EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING August 12, 2015 MINUTES

Transcription

1 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING August 12, 2015 MINUTES In attendance: Bob Cockriel, Sue Mason, Chris Petree, John Rodeberg, Lee Gustafson, Angela Popenhagen, Andy Brotzler, Beth Engum, Monica Heil, Kevin Kielb, Sarah Rippke, Marcus Thomas, Dave Hutton, Kristin Asher, and Russ Matthys Pat Schutrop, Chapter Assistant and Recorder 1. CALL TO ORDER President Cockriel called the meeting to order at 11:59 a.m. 2. PRESIDENT S REPORT (Bob Cockriel) A. Delegate Selection Two letters of interest were received for the Chapter Delegate position replacing Angela Popenhagen: David Hutton, SRF Consulting Group, Inc., and Jeannine Clancy, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services. The officers scored the applicants against the selection criteria and, although both are excellent candidates, recommend appointing Jeannine Clancy as the next Delegate with a term beginning January 1, MOVED by John Rodeberg and seconded by Sue Mason approving the appointment of Jeannine Clancy as the new Chapter Delegate for the term January 1, 2016 to December 31, Motion carried. 3. SECRETARY/TREASURER S REPORT (Chris Petree/Lee Gustafson, Deputy Treasurer) A. Minutes of June 5 and July 10, 2015 Officers Conference Calls The minutes for the June 5 and July 10, 2015 conference calls were received and filed. B. Minutes of June 10, 2015 Executive Committee Meeting The minutes for June 10, 2015 Executive Committee meeting were presented for approval. MOVED by Angela Popenhagen and seconded by Sue Mason to approve the minutes of the June 10, 2015 Executive Committee meeting as presented. Motion carried. C. Financial Reports (Lee Gustafson) i. Merrill Lynch statements were received and report the following fund balances: For months ending June 30, 2015: $135,146 For months ending July 31, 2015: $135,016 ii. The following MN Chapter financial statements were received and report the following balances: For months ending June 30, 2015: $40,403 For months ending July 31, 2015: $54,628 o Gustafson noted that $805 was received at the golf outing for the scholarship fund. MOVED by John Rodeberg and seconded by Angela Popenhagen to approve the MN Chapter financial report for months ending June 30, Motion carried. MOVED by John Rodeberg and seconded by Angela Popenhagen to approve the MN Chapter financial report for months ending July 31, Motion carried. Page 1

2 D. Event Waivers APWA national is stressing the need for participants to sign waivers at most Chapter events. A waiver has been developed and can be modified to use at events. A fillable version of the waiver will be put on the website. Gustafson encouraged committee chairs to do their best to get participants to sign the form. After an event, the waivers should be forwarded to the Chapter Assistant for recordkeeping. E. Draft 2016 budget comments/requests Reminders were sent out to the committee chairs requesting comments/input for the draft budget. The goal is to have a draft 2016 budget to discuss at the August 9, 2015 Executive Committee meeting. In 2005, the Chapter offered a reduced membership for agencies staff that volunteered at the 2005 Congress enabling them to get one-day passes to attend the congress. There is a first-time member discount available now. Angela Popenhagen will look into how that was done in 2005 and if that would be a possibility for the 2016 Congress. F. Chapter accounting contract As of January 1, 2016, the Chapter will no longer use APWA National for its accounting practices. The Chapter is looking for recommendations for a small accounting firm to take over those duties. The procedures currently done will not change. The time commitment is estimated to be about 10 hours/month. One of the main responsibilities of the accountant will be to figure out how credit cards can be used on the website. 4. VICE PRESIDENT S REPORT (Sue Mason) A Congress Dinner (Mason) The restaurant is Los Olivos in Old Scottsdale which is about 30 minutes from the conference hotel. About 62 people have signed up. The current coach bus reserved will hold 55 and Mason will check into reserving another short bus. The bus will pick up at the Hyatt Hotel on Monroe Street at 5:30 pm and will return at 10 pm. An will be sent to the registration list with final details. B. Awards reception (Popenhagen) The awards reception is narrowed down to four venues. The venue closest to the convention center is the Sheraton Hotel. The final location and details will be included in the to the registrants along with Chapter Dinner information. 5. PAST PRESIDENT S REPORT (John Rodeberg) A. Nomination Committee update The Nomination Committee met on August 6, 2015, and developed a slate of candidates. All of the candidates have been contacted and all have agreed to be on the ballot. The Chapter Assistant will send out an to the candidates requesting information for the upcoming election. The slate of candidates will be presented for approval at the Executive Committee on September 9. B. Past Presidents database and enhanced roles One of the points coming out of the Nomination Committee was how to keep past presidents and retired members involved and engaged in the Chapter. They discussed sending out a survey to past presidents to gather feedback to help get some ideas. The Executive Committee liked the idea of sending out a survey and Rodeberg will prepare a short list of questions to send to past presidents in the next few weeks. Because the Nomination Committee consists of past presidents, the Executive Committee discussed the possibility of inviting former candidates to attend the Nomination Committee meeting as non-voting members to gather feedback and help formulate the slate of candidates for future elections. 6. COUNCIL OF CHAPTERS (Angela Popenhagen) A. Delegate s Report The Council of Chapters annual meeting is on Saturday, August 29, which is the day before the start of the 2015 Congress. The national election was conducted and Ron Calkins is the President-Elect. Chuck Williams was reappointed as Regional VI Director. Page 2

3 B Congress Update Congress checking account o The 2016 Congress checking account balance is $58, o The sponsor pledges received to-date is at $185,500. o A Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for August 18 to finalize the details for the Arizona Congress. The Chapter will have a booth in Phoenix to promote the 2016 Congress. o The 2016 Congress Get Acquainted Party will be held at the new US Bank Stadium on August 28, A memorandum of understanding is in place for the event. The only qualifier is whether the Vikings will have a game that evening. The Vikings have made a request to the NFL to not have any Sunday pre-season games. The cost for rental will be $15,000 (reduced from $20,000). The committee will be meeting with the food vendors in the next few weeks and is also working on lining up entertainment for the event. o The 2015 Arizona Congress debriefing meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 2, 2015, in Phoenix. C. History Committee: Dave Hutton, Chair The committee is going through historical documents to decide what to do with them. They are also working on compiling information for where are they now articles. It will be the Chapter s 70 th anniversary in 2016 and the committee is putting together a slide show or video of APWA-MN, decade by decade. The committee wants to roll it out at the 2016 Spring Conference. They are considering showing it in the 2016 Congress hospitality room and again at the 2016 Fall Conference. No funds were earmarked for producing the video. Since the video would be a great outreach tool, the Executive Committee recommends putting money in the 2016 budget for the video production. 7. DIRECTOR/COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS B. State/County Director: Beth Engum i. Membership & Special Events Committee - Jason Sprague/Mark Kasma, Co-Chairs The golf outing was a great success. Young Professionals Canterbury event is scheduled for August 27. The committee is helping put together the event for the Fall Conference. It will be a fair-type event replacing bowling traditionally done in the past. It will be at the conference center and will be intended to be a fund raiser. The Public Awareness Committee will have a booth and other committees may want to consider doing the same. Engum will send out an to committee chairs to generate interest for having a booth at the Fall Conference Fair. She will give another update at the September 9 th Executive Committee meeting. C. Outstate Director: Troy Nemmers i. Outstate Committee - Troy Nemmers, Chair Troy Nemmers notified President Cockriel that he has not been able to attend many of the Executive Committee meetings due to changes and additional work commitments at the City of Fairmont. Cockriel encouraged Nemmers to continue to do what he can to continue to generate outstate interest and communicate via or phone. ii. Awards Committee Sarah Rippke, Chair b. Committee Report The committee is working on a call for award nominations for the Fall Conference. An blast will be sent out and information will be put on the website. D. Vendor/Contractor Director: Mitchell Hoeft i. Communications Committee Kristin Asher, Chair The committee is looking for volunteers to write articles on the 2015 Congress, Chapter Dinner, and awards. Page 3

4 E. Manager/Engineer Director: Michael Thompson i. Environment and Sustainability (E&S) Committee Michael Thompson, Chair A good article was posted on the website about the cleanup event with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Sue Mason was one of the participants and said it was well organized and she would like to find a way to get more people involved. Discussion of other cleanup ideas was Adopt-a-Highway, Adopt-a-Pond, etc. MnDOT has a program where groups can pick a highway and the commitment is only once a year. Adopt-a- Highway commitment is twice a year for at least two years and needs to be non-profit group. F. Superintendent Director: Bert Tracy i. Education & Training (E&T) Committee Andy Brotzler, Chair; Monica Heil, Vice Chair The Scholarship Committee recommends a slate of students to award the scholarships to for the school year. Four students were awarded technical school scholarships and six were college scholarship winners. MOVED by Russ Matthys and seconded by Marcus Thomas to award four technical school scholarships and six college scholarships to the students recommended by the Scholarship Commission. Motion carried. Planning for the Fall Workshop program is complete. The cost is $150 to attend. The writers course will be offered again by the Berry Writing Group. In the past, there was a cap on the number of registrants taking the course; however, this year, a maximum rate will be given to Stan Berry and attendance will not have a cap. Petree and Brotzler had annual check-in meeting with instructors of the Public Works Certificate Program. Gary Brown has decided to step down as the instructor after this school year. Lee Gustafson has indicated interest in taking over his class. The Public Works Certificate Program has had a change in leadership at North Hennepin Technical College. An interim person has been appointed that is not very familiar with public works. Petree discussed the value of the program and if the Chapter can provide an alternative and still keep the integrity of the program. At some point, the Chapter may want to re-evaluate the program. The Hamline Leadership Academy was going to be staggered with the Public Works Executive Fellowship, but due to the great amount of interest in the Leadership Academy, both programs will be offered this fall. G. Consultant Director: Marcus Thomas i. Diversity Committee Alyson Fauske, Chair The Diversity Committee has one new member, Nasir Sakandar. Nasir is not an APWA member and Thomas asked if there is any objection to having non-members on the committee. He will encourage Nasir to join the organization. The bylaws state, While it is expected those serving on such committees will be members of the Chapter, the inclusion of non-members in some circumstances where specialized technical expertise is needed may be appropriate. The committee reviewed its goals and outreach initiatives. Some initial research revealed that 17 agencies have 29 openings in their groups. Committee members will reach out to the agencies to encourage them to fill those vacancies. They will also contact APWA National to find out what is allowed in order to add new members to those groups. The committee is considering a survey of the membership to assist in identifying what members want out of the Chapter and potentially increase their involvement. Popenhagen added that it has been many years since the Chapter has done a survey and it might be time to conduct one again. Page 4

5 H. City Engineer/DPW Director: Russ Matthys i. Public Awareness Committee (PAC) - Kevin Kielb, Chair Good interactions with Chapter committees. Alyson Fauske, Diversity Committee, attended the last meeting. Matthys met with Chris Petree and Dale Reed, Education & Training Committee, and discussed reaching out to high school counselors. They will continue this discussion. Stem Day information will be forwarded to the Chapter Assistant. There will be a website set up that includes information about the Stem Day. Fifteen people have volunteered for the Chapter s booth. Washington County has donated the roundabout layout again and Godzilla will be part of the demonstration. Washington County also donated handouts. Diversity and PAC committee members will be present. After Stem Day, the committee will focus on the Toys for Tots event at the Fall Conference. I. Conference Planning: Jupe Hale/Sue Mason, Co-Chairs i. Committee Report The committee is looking for direction from the Executive Committee for the 2016 Fall Conference. J. MN2050 Report: Dan Gage, Chair i. Committee Report The website domain has been renewed for the future. TKDA has taken over web design and content on behalf of MN2050. MN2050 received the APWA National Award for Journalism based on the three documentaries produced. The statewide Asset Management Survey is underway. The University of Minnesota has donated $20,000 to be used to combine MN2050 survey data with infrastructure data from various agencies and to use tools developed by the University to create information on how to better manage assets and life cycle analyses. K. Volunteer Coordinator Report: Beth Engum Received some interest in helping with the Diversity Committee. Still receiving interest for volunteers on the 2016 Congress Planning committees. 8. OLD BUSINESS None. 9. NEW BUSINESS None. 10. ADJOURNMENT President Cockriel adjourned the meeting at 1:37 p.m. APWA-MN Chapter s Mission: To advance the theory and practice of the design, construction, maintenance, administration, and operation of public works facilities and services. Dated: September 9, 2015 Respectfully submitted, Chris Petree APWA-MN Chapter Secretary/Treasurer Page 5