Meeting Minutes
International Affairs Committee
May 21, 2013
The APWA International Affairs Committee (IAC) met by phone on May 21, 2013. Committee members in attendance included Vydas Juskelis, Chris Champion, Helena Allison, Ron Norris, Ted Rhinehart, Doug Drever, Ross Vincent, and Ram Tewari.
Not in attendance: Mary Monahan, IAC Chair, Noel Thompson John Lisenko, and Curt Edward. Latin American Task Force Chair Tyler Palmer and APWA Board Liaison Rick Stinson were also not able to attend.
The meeting was staffed by Lillie Plowman and Dave Dancy.
A summary of the meeting follows.
Approval of Minutes from the April 16, 2013 Meeting
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Updates from the Subcommittees and Task Forces
IFME
Doug Drever reported that several IFME members will be getting together in Chicago at the International Public Works Congress and Exposition. The next meeting will be in November. Also, Ross Vincent, IFME President has been invited to speak in China and Barcelona, Spain.
Latin American Task Force
Dave Dancy, APWA staff, provided an update in Tyler’s absence. Tyler Palmer, Latin American Task Force chair met via conference call with Mary Monahan, IAC Chair and APWA staff Dave Dancy and Lillie Plowman to discuss what the Latin American Task Force wanted to do was in line with the strategic plan. The Latin American Task Force would like to pursue the translation of materials and resources into Spanish. This does follow the goals set forth for the IAC, of having products, knowledge and resources available to share with other countries. These could lead to a revenue stream, or for membership in APWA. The goal would be for this undertaking to be self-sufficient and not accrue costs. One of the publications is the MUTCD, and Tyler has followed up with Chung Eng of FHWA, and further with FHWA member of Puerto Rico as they have translated parts of this document. The Task Force will also look at contacting businesses who have a presence in Mexico or Latin America to see if they would be willing to assist with funding the translation of materials into Spanish. One company that has been identified is 3M. A list will be compiled and this aspect investigated further.
Czech-Slovak Task Force
Helena Allison was pleased to report that the trip to Senec, Slovak Republic went great! It was very rewarding. They visited two large recycling centers, twoon electric recycling facilities that also recycled plastic, precious metals and led. There was also an opportunity to visit a tetra pack and cardboard recycling facility.
Ray Funnye, JR Fellow gave a great presentation to approximately 80 people. It was well received and they had a lot of questions. Helena had translated the presentation so audience members were fully engaged. Currently, Ray is working on submitting an article for the July APWA Reporter.
Members from the Czech and Slovak will be attending the 2014 Congress in Toronto, Canada. They are looking forward to attending, and are hopeful to be able to make a presentation at this Congress as well.
Ingenium/IPWEA
There will be approximately 10-12 attendees from Australia/New Zealand attending the 2013 International Public Works Congress and Exposition. Also, things are still “going according to plan” for the JR fellows that will be visiting this summer.
Global Solutions in Public Works (GSPW)
Applications for Boras, Sweden
The IAC approved the application of Robert Beaudoin for the Boras, Sweden Study Tour.
Update on Boros, Sweden Tour
In the next few weeks, a conference call will be held regarding the study tour. Helena Allison would also like to be included in the conference call so that she can learn how they are setting up their tour.
Congress Sessions
The IAC will host a session at Congress entitled, Global Solutions for Local Problems, on August 26th from 3:00 – 3:50 p.m. Mary Monahan will moderate the session. We need to solidify the panelists for this session. Helena Allison has volunteered to assist.
Jennings Randolph Task Force
The Jennings Randolph Task Force met via conference call on Tuesday, May 7th. During this conference call members discussed establishing a fund (separate from the Eisenhower Institute) that could be used for funding further JR Fellows study tours. Dave Dancy and Lillie Plowman, APWA staff was asked to begin the process of a establishing a formal plan for finding additional sources and creating collateral marketing pieces to solicit funding for this fund. APWA staff will look at outside sources and make recommendations back to the JR Task Force.
Congress Sessions
The IAC will host a session at Congress entitled, Opportunity is Knocking – the APWA Jennings Randolph Fellowship, on Tuesday, August 27th from 10:00 – 10:50 a.m. Noel Thompson will moderate the session. We need to solidify the panelists for this session. Ross Vincent will assist.
International Affairs Outreach
Articles for the Reporter 2013 Articles
The upcoming schedule includes:
· July – Ray Funnye and Helena Allison – Slovakia tour. The due date is May 27th
· August – Mary Monahan will provide the International Affairs Committee Annual Report. The due date is June 25th.
· September – Boras, Sweden
· October - TBA
International Reception at Congress 2013
The International Reception will be held at Buddy Guys, which is across the street from the Hilton on Monday, August 26th at 7:00 p.m. Lauren McGovern with the Chicago Metro Chapter signed the contract and she along with members of the Chicago Metro chapter are handling the details for the reception. There will be appetizers and beer, wine and sodas. All attendees will check in and receive a wristband that will let the serving staff know that they are an IAC reception attendee. A blues trio will provide the entertainment. The IAC Reception is by invitation only: all international attendees, IAC committee and task force members, APWA and CPWA board members, JR Fellows, Global Solutions in Public Works participants, all partner organization attending Congress, and all past APWA president’s members. The invitation will be sent in July, with a reminder sent in August closer to Congress. Also, as a side note, the Young Leader Reception will be held upstairs from 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. At 9:30 p.m., Buddy Guys will open to the public for their nightly entertainment, IAC attendees with a wristband will not be charged the cover fee.
Additionally, Vydas Juskelis has had initial discussions with some Congress local committee members regarding the IAC Congress Reception. Vydas proposed, and the IAC members on this conference call supported, that he approach the Congress local committee to see if they would be willing to fund additional attendees, so that an invitation could be sent out to all chapter presidents to attend the IAC Reception. Vydas estimates this would be an additional 20 people at the IAC Congress Reception.
ICMA CityLinks
Dave and Lillie participated on a conference call with ICMA CityLinks. Few things to note:
1. Right now ICMA can only use their USAID funds for climate change adaptation, and all remaining activities for the year deal with climate change adaptation.
2. ICMA is proposing a collaborative process with their partners and resource organizations to develop ideas for the Year 3 Work Plan. However, they first need to get a reasonable sense of funding and the type of funding from USAID.
3. USAID/Peru requested ICMA under CityLinks to help the Mission determine what it might do to help the city of Arequipa address its climate change challenges that are resulting in extensive flooding. They have had many discussions, and are looking into short, medium, and longer-term recommendations, to explore with the Mission the options for future CityLinks involvement in Peru. Any follow on work will most likely take place in Year 3 of the LWA. The assessment might take place in July or August.
4. There is a free webinar on June 4, 2013 11:00 A.M. ET: "Building Urban Adaptation to Climate Change" For information on how to sign up for this event, visit: http://learning.icma.org/store/seminar/seminar.php?seminar=18996&pc=email1
5. There is also an up upcoming ASEAN leadership academy in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 13-15. ICMA is looking for potential pro-bonos who can serve as climate change adaptation experts at the academy. These experts will serve as a resource for the participants with duties such as speaking on a panel, facilitating discussion, etc. All travel-related expenses. For more information visit:
http://icma.org/en/cl/news/events/climate_leadership_academy?utm_source=Spotlight&utm_medium=web&utm_content=ASEAN%2BCLA%2BCityLinks
Strategic Plan
Dave Dancy, APWA staff presented an update on the IAC Strategic Plan. On September 20, 2012 a 10-member International Strategic Planning Task Force met in Kansas City to develop a three-year strategic plan to address the key priority in the APWA strategic plan to “Expand and Strengthen APWA’s International Role.”
Staff submitted the strategic plan on behalf of the task force to the APWA Board of Director’s in November of 2012 for their review prior to the Board’s November retreat specifically scheduled to discuss future governance and strategic planning.
Prior to the November meeting, the Board member’s reviewed the documents individually but no formal discussions about the plan or adoption of the plan occurred in November, nor was it included on the agenda at two subsequent Board meetings. The Board’s focus in these meetings was the overall governance structure and current financial situation of the Association and staff felt formal approval of the plan was not necessary.
Although the strategic plan has not been formally adopted or approved by the Board of Director’s, APWA staff believes that the three goals above outlined in the strategic plan are consistent with the goals of the IAC and the APWA strategic plan, and thus have proceeded to use the strategic plan as a guide to implement initiatives that support these three objectives and plan to do so going forward within the resources available.
During several discussions, IAC members discussed the accomplishments to date, as well as various strategies for raising funds for the IAC. IAC members were also assured that this Strategic Plan is a living document, and meant to be a guide and that it can and will be updated and tweaked along the way.
Next Meeting:
Future meetings of the IAC Committee will be held on the third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 pm Eastern Time to accommodate our overseas participants.
The next meeting is on June 18, at 5:30 pm EDT.
Submitted by: Lillie Plowman, Staff