Regional Coordinator’s Report
Bruce Golden
August 10, 2006
New Watershed Coordinator hired
Andrew P. McAllister was hired as our new watershed coordinator. He comes to WPCAMR from the Dauphin County Conservation District with excellent credentials where he a watershed specialist. (Andy will offer more of his background in his report.)
The process for hiring the position was as follows (as a guide for future hiring):
· job description was modified from the prior watershed coordinator job description
· ads were placed into local papers
· the position opening was detailed on the WPCAMR website
· the position is also advertised via e-mail and through several statewide e-mail newsletters
· a total of 33 applications were received
· immediately following our last quarterly meeting, an ad hoc selection committee (Bob Eppley, Jim Resh, Dave Beale, Lance Bowes, Jeff Fliss & Bruce Golden) was established to review and rank applicants based on their resume, cover letter, and other submitted materials. A scoring guideline was constructed to aid in the process. 13 candidates emerged as likely qualified for the position.
· Over the next few days, each member of the selection committee individually ranked each candidate based on scoring criteria developed for the process, and also made notes concerning candidates' strengths and weaknesses. Those rankings were collected, tabulated, and averaged to arrive at a collective ranking. Based on the ranking and further discussion, 7 candidates were selected to be interviewed.
· The seven candidates were contacted and scheduled for interviews at the Donohoe Center in Greensburg.
· Interview questions were developed, with each candidate being asked the same questions and rated on their answers.
· Bob Eppley, Jeff Fliss, and Bruce Golden conducted interviews of all seven candidates on June . Three well-qualified candidates emerged from the process, and were ranked 1-3. Andy McAllister was the unanimous top choice.
· References checks for each of the three finalist candidates were made in phone interviews. Reference checks were conducted by Bruce Golden.
· After interviews checked out, Andy McAllister was offered the position.
· Following some minor negotiations a final offer was made to Andy McAllister in which he accepted.
AMR Conference Progress
As the conference date approaches (August 24-26) the conference committee has made excellent progress in bringing the details of conference together. At this point, a total of 164 participants and 13 exhibitors are registered to attend. A total of 43 separate workshops are scheduled for the two day event. Former DEP Secretary Dave Hess will give the keynote address. Details of the presentations and workshops can be found on the website http://treatminewater.com. It promises to be a fun, information packed experience with lots of good food, and plenty of opportunities to share information and experiences.
OSM Vista member Jeff Gerard has done an outstanding job of designing and constructing the conference website, which included online registration. The Workshop Committee has performed a yeoman's job in orchestrating and scheduling and workshops.
We were able to obtain Atherton Hotel room rates of just $45 (single occupancy) for participants while keeping conference registration to $50. These excellent rates were made possible by negotiations with the Atherton Hotel and by making a copayment of approximately $22 for room and $25 toward food for each participant.
Because finances were very tight compared to previous years, we adopted a methodology that allowed the vast majority of communications to be held electronically: telephone, e-mail, conference call, e-mail list serve, support website. Only one face-to-face meeting of the conference committee was held in state college, and one face-to-face meeting at the Atherton Hotel by WPCAMR and EPCAMR personel was made. A great deal of collective expense and time was avoided, and done properly, using this methodology has proven to be effective.
Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund Update
The quest for a reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund has had a setback. Recently the language of the Santorum/Specter bill was added to a House bill that would increase the minimum wage and reduce the estate tax, in addition to a number of additional provisions. The House approved the bill shortly before it adjourned for its August recess, sending it to the Senate for approval allowing no modifications. This highly politically charged bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate (56 to 42 and the cloture vote) mainly because of the opposition of the reduction of the estate tax by Democrats.
Presently fees collected on each ton of coal mined in the US are still in play until September 2007 (through a recent one year extension).
The AML Campaign was of course disappointed that a final resolution was not reached, but believe there is still hope for action prior to this year's November elections. Senators Santorum and Specter are still dedicated in pushing through their legislation in the fall. During the past several months, the reauthorization effort has gained a lot of support and there appears to be the will to get this legislation passed by diverse interests (UMWA, call companies, Eastern and Western coal producing states, sportsman's groups, as well as additional support in Congress). The support in Pennsylvania is very solid and the AML Campaign believes its focus needs to turn more to the national stage. He AML Campaign continues to work closely with the staffs of Senators Santorum and Specter.
The likely course of action will again be to introduce the same reauthorization legislation into the Senate as a stand-alone bill (as was done with S2621) to garner support. The earliest this could be done would be September 5 when the Senate reconvenes. While a stand-alone bill conceivably could pass on its own merits, it will likely have a much better chance if attached to another bill, one less controversial than the minimum wage/estate tax legislation. A lot of intensive behind the scenes work will be needed in leading up to this point.
WPCAMR to add second OSM Vista member
WPCAMR has been approved for and has funding to add a second OSM VISTA member. The position would be shared 50-50 with the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team.
Grant Administration Software
We are currently administering a total of 8 DEP grants: 319, monitoring support for treatment systems I and II, Quick Response, South Sandy Watershed Association, and innovative treatment grants: In-situ Treatment with SRB, Activated Iron Solids, and Limestone Flow Pond Optimization. To ease the administrative workload, a software program known as OmniForm was purchased to streamline submission of requisite DEP forms including reimbursement and progress reports. Not only does the software allow filling in forms, it keeps track of all past forms filled out, and is able to automate the process of doing calculations (especially helpful for reimbursements). This saves a lot of time while also making these documents available in electronic format.
Quick Response Program
The Quick Response program which provides funding for emergency repairs of Growing Greener type BMPs is now operational. We received a $350,000 Growing Greener II grant to provide a service to watershed groups and other nonprofits. Our role is of financial pass-through while DEP evaluates potential projects and determines levels of funding for each project.
Following the heavy rain and flooding events throughout Pennsylvania in June, Jackie Lincoln of the DEP Grants Center contacted us and requested that we request an additional $100,000 to be added to the original grant. We are currently waiting for the executed addendum to the contract for those funds.
So far we have received one approved application for funding. This is the JB2 passive treatment system administered by the Washington County Conservation District. A SAPS pond has failed due to excessive iron plugging. The system has been approved for $122,000 in repairs.
The large dollar amount of the single project has highlighted an operational difficulty with our administration of the program... cash flow. We currently have $70,000 (20% of $350,000) working capital, an amount insufficient to cover the single project. We will have to pay out reimbursements in two phases, each less than our working capital, while replenishing the working capital through reimbursements from DEP. While doable in this case, it could hold up repairs to additional projects should additional requests for funding be granted through DEP. We did for see this type of a problem and noted it to DEP, but were unable to receive a waiver from normal procedure.
The procedure to apply for funding for the Quick Response program is available our website http://AMRClearinghouse.org.
319 Funding
We have received the executed contract or 319 funding (our baseline funding) for fiscal year 2006-07. It remains constant at $125,000.
Innovative Treatment grant contracts with subcontractors.
WPCAMR acts as the formal sponsor for 3 Innovative Treatment grants: In-situ Treatment with SRB, Activated Iron Solids, and Limestone Flow Pond Optimization. We now have executed contracts with subcontractors Winner Environmental (In-situ Treatment with SRB), and Dietz Environmental (Activated Iron Solids). We are waiting for the signed executed contract from Hedin Environmental (Limestone Flow Pond Optimization).
Completion of Growing Greener grants
Both Decision-Maker and Technical Assistance Grant II are now complete. We are waiting on final acknowledgment from DEP for both projects.
Growing Greener 15% match requirement
On July , I testified before DEP's Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) on the hardships watershed organizations will have to undergo because of DEP's policy of having a 15% match requirement for all Growing Greener grants. I basicly said that, particularly for construction grants, the 15% match requirement may too often be unattainable and that the policy should be rethought. (Testimony available on WPCAMR website with materials for this meeting. Testimony was also sent to State Representative William Adolph.)
Sidenote: Bernie Hoffner has recently returned to CAC and presented a compelling argument for funding of abandoned mine related environmental projects. (A synopsis of his remarks are also available on the WPCAMR website with materials for this meeting.)
At a subsequent CAC meeting (July 18, 2006) with Katie McGinty was questioned about the match requirement and the difficulties the policy presented. The following was extracted from the not yet approved minutes of that meeting:
Growing Greener II - Council asked the Secretary to respond to comments received at last month’s regional meeting regarding the 15% match requirement for Growing Greener II. She explained that the match requirement was added because Growing Greener has limited money. She said there are only three more rounds left for GGII. If the Department notices that some projects are getting shut out, the Secretary said they would re-think the match.
See CAC's website http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/cac/site/default.asp for complete minutes.