The third meeting of the Field Service Advisory Committee was held at the Clarion Hotel - Airport West in Cleveland, OH.

Bruce Dokkebakken chaired the meeting and 51 persons registered as participants or observers. A registration list is attached to these Minutes.

Michael Rector, QCS President, reviewed the QCS auditing activities conducted and in progress since the last FSAC meeting.

Bill VerBoort, Audit Review Committee Chairman, reviewed the role of the ARC and led discussions regarding concerns with outlier data, weighting of supervised and non-supervised LER test results, and the use of non-ICAR approved meters.

David Youngman, QCS Fieldman, reviewed the current CDCB auditing guidelines for field service providers and Michael Rector reviewed the current CDCB auditing guidelines for meter centers and technicians. They also explained the auditing procedures being used by QCS to verify compliance.

During the presentations, the following attendees were asked to describe programs or procedures used to address certain sections of the auditing guidelines:

Scott Taylor relayed suggestions from the manufacturer that all Waikato meters be upgraded to the Mark 5 model and that all black valves be replaced with the improved, blue version. He also confirmed that Waikato was developing an auto-sampler model.

Scott also expressed concerns that the Fast-Flow equipment used with standard bore Tru-Test meters was not yielding correct results with wide bore Tru-Test meters. He announced that Tru-Test was developing a replacement inlet pipe to address the problem.

The Committee was given the opportunity to discuss each section of the two manuals and made the following recommendations for revision:

1. CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services - To remove the requirement that all scales used be of a National DHIA approved type and substitute a requirement that all scales used meet the weight tolerance ranges described in the CDCB Auditing Procedures for Meter Centers and Technicians manual.

2. CDCB Auditing Procedures for Meter Centers and Technicians - To remove the requirement that scales be checked for calibration at the 1, 2, and 5 pound increments.

3. CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services - To suspend the requirement that all electronic meters be checked for calibration on an annual basis until methods other than water tests can be developed.

The Committee also recommended that QCS carry meters with known problems or calibration check values to meter center and meter technician audits and that the auditor confirm that non-certified meters are marked correctly at the processing center and AIPL levels.

Bill VerBoort reviewed the results of a California DHIA study on the accuracy and usefulness of the EZ Sampler. He stated that the sampler had potential for DHI use and that further studies should be performed to confirm sample results accuracy.

Bruce Dokkebakken announced that he was not interested in being re-elected as the FSAC Chairman and opened the floor for nominations. Scott Taylor was elected as the next Chairman.

As requested by National DHIA, the Committee provided two persons as nominees for appointment to the QCS Board of Directors and Audit Review Committee. The nominees were Scott Taylor and Dan Webb.

Due to time constraints, the Committee did not discuss the time or location of the next meeting.

Respectfully Submitted,
Michael Rector
QCS

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