Just as Congress is looking to
stimulate the economy and to create jobs, so are our
Colorado legislators. Since the legislative session
convened on January 7th, the buzz has been to find new
sources of transportation funding and to search for
“Jobs by June” which is the charge of the new Committee
on Job Creation and Economic Growth.
Both sides of the aisle are busy and
determined to produce legislation that will address both
issues, and so has ACEC/CO. In December, ACEC/CO
President Lauren Evans and Executive Director Marilen
Reimer testified before the Job Creation committee on
the impact the economy has had on member firms.
Currently, we are compiling information from our members
in response to the committee’s request on how current
regulations are impacting your businesses and impeding
job growth. ACEC/CO member, Mark Mehalko of AECOM, sits
on this committee of legislators and business
representatives.
On Thursday, January 15th, the House
Democrats proposed $825-billion economic stimulus
legislation, “The
American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009." CDOT
prepared a summary of the bill that has $40 billion for
transportation infrastructure.
Last week, Jim Brady, ACEC/CO
Transportation Committee Chair; Mark Boggs, ACEC/CO
Legislative Committee Chair; Marilen Reimer; and ACEC/CO
Lobbyists Bill and Lacee Artist met with Senate Minority
Leader Josh Penry concerning transportation funding. On
Wednesday January 14th, Governor Ritter announced the
“Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and
Economic Recovery” (FASTER) legislation that is meant to
stimulate Colorado’s economy and create jobs. Also,
Representative Spencer Swalm has asked several ACEC/CO
members for assistance on his proposed tolling bill.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, ACEC/CO will
host its annual “Legislative Day." Registration opens at 10:30 am in the Old Supreme Court
Chambers at the State Capitol to hear from leadership;
lunch will be at 12 noon at the Red Room Restaurant at
320 E. Colfax in Denver; at 1:30 pm we will go back to
the Capitol to attend committee hearings. As of this
writing 21 legislators have already responded that
they will attend. Please contact your legislators
and encourage them to attend with you. View the
flyer,
or
register.
This is a great time to be involved!
Your legislators want to hear from you.
by Nancy Whitsel of
Performance Resources Consulting, and ACEC/CO Future Leaders
Instructor
What do Managers do? How
should you be spending your valuable time? In all
professions, supervisors are involved in a variety of
tasks. As a new project manager, you will need to focus
on the 5 Managerial Functions in addition to your
project work. Understanding these extra responsibilities
gives you skills in "people management."
Planning
Establish goals and determine how to accomplish them so
that your project has a clear direction. Scope of work
and desired results need to be clearly outlined. You do
this by developing written goals to focus staff efforts
on the overall plan.
Organizing
Determines activities and the sequence for
completion. Organizing establishes a relationship
between the tasks and authority. It defines levels of
responsibility, chain of command and structure of work
plan. You are responsible to structure work in the most
effective and efficient way to accomplish the project
goals.
Staffing
Care and attention to needs of your people involves
hiring, training, developing supervising and evaluating.
Working with your staff is important because it deals
with the most valuable resource of your organization—the
people.
Coaching
This is a valuable communication tool. Good managers
provide feedback on staff progress by explaining and
encouraging. As a coach, you listen, advise, guide,
share knowledge, challenge and support. You must both
compliment and provide corrective comments necessary to
keep staff on track.
Leading
The visionary initiates action for getting work done
by communicating goals and expectations, then gaining
commitment. Enlightened managers are leaders who provide
the big picture, include staff ideas in planning, and
grant autonomy. The result is motivated people want to
do their best work.
These functions are most
successful when they are coordinated, integrated, and
focused on client satisfaction. To learn the specifics
of how to implement each of these steps, read more about
Future Leader workshops starting March 5, 2009. The
brochure will show how your project managers can benefit
by attending. To register please call Jennifer Shaw at
303-832-2200 or e-mail
jennifer@acec-co.org.
© 2009 Nancy Whitsel, Performance Resources Consulting
Prospective Individual Members
James Allen, BLN Colorado
Todd Bragdon, Camp Dresser &
McKee, Inc.
Prospective Sustaining Members
Robert Eadie, IntraSearch, Inc.
Welcome New Members
Charles
Keim, Collins Engineers, Inc: 1711 15th
Street, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302. 303-447-0030
ckeim@collinsengr.com.
Charles is a graduate of the University of Colorado with
a BS in Civil Engineering. Collins Engineers, Inc.
performs general civil engineering design and management
for municipal and land development. Recommendations came
from John Baur, Joe Nicol, and Ed Glassgow.
John Gauthiere, Gauthiere Engineering, Inc.:
2157 Buena Vista Drive, Greeley, CO 80634. 970-330-0855
john@gauthiere-engineering.com.
John is a graduate
of Lamar State College with a BS in Environmental
Science. He also received a BS degree in Civil
Engineering from Lamar University, Texas. Gauthiere
Engineering, Inc. provides consulting engineering
services for municipalities, ditch and irrigation
companies, educational institutes, contractors, and
development corporations. Recommendations came from Rodd
Harr, Dick Huwa, Rich Weingardt.
Andrew
Garner, Terracon Consultants, Inc.: 10625 W.
I-70 Frontage Rd. N., #3, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.
303-423-3300
ajgarner@terracon.com.
Andrew is a graduate of the University of Colorado with
a BS in Civil Engineering. Recommendations came from
Dave Harwood, Lewis Israel, and Michael West.
Philip Hart,
Landesign Consulting Engineers: 326 Main Street,
Grand Junction, CO 81501. Phone: 970-245-4099 Email:
philh@landesignconsultingengineers.com.
Philip is a graduate of Ferris State University with a
AA in Architectural Design. He also received a BS degree
in civil engineering from Michigan Tech University.
Landesign Consulting Engineers completes land
development, hydrology, drainage, transportation, site
design, restoration and gas well field engineering
projects as well as surveying services in land
surveying, gas field development, mining and
construction staking. Recommendations came from Rick
Weed, Martin Chenoweth, and Frederick Larsen.
Welcome New
Affiliate Members
Curtis Parker, Civil Arts-Drexel
Group, Inc.: 1860 Lefthand Circle, Suite A,
Longmont, CO 80504. 303-682-1131,
cparker@civilarts.us. Curtis is a graduate of the
University of Nebraska with a BS degree in Civil
Engineering he also received a MS degree in Civil
Engineering from the University of Colorado.
Recommendations came from Roger Walker, Peter Loris, and
David Love.
|
In 2006, ACEC/CO and its members raised $36,400 for the
Denver Botanic Gardens to help restore the Boettcher
Tropical Conservatory – a Denver area landmark and
engineering icon.
Last
year, we raised $19,000 for the Denver Zoo’s Asian
Tropics project, which was matched for a total
contribution of $38,000. The Asian Tropics project will
be the first LEED®-certified zoo exhibit in the world.
(L-R) Zoo staff George Pond and
Roseanne Davis with Marilen Reimer, ACEC/CO
Executive
Director, Lauren Evans, ACEC/CO 2008-09 President, and
Denver Zoo
CEO Craig Piper, at the 2008 ACEC/CO
Fundraiser.
Program
Goals
Our
fundraisers serve not only to help deserving Colorado
projects, but also enhance the image of consulting
engineers through giving back to the community and
highlighting their engineering contributions.
This
year we’re looking for a deserving venue outside of
Denver that has relevance to the engineering profession
in some form. Do you know of a worthy cause that
could use some fundraising assistance?
ACEC/CO
provides:
¨
$1,000
as seed money to support the event.
¨
Staff
support for event development, implementation and public
relations, and for managing onsite registration and
logistics.
For
more information, see the complete
guidelines and planning outline, or contact Marilen
Reimer at 303-832-2200 or
mar@acec-co.org.
ACEC/CO Events
CDOT, FHWA and ACEC/CO are taking
a collaborative effort to define what makes a quality
NEPA document and how to get there. To this end, we are
co-hosting two workshops. The first workshop will be
February 26th, 1:00 - 5:00 pm at the Police Protective
Association, 2105 Decatur St. The next will be April
16th, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at FHWA, 12300 West Dakota
Ave., Trail Ridge Rd. Conf. Rm, Lakewood. Register for
the workshops by sending your name, agency/company,
e-mail address and the days you plan to attend to
deborah.mcalexander@fhwa.dot.gov by January
30th. For general questions and more information contact
Stephanie Gibson at
Stephanie.gibson@fhwa.dot.gov.
Sponsors of the 2008 Colorado
Transportation Conference and ACEC/CO Reception
ACEC/CO thanks the sponsors of the
Transportation Conference held December 9, 2008. We
appreciate your support!
Conference sponsors:
● Platinum sponsors:
AECOM, Jacobs, URS
●
Gold sponsors: American Concrete
Paving Association, Colorado Contractors Association,
Figg
Bridge Engineers, PB America
●
Silver sponsors: Buhannan Huston,
HDR, HNTB, Huitt-Zollars, Muller Engineering Co., PBS&J,
SEH
●
Bronze sponsors: David Evans &
Assoc., Stantec
ACEC/CO Reception sponsors:
● AECOM Transportation
●
Muller Engineering
●
CTL/Thompson, Inc.
●
Parametrix Consulting Group, Inc.,
●
Felsburg Holt & Ullevig
●
PBS&J
●
Hartwig & Assoc.
●
Pinyon Environmental Engineering
Resources, Inc.
●
Hatch Mott MacDonald
●
RockSol Consulting Group, Inc.
●
HDR
●
Smith Environmental and Engineering
●
Huitt-Zollars, Inc.
●
URS Corporation
●
Kleinfelder
●
Wilson & Company
●
Merrick & Company
News from National
General
-
The FOX Business
News interview with ACEC President on
infrastructure-based stimulus legislation (Click
here to view) is part of ACEC’s overall
legislative and PR campaign to address
infrastructure issues.
-
Provided
guidance to ACEC state organizations for
state input to Obama infrastructure stimulus
package across a range of areas from
transportation and water to schools and
energy.
-
Draft QBS study by University
of Colorado/Georgia Tech research team –
first empirical study of the advantages of QBS –
was distributed to to state leadership.
Final editing and publication to be
completed by January/February.
-
Minuteman Fund
grant awarded ACEC/West Virginia to defend
against QBS law repeal effort.
Government Affairs
-
Provided input
to Obama transition teams on environmental
and energy issues, and for implementation of
the new engineering student loan forgiveness
program.
-
Accelerated
lobbying effort for presidential transition
and congressional leaders on infrastructure
stimulus bill and related priorities.
-
Worked with
senior Senate committee staff on concerns
with flawed draft DOT Inspector General’s
audit of firm overhead.
Institute
for Business Management
-
State-by-state
list of business and organizational
requirements for opening an engineering
office has been added to the Contracts
Central website (store.contractscentral.org/).
-
Publications
bestseller for the month: BIM SmartReport,
published by McGraw-Hill Research with
support from ACEC
The national
ACEC has been working to respond to an audit being
conducted by the USDOT Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The audit, which was initiated at the request of a few
state DOT auditors, has focused on firm overhead, and
specifically executive compensation and whether firms
are complying with FAR-based rules governing what’s
allowable and reasonable compensation. As part of the
audit, the OIG has also examined whether state DOTs and
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are fulfilling
their oversight and enforcement roles properly.
ACEC’s concerns have focused on how
OIG staff interpreted overhead data supplied by the
firms and drawn conclusions with respect to FAR
compliance. The data pool comes from a small number of
firms, and their interpretation of the FAR has at times
been flawed in determining whether the firm’s overhead
is in compliance, and their preliminary findings have
often not been supported by the data.
OIG recently finalized a draft report
and transmitted it to FHWA for comment. FHWA has 30
calendar days to comment on the draft report. We have
not had the opportunity to review the draft report, but the OIG staff briefed ACEC on the major findings:
$10.7 million in excessive executive
compensation was found among 24 firms using 2003 data
($4.4 million of that total was federal funding). From
this estimate, the OIG extrapolated an excessive
compensation amount of $41.2 million. The extrapolation
has a 78% margin of error, according to the OIG’s own
statistician.
In addition to its conclusions on
executive compensation, the OIG also examined a smaller
data sample of 10 firms and identified $5 million in
other unallowable charges.
The OIG will further conclude that A/E
firms are not accountable, there are no penalties in
place for non-compliance, more training is needed for
CPAs conducting FAR compliance audits, and the oversight
by state DOTs and FHWA has not been effective. As a
result, the OIG will recommend:
- Strengthening regulations on
indirect and allowable costs
- Reference made to the current
effort on the AASHTO Audit Guide Update
- CEOs or CFOs should personally
certify firm overhead
- DOTs should assess penalties
against firms with excessive overhead
- Issuing guidance on audit
services to improve audit quality
- Recovering unallowable executive
compensation and expenses
- Establishing a process for
determining and overseeing cognizant agency audits
- Implement Section 307, including
single cognizant audit and uniform FAR-based
procurement rules
FHWA recognizes that the OIG did not
perform a full audit of a contract, and wants to work
with ACEC to reach a conclusion on cost recovery issues.
A group of ACEC members is evaluating
these findings, and ACEC staff will brief Capitol Hill
staff to ensure that the perspective and concerns of
both industry and our DOT clients are understood when
the final report becomes public, which we expect could
happen before the end of the year.
-Submitted by Steve Hall, ACEC Vice President,
Government Affairs
Judges Needed for Future City Colorado Regional
The Future City Colorado Regional is
coming up Saturday Jan. 24th, and judges are needed to
help interact with the participating middle-school students. Judges
are not limited to engineers. City planners, community
builders and volunteers, and business leaders are also
needed to make sure questioning covers all aspects of
running a city. If you are interested and would like
more information contact David at 720-985-5327 or
volunteer@futurecity-co.org. Check out the E-week
Future City video on
YouTube.
COMTO Scholarship
Conference of Minority Transportation
Officials (COMTO Colorado) will award up to five (5)
scholarships for the 2008-2009 school year to minority
and women students who express an interest in pursuing
college studies in a transportation-related field. Each
scholarship award is offered for tuition, books, and/or
room and board expenses. The application deadline
is February 9th, 2009. For more information and to apply
visit
www.comtocolorado.org/Scholarship_Info/
Judges Wanted for Science & Engineering Fair
If you enjoy science, have a good
knowledge base and enjoy working with students, please
consider judging at the 2009 Denver Metropolitan
Regional Science and Engineering Fair on Wednesday,
February 25th at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
The judges orientation/networking session begins at
11:00 am, to which all judges are encouraged to attend.
Register before February 13th. For more information
contact Meredith Tennis at 303-315-0017 or
meredith.tennis@uchsc.edu
ACEC/CO Magazine Published
 Our 2009
ACEC/CO annual magazine has been published and mailed
out to all of our member firms and 7500 owners,
developers, architects, contractors and agencies. "It's an
extremely successful and well-received magazine," said ACEC/CO Executive Director, Marilen Reimer.
A special thanks goes out to those member firms who
submitted articles and advertisements. If you would like
a copy of the magazine please contact us at
kimbrezall@acec-co.org.
Highlight Your Firm as Part of ACEC's 100th
Anniversary Celebration
Be a part of
the ACEC 100-year Celebration! ACEC will publish a
commemorative issue of Engineering Inc. with the
March/April issue, which will feature a decade-by-decade
chronology of Council contributions and the century's
most notable Member Firm achievements.
Special advertising space is available to
congratulate ACEC for its 100 years of service; celebrate
your own firm's contribution's to ACEC and the industry;
or commemorate
the important role of engineering in the nation's
progress. Contact Nina
Goldman at
ngoldman@acec.org or 202-682-4325.
Engineers in the News
Martin/Martin, Inc.
Martin/Martin, Inc. has announced
the promotion of Dwight L. Gilbert, PE, Gregory G.
Gillmor, PE, and Mark D. Thornbrough,
PE to Associates in the firm:
 Dwight
Gilbert, PE, is a structural engineer with 13 years
experience in the structural design of steel, concrete,
masonry and wood structures from preliminary design
through completion of construction. His experience
includes educational, recreational, retail, religious,
residential, medical and industrial facilities, as well
as the evaluation and renovation of existing structures.
 Gregory
G. Gillmor, PE, joined Martin/Martin’s
Investigative Engineering Department in 2000. His
primary areas of expertise include structural
evaluation, repair, and retrofit of existing buildings.
He is an active member of the American Concrete
Institute's (ACI) Technical Committee 440 on
Fiber-Reinforced Polymers, and is on the board of
directors for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the
International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI).
 Mark
D. Thornbrough, PE, is a civil engineer at
Martin/Martin with 18 years experience, in a variety
of civil engineering projects involving site development
of commercial, residential, sports/recreation, and
education facilities including private and public
utility infrastructure. Project experience includes site
master planning and layout, road and highway design,
floodplain analysis and channel design, water and
wastewater distribution/collection systems, entitlement
and platting, surveying and construction administration.
 Elizabeth
A. Jones, PE, has joined Martin/Martin's
structural engineering department as an
Associate. With more than 20 years of structural
engineering experience, Ms. Jones brings expertise in
all aspects of the engineering profession including
business development, recruiting, staff development,
technical standards and financial. She received a MS
degree from University of Texas at Austin and a BS from
Princeton University. She holds licenses as a structural
engineer in California, Nevada, Arizona and Oregon and
is a licensed professional engineer in Colorado, Texas
and Missouri.
Martin/Martin, Inc. has also announced recent
promotions in the structural and civil engineering
departments of their Lakewood and Cheyenne, WY offices:
Kevin Dunham, PE is now a Senior
Investigative Engineer.
Daniel Mullins, PE
and
Garth Scholl, PE, SE,
are Senior Professional Engineers.
Christopher D'Ascanio, PE, Phillip Krieble, PE, and
David Kuntz, PE are new Senior Project Engineers.
Nickolas Ereckson, PE, Charlie McLean, PE and
David Mitchell, PE are Professional Engineers.
Robert ‘Skip’ Cromley was promoted to Senior
Designer. Micah Geiger and
Eric Johnson have been promoted to the position
of Designer. Heath Macleod has been promoted to
Project CAD Operator, Ronald Field has been
promoted to CAD Technician, and new CAD II Operators are
Matthew Chapa and Julian Chavez. Brent Hanlon
has been promoted from Engineer Intern to Engineer I.
Amanda Miller, Benoit Cordoba, Danny Trujillo, Diana
Hunt, Ellie Montoya, Erica Toren, Jennifer Frank,
Jessica Sayers, Kevin Haas, Matthew Dezort, Michael
Kueny, Michael Renes, Nathan Winslow, Patrick Roberts,
and Renee Anderson
have been promoted to Engineer II.
Nolte News
Nolte welcomes
new staff members Blake Calvert, PE; Philip Dalrymple,
PE; Steve Taylor, PE; and Michael Welker, PE. Blake brings experience in
large, mixed-use development projects. Philip will be
working on drainage, utility and roadway planning.
Steve’s focus is entitlement, site planning and
infrastructure design for large commercial and
residential developments. Michael brings a strong water
resources background, and will be works with clients to
mitigate a variety of issues and perceptions associated
with development.
In Memorium
Dave Austin: Dave Austin
was fondly referred to as the "A" in KKBNA (Ketchum,
Konkel, Barrett, Nickel and Austin). He was a talented
structural engineer who derived great pleasure from
mentoring young engineers and providing personal service
to clients. An avid skier and a family man, Dave was
active in his church and lived a balanced life. His
legacy may best be described by his love of family,
engineering, and respect for his partners, staff and
clients. Donations may be
made to the CU Engineer Scholarship Fund.
Jerry York: Jerry passed away recently after a short
illness.
He
was a founder of York Engineering Services and an
ACEC/CO member.
Donations can be made to Habitat for Humanity (www.habitatmetrodenver.org).
Former ACEC Chief Executive Howard Messner:
 Howard
Messner served as ACEC's chief staff
executive from 1987 to 1999. He died December 4th following
a long illness. He was 71. His tenure saw passage of the landmark Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991 and the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
in 1998. He was also instrumental in the establishment
of ACEC’s Senior Executives Institute (SEI) in
1995.
Pinyon Interns "Drive Green"
The summer interns at Pinyon
Environmental Engineering Resources, Inc. looked at
ways to “drive green” and created a video. Check it out
at
www.youtube.com/user/pinyonenvironmental.
P.E. Civil Breadth Exam Review Courses:
Six-session review for the
Principles and Practices of Engineering Civil Breadth
Exam, scheduled for Saturdays 8am - 5pm from March 7
through April 18, Registration deadline is Friday, February 20. See the
Student Application
to register.
Green Infrastructure and Sustainable
Communities:
ACEC and Colorado State University
jointly presents a four-day certificate course in Portland, Oregon, February 9-12.
Visit
www.acec.org or
contact La'Creshea Makonnen at
education@acec.org
or 202-347-7474 ext. 338.
Colorado
APWA Awards Luncheon:
Monday, Jan. 26th, at Marriot
Denver South at Park Meadows, 11:30
am Register by January 22 online at
colorado.apwa.net, or contact Carmen
Harrington at 303-708-6133,
charrington@greenwoodvillage.com.
Continuous Marketing Program from SDA:
Continuous Marketing:
Creative ways to market your firm in difficult economic
times, scheduled for January 21st at the Denver Design
Center, 5:30 pm. RSVP by January 19 by
contacting Janice Curley at 303-607-0977 or
jcurley@slaterpaull.com.
SWE-RMS Programs and Events
Joint Meeting w/ School
of Mines:
Volunteers needed for a panel
discussion/presentation for the SWE collegiate section
at the Colorado School of Mines. The
topic is "Your Future in SWE" to
encourage students to transition to professional members in SWE. Wednesday
March 18, 12-12:50 pm at the CSM campus. E-mail Aspen
Coombs at
aspenleaf5@hotmail.com.Corporate sponsorship is
sought for the lunch.
SWE-RMS Networking
Nights
January’s South Denver
Networking Night: Tuesday, January 20th, 6 -8 pm at CB & Potts Restaurant & Brewery, 6575
Greenwood Plaza Blvd. RSVP by Friday, Jan. 16th
to Laurie at
lvalaer@hotmail.com
February's North Denver
Networking Night: Monday, February 2nd, 6-8 pm at BJ's Brewhouse, 10446 Town Center Dr.,
Westminster. RSVP by Friday Jan. 30th to
angiehall@lgsinnovations.com.
PEC Pikes Peak Chapter Hosts Program on the largest
offshore oil rig ever built:
Speaker is Vance Valadez, PE. February
13th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5:30 pm. RSVP to Abby Ortega at
303-668-8748 or
ajortega@csu.org.
SMPS Colorado Programs:
January 22: Southern Colorado Luncheon
features
Community College Panel Discussion, 11:30am - 1:30pm. January 27: Leadership Breakfast
features Stay
Connected: Effective Techniques for Client Interviews
and Online Information Gathering, 7:30 - 9:30am at The
Oxford Hotel. For more information, visit
www.smpscolorado.org.
Telework Forum:
Hosted by the Denver Regional Council of
Governments (DRCOG), Friday, February 6th 11am - 1pm at
Four Mile Historic Park. Lunch included. For more information
visit
www.greenerdenverbiz.org.
Denver Basin Lecture Series:
Presented by the Colorado Ground Water Association. Lecture
1: Celebrating the Denver Basin Cores, Friday,
January 30th 8:15am -4:00pm at the Federal Center - USGS
Core Labs, Building 810 Room S25. Register by January
21st.
Register Online or contact
info@coloradogroundwater.org.
Climate Change Regulation and Policy Conference:
Hosted by Law Seminars International March 19-20, in Arlington, VA
(Corporate Executive Board Waterview Conference Center).
To register or for information, call 800-854-8009.
Geothermal Energy in the West Conference:
Hosted by Law Seminars International, Geothermal Energy in the West Conference,
March 26-27 in Los Angeles, CA (Millennium Biltmore
Hotel Los Angeles). To register or for more information, call 800-854-8009.
Green Energy Online Expo & eSummit:
Explore new green
energy solutions & energy saving ideas with experts &
colleagues via their live webcams January 23, Noon
ET. Hosted by the Green Energy Economy Center from
Challenge International. To register or learn more go to:
www.greenenergyeconomyctr.com. |
Managing Staff to Get the Work Done
