of concern and bring them forth for assistance from the wealth of talent at the meeting. We are very fortunate to have very dedicated WEF staff and officers. They are concerned about the MA's and placing the WEF in a strong global position.

The first half-day was for a meeting of the House of Delegates (HOD). Greg and Toby attended this meeting that covered topics as follows:

Governance Implementation
We review where we are now, what needs to be done, and what should happen during the balance of the meeting and the upcoming WEFTEC.

Member Association Ideas for WEFTEC
We discussed what topics should be discussed at the next HOD meeting and how best to address MA concerns. Four breakout sessions were held to assist the Board of Trustees (BOT) in directions for Membership, Global Presence, Regulatory Issues, and Board of Trustees Activities and Actions.

Michael Read, WEF Vice President reported that during the four BOT meetings over the year, the BOT took up the challenge of funding by changing the fiscal year. It now runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. This will permit the budget and actual spending to reflect the receipts from WEFTEC that brings in about 50% of the total revenue. In the past years, the major income was at the end of the fiscal year and made it hard to plan. We all liked the new format were the Directors had a whole afternoon to talk with the WEF Vice President.

HOD Open Discussion
The Directors were reminded that now our role is to express concerns and issues for our MA to the BOT. This is our main role so if you have topics, please let Greg or me know.

The next whole day concentrated on the MA's sharing their activities in the following areas:
   Student and Young Professionals
   MA generated products
   Certification Programs
   Partnerships
   Residuals & Biosolids
   Public Education

At the end of the day, we had WEF Committee reports on the Student and Young Professionals (SYP), Manufacturers and Representatives (MAR), and Professional Wastewater Operations (PWO). These committee members advised us on their committee work and their goals. Key points learned were that there will be a SYP reception and career fair at the WEFTEC. There are a total of 54 student chapters now.

The WEF has a “tool kit” available on the WEF web page. The MAR committee stated that they have a brochure on E2P2, which stands for Engineered Equipment Procurement Procedure. This is available for presentation at any MA meeting. The PWO group now has 9100 members and they are currently looking at how to best serve the needs of their membership.

The next half-day was more for the WEF staff and officers to report on the status of the WEF and look to us for ideas for the future. This was very informative and interesting. Bill Bertera detailed that his workday is changing now more from finance issues to management issues. He is now looking more into ways to support us in our WATER business and we did discuss we are interested in all of water. He commented that he noticed in our MA reports: “we do better together”, “we are the same people”, and “we partner with the AWWA”. Our organization must deal with changes to stay valid.

Michael Reed outlined the concerns about combining forces on several items. These topics covered:
    Governance Transition
    MA Assistance
    International Objectives
    Committee Organization and Committee Leadership Council (CLC)
    Services to Utilities or Plant Operators
    Engaging University Membership
    Infrastructure Funding
    Board of Trustee (BOT) Activities and Goals
    Change in the Fiscal Year
    Support “Water for People”
    Educational partnership with Canada
    MA & WEF partnering agreement for risk / reward sharing
    Expanding WEF membership to special interest groups, industry, plants

If you have questions on any of these topics, please call me for more information. Each topic was discussed in detail.

Diane Crilley, WEF MA Management Center, detailed the work she does. It involves assisting us as an MA. This assistance is best found and utilized from the website of www.wef.org/whoweare/ma/index.jhtml. This site includes information on a whole host of resources for training and professional development. Any committee chair and officer should take a look at this site for this valuable information. The main thing is that Diane is available to help you. Events are listed to help us schedule our activities and avoid conflicts. Again, membership assistance is clearly a goal for this department. We should use it for Student Chapters, Young Professionals, and general program concerns.

Summary: You should have been there. It was an excellent meeting. Main point: the WEF staff, committees, and officers are open to hear from you and assist you. As it was stated, THINGS HAVE CHANGED AT THE WEF. Let our Illinois WEA keep up as a leader.