APWA – Florida Chapter – West Coast Branch
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
May 19, 2011
Largo Public Works Complex
Largo, Florida
* = Officer
** = Director
Members Present:
Chas Jordan* - Chairperson / Keith Causey**Randy Shane* - Vice Chair / Michael Gordon
Sala Garbaj* - Treasurer / Marissa Segundo
Brandi Allegood* - Secretary / Brian Usher
Rudy Garcia** / Virgil Wasko
Dean Scharmen** / Troy Tinch
Larry Cox** / Amy Blaida
Troy McCain** / Glenn Harwood
Robert Garland
1. Call To Order – Chairperson Jordan called the meeting to order at 9:38 AM.
2. Roll Call – Four Officers Present, Five Directors Present, and Eight Members Present.
3. Acceptance of Annual Meeting and March 9, 2011 Minutes – Motion was made by Dean Scharmen for acceptance. Seconded by Randy Shane. There was no discussion. The Motion passed unanimously.
4. Officers Reports
a) Chairperson (Chas Jordan)
· Branch Lapel Pins
- After a request from several EC Members, I have been researching the possibility of ordering West Coast Branch Lapel Pins. These pins would utilize the new logo and we would give these to members and visitors as a “welcome” gift from the Branch. The attached proofs are for the pins I would like considered:
- The cost would be $2.21 per pin, with a onetime set-up fee of $105.
- If we wanted to do a “Past Chair” Pin as well, it would be roughly the same price.
· This will be a New Business Item at the next meeting.
· Annual Meeting and Trade Show Committee Assignments
- Chris Evers made the following appointments for the Steering Committee for the 2012 Show:
- Show Chair – President Elect Chris Evers, E.J. Breneman
- Show Co-Chair – Chas Jordan, City of Largo
- Treasurer – Rick Keeney, City of Punta Gorda
- Committees
- Rodeo – Bob Nowak, City of Largo
- Golf – Larry Cox, City of Dunedin
- Tech Sessions – Mariana Llanso, Hillsborough County
- Registration – Brandi Allegood, RS&H
- Sponsorship – Amy Blaida, RS&H & Bob Gordon, City of Temple Terrace
- Vendor – Bob Hall, Cutler Repaving
- Student Program – Amanda Millirons, City of Palm Bay
- Issues that we need to brainstorm about:
- Theme – We’ll need to come up with a catchy phrase for 2012. We’ll dig up the past few to help generate some ideas. DECK OF CARDS?
- Venues – There will be several events that will need homes. Let’s be thinking of where we think folks would enjoy gathering that is in close proximity to the host hotel.
- Committee Members – As Chairs I don’t expect you to do all the work. If there are other capable people you’d like to add to your committees, contact them and we’ll sign them up.
- Keynote Speaker – This selection sets the tone for the show. The more ideas and connections we can come up with the better. Keep in mind we are on a budget too!
- Creating Value for Attendees – How can we add value for our clients. We need to focus on meeting the educational needs of the Cities and Counties we serve. By doing that we’ll draw in more sponsorship and exhibitors. A major goal for this show is to increase the number of full delegates and to do that we need to think of ways to add value to Public Works Directors enabling them to justify the expense.
b) Vice Chairperson (Randy Shane)
This past month I have been working on developing a program or plan for improvement for my year serving as Vice Chairperson. I have also been attempting to set up our six meetings for the year and guest speakers accordingly. One of my goals is to increase membership attendance and involvement in the local branch as well as share info with other branches. I have attended other branch meetings to pick up any ideas on how we can improve on this. The following represents my actions so far:
1. Current Meeting Schedule – We will be meeting at 9:30 am on the second Wednesday of
every other month as follows:
July 13, 2011 - City of Lakeland ( Cleveland Heights Golf Course) Golf for $16 per person after the meeting. Guest speaker will be Chris Albright with Paveway Systems on STS Patterned Textured Pavement.
September 14, 2011 - City of Dunedin Meeting place to follow. Golf after the meeting at The
Dunedin Country Club. Guest speaker will be Barry McKeon with Hubbard Construction, Technical Manager on Full Depth Reclamation QC Plans. 1936 Lee Rd, Winter Park FL 32789.
November 9, 2011 - City of St. Petersburg - Meeting info and speaker to follow.
January 11, 2012 - City of Zephyrhills - Meeting info and speaker to follow.
March 14, 2012 - City of Tampa - Meeting info and speaker to follow.
We need to get these meeting locations and speakers in our newsletters as soon as I have them locked in. The vendors in the WCB area will be contacted to become a sponsor for the meeting supplying a continental breakfast. I would suggest $100.00 per meeting.
c) Treasurer (Sala Garbaj)
· Sala distributed copies of the April Statements
· March Totals in the Accounts:
- Education Fund – $22,878.81
- General Operating – $1,875
· Chas Jordan moved to accept the Treasure’s Report and Larry Cox seconded approval. There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously.
d) Secretary (Brandi Allegood)
· At the request of Chairperson Jordan. I have looked into the purchase of APWA West Coast Branch note cards. These note cards would be a bi-fold 4.25 x 5.5 and would include the logo on the outside and would be blank on the inside. The cards would be used for a multitude of reasons (e.x. Thank You’s to vendors for sponsoring events, we would send them to members to show our gratitude for their service, etc.)
· Brandi moved to purchase a set of 250 cards and envelopes for a price of $157 (cards) and $90 (envelopes) a total of $247 which makes each card less than $1. Chas seconded. There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously.
e) District VI Representative (Bob Nowak)
· April 18th Chapter Board mtg. due to time constraints the meeting was abbreviated to Roll Call and officer's reports. President Ron Ribaric ask the board member to ask other attendees to make sure spend some extended time with the vendors at the exhibit hall.
· President-Elect Kim Kirby advised the board of the of the schedule future Chapter Board meetings an locations. They go as followed Aug.19th -20th @ Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa.
· Nov.4th-5th @ Ft.Walton Hilton Resort
· Jan.20th-21st @ Tampa Marriot Water
· Jim Proce Awards committee chair announce that he was accepting a position in Texas and that the banquet/awards luncheon was his last act with the Florida APWA chapter.
f) Immediate Past Chairperson (Linda Adejumo)
· No Report.
5. Special Committee Reports:
a) Awards (Chas Jordan)
· No Report.
b) Association Alliance (Chris Evers)
· No Report.
c) Audit (Frank Bell)
· No Report.
d) Branch Annual Banquet (Randy Shane)
· Please contact Randy Shane if you have any ideas for next year’s Annual Banquet.
e) Bylaws (Ed Burkett)
· No Report.
f) Education and Technical Sessions (Dean Scharmen)
· City of Clearwater - Solid Waste Department tour which would be on Wednesday May 25th for $15 each person – has had a minimal response.
· Dean Scharmen moved to approve the next Sunshine State One Call Tech Session and Brandi Allegood seconded approval. There was no discussion. The Motion passed unanimously.
g) Equipment Rodeo (Michael Gordon)
Met with rodeo planning group and have a general idea of how we want to move forward with this. With everyone’s agreement, we will set the proposed date for October 21, 2011.
Need to contact possible sponsors, sponsors will even provide lunch and t-shirts for participants.
Rudy will contact Hillsborough County to check on there participation and will contact SUCA as well.
h) Golf Scramble (Larry Cox)
Taking into consideration that next year the Annual Chapter Conference will be held in Tampa, I think we should look into moving our branch golf tournament to the fall.
· November / December: either before thanksgiving or the weekend after thanksgiving or even early December.
· Weather would be more inviting than the Jan/Feb dates we had.
· This would not interfere with the Chapter Golf tournament which will also be here in early April.
· We may even want to move the branch banquet ahead to steer away from the chapter conference. Larry thinks the farther we can move away from the State conference and golf tournament the better it would be. Larry believes there would be more participation in both tournaments if we didn’t have them back to back.
Larry will look into getting a set date for the Golf Scramble.
i) Historical (Henry Fain)
· No Report.
j) Membership (Bob Nowak)
Upon review of the membership listing as of May 10th 2011, for the West Coast Branch there are 262 active members down from April report of 269.Their was also 11 members on the delinquent report. I will be contacting them advised them and promote them to retain their membership. I will also review March and April reports to see which members we have lost.
k) Newsletter (Brandi Allegood)
· If anyone has any articles or information they would like to see in the newsletter they are encourage to send it to the branch e-mail or to Brandi directly at .
l) Nominating (Linda Adejumo)
· Chas would like to see us get some new municipalities involved with APWA.
m) Public Works Academy (Keith Causey)
· Keith will stay at Brewster Academy.
n) Scholarship (Keith Causey)
· Funds have been invested; two of the scholarship checks have not yet.
o) Sponsorship / Vendor Relations (Ernie Nelson)
· No Report.
p) Student Chapter (Vacant)
· No Report.
6. Unfinished Business
a) 2012 Fl Chapter Meeting – Steering Meeting
1. Theme - The Committee was extremely excited and wants to move forward with the "Deck of Cards" "Meeting 52" and "Dealing with Change" theme that has been previously presented. The ideas and connections that can be made to this theme are a lot of fun. The Novelty Deck of Cards with vendors/officers on it, the use of playing cards as a exhibitor game at the Trade Show, a Casino Night as the Get Acquainted Party. No pun intended, but the sky is the limit with regards to the theme and how we can set up the event around it.
2. Venues - The Committee agrees that the entire conference needs to center on the many many venues that are in the downtown Tampa / Channelside area. There are just too many good locations with things to do within walking distance / trolley distance to warrant large events that are distances off-site, such as Busch Gardens. The primary venue for a great kick off or social party (Casino Night) was the Florida Aquarium/Clipper Ship/and Fun and Sun Pavilion. Also, a good first night President's Reception location could be the Tampa Bay History Center. There is also the ability to rent out areas of Channelside such as Stumpps and Howl at the Moon for other fun events. Jacksons across the inlet from the Convention Center is also a good location for an event.
Bob Nowak is going to scout out possible locations in the downtown area that could accommodate the Rodeo so that we do not need to travel to the Florida State Fairgrounds like we did in 2005. There are a number of Downtown Parking areas and Structures that are big enough to accommodate the rodeo and would be within a short walking distance from the Convention Center.
3. Committee Members - We had a number of volunteers for assistance on these committees:
Rodeo (Bob Nowak) - Jarvis from City of Clearwater
Golf (Larry Cox) - Ray Lotito, Randy Shane, Troy McCain
Tech Sessions (Mariana Llanso) - Brian Usher
Registration (Brandi Allegood) - Dean Scharmen, Sala Garbaj, Carolyn Steves, KCA Employees
Sponsorship (Amy Blaida and Bob Gordon) - Brian Usher, Robert Garland
Vendor (Bob Hall) - Same as Sponsorship
Student Program (Amanda Millirons) - Did not receive many volunteers, but got some ideas for who to work with. Already reached out to USF and have a student marketing the program to the school's many engineering organizations and students. Someone suggested we also look into High School Engineering Magnet programs in Hillsborough County.
4. Keynote Speakers - There were a number of names / suggestions given:
Tony Dungy
NFL Referees
George Williams (Hills. Co., HR Director)
Pam Iorio
Dick Vitale
5. Creating Value for Attendees - We discussed ideas that would make "Daily Delegates" want to be "Full Delegates" for next years show. The first was presented by me, of incorporating the Certification for Stormwater, Sediment and Erosion Control program as a Monday/Thursday class for Equipment Operators who want to attend the Rodeo and the Trade Show. The other was setting up "excursions" with the local Convention and Visitors Bureau for half day trips for Fishing in Hillsborough Bay, a day-long trip to Busch Gardens, and Behind the Scenes Tours at TIA, the Ice Palace, and Water/Wastewater/Solid Waste Facilities in the area. Suggestions for tech sessions to bring in other types of members: emphasis on Facilities / Fleet and Asset Management, Customer Service Programs, Education from USF Professors on USF Marine Biological effects of the Oil Spill and Hydrogen from Storm/Waste Water, and finally Certifications or Training in the use of G.I.S. Software.