2009-04-15 NHSPE BOD Meeting Minutes - Final

NH Society of Professional Engineers Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

DATE: April 15, 2009 Matthew Low, PE (Pres)* Ted Setas (Guest) 6:00 p.m. to 9:00pm Dan Hudson, PE (Past Pres)* Larry Dwyer, PE (Pres Elect)* John DiGenova, PE (Sec)* Location: Tom French, PE (Treas)* Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc. Gregg Comstock, PE (Dir)* Manchester, NH Craig Bailey, PE (Dir)* Josh Bouchard, PE (Dir)* Ben Pratt, PE (MATHCOUNTS) Lee Carroll (Guest) *Voting Board Member Matt L called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM OLD BUSINESS

None NEW BUSINESS 1. UNH Student Projects

Revised guidelines to UNH – Matt L. indicated that he has sent the revised guidelines to UNH this week. He will follow-up with a phone call to them.

2. Treasurer’s Report (Tom F.)

Brief update – Acceptance of Treasurers Report – Tom presented the Treasurers Report (as emailed on 4/15/09) to the board. Our budget to date shows a positive cash flow.

3. Society Governance

2009-2010 Slate of Officers – Dan reported the new slate of officers for the ballot, see Attachment No. 5. Multi-year term for Officers – Tom suggests multi-year term for officers. Future discussion will be held.

4. Professional Development and Continuing Education

April 23, 2009 – New PE Dinner – Bernie Berson – Geothermal Presentation – John indicated that all is a go for the New PE Dinner on the 23rd. Matt indicated that about 40 people have signed up for the meeting. Six of the people are guests.

May, 2009 – Open – LEED – John indicated that a date needs to be set for the May meeting. Based on other

schedules and the Memorial Day Holiday the best date would be 20th of May. The location will be Nashua. Matt L. suggested inviting Massachusetts Society of Professional Engineers. Ted suggested the Crown Plaza Hotel.

June 11, 2009 – Annual Meeting. Location TBD. Brad Aldrich attending – Matt L. indicated that he and Brad

are working on a joint meeting with Vermont Society of Professional Engineers.

August Planning Session 2009 – TBD

October 2009 – UNH Stormwater Center – Paul is coordinating

2009-04-15 NHSPE BOD Meeting Minutes - Final

5. Public Image and Student Outreach

NHSPE John Alger Memorial Scholarship Report – Larry indicated that the scholarship letters have gone out. Steve will set-up a review meeting next week. The total number of scholarships still needs to be determined.

Teacher’s Award Report (Matt L.) – Applications due by 3/31/09 – Need to evaluate applications – Matt L.

indicated that he has the applications. Larry will send grading template to Matt L. for review. Matt suggested making the award presentations at each of the individual schools.

MATHCOUNTS Report – Both Ben Pratt and Lee Carroll attended the meeting to give an overview of the

status of Mathcounts. Ben reported that there are 2 pressing problems: 1) financial; 2) manpower to execute the competitions. Both of these have been issues over the past few years.

Financial - Contributions have substantially dropped off in the past few years. As an example, typically he received about $3000 in contributions in the Keene region. This year that number was down to about $1200, which is far short of what is normally contributed. Ben indicated that there were no meals at the Southern NH regional competition and that some people expressed disappointedment. Expenses generally include trophies for students and plaques for coaches (teachers), t-shirts, pins, food and depending on the location, custodial fees. Manpower – The Seacoast region did not have a coordinator. The volunteer who was to act as coordinator bailed out at the last minute. Ben indicated that the fewer the people to administer the tests the greater the chances of mistakes and errors in grading. There were some mistakes made at competitions this year and it was quite troubling. Both Ben and Lee spoke to their points and indicated that there are 6 regions and no coordinator for the Seacoast. The registration fee paid by the schools goes to the National Mathcounts organization. They cannot generally rely on the coordinators to be the fundraisers. Matt L. suggests multiple notices to volunteers well in advance of the events. Gregg suggests using high school honors students for assistance. He indicated that this has worked in the past. Dan suggests bringing in other societies to help fundraising and manpower during the events. Ben and Lee will provide a timeline of activities so that advance planning could be done.

Student Outreach Initiatives (Judy H.) – See attached email from Judy Houston (Attachment No. 1) Eweek Planning – Craig developed a two year plan for the Eweek Banquet (Attachment No. 4). Craig indicated

that most of the work for Eweek is completed by only a few people (Craig and Roch) and additional help is needed in the planning and execution of the Eweek banquet. Craig suggested developing non officer work items for volunteers.

Observer – Matt L. indicated that the Observer should be out next week (email distribution). New contract with

Print Solutions is in the mail. Science Fair – Craig suggested scholarships for the Science Fair. He said that more kids would get involved and we

should consider this in next years budget.

6. Government Affairs

Legislative Tracking Initiatives Report – Matt L. indicated that we are tracking two pieces of legislation, as follows: HB 197 – PE Magazine Article – Letter Written to Governor and HB 2 – Letter written to Governor.

7. State Society Collaboration

2009-04-15 NHSPE BOD Meeting Minutes - Final

October Joint Society Planning Update – Matt indicated that Roch Larochelle needs a $400 check to hold room for this year Joint Society Meeting. This will come from the Joint Society account.

Joint Society Potential Funding – Currently the Joint Society has a Memorandum of Understanding concerning how the available funds of the Joint Society can be distributed. Consider this funding source for mutually beneficial events or activities (Mathcounts, Eweek, etc.) In order to obtain funds NHSPE would need to draft a proposal for use of the funds.

8. Membership

No items this month

9. National/Regional & Other Issues

State Delegate Report – Paul could not attend the meeting. See attached report (Attachment No. 2) NSPE Screening Committee – Open Position for NH – Paul had indicated to Matt L. that he would do this if no

one else volunteered.

NSPE / NHSPE Agreement – Revised by NSPE for review – Matt L. distributed the NSPE/NHSPE revised agreement for review by the group. Matt L. indicated that there were some terms in the agreement that NHSPE could not agree to, i.e., insurance requirements. The group will discuss in future meetings.

P.E. Panel Discussion / ASME Upper Valley Section (Matt L.) – Tuesday, May 5th - Matt indicated that this

discussion is moving forward

National Conference in St. Louis in July – Steven, Larry to attend – Meeting expenses were discussed by the group. Tom motions to approve the registration fees and expenses up to $2,800 for Steve, Paul, and Larry to attend for the National Conference in St. Louis, Dan seconds, and the motion is approved by the group. The following limits were established: Paul - $750, Larry - $700, and Steve $1,350. It was noted that our fiscal budget had a previously approved budget for attendance of $1,900; however, some of these costs will be incurred in the next fiscal year.

General Fund Raising – Matt L. suggests a State Director position just for Fund Raising for Teachers Award,

Scholarships, Mathcounts, etc. This person could coordinate the fund raising activities throughout the year. There was a discussion on this item and mixed opinions as to whether this is an effective way to meet our fundraising challenges, or if it will just burn out an initially energetic NHSPE member.

Dan move to adjourn meeting, Tom seconds and motion is carried by the group. Meeting is adjourned at 9:27 PM. Respectively Submitted, John G. DiGenova, P.E.