Vol. 9 Issue 10 October 2009 Top StoryMembership Notices Engineers In The News Programs Wake-Up Call Breakfast Series October General Meeting
MarketingNew ACEC/CO Sponsorship Packets Resources
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ACEC/CO Hosts Forum on Sustainability with State Agencies and Higher Ed
On Friday, Oct. 16th, ACEC/CO hosted an exploratory day-long session to explore the possibilities, challenges, potential solutions and actionable steps to sustainable development in Colorado. About 25 decision makers from several state agencies – CDOT, CDPHE, and DOLA, and the Governor’s office; higher education and consulting engineers from water, transportation and 
energy disciplines participated. Our vision of sustainable development is that engineers should play a significant part in leading this effort of breaking the silos and agendas within each discipline involved in development. We envision a time where government, transportation, housing, water, energy, environment, education and commerce will all collaborate on what impact their agendas and actions, planning and innovation mean to the sustainability of Colorado.
This was a formative meeting, and additional state agencies, higher ed and consultants will be invited to attend future meetings to help with this collaborative effort. Before the next meeting is scheduled, a small group will develop the principles of sustainability for Colorado and will work with state agencies on how to address new technologies that engineers develop that address these critical sustainability issues.
As part of the Regional Conference with ACEC/CO, NV, AZ, NM, and UT, we will give a brief recap of this meeting and present a program on November 14th at 8:30 a.m. on Emerging Markets: The Paradigm Shift on Sustainability – Changing How Engineers Do Business. Read More..
News from National
New AASHTO Uniform Audit and Accounting Guide
AASHTO is releasing a new Uniform Audit and Accounting Guide that dramatically changes how engineering firms are compensated and audited. Originally published in 2001, the guide has been updated this past year due to legislative mandates and Government reports. Read more..
ACEC Responds to Health Care Legislation
ACEC President Dave Raymond submitted suggestions to Senator Harry Reid regarding ACEC's perspective on the new health care reform. Read more..
ACEC Workers Comp Program
As an engineering firm, one of your most important assets is your people. When an employee suffers a work-related injury or illness, business owners feel it, both emotionally and financially. Through the ACEC Business Insurance Program you can obtain broad coverages and competitive pricing through the ACEC Workers’ Compensation Program underwritten by The Hartford. The Hartford is dedicated to helping you get injured employees back to work as quickly as is medically appropriate - so you can limit losses. Read more..
ACEC President's Report
News from ACEC's President Dave Raymond on the latest developments of ACEC's government affairs on your behalf. Read more..
In the News
Celebrate Smart at the Engineering Excellence Awards Luncheon and Presentation of Awards
Celebrate smart by joining us at our annual Engineering Excellence Awards Luncheon on Monday, November 2nd at 11:30 a.m. at the Brown Palace. Come have lunch, view the fantastic project entries and celebrate the announcement of awards. To register please contact Jennifer at 303-832-2200 or at jennifer@acec-co.org. See what firms are entered by clicking here.
Register by October 29th for Annual Regional Conference
The annual regional conference for ACEC Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah will beheld on November 12th - 14th at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs. The last day to register for the conference will be October 29th and is $295/member. Rooms are filled for Friday night at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort but you can still reserve a room for Thursday and Saturday, or reservations can now be made at the Courtyard by Marriott Colorado Springs South at the rate of $84 per night.
Read more..
ACEC/CO Members Have Breakfast with Legislators
During September ACEC/CO members met and had breakfast with several legislators around the state to discuss various issues of concerns to our membership – healthcare reform, competition from outside agencies, the state budget related to transportation funding, higher education, and capitol construction. Read more..
Denver Solicits Proposals for ARRA Community Development Projects
The Denver Office of Economic Development (OED) has issued two notices of funding availability for programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Community Development Block Grant-Recovery (CDBG-R). Proposals are being solicited for business lending projects and community/neighborhood improvements. Read More..
Membership Notices and
Engineers in the News
Membership Notices
See this section for new and prospective members and
other membership changes.
Engineers in the News
Find out about the latest from our members and member firms making the news.
ACEC/CO Events and Professional Development
Register online, by calling 303-832-2200, or by e-mail for ACEC/CO programs.
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October General Meeting: Eight on Eight With City/County Planners
Tuesday, October 27th, 11:30 a.m. at Lakewood Country Club. Act now! These programs usually sell out. Read more.. -
Mechanics Lien Laws Program
Friday, October 30th, 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. at the ACEC/CO office. Buck Beltzer, PE, JD from Holland and Hart, will do a free short program on Mechanics Lien Laws for our members. Read more..
- Engineering Excellence Awards Luncheon
Monday, November 2nd, 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the Brown Palace. The entries are in and awards will be presented at the luncheon. Find out who's entered! Read more..
- Wake-up Call Breakfast Series
The next Wake-up Call Breakfast will be November 4th. Read more..
- Better Denver Bond Program and Denver's Public Works Projects Update
Thursday, November 5th, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the ACEC/CO office. Michele Majuene of CH2M Hill will be presenting an update of the "Better Denver Bond" Program. Read more..
- Fourth Annual Regional Conference
The annual regional conference for ACEC Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah will be held on November 12th - 14th at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs. There is still time to register. Read more..
Marketing and Business Development
New ACEC/CO Sponsorship Opportunities
ACEC/CO would like to encourage our members to consider sponsoring a meeting and/or event as a marketing strategy to get your name out there and in front of other member firms. Read more..
Additional Professional Development
Opportunities and Events
- Business Certification Program
Held every Friday morning: Learn how to certify your small or disadvantaged business for contracting opportunities offered through the city and county of Denver. Read more..
- Northern Colorado Pumpkin Chunkin Competition
CTL Thompson, Inc. is sponsoring a pumpkin chunkin competition in Loveland, October 24th. Read more..
- SMPS Upcoming Events:
- Leadership Forum Breakfast: Improving the Bottom Line with a Strategic Marketing Plan on October 27th.
- Colorado Springs Networking & Happy Hour Program: Innovations In Public Relations - Joint Program with AGC, on October 27th. For more information and registration, click here.
- Rocky Mountain Green 2010
Save the date: April 21-22, 2010 Read more..
ACEC/CO Hosts Forum on Sustainability with State Agencies On Friday, Oct. 16th, ACEC/CO hosted an exploratory day-long session to explore the possibilities, challenges, potential solutions and actionable steps to sustainable development in Colorado. About 25 decision makers from several state agencies – CDOT, CDPHE, and DOLA, and the Governor’s office; higher ed and consulting engineers from water, transportation and energy disciplines participated. Our vision of sustainable development is that engineers should play a significant part in leading this effort of breaking the silos and agendas within each discipline involved in development. We envision a time where government, transportation, housing, water, energy, environment, education and commerce will all collaborate on what impact their agendas and actions, planning and innovation mean to the sustainability of Colorado. As part of the Regional Conference with ACEC/CO, NV, AZ, NM, and UT, we will give a brief recap of this meeting and present a program November 14th at 8:30 a.m. on Emerging Markets: The Paradigm Shift on Sustainability – Changing How Engineers Do Business. To register for the conference click here or contact us at 303-832-2200. Man-made global warming or not? In terms of opportunities for the engineering community, and future client requirements, the answer to that question doesn’t matter. “Sustainability” addresses considerations far beyond that narrow discussion, and the fact is, corporate America is embracing the concept of sustainability and adaptation planning. The U.S. is now experiencing the results of decades of expanding resource demands and other resultant impacts to the environment. Increasing energy prices, spreading water shortages, overtaxed electrical power grids, mounting traffic congestion, collapsing bridges, urban sprawl, devastating forest fires, unprecedented flood damage, dead zones in the world’s oceans, loss of fisheries resources, reduced food security, global climate change: incidents once seen as disturbing but manageable are now viewed as contributors to a rapidly-declining quality of life. Presenters: Bill Wallace of Wallace Futures Group Inc., Dave Stewart of Stewart Environmental Consultants, and Lauren Evans of Pinyon Environmental Engineering Resources, Inc. |
ACEC/CO Has Breakfast with Colorado Legislators
During September, ACEC/CO members met with several legislators throughout the state to discuss various issues of concerns to our membership – healthcare reform, competition from outside agencies, the state budget related to transportation funding, higher education, and capitol construction. The legislators are very interested in an engineer's perspective not only from your technical expertise but also as a small business owner. We emphasized at our meetings that ACEC/CO’s membership was available as a resource as they develop legislation for the upcoming session.
Please introduce yourselves to your state legislators as they want to know you and hear from you.
Save the date: ACEC/CO’s Annual “Day at the Capitol” is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at the Old Supreme Court Chambers at the Capitol from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. A program is being planned to hear from leadership, have lunch with legislators and attend committee hearings.
Denver Solicits Proposals for ARRA Community Development Projects
The Denver Office of Economic Development (OED) has issued two notices of funding availability for programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Community Development Block Grant-Recovery (CDBG-R). Proposals are being solicited for business lending projects and community/neighborhood improvements.
Proposals to implement community or neighborhood improvements in Denver are also being solicited. The City and County of Denver has received a one-time CDBG-R allocation of $2,462,903. Funding proposals are due October 29, 2009. For more information, including specific business lending criteria, application process and to view the notices of funding availability, visit www.milehigh.com
To date, the City and County of Denver has received $55 million in ARRA funding for a variety of projects and programs. For more information visit www.denvergov.org/stimulus.
New AASHTO Uniform Audit and Accounting Guide
AASHTO is releasing a new Uniform Audit and Accounting Guide that dramatically changes how engineering firms are compensated and audited. Originally published in 2001 the guide has been updated this past year due to legislative mandates and Government reports. The purpose of the update is to ensure compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, (FAR), improve audit consistency and quality, and improve overall guidance. View a quick AASHTO Audit Guide Fact Sheet or the entire AASHTO Audit Guide Final Draft.
ACEC is presenting an online seminar on October 27th. ACEC/CO will be hosting the webinar at the ACEC/CO offices from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The webinar will provide an overview of the new Guide featuring senior state DOT, FHWA and industry representatives discussing the major changes and new requirements, as well as how the new rules will be implemented and enforced going forward. Cost is $30/member including lunch. Register by contacting Kim at kimbrezall@acec-co.org or at 303-832-2200.
ACEC Responds to Health Care Legislation
As Congress moves forward with health care legislation, ACEC President Dave Raymond submitted suggestions to Senate leaders stating that while ACEC agrees that there is a need for affordable health care, there is a concern that elements of the new health care legislation would boost costs for engineering firms and its employees.
Click here to read Dave Raymond's letter to Senator Harry Reid. Also check out ACEC's health care reform fact sheet.
As an engineering firm, one of your most important assets is your people. When an employee suffers a work-related injury or illness, business owners feel it - both emotionally and financially. Through the ACEC Business Insurance Program you can obtain broad coverages and competitive pricing through the ACEC Workers’ Compensation Program underwritten by The Hartford. The Hartford is dedicated to helping you get injured employees back to work as quickly as is medically appropriate - so you can limit losses.
Why choose the ACEC Workers' Compensation Program available for firms in Colorado?
- Broad range of coverages that go beyond the statutory requirements.
- Competitive rates for ACEC member engineers, including a 5% group credit achieved for promoting loss prevention. This credit is only available through the ACEC Business Insurance Program.
- A network of healthcare providers that must meet high quality and credentialing standards.
- A wealth of loss control information that may help make your work place safer.
Sharon Zach of the ACEC Business Insurance Program will be on-site at our conference in November to further discuss the advantages of this program. Please feel free to reach out to Sharon in advance of the conference at Sharon.L.Zach@marsh.com or 800-338-1391.
General
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Resolution honoring ACEC on its 100th anniversary “recognizing the remarkable contributions of the American Council of Engineering Companies to the engineering industry and the Nation.” (Full text in Last Word, September 17, 2009).
- At the Annual FIDIC conference, ACEC Chairman Tim Psomas led a delegation that actively promoted ACEC business interests; Stanley Consultants’ CEO Greg Thomopulos was elected FIDIC President; AECOM’s CEO John Dionisio was a plenary speaker on sustainable development; Dave Raymond and other U.S. members spoke on a range of business and advocacy issues.
- Met with the new Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Victor Mendez, to discuss ongoing priorities including uniform procurement procedures.
- The long-awaited landmark QBS study – An Analysis of Issues Pertaining to Qualifications-Based Selection – which provides empirical evidence of the advantages of QBS, is now available as a downloadable document through the Bookstore on ACEC’s website.
Government Affairs
- Worked with ACEC/Wisconsin to oppose an effort by Wisconsin DOT to unilaterally reduce contracted fees which FHWA has determined to be in violation of federal law and regulations.
- Helped secure passage in the Senate of appropriations legislation that more than doubles funding for federal wastewater and drinking water infrastructure to $3.5 billion.
- ACEC moderated a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Homeland Security Symposium on whether current infrastructure spending is adequately addressing security, resiliency and other priority issues.
- Discussed industry concerns regarding QBS and the use of country procurement systems with officials at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Membership NoticesProspective Members Welcome New Individual Members: John Muscatell, URS Corporation: 8181 E. Tufts Avenue, Denver, CO 80237 john_muscatell@urscorp.com. John is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. He also received his M.E. degree in transportation engineering. Recommendations came from Mark Schaefer, Bill Ettenger, and Bob Reish. David Poe, Anchor Engineering, Inc. 3611 Blake Street, Denver, CO 80205, david@anchoreng.com. David is a graduate of University of Colorado-Boulder with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a M.S. in Civil Engineering. Anchor Engineering, Inc. is a diverse full service consulting structural engineering company capable of designing single/multi-family residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial structures. David was interviewed by the membership committee. Transfer: Resignations:
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Congratulations to Regnier & Associates for celebrating its five year anniversary!
Martin/Martin, Inc. Consulting Engineers recently announced the retirement of two, long-time principals. Neil F. Dunbar, P.E. and David D. Gillaspie, P.E., both University of Colorado/Boulder graduates, retired with 87+ combined years practicing engineering in Colorado.
Martin/Martin, Inc. received the first ACE Mentor Program Award at McGraw Hill Publications’ Hard Hat 
Awards Event for its support of the program to mentor students interested in engineering.
Michael Baker Jr., Inc. announced that Craig M. Friesen, P.E., recently joined Baker's Denver-area office as Civil Design Manager. Friesen has been working in Colorado for more than 19 years.
The RMH Group has recently added four new engineers to its staff: Aimee Ainsworth, Thomas Bakane, Rebecca Losier and Kelly Short.
Ainsworth is a mechanical engineer and project manager with more than 13 years of experience creating engineered designs and performing studies for office buildings, correctional, higher education and healthcare facilities. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University.
Bakane is a mechanical engineer with more than seven years experience designing HVAC systems for office buildings and several facilities. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University.
Losier is a mechanical engineer-in-training with more than two years of experience designing HVAC systems for residential buildings, office buildings, medical and military facilities. Rebecca has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Short is an electrical engineer-in-training with more than four years of experience designing normal and backup power, alarm and security systems, and communications systems. Kelly has dual B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Engineering Excellence Awards Entries
- AECOM Technology Corporation, Woodmen Road Corridor Improvements, Colorado Springs, CO
- Ayres Associates, Protecting the Pleasant Valley Pipeline, Fort Collins, CO
- Brown and Caldwell, Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant - Phase 2, Englewood, CO
- Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co., Inc., Fairplay WWTF, New Plant Design, Fairplay, CO
- Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co., Inc., Increasing Generation Capability at Craig U3, Craig, CO
- Drexel, Barrell & Co., Fruita Reservoir No. 1 Rehabilitation, Mesa County, CO
- E M C Engineers, Inc., Monte Vista Auditorium ESPC, Monte Vista, CO
- Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, C-470/Alameda Parkway Interchange, Lakewood - Jefferson County, CO
- Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., Innovative Strategies for Radio nuclides Rule Compliance, Colorado
- M-E Engineers, Inc., Research 2, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO
- Merrick & Company, Levee Certification Using Geospatial Technologies, Wichita, KS
- Merrick & Company, Water and Sewer Master Programming Services, Lakewood, CO
- PBS&J, I-70/Eagle County Traffic Incident Management Plan, Eagle County, CO
- PBS&J, RidgeGate Parkway and I-25 Interchange, Lone Tree, CO
- Richard P. Arber Associates, Inc., City of Alamosa Arsenic Treatment Project, Alamosa, CO
- Richard P. Arber Associates, Inc., ACWWA Lone Tree Creek Water Reuse Facility Expansion, Centennial, CO
- Summit Engineering Group, Inc., SH58 Ramp A Flyover Bridge, Golden, CO
- Terracon Consultants, Inc., University Village Colorado Retail Center, Colorado Springs, CO
- The RMH Group, Inc., LDS Church, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, UT
- URS Corporation, In Situ Bioremediation at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, WY
- URS Corporation, I-25 North Corridor, Longmont, CO
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Buck Beltzer, PE, JD from Holland and Hart, (pictured left), will do a short program on Mechanics Lien Laws for our members. The program will be held on Friday, October 30th at 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the ACEC/CO office. There is no charge for this program but RSVPS are appreciated to insure we have enough room for everyone. In the September 24th ACEC
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Marketing and Business Development
New ACEC/CO Sponsorship Packages Available
ACEC/CO is pleased to present you new sponsorship packages for you. Being a sponsor of a meeting or event will give you the opportunity to get your name and company before our membership. Sponsorships allow ACEC/CO to continue to provide quality programs and activities at a reasonable price. Click here to view sponsorship packets and more information.
Additional Professional Development Opportunities and Events
Northern Colorado Pumpkin Chunkin Competition
CTL/Thompson, Inc. is sponsoring the Pumpkin Chunkin Competition to be held on Saturday, October 24th at Osborn Farm in Loveland. The event is a fundraiser for the Colorado State University Student Chapters of ASCE and AGC. Check in starts at 9:00 a.m. and the chunkin competition begins at 10:00 a.m. There will be activities for the family and costumes are welcome and encouraged. Click here for more details and sign up.
Rocky Mountain Green 2010: Save The Date
USGBC Colorado's Annual Green Building Conference will be held April 21-22, 2010 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Sponsorship, booth, and early bird registration information is coming soon!