For Immediate Release - May 14

th
, 2014
Contact: Nancy Frank, Chair, Sweet Water Board of Directors at 414-229-5372 or
frankn@uwm.edu


Sweet Water Announces Transition as Jeff Martinka Moves to New Position
Sweet Water, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, Inc., is preparing to transition to
new leadership as J eff Martinka announced that he had accepted a position as Executive
Director of Neighborhood House, a community center on Milwaukee's west side. With Martinka
departing at the end of May, the Sweet Water Board of Directors acted quickly to develop a
transition plan.

Today the Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Pat Marchese as the Interim
Executive Director of Sweet Water. Pat was a member of the group that originally conceived of
the creation of Sweet Water and served as its first Board Chair.

Sweet Water is grateful to J eff Martinka for his undaunted enthusiasm and insightful
management of Sweet Water's mission and activities. J eff took the Executive Director position
in J anuary 2010, when Sweet Water was newly-formed and looking for its freshwater sea legs.
J eff proved to have a talent for communicating about the state of the Greater Milwaukee
watersheds and for defining the new Sweet Waters role in improving them.

J eff has managed the multi-organizational partnership under two successive three-year J oyce
Foundation grants totaling $3.4 million, supporting the work of watershed action teams in the
Menomonee and Kinnickinnic watershed, communication efforts, policy and science initiatives
and research, and addressing polluted stormwater runoff from both urban and agricultural lands.
J eff was instrumental in bringing together stakeholder organizations and funders in the Root
River watershed to develop a Root River restoration plan, scheduled for completion in J uly,
2014. It was modeled on the earlier work developed for the Menomonee and KK River
watersheds.

Under J eff's leadership, the annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference has continued to be
one of the best educational values for local implementers of green infrastructure, stormwater
management, and agricultural runoff. This years event attracted more than 400 to the Harley-
Davidson Museum on May 1
st
.

Among Sweet Water's other communication efforts, the Respect Our Waters stormwater
pollution campaign was launched in 2012 under J eff's leadership. Utilizing Sparkles the water
spaniel as its on-air mascot, the effort has grown to a multi-year $250,000 partnership with
Root-Pike WIN and nearly 50 municipal partners, from the Illinois State line to Ozaukee County,
with matching grants awarded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

With support from the J oyce grant and many other sponsors, J eff also launched a successful
Sweet Water mini-grant program that has provided 55 grants of up to $5,000 to community
groups seeking to implement actions to improve riparian habitat, reduce the flow of pollutants
into our rivers, and educate others about the efforts that they can take to improve our waters.

Fortunately, Sweet Water will be in excellent hands with Pat Marchese as interim director while
the board launches its search for a new permanent Executive Director. In addition to being the
founding Chair of the Sweet Water Board, Pat is a registered professional engineer, served as
Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and Director of Public
Works for Milwaukee County and worked for several nationally-recognized engineering firms.
He was also elected to the Ozaukee County Board, where he was Chair of the Natural
Resources Committee during the construction of the Milwaukee River Fish Passage Project.

Sweet Water will begin its search immediately for a permanent executive director. The position
announcement will be distributed via listservs and posted on the Sweet Water website at
www.swwtwater.org.

Sweet Water, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, Inc., is a unique partnership
established in 2009 to achieve healthy and sustainable water resources throughout the 1,100
square mile Greater Milwaukee watersheds through coordinated, collaborative efforts. Its
partners include independent units of government, non-profit organizations, local residents and
representatives of business and academia, all sharing common goals for our shared waters.
More information on our collaboration and its successes can be found at www.swwtwater.org.