Illinois Water Environment Association
NEWSLETTER
Volume 28, No. 1- Spring 2007 page 3

Director’s Corner

WEFMAX to the MAX

by Rich Helm ’07 and Chuck Corley ’08

For grammar fans, you may note that for this issue we have changed from Director’s (singular) to Directors’ (plural), since Chuck and I have been doing these as a joint effort rather than taking turns. In the last issue we highlighted the changes in governance for the House of Delegates. That continues to evolve and we will have some updates to report later in this article. This time the focus will be on WEFMAX –Chicago, which was hosted by IWEA from April 19-21, 2007.

Thanks to the hard work of the WEFMAX committee, this was a resounding success and elevated the status of IWEA within WEF, as a Member Association (MA) that can be counted on to work behind the scenes and make things happen. Most of the credit should go to Chuck for his tireless efforts to coordinate all the hotel arrangements and make sure everything went smoothly. As a result, this was indeed a “WEFMAX to the MAX”, as it turned out to be the largest WEFMAX ever held! There were 73 registered, not counting the staff from WEF, and they represented 22 different MAs from all across the country. We even had an international flavor with representatives from Ontario and Puerto Rico.

For those of you that have not yet had the opportunity to attend a WEFMAX, let me tell you a little about what goes on. As the name implies, the main purpose is for Member Association exchange (MAX), to allow different MAs to share there ideas and success stories for things they have done to boost membership, committee activities, conference ideas, Newsletter formats, and member participation in general. Since we had so many different MAs attending in Chicago, I found this to be very informative and inspiring to try to make IWEA even better.

This year the meeting was held in conjunction with a WEF Young Professionals Summit that was held on the first day and was also very successful. Several of the YPs even stayed over and joined us for the WEFMAX meeting. Another activity that first day was a meeting for members of the House of Delegates in the afternoon. As you might guess, the main topic of discussion for the delegates was the ever-evolving governance structure that was covered in the last Clarifier. Although nothing official was decided, there were some general ideas that seemed to gain consensus from most of those present. These included:
• The Chair of the House should be nominated by the House itself, rather than appointed by the WEF President, as currently provided by the new constitution and bylaws
• There should be a Vice-Chair or Chair-Elect that would serve one year in preparation to become chair the following year or to take over if the chair is absent.
• There should be at least two standing committees in the House, one for Nominating and one for Strategic Direction, to help the Chair identify issues and organize strategy planning sessions at WEFTEC. It is anticipated that this committee will also lead to ad hoc committees of the House that can focus on particular issues as they are identified.

Stay tuned for more updates in the house governance issue as this continues to develop over the next few years.

On a lighter note, you will recall that IWEA had its annual conference in March. That too was an event to remember. Amanda Withers once again gave us a new standard. It was the pinnacle program of her tenure as Program Committee Chair.

Past President of WEF, Michael Read, was our guest this year. His messages throughout the event included governance, structure, and mission of WEF. The Monday’s presentation to the opening crowd was as much about them, as the true environmentalists, as it was about the organization. He also elaborated on the “water is Life” theme and the interrelationship of the water industry and the wastewater industry. A further message was one of being blessed. As a nation, as North Americans, we have an infrastructure that is truly reliable, affordable, and works to preserve our health and lifestyles. He concluded with a challenge to improve the world environment with the words that, “water pollution anywhere, is ultimately water pollution everywhere”.

IWEA Calendar: June - September 2007