President's Message

Bruce Bartel
Green Bay, Wisconsin
February 2010

I certainly hope that everyone had an enjoyable Holiday Season and was able to spend some quality time with family and friends. Reality seems to set in for me after the holidays as the outside decorations get turned off (I personally wait for warmer weather to take them down) and the inside trees get taken down that were up to celebrate the season. Now is the time I realize that winter has set in and my anticipation of spring arriving begins. I know some, maybe most of you, enjoy the winter weather, but I for one just tolerate it.

Randy Thater, 2010 WWOA Technical Chair, has been working hard on putting things together for the 2010 Annual Conference at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. By last reports from Randy, more than 60 technical presentations have been submitted for consideration for the conference. Great job by all on getting the papers submitted. The Technical Committee that Randy has assembled will be meeting in mid-February to whittle down the papers to the 35 or so that will be presented as part of the conference. Randy has looked the submitted presentations over and from the sounds of it the committee will have a tough time whittling that number down as all the papers offer interesting topics. Randy is also exploring various options for the keynote speaker and the entertainment after the annual awards banquet. Things are shaping up to be another successful conference.

The month of February brings about many training opportunities for people to attend. Most of the WWOA Regions offer regional meetings during this time. The Regional Officers do a great job in putting together quality agendas for their meetings. Added to these meetings is the annual Government Affairs Seminar on February 23. All of these training sessions provide excellent training opportunities. If you have the time, and I know time is tight for everyone, please consider attending one or more of these training sessions. You can check out the WWOA web site at www.wwoa.org to get more information on these and other training sessions that are being offered.

I know many of you serve your local communities in many different ways beyond running the wastewater treatment plant. You get involved in everything from snow plowing to garbage pick up to fire fighting to whatever else is tossed your way. Please remember to be safe when wearing these many different hats you are requested to wear. I am sure most of you have heard about the explosion involving a dumpster fire not very far from the Green Bay area where one of the firefighters was fatally injured. I personally know one of the persons involved in that tragedy and he was “lucky” to get out of there with only minor injuries although the explosion did toss him around a bit. Let this be a reminder to all of us to use caution and awareness as we go about our various duties and to carry out our jobs with safety first and foremost in mind and perform them in a safe as manner as possible.

Until next time – be safe and take care.