Conference Center on the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College campus.

Minnesota Co-Chair Phil Monson called the meeting to order and turned it over to Jack Ezell, head of Stewardship Committee.

Stewardship Awards:
Jack Ezell welcomed everyone to the 10th annual awards ceremony. He explained the history of the St. Louis River CAC and the development of the stewardship committee. Stewardship awards and talked about the people behind the four "named" awards. He emphasized that this was our opportunity to recognize individuals, groups, businesses, etc. who do things for the betterment of the St. Louis River. Jack introduced the members of the stewardship committee and thanked them for their help in making the tough decisions. He also thanked Sappi Fine Paper of Cloquet and Kevin Kangas for providing funding for the award plaques, Minnesota Sea Grant for helping make the evening a success and Lynelle and Jessica for all their hard work and enthusiasm in putting together the ceremony.

Jack thanked everyone that made a nomination and read the list of 2004 nominees: Rosie Loeffler-Kemp, Clean Water Action; Cindy Hagley, Wendy Robertson, Woodland Hills Academy; Dr. James Westman, DDS; MN Sea Grant; Duluthstreams.org; Barb Lamorea, Hermantown School; Nicole Hynum; Sue O'Halloran, Cindy Hagley, Jesse Schomberg; Erik Larson & Candice Richards, UMD-Facilities Management; Mike Upthegrove, Hardware Hank Stores; Lake Country Power; Potlatch Corporation; Marnie Lonsdale, City of Duluth; Steve Mueller, MN DNR; and Erin Jordan, KDLH-TV 3.

Next, Jack introduced the nominator for each of the stewardship awards. The nominators then gave a brief explanation of why they nominated the winner of each award.

Lauren Hanson of the Minnesota Dental Association stepped in for Tim Tuominen who was out of town and presented the Sally Gibson award to Dr. James Westman. Jim has led the Northeast District Dental Society Environmental Committee and helped WLSSD to develop Best Management Practices for Dentists to be implemented statewide. This has significantly reduced the amount of mercury in WLSSD's effluent.

Tom Fait of the Soil & Water Environmental Consulting presented the award to Barb LaMourea of Hermantown High School for her work engaging youth in environmental stewardship including monitoring three sites in Miller Creek twice yearly, tree planting, River Watch and wetlands development.

Mark Nelson from the Board of Water and Soil Resources presented the Willard Munger Sr. Award to Marnie Lonsdale, Duluth's stormwater expert for bringing communities together to reduce stormwater affects in the river. Marnie has provided leadership for the Regional Stormwater Protection Team, and focuses on the idea of protecting the resources for the future rather than waiting until it needs restoration.

Diane Thompson and Jane Edwards, City of Superior WWTP presented the Randy Marshall Award to and accepted for Mike Upthegrove and the Hardware Hank Stores of Northwestern Wisconsin received the for efforts to reduce mercury and stormwater runoff in the St. Louis River and Lake Superior.

Debbie Ortman presented an award to Rosie Loeffler-Kemp, a local environmental activist for her commitment to clean water issues. Rosie passed out fish magnets as she frequently encourages people to be aware of fish advisories for mercury.

Marnie Lonsdale from the City of Duluth presented an award to the organizers of DuluthStreams.org for their work in developing an educational Web site with live information that is scientifically accurate on water conditions in Duluth streams. This site will soon be expanded to include regional data and will be renamed lakesuperiorstreams.org.

Business Meeting:
Minutes of the Oct 27, 2004 meeting were approved as distributed.

Financial Report: Members were presented with the proposed 2005 budget. Ted Smith explained that we are in financial difficulties and we currently do not have sufficient grant proposals outstanding to cover the cost of staying open. Members were asked to approve the budget that is not balanced. We have no mechanism for deficit spending and may have to suspend operations if fund-raising and grant opportunities do not sufficiently address this issue. It will take diligence on our part and an emergency meeting of the finance committee will be held tomorrow at 10:00 in the small conference room at the DeWitt-Seitz Bldg. Members asked about raising dues and were informed this would alleviate the liability of members costing the organization more than what the dues are currently set at, but would not generate revenue. Budget was approved and everyone was encouraged to attend the finance committee meeting.

Member/Board Member Involvement Form: A membership involvement form was again passed out. Board members are asked to volunteer for a minimum of five activities. The form was handed out in duplicate so members would have a record of what they volunteered to do. Members were asked to complete and return one copy, either at this meeting or at a later date.

Elections: Congratulations to new board members Lori Gitar and Marshall Elder and to Dorothy Anway, David Conley, Gail Gilliland, Richard Gitar, Kevin Kangas, Dwight Morrison, Kathryn McKenzie, Philip Monson, Diane Soden-Groves, and Diane Thompson for being elected to another 3 year term. The Wisconsin Co-chair position is still vacant. Jack Ezell was elected as the at large executive committee member. The finance committee will consist of Jack Ezell, Bill Majewski, Carl Richards, and Ted Smith.

Beneficial Use Impairments: The CAC has submitted the beneficial use impairment restoration goals to both states. Hopefully both states will adopt, WI is considering incorporating them into their work. We are one of only a few AOCs to have these completed.

Watershed Festival: Mindy Granley of the South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District talked about the Watershed Festival being planned for this summer by members of the Regional Stormwater Protection Team. It will be held in the K-Mart/Michael's parking lot, have watershed friendly vendors, workshops, etc. Suggestions and assistance is welcomed. For information contact Mindy at 723-4867, mgranley@southstlouisswcd.org, Betsy Larson, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, at 740-4786, Betsy.Larson@WLSSD.Duluth.MN.US or Lynelle.

Great Lakes Regional Collaboration: Lynelle and Ted attended a meeting in Chicago in December facilitated by Great Lakes Regional Task Force. In May President Bush signed a Presidential Executive Order recognizing the Great Lakes as a national treasure and calling for the creation of a Regional Collaboration of National Significance and a cabinet-level interagency Task Force. The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration brings together a federal Task Force, the Great Lakes states, local communities, Tribes, regional bodies, and other interests in the Great Lakes region. The CAC was invited to be part of this collaboration. At this point however no funding is being provided to accommodate participation.

Blue Time Sheets: Lynelle requested everyone be sure to complete their blue time sheet so this time can be used as match for grants. Many grants have a match requirement, which can be in-kind labor. Time spent volunteering can be used only if it is documented. Attendance sheets for meeting only documents some of the time of members. Time volunteering, mileage, donations, etc should all be recorded.

Diane Thompson, Secretary