GPA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Date: July 21, 2006

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Members In Attendance:Dan Reuter
Stan Harvey
Tracy Dunnavant
Rob LeBeau 
Kathleen Field
Gary Cornell
Glenn Coyne
Kellie Brownlow
Larry Vandenbosch
Phil Clark
Steve Cover
David Kirk
Eric Clarkson
Patti Cullen
Frederick Gardiner

Attendance by Proxy:Cheryl Contant to Glenn Coyne
Jerry Weitz to Kathleen Field
Paul Forgey to Phil Clark
Ellen Heath to Rob LeBeau

Attendance by Teleconference:None

President Dan Reuter called the meeting to order at 2:25 p.m. at the Two Urban Licks Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Proxies were announced and it was determined that a quorum was present.

Approval of Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the January 20, 2006, Board of Directors meeting, the March 23, 2006 Board of Directors meeting, the May 12, 2006 Executive Committee work session, and the E-mail vote of May 15, 2006 – May 19, 2006 were unanimously approved with two corrections. The March 23rd minutes were amended to show David Kirk as being present. The May 12th Executive Committee work session minutes were amended to correct the spelling of Callaway Gardens.

AppointmentsFrederick Gardiner introduced himself to the Board as the District 4 Director replacing Adam Hazell.

Dan Reuter, President, discussed how appointments to the Board had been made in the past. He said he had met with Kathy Field and Ellen Heath regarding the potential candidates who had expressed interest in filling the two vacant Director at Large positions. Reuter distributed a list of possible candidates and mentioned that he had starred those individuals who he felt were most qualified. Field suggested possibly identifying the criteria upon which a selection should be made. Coyne said he felt someone from Georgia Tech should be appointed to fill Contant’s vacated seat. He suggested Dr. Bill Drummond. Clark expressed concern over setting precedents. Coyne said Drummond would only serve for the remainder of Contant’s term. Cornell added that Drummond was very experienced. Kirk said he supported the idea of maintaining a connection to Georgia Tech since it was the only accredited planning school in the state. Field mentioned that Drummond and Dr. Michael Elliott were co-chairs of Georgia Tech’s Planning Department. The Board discussed other qualified candidates. Cover mentioned that Geneasa Elias had worked for him and was an extremely energetic individual. Coyne made motion to nominate Dr. Bill Drummond to fill the unexpired term of Cheryl Contant. Seconded by Kirk. Cover made motion to nominate Geneasa Elias for the position. Seconded by Gardiner. Kirk made motion to close the nominations. Seconded by Field. All in favor. The Directors discussed the AICP at Large position. LeBeau spoke highly of York Phillips and his past work with GPA. Reuter said he felt new blood was needed on the Board. Cornell suggested Lynn Tully based on her sound knowledge of planning and interest in GPA. Cullen nominated Tim Preece. Kirk said he had worked with Tully and felt she would be a good addition. Cover nominated Shannon Kettering. Gardiner seconded. Harvey seconded Preece’s nomination. Kirk nominated Lynn Tully. Cornell seconded Tully’s nomination. There was no second to Kettering’s nomination. Field asked if the Board needed to consider the Board composition in terms of public vs. private sector representation. The consensus of the Board was that there was a pretty good mix. Kirk motioned to close the nominations. Cornell seconded. All in favor. The Directors gave final comments on their nominees. They considered the Non AICP at Large seat first. Dr. Bill Drummond received thirteen votes while Elias received six. Cornell made motion to use a majority of the votes to determine the AICP at Large replacement. Seconded by Kirk. All in favor. Reuter asked for a show of hands for those Directors supporting Preece’s nomination. Preece received thirteen votes. No additional votes were need as a majority of the Directors present supported Preece’s appointment.

Reuter informed the Directors that the Atlanta Regional Commission was looking for someone to serve on the Development of Excellence jury. He added that Coyne had assumed this role in the past and asked if he would be interested in continuing in that capacity. Coyne said he was unavailable for the date specified. Gardiner agreed to serve.

Update on May Executive Committee Work Session/Approval of Work Program and Strategic Plan
Reuter explained that the new work program reflected those issues that were identified at the May Executive Committee work session. He added that the work program was a requirement of APA and suggested reviewing the goals and strategies again this year to see if they needed to be updated or changed. Reuter mentioned the need to have a separate document identifying committee members. He said he tried to simplify the document by limiting the committees to those specified in the by-laws. Reuter discussed the chapter only membership fees. He added that he felt the Legislative Committee should become more of a legal asset in addition to providing their regular updates. Reuter discussed other items such as the growth symposium, GPA sessions at ACCG and GMA conferences, paid staff, a financial audit, and the creation of a strategic planning committee to discuss chapter goals and strategies. Clark said GPA needed to find ways to engage the membership and get them more involved. Reuter suggested possibly creating divisions instead of committees. Gardiner said he felt the local agencies needed to put money in their budgets for their commissioners to participate. Reuter asked about giving one year GPA memberships to CPA and CPI graduates. Harvey said he still felt there were too many committees. He asked if the Student Services and AICP Fellows Nominations Committees could be placed under Professional Development. They discussed Reuter’s idea of using divisions. Harvey volunteered to take the idea to the membership for input and recommendations. Clark made motion to approve the chapter work program and strategic plan. Seconded by Harvey. All in favor.

Treasurer’s Report
Reuter said Heath had indicated that the budget was doing quite well. He distributed updated figures and added that another payment should be coming from APA. He said the District Directors had spent $1,672 for events in their areas. Reuter mentioned that there was still over $2,300 left if anyone had another event they were contemplating. Harvey said he had secured two additional sponsors for the website. He asked the Directors for leads on any non-Atlanta sponsors. Cornell asked if the Board should be concerned that the Chapter had only taken in roughly $26,000 when $72,000 was anticipated. Reuter said the $72,000 included an additional APA payment as well as the fall conference revenues.

Chapter Services Update
Reuter commended Harvey on the excellent job he was doing with chapter services. Harvey praised Bill Ross for his efforts as well. He informed the Directors that the cost for redesigning the brochure would be $500, which did not include the printing. Clark mentioned that $2,000 had been appropriated in the budget. Harvey suggested staying within the budgeted figure in determining how many brochures to print.

The Directors discussed the fee for chapter only membership. Harvey said for simplicity purposes he felt GPA should charge one fee, instead of having a reduced fee for APA members. He suggested $25 for everyone. Brownlow said she spoke with Lynn Jorgenson regarding free one year memberships for CPA and CPI attendees. She said Jorgenson was opposed to this idea. Dunnavant reminded the Board that the Chapter only fee was raised to $35 at APA’s request to cover administrative costs. Harvey made motion to check with APA and if they confirmed that the minimum fee for chapter only membership was $35 then GPA would begin charging $35 across the board effective January 1, 2007. Coyne seconded the motion, but suggested moving forward with charging $35 so that the issue would be resolved. Harvey amended his motion to set the membership fee for GPA at $35 for both chapter only and regular memberships. Seconded by Coyne. All in favor.

Professional Development Update
Gary Cornell, Professional Development Officer, informed the Board that he had attended the AICP Exam Review session at the annual APA conference in San Antonio. Cornell said he had sent out a membership survey that had been improperly addressed and expressed his concern that responses would be mailed but not received. Reuter suggested e-mailing the survey as a means of getting a greater response.

The Directors discussed continuing education credits. Cornell said it was difficult getting courses certified for CEU units. Reuter said LeBeau was the only member tracking his credits in the South.

Cornell discussed the AICP exam sessions at the fall conference. He said he was putting together numbers that reflected the AICP exam pass rate for Georgia compared to the national figures. Kirk asked if Cornell could track repeat takers. Gardiner said the South Carolina Chapter has a very intense multi-day AICP exam session that they offer. He suggested looking at their numbers to see how GPA’s Chapter compared. The Board discussed the importance of getting and keeping certified planning school graduates. Clark said GPA needed to expand its relationship with the Georgia Association of Zoning Administrators. Cornell asked if the Directors would like to have a central repository for available internships. The consensus of the Board was that the repository was a good idea. Reuter said he felt GPA needed to fund some internships.

PODO UpdateKellie Brownlow, Planning Official’s Development Officer, informed the Board that the Planning Officials’ newsletter distribution had begun in January. She added that a Planning Commissioner’s tract had been created for the fall conference. Brownlow said she and LeBeau were trying to determine the registration price for one-day attendees.

Brownlow said the CPA Oversight Committee had met and established a curriculum. Reuter mentioned that the CPA calendar had been distributed and the only comment he had was that all of the conference sites were south of Macon. The Board discussed DCA’s role with CPI and the curriculum. Reuter suggested having a meeting with DCA regarding several CPI related issues. Cornell volunteered to meet with DCA along with Reuter and Brownlow.

Conferences and Programs UpdateRob LeBeau, Vice President of Programs, said plans for the fall conference were moving along well. He added that Paul Farmer had agreed to be the keynote speaker. Reuter said he suggested asking the Mayor of Brunswick to speak as well. The Board discussed possible topics and speakers. LeBeau said he planned to send out the registration form in roughly two weeks. He said the spring conference would be held somewhere in the metro Atlanta area and the fall conference was scheduled for the Savannah Rivermont. LeBeau said Augusta was being considered for 2008.

District Activities and Events
Kirk applauded the effort that was put forth in preparing for the Planners’ Luncheon that was held earlier in his district.

Confirmation of Member Database Policy
Reuter said he was always reluctant to give out GPA’s official member database. He said it can be shared for official GPA activities or if GPA sponsors an event. He discussed possibly co-sponsoring the Martha Reimann Economic Development event.

Other BusinessThe Board discussed inverse condemnation and how it should be addressed in terms of future legislation.

Clark asked about the growth symposium. Reuter said he was working to make this happen sometime early in 2007. He discussed possible agenda items.

Reuter said he had spoken at ASLA’s annual awards dinner.

Field said the next Planner’s Luncheon would be sometime in November. Clark suggested finding a topic that would be of interest to all planners across the state.

Reuter said the website forum needed to be more heavily promoted. Vandenbosch suggested greater awareness of its existence. Gardiner suggested having an advisory topic. Clark mentioned the need for a separate forum for Planning Commissioners.

Kirk said the Board needed to start working on the fall student reception.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tracy S. Dunnavant, AICP
Secretary