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BOARD OF LICENSURE OF WATER SYSTEM
OPERATORS
January 24, 2008
Members Present: Others
Present:
Trevor Hunt, Chairman Paul
Gauvreau, AAG
Christopher Crovo Nate
Saunders, DWP
Gregory Kidd Rebecca
Reynolds
Kerry Smart Carol
Champagne
David Bartlett
David Beaulieu
Teresa Trott
Called to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 9:10 A.M.
General Administration:
Introduction of Guests and Board Members:
Nate
Saunders is manager of the Field
Inspection Team (FIT) from the Drinking Water Program. Nate spoke about “Owner & Licensed Operator Roles and
Responsibilities” for operating a Public Water System.
Nate
mentioned some of the problems the DWP is facing with some systems.
1) The owner not calling the operator when the system is
out of water. The customer
complains. Sometimes it may be their own
system.
2) A “BWO” was placed on a NTNC system. The owner didn’t call the operator because
the contract only covered sampling 4 times a year for testing and visits. A contract issue.
3) A contract operator told the field staff he was going
to be out of town. No operator backup.
4) Owner said the power had been off – nitrate removal
system off for several weeks.
Nate
has come up with a 1 page description of “Owner & Licensed Operator Roles
and Responsibilities” pertaining to Quality and Quantity, Actions and
Decisions, more detailed on what Quality and Quantity means.
Nate
would like the Board to review the Draft and have the field staff pass the
information out when on sanitary visits to the system.
Discussion
by the Board felt the list of responsibilities for licensed operators clarifies
responsibilities to Quality and Quantity of Water.
The
Board had question on the sequence of a couple of questions being directed
toward the operator or owner, and would like to see “not inclusive “be added to
the summery.
Trevor
Hunt suggested the Board meeting with the DWP field staff to get their input
and the Board’s support.
Paul
Gauvreau: is the DWP’s legal
representative from the Attorney Generals Office. Legal Points – Statutes are Federal Law. The owner of a PWS must adhere to the
law. If the contract operator is lax in
his job the owner can be sued according to Federal Law. It’s the owner’s responsibility to hire a
competent operator.
Paul
referred to 3 areas in the rules pertaining to responsibility, negligence,
deceit and incompetence.
The
owner has the ultimate responsibility, the owner is responsible to the DWP and
the operator is responsible to the owner and the licensing Board.
The
Code of Ethics should be in the “Rules”.
Approval
of the November 15, 2007 minutes,
Terry motioned to approve the minutes and David Bartlett 2nd. After 2 corrections the minutes were
accepted. Passed
Election
of Officers: The Board agreed to
keep the officers as they are and the motion was voted on and accepted.
Financial
Report:
Income $25,210.00
Expenses $ 5,864.81
The
Board has paid the Well Drillers Commission for 1 year expenses for the Board
Clerk and will continue to repay quarterly.
Operator
Updates:
System Compliance, 24 systems not in
compliance. 6 proposed, 2 being
deregulated, 2-3 waiting for paperwork, 2 operators left, 2 are upgrading.
Operator
Compliance, 71% of the renewals are in. The
operators have been told if they don’t have their renewals in by February 29,
2008 they lose the waiver, will be charged a $50 late fee and have to pay $60
for their renewal.
New
Business:
The
Board is very concerned with the problem of getting the OK to go to the ABC
Conference in time. The request was
placed 6 weeks in advance. Every year
the Board has sent a member to go to the Conference with no problem. This year Greg Kidd canceled because of no
confirmation response on the request.
This puts the Board in an awkward position.
Terry
and Trevor spent 4 hours on reviewing the exams for duplicates and questions
not relevant to
The
SWOCS program is closer to being ready.
By this spring it could be up and running.
Board
Meetings for 2008:
February
21, 2008 – Brunswick/Topsham
May
22, 2008 –
September
24, 2008 –
November
20, 2008 –
Exam dates
and Deadlines for 2008:
March
25th in
Application
postmarked by February 2, 2008
June
24th in
Application
Postmarked by May 3, 2008
October
21st in
Application
postmarked by September 6, 2008.
Meeting adjourned 12:10 P.M.