We had a great turnout for our September dinner meeting which featured Maureen Pasco, Capitol Improvement Manager for the City of West Sacramento.  Maureen gladly agreed to present in place of Bill Panos, Public Works Director, who had a last minute conflict.  Maureen gave a great presentation on current and upcoming projects and programs in the City, including the redevelopment and streetscape improvements to West Capitol Avenue, the Bridge District redevelopment, Port projects, and ongoing improvements to the levees that protect the City on all sides.  She presented planning studies for a street car system connecting the City to Sacramento and the one or more proposed Sacramento River bridge crossings.  Maureen also summarized the past budget and funding sources that have made these projects possible and the outlook for future funding.  From the presentation, it was apparent that the City of West Sacramento has a strong vision for reinventing itself as a dynamic vibrant place in the Sacramento region.

Growth is an exciting thing, especially when the growth happens in our Chapter!

Please join us in welcoming the following new member firm:

• Terracon

Wow!  We had a great turnout for the September dinner.  There were forty-three members in attendance, representing twenty-nine firms.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support our chapter.  I hope to see everyone again in October.

As great of a turnout as it was, we only had one third of our total member firms (eighty-six) participating.  That means fifty-seven member firms could not make it.  I think we should make every effort to have at least half of our member firms represented each month.  If there is someone at a member firm that you would like to catch up with, then give them a call and encourage them to come out to the October 19^th dinner.

At the September dinner, we handed out a membership feedback form and asked attendees to rate the importance of ACEC-CA’s various areas of focus.  Out of the seventeen focus areas on the list, the five rated as the highest importance were:

• Legislative review (responding to bills)
• Legislative action (sponsoring bills)
• Business networking
• Liaison with State and Federal agencies
• Chapters

The feedback form also asked for recommendations for improving ACEC-CA.  One of the few recommendations was:  “Public relations to tell the story to small and private development engineering firms about why ACEC-CA is important and is not only focused on fighting Caltrans and supporting the large firms.”

This recommendation hit home for me because I’m employed by a small private firm.  The Sierra Chapter is fortunate to have several small and private development firms that are very active members.  Unfortunately there is a great number of engineering and surveying firms which are not members…yet.  We as members of ACEC-CA have the best voice for public relations with these non-member firms.  Reach out and explain to them why membership is important to you.  Invite them to a dinner meeting so they can engage with other members.  The chapter will cover the meal cost for their first meeting.

That’s all for this month’s message.  I look forward to seeing you next week.

We’re excited to announce that Mark Smith will be our guest speaker at the October 19^th dinner meeting.  For all you political junkies, here is your chance to hear about what’s going on at the State Capitol in real time.  Mark will update us on the final outcome of this year’s legislation; which bills succeeded and which bills fell victim to the Governor’s veto power.

Mark is a registered lobbyist and manages the elements of ACEC California’s legislative and grassroots programs. He implements ACEC California’s legislative agenda in the State Capitol, including testifying before committees and regulatory agencies.  Mark is staff liaison for the Legislative Action, Legislative Review, and Grassroots committees, which handles membership communication with members of the Legislature and Governor on key policy issues. Mark also staffs the BPELS, Construction Management, Land Use/Environmental Sustainability, QBS and LAC, and the Professional Surveyors committees.

If you have not already done so, please RSVP with Debbie LoCicero at your earliest convenience.  Contact Debbie at dlocicero@acec-ca-sierra.org.