APDA Southeast Area
2012Fall Meeting – Point Clear, Al
October 10, 2012
The meeting was called to order at 08:01am by Bryan Kurtz. Bryan began the meeting by welcoming everyone to Point Clear. Bryan also thanked everyone for the opportunity to lead the Southeast Area APDA. A stand-up roll call of the officers was taken. Present was President Bryan Kurtz, Vice-President Chad Williamson, Treasurer David Plumb, & Secretary Kenneth Davis.
A stand-up roll call was taken of members. There were 44 members present and 1 guest at this meeting.
Previous Meeting Minutes: Kenneth Davis read the minutes from the Spring 2012 meeting. Charles LaPorte motioned to accept the minutes as read. Russell Lyon seconded and the motion carried.
Correspondence by members: Bryan Kurtz read emails from Henry Strong and John Bartley of Trans Power New Zealand, saying “Hi” to everyone and looking forward to possibly making a meeting next year.
Bryan also received an e-mail from an ambassador at large, Mr. Bob and Faye Duncan, thanking us for keeping them up to date with SE Area activity.
Report of Area Vice-President: Chad Williamson had no report as VP and opted to cover all issues under the “Report of Area Trustee”.
Report of Area Trustee: Chad Williamson gave the Area Trustee’s report in place of Karen Mims. Chad attended theNational Spring Meetingthat washeldMay 30, 2012 in Duluth, MN.
Chad reported that National dues would increase to $15.00, a $4.00 increase per member. Chad stated that a motion by the national board to reduce Area Reimbursements be reduced from $1500.00 per year to $1250.00 per year was voted down during the National meeting held May 31, 2012.
Chad then presented to the National Board the initial partnership proposal from Bismarck State to provide APDA members CEH’s. The national board asked Chad to counter offer asking for a “multi-year proposal” and a “pay per use plan”.
Chad reminded the membership that there are two scholarships available on the National level.
It was announce that the next National meeting would be a joint meeting between the Upper Midwest and Wisconsin Upper Michigan to be held Oct. 2-4, 2012.
Chad also attended the Fall National Meetingheld in Wausau, WI in Karen’s place in order to finalize a proposal to the National Board for an opportunity to partner with Bismarck State for CEHs.
Chad was pleased to report that: An agreement has been made between BSC to provide APDA membership with low cost CEH’s for three (3) years. The details include a four hour online course for the next three years at a cost of $15.00 per year to active members; BSE to host one National APDA meeting; BSE is to be recognized as an APDA National sponsor and APDA will provide demographic information of its membership to BSE. National Treasurer was charged with oversight of payment and member participation.
The location of the National Spring Meeting had not been set.
Report of Area Secretary: Kenneth Davis reported that there were 224 members representing 14 companies.
Report of Area Treasurer: David Plumb read the Treasurer’s Report. Current membership for the SE Area is 149 members. The balance as of Oct. 8th, 2012 is $27,527.98 for the checking account and $21,407.30 for the savings account. The Scholarship balance is $5,041.18. Russell Lyon made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as read. A second was made by Charles LaPorte and the motion carried. (Treasurers report attached)
Report of Area President: Bryan Kurtz started his report by thanking members for attending the 20th Anniversary meeting of SE Area APDA. Reminding all that it is an association run by the members and those members can steer the association. The board is open to any and all suggestions. He also thanked the current board members for their contributions to the group. He also thanked APDA’s sponsors and recognized each one.
He emphasized the importance of training and collaboration of members across the area.
Scholarship Committee: Kenneth Davis gave the Scholarship Committee Report. Kenneth reported to members of the changes be made to the Southeast Area Scholarship application, in which an applicant shall include a 5 minute video or slide show presentation as to introduce the applicant and share their educational and career goals to the APDA organization. He also reminded the membership of the National Scholarship opportunities and that all forms could be found on APDA’s web-site and Facebook pages.
Time & Place Committee: Chad Williamson reported that dates and times for the 2013 Spring Conference to be held in New Orleans were not set due to having to wait on SERC to release their conference dates. Dates will be posted on the web-site & Facebook pages as soon as they are finalized.
The Fall 2013 conference is to be held in Chattanooga, TN.
Unfinished Business: Chad Williamson informed the membership that APDA Southeast Area had secured 3 course ILA’s from NERC and now is in a position to become a NERC CEH Provider. This gives APDA SE the ability to provide its membership with quality in-house training and not have to depend on outside vendors and the associated cost for all training. APDA SE Area was able to provide 14CEH’s during the Spring 2012 APDA SE meeting.
Chad then gave an in-depth explanation of the Bismarck State proposal and what it means to the membership. (BSE Proposal attached)
New Business:
Chad Williamson informed the membership that APDA Southeast Area had secured 3 course ILA’s from NERC and now is in a position to become a NERC CEH Provider. This gives APDA SE the ability to provide its membership with quality in-house training and not have to depend on outside vendors and the associated cost for all training.
The national dues increase was discussed at length, Chad Williamson reported that the SE Area board had made the decision not to raise local dues at this time as we are not suffering financially. A motion from the floor was received by Lloyd Snyder, to poll SE Area’s membership,in order to determine if raising the dues would be detrimental to the membership. Motion was seconded by David Will and a vote of the floor was taken with 32 Yea’s and 11 No’s; Motion carried. Bryan Kurtz said he would send bulk e-mail polling all members in good standing.
A motion was made by Area President Bryan Kurtz, to establish an “SE APDA Excellence Award”, allowing for SE Area members to make nominations to the board and to be voted on by the membership at area meetings, for outstanding performance and commitment to safety by represented companies or individuals. Second was given by Robin Skipper with a unanimous YES vote of the floor received.
A nomination by Bryan was then given to present the first “SE APDA Excellence Award”, to the Alabama Power Control Center for “its members’ outstanding contributions and service to SE APDA and APCo’s outstanding system operations safety record in having 20 years of safe operations and an exceptional commitment to safety.” Motion was seconded by David Plumb and a unanimous YES vote was received by the floor.
Report of Accident, Sickness or Death of Members: None to report.
For Good of the Association: Bryan Kurtz read two Letters he drafted. One was to be sent to area company’s managers and control center supervisors to thank them for participating and supporting APDA SE Area.
The other letter was to be sent to Kayla Davis, daughter of Kenneth Davis thanking her for designing the APDA SE Area’s “20th Anniversary“ logo.
Adjourn: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Chad Williamson. It was seconded by membership. The meeting was adjourned at 09:27am.
Respectfully submitted by: Kenneth Davis10/15/2012
Attachments: BSE Proposal
Area Trustee Report
Treasurers Report
Kayla Davis Letter
Business Appreciation Letter