SMALL CITIES/RURAL COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE CALL
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Present: Andy Haney, Incoming Chair
Ann Daniels, Staff Liaison
Absent:
Scott Brandmeier, Member
Dave Danielson
Darrell Harrell, Member
Marlene Crosby, Member
Larry Stevens, Board Liaison
1. Andy Haney, Chair, convened the call at 10:05 a.m.
2. The meeting summary from the August 15, 2010 meeting held in Boston, MA was reviewed with
no corrections noted.
3. Larry Stevens, Board Liaison, was unable to participate in the call but shared the following
information by email: I would like to report that there have been several instances of Technical
Committee chairs and Board Directors who have indicated a desire to have stronger ties to the
SC/RC Committee. In particular, there has been talk about liaisons with Transportation,
Advocacy, Education/Certification, and Environmental. There continues to be a growing interest
and appreciation within APWA in regard to the issues facing smaller communities. Somewhat
like sustainability, the SC/RC issues are overarching with the work of all the technical
committees. We will continue to work to build stronger relationships with all of the technical
committees. Keep up the good work.
4. During a review of the Editorial Calendar, Andy reported the committee’s article on the Town
Hall Meeting held at Congress has been submitted to Kevin Clark. Committee members
reviewed the list of attendees at the Town Hall Meeting that volunteered to write articles for the
coming year. By General Consent, Ann will invite each one to submit an article throughout the
coming year and will provide a list for the next conference call.
5. Ann Daniels shared information from Dave Danielson about his quest for election as a State
Representative and his desire to continue to serve on the committee following the election on
September 12th. There was no report on any of the advocacy issues he was dealing with.
Ann did suggest that the group begin discussions with Jim Fahey about setting up the meeting
with members of the National Rural Caucus in Washington, DC and she will contact him to begin
those plans. A report will be given at the October conference call.
6. Andy Haney reported he had received notice of several Stakeholders Workshops sponsored by
the National Committee on Levee Safety, the next one to be held on October 6 in Dallas, TX, and
he has forwarded that information to Laura Berkey, APWA Staff, in the DC office, and she will
coordinate marketing efforts to member agencies in each of the locales where the workshops will
be held to enable local participation and comment.
7. A recap of the three guaranteed education sessions indicated all three presented good information
and had average to better than average attendance. Thank you letters will be sent to those who
presented.
8. Since the two members present had participated in the Town Hall Meeting held in Boston, the
discussion was limited. Enthusiasm was high and participation continues to increase each year.
Further discussions will be held when all the members are present and can review the
Brainstorming responses, as well as topics/authors for education sessions, articles, etc.
9. A discussion of possible Education sessions for the coming Congress in Denver, CO in
September, 2011, indicated that one session has been committed, that one being the issue of
emerald ash borer and pine needle beetles and how to identify them using hyperspectral
technology coordinated by Scott Brandmeier and Marlene Crosby. Two additional topics are yet
to be determined and a listing of those that are under consideration include:
“Using economic and innovative methods to develop Stimulus projects” – Andy
Haney and Marlene Crosby
“Developing your own Design/Build Projects for municipal/county facilities” –
Andy Haney
“Partnering to Deliver Services” – Stan Brown, City Manager, Oakwood, GA
“GIS tied to Reporting for FEMA purposes” – Scott Brandmeier
Topics and sponsors must be submitted by September 30. Committee members will discuss final
topics by email prior to the deadline.
10. Limited discussion was held concerning the topics for the six Town Hall Meeting audio calls for
the year. Topics will be reviewed from those submitted at Congress. A potential topic for the
October 13th call is “Developing Mutual Aid Agreements for Small Cities.” Ann will coordinate
with those agencies who presented this topic and members of the Emergency Management
Committee to develop speakers for the call. The topic of “how to hire the right people for the
job” and other human resource topics will also be considered.
11. Scott Brandmeier shared the email message he had sent concerning his appointment to the EPA
Small Business/Small Community Panel. The involvement will include two meetings to be held
in Washington, DC as well as conference calls. The bulk of the program will be between October
and December, 2010. Committee members congratulated Scott on this appointment and
expressed confidence that he will represent our members’ interests well.
12. Andy expressed his intent to have the members of the committee focus on what needs to be done
as part of, prior to, or between conference calls with the key phrase being “Initiate and
Communicate”. Members will be asked to consider requests and act to implement if at all
possible without waiting for full committee consultation as long as they are within the realm of
the committee’s scope and authority.
13. The draft Business Plan was reviewed and adopted and will be posted on the SC/RC web page.
14. A review of the candidates who have expressed interest in filling the one vacant slot on the
committee led to a request that Ann Daniels confirm with Don Bruey, Public Works Director,
South Jordan, UT, that he is willing and available to meet the responsibilities of the committee
and would, indeed, be willing to serve when appointed. When Don’s response is received, the
committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to President George Crombie for appointment.
Don has been active with the committee’s efforts for the past three years by providing an
education session at Congress on “Developing a Succession Plan for Public Works staff” and
writing several articles for the Reporter. He has a specific interest in leadership and management
topics which would be beneficial to the group and would provide representation from the Western
portion of the US.
15. Marlene Crosby sent word that she would be unable to participate on the monthly calls on
Wednesdays for the remainder of the year. Discussion was held concerning the possibility of
moving the calls to the first Thursday of each month, beginning with October 7th. Ann will poll
the absent committee members to determine if this time slot will be acceptable for everyone.
Unless further noticed, the committee will meet on Thursday, October 7 at 8:00 Pacific/9:00
Mountain/10:00 Central/11:00 Eastern Time.
16. In discussion Larry Stevens information about the interest in having a representative from SC/RC
serve as a Liaison to several of the Technical Committees, Andy has agreed to meet with the
Transportation Committee on September 15 for their call. Ann will determine the dates and times
for the Water and Solid Waste calls for the Environment area. A discussion of the reference to
representation on the Advocacy issues, Andy shared information that those appointments have
already been made for the coming year and new appointees would not be likely to be accepted at
this time. Other discussion included asking someone from the list of volunteers for committee
involvement to represent SC/RC as a liaison and then report back to the full committee. No firm
decisions were made until further interest is shown by individual committees.
17. It was reported that a representative from SC/RC needs to be appointed to serve on the Task
Force for Education and Certification. By General Consent, the committee will ask Marlene
Crosby is she is available and interested in doing so. The commitment will involve one face-toface meeting in Kansas City and several conference calls. If Marlene is unavailable, Don Bruey
will be asked to take that role.
18. With no further discussions needed, the call adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
19. The next conference call of the committee will be held on Thursday, October 7, 2010.