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Submitted by ASPE Region 5 D... on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 12:07
 
 
June 2011
ASPE Region 5 Director
Information for Chapter Presidents
From Kelvin H. Kennedy, C.D., Region 5 Director
 
Chapter Annual Reports



Hello to one and all of the Region 5 Presidents! I hope you all are doing well as we head into the hot summer months of the season. Let me start this report by saying that I apologize for not having a report for the month of May. As most of you know, I was let go from my place of employment at the end of April and have been looking for permanent employment since. Most of my time and responsibility for the past two months has been spent looking for work and taking care of my two young children, but I also have a responsibility to ASPE and the position that I serve on the Board as your Region 5 Director.  With that being said, let me catch you up on what’s been going on the past couple of months.
 
Region 5 Presidents Meeting
The Region 5 Presidents meeting was held the first weekend in June in the host chapter city of Omaha. I have to admit I was a little nervous in running my first meeting as Region Director, but because of the hospitality of the host chapter (Omaha) and its representatives at the meeting (Dave McGill, Michael Gregory, Amy Brummet, Alvine Engineering), I think the meeting went very well! I would like to also thank Stacy Kidd (ASPE Director of Membership) and David DeBord (ASPE VP Legislative) for attending the meeting and helping me make the meeting run smoothly. Some of the meeting highlights were the charter of a new chapter in Long Island, NY, increased communication with the chapters from the Board, the budget, and building strong relationships with other organizations (American Supply Association, American Backflow Prevention Association, American Society of Sanitary Engineering), just to name a few. We talked about the ASPE budget and the realistic goals we will try to attain in the coming year. Part of those goals included no increasing of the membership dues and achieving a net reduction in ASPE expenses. These were just a few of the finer points we went over, and I will talk about other items that I think are important to you at another time, as there are other subjects that we need to discuss. All in all, I think it was a great weekend in Omaha, and we got a lot accomplished among the chapter presidents. It was great to see and spend time with old friends from my region, and I look forward to serving you as your Region 5 Director again in the not too distant future!
 
Chapter Annual Reports
To date, I have received and uploaded to ASPE National the Annual Reports from Region 5. I want to say “Thank you” to the outgoing chapter board members in Region 5 for their time, dedication, and service to their respective chapters. I, for one, know the sacrifice that you had to make as well as that of your families for this voluntary service. It has not gone unnoticed the work you have done in your respective positions on your board. There’s just one more piece of business that we need to take care of before we can put a wrap on your tenure, and that would be the end of the year reports. As you know, the end of the year chapter reports must be turned in and approved by myself and the National Board before your chapter can be chartered for another year. You all should have received your chapter reports file in an email I sent earlier this month. If you have not, please let me know as soon as possible. The Treasurer’s Reports from the Chapters need to be sent to me by the end of July. They will need to be signed by your Chapter’s President and Treasurer, and these signed copies need to be mailed to me. This will conclude the business portion of the outgoing Chapter’s Presidents.
Technical Symposium
Registration for the Technical Symposium in Orlando on Oct. 27-30 is open online at www.aspe.org, and the event is fast approaching. We are hoping for a great turnout at this Symposium and to help in that process, the price for the registration to the Symposium will be lower than past Symposiums. This was one of the complaints that we heard about from our membership, and we took action in response to this. We, as a Board, did our part to by lowering the price of the registration; now it’s up to you, Chapter Presidents, to present this to your chapters so we can have a great turnout to help offset the costs. We will be depending on you to help us out. Remember, even though this will be a working and learning event for most of us, this will be a great opportunity to bring the families to Orlando and take advantage of the Disney Resort and its facilities. Someone should be having fun while we work!
 
Illustrated Plumbing Codes Design Handbook
The Illustrated Plumbing Codes Design Handbook has been the best selling publication to date that ASPE has put out, and we should give thanks to Julius Ballanco and his staff of volunteers for their time and effort that went into this handbook. I have been using mine on a daily basis in my work environment, and it has been a good source of information not only to me but also to the mechanical engineers in the office.  
 
ASPE Membership Symposium
As you know, we will be having a membership symposium the second weekend in August for the incoming VP Memberships. Bryan Salisbury and Jeffery Ingertson will be hosting this important meeting that will be held at the ASPE Headquarters in Chicago. Our membership is the most important part of our organization, and we feel that educating membership VPs in this network-type of environment would be very beneficial to the chapters, the officers, and the organization as a whole. I am looking forward to hearing the new ideas and concepts that we can take back to our chapters that will come from this meeting.
  
ASPE involvement in Social networking
The creation of ASPE applications for smart phones is in the development stages, and I should get more information on its status when I attend the Board meeting. Because of the cost it would take to create this from an outside source and with the reduction in ASPE staff, it will take longer to develop this in house. I will give you a progress report on this application after the Board meeting in my next report. If you have any ideas or suggestions on what should be in this application, please contact myself or Jeffery Ingertson (VP Membership). 
 
In conclusion
As I said in the beginning of my report, this has been a tough time for me and my family and the transition that we have been going through. I spend most of my time trying to find a job, and what has been lacking on my part has been my responsibility to you and the task that you have entrusted me to do. I’m hoping things will settle down for me soon so I can get back into a regular routine and be on top of my responsibilities to you. I ask for your patience, but know that as soon as I get information that you need, I’ll get it to you as soon as I can. Also know that you can always reach me if there is anything that you need to ask. Please don’t hesitate to email me (asper5director@aspe.org) or your local Chapter President. I thank you for your time and support!
 
Kelvin H. Kennedy, CD, Region 5 Director, American Society of Plumbing Engineers