Meeting Minutes
International Affairs Committee
May 19, 2015
The APWA International Affairs Committee (IAC) met via conference call on May 19, 2015. Committee members in attendance includedVydas Juskelis, IAC Chair, Helena Allison,Doug Drever, Chris Champion Tyler Palmer, Joy Schaad,and APWA Board Liaison Chuck Williams.
The following members were not in attendance: Mike Connolly, Len Bernstein, and Martin Pastucha.
Guests included: Misty Contreras Cisneros and Noel Thompson.
The meeting was staffed by Lillie Plowman and Dave Dancy.
A summary of the meeting follows.
The March and April minutes were approved.
======
Updates from the Sub-Committees and Task Forces
APWA Board Report
There will be an APWA Regional Directors conference call in a couple of weeks. The next APWA Board meeting will be held at the end of June in Des Moines, IA.
Congress – International Affairs Reception/Other
Misty Contreras Cisneros, APWA Local Host Committee joined the conference call to provide an update on the International Affairs Reception at Congress. The reception will be held on Monday, August 31, 2015 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Heard Museum, which is a southwestern/Native American focused museum. There will be food, drinks, Native American music and tours of the museum available at this event. Guests attending the reception will take the light rail. Volunteers (perhaps even Ambassadors) will assist with getting guests from the convention center to the museum. A sponsor has been secured for these passes. Distribution of the light rail passes will be determined at a later date. Kiewit has been secured as a sponsor for this event. The local committee is working on securing others.
A designated section will be available at the Opening General Session for international Guests and Ambassadors. Also, approval has been given for international guests to be recognized at the First Timer’s meeting.
ACTION: If the IAC would like something beyond recognition of the international guests at the First Timer’s meeting, then this will need to be determined by the IAC and presented to Peter for consideration.
APWA/Mexico/Latin America Sub-Committee
Tyler Palmer, represented APWA at the V Congreso Nacional de Obras y Servicios Publicos ICLEI Conference in Villahermosa, Mexico on May 4-11, 2015. Tyler attended their conference and conducted sessions, plus met with many key ICLEI staff. An article pertaining to Tyler’s participation at this conference will be appear in the APWA Reporter.
The Spanish flyer promoting Congress has been distributed at an engineering conference in Mexico, and will also be taken into Honduras by Alejandro Flores, when he visits next month. One of our members from Honduras and he will take with him and initiate contact.
Czech/Slovak Sub-Committee
Frank Pandullo, 2015 Jennings Randolph International Fellow attended the Czech and Slovak Republic Public Works Conference and conducted a study tour from May 7-19, 2015. Frank will be presenting his findings at Congress, as will also, along with Helena Allison, write an article for the September issue of the APWA Reporter.
Helena Allison reported that Frank’s presentations were well received at the Czech and Slovak Republic Conference. The Czech conference went well. Franks presentation was well received.
While in the Czech and Slovak Republic, the boards discussed the current Partnership Agreement between the organizations. At this time, they find it burdensome to commit to attending APWA’s Congress every other year, and thus would like to propose some changes to the agreement. Helena will be working with both organizations to see what amendments may be necessary to the agreement.
ACTION: Further discussion on the proposed changes to the partnership agreement between APWA and the Czech and Slovak Republic organizations.
APWA/CPWA/IPWEA/IPWEA NZ Sub-Committee
No Sub-Committee report was given, as they have not met via conference call. However, Chris Champion did provide the following information regarding the IPWEA/IFME World Congress. There are approximately 700 delegates, sponsors and exhibitors. The conference will offer 180 presentations in 8 streams. APWA President Larry Stevens will provide remarks, and Tom Jacobs, 2015 Jennings Randolph International Fellow will be a keynote speaker.
Also mentioned, that there will be 9 Australians attending Congress in Phoenix at this time. There are five individuals coming with Chris, and 4 individuals coming from the state of Victoria. Currently there are some APWA members assisting with study tours when these individuals come to the United States.
IFME
At the IPWEA/IFME World Congress in Rotorua, New Zealand, Doug Drever will take over as President and Chris Champion will serve as secretary general for IFME. The IAC would like to discuss how APWA’s participation in and partnerships within IFME can be strengthened. It was suggested that this be a face-to-face meeting at Congress in Phoenix.
The 2016 IFME spring meeting will be held in Canada. They would like to coordinate this meeting with the CPWA Board meeting that is being held in Ottawa. There are approximately 30 individuals who attend, so Doug Drever will contact Dedman, CPWA President to see if this can be set up.
Nordic Partnership Task Force
Members of the Task Force have coordinated a Reporter article that will be submitted for the July issue and have arranged for individuals from Finland to present a session at Congress. Due to the IPWA/IFME World Congress being held in Rotorua, New Zealand in June, representation from the Nordic countries will be lower at Congress in Phoenix, AZ.
Task Force members are currently working on collecting the dates for the public works conferences in the Nordic countries for 2016. Now that a formal partnership exists, JR Fellows will be eligible to apply to conduct a public works study tour and attend a public works conference in these countries as well. This information must be submitted by September 2015.
International Outreach
Articles for the APWA Reporter
The upcoming schedule includes:
- July – Due May 25th - sustainability article from Nordic partners
- August – Due June 25thIAC Annual Report
- September – Due July 25th – Frank Pandullo, Czech and Slovak Republic JR Fellow article
- October – Due August 25th- Tom Jacobs, New Zealand JR Fellow article
ACTION: Sub-committee chairs have been asked to submit their committee summaries by June 12, 2015 to Vydas Juskelis, IAC Chair.
Chapter Liaison Meetings
The next International Chapter Liaison conference call will be on Wednesday, June 17that 4:30 pm Eastern (3:30 pm Central, 2:30 pm Mountain, 1:30 pm Pacific).
Other Business
Ghana Update
An invitation to attend Congress has been extended to three members of GhIE. Currently the President and one board member are making plans to attend Congress in Phoenix, AZ.
IAC Brochure and PowerPoint
Member of the IAC were presented a draft of the informational brochure. The IAC has given their approval to print this brochure. It will be distributed at Congress and will be posted on the web.
The PowerPoint presentation is in progress. Some information needs to be updated, as well, as the information edited for the slides.
Webcast
It was determined that hosting an international webcast is a good idea. A subject matter needs to be determined. Further discussion on this is to take place at the face-to-face meeting in August.
Next Meeting
The next conference call meeting will be on June 21stat 4:30 pm. CDT via conference call.
Submitted by: Lillie Plowman, Staff