The start of the Sierra Chapter 2015-2016 term brings with it a new event and new Chapter Board members, but also some continuing issues. First off, we’re starting the term with an exciting new Chapter Engineering Excellence Awards event! We had some great projects nominated for awards and we’re looking forward to celebrating these remarkable accomplishments. Secondly, due to the meeting cancelation in April and some unexpected Board turnover, we’re going to vote on the new Chapter Board at the September meeting, because this was not done in May. The Chapter Awards event is the first of what the new Board hopes will be many interesting events that will entice members to attend.
An issue for the Sierra Chapter is declining participation which we hope to turn around this year with better events and communications. Please help us reduce this trend!
Continuing issues for ACEC-CA include addressing infringement on the ability of municipalities to contract out for engineering services, failure of public agencies to use qualifications based selection and consultants being asked to sign uninsurable contracts. Addressing the local participation issue will help us address the statewide issues.
I want to point out that our Board meetings are, of course, open to members. Attending a Board meeting can be a great way to learn more about the issues that we face as an industry and state and local ACEC activities. I encourage all members to try to make it to at least one Board meeting during the year, in addition to the chapter meetings.
Also, this newsletter and meeting announcements have a relatively limited distribution. We’d like to see the distribution list expanded to all managers at our member firms and up-and-coming leaders. For ACEC to succeed at its mission, we need your involvement. Please forward this newsletter to people at your firm who might be interested and let Debbie LoCicero (dlocicero@acec-ca-sierra.org) know if you would like to be added to our list. I understand that we all get a lot of junk e-mail. But, you are paying for membership in this organization and you can get the most value from this membership by having people at your firm be active in it.
My primary objective as Sierra Chapter President is to support ACEC-CA’s mission of “Professional engineers dedicated to building a better California.” Of course, there are many different perspectives that results in a variety of opinions on what it means to build a better California. I encourage representatives from our member firms to come to our meetings and engage in discussions to share their various perspectives to help guide the organization’s advocacy efforts to accomplish this mission.
I believe that building a better California requires providing the infrastructure necessary to support economic and environmental sustainably. Infrastructure includes both the physical systems, such as transportation networks and water supply, as well as the organizations upon which we depend. Deteriorating roads, groundwater overdraft, rising sea levels, unfunded public employee pensions, shortages of affordable housing and overwhelming student loan debt are examples of issues that need to be addressed to achieve sustainability. Positions we take as an organization can help influence legislation and promote actions of private companies that will facilitate development of infrastructure needed for sustainability.
On the surface, it may appear that the problems are insurmountable, but they are not. The perpetual problem is that there never seems to be enough revenue to meet government obligations and maintain current infrastructure, let alone to build new systems. But, sticking with the status quo will not resolve issues with traffic congestion, water supply, disaster preparedness and education. Problems abound with the current population and it will just become more challenging to achieve economic and environmental sustainability as the population continues to grow. Solutions are possible with the right political action that stimulates innovation and ever increasing efficiency. Efficiency and innovation are the hallmarks of the private sector. We can solve the problems, but we need appropriate government actions that result in the private sector being tasked with delivering solutions.
The success of our organization’s efforts to building a better California depends on our members. Increasing your participation, whether it’s through a discussion of issues at local meetings, participation on committees, meeting with elected officials or other actions, will result in improving our messages and increasing our influence. Please let me know (hoslick@woodrodgers.com, 916-326-5297) if there’s anything I can do to help make ACEC better! I’m looking forward to engaging with our members to make this a successful year for Sierra Chapter as we work together to build a better California.
