GPA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Date: May 11, 2007

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Members In Attendance:
Dan Reuter
Stan Harvey
Diana Wheeler
Phil Clark
Patti Cullen
Eric Clarkson
Fred Boykin
David Kirk
Tim Preece
Bill Drummond
Rob LeBeau   
Kathleen Field
Gary Cornell
Glenn Coyne
Debbie Miness

Attendance by Proxy:
Larry Vanden Bosch to Patti Cullen
Paul Forgey to Dan Reuter

Attendance by Teleconference:
None

President Dan Reuter called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.  Proxies were presented and it was determined that a quorum was present.

APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES

The minutes of the December 7, 2006, Board of Directors meeting were unanimously approved as drafted. 

GPA CONFERENCES

LeBeau updated the Board on the spring conference.  He said it was well attended and discussed the various organizations that participated.  He said GPA had 180 members and ASLA had an additional 50.  LeBeau said feedback had been positive.  He added that next time the agreements between organizations needed to be negotiated up front.  LeBeau said he was currently planning the fall conference.  He added that requests for proposals had been sent out and that several local groups had agreed to provide assistance.  LeBeau mentioned that the 2008 fall conference would be held in Augusta.  He said he was still trying to obtain a contract for the spring conference.

LeBeau said Jennifer Peterson agreed to chair the Awards Committee.  He added that they were in the process of putting together the application.  Reuter asked if there would be any special awards.  LeBeau said the consensus was to keep the different categories based on population levels.  The Board recognized LeBeau for all of his hard work and his excellent performance.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Reuter updated the Board on the items being addressed by the legislature.  He said the transportation bills had been put into study committees until next year.  Reuter added that the next session should be interesting.  He discussed the new annexation law and how it would establish a mitigation process.  Reuter said the IDD bill passed and added that he was quite surprised that ACCG viewed the bill so positively.  He felt environmentalist would be opposed to the legislation.  Kirk passed out a handout on IDDs and informed the Board that they had to be approved by the local government.  He added that the underlying zoning would remain. Reuter discussed some of the concerns surrounding the legislation.  The Board discussed the pros and cons.  Clarkson asked if GPA should take a position on the issue.  Kirk said the legislation basically creates another handful of jurisdictions.  Coyne said he felt it was developed to stem the tide on new incorporations.

NOMINATION FOR REPLACEMENT FOR SHARON CATON

Reuter advised the Board that Sharon Caton had abandoned her position.  The Board discussed whether they should appoint someone or wait until the upcoming election to fill the vacated seat.  Clark motioned to wait until the election since the district was still being represented by other Board members.  Seconded by Field.  All in favor.

BUDGET

Reuter said Heath had provided a budget for the Board’s review.  He said it was conservative as usual.  The Board discussed whether the growth symposium expenditure was covered under the spring conference line item. 

BUDGET UPDATE, PROPOSALS OR PROGRAM CHANGES

Reuter informed the Board that approximately 40 people from Georgia attended APA’s annual meeting.  He suggested possibly having a fund that could be used by other Board members to attend the event.  Kirk said he felt it was a good idea in concept, but maybe not in practice due to the selection process.  Field suggested offering a scholarship to all members.  Clark said he wanted to see more people involved in GPA.  He discussed possibly using the money as a scholarship for members to attend the fall conference.  Boykin said a policy would be needed as well as an allotment in the budget.  Cullen said she felt recipients needed to be someone who truly would not have the funds to attend.  Reuter said he would develop standards for the scholarship.  LeBeau suggested one scholarship per district.  Clark said he would put the program together for the Board’s consideration.  Harvey said the District Directors needed to spend their allotted event money.

Wheeler reminded the Board that the next Planners’ Luncheon was scheduled for May 14th and gave details regarding the program.  Field added that roughly 70 people had registered for the event.

AUDIT COMMITTEE

Reuter said the Board had discussed the need for an audit committee for over two years.  He added that an ad hoc committee needed to meet to discuss the formation of a formal audit committee.

UPDATE ON DUES INCREASE

Reuter informed the Board that the membership had voted at the spring conference to increase the dues to $35.  Dunnavant added that just over 5% of the membership attended the meeting, which gave the Board sufficient representation to hold a formal vote.  Reuter said all of the larger chapters already have administrative staff except for North Carolina.  He reminded the Board that the increase did not affect students and planning commissioners.  Reuter added that he had sent the official vote notification to APA.

COMMITTEE TO IMPLEMENT ADMINSTRATIVE STAFF

Reuter asked for feedback on the duties of the administrative staff.  He provided a list of proposed activities for the Board’s review.  LeBeau said the Board needed to decide if they wanted to hire a person or a company and at what number of hours and cost.  Clark asked who the individual or company would report to and where they would be located.  Miness suggested the Board members whose duties would be impacted by the hire should get together and work out the logistics.  She suggested possibly entering into a contractual agreement.  Reuter said the Executive Committee could serve in this capacity.   Harvey reminded the Board that this individual would become the “face” of GPA.  Preece said he felt like it would evolve into a full time job based on Reuter’s list of possible duties.  Clark made motion to proceed with hiring a part time person with the executive committee finalizing the details by September 1st.   Seconded by Field.  Boykin said he felt the Board should review the specifics related to hours, responsibilities and funding.  Clark amended his motion to have the details brought back to the full Board for review.  Field amended the second.  All in favor.  Coyne suggested contacting the Florida division since they were currently looking for an Executive Director.

AICP CERTIFICATION MAINTENANCE

Cornell advised the Board that new certification maintenance requirements had been established.  He added that it should be easy for those attending the conferences to meet the minimums, but expressed concern for those who could not attend due to cost and time constraints.  Cornell said he felt GPA needed to target the peripheral portions of the state for additional training opportunities.  Clark suggested using the District Directors and the RDCs.  Miness said the Board should look at other conferences and training that might qualify.  Cornell said his committee could do an inventory.  LeBeau suggested holding supplemental courses on ethics and legal issues.  Preece mentioned putting the ethics and legal courses from the conference on a cd as a means of providing additional opportunities.  Cornell said APA had decided to eliminate self study courses as a means of obtaining credits.

APA BRANDING

Reuter advised the Board that he had attended a couple of branding leadership committee meetings.  He said the local chapters will be asked to fall in line with national this year in terms of branding.  Harvey discussed the items that would be affected.  He said the branding change was supposed to be in place by June 1st.  Harvey said the cost would not exceed $700.  He added that the new branding would be used on the June newsletter and e-newsletter.  LeBeau asked for a black and white copy of the new logo.

FAICP NOMINATION PROCESS

Cornell said he had put together a committee to nominate FAICP candidates.  Reuter said several people were eligible, but all were not competitive.  Coyne reminded the Board that everyone the Georgia chapter nominated had been selected.  They discussed the need to have more female candidates.  The Board reviewed the selection process.

UPDATE ON BOARD ELECTION

Reuter asked if anything regarding the upcoming elections had been sent to the membership.  The Board decided to put an article in the e-newsletter providing information to interested members.  They discussed deadlines and the need for greater diversity.  Coyne suggested specifically mentioning positions that would be open.

DIVISIONS AND COMMITTEES

Reuter reminded the Board that they had discussed divisions and committees at the last meeting.  Harvey said many of APA’s divisions only pertained to national or were consistent with what GPA currently offered.  He added that many had networking vs. operational needs.  Reuter suggested having some basic requirements including providing assistance with the conference agendas.  Reuter asked Harvey to determine what needs to be done in order for the website to accommodate space for the divisions/committees.  Preece asked if some type of forum could be created to allow individuals to correspond within their respective groups.  The consensus of the Board was to move forward with this project.  Clark suggested creating a zoning division.

GPA MEETING TO DISCUSS ENABLING ACTS

Reuter said the ULI had been given funding to start a workforce housing center.  He said an attorney had been hired to study Georgia, Florida, and Washington’s land use laws to determine how they could be amended to be more favorable toward affordable housing.  Reuter discussed how other entities used coalitions to fix their enabling acts.  He said he would keep working on this and suggested convening a group to begin building a knowledge base on the issue.

TAKINGS AND INVERSE CONDEMNATION

Reuter informed the Board that GPC had a great website on takings and inverse condemnation.  He suggested putting together a group to work on these issues.  Cornell said he would love to invite some individuals from Florida to provide input.  Miness asked if GPA could offer a session on this at the conference.  Drummond suggested getting sympathetic legislators to participate.  Miness offered to help Reuter with this task.  Clarkson offered his assistance as well.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tracy S. Dunnavant, AICP
Secretary