July 1996

FY 1996-97 Workprogram Adopted

At its meeting on June 19, 1996, the FASU Board of Directors adopted its workprogram for the coming fiscal year. While the Association has grown rapidly and steadily increased services over the past two years, it was noted that there remain many unmet needs in stormwater management that FASU can help address. New initiatives for the coming year are summarized below. FASU's fiscal year begins November 1st.

SJRWMD Training - FASU has received approval from the SJRWMD for a $10,000 grant to conduct regional training exercises on creating stormwater utilities. The programs will be similar to those that the Association conducted for DEP during FY 1994-95. The new series of three regional seminars are scheduled to begin this fall.

Notebook on Establishing Utilities - FASU also submitted a conceptual proposal to the SJRWMD several months ago for funding to prepare and publish a text or 'notebook' detailing the process necessary and issues to consider when creating a stormwater utility. While District staff expressed interest, the project was clearly statewide in nature. The concept will be discussed with the other WMDs to seek financial and other support. If approved, a project coordinating committee will be formed to oversee the effort, which could take several months to complete.

1997 Survey - FASU's Survey of Stormwater Utilities is due to be updated in 1997. A committee has been formed to oversee the effort and consider changes to the Report's format and questions that are asked in the(survey instrument. For example, there have been suggestions to include questions on maintenance practices at stormwater facilities, and to report survey results by population groupings, cities versus counties, etc. Dorian Valdes (Dade) will chair the Committee.

CEU Credits - Association staff was directed to investigate the possibility of seminar and conference attendees receiving continuing education credits when attending FASU educational events.

Advanced Stormwater Utilities Seminar - A one-day Advanced Utilities Seminar has been tentatively scheduled for early December (1996) in Orlando. Its course content is intended to be of primary interest to those local governments that have established stormwater utilities.