INTERNATIONAL RELOCATION ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE MEETING Philadelphia, PA June 20, 2004 at 1:30 p.m.

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL RELOCATION ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE MEETING Philadelphia, PA June 20, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. Donna Roche welcomed everyone to the meeting. Introduction (Attendees): Donna Roche, Chair Bob Merryman, Region 3 Rep Lisa Barnes, Vice Chair Lisa Harrison, Region 2 Rep Tamara Benson, Secretary Reg Draheim, Member at Large John Reed, Member at Large Barbara Meekins, Region 7 Rep Linda Peck, Past Chair Pete Campbell, Member at Large Lee Satterfield, Region 9 Rep, Liaison Vice Chair Cecilia Melanson, Member at Large Gina Anthony, New Region 4 Rep Mike Hereford, Past Chair Bill Potter, Member at Large Daniel Pacheco, Member at Large Charles Grombacher, Member at Large Leslie Pacheco, Member at Large Visitors: Jim Struble, IEC Jack Borgmeyer, IPDC Pat Pettito, IPDC Donna Harrison Shelly Whiteing The Committee Roster was distributed for review and updates. Donna Roche asked for a Motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting held on February 7 and 8 th in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. There were no comments or changes. Linda Peck motioned and motion was seconded by John Reed. Change in Agenda Addition of IPDC wants to address Committee IPDC Jack Borgmeyer and Pat Pettito 504 Course rewritten thanks to the Committee for their hard work and involvement to the course revision & course development Normal Process - RFP goes out for course revision in this case, IPDC did not know course was revised and piloted course must be audited for any instructor on new courses only If we (committee) want this to be an audited course requirement, need formal notification from Chair IPDC s position will be to strongly encourage audit but not make it a requirement OPEN DISCUSSION FOLLOWS: Lisa Harrison How do you differentiate between a new or revised course? 504 was totally rewritten and changed from 1 day to 2 days 1

2 Jack Borgmeyer (response) has to be new course, not rewritten or revised Lisa Barnes this should not happen again from this point forward, will now be Committee s decision to submit to IPDC with recommendation on audit requirements but IPDC will have ultimate decision Donna Roche We thought we were in line but official process has checkpoints The key no contract established scheduling, notice to instructors and our (committee) recommendations Jack Borgmeyer In the future, IPDC wants to take RFP s to committee for review Lisa Harrison Takes exception to statement that IPDC didn t know pilots were going on she has correspondence from IPDC/Headquarters that show they knew the pilot was happening Lee Satterfield Instructor has spent the money to audit the course (to IPDC) don t expect us to follow rules retroactively audit invaluable and necessary to instruct this course (504) Jack Borgmeyer only 6 instructors have taught 504 in last few years Lisa Harrison (response) Because we were told it was shelved - If goal is to increase benefit of course, is it going to harm someone to audit need uniform presentation of materials once you are certified to instruct, there is no measure in place for recertification consider auditing as continuing education for Instructor Recertification Ceci Melanson retook 506 one original developers of 504 no mechanism to recertify instructors Donna Roche requested that we continue discussion as committee She and Lisa Barnes will be preparing a letter for IPDC that will outline our formal position on this matter for consideration. Bob Merryman (to Jack and Pat) what was the degree of the vote in this decision? How was it weighted? It appears to be an arbitrary decision. Lee Satterfield was it an informed decision? Were both old and new courses compared to see what changes were made? Jack Borgmeyer (response) Unanimous vote. Hopefully 505 will go out for RFP need to go through official process Donna Roche new process presented this morning at Committee Chair meeting and she will provide the committee with the information Jack and Pat thanked the Committee for their time and excused themselves from the meeting IEC - Jim Struble Has enjoyed serving as liaison 4 years on IPDC appreciates our efforts The committee returned the thanks. Donna Roche change in planning sessions IEC does not think planning sessions are needed anymore since we have a conference planner on staff IEC has suggested that if we feel we need to meet, we could meet at Federal Update in Washington DC in January, however need to advise them at this conference so they can make necessary arrangements. Jim excused himself from the meeting. 2

3 COURSE 504 REVISITED WITH COMMITTEE MEMBERS ONLY Bob Merryman suggested a compromise let courses scheduled for upcoming one year go on require audit after Relo Winter Forum Donna Roche This was a rewrite not a revision; was 1 day, now 2 days, huge changes in curriculum and materials Tamara Benson As a compromise, suggested we videotape the course with Lisa instructing and require that at least the tape be viewed. Lisa Harrison had requested that pilot be for instructors only did follow what was process IPDC/Headquarters can t say that they weren t involved Barbara Meekins not necessarily Course 504 all revised courses need to be audited Lisa Barnes suggested compromise Course 504 may be taught by instructor s who have not audited on all scheduled presentations prior to 12/31/04. Effective 1/1/05 have to have instructor who has audited or taught Committee must sponsor instructor s clinic possibly Chapter 33 Oklahoma Donna Roche Made point - If you have to repilot existing course, then it should have to be audited unanimous vote that Course 504 must be audited prepare letter suggesting audit requirement or possible compromise Strongest points for letter to IPDC: Letter should follow format that is now in place, and address the following: Quality of instructors Extensiveness of changes Change in format Optimizing students expenses based on charge for course Rewrite not revision From 1 day to 2 day Had to be Repiloted Uniformity of Instructors presentation of materials Audit could be in lieu of continuing education Maintain Association s credibility Work done at no cost to IRWA REVIEW OF PHILADELPHIA PROGRAM, Donna Roche, Chair Monday What s New In Relocation Ballroom D will hold up to 250 people; equipment requirements OK Ron Fannin replaced by Janet Myers Bob Merryman to moderate 3

4 Tuesday Mock Relocation Appeal 8:00 a.m. in Logan s II (hard to find) only holds 80 people not big enough write-up in program is not correct Changes Lee Satterfield for Bruce Napier (later changed to Barbara Meekins) Lisa Barnes will moderate DC Squares Gameshow 3:30 p.m. Room seats about 125; set-ups OK Wants to brag about Ron Carlentine being relo king Changes Cleo Grounds for Barb Satorius; John Reed for Harris Vandergriff Will be hosted by Lee Satterfield Wednesday Relocation Talk Show (Residential) 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Ballroom South 150 people requested 2 wireless handheld mics Feds from Gameshow will be there Will be moderated by Lisa Harrison and Tamara Benson Relocation Talk Show (Business) 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 a.m. Ballroom South 150 people same set-ups Feds from Gameshow will be there Will be hosted by Lisa Harrison Thursday 10:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. Corps of Engineers Sample Relocations Break: Resumed: 3:07 p.m. 3:21 p.m. REGION REPORTS, Region Representatives Region 1: CeCi Melanson for Bill Von Klug (absent) Northern California offered one (1) relocation course. There are 4 chapters in Northern California. CeCi presented proposed regulation changes to Chapter Region 2: Lisa Harrison all relocation courses have been offered in the past year. There were 2 pilots on 504. Chapter 36 hosted a 1 day Relocation Symposium in April. TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) has approved some IRWA relocation courses for continuing education for Real Estate Licensing. Region 3: Bob Merryman no official report Bob agreed to do presentation to a couple of chapters on proposed changes in September in St. Louis and another place. Region 4: Gina Anthony (new rep) - No courses offered Ron Fannin came to Chapter and provided them with updates to the regulatory changes. Region 5: Reg Draheim for Bruce Napier (absent) Illinois is offering all courses between now and end of year 504 is to be taught by Clyde in Springfield in fall Region 6: Region 7: Deborah Reddick absent. No report. Barbara Meekins taught most courses in last year including old 504 has instructor fighting audit requirement on 504 4

5 Region 8: Region 9: Eric Finn absent. No report Lee Satterfield - No relocation courses in last year. Course 506 will be offered in September in Denver and Course 503 is also to be offered. Lee has been asked to present proposed relocation regulations changes in Phoenix. Currently legislation proposed in Colorado that would require urban renewal projects (with no federal funds) to provide relocation payments. COMMITTEE MEETING ATTENDEES Donna Roche, Chair Donna Roche Knows we are all concerned about some s being sent out by a group advertising a symposium on proposed changes to the Regulations actually, the e- mail refers to the changes in the Uniform Act which WILL take affect. Unfortunately, we can t control what other people are doing, but the major problem is that the people offering this symposium were guests at our last committee meeting and we are afraid that the discussions held at that meeting may be a source referenced in the symposium. Donna asked for comments from the committee, her position is that the meetings should be open should work sessions be closed? Mike Hereford IRWA is going to do dog and pony show to preempt with one voice Lisa Harrison Can t preempt free enterprise Donna Roche Only ethics could be questioned Pete Campbell Can t do anything but close work sessions is there anything we can do about getting information from IRWA? CeCi Melanson Can feds give us information early, so we can prepare? Lisa Harrison, Donna Roche, Bob Merryman - No, not formally, but they are giving us some expectations, internally. Bob Merryman If IRWA is doing this Hot Topic outside our committee, we need to get with IPDC or whoever need to coordinate efforts. Hot Topics outline is ready. Donna Roche we advised IPDC of our intentions. Lee Satterfield We need to direct these type of questions to Donna Roche who will follow the process of IPDC John Reed makes a motion that the general meetings will be open and the work sessions will be closed. Barbara Meekins amends the motion to add that the general sessions will be open to IRWA members. Ceci Melanson amends the amendment to add that - subcommittee meetings or work sessions are closed. Mike Hereford amends to include invited guests and IRWA members to be included in the general session Final Version The IRWA Relocation Assistance Committee General Meetings shall be open to all IRWA members and/or invited guests. Any Subcommittee Meeting or Work Session of the IRWA Relocation Assistance Committee shall be considered closed and open only to qualifying Committee Members. Lee Satterfield seconded unanimously passed 5

6 UPDATE ON COURSE REVISIONS, Lisa Harrison, Subcommittee Chair Lisa Harrison All outstanding course revisions have been made A Work Group of Donna Roche, Lisa Harrison, Tamara Benson, Lee Satterfield and Ceci Melanson met in San Francisco (Oakland) in April and reviewed all courses making corrections to existing material as well as identifying changes that may be required based on the current NPRM. IRWA has formed a Task Force with Donna Roche, Lisa Harrison and Lisa Barnes from our committee to review these proposed changes and how to effectively implement them when rule is made final. (Donna I have something in my notes that says no revisions until July 1, 2004 not sure what I meant.any idea? Also, have a note that 504 & 506 Howard will submit to HQ?????) COURSE PRE-REQUISITES, Tamara Benson, Subcommittee Member Tamara Benson Reviewed the information provided by HQ and found just a couple of issues 504, 505, 506 need to remove requirement of HP12C and just add hand held calculator Also, 506 pre-requisite needs to be 502 not 501 Lisa Harrison stated that we will need to fix pre-requisites in brochures, magazines, etc., we need to review the certification process and we need to make sure all materials are consistent. John Reed asked if the pre-requisites are being enforced - NO SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Hot Topic 49 CFR Part 24 Update Bob Merryman, Chair Already discussed throughout meeting Ready to go. Instructor Quality Assurance Lisa Harrison, Chair IRWA is not providing evaluations to the Instructors upon completion of the course, therefore how can we be enforcing any type of quality assurance. Donna Hunter stated that the IPDC has been charged with reviewing the evaluations Moving Issues Magazine Donna Hunter, Chair Committee Members Dan Pacheco, Barbara Meekins and Donna Hunter will have discussion at end of meetings Outreach Bill Von Klug (Absent), Chair No Report Website Bruce Napier, Chair No Report TORONTO CONFERENCE TOPICS, Lisa Barnes, Vice-Chair Donna Roche since they are doing away with the planning sessions in September, the Chair and Vice Chair will now have added responsibilities - they will be shifting many responsibilities onto the Moderators including sending out letters to speakers, organizing and arranging for the special AV equipment needed for the sessions, etc. If you volunteer to be a moderator you need to make sure you have the time and commitment to accept these additional responsibilities. Donna will be asking for volunteers for moderate at the end of the conference. HQ has not provided the new schedule for when topics must be 6

7 turned in but we know we will be asked to provide the information before our next meeting. Lisa Barnes Possible Topics for Sessions o One Year After the New Regs NO, won t be one year o How To Follow the Regs Applied Techniques and Illustrated Topics o Integrating R/W in the EIS/NEPA Process jointly with Environmental and Transportation Committees so won t count as one of ours. o Relocation Talk Show will see if split session between residential and business works this conference. Will decide if we need split next year. o Business Planning and Advisory Assistance Theory vs Practice will be panel discussion with Feds explaining the requirement and Industry experts explaining how to meet requirements. o Illegal Aliens Practical Application o Relocation Reality Gameshow NO DC Squares because of location (Feds probably won t be able to attend Possible suggestions Scavenger Hunt through the Regs o What Trumps What HOLD FOR DENVER o How to Get What You Want from an Appraisal merge with Business Planning and Advisory Assistance. o Technical Applications on HUD Projects HOLD FOR DENVER o Reading Tax Returns for In-Lieu Payments OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS Donna Roche between now and Wednesday we will need to decide if we will be having a meeting in DC in January or if we still want to schedule a meeting at the conference site in Toronto. We will be having our call for topics in October, so September was always a good time to get the sessions/speakers worked out. Suggestion made to have the meeting at the same time we were thinking about opening the 504 course for Instructor audit 1 st or 2 nd week of October in Oklahoma. Will consider and talk further at conclusion of conference. Meeting Adjourned at 4:48 p.m. 7

8 RELO COMMITTEE WRAP UP Philadelphia, PA June 23, 2004 Attendees: Tammy Bedlington, Mike Hereford, Ceci Melanson, Donna Harrison, Reg Draheim, Candy Spitzer, Lisa Barnes, Lisa harrsion, Vivian Howell, Del Richardson, Tamara Benson, Lee Satterfield, Barbara Meekins, John Reed, Donna Roche GENERAL COMMENTS Mike Hereford - Transportation Committee needs our help at Port Authority meeting Thursday, 6/24/03 at 8:00 a.m. Wants to ensure there will be an audience MESSAGE FROM CHAIR, Donna Roche New responsibilities assigned this week at Sunday s IEC Meeting need to restructure our committee based on IEC structure 5 Subcommittees members need to advise which 2 subcommittees we want to serve-split responsibility will gives us a work plan. Donna stated that there have been several changes in our subcommittees since the beginning we have moved to develop publications for magazine, identify best practices, case studies, etc. However, the 5 suggested Committees are: Conference Programs Committee Annual conference speaker bureau Symposiums Non-Annual liaison committee will handle we will coordinate speakers ( Mesa II ) we don t set program timeframe: Fall 05 or Spring 06 almost same program as Mesa I.will be opportunity to get a good feel for what the new regs are and how they are being used. Mesa II will add appraisal and acquisition topics will be 3 days. This has Federal request (buy in) feds have committed $$$ - need support to get Feds there Mesa I had 112 speakers, 40% of turnout in last 2 weeks before Symposium Mesa I budget was $300/speaker; $1500 was total budget Programs- can use and will use some canned programs Education and Professional Development Committee Same as we ve done course concepts, instructor standards, Evaluation reviews Examination reviews, capstone exam for relocation certification, review questions for SR/WA examination. This will also include requests for research and studies - Identify need for study; identify need for position papers. Example from Donna Roche - ODOT hired Langston University to do a paper on the impact of relocation on residential and business displacees, a before and after view. Lisa Barnes another example FDOT was polled by AASHTO doing a survey to determine how much the average Replacement Housing Payments are. Also if the Move Schedule needed to be changed. Editorial Review Committee Donna Roche gave names to IEC of Al House and herself review/edit articles for IRWA magazine 1 article about if should relocate homes from hazardous waste sites. New article mobile homes 1 st meeting of Review Board was Tuesday morning Lisa 8

9 Barnes volunteered and will be on committee and serve on Editorial Review Board requested that this subommittee meet at the Annual Conference as it is not committee funded Outreach Committee Our committee has had this in place however IEC is now defining the role communications; networking, liaison. As part of communications, last week sent out requests for Region Reports get them in or get them out need to become more responsible have to have Region reports to submit with Chair report and minutes to IEC. Liaison Committee Donna Roche will chair. Is there a need for this subcommittee? Lee Satterfield says yes coordinate review of legislative rules. Candy Spitzer nominates Marcia Grimes as a possible committee member. We need to give Donna Roche 2 choices, let her know if you have expertise. Candy Spitzer moves to follow above format and named committees Lee Satterfield 2nds COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Donna Roche advised that IEC wants us to shuffle our membership but not sure what is meant by shuffle does it mean change? Rotate off? Shifting responsibilities down? Donna stated that we have made a start in that we have eliminated Non-Active members and we are actively recruiting new members. Ceci Melanson is an example of a member that pulled herself off when she was not able to participate fully and has now returned since she can offer the participation that is required. Candy Spitzer we need to recommit to the criteria that was established in our applications Donna Roche - Chair has to turn in list every year of all committee members COMMITTEE FUNDING Some funding available covers chair/co-chair; rooms, food, special equipment; speakers, etc. Average trip is $2,100 for Donna Roche Candy Spitzer suggests that we charge dues (pipeline committee does) which could subsidize the committee or have a fund raiser John Reed states that Chapter 74 funds all their Committee members Relocation Committee as a whole receives a total of $5,500 a year from IRWA for all expenses UPCOMING MEETINGS This Fall in Oklahoma City Lisa Harrison will present Course 504 which will be opened to instructors for audit purposes tentatively looking at date of but will need to check on facilities. Will advise when finalized. Next Winter meeting locale suggestions - San Diego, Palm Springs, Miami (someplace warm!) GENERAL Donna reiterated that we will have our call for topics by 9/15/04 need moderators, suggestions for speakers, etc. As far as Federal participation Ron Fannin says that he ll be there, Rick Etter, Joan Morgan Are we limited to 5 sessions? We could do more. 9

10 Barbara Meekins suggests that we get published Q&A s from the Feds and will ask committee members for responses publish in magazine. Donna asks for any other topics for discussion. No response. Meeting adjourned 4:49 p.m. 10