Submitted by ASPE Region 2 D... on Fri, 05/14/2010 - 14:35
Region 2 Newsletter
May 14, 2010
Board of Director’s Meeting…
This past April the Board of Directors met in Philadelphia to discuss the current status of the Society. Our agenda covered such topics as the budget, upcoming ASPE publications, proposed bylaws, future Symposium site and of course the Convention.
The budget for 2010-2011 was approved by the Board but we are going to need to work very hard over the next year to make this a successful year. Our finances rely heavily on the Convention, webinars and sale of ASPE merchandise and publications. We are asking that every Chapter do their best to promote these products to their members and respective engineering communities.
The Board discussed the proposed bylaws that will be presented at the President’s Meeting and we are asking for your input. The President’s Meeting is our last chance as a group to discuss these issues which will be presented before the Delegates for approval at the Convention. Please review the proposed bylaws and be prepared to discuss them with your peers at the President’s Meeting.
The site of the 2011 Technical Symposium was voted on by the Board. I am proud to announce that the Symposium will be held in Orlando, Florida next year on the Disney property. Our Executive Director, Stan Wolfson has negotiated some great hotel rates and we are looking forward to a well attended event.
The Board also had the opportunity to tour the Philadelphia Convention Center and I must say that I was very impressed with the facility and I think you too will enjoy the amenities. As you have already heard, we are going green this year. The Society has made the commitment to eliminate as much paper as possible and numerous ways to accomplish this have been discussed and published. Stan Wolfson is researching all of the possibilities and as soon as a decision is made which direction we are going in, I will let you know.
The other big issue regarding the Convention was the proposed registration fees. Initially a fee of $950 was announced but after all of your feedback the member fee was reduced to $695 per person. The registration fee is a bargain as we all heard at the Grassroots Meeting because the cost to put on the Convention and Engineered Plumbing Exposition is about $300 more per person than what we are charging for admission. Once again, I need to ask everyone to promote the Convention because the income from this event must carry the Society for the next two years.
Evansville Satellite Chapter Meeting…
I would like to thank Jim Rodgers and his Board for hosting a technical meeting In Evansville, Indiana this past month in the hopes of creating a Satellite Chapter in that city. There was a great response from the community with 30 people in attendance and 25 of them being Engineers and Contractors. The attendees were excited to have ASPE becoming involved in their area and they have asked for two more meetings to be held their next year. They are off to a great start in creating a Satellite Chapter.
Webinars…
The next webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, May 19th and will start at 2 PM Eastern Standard Time. The webinar is titled NFPA 13D: Fire Sprinkler Systems for Residential Occupancies. The topic will be presented by Jim Schifiliti and your participation will earn you 0.1 CEU’s or 1.0 PDH.
The Society is asking for your input because we are looking for suggestions for future webinar topics. Did your Chapter recently hold a seminar that you thought would benefit the membership? Do you personally want to see a specific topic presented for your own benefit? If you have any suggestions regarding future webinars, please send me an email with your thoughts. You can also send those suggestions to our VP Technical, Bill Hughes at aspevpt@aspe.org or our VP Education, Diane Wingard at aspevpe@aspe.org. We look forward to your suggestions.
Full Day Workshops…
The next full day workshops are scheduled for May 24th and 25th in Chicago; May 26th and 27th in Dallas and June 28th and 29th in Washington, DC. Member price for (1) workshop is $595 and the non-member price is $775. Attendees will get a 10% discount by signing up for both workshops.
The first workshop is titled “The Uniform and International Plumbing Codes” and will be presented by our President, Julius Ballanco and will earn attendees 0.6 CEU’s or 6.0 PDH’s. This plumbing code seminar will provide an understanding of the International and Uniform Plumbing Codes.
The second workshop is on Building Information Modeling (“BIM”) and will be presented by Marvin Titlow and will also earn attendees 0.6 CEU’s or 6.0 PDH’s. This workshop will discuss how to create and use custom riser assemblies, how to modify out-of-the-box Plumbing Fixtures and how to create custom families to help with plumbing calculations. Please see the ASPE website for more information on both of these workshops.
Elections…
Chapter elections are upon us and hopefully each and every Chapter had a renewed interest from their members to take the next step and run for a position on the Board. I would like to wish everyone the best of luck during the elections.
This is also an election year for the Society Board of Directors and I am nearing the completion of my first term as your Region 2 Director. It seems like just yesterday I was elected to the position so I think time really does fly by. I believe I have kept my promises these past two years and have carried out the duties to the best of my ability. I also believe I have upheld my commitment to keep the lines of communication open between the Chapters and the Board and I hope that you too feel that I have done a good job these past two years.
I was planning on running for the position of Region 2 Director again but as you all know, I was encouraged by a few of my fellow Board members to step up and run for one of the Vice President positions. After considering their suggestions and reviewing the responsibilities of each of these positions, I have decided to run for the position of VP Education. I have an interest and feel qualified to hold this position while understanding that it will be a change in responsibilities but I feel I am up for the challenge.
What this means is that the position of Region 2 Director will be open. The Chapter President’s typically nominate the candidate for this position at the President’s meeting in June so if you or someone on your Board is interested in running for the position, please let me know.
The Nominating Committee is accepting applications for all of the other positions on the Board right now. The deadline for submission is June 30th and the application can be found on the ASPE website. If you would like to know a little more about any of the positions on the Board and what they entail, please let me know, I will be glad to answer all of your questions.
President’s Meeting in Pittsburgh…
Hopefully by now, each of you who will be attending the President’s Meeting in Pittsburgh has made their hotel reservations. We will be getting together Friday, June 4th for dinner with the meeting scheduled to start at 8 AM Saturday morning. We will be having another guest at the meeting this year. Our Society Vice President of Education, Diane Wingard will be joining us in Pittsburgh.
I will be sending out the meeting agenda very shortly but just to let you know, we have a lot of material to cover. Besides the Society and Chapter reports, we will be discussing the proposed bylaws. This is our last chance to modify the proposed bylaws before we vote on them at the Convention in Philadelphia. Please take the time to review the proposed bylaws and come prepared with any questions or comments that you may have.
The Pittsburgh Chapter has put a lot of effort into planning this event and I am sure you will enjoy the weekend. Please make sure that you thank the Chapter for all of their hard work. We all know that hosting the President’s Meeting is not an easy task.
Annual Chapter Reports…
An important part of the President’s meeting is the submission of the Annual Chapter Reports. Each outgoing Chapter President is responsible for preparing the report and submitting an electronic copy at the President’s meeting. Please make sure all incoming Board members are familiar with this process because they will be the ones completing the report next year.
The report should be a comprehensive record of the Chapter’s activities during the past year. Please make sure that you complete the roster in its entirety for both the outgoing as well as the incoming Chapter Officers and include their membership numbers. You must also provide all of the necessary information to establish eligibility for, and granting of, the Chapter Award of Merit.
You will notice that the Report has been modified this year and the Award of Merit calculation has been removed from the document. The Chapter President shall complete the report and I will be completing the calculation for the Award. The information provided in the Report will be used to determine if you qualify for the Award of Merit.
Once the forms have been completed, please send me a draft electronic copy of the document for my review prior to the President’s meeting. You will also be required to submit a final electronic copy of the report at the President’s meeting. The Society once again will be recognizing those Chapters from each Region who have submitted the best report so please be thorough in your reviews and explain your year in detail.
Each Chapter is also required to submit an electronic copy and hard copy of the Treasurer’s Report to me no later than July 15th. The hard copy must be signed by both the incoming and outgoing Chapter Presidents and Treasurers. Charter renewal is required for a Chapter to qualify for and receive dues rebates and to have Delegate representation at the Convention so please make sure all reports are completed and submitted on time.
I will then send your report to Society and hopefully this will eliminate the problem we experienced last year with lost reports.
Anniversaries…
We have a couple of anniversaries coming up in June. On June 8th, the Rochester Chapter will be celebrating their 15th anniversary and on June 12th, the Cleveland Chapter will be celebrating their 36th anniversary. Congratulations to both of these Chapters for all of their hard work!
ASPE Publications…
The Society is about to release two publications and I thought you might want a little more information on each product. The first publication is the “ASPE Plumbineering Dictionary” and is scheduled to be released in just a few weeks. This will be an indispensable technical reference book with a comprehensive list of plumbing terms and definitions. The book will go on sale for the low member price of $29.95.
The second book to be released will focus on the “Hunter Papers”. ASPE believes that the papers authored by Dr. Roy B. Hunter are part of the backbone of plumbing engineering and we have created an exact replica of three of his early works in one volume. These are the original research documents that formed the basis for plumbing engineering codes and standards which have been out of print for years.
More information will be available about both of these books so keep an eye on the Pipeline and the ASPE website.
Convention Poll…
Did you see the informal internet poll that was included in the latest Pipeline release? Society is taking a vote on two green issues for the Convention. The first question asked: Which is the best way for ASPE to go green at the 2010 Convention? The second question asked: What is the most valuable aspect of the ASPE Convention? If you have not already cast your vote, please do so. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the Convention, please let me know. The Society is finalizing plans and we are interested in your hearing what you have to say.
Region 2 Highlights…
Golf season is upon us and many Chapters are in the final stages of planning their events and others are ready to hit the links any day now. Best of luck and hopefully your golf outing is a successful one! There are also many other things going on around the Region so here is a brief list of what is happening:
· This past April, the Buffalo-Niagara Chapter had the opportunity to see how a Contractor takes a project from design through fabrication.
· The Central Indiana Chapter will be holding their annual golf outing this month. Their next educational meeting will be held in June.
· A “Medical Gas Verification and NFPA 99” seminar will be presented by the Central Ohio Chapter this month.
· “Tankless Water Heaters” will be the topic of discussion at the Cleveland Chapter meeting.
· The Eastern Michigan Chapter will be presenting a Plumbing and Mechanical Estimating seminar, a Chemical Waste DWV Applications Review and a Chemical Waste Systems seminar this month.
· The Johnstown Chapter will be discussing “How to Identify the Differences between Oil and Air Filled Motors” at their meeting.
· A seminar titled “Emergency Eyewash & Shower Technology” will be presented by the
Pittsburgh Chapter as they put the finishing touches on the President’s meeting.
· The Rochester Chapter will be discussing the “History & Development of CSST and Bonding CSST in NY” this month.
· A topic on “Hazards Control” will be presented by the Southwestern Ohio Chapter.
· The annual Western Michigan Chapter golf outing will be taking place this month.
Just a few reminders…
- Don’t forget, nominations for the ASPE Honor Roll of Employers are still being accepted and nomination forms can be found in the P&O Manual.
- Please continue discussing the roles of Chapter Delegates and Alternates for the Convention. The deadline for Delegate submission is July 15th.
- Please make sure your Chapter Program Evaluation Form is completed after each monthly seminar and forwarded to both Diane Wingard and Bill Hughes. Your comments will be used to help develop future programs for the Society as well as to develop a list of recommended speakers for use by other Chapters.
See you at the President’s Meeting in Pittsburgh!
Mitch Clemente, CPD
Region 2 Director
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