There being
a quorum present, Vice President Jim Cruser called the August 15, 2006, TVMA
Board Meeting to order at 9:00 am. The
following members were present: Ray
Erwin, Jim Cruser, Myron Rabalais, Paul Northcutt, David Wall, Robert Lane, Steve
Prather, Howard Pierson, Michelle McAfee, Rick Bennett and Christie Going.
Paul Northcutt read the minutes of the April 27, 2006 Board
Meeting. A motion was made, seconded and approved to accept the minutes as
read.
Officer
Reports were received as follows:
President: Jim wanted to add to the Agenda the names for vacant board
members and VP. Jim Cruser wanted to add the 2007 Conference location to the
Agenda and to discuss multi-year contacts.
Vice-President: Jim Cruser
distributed the 2006 conference update.
Jim advised that we would have a walk-through of the facility
today. Jim discussed the speaker list
and advised that all speakers have confirmed.
Grant Ehlen and Karen Woodard
has volunteered as back-up speakers.
Golf tournament has been switched to the Schreiner Golf Club due to the
Buckhorn is overseeding in October, as is Schreiner,
but they feel it would not interfere with the tournament; the Buckhorn could
not guarantee play quality. Stan Jones
is taking care of prizes and TVMA will provide a sack lunch. Texas
Hold-em night was discussed. Craig Johnson
is providing guns and trophies. Christi
Going introduced herself as a visitor. No
events are planned for Monday evening.Texas Hold’em will provide a complete operation for Tuesday
night. We start limit the tournament to
100 players and by 9:00 pm, the top three players will be announced. The Board discussed entry fee levels and
prizes. Paul will add a signup sheet at the registration desk. Jim asked for all Board Members to seek
silent auction items. A MOTION WAS
MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD TO HAVE 1ST, 2ND
AND 3RD PRIZES AT TEXAS HOLD EM; $250 FOR 1ST, $150 FOR 2ND
AND $100 FOR 3RD. BASF is
providing $250 in gift certificates (a $150 and a $100) to go along with the $250 gift
certificate being donated by McCoy Tree Surgery. Jim has budgeted approximately $12,000 for
food / beverage. Current estimates even
with miscellaneous and extra billing are around $4,000 under the $26,000
conference budget given by the Board.
Thank you speaker gifts are being provided by the Kerrville CVB. Only two speakers (Beard, Grayson) have asked
for comp rooms. The exhibitor list was
discussed. AV support was furnished. Paul Northcutt is furnishing a LCD projector
for the training, TxDOT is furnishing computers and LCD’s for the main session,
Rick will bring an LCD and a computer. Paul will create a PowerPoint presentation
for the Business Session. Paul recommended
that noon would be a good time to begin set-up of exhibits, but the hotel will
remain open late. No exhibitors plan on
bringing outdoor exhibits to Paul’s knowledge.
The agenda was discussed. The
student poster session was discussed.
Treasurer: Myron Rabalais handed out and discussed the
current Treasurer’s report. The current
total net worth of TVMA is approximately $31,830.85. Many of the on-line checks
have not been received as Acteva cuts checks on a
two-week basis. Myron maintains 5-month CD’s in order to move funds from
checking to CD as needed. A MOTION
WAS MADE, SECONDED, AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD TO ACCEPT THE TREASURER’S REPORT AS
READ.
Secretary-Editor: Paul asked for any
suggestions on articles needed by the Board for the next issue of the CLIP to
be published in early September. This
issue will concentrate on the conference.
Paul updated the Board on 2006 conference registration status.
Past-President: David has selected
the Mountain Lake Vegetation Management Council 2006 annual conference to
attend during November, 2006. They normally have over 500 members in attendance
and the conference will be in Williamsburg
VA. No cost estimates are currently available as
registrations have not been placed on their web site, and they have not offered
comp registration. They have held annual
meetings since 1955.
Committee Reports were given as follows:
Research: Howard Pierson advised that
Shane Melcher is currently working full time for UAP, and that by the end of
September, the TVMA project will be completed.
He feels the data found will be very usable for the TVMA memberships; he
needs to follow up with manufacturers to make sure nothing was overlooked. Howard will check with Shane to see if he
is interested in attending the Conference.
Membership: Scott was not present, but Paul Northcutt advised that
Scott and Michelle had distributed a “call for papers” to the
universities. Scott and Michelle have
also been doing a web search to find “vm-related
associations” and will be talking to those agencies/associations to possibly
secure membership in TVMA. No prizes are
planed for the student poster sessions; this is simply to help them get
practice making presentations. Hopefully
there will be additional poster presentation submissions. Ray suggested a “where are they now”
follow-up for scholarship winners on a two or three-year basis, perhaps given
at the annual business meeting.
Scholarship: No scholarship
report was received.
Training: Rick Bennett provided the Training Committee report. An agreement from Northcutt Communications
for a Lubbock CEU training on 10/6/06 at the KoKo Palace
in Lubbock. The agreement calls for payment of $1,650 to
Northcutt Communications, which covers full compensation for all work and
travel expenses required to design, deliver and manage the training. TVMA will provide for the meeting room,
coffee and lunch expenses. A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED BY
THE BOARD TO ACCEPT THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN NORTHCUTT COMMUNICATIONS AND TVMA FOR
THE CEU MEETING IN LUBBOCK. Rick
Bennett was directed to sign the agreement.
Paul advised that Don Telge is pulling away from the training
business, but that he will continue to provide this service for both the
conference and the mid-year workshops. Paul will furnish the PowerPoint
presentation for the TDA training again this year and for any future ceu workshops. David
Wall will help Rick give the presentation.
Legislative: Jim Cruser
requested that we discuss the value of a formal, sit-down dinner for
legislators and their staff. Jim
discussed how hard it is to get the legislators at such a dinner; many times
the only attendees are staff; legislators seldom attend. Jim asked the board to consider how valuable
this is to our goals? Should we go to
the legislator’s offices rather than a dinner?
Are we receiving a value from the dinners? During discussion, there was
no clear consensus from the Board that the formal legislative dinner held
during the legislative session was helpful to TVMA’s mission. Jim
was directed to research Texas
legislative subcommittee makeup, talk to Rich Hendler, and during the next
Board Meeting present a plan on the future of a formal
legislative dinner. Ray Erwin asked
if we should take more of a pro-active role to review the bills before their
committee so that we could provide input for or against certain bills? A board member
recommended that we present legislators with a specific position on bills
rather than just hoping they remember TVMA when a vm-related
bill is presented before their committee.
A board member agreed that the material is readily available via the web, but that it will
take someone who will regularly monitor the bills and facilitate
comments/position statements by TVMA.
Ray indicated that that should be the function of the legislative
committee.
The meeting was adjourned to tour the Y.O. Ranch Resort
facility. The meeting continued after
the break.
Nominating: Jim Erwin discussed
possible new members. We may need to replace up to 5 members; 1 if a Board
Member runs for VP, and Richard Karber will resign
after the conference, plus 3 outgoing Board Members. Matt
Churches, Don Fields, Tee
Cotton have agreed to run for the Board.
A member discussed the need to change the TVMA By-Laws to remove. A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED
BY THE BOARD THAT THE TVMA BY-LAWS BE CHANGED FROM 4 “AT-LARGE” POSITIONS TO 5
“AT-LARGE” POSITIONS AND THAT THE LOCAL
CITY / COUNTY POSITION
BE ELIMINATED.
Paul was directed to advise and
notify the membership of the proposed by-laws change at least 30 days prior to
the 2006 Annual conference.
Internal Audit: No report was
received
Advisory: David Wall provided the
advisory report. The Texas PUC regulate investor-owned companies. They do not regulate municipalities. There are some potential significant changes
that may come in the vm side of electric utilities,
due to the damage created by recent hurricanes.
Due to the hurricane season, the PUC created a team to see what could be done
to strengthen and harden the transmission system for future hurricanes. The recommendations they are looking at will effect transmission companies statewide and
telecommunications companies. Telephone
companies will be required to develop a VM program; which has never been
done. They will be required to submit
their plan during April of 2007. On the
electrical side, they will be required to do more than done
in the past. Utilities have been asked
to give estimates to aggressively clear ROW corridors and address danger
trees. Electrical utilities
(distribution and transmission) by April, must submit their plan to the PUC;
and must commit for the 1st time to a maintenance cycle, and must
commit to funding that cycle. This must
be based on the National Electrical Safety Code Tree Clearances (vague), but
which will be likely interpreted by the PUC.
In the future, there will be a lot more VM work on investor-owned
utilities because PUC has recognized that vegetation must be managed properly
to protect the system. One of the PUC’s recommendations that during the upcoming legislative
session, they will introduce a bill that gives utilities the rights on private
property to do tree clearance; we do not have those rights now without an
easement. Currently the PUC will allow
the utilities to determine the cycle, as long as the guidelines are met. This will likely generate a significant
increase the need for VM-related companies to help do this type of work.
Awards: Ray Erwin discussed the
Lifetime Achievement Award. The Board authorized Paul to secure plaques
for upper-level sponsors, and make certificates for bronze sponsors, outgoing
board members and scholarship winners. Certificates will also be presented to
special sponsors for food & beverages. Paul
was directed to create posters or banners for the upper-level sponsors.
Unfinished
Business
Paul previewed the PowerPoint presentation on TVMA.
New
Business:
The 2007 conference location was discussed. Jim Cruser wanted to discuss whether we stick
with a one-year contract or approach it from a two-year or multi-year
basis. Currently, the Hilton in College Station want to host our conference, Kerrville is interested
in having us back, and the Holiday Inn Riverwalk is
interested in our conference. Steve
advised that TxDOT holds many conferences in Bryan/
College Station, Dallas
and Waco, and that San Antonio might be a better draw. The concept of a multi-year contract was
discussed. Corpus
Christi and Galveston
was discussed as other good conference site alternatives. The
Board authorized Jim and Paul to start with San Antonio,
then Corpus Christi,
and solicit multi-year proposals. The
Board directed that we should look at locations between San
Antonio, Corpus Christi, College Station and Galveston
for future sites. Once a 2-year proposal
for 2007 and beyond was received, Paul will send out an electronic vote for the
Board.
The next Board Meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, October
25, 2006 at the YO Ranch Resort and Hotel in Kerrville, TX,
following the close of the 2006 Conference.
There being
no further new business, A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED BY THE
BOARD TO ADJOURN AT 11:45 pm, 8/15/06.
Respectfully
submitted:
Paul Northcutt, TVMA Secretary-Editor
