Kansas Professional Engineer
eNews
November 2008, Issue 4
In this Issue:
Statehouse Races Determine 2009
Agenda: Vote Tuesday, November 4th
By Ron Gaches
On Tuesday, November 4th you have a chance to set the direction
for the State of Kansas and America. Please exercise your right to vote.
It is a privilege granted all United States citizens. This election cycle,
more than in most, the various candidates for state representative, state
senator, Congress and the President offer some real choices. So pick your
favorites and Vote on Tuesday!
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ALVAMAR
HOSTS SUCCESSFUL EFK EVENT
The 2008 Engineers Foundation of Kansas Golf Tournament was held Friday,
September 26th at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence, Kansas. This
was the first year the event had been played at a site other than Colbert
Hills in Manhattan, and the Alvamar golf course and dining facilities
received very favorable comments from most participants. Proceeds of the
event are used to support activities of the Engineers Foundation of Kansas,
including grants of $2500 to each of the three Kansas’ engineering colleges
to support student professional development in their programs.
A total of 96 golfers participated in Lawrence, nearly a record for the
event, and more than $14,500 net was raised to support EFK programs.
The day earlier, the EFK Board of Directors met at Dean Stuart Bell’s
conference room on the Kansas University campus and approved a new
comprehensive strategic plan for the Foundation. New officers for the
Foundation include Greg Weatherd, President; Larry Emig, Vice President; Don
Taylor, Treasurer: and Tim Austin, Secretary.
Note – the 2009 EFK Golf Tournament has been scheduled for Friday, September
25th at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence.
Winners of this year’s tournament were the team from Kansas Gas
Service/ONEOK: Tony Cellitti, Steve Johnson, Vince Lara and Ty Smith.
Special hole prizes were won by: Dean Potter - closest to the pin on hole
twelve, Tim Aziere - closest to the pin on hole four, Gary Mohr - longest
drive on hole nine, and Derek Harth - longest put on hole eighteen.
Players gather following tournament for lunch
and prizes.
EFK President Jay Freund, P.E. (right) offers
check to KU Dean Stuart Bell, Ph.D., P.E.
EFK President Jay Freund, P.E. (right) offers
check to KSPE President Tom Roberts, P.E. and Dick Hayter, P.E., both of KSU.
The Foundation would like to thank the following Golf Event Sponsors for
their financial support of this year’s outstanding event:
$2,000 Double Hole Sponsor
Baughman Company, P.A.
$1,000 Hole Sponsor
Advanced Drainage Systems
Aquaterra Environmental Solutions, Inc.
George Butler Associates
HNTB
Kansas Asphalt Pavement Association
Kansas Gas Service
Lockton Companies
MKEC Engineering Consultants
Poe & Associates, Inc.
Professional Engineering Consultants, P.A.
Terracon Consultants, Inc.
Wilson & Company
Beverage Cart Sponsor
Gaches Braden & Associates
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Board approves state-only
membership bylaws
Following months of deliberations, the KSPE Board approved, at their
September meeting, changes in the Society By-Laws to implement a State-Only
Associate Member program that will give new members the option of becoming
members of the state association and local chapter without paying dues for
the National Society of Professional Engineers. As approved by the Board,
the State-Only option will be available only to engineers who are graduates
of an ABET accredited engineering school. A Task Force of the Board headed
by Brian Armstrong is developing recommendations for how to market the
State-Only option and what the dues and benefits should included.
There was considerable discussion about making the option available to
non-engineers, but the consensus of opinion was that only engineers eligible
to be on licensure track to be KSPE members, state-only or not. During
discussions the Board realized that there are PEs practicing in Kansas
without ABET degrees who were grandfathered in under the licensure changes
that took place more than two decades ago, and agreed that they would
consider an amendment to the By-Laws at their next Board meeting that would
allow graduates of ABET engineering degree programs AND currently licensed
PEs the option of State-Only membership.
Several Board members made a point to explain that their support for the
State-Only Member option was not intended to take current KSPE members away
from membership in the National Society. Rather, the purpose is to provide
non-members with a lower price option to join the State Society and become
familiar with services and products available through KSPE and NSPE. It is
hoped that State-Only members will recognize the growing value of the NSPE
membership and eventually become National Society members.
The State-Only Member option should be up and running before the end of the
calendar year. The KSPE Board will be making the final decisions about
implementation of the program at their meeting on Friday, December 5th.
Also at the September meeting, the KSPE Board approved creation of an
Affiliate program that will allow non-engineers to become “affiliated” with
KSPE and financially support Society programs. It is envisioned that
affiliates might include vendors, service providers, other technical
professionals and organizations that employ licensed and non-licensed
engineers. The Task Force is also developing recommendation to implement
the Affiliate program.
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NSPE
FELLOW program
The NSPE Fellow Program is
a national program intended to recognize deserving professional engineers
who have demonstrated long term professional service at the chapter, state
and national levels of NSPE. The NSPE Board of Directors established the
Fellow recognition program to honor those licensed members who have
demonstrated exemplary service to the profession, the Society, and the
community.
Involvement in NSPE must
include holding at least one elected office at the chapter, state, or
national level and must also include service at the national level of NSPE
in order for nominees to be considered. "National level service can include
a number of activities such as committee/task force chair or member. While
it is desirable to have held an office at the National level, importance is
placed on long term active involvement. The Council of Fellows Executive
Committee endeavors to treat each nomination on its own merits and tries not
to restrict itself by generating a list of activities that would qualify.
Each state society is
allowed to make one nomination for each 500 voting members on its rolls
rounded to the next higher
number of nominations. Each state is allowed
at least one nomination per year. Interest Groups and Chartered Affinity
Groups are allowed one nomination per year. Nominations have a life of one
year. Persons not selected for Fellow status in a particular year may be
re-nominated in subsequent years. Each subsequent nomination will count as a
new nomination.
Each letter of recommendation shall not exceed one (1) page in length. In
addition:
-
For
State society nominations, one of the letters of recommendation must be
from the nominee's state society president stating that the
recommendation has been approved by the state society's board of
directors.
-
For
nominations from Interest Groups and Chartered Affinity Groups, one of
the letters of recommendation must be from the president (or chair) of
the nominating group, stating that the recommendation has been approved
by the nominating group's board of directors (or presiding body).
If you
are interested in participating in the NSPE Fellow Program, simply submit
your entry to KSPE using the guidelines laid out in NSPE’s national entry
form. The KSPE
Committee will vote approval of those nominees recommended for Fellow status
and forward the candidates on to
the NSPE Council of Fellows Executive
Committee.
All Fellow member nomination packets are to be sent to:
NSPE
Fellow Nominations
Attention: Ron Gaches
825 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 500
Topeka, KS 66612
Submissions to KSPE need to be in our office by January 1, 2009.
This allows time for the entries to be mailed to NSPE by their deadline of
February 1, 2009. For more information, or for complete instructions and a
nomination form, please go to:
http://www.nspe.org/AboutNSPE/fellowmembershipgrade.html.
If you
have any questions, please call the KSPE office at (785)-233-2121.
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Chapters host
legislative events
Four KSPE Chapters across Kansas are hosting legislative candidates during
this election cycle, offering their members the opportunity to visit
informally with incumbents challengers and share their concerns about the
2009 legislative session. Events at Eastern Chapter and Wichita Chapter
turned out far greater numbers of candidates and KSPE members than recent
years, building on the foundation they had begun several years ago.
Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller was the keynote speaker at the
Eastern Chapter event, which drew nearly 100 attendees to the Holiday Inn
off of I-35 in Overland Park. Secretary Miller describe the work of the
Governor’s T-LINK Task Force which is developing plans for the next
Comprehensive Transportation Plan and detailed the many challenges to
funding the next Plan.
In Wichita, KSPE President Tom Roberts, PE described to attendees the many
challenges confronting the engineering profession and provided an overview
of the many outside forces that are impacting the future job environment for
engineers wanting to work in Kansas.
The Smoky Valley Chapter continued its tradition of co-hosting with the
Salina Area Home Builders Association a legislative reception, with a strong
attendance by KSPE members visiting with incumbents and challengers.
The Topeka
Chapter is hosting a legislative reception for all incumbents and winners of
the November 4th election at the Topeka Country Club on Thursday,
December 4th. All Topeka Chapter members are encouraged to
attend.
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Government
relations Committee to meet in November
The KSPE Government Relations Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday,
November 19 at 10 AM at the Society office in Topeka. Under the leadership
of Committee Chair Mike Crow, PE the GRC will develop policy positions for
consideration by the KSPE Board of Directors and assist Society members in
participating in important policy discussions during the session.
“Our membership survey confirms that our members expect KSPE to be the
leading advocate for Professional Engineers with state policy makers,” notes
Crow. “I expect our Committee to take a more active role in supporting our
executive director and leadership in advocating on behalf of our members.
The Committee will also support our members who are technical experts in
participating in legislative consideration of key issues. To accomplish
these goals we need to build a larger and more active GRC. I encourage all
members wishing to participate to let their interest be known by contacting
Ron Gaches at the KSPE office.”
Each KSPE Chapter is encouraged to have at least one member participate in
the upcoming GRC meeting. Chapter leaders are encouraged to help identify
members with an interest in serving on this important committee and contact
Ron Gaches with their names.
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 EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:
Campaign Money Impact Grows
by Ron Gaches, J.D.
For more than three decades I have watched elections with a professional
interest and noted the growing influence of money. It is, after all, the
“mother’s milk of politics.” In years past I’ve always been able to comment
at national client meetings that money doesn’t play the influence in Kansas
elections that it does in many other states. Our legislative districts are
relatively small, campaign contribution limits are relatively modest, and we
don’t have very major many media markets where a candidate would want to
spend money on expensive television advertising.
In recent elections things have started to change. First came the
Governor’s Grand Club, started by Governor Bill Graves and significantly
increasing the funding available for GOP legislative candidates. Later,
Governor Sebelius leveraged her popularity to raise dollars for the House
and Senate Democratic PACs and for her own Bluestem Fund. More recently
came the introduction of new Kansas chapters of established national
conservative political organizations, the Americans for Prosperity and Club
for Growth.
Just a few years ago State Senator Barbara Allen was the first to raise and
spend $100,000 in a state legislative campaign. This year there will be
dozens of campaigns where that much money will be spent, in some cases by
both candidates in a race, and much of it will be spent by third party
organizations not directly accountable to any client.
The Governor’s Blue Stem Fund has raised $415,000 just since July 25th.
$300,000 came from three national unions headquartered out of state. The
Americans for Prosperity operate not as a PAC, but as a 527 political group
that doesn’t have to report its funding sources or expenditures. AFP
resources are actively running campaigns and serving as consultants for many
others and paying for heavy print distributions in targeted races. State
labor unions and business organization that just recently raises $50,000 to
$100,000 per election cycle are raising multiples of those numbers.
It is all being used to influence your vote is the most effective ways that
money can buy. Radio spots, direct mail, television, rumor campaigns, some
campaigns are even using third party money to walk districts for
candidates. Don’t believe that the casual political conversation with a
neighbor is just shooting the breeze. More staff and consultants are being
hired by more campaigns and political organizations than ever before. And
you are the target of their attention.
So, judge closely the quality of the information you rely on this year to
pick your favorite candidates. Just because a campaign has a lot of media
presence doesn’t mean that it has a lot of local support. More of the
support for candidates from both parties is coming from out-of-district and
out-of-state resources. Just don’t forget to vote Tuesday.
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Metropolitan Kansas city chapter icc educational seminars
The
Metropolitan Kansas City
Chapter ICC is holding an educational seminar December 8-11, 2008 at the
Best Western Inn and Convention Center in Kansas City. For more information
click here.
Welcome
new members
KSPE would like to welcome
the following new members who have joined since our last issue.
Mark
Aron - Eastern
Dylan Bandel - Eastern
Derek Deeney - Eastern
Charles Love - Eastern
Dimitri Mitchell
Emmanuel Obi
- Eastern
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