Conference - Michigan Water Environment Association

my view - MWEA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
CHUCK KRONK
President - MWEA
“we will lead our
Association in the areas
of expanded communication
and improved education”
T
his is my first official correspondence
through Matters as your new MWEA
President. I know and have worked
with many of you since I first joined the
Association back in 1973 and it is my
goal to meet as many of our members as
possible over the next few years. For now,
I will take this opportunity to acknowledge
those who have helped me along with
our Association in the recent past. I will
also outline several topics of interest and
importance for this upcoming year.
First of all, I thank Bill Gramlich of
Severn Trent Services for all of his help and
guidance with the Board of Directors and
the Association as our past President. Many
thanks to George Bobick of the City of Bay
City for all of his good work and service as
our outgoing Local Sections Director. And
last but not least, I thank Cheryl Vosburg
of the City of Marshall for serving as our
Senior Federation Director and Board
Member for the past six years. Please
extend a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to each of
these individuals on your own.
This next year will mark our continued
growth in the area of providing services to
our membership. Many of us have heard
the adage, “Lead, Follow or Get out of the
way!” Well, we will lead our Association
in the areas of expanded communication
and improved education. In order to
accomplish our goals we have added
professional personnel to assist Jerry Harte
in our office management and training/
seminar capabilities. Connie Underhill
and Karen Hummel have joined our group
and will work with us under the direction
of “Doc Harte”. Later this year we will
be moving into a larger office (across the
parking lot from the current office location
in Bath) in order to improve and expand
the services that our membership deserves.
This new location will provide us with
larger meeting areas so that our committees
can hold their meetings at the office.
One of the most exciting opportunities
for improved education and training exists
with the On-Line Training Services that are
now offered by the MWEA. Let it be known
that the Cities of Ann Arbor, East Lansing,
Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Bridgeport, Bay
County DWS and the Village of Chesaning
have already purchased on-line training
hours from the MWEA, and this is only the
beginning of great things to come. Please
contact us with any questions or requests
related to this state-of-the-art educational
capability.
I am also looking forward to working with
the Local Sections Committee to increase
activity and educational opportunities
for our members. Larry Delong has been
elected as the Local Sections Director, and
he will also serve on the Board of Directors
in order to provide support for all of our
local sections.
We have a new chairman for the
Wastewater Administrators Committee.
Jimmy Spangler of Tetra Tech MPS has
agreed to lead this committee and assure
that the Wastewater Administrator Seminar
held in late February or March will be a
great success. Please contact Jimmy directly
if you are interested in working with him
on this committee.
Once again the MWEA and Michigan
Section – AWWA will host the Joint Expo
scheduled for early February. Stay tuned for
more information on this event. The winter
edition of Matters will provide more details
on the Joint Expo agenda and vendor displays.
Finally, one of the most exciting
events that the MWEA was scheduled
to participate in was the Legislative
Reception September 20 in Lansing.
The MWEA Government Affairs
Committee, chaired by Ken Zarzecki of
Ottawa County, arranged for our group
to participate with the Michigan Section
– AWWA and the Michigan Municipal
League to host a luncheon at the Capital
Building in Lansing. This event was to
give our collective organizations a unique
opportunity to meet with a majority of
the Michigan Legislators and their Staff
Members in order to let them know
more about our profession and meet our
members directly. It was hoped that this
meeting would foster discussions and
future involvement in legislative issues that
have an impact on our Drinking Water and
Wastewater Industries in Michigan. The
next issue of Matters will provide you with
a re-cap of this event.
That is all for now. I am really honored
and am looking forward to serving each
and every member during this year as your
President. Please consider participating in
the MWEA as a committee member and
take pride as a Member of our Association.
We will strive to be “The Best”.
Thank you.
MWEA MATTERS: FALL 2005