Idaho Board of Drinking Water and Wastewater Professionals
Bureau of Occupational Licenses
1109 Main Street, Suite 220
Boise, Idaho  83702-5642

Minutes of June 08, 2005
 

ROLL CALL:    William A Thompson-Chair
                        Victor Coles, Board Member
                        Kevin M Pfenning, Board Member
                        Michael N Schroeder, Board Member
                        Ross Spackman, Board Member
                        Robert F. Hansen, Board Member
                        Barry Brunelle, Board Member

BUREAU PRESENT:      Rayola Jacobsen, Bureau Chief
                                        Budd Hetrick, Deputy Bureau Chief
                                        Roger Hales, Administrative Attorney
                                        Mary Miles, Office Specialist II
                                        Sandee Hitesman, Office Specialist II

OTHER’S PRESENT: Stephen Ballou, Executive Director ABC


The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chair, Bill Thompson.

Ross Spackman arrived at the meeting at 9:10 a.m.

Mary Miles, Office Specialist II was introduced, Mary will provide staff support to the Board.

Ms. Jacobsen noted that the Bureau is taking on four new boards and is in the process of remodeling the office to accommodate them.
        v Contractor Registration
        v Petroleum Dealers
        v Naturopathic Physicians
        v Speech and Hearing Sciences

Stephen Ballou, executive director of ABC addressed the board. Mr. Ballou noted that ABC is pleased with Idaho’s participation with the ABC conference. Next years conference will be held in Las Vegas. Mr. Ballou asked if Idaho would be interested in putting together an article for the newsletter distributed by ABC.

Mr. Ballou noted new activities underway by ABC. ABC is enhancing the testing program. On-line testing has been developed. This examination will offer immediate results. There have been some problems with finding facilities to hold this examination. ABC is negotiating with a third party for testing facilities. The board discussed renting computer labs for the November 2005 examination to test the on-line examination. Mr. Spackman will research renting the computer lab at the college in his area. Mr. Ballou noted that there is a computer practice session before the on-line exam to familiarize the applicant with the way the computer program works. The board asked the Bureau to send out a questionnaire to all licensees’ polling their interest in on-line testing.

The standardized exam was a sequential exam. This has been changed to a multi-entry exam.

ABC is creating a workshop to discuss course relevancy and setting a basis. The board noted they would be interested in being involved with this workshop. EPA is currently restricting the amount of CEU’s awarded for computer classes. Mr. Hetrick has spoken with the EPA, and will contact them regarding allowing full continuing education credits for computer classes.

ABC is in the process of developing testing that would evaluate performance under emergency situations. This testing will be computer simulations and will be made as part of the testing process. Backflow testing will be the first examination with this new development. The exam should be ready in one to 1 ½ years. If the examination is successful, the exam would then move into the water and wastewater testing.

ABC is discussing changing the examination to a higher level. ABC is hoping that by making the examination more difficult, States would accept passage of this exam for licensure. The board noted that the State of Idaho already accepts passage of the ABC examination.

The State conference next year will be held in Idaho Falls. The board asked Mr. Ballou if he would be interested in addressing State of Idaho operators at this conference. The board will contact Mr. Ballou with the date of this conference.

The board discussed Wastewater Land Application Exam development. There will be a conference held June 22-23, 2005 with the land application committee. The board asked that “Review Examination Questions”, be added to the next agenda.

Ms. Jacobsen gave the legislative report. Contractor registration will begin July 01, 2005. Legislation becomes effective for the other three boards July 01, 2005. The Bureau is in the process of interviewing/hiring investigators and office staff to help with these new boards.

The board reviewed the proposed law and rule changes. The board asked Roger Hales, Administrative Attorney, to E-mail the proposed law and rule draft to them prior to the July board meeting.

The Chairman called a break at 10:50 a.m.

The meeting was called back to order at 11:00 a.m. by chair.

Mr. Spackman asked the board about accepting a 2-year associate degree for eligibility for the Operator in Training. The board noted that the experience must be over a 3-year period.

The board discussed the requirement for a High School Diploma or GED to be eligible for licensure. One year of operating experience is equal to 2 years of grade school education or one year of high school education.

Mr. Hetrick gave the financial report. As of 4-30-2005 the board had $22,170.04 in appropriations with a cash balance of $170,223.09. A proposed rule to reduce the original license fee will be sent to the legislature. The board has a total of 2758 current licensee’s, 843 expired but still renewable, and 353 that are not renewable.

Mr. Hetrick gave the investigative report. There have been two complaints filed. These investigations will come before the board for review at a later date.

Motion was made by Mr. Pfenning to break for lunch. Seconded by Mr. Schroeder, carried.

The meeting was called back to order at 1:25 by chair.

The Backflow Assembly Tester committee contacted different companies regarding the Backflow Assembly examination. Mr. Schroeder contacted persons from ABPA regarding their examination. ABPA charges $60.00 per exam and this does include the proctor. The examination is 100 questions, and results are given the same day. This exam is not State specific, but they can include State specific questions.

Mr. Hansen contacted ABC regarding their examination. The charge is $29.00 per examination, this does not include a proctor. ABC is in the process of developing a practical examination taken on the computer.

The Civil Engineering Department at Boise State University is looking into upgrading the existing examination, or re-writing the entire exam. There would not be a cost once the examination was established. It is unclear as to the cost to establish this examination.

The board noted they would like to look at repercussions with other States before making a decision on the Back Flow Assembly Examination. The examination would need to be State specific, and AWWA and USC would need to be incorporated into the exam. The board asked that this discussion be added to the next agenda.

The board noted that BMI is no longer affiliated with Idaho Rural Water Association. BMI will need to reapply for certification approval.

Question was asked if Meter Readers are required to be licensed. The board noted that a meter reader would not be required to be licensed as long as they were only reading meters.

The board reviewed the minutes from the April 20-21, 2005 board meeting.
Motion was made by Mr. Burnelle to approve the board meeting minutes from the April 20-21, 2005 board meeting as amended. Change second paragraph on page two. Change "Division of Environmental Quality" to "Department of Environmental Quality". Stike the word "automatically" from the sentence. Seconded by Mr. Schroeder, carried.

Mr. Burnelle asked if the board would be interested in co-signing the Drinking Water report for the EPA. The board noted that their signature was not required on this report, but they would be interested in reviewing this report. Mr. Burnelle will bring the report to the board for review.

The board reviewed a request from the Montana Water Center to have the board distribute the National Version 2005 Small Public Water System courses: Ground Water, Surface Water and Wastewater lagoon Systems. The board asked the Bureau to advertise this on the boards website, and will send out a CD to those interested.

Motion was made by Mr. Coles to go into executive session to discuss applications exempt from disclosure as provided in chapter 3, title 9, Idaho Code. Seconded by Mr. Pfenning, carried.

The next board meeting was scheduled for July 27, 2005 @ 9:00 a.m. The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.





 

Last Modified - April 27, 2006