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President's Report	National Director's Report
Awards	AIA/AGC/ACEC
Budget/Audit	Business Practices
By-Laws	CDA
CEPAC	Design Construction Coalition
Education	Environmental
Expert Witness Certification	Golf
Legislative	Membership/Ambassadors
Nominating	Presidents' Council
Professional Conduct	Professional Development/Programs
Public Relations	QBS/Colorado
Scholarship	Strategic Plan
Technology	Transportation
Vertical Design	Water Resources
Women Engineers' Forum

ACEC/CO Committee Members	ACEC National Committee Members
2006-07 ACEC/CO Awards & Honors

2006-07 PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL REPORT

 

Having the opportunity to serve as President of this Organization has been a great honor and extremely fulfilling and rewarding for me. The leadership that is continually exhibited by our staff, our Officers and Board of Directors, and our Committees is truly a reflection on the quality level of the people that belong to this Organization and I am glad to be a part of it. This leadership is what continues to make this Organization so respected in our industry.

 

This year was a very exciting year to have been President. There are a few events that took place during the course of the year that are noteworthy.

 

• The Board of Directors adopted an updated Strategic Plan. This plan tied all of our Committees into one or more of the 4 strategic goals listed in the plan. This plan now provides for a much broader base of individuals to participate in the achievement of the goals.

 

• We celebrated our 50^th Anniversary as an organization in Colorado with a Gala event at the Botanic Gardens in June of 2006. Not only did we have a large turn out, over 300 people, but we raised over $36,000 to help start the fund raising effort for the restoration of the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory – a Denver landmark and an engineering icon.

 

• Our golf tournament, which was held in August of 2006, was set-up as a fund raising event for our scholarship fund. This event was well attended by 114 golfers and was successful in raising over $6000 for the scholarship fund.

 

• Our Executive Director of the last 25 years, Sandy Donnel, retired at the end of 2006 and was given a well-attended retirement party in January 2007. Sandy provided the organization with outstanding leadership and was well respected in the engineering community, both at the State and National level.

 

• We have a new Executive Director, Marilen Reimer, who took over the position at the first of 2007. Marilen has shown a tremendous amount of energy in this position and I do not believe that our Organization experienced even a hiccup with the change of such a key position.

 

In addition to these noteworthy events, our 18 committees have been very active and hard at work reviewing legislation and providing testimony when needed, developing various programs, participating in liaison opportunities and outreach activities, providing member support and networking with other organizations and companies in our industry. These activities have also keep our staff extremely busy supporting the various committees.

 

When I started the year I had two goals in mind. The first goal was to challenge the membership to be involved in the organization and the second goal was to continue some of the initiatives that my predecessors had started.

Involvement in this Organization can take many forms such as: participating on committees, becoming involved in a leadership position, attending programs and meetings, or contributing to our PAC and Scholarship funds. Overall, I feel that we have experienced a greater level of involvement from our members this last year, but still feel that more of our members need to take advantage of what this organization has to offer.

 

Legislative advocacy has become an increasing area of focus for this organization and we will not this focus decrease anytime soon. This year has been very active from the Legislative standpoint and several of our members, as well as, staff have donated countless hours in reviewing new legislation that will affect all of our members. We continue to need more of the membership involved in this legislative activity to protect the way we do business.

 

Our quarterly meetings in the Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs areas continue to provide ways for members in these areas to participate and become involved without always needing to come into Denver. The continuing evolution of technology is starting to give us more ways to connect with these areas than we had in the past. This is definitely true for our members on the Western Slope where we need to continue to find more ways to allow and enhance participation from our members in this area.

 

ACEC/CO is a strong organization and is well respected in the community, the State and at the national level. Our members, through their involvement, are the backbone of this organization and the leadership’s responsibility is to maintain a direction that perpetuates this involvement.

 

As I conclude my year as President, I would like to thank the Board of Directors and the Officers for their help and support during the year. I would like to thank all of our committee chairs along with their committees for the time and commitment they have put into their achievements this past year. I would like to extend a very sincere thank you to our staff of Marilen, Leslie, Jennifer, Kimberly and Kim for all of the hard work and effort they put into keeping this organization running smoothly and efficiently. And finally thanks to our members, whose participation and involvement keep this organization strong.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Stuart Monical, PE, CCE, President

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2006-07 NATIONAL DIRECTOR'S REPORT

 

The National Director’s meeting of September 24, 2006 was attended by Mark Hamouz, Stu Monical, Sandy Donnel and Marilen Reimer.  Two discussion items were presented to the Board.

 

The first item was a presentation by Rod Hoffman on the “Policy Statement on the Selection of Design Professionals on the Basis of Qualifications.”  This statement reinforces the QBS process for design-bid-build concept and was also extended for usage on the other alternate delivery methods.  After the presentation, the Board approved this Policy Statement.

 

The second item was the presentation of the next 3-year budget.  It was shown that ACEC maintained a balanced budget over the previous 3-year period and the emphasis for the next budget is to ‘Stay the Course.’  Approximately 60% of total revenue is derived from dues; 40% from non-dues revenue.  The non-dues revenue is made up from education programs, meetings and conventions and government advocacy.

 

Three of the Strategic Plan goals have not been met in the areas of Membership growth, ACEPAC growth and Education Program implementation.  The Directors were asked to consider additional increases in ACEC dues to provide for additional resources in these three areas.  Feedback from the M.O.s on these increases were used to develop the final ACEC budget which will be presented at the May 6, 2007 Board meeting.

 

The National Director’s meeting of May 6, 2007 was attended by Mark Hamouz, Marilen Reimer and Brian Gidlow.  One voting item and two discussion items were presented.

 

After months of discussion and feedback between the ACEC Budget Committee and the M.O.s, the next 3-year budget was recommended for discussion and approval:

1. Continue the baseline budget of CPI + 1.9%.

2. Provide for a one-year allocation of $150,000 from the Reserve Account interest to fund the one-year Membership option in FY08.

3. Provide for allocations of $175,000 from the Reserve Account interest to fund the PAC initiative for three years FY08-10.

The Board approved the baseline budget and the allocations for Membership and PAC options.

 

The first discussion item was to discuss ‘Broadening the Base.’  A paper has been developed which suggests that ACEC may wish to undertake additional measures to capture the strength of the employee base of its members to promote ACEC programs.  A considerable amount of discussion ensued with a final recommendation to develop a strategy based upon the discussion.

 

The second discussion was a presentation to encourage member firms to participate in the current QBS research study by the University of Colorado and Georgia Tech.  This effort is being undertaken to prepare an objective study of a nationwide analysis of the quantitative benefits of QBS.

 

ACEC/Colorado was also recognized for reaching membership goals for 2006-2007.  ACEC/Colorado membership increased by 2% in new firms and 3% in employee numbers.

 

The next National Director’s meeting is scheduled for September 26, 2007.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Hamouz, National Director

 

 

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT AIA/AGC/ACEC LIAISON

The committee consists of eight members representing the Associated General Contractors, five members representing AIA and five members, including Sandy Donnel, representing ACEC. The committee meets approximately once a month, usually at the AGC offices.  The goal of the committee is to foster better cooperation and communication between contractors, architects and engineers.  The committee’s goals affect all of the ACEC membership but are especially important to those engineers involved in vertical construction.

The committee annually presents the Curt F. Dale Roles and Relationships in Construction seminar, which brings young contractors, engineers and architects together in a single-day seminar. This seminar includes presentations but it principally consists of  small-group breakouts working on example problems presented by the committee members.  The seminar is presented in April each year, with this year’s seminar scheduled for April 27 at the Lakewood Country Club.

Other activities of the committee are other single-day or half-day seminars and lunch-hour roundtable discussions on topics affecting all of the three groups. These seminars and discussions in 2005 included topics such as improvement of development and building permit procedures (in cooperation with local governments), presentation of major upcoming regional building projects, such as the new Denver Justice Center, and discussions of upcoming technology changes such as Building Information Modeling, Masterspec changes and building code changes.  Topics being considered for 2006-07 seminars include Multi-family Housing liability issues, ADA impacts, Design Transfer Performance Criteria, Quality of Design Documents and Quality Control of Construction, Performance Based Building Co.

Respectfully submitted,
Denis M. Beaudin, P.E., Chair  

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT AWARDS COMMITTEE

We had a very good program this year with twenty-four entrants in the competition.

Judging was held in October at the offices of URS.  Our exceptional group of judges included William Farrell, Vice-President, Wells Fargo Bank; Kevin Parrott, President Elect of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers/ Rocky Mountain Chapter; Mark Shaw, Senior Managing Editor with McGraw-Hill Construction Publications;  Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi, Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science with University of Denver;  Julie Timmons, Communications Director for the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Pikes Peak Post, John Yonushewski, President of AIA Colorado; Larry Friedberg, State Architect for Colorado; Gary Meggison, Chairman of Associated General Contrators/Colorado (AGC/CO); and Erica Meylan, President SMPS

The Awards Luncheon was held at the Brown Palace Hotel on Monday, November 8^th.  The Master of Ceremony again this year was Dave Fraser, Meteorologist for WB2, Channel 2 news.

Excellence Award winners included CDM (Statewide Water Supply Initiative); M-E Engineers, Inc. (Quigg Newton Denver Municipal Auditorium); The RMH Group, Inc. (Colorado Springs Utilities Laboratory); Martin/Martin, Inc., (Colorado Convention Center Expansion); Merrick & Company (Yellowstone River Conservation LIDAR Project); Kaiser-Hill (Rocky Flats Closure Project); Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. (Columbine Water Treatment Plant Expansion); CH2M HILL (Standley Lake Dam Improvement Project); and URS Corporation (Front Range Airport Air Traffic Control Tower).

Honor Award winners included Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers, Inc. (Devil’s Thumb Ranch Activity Center); EMC Engineers, Inc. (Confidential Residence GeoExchange Project); and HNTB Corporation (Central City Parkway).

Merit Awards were receive by HDR (Upper Colorado River & Tributaries); PBS&J (Beartooth Highway Public Information Program); Cator Ruma & Associates, Co. (Lazzara Center for Oral and Facial Health); Merrick & Company (Southern Plains Research Station Laboratory and Office Facility); MKK Consulting Engineers, Inc. (Fossil Ridge High School’s HVAC System); J. F. Sato & Associates (Martin Luther King Boulevard Bridge); CDM (Gilt Edge ARD Treatment Project); Wright Water Engineers, Inc. (Missionary Ridge Wildfire Recovery); Rothberg Tamburini & Winsor, Inc. (Plum Creek WWTP Number 1 Expansion and Improvements Project);  Boyle Engineering Corporation (Westerdoll Lake Dam Rehabilitation Project); Felsburg Holt & Ullevig (Front Street Flyover); Wilson & Company, Inc. Engineers & Architects (Pinon Rest Areas of I-25); and Wilson & Company, Inc. Engineers & Architects (SH42/96^th Street Connection).

An Award for Outstanding Board Graphics and Presentation was given to M-E Engineers, Inc. (Quigg Newton Denver Municipal Auditorium).

The budget was aggressively established based on last year’s success at $28,000 income with offsetting expenses establishing a net break even position.  Due to fewer than expected entrants and less attendance at the Awards Banquet, we received $19,805 and spent $22,114.70, resulting in a negative net income of $2,309.70.

New Faces in Engineering

New Faces in Engineering awards were given to six young engineers to recognize their accomplishments, contributions, and their impact on society.  Award winners include Mary Presecan (Leonard Rice Engineers); Laura Girard (Ayres Associates); Gwendolyn Zuber (Richard P. Arber); Lisa Farmer (Applegate Group); Donald Frick (Applegate Group); and Craig Ullmann (Applegate Group).  Craig Ullmann was an ACEC finalist and submitted to the National Engineers Week Committee.  

General Palmer Award

The Awards Committee awarded Dr. Bernard Amadei, a professor of Civil Engineering at University of Colorado at Boulder, as the 2006 General Palmer Award recipient.

The General Palmer Award is an annual award given to an engineer in industry who meets the following considerations:

• Contribution to the State of Colorado
• Recognition in the community
• Advancement to the engineering community
• Impact of contributions on future generations

<>Dr. Amadei meets these criteria through his work in founding “Engineers Without Borders-USA,” a nonprofit which helps “developing” communities all over the world engineer water, sanitation, and power infrastructure. This program provides not only desperately needed services to struggling communities, but also provides valuable opportunities for engineering students to gain experience and helps create in them a sense of civic responsibility. Dr. Amadei is also helping to steer engineering education toward Earth Systems Engineering, which “emphasizes the interaction between engineering structures and natural systems and the critical role engineers must play in enhancing the quality of life on Earth.” (Colorado Construction, Aug. 2005, p62) As part of this effort, Amadei started the Engineering for Developing Communities program at CU-Boulder, aimed at producing “globally responsible students.” (ibid)

George Washington Award 

The Awards Committee awarded Mike Applegate the 2006 George Washington Award recipient.

The Washington Award is an annual award given to an ACEC/CO member for outstanding service to the community, the progress of Colorado and the advancement of the public image of consulting engineering as a profession.

Mike has demonstrated his belief that he and his company have a responsibility to provide society “reliability, certainty and a solid legacy for water management and supply.” He has owned and operated Applegate Group, Inc. for over 20 years. His firm has received many awards including an ACEC Merit Award for the Welton Dam project and the Greeley Emergency Drinking Water Plan.

He served as President and Chairman of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, and actively participated in the “negotiations on the operation and administration of Green Mountain Reservoir, resulting in a negotiated settlement and avoiding potential litigation between east slope and west slope interests.<>He was a supporter and participant in the CSU Water Tables of Contents event, and was instrumental in persuading “many of the table hosts” to participate, which contributed to the success of the event. He supports the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and believes that the “dissemination of information and the advancement of the general public’s and the engineering professional community’s knowledge level in water issues.”

Mike actively supports the community involvement of his employees. Several are volunteers for MathCounts, and he has worked to obtain recognition for his employees through programs like ACEC’s New Faces in Engineering and the Colorado Foundation for Water Education Water Leaders.

The Awards Committee Members are Denis Beaudin, Kevin Bergschneider, Stuart Monical, Eric Young (Chair), Robert Refvem (Board Liaison), Ann Benson, Mary Beth Sepper.

Respectfully submitted by:
Eric Young, Chair

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT BUDGET COMMITTEE AND AUDIT REPORT

The Budget Committee met in April, May and June of 2005 to review the current financials, current member firm index numbers, committee budget requests and capital needs of the Council. A budget for the 2005-2006 year was prepared and submitted for review by the Board in May 2005 and for approval in June 2005. As of this writing, for the first nine months of the 2005-2006 budget year, the Council operated within the approved budget.

 

Bondi & Co, LLC reviewed the 2004-2005 financial statements and completed a Review Report dated August 17, 2005. They also presented their report to the Board at the September 27, 2005 Board Meeting. A separate Management Report was not submitted by Bondi & Co since our processes and procedures were all in good order.

 

Budget committee included Bud Gaines, Dave Adams, Stu Monical and Brien Gidlow.

 

The budgeting process for the 2006-2007 budget year has started and the first meeting of the Budget Committee was held on April 20, 2006. The 2006-2007 Budget Committee includes Dave Adams, Stu Monical, Lauren Evans and Brien Gidlow.

 

Respectfully submitted by,
Brien N. Gidlow, Chair

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT BUSINESS PRACTICES COMMITTEE

 The following is a summary of the items and issues that the committee has been dealing with over the past year:

 

·         Salary Survey (Short Version) - The survey was produced again with the help of Susan Owens of the Owens Group, Inc. There was good participation and sales of the survey paid for the production costs.

·         Vertical Design Committee - This sub-committee, chaired by Wendy Amann, has flied a separate report of their activities which can be found on the ACEC website.

·         The committee continues to monitor various Colorado Senate & House Bills that are relevant to the practice of engineering. Several Committee members have been active in attending various sessions and testifying on behalf of ACEC.

·         Consultant Agreement Language – The committee has had ongoing discussions with several agencies regarding problematic language in their Consultant Agreements. Indemnification clauses have been getting the most attention and we are hopeful that workable compromises on the language will be reached.

·         Committee Members: Steven Banks, Narender Kumar, Greg Fischer, Brien Gidlow, Jim Given, Paul Jordan, Bob Hazlett, Duane Jansen, Mark Eberly-Board Liaison, Jim Kowalsky, Bill Byrne, David Frick, Marjorie O’Brien, R.A. Plummer, Bill Hamouz, Bill Seigel, Lee James, Jim Hastings, David Burnett, Velma Lane, Tracy Lawless, Joe Siccardi, John Radcliffe, Rick Weed, Dick Hepworth, George Garcia, Mike Otegui.

 

Respectfully submitted by:
Richard J Weed, P.E. – Committee Chairman

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT BYLAWS COMMITTEE

No changes occurred to the bylaws this year.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Stuart Monical, PE, CCE, Chair

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT CEPAC

The Consulting Engineers Political Action Committee (CEPAC) is a separately incorporated political action committee that raises funds and makes contributions to candidates for office in Colorado (not for US Congress). In 2005, 95 firms contributed $6,733.80 to CEPAC. Through the generosity of our members, CEPAC fund has continued to grow and that is helping our efforts to be recognized as business leaders in Colorado by the elected officials who create laws that affect our ability to conduct business. Funds will be distributed to candidates in 2006 during the election cycle; no funds were distributed in 2005.

Committee Members: Bill Hoffmann, Lester Litton, Gregg Ten Eyck, Rick Goncalves, Ed Mighell, Mark Hamouz, Dave Stewart, Bill Artist - Lobbyist.

Respectfully submitted by,
Mark Hamouz, Chair

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT CONSTRUCTORS DESIGNERS ALLIANCE

This organization is comprised of 19 Associations that are related to the construction industry whose purpose is to deal issues of mutual interest to the Associations and explore ways to better the industry. This organization does not deal with legislative issues and that if there was an issue where there was unanimous/100% support of an issue then CDA could participate. Items dealt with this last year include:

1. A draft for Improving Development Review and Permitting in Denver was presented at the December 2005 meeting of CDA by Molly Urbina, Deputy Manager for the City and County of Denver as well as a couple of staff members. A subcommittee was formed, headed by Jim McGurk, to review and comment on this draft. This was an opportunity by members of CDA to give their input on the plan review process of Denver. Comments prepared by this sub-committee for CDA were submitted to Denver on March 20, 2006 and a reorganized draft should be received shortly.

2. A silent auction is being planned for June 21, 2006 at the Mile High Station. The purpose of this silent auction is to raise money for Construction Career Days. Last year $24,000 was raised for this event. Currently a sub-committee is working on raising money and obtaining auction items for the event.

3. Various scholarships that are available from the Colorado construction industry were discussed. There was discussion about putting this information in a single brochure/pamphlet that could be distributed to the various schools in Colorado. A sub-committee has been formed to look into this further.

4. A legislative reception has been slated for the fall; no date has been set yet. This event was held last fall at the Museum of Natural History and featured Lt. Joe Gonzales of the Denver Fire Department. It was suggested that the focus of this event should be on elected officials, but representatives of school districts and the RTD Board should be added.

Respectfully Submitted by,
Stuart Monical P.E., Chair

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT DESIGN CONSTRUCTION COALITION

This committee is comprised of the Executive Committees of ACEC/Colorado, AGC/Colorado, and AIA/Colorado for the purpose of strategically partnering our associations to deal with big-picture issues of mutual interest.

Through December 2005, the Committee was chaired by ACEC with AGC chairing in 2006. This committee was involved in the following issues:

In September 2005 a seminar was presented by this group on “Safe Contracting on Multi-Family Projects”. The seminar addressed the following issues:

• How the construction industry can create successful projects
• How to protect yourself by educating clients and homeowners to the reasonable expectations of the building process.
• What to watch out for and how to protect yourself.
• Adopting the loss prevention approach.
• The risks and rewards of the duplicative design and construction market.
• Stealth Condos – what they are and how you can protect yourself against them.

Several “lessons learned” were presented as examples.

Moderator was Dick O’Brecht, President, AGC Colorado, Panelists included: Tim Shulte, Velma Lane, Chris Jones, Greg O’Gary, John Yonushewski, and Greg Meggison.

The DORA report recommendations on the Architects License statute was made available in October 2005. ACEC has written a letter to DORA in support of comments submitted by AIA. It appears at this time that DORA is in favor of combining the Engineers, Land Surveyors and Architects under one Board. Currently this is still holding pending DORA review.

HB06 1148 and HB06 1077 were both Indemnification bills that were followed closely by the group. All three groups provided their membership with information regarding these bills. There was a concern that members of these organizations needed more education about the issues in these bills. The bills passed in both the House and the Senate and were send to the Governor for his signature. However, the Governor vetoed both HB06 1148 and HB06 1077 on Thursday, April 13, 2006.  As a result, both bills are now on the calendar of the House of Representatives for a veto override.  As procedure goes, it remains to be seen whether the House will get to this portion of the calendar prior to the end of the session, May 3, 2006.

On Wednesday, February 22, 2006 a jointly sponsored legislative day was held in the afternoon at the old Supreme Court chambers at the State Capital. Later that evening a jointly sponsored legislative reception was held at the new Hyatt Regency Denver at the convention center.

Respectfully Submitted by,

Stuart Monical, P.E., Chair

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2005-2006 ANNUAL REPORT EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Committee Members: Dean Bradley, Dave Frazier, Dan Donegon, Dave Hargrove, Jim Jannicke, Stan Kobayashi, Taka Kimura, Elizabeth Stolfus, Dorothy Eisnebraum, Dave Frick, Krisha Brooks, Eileen Hart, Scott Weisbeck, Alan Mencin, Mike Kibbee, Emily Skalsky, Mike Skinner, Leslie Shivers and Marilen Reimer.

The Education Committee has continued to promote and increase the awareness of the consulting engineering field to students at all levels. We continued our involvement with all of the major Colorado institutions of higher education as well as participated in activities promoting engineering to the middle school and high school students.

A brief recap of the committee’s activities:

Construction Career Days: The Education Committee participated in a two-day event at the Adams County Fairgrounds on October 5 and 6, 2005 promoting both engineering and construction activities to high school students. Working with the Constructors and Designers Alliance (CDA), the Education Committee demonstrated engineering activities for high school students and their teachers to experience firsthand possible career opportunities in the engineering industry. Members of ACEC demonstrated engineering activities including soils and materials testing, surveying including a GPS demonstration, a roundabout traffic circle demonstration with computer simulation and actual traffic flow using a scaled roundabout with students as the “vehicles” and a water flume demonstration using a portable hydraulic flume to show students the performance of various hydraulic structures used in highway drainage design. Many ACEC members also escorted groups of students through the various activities throughout the day.

Career Fairs: The committee sends representatives to career fairs at Colorado State University, University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado School of Mines each year. This program allows ACEC volunteers to speak with approximately 100 to 200 students at each career fair about consulting engineering career and internship opportunities. We also are able to provide information about the scholarship opportunities available through our scholarship program. The students are able to post their resumes, obtain scholarship information and get more information about member firms by using our web site.

Sub-Committees

Joint Education Committee: The Joint Education Committee has been working with CIT to initiate a college intern program. It is planned that the first group of interns will begin later in 2006 to provide for two six-month internship sessions.

Women Engineers’ Forum:  The Education Committee supports this subcommittee created to address special education topics specifically for women in engineering. In March SWE hosted the “Girls Exploring Science, Engineering and Technology” workshop to introduce female middle school students to real world aspects of science and engineering. A number of our ACEC members participated in this one-day workshop.

Other Committee Activities

Public Speaking/Presentations: The committee continues to offer to provide speakers for area schools and universities.

Senior Design Projects: The committee offers to work with local universities to provide assistance on senior design projects.

Outstanding Educator: Each year the Education Committee selects an outstanding educator from one of the middle or high schools across the state. Selection of this year’s recipient will be in the spring with the award presented at the annual meeting.

National Engineering Week Activities: The committee assists the PR committee in developing and enhancing an Engineer’s Week activities. The Education Committee also participates in the annual Bridge Building Contest sponsored by PEC, Bureau of Reclamation and ACEC/CO.

Respectfully submitted by:

Dan Donegon, Chairman

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2005-2006 ANNUAL REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE

This past year was an exciting year for this Committee, with many new, dedicated members and lots of energy.  The Committee met in May, June, August, October, November and December, 2005; and January, February, March and April 2006.  The February meeting was a liaison meeting with CDOT Region 6 environmental staff, and the October 2005, and January and April 2006 meetings were liaisons with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).  All of the meetings have been well attended.

We established the following goals for the committee: 

• Establish liaisons with CDPHE and CDOT, and meet with each 2 to 3 times per year
• Establish liaisons with other ACEC Committees, particulary the Legislative Committee.  Identify areas of common interest and work proactively on issues.
• Inform membership about changes in environmental regulations and standards on a routine and ongoing basis.
• Become a strong committee that adds value to our members
• Explore meetings with local, state and/or federal agencies, to identify upcoming project opportunities for our membership
• Provide input on proposed guidance documents and regulations
• Develop white papers on environmental issues in Colorado

We have accomplished the following towards those goals this year:

1. Establish liaisons with CDPHE and CDOT, and meet with each 2 to 3 times per year - we met with CDPHE 3 times, and with CDOT once
2. Establish liaisons with other ACEC Committees, particulary the Legislative Committee.  Identify areas of common interest and work proactively on issues - we have designated liaisons with the Legislative, Transportation and Water Resources committees.  We assisted the Legislative Committee with analysis of pertinent bills this spring.
3. Inform membership about changes in environmental regulations and standards on a routine and ongoing basis - we submitted two newsletter articles this year, summarizing information obtained from our liaison meetings
4. Become a strong committee that adds value to our members - we have increased our participation on this committee from 2 to 3 people, to a roster over 25, and attendance between 10 and 15 at every meeting.
5. Explore meetings with local, state and/or federal agencies, to identify upcoming project opportunities for our membership - we have designated a committee member to begin identifying these agencies, and we will work on this goal during 2006 - 2007.
6. Provide input on proposed guidance documents and regulations - we provided input on the proposed Dry Cleaner Remediation guidance document, and have identified future opportunities with CDPHE.  We have also brain-stormed with CDPHE on how to assist them in getting their information out to the regulated community.
7. Develop white papers on environmental issues in Colorado - we have a list of potential issues (attached)

We have designated the following responsibilities for the 2006 - 2007 year:

Committee Chairperson - Matt Wigle, Kleinfelder

• CDPHE Liaison - Dave Stewart and Lauren Evans
• CDOT Liaison - we will ask either Jane Boand or Brian Kennedy to assume this role
• Programs - Matt Wigle and John Van Wegen

Committee Members: Judy Aranda, Angela Bellantoni, Matthew Benak, Jane Boand, Tracy Bouvette, Andy Brummer, Daniel Bush, Belinda Butler-Veytia, Julie Carver, Steve Dole, Doug Eberhart, Ernesto Enrique, Scott Epstein, Lauren Evans (Chair and Board Liaison), Tim Eversoll, Andrew Flynn, Tom Fox, Jennifer Hudson, Brian Kennedy, Jerry Kenny, Mark Levorsen, Laura Lutz-Zimmerman, Jennifer Meyer, Dan Miller, John Murray, David Rau, Kevin Roth, Bob Scavazzo, Cheryl Signs, Peter Smith, Richard Sprague, Dave Stewart, Joe Tamburini, John Van Wazer Jim Viellenave, William Wallace, Matthew Wigle, Sonia Yungeberg.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Lauren Evans, Chair

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT EXPERT WITNESS COMMITTEE

 

In the last two years we have had two ethics and two practice seminars:

 

1.      The 2005 Ethics Seminar was titled, “Professional Ethics For Engineers: How To Prevent An Ethical Disaster,” presented by Dr. O. C. Ferrell, Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Wyoming, and Dr. Linda Ferrell, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Wyoming.

2.      The 2006 Practices seminar, “Expectations of an Engineering Witness,” was held in May 2006, presented by Judge Raymond Jones (retired), Darrel Holmquist, PE, CCE, Vice President, CTL-Thompson, Inc., and Peter Monroe, PE, Principal, Monroe & Newell Engineers, Inc.

3.      “Creating an Ethical Culture Within Your Firm” was held in November 2006. Presentation by Bud Ahearn, Senior Vice President, CH2M-Hill, with a panel including Lauren Evans, PE, President, Pinyon Environmental Engineering; James Sato, PE, CCE, President, J.F. Sato & Associates, Inc.; and Neville “Bud” Gaines, PE, CCE, (retired), former Principal of MKK Consulting Engineers, Inc.

4.      “When the Gavel Falls” – Brief Mock Trials on Current Issues such as Standard of Care, and a review of recent laws by the legislature and Supreme Court Ruling - Attorneys Byrum Lee and Scott Sullan, and Judge Raymond Jones (retired).

 

All seminars were well attended, with financial, technical and public recognition (e.g. attorney’s) benefit to ACEC/CO. The educational benefit to ACEC/CO members is significant.

 

One of the key goals of the expert witness program is to provide engineering expert witnesses who perform their services and provide testimony in an objective and honest manner, and not as an advocate of the client’s or attorney’s legal position. The objective then is to provide such engineering experts to the public, agencies and courts, with the outcome that large disparity in services and testimony of experts will be greatly reduced.

 

We are making progress in terms of new certificants and recognition of the program by the Attorneys. Byrum Lee, Scott Sullan, and Judge Jones are all very supportive of the program. Scott Sullan was not well informed about the program prior to our contact, but was appreciative and I am confident will spread the word. Judge Jones was a speaker at two of our seminars and is extremely supportive. He is now retired as a Colorado Court of Appeals Judge, and is a professor at Metro. We can be sure he is spreading the word, and is informing his students and colleagues of the program. We have received 4 new applications this year and have advertised in the 2007 edition of The Colorado Legal Directory and sent out notification cards to attorneys. Janet Williams has written an article, “You're Headed To Court - Do You Have A Certified Witness? “ which was published in the March 2007 edition of the Colorado Public Works Journal.

 

More significant impact should be achieved in the future with a larger public “marketing” effort and communication with other engineering organizations so they know our program is available to them.  We have requested a increase in our marketing budget, given the success of the program and need for larger impact. There are many qualified experts, both ACEC/CO members and non-members, who should be certificants.

 

A major effort was participation in the PE Board PE Rule Changes for Forensic Services. Several committee and ACEC/CO members were involved. Joe Tamburini was a participant in the Forensic Task Force. Janet Williams and Dave Sellards are members of the PE Board Rule Making Committee. After the Forensic Task Force Report was issued, CAGE and ASFE both issued letters recommending changes. The Expert Witness Committee met with these groups and PEC. We were successful in developing consensus on suggested modifications to the proposed rules (4 points of 12 new rules) and supporting the PE Board’s efforts to improve the rules. We made recommendations to the ACEC/CO Board, which adopted the position and finalized our suggested draft letter. At our recent Seminar we informed the attendees of the status of the rule changes and requested their letters or testimony in support of the ACEC/CO-ASFE-CAGE-PEC position.  A Hearing has not been set by the PE Board. We will continue to monitor activities.

 

Gregg TenEyck and I nominated Janet Williams as the new chair, and she accepted.

 

2006-07 Committee Members: Frank Holliday; Jim McFall; Kent Petersen; Dave Sellards; Bill Taggart (co-chair); Joe Tamburini, Gregg Ten Eyck (co-chair), and Janet Williams.

Respectfully submitted by,
Bill Taggart, Co-Chair

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT GOLF COMMITTEE

I am glad that Sandy asked me to write this report and not my score. At the ACEC/CO Annual Golf Tournament, enthusiasm and spirits were high of the 72 golfers registered for the September 15th event at Buffalo Run Golf Course. We sold a whole bunch of Mulligans and 10’ lengths of string - believe me some of us needed all the help and then some. The Sponsors went all the way sponsoring all holes, lunch and Hole-in-One. However, the insurance company escaped without having to surrender the Hole-in-One $2,000 cash prize. They knew this group does not have Tiger Woods amongst them. Well, there is always next year. Maybe we’ll have a Ferrari next year for the Hole-in-One and then we can really get serious about our game.

Seriously, we had lots of fun and the tournament helped get us out of the office. In the process we made money for the organization and we were able to donate $6,000 to the ACEC/CO Scholarship Fund.

We’re now planning the 2006 Golf Tournament at Fossil Trace Golf Course in Golden on August 30^th.  It will continue to be a Member/Guest event with the Scholarship Fund being the beneficiary.  Start planning your foursomes and practicing your game!

Committee Members: Barney Fix, Brad Foos (Scholarship Committee Liaison), Bill Hamouz, Mike Kibbee, Narender Kumar (Chair), Stan Neujahr, Duane Jansen, Marilen Reimer, Leslie Shivers

Respectfully submitted,
Narender Kumar, Chair

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

 

“Provide direct interaction with the State legislature and pursue actions in support of member firm interests. Promote agency liaisons where appropriate.”

 

I.          Legislative Committee Members:

 

Michael Ellsberry (Chair 2006-2007), Bill Artist, Lacee Artist, Dave Adams, Mark Boggs, Weylan Bryant, Rob Burns, Ray Chamberlain, James Daves, Sandy Donnel, , Chris Fabian, Greg Fischer, David Frazier, Heather Garrish,  Mark Hamouz, Billy Harris, Steve Holt, James Kowalsky, Charles McKnight, Edwin Mighell, Dean Peterson, Bradley Rastall,  Robert Refvem, Marilen Reimer, Greg. Roush, Kenneth Rudolph,  Barry Schulz, Dave Sellards, David Stewart, Joseph Tamburini, Gregg Ten Eyck, Edwin Toms, Richard Weed, Erin Wilson, Douglas Yadon, Eugene Zimmer.

 

II.         Activities for this Year:

 

The ACEC-CO Legislative Committee has meets monthly during the legislative session.  The leadership of the committee is in contact with Marilen and Lacee & Bill Artist almost on a daily basis.  There are approximately 34 members on the committee, however typically less than 10 members attend each meeting.  Each meeting of the Committee deals with items under deliberation and activities that have occurred on key measures since the last meeting.  

 

Our activities include:

• Tracking legislation that is of interest to our members.

• Organize testimony to legislative committees on issues of importance.

• Encourage our membership to be actively engaged in the legislative process.

• Review and track Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives.

• Advocate for legislation and policies that create a favorable business climate for engineering companies in the State of Colorado.

• Promote education to our members of the legislative and political process and encourage their involvement.

• Develop relationships with members of the State Legislature to be a trusted resource.

• Utilize our lobbyist as needed to promote ACEC/CO’s political agenda.

• Track National legislation that has potential impacts on our Colorado firms; Federal Procurement, Healthcare, Transportation Reauthorization, etc.

• Distribute Issues of Concerns to Consulting Engineering Firms to Senators and Representatives for the legislative session.

• Work closely with CEPAC and ACEPAC to exchange information and be aware of PAC activities.

• As part of our Legislative Advocacy Program we will conduct breakfast/lunch meetings during the off session time in various regions of the State creating opportunities for members to meet their legislators.  We plan several events hosting legislators to educate members on legislative issues:

• Meeting Programs – Focus a General Meeting this year on Legislative or Referendum Issues

• Co-Host Legislative Day at the Capitol with AIA and AGC.

 

Our Legislative Lobbyists, Mr. Bill Artist and Ms. Lacee Artist, attend our legislative committee meetings to share what is happening in the Colorado Legislature and to get direction from the committee on ACEC’s position for proposed bills of interest.

 

Marilen Reimer organizes and attends events, review proposed bills and distribute to appropriate committees for ACEC position.  Marilen assists with drafting agendas, meeting notices, letters, and position papers and send them out to members.  Marilen organizes weekly phone conference calls as needed during the legislative session, for bill status, and testimony needs.

 

III.       Budget

 

The Committee has operated within its budget this past year.  We recommend increasing our budget by $2,000.00 for next year to allow our lobbyist to accompany us on our trip to Washington next April.

 

Respectfully submitted by: 

 Mike Ellsberry

2006-2007 Legislative Committee Chair

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2005 - 06 ANNUAL REPORT MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

The membership committee continues to be very active and successful.  Major specific recent actions have included:

• Recruitment efforts of targeted firms.  We have continued to use target lists to identify potential members, and then make phone or in-person visits to educate the firms of the value of ACEC.   Typically the potential firm receives follow-up hard copy information and application packages.  The committee is continually updating and modifying our targets as the Colorado engineering community changes.

We have had a successful year to date.  Index numbers and total numbers of firms are up.  In fact, Colorado continues to meet member recruitment goals as set by ACEC.

• Retention of “at-risk” firms.  We continue to work with at risk firms to increase participation, and have pushed to get younger employees of member firms involved.  We believe that this has been a successful strategy that has reduced turnover and increased participation.  This continues to be a point of emphasis.
  
  
• Our committee has grown, and we now have fully integrated “area representatives” from outlying areas to participate in the membership committee.  (They often participate via teleconference to minimize travel but maximize participation.)  Combined with ACEC-CO’s attempts at regional meetings (Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, etc.) we are increasing our efforts to recruit from beyond the metro Denver area. We now have 4 area representatives that help us recruit and retain members from outlying areas.  Membership committee members are also reaching out and attending, as possible, member meeting in outlying areas.
  
  
• We are utilizing affinity programs and other incentives within the recruitment process.  A number of firms have joined in part for access to the Life Health Trust, and once they have joined we are attempting to integrate them more fully into ACEC-CO.  It is interesting to note that the programs can attract new types of firms to ACEC (e.g.. we are adding a mining engineering firm) and that may lead to new sources of potential members.

For the 2006/2007 year, Woody Bryant is taking chairmanship of the committee. Members are: Bob Anderson, Scott Epstein, Bob Felsburg, Bill Hoffmann, Brien Gidlow, Lee Johnson, Edwin Mighell, Brien Gidlow (Board Liaison), Tom Moore Bill Siegel, Craig Watts.Sally Wade.

Respectfully submitted: 
Bill Siegel and Bob Felsburg, 2005/2006 Co-Chairs

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT NOMINATING COMMITTEE

The purpose of the nominating committee is to recommend potential candidates for office in ACEC Colorado.  The committee was comprised of Bruce Berends, John Cunningham, Scott Beck, Lauren Evans, Brien Gidlow, and Dave Adams.

 

The following candidates were nominated and sent to the Board of Directors for approval.

 

CANDIDATES:
           Secretary-Treasurer:                  Rob Refvem

Director, District 1- Metro        Heather Reavey

Director, District 2-South          John Clark

Director, District 4-West           Jim Lenzotti                 

CONTINUING OFFICERS:

The following will advance as follows:

            President                                  Brien Gidlow
            Vice President                          Lauren Evans
            Past President                           Stuart Monical

National Director                      Mark Hamouz

 

 CONTINUING DIRECTORS

Director, District 1-Metro         Scott Beck
            Director, District 1-Metro         Greg Fischer
            Director, District 1-Metro         Mike Sayler
            Director, District 3-North          Tom Chapel

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Dave Adams

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT PRESIDENTS' COUNCIL

The Council continues to be a great resource for our organization. Those who came actively participated.  I believe the Council is a great bridge between our heritage and our future.


The following actions were taken:

• Recommended Narender Kumar, P.E., to be a member of ACEC Committee of Fellows

• Recommended Dave Stewart, P.E., for the Orley Phillips Award.

• Discussed the Council being a expert resource for State Engineer Board for the purpose of investigating complaints.

Respectfully submitted,

Bud Gaines, Chair

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE

 

No issues were brought before the Board regarding a members’ professional conduct this year.

 

Respectfully Submitted by:

Brien N. Gidlow

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/PROGRAMS COMMITTEE

The program committee, chaired by Sally Corey, met last spring for a planning session to determine the program and seminars for the year.  This was the first time ACEC planned a year in advance for monthly programs and seminars.  This approach allowed the organization to promote program topics well in advance, saved the committee time in only having to meet once to determine topics and schedule, and produced some new program approaches.  This year the Program Committee planned two 8-on-8 programs: one on transportation related development and the other featured representatives from economic development councils from the Front Range. These successful programs allowed members to meet with speakers over lunch in a small setting to learn specifics regarding local projects and activities. 

 

This was a transitional year for the program committee in learning about the change in attendance and desires of our members.  The association is successful with seminars in small groups on specific topics.  Short seminars (half-day maximum) are successful in both attendance and income.  Full day and multiply day programs are not well attended. The members look to ACEC for specialized training, information and client contact that they can’t receive elsewhere and the Association met this challenge with specific industry program topics for monthly meetings and specialized seminars.

 

The Future Leaders Program, started 8 years ago, continues to be a popular series of management training topics.  This was one of the best attended programs in the line-up this year.  

 

Committee Members are: Sally Corey, Outsourcing Marketing, (Chair); Wendy Amann, York Engineering Services, Inc.; Timothy Corrigan, R.W. Beck; Melvin Dahlberg, Bohannan-Huston; Jeff Eckerle, Deltek; Thomas Fairley, Kiowa Engineering; Tracy Lyman, Lyman Henn, Inc.; Kevin Roth, Harris Kocher Smith; Gregg Ten Eyck, Leonard Rice Engineers; Adrienne Thiele, üli Creative; Mike Yost, Olsson Associates; Brien Gidlow, HDR (Board Liaison); Marilen Reimer, ACEC/CO; Leslie Shivers, ACEC/CO

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Sally Corey, Chair

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2006-07 ANNUAL REPORT PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE

 

The Mission of the Public Relations Committee is to develop programs that promote and enhance the image of the Colorado engineering professional. The committee’s objective is to promote ACEC and the consulting engineering profession on a frequent basis throughout the entire state. The committee will also provide support to all the other ACEC-CO committees and the overall organization to assist in the promotion of engineering companies. 

 

The missions also includes increasing public awareness about engineering companies and position the Council as the leading resource for engineering information for members, state and local government, educators, target business and associations, the media and the general public.          

 

Committee Members for 2006-2007:

Rob Refvem (Felsburg Holt & Ullevig), Chair; Dave Frazier (Merrick & Company), Past Chair; Marilen Reimer (ACEC Executive Director); Leslie Shivers (ACEC Assistant Executive Director); Adrienne Thiele (üli Creative); Jeanine Spellman (üli Creative); Chuck Keyes (Martin/Martin); Barb Long (Pinyon Environmental); Brad Foos (Foos Financial); Bill Hamouz (LONCO); Fred Berkey (Merrick & Company); and others

 

PR Consultant

ACEC’s Public Relations Consultant is üli Creative.  They assist with preparing PR materials, planning events, advertising, press releases, composing the profile magazine articles, designing the cover for the directory and profile magazine, video presentation of the engineering excellent awards banquet and other PR efforts.  üli Creative sent out an updated media kit to the media. 

 

Activities for 2006-2007:

 

Press Releases

Had numerous press releases and got good coverage of our 50^th Gala in three trade magazines. Got coverage in local publications for new officers and scholarship contributions both last year and this year.  News releases were published for the Award winners for the Excellent awards.  Sandy’s retirement and Marilen’s new position was well covered by the trade magazines.  Denver Business Journal, Colorado Public Works Journal, AGC Magazine, Daily Journal, and the Colorado Real Estate Journal, are publications that have supported us well.  We have had some success with the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post from time to time. 

 

50^th Anniversary Gala Event

The committee planned, organized and carried out the 50^th Gala event in June of 2006.  The event was the first of its kind to be held at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  The Gala raised $35,000 for the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory.  The event was well attended and got great press.  The prior committee did the majority of the planning and is to be congratulated for such a successful event.

 

Directory

The PR Committee provided input for the Annual Directory cover design.  Uli Creative prepared design ideas and the committee selected the final picture.  Mesa Verde was used on the directory cover to show that we study the past and learn from their creativity.  That infrastructure should be designed to endure for decades. 

 

Profile Magazine

In January the 2007 profile magazine was published and distributed.  It focused on the “New Breed of Engineer”, Humanitarian degrees, and growing Colorado Engineers. 

 

National Engineers Week

During National Engineers week, ACEC held a special meeting to announce the “Outstanding Women in Engineering” awards, as well as the “New Faces in Engineering Awards. 

 

Summer Social

Began planning for summer social “Dancing with the Engineers” to be held in June 2006.  Set venue and format, recruited participants and set schedule for practice. 

 

Media Training

Began planning for media and crisis training to be held in May 2007 at board orientation.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Rob Refvem, Chair

 

 

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2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT QBS COLORADO

Directors

QBSColorado is comprised of a board made up of members from four professional organizations: ACEC, the America Institute of Architects (AIA), and the Professional Engineers of Colorado (PEC), which each hold three seats; and the Colorado Association of Geotechnical Engineers (CAGE), who holds one seat. The Certified Consulting Engineers of Colorado (CCEC) previously held one seat on the board but due to their reorganization they are no longer a board member or do they provide financial support on an annual basis to QBS ($1,200 per year). We thank each of our sponsoring organizations for their support.

QBSColorado runs on a calendar year term (January-December). Greg Sekera (ACEC) became Chairman on January 1, 2006 replacing Steve Bagley (PEC). Sue Bertram is Facilitator/Coordinator; Sandy Donnel (ACEC), Sonia Riggs (AIA), and Roberta Bourn (PEC) are Ex Officio’s. There were changes in Directors this past year most noted were the resignations of Steve Bagley (PEC) and Seth Rosenman (AIA), and the addition of Alan Claybourn (CAGE). A current Directors list for 2006 is available from the QBS Coordinator, Sue Bertram, at sue@bertramlaw.net. We appreciate the support, insight, and direction of past and present Directors.

Accomplishments and Activities

The following is summary of the major accomplishments and activities performed this past year.