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BOARD OF LICENSURE OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS
November 16, 2006 Meeting
Members Present: Others
Present:
Trevor Hunt, Chairman Rebecca
Reynolds
David Bartlett Carol
Alan Frasier
Teresa Trott
David Beaulieu
Christopher Corvo
Greg Kidd
Called to Order:
The
meeting was called to order at 9:10 A.M.
General Administration:
Approval
of Minutes, Chris Crovo made a
motion to approve the September 21, 2006 minutes with corrections, Alan Frasier
2nd it. Passed
Financial
– Report SFY 2006:
1.) The fees will be increased in order to keep the
budget in the black. The exam increase
is not enough. The Board is purposing
$60 renewals - $70 exam fees.
2.) Exams:
training classes for 2, 3 and 4 treatment are being offered. A lot of ERG money is being spent and the
number of attendees is down. Classes in
filtration seem to be needed because, that is where the difficulty is. Terry will work on more specific courses for
those that work at the systems daily. There
are few ground water treatment questions in the exams and Terry feels they are
needed in the exams due to more systems in
The
water industry may experience a shortage
of operators in the near future due to retirements of long-time operators.
3.) Operator Updates:
a) System Compliance - Currently there are 41 systems
that are not in compliance as of 11/16/2006.
Ten of these systems are new owners or proposed systems. Two are system upgrades. Six are systems the operator left. Three systems have operators that passed the
October exam and will become designated operators. The remaining twenty systems are not actively
pursuing compliance and enforcement
actions are or will be pursued.
b) Operator Compliance – Operators are submitting
training for credit that has to go through the approval process. TCH’s need to
be approved. Operators may call to verify if trainings have been
approved or may submit individual trainings for approval.
Members
of the Field Inspection Team may notice that chlorination reports appear to
have suspicious numbers, after investigating the reports there could be
instances that would require operator reprimands.
4) Licensing Program:
a) The certification program is required to have a five
year external review. The process of building the State Water Operator
Certification Program provides much external review of the program while
instituting the computerized portion.
There
is a vacancy on the New England Water Works Association (NEWWA)Certification
Committee. The Board will announce the
opening in the “Service Connection”.
Old Business:
1. ERG:
Continuation
of present classes and fee waivers was discussed. Possibility to add classes to
assist treatment operators in areas not well achieved on exams as well as
distribution topics.
Career
opportunities for persons to enter the field need to be explored. This is not a Board function but clearly a concern
to the profession.
2. Point
Review:
ABC’s
has changed its point system now VSWS is for 500 populations with no
treatment.
The Board discussed changing the Point System to
better describe the class of system. Several
areas were discussed. The points should
be attributed as to the public health protection provided, the difficulty of
the process, process failure is readily noticeable or undetectable except
through laboratory analysis. Points to several new technologies were proposed
to be added as well as definitions of current processes. It was suggested to take the Point System out
of Rules and make it part of Policy.
With
the change in processes and technology the change needs to be done. Alan Frasier made a motion to go to Rule
making to remove the Point System from the Rules and add them to Policy. Lowell Martin 2nd the motion. Passed
3.) Rule
Change – The name is changed from DHS to Department of Health & Human
Services, (DHHS). Words have been
deleted or changed within the definitions.
The
main change is with the renewal and exam fees.
Other
proposed changes were in September minutes.
New Business:
ABC’s
Conferences is in
EPA’s
Certification Officer Conference is in June in
After
checking with Paul Gauvreau, Terry will send a letter to Richard Moffitt to ask
for his resignation from the Board.
Chris Crovo made the motion and David Bartlett 2nd the
motion. Passed
Calendar:
Board
Meetings
January 18, 2007
March 15, 2007
June
14, 2007
September 19, 2007 Wednesday
Newry (
November 15, 2007
Note: Due to the chairman of the Board, Trevor Hunt being
at the ABC conference in
Deadlines, Exam Dates & Locations
February 24, 2007 App. Due Exam April 10, 2007
February 24, 2007 App. Due Exam April 12, 2007 Presque
Isle
May 19, 2007 App. Due
Exam June 26, 2006
September 8, 2007 App. Due Exam October 23, 2007
September 8, 2007 App. Due Exam
October 25, 2007 Presque
Isle
The Board adjourned the meeting 12:45 pm