GPA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Date: May 9, 2003
Location: Middle Georgia RDC in Macon, Georgi
Members In Attendance
David Sutton
Dan Basso
Paul Soudi Others in Attendance:
Tom Sills
Gary Cornell Debbie Miness, DCA Liaison
Paul Forgey
Mary Hufstetler
Diana Wheeler
Dan Reuter
Attendance by Proxy
York Phillips Patti Cullen to Phil Clark
Wayne Kilmark Pat Chapman to David Sutton
Larry Vandenbosch Eric Linton to Paul Soudi
Phil Clark Lee Sutton to York Phillips
Jerry Weitz Alex Ikefuna to Gary Cornell
Called to order by Gary Cornell at 1:15 p.m. Secretary announced proxies.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
David Sutton indicated he had misplaced the notes of the January meeting and did not have minutes ready. He apologized to the Board for the problem. Gary Cornell indicated once done they should be distributed via e-mail for formal approval in the next several days.
Approval of Agenda
Agenda was approved by acclimation.
CommunicationsGary Cornell’s correspondence included a request from DCA concerning the Carrollton Resource Team meeting. Paul Soudi will be GPA’s representative (appointed).
Another communication to be discussed later is from Chrissy Marlowe about upcoming planning commissioners training process. Gary has notes of an April meeting provided by Phil Clark. Also, Gary is in the loop with Michael Chandler, Virginia Tech (recently departed). Chandler chairs a planning officials committee; Harry Hayes’ CVOIG planning commissioners’ training proposal has been sent to Michael Chandler for review and comments. Phil Clark will talk about
Middle Georgia RDC PC training initatives.
Gary also reviewed communication regarding the GPA student representative. He noted it may be an issue whether student attendance at conferences should be subsidized. New student representative is Paul Grether, who was unable to attend today’s meeting.
York Phillips has let the board know that he will not seek reelection as VP for Programs.
Jerry mentioned Kennesaw’s suburban one-day conference in September 2003. GPA will cosponsor but without any financial participation required. Gary noted we do not share our address lists to anyone. Newsletter editor and secretary have custody of it; other members may have access to the list for association purposes only. Further discussion ensued about the member list and ability to sort by district. Issue of listserv is on the horizon as well.
President
Gary summarized Chapter President’s Council meeting. APA wants chapters to think about communication and the message they(the respective chapters) send as an organization. We need to consider how to publicize efforts, bringing good exposure to the association. Gary Cornell suggests this as a topic for next year’s work program. Growth of the organization is important; may add emphasis on communication strategy.
Jerry Weitz was recognized. Jerry applauded committee chairs by name for their recent efforts and hard work and detailed their recent activities.
Gary noted that the board had assignments for various committees. He tried to get one Board member responsible for one or more committee. He asked that committee reports be sent in writing before the Board meeting.
Larry Vandenbosch indicated he has an awards committee active and has the form for awards ready to go; he recommends the process and categories be the same as last year. Deadline is July 31, 2003. Deferred until agenda item later.
Treasurer
Financial report provided: January 1, 2003 through May 8, 2003. So far we have a surplus. York indicated spring conference yielded a net of $1400.00 or so. Final attendance count was 116. GPA has approximately $37,000 in bank plus certificate of deposit. Outlook for budget is good. Gary would like for Pat to prepare trend data analysis on the APA dues rebates-how is this affecting GPA? Some chapters have noted that membership fees and distribution to chapters was different now and we are taking a lower per capita revenue from APA. We don’t know what the magnitude is.
Debbie Miness asked about the audit. David Kirk is chairing the audit committee. Gary Cornell has not heard. Mike Casper from DCA has agreed to join with the audit effort. We might ask for his advice or send him to the committee. We may want suggestions from a CPA point of view. Budget of $2,500 was authorized. Phil Clark asked why we had made an expenditure of $3000 for student endowment when the budget line item was $1500.
Dan Reuter asked about spring conference responsibilities with regard to collecting registration. ARC had checks made out to ARC. York said the activity should be planned for; we should figure out how to do this. Tom Sills has same issue, has checks made to Chattahoochee-Flint RDC. David Sutton said historically Pat had done it. Role of treasurer is to pay for the upfront expenses but the program committee should collect the checks and then turn them over to Pat.
Phil Clark said we did not need to have 2002 figures on 2003 budget. Agreed that the 2003 budget should not be diminished by 2002 expenses. Debbie suggested the programs committee should provide an overall financial sheet after conferences.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Spring Conference Report
York handed out final spring conference program and reported on it. Over 100 attended. York is working on a financial report for the spring conference. Looks like we cleared about $1400.00. that was $900 more than budgeted. This is significant in that no written notice of the conference was provided; announcement was all by e-mail. David Sutton said the meeting should not be near the time of APA national conference. Gary asked to get evaluations from participants.
There is a complete mailing list now of people who attended, and York may send a follow up email.
2003 Fall Conference
York gave a progress report on the fall conference, Mariott Riverfront Hotel in Savannah (same as Spring 2002 conference session). Debbie Miness is arranging sessions. York thinks we can do five tracks, but it is tight. We might do four. Several proposals are still being received. Weitz asked that chairs of functional committees be consulted. Mary said they have 8-10 transportation proposals. Head of APA National Transportation Section will be attending. York wants to do some specific marketing to groups such as those of the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), historic preservation planners with RDCs, and so forth.
Debbie is trying to get funding to get Randall Arendt to speak on conservation subdivisions at the fall conference. Phil suggested traditional neighborhood development. York indicated we might try some nontraditional formats instead of the standard 75-minute session. Some events may be off-site with bus transportation, such as Georgia Ports Authority and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Alex is working on list of mobile workshops. Michael Chandler is supposedly confirmed to speak. Also Sue Schwartz may do ethics session.
Larry Vandenbosch is working on the awards program. In lieu of a traditional lunch, we may have the awards program in conjunction with a reception. The Fall Conference program will begin on Wednesday at noon, to allow for a four hour drive the same day, and will also to finish at noon on Friday. A Friday afternoon session is being scheduled for new board members. The Annual GPA Membership meeting needs to be prominently shown on the agenda. Debbie thought the
Savannah MPC should be contacted as the city’s preservation function is in their office.
York would like to develop a slogan and logo for conference, with golf shirts available. Rob LeBeau will help with the program mailing, and York wants a 2 or 4 page brochure. Registration also could be offered in the newsletter. It could also be promoted as a Pdf file that is e-mailed to everyone. Two people may work on sponsorships. There is a need to promote exhibitors. At least one reception should be held in the exhibit hall. The mezzanine level of the hotel allows for some exhibit space that we could give away. We should consider getting the MPC and RDC to exhibit in the hallway as non-paid exhibitors.
Policy on Site Selection
York distributed conference location guidelines. Proposed conference locations were discussed. Denise has agreed to do some helping with hotel arrangements and the like. Suggestions, proposals, and research is ongoing. We have received a proposal from Macon for Spring 2004.
We have proposal for fall conference at Brasstown Valley Resort. October 13-15, 2004. The resort is pricier on rooms than we normally consider, but meeting facilities are nice. York asked for approval of Macon for Spring 2004, tentatively, subject to logistics. Motion and seconded, unanimously approved. Motion to approve Brasstown Valley for Fall 2004[noting that hotel rooms are $169 and will look at lowering the price]. It was noted that registration rate might could be lower because we don’t have to pay for meeting space. Motion unanimously approved. Committee is promoting idea of soliciting other locations for 2005. York said there may be idea for special purpose conferences, such as by Lee Sutton for water resources type of conference subsidized by UGA, maybe involve statewide elected officials, maybe in Athens due to UGA resources. Dan spoke in favor of specialized conferences. York suggested “visioning” as one topic.
Gary noted proposal to consider waiving fees for students. Dan Basso said no recommendation had been made. Phil says GPA needs to consider planning official one time fee waiver. Debbie suggested conference sponsors for students. Phil Clark motioned to establish a scholarship program. After discussion motion withdrawn; issue referred to student support committee for consideration of conference scholarship.
Dan Basso says there has been no consistent student policy. Dan says that the committee should look further at this, and try and have a sustainable policy. Students need professors to be understanding and let them attend GPA conference without penalty. Dan Basso said Cheryl Contant and he discussed possible leave for students. Debbie talked about colleges as a source of student conference scholarships. Dan Basso will coordinate responses and ideas.
Planners’ Luncheon
No formal report, but Eric Linton has set June 20th at Piedmont Park Conservancy as a lunch and tour.
After a short break, the Board resumed the meeting at 3:05 p.m. Diana Wheeler left at the break.
Awards
Larry Vandenbosch indicated he had submitted a copy of the awards package with no changes. The Awards Committee had consented via e-mail and recommends approval. Motion and seconded. With no discussion, the issue was called to question. Motion accepted and approved. Publicity will proceed.
Chapter Services Committee
No report.
Listserve
Debbie Miness provided update on listserver versus discussion group document. It has been provided to website committee. Smart group links to free pages. Committee chairs should consider using it for free for committee work. The decision will be made later whether to do a listserve. Dan indicated that e-mail updates would be good to go out to membership. Mary said there is a yahoo e-mail discussion group for transportation with about 15 members, and it is
being used now for transportation sessions. Debbie said the website may have a group link for each special group. Committee groups could talk to each other; great communication tool. Deferring discussion and decision until later.
Legislative Affairs CommitteeDan Reuter mentioned the legislative reports that had been distributed He noted it was a pilot attempt but can continue to be done. Resources are borrowed from GMA and ACCG. Intends to continue in the future. Dan noted that the tree ordinance issue was resolved, plus a TDR amendment was approved to delete individual hearing requirements. The big water bill in the legislature did not pass. Dan Reuter passed out amended legislative priorities for 2003, noting it was essentially the same as 2002 with minor changes, like deleting TDR since it had been passed. The 2002 legislative priorities statement had also anticipated a different governor than we have now. Dan suggested that given new leadership, GPA’s strategy should reflect doing things in smaller chunks, with no expectation for major new legislation. Some prioritieshad been reorganized. Motioned and seconded to approve the legislative priorities. Unanimously adopted. Dan noted that at fall conference, GPA’s highest priorities should be enumerated as an action plan.
Dan also handed out lessons about the legislature. He asked board members to read them. He noted that there is a lot for GPA to think about in terms of approaching legislation.
Professional Development
Tom Sills noted that May 10 is the AICP exam. 44 people in Georgia are registered to take the exam, about the same as last year. Tom has list of examinees. Workshop was conducted in February. Tom is still looking at altering the exam workshop format. Exam will go to computer terminal format.
Weitz asked about professional development credits. No progress was reported. York asked if we could do something before fall conference. Tom said he could have proposal for the executive committee in July.
Planning Officials Development Officer
Planning Officials Training Proposal from CVIG
David Sutton indicated that he spoke with Pat Chapman and she has had some serious family challenges. She has asked for the appointment of PODO to be filled by Tom Sills and David Sutton for purposes of getting the Community Planning Institute underway this year. Gary asked for clarification of the procedural situation. PODO is critical right now. David Sutton read for the record what Pat Chapman said. Pat would “like to appoint them as co-vice chairs.”
Phil Clark and Tom Sills had attended the CVIG Athens meeting. Discussion ensued about the DCA/CVIG proposal and about past events. CVIG has established a curriculum committee and hopes to have something ready in October or November. Harry Hayes is heading up the effort. Phil Clark read a proposal from Harry Hayes. Middle Georgia RDC is ready to go with a training session; Phil noted the RDC had waited from last year, and that PC training has been a top priority but the RDC waited on the coordination effort. Phil Clark then stated that GPA funds are budgeted for CPI and asked to consider reallocation of GPA’s CPI funds to sponsor the Middle Georgia RDC regional event. Phil likes the UGA plan and wants to proceed in his region with that proposal. Phil suggests it as information but would consider a motion to use dollars from CPI to go toward a shortfall for the training.
Dan Reuter asked where this is going in relation to CPI. Jerry gave history of concern about this issue. Debbie Miness indicated other DCA divisions have been involved in the CVIG effort, not the Office of Coordinated Planning. Tom Sills attended meeting in Athens and DCA was not recognizing the CVIG proposal and that it did not resolve all issues. Tom says we needed cash to join the table. David says he has e-mail that says we need financial resources to join the
CVIG table; he considers it insulting. The Board reviewed information from Harry Hayes and Chrissy Marlowe provided via a prior e-mail. Debbie Miness asked whether UGA was appropriate for the curriculum development.
David said UGA has not appropriately considered CPI as a base component of a coordinated PC training program. In his opinion, the program was being designed in house at UGA as a UGA instructor lead program. David also reported that earlier conversations with Jim Frederick of DCA had noted his desire for modular units that could have widespread usage.
Motion and second to charge PODO committee members Tom Sills and David Sutton with responsibilities to (1) schedule and hold CPI; and (2) take the lead in addressing issues of participating in the longer term with the training efforts of other organizations, whether CPI should be regionalized, as well as potential development of additional CPI units. Motion approved.
Motion and second for President Cornell to write a letter to Harry Hayes, CVIOG, stating our intent to hold CPI and that at this time we don’t intend to financially participate in the current CVIOG proposal.
Debbie Miness encouraged that GPA’s educational efforts not be limited to planning officials alone, but to planning education in general.
Nominations and Elections
Weitz invited nominations for all board commissions.
Current Board Vacancies
No action taken.
There being no further business, the board meeting adjourned at 4:45.
Respectfully Submitted,
David J. Sutton, AICP
Secretary