Minutes for P3S Committee Meeting

Minutes for P3S Committee Meeting

Minutes for P3S Committee Meeting

Thursday, May 26, 2011, 10:00 AM at Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts

Present: John Boyd, Chair, LACSD; Preeti Ghuman, Secretary, LACSD; Paul Schmidtbauer, FOY Subcommittee Chair-South, SOCWA; Fred Cannizzaro, LACSD; Dave Sanchez, LACSD; Bill Woyshner, Shaw Diversified Services, Inc.; Joe Petchuk, City of Santa Monica; Jonathon Powell, LACSD; Ken Hanks, LACSD; Jyoti Banaji, LACSD; Mike Zedek, OCSD; Bill Garrett, LACSD; Joe Chang, LACSD; Gary Balasian, United Water Burbank; Philip Lo, LACSD; and Dave Snyder, LACSD.

On Conference Call: John Mukhar, Past Chair, City of San Jose; Catherine Allin, City of Milbrae; Al Pielin, City of Riverside; Julie Taylor, CWEA; and Tim Potter, CCCSD.

Technical Presentation – How Much is E”N”OUGH?

Joe Chang with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD) provided an informative presentation about the historical regulatory requirements involving nitrogen (ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite) that resulted in implementation of nitrification/denitrification at LACSD’s water reclamation plants. The basics of the nitrification/denitrification process and treatment alternatives were covered. In addition, a case study of process optimization and changes that have been made at the Valencia Water Reclamation Plant in order to stay in compliance the changing regulatory environment was presented.

Old Business

  1. Review and Approve Minutes: April 2011 – April 2011 minutes were approved with minor edits. Tim Potter will provide final minutes to Mike Zedek to post to the P3S webpage. Ghuman will provide Mike with the presentation file. (
  1. CWEA Update: Paul Schmidtbauer provided the report from the Ops Committee. He said that the P3S Committee budget for next year has not been submitted. John Mukhar said that the budget will be voted on today and submitted to CWEA. Julie Taylor stated that she had spoken to Elizabeth Allan, CWEA Executive Director, and other CWEA staff about options for the Public Education Committee. They recommended that the Public Education Committee become inactive. Julie stated that the P3S Committee is able to add a Public Education Subcommittee, if desired, pursuant to the P3S Committee bylaws. The P3S Committee voted to approve a Public Outreach Subcommittee. Catherine Allin was approved as the Public Outreach Subcommittee Chair.
  1. Treasurer’s Report: John presented financial information based on an email received from Joe Lucia. The Committee’s current treasury balance is $62,274.73. The total conference revenue to date is $106,533.00 and the total conference expenses to date are $72,398.38. The conference revenue over expenses to date are $34,134.62. Joe suggested forwarding a check to CWEA in the amount of $34,134.62. Julie Taylor suggested that instead of the Committee sending CWEA a check and then CWEA sending the Committee a check to maintain the $30,000 carry-over balance, it would be easier for the Committee to send a check to CWEA in the amount over $30,000. Therefore, Joe will send CWEA a check in the amount of $32,274.73. John Boyd stated that he will contact Joe to let him know this decision. Preeti Ghuman asked if the Committee would receive additional money based on the amount requested in the Committee budget. Julie said “no.” Julie explained that the Committee is to operate using its carry-over balance and if additional money is needed to maintain the $30,000 carry-over balance it will be provided next year.
  1. Facility of the Year Awards Subcommittee Update: Paul Schmidtbauer stated that the Facility of the Year Awards had kicked off yesterday with a facility requesting a nomination form. He said the official cycle will start in a few months and he will hold any information received until that time. Nominations are tentatively due December 2, 2011. There was a discussion about facilities self-nominating. It was determined that it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Paul distributed an updated draft Facility of the Year Award Guidelines and Award Nomination Form. He will work with Casey Fitzgerald to finalize the documents. He also said they will be exploring the possibility to email the documents to potential nominators.
  1. Technical Certification Update: Julie Taylor stated that all ECI certificate holders were emailed a survey. She encouraged everyone to complete the survey; the survey closes tomorrow. Gary Balasian mentioned that Jeff Carter stated that CWEA is not looking into stormwater certification until reevaluation is done. The Committee was not sure on what CASQA is doing.

New Business

  1. Review Agenda: Preeti Ghuman requested that the conference budget be added to the agenda.
  1. Regulatory Updates: Philip Lo requested an update on pyrethroids be provided at the next meeting. Paul Schmidtbauer and Tim Potter provided an update on mercury dental amalgam. US EPA is proposing categorical standards and will seek public comments in November. Tim is working on preparing a BACWA comment letter recommending local flexibility with the rules. He said he was told it was better to submit comments sooner than later. If anyone is interested in submitted comments now, they should be sent to Damon Highsmith ().
  1. Enforcement Update: No discussions.
  1. P3S Public Education Subcommittee Creation: This item was discussed previously.
  1. Creation Of P3S Committee Facebook Page: This item was tabled. Catherine Allin and John Boyd discussed updating the Committee webpage on the CWEA website before considering a Facebook page. Several Committee members mentioned that accessing social media websites are prohibited at many workplaces due to security blocks.
  1. Kirk Brooks Scholarship Donation ($1,000) by the P3S Committee: John Mukhar stated that the donation was already approved. Catherine Allin requested that the Committee’s donation be recognized in the CWEA E-Bulletin. Julie Taylor agreed to help place recognition in the E-Bulletin.
  1. P3S Committee Budget: The budget was approved in the amount of $7,000. The breakdown of the line item budget requests and actual expenditures for the last two years will be provided to Julie Taylor.
  1. CWEA Annual Conference 2012: Tim Potter stated that the Call for Abstracts is out. Tim will work with Mike Zedek, P3S Conference Program Chair, to ensure the sessions at the Annual and P3S Conferences compliment each other.

Conference Planning

  1. Conference Chair: John Boyd stated that he and Bill Garrett visited Hilton facilities in Pasadena and Huntington Beach. He would prefer Huntington Beach and has asked Julie Taylor to try to negotiate an attractive deal. The hotel had quoted $199 per night per room, which is higher than the conference norm. Preeti Ghuman asked if there is an advantage to negotiating for a two-year contract. Julie Taylor said that for our size conference there is no big advantage. The conference is tentatively scheduled for February 27-29, 2012 or March 5-7, 2012.
  1. Program Chair: Mike Zedek stated that he will be sending an email next week requesting input on session topics and session chairs. A roadmap of the conference will be provided next month.
  1. Vendor Chair: This position is currently vacant. Julie Taylor recommended that Gary Doty from last year may be a good Co-Chair. She suggested that it may be helpful to have a Co-Chair from the North and a Co-Chair from the South. John Boyd is going to ask Alec Mackie if he has any recommendations.
  1. Theme for Conference: This item was tabled until next meeting.
  1. New Tracks: The Committee had a great brainstorming session on potential new sessions. Ideas suggested include: Leadership, Doing Business With Public Agencies, Mercury Dental Amalgam, IW Computer Systems (maybe pairing end users with computer software companies), Pyrethroids, Salt in the Emerging Issues Session, Categorical Permit Writing (production-based permits, how companies are impacted by permits, why limits are there, metal finishing, and pharmaceuticals), Controlling Undesirable Residential Discharges (jewelry making, biodiesel makers, etc.), Audits (inviting TetraTech, EPA, and agencies that have been audited for different perspectives), Stormwater Training, and EPA/State Stormwater.
  1. Sponsorship Chair: Philip Lo agreed to be the Sponsorship Chair. He requested CWEA staff help on his clarifying his role. The 2011 P3S Conference sponsorship revenue goal was $10,500.00. The 2011 sponsorship program collected $8,000.00 in revenue.
  1. Facility Arrangement Timeline: The critical path is to select the facility, determine conference dates, then select signature event and conference theme. The room rates and contract terms will dictate which facility is selected.
  1. Conference Brochure: Joe Petchuk will be in charge of the brochure. He said that Cathy Teal is still working with him. He needs to know the theme before the graphic work can begin. Preeti Ghuman suggested that Joe and Mike Zedek work together to set a timeline. The Committee was unclear if CWEA is still mailing brochures and save-the-date cards. In 2010, the brochures were handed out at the conference.
  1. Signature Event: Bill Garrett is working on the signature event. Bill is exploring the possibility of a Hornblower cruise through Newport Harbor on John Wayne’s boat. This event may work if the Hilton in Huntington Beach is selected. If the conference is in Pasadena, John Boyd and Bill have other ideas.
  1. Conference Budget: Julie Taylor stated that the 2012 conference goal is the same as the 2011 goal. Tim Potter stated that the 2011 goal was $25,000. The P3S Conference Committee will prepare a budget and submit it to the CWEA Ops Committee for approval. The Ops Committee must approve the conference budget before the P3S Conference Committee can set conference prices and vendor rates.
  1. Other Items: Preeti Ghuman mentioned that some other items needed to be discussed such as signs, folders, and packet preparation. Ken Hanks and Jonathon Powell agreed to be in charge of signs. John Boyd stated that the folders were printed last year and available for 2012. Joe Petchuk suggested that stickers may be nice to personalize the folders and the Committee agreed. For the past couple conferences, OCSD has printed and stuffed the packets. John Boyd will ask them if they are willing to do prepare the packets for the 2012 conference. The Committee also discussed a possible Sunday pre-conference event. Both walking around Main St. and a bonfire on the beach were mentioned.

Meeting adjourned. Next meeting to be scheduled by John Boyd on June 22nd or 23rd. The meeting will be held at the City of Santa Monica City Yard. Remote access will be available for this meeting.

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