Our speaker for the February Dinner meeting is Kevin Payne, Assistant Director of the Planning and Redevelopment Department for the City of Roseville.

Kevin’s current role is to oversee the operations and work program for the Redevelopment Agency.  Kevin is also the Vice President of Operations for the recently formed Roseville Community Development Corporation. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of the formation, operations and real estate development components of a private non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that is focused on improving the Roseville community through strategic real estate investment and improvement.

Kevin will speak about the Riverside Gateway and the Downtown Specific Plans.  The Riverside Gateway Specific Plan encourages a higher intensity of development along this six block corridor through streamlined development standards and an investment in new public infrastructure.  The Downtown Specific Plan is a long term plan for the revitalization of the Historic Old Town and Vernon Street areas.  This 20 year plan incorporates a series of public capital improvements.

Please plan to attend our Chapter Past President’s Dinner on February 15th ,when we will not only recognize and honor our Past Presidents, but award the inaugural Tim Fleming Memorial Scholarship to a deserving college student.

Scholarship applications were due December 15^th and were sent to Sac State, UC Davis, and UOP. The evening will also include guest speaker Kevin Payne from the City of Roseville. If you attended last years event, you know that we had many special guests representing the rich history of our Chapter. This is a meeting you will not want to miss as we award the first Tim Fleming Scholarship and rub elbows with the people that created our Chapter tradition of excellence.

Our annual joint meeting with the Sacramento Chapter of APWA was a big success this year, thanks to guest speaker Senator Anthony Cannella. Over 100 APWA and ACEC members came out for a great event at the Woodlake Hotel (formerly the Radisson) as we kicked off the new year on January 6^th.

Senator Cannella, who comes from a political family (his father was former Assemblyman Sal Cannella) and represents the people of the 12^th District (think Modesto, Merced, Los Banos, Hollister, and Salinas), is a Civil Engineer with a degree from the University of California, Davis.  In 2010, He was elected to the State Senate after two terms as Mayor of Ceres.

Senator Cannella talked about the many challenges facing our State including the need to shore up our water infrastructure, balancing the budget, and alleviating chronic unemployment (as high as 40% in parts of his District). He came across as a very level headed legislator who is determined to do the best he can to help the citizens of California. If only we could get more engineers into the legislature!

I have great news to announce!  The Sierra Chapter has been awarded the ACEC-CA Golden Chapter Award for our accomplishments during the 2010 / 2011 term.  The Golden Chapter Award recognizes our efforts in membership development, service to chapter members, advancement of the profession, service to the community, and grassroots programs.  Receiving recognition is great, but saving money is even better.  The Golden Chapter Award delivers both.  All Sierra Chapter member firms will receive a fifteen percent discount on their registration fee for the annual conference in Maui.  Aloha!

This award is a great accomplishment for our chapter and we all share in the reward.  The credit for earning the award goes to our dedicated members who regularly participate at our chapter events and state functions.  Whether you attend monthly dinner meetings, legislative visit day, the annual conference or take on leadership roles on the chapter or state boards, I thank you for your service to our organization and profession.

There are several events coming up in February that are important for Sierra Chapter Members to participate in.  Make sure to check out the calendar of events and click on the links to register for these events.  Keep up the great work Sierra Chapter!