Happy New Year!
As we continue into 2025, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you. Your continued support and dedication have been the foundation of CASA’s success, and we are excited to carry that momentum into the new year. Take a look back at our Year in Review Summary and Graphic, which highlight some of our many achievements in 2024. We truly appreciate your unwavering commitment to California’s clean water community and we look forward to seeing you next week in-person at our Winter Conference in Palm Springs.

 

CASA Winter Conference: Sold Out
Thanks to the incredible support of our members, we are completely sold out for the CASA Winter Conference this year! This is the first time in recent memory we have had to cap registration, so we thank you for your understanding. Looking ahead, we’re excited to share that next year we’ll be hosting our event at a larger venue, and we can’t wait to welcome all who are interested in joining us. Be sure to mark your calendars and join us July 30 – August 1, for our 70th Annual Conference in beautiful San Diego.

We look forward to seeing you next week in Palm Springs for what is sure what to be a memorable event!

 

CASA Washington D.C. Policy Forum
Registration is open for the 2025 Washington D.C. Policy Forum. This year’s event will feature an excellent program with speakers that include Congressional staff, reporters, and national water association leaders providing their perspective on what to expect in the coming term and other developments of importance to California’s clean water professionals. We have again set aside time for agencies to make their own appointments for Congressional visits, with the assistance of our federal advocates Eric and Sarah Sapirstein. Join us in Washington D.C. to strengthen our advocacy and promote our collective federal agenda on February 24-25, 2025. We hope to see you there!

 

Resources Available for Wastewater Agencies Affected by Fires
CASA would like to express our deepest sympathy and solidarity with all those who have been impacted by the recent fires in Los Angeles. We understand the tremendous challenges that the recent fires have brought to many communities and recognize the impact these events may have had on your agency and the essential services you provide.

Joe Schiavone at the City of Santa Rosa, who has been involved in several FEMA fire responses for water and wastewater utilities, including in Santa Rosa, Maui and the Marshall Fire in Colorado has offered to consult with any agencies in need. Their City Manager and Emergency Coordinator are also available to provide assistance beyond the scope of water/wastewater – and have been involved with this type of peer-to-peer assistance several times before.

Please email us directly and let us know if we can put you in touch with Joe and his team. The CASA team wishes you strength and resilience in the days ahead.

 

Committee Seeks Suggestions for Potential CASA Board Members
The CASA Nominating Committee, chaired by CASA Past President Roland Williams, will convene in early spring to consider CASA Board of Directors candidates for the August 2025 ballot. The committee will be recommending candidates for four of the twelve elected seats. CASA attempts to include geographic diversity as well as a balance of agency managers and elected officials on our Board. This year, all four incumbent CASA Directors whose terms are expiring are up for renewal and interested in staying on the Board.

However, we are always interested in gathering a list of potential candidates for future consideration! Ideal candidates will be familiar with CASA as an organization and preferably will have served on or actively participated in CASA workgroups, committees and events. If you know someone who would be a valuable board member in future years, please send a brief email to Nominations@casaweb.org with their name, agency and a few sentences about his or her qualifications. Please send your recommendation by March 15, 2025.

The Board of Directors is the governing body responsible for CASA’s high-level policy decisions and oversight of the Executive Director. Board members are expected to:

  • Attend all CASA conferences and the Washington D.C. policy forum.
  • Participate in monthly board conference calls and in-person meetings.
  • Attend an annual strategic planning session for the association.
  • Assist in member recruitment and retention.
  • Represent CASA at events and meetings as requested by the President.

 

CASA Agency Salary Survey
CASA would like to encourage your agency’s participation in the annual Agency Salary and Benefits Survey which will be distributed on Monday, January 27. The survey provides valuable information for our members. The more responses we receive, the more accurate the statistical summary we can create. If your agency participated previously, your data is important for those agencies that use benchmarks. For those of you who have not participated in recent surveys, or have never participated, you will find this information very helpful when conducting a salary classification and review. Monterey One Water has again graciously volunteered to coordinate and produce the survey report. We look forward to providing as much comprehensive benefit information as possible with the distribution of the results. Please complete the survey by February 28. 

We can exclude listing salary data for any sensitive positions that you prefer not to have recorded on the report. However, we would still like to use that information in the calculations of the overall averages. To accomplish this, just make a notation on the survey.

For inquiries about the survey, please contact Shacara Gamboa at sgamboa@casaweb.org. Thank you for your participation in the development of this important member resource.