CALENDAR OF EVENTS. President s Message. November In This Issue.

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1 November 2010 President s Message By: Marco Palilla, President Hello Sierra Chapter Members, Friends, and Associates: By the time you read this message, the election will be over and many changes will likely be in store for us. The good news: those annoying phone calls should have stopped by now! The bad news: we are in serious trouble! It is hard to imagine that things could get any more dysfunctional in this great State of ours, but it just might. Then again, maybe all of this craziness will draw people and firms into our cause and help us fight the good fight going forward. Who knows? The bottom line is we have a tough job ahead of us and this is no time to throw in the towel! Like the old saying goes, There is no rest for the weary. Well, all of you weary souls, get some sleep, because we need you more than ever. In This Issue Richard Shepard, City of Elk Grove, Public Works Director November Speaker and Topic Celia McAdam, Placer County Transportation Planning Agency October Meeting Recap Holdrege & Kuhl, Inc. - Company Profile 3 Chris Rockway Memoriam 4 President s Message cont. 4 Be Thankful 4 (Continued on page 4) 2010/11 Board of Directors CALENDAR OF EVENTS Meetings are at the Sacramento Hilton unless otherwise noted. 5:00pm - 6:00pm Board Meeting 6:00pm - 6:30pm Networking / 6:30pm General Membership Dinner Meeting Member Cost: $35 - Non-Member $50 You are responsible for your RSVP and will be invoiced unless you cancel reservations 24 hours in advance. November 14-16, Focus on the Future Self-Help Counties Coalition La Quinta Golf Resort & Spa, La Quinta, Calif. Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Board and General Membership Dinner Meeting Guest Speaker: Richard Shepard, Public Works Director, City of Elk Grove No December Meeting Friday, January 7, 2011 Board and Joint ACEC-CA / APWA Lunch Meeting Guest Speaker: Lois Wolk, California State Senator February 1 & 2, Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet & Legislative Visit Day Sacramento Hyatt Regency, Sacramento, Calif.

2 Page No. 2 Richard Shepard, City of Elk Grove State of Affairs November Meeting Speaker and Topic By: Jerry Jones, Secretary/Treasurer The speaker for the November Meeting will be Richard Shepard, City of Elk Grove Public Works Director/City Engineer. Richard oversee s the operations of the Public Works Department, including engineering operations, and public works maintenance, repair, and construction projects. Richard has over 30 years of transportation experience, and most recently served as the Director of Transportation for El Dorado County. During his tenure, he was responsible for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the 1,100 miles of county highways, and managed an annual budget of $140 million and staff of 220 employees. Richard dedicated more than 25 years of his career to the California Department of Transportation as a Bridge Engineer. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Engineering. He will be addressing the changes happening at the City, his role, the city capital improvement budget, and planned projects. Celia McAdam, Placer County Transportation Planning Agency - October Meeting Recap By: Marco Palilla, President Our October Dinner Meeting featuring Celia McAdam was well attended and very informative. As Executive Director of the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency since 1998 and Executive Director of the South Placer Regional Transportation Authority (SPRTA) since its formation in 2001, Ms. McAdam is tasked with overseeing a vast area with diverse transportation needs. In terms of Putting Money on the Ground, she highlighted a few of the more well known projects in her presentation. They included the I-80 Bottleneck in Roseville, the I-80/ Eureka Road Interchange, the I-80/Rocklin Road Interchange and Auxiliary Lane, the I-80/SR 65 Interchange, the Lincoln Bypass, and Placer Parkway (select projects are pictured on the right). In addition, Ms. McAdam talked about road maintenance, transit operations and the never ending challenge of funding. Lincoln Bypass I-80 Bottleneck in Roseville

3 Page No. 3 An ACEC-CA Company Profile Holdrege & Kull Consulting Engineers and Geologists is a great place to work and play. We get the job done regardless of whether it is engineering a shoring plan for a 16,000 cubic yard, 90 ft. deep foundation excavation for the new Bay Bridge; Abandoned Mine Land site characterization for the US Forest Service in the desert outside of Bridgeport; or CQA and environmental monitoring during removal of a 100-year old dam in Siskiyou county for the Bureau of Reclamation; we always seem to have a lot of fun. Our offices are not just filled with geologists, engineers, technicians and support personnel, but dogs and kids are part of our gig. People have lives outside of the office and the principals of H&K honor that. We have grade school children lining up for field trips to H&K to watch our concrete machines crush cylinders, golf balls or cans of Coke. And if you like snow, you ll love the H&K powder policy. Let s just say it may be a bit harder to track down our personnel when the slopes receive a foot or more of fresh snow. You ll find rock New Bay Bridge W2 East Excavation hammers, nuclear gauges, hand augers, and well bailers in the beds of our trucks along with bicycles, golf clubs, fly rods, spurs and bales of hay. Holdrege & Kull is California Corporation, a Certified California Small Business Enterprise, holds a General Services Administration (GSA) - Multiple Award Schedule, and is Registered with the Office of Emergency Services for Engineering and Environmental disaster response. Offices: Nevada City / Truckee / Yuba City / Chico / Jackson Disciplines: Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering Materials Testing and Construction Quality Assurance Solid Waste Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology Renewable Energy Resource Engineering Thirty-five Professional Registrations and Certifications, including professionals with multiple cross-registrations: GE - California / CEG - California CE - California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Washington PG - California, Nevada / CHG - California CPSEC - Certified Professional in Sediment and Erosion Control - CA Fifty-one Technical Certifications: ACI / ICC / AWS / Caltrans / OSHA / ASNT / NICET / DSA Five Laboratory Accreditations: DSA / Caltrans / AASHTO / CCRL / ASTM Contact Information: 792 Searls Avenue, Nevada City, CA (530) , (530) fax, Info@HandK.net Pittsburg-Liberty Millsite Would you like to see YOUR FIRM listed on this page? ACEC-CA/Sierra Chapter firms in good standing are invited to submit a company profile for inclusion in this newsletter. Firms that have not been featured in the last two years are invited to participate again. Contact Ed Henderson for submission details. GET NOTICED IN THE SIERRA CHAPTER NEWSLETTER! Point of Contact: Ed Henderson TLA Engineering & Planning ed@tla-inc.com

4 Page No. 4 Chris Rockway Memoriam It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Chris Rockway. Chris was a Principal with Mark Thomas & Company, and was diagnosed in July of this year with a very aggressive form of liver cancer. He began treatment shortly after, but unfortunately the cancer had progressed too quickly for the chemotherapy to have any affect. Chris died at home on October 9th surrounded by his loved ones. Chris worked for URS Greiner for many years before coming to Mark Thomas & Company in 2000 as a Senior Project Manager. He was promoted to Associate/Division Manager in 2004 and Principal in Chris developed strong relationships with all of the people that had the pleasure of working with him, and he will be deeply missed. Chris is survived by his wife, Liz, and three children, Jill, Mike, and Kaitlin. The Sierra Chapter made a donation in Chris honor to the Sutter Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) & Hospice. President s Message (continued) (Continued from page 1) Okay, how about some happy news? I am excited to report that the 2011 ACEC Annual Conference will be held at Disneyland in April! Mark your calendars now (and tell the kids) for April 12 th to 15 th when ACEC invades Disney s Grand Californian Resort & Spa. The best part? Our State office people (insert Jenny Devine here) have secured a $179 per night rate that extends three days before and three days after the conference. There will be no excuses not to mix work and play on this trip! Finally, if you have not been able to attend either of our first two Dinner meetings, give us a shot. We have had some great speakers, engaging politicians, and some fun visitors. You might even win a door prize! See you all soon..marco Be Thankful - A Thanksgiving Poem Author Unknown Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times, during those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes; they will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference. It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

5 Page No. 5 Officers Marco Palilla, President (HDR Engineering, Inc) Marco.Palilla@hdrinc.com Ed Henderson, Vice President (TLA Engineering & Planning) ed@tla-inc.com Jerry Jones, Secty/Treasurer (Nolte Associates, Inc.) Jerry.Jones@Nolte.com 2010/11 Board of Directors Directors Steve Greenfield (Cunningham Engineering) steve@cecwest.com Zia Islam (Kleinfelder, Inc.) zislam@kleinfelder.com Eli Aramouni (Drake Haglan & Associates) earamouni@drakehaglan.com Kelly Birkes (Rick Engineering ) 916) kbirkes@rickengineering.com Greg Bardini (Morton & Pitalo) gbardini@mpengr.com Ted Hopkins (Shannon & Wilson) (916) TWH@shanwil.com State Directors Christopher Curtis (2012) (CBC Surveys) ccurtis@cbcsurveys.com Bob LoRusso (2013) (Salaber Associates, Inc.) rlorusso@saiservices.com Jeff Patton (2011) (Blackburn Consulting) jeffp@blackburnconsulting.com Marco Palilla (2011) (HDR Engineering, Inc) Marco.Palilla@hdrinc.com Lisa Thut, CPSM Newsletter Editor , x114 lthut@fugro.com Debbie LoCicero Recording Secretary debbielo5@hotmail.com Kristen Kho Webmaster Kristen.kho@gmail.com.