Last month I commented on a growing interest in group membership discounted rates for government employers. There is exciting new news. ASCE National has just released an ASCE Government Agency Pilot Membership Program since we published the December column. It has been in the making for quite some time.

Here is a brief description: "ASCE’s Membership Committee (MC) and staff have developed a group membership program for government agencies and their engineering personnel. This program has been established to reverse the trend of diminishing ASCE membership among government agencies, despite ASCE’s overall membership growth. ASCE represents a strong voice in the Civil Engineering community and it is critical for that community to have appropriate representation from government agencies. It is equally beneficial for government agency engineers to have the opportunity for professional development and participation in ASCE, their professional Society. Since government agencies tend to limit the amount paid for professional membership, this program offers a reduced dues structure and group payment process. This combination provides a win/win scenario for government agencies, ASCE and the Civil Engineering profession."

There are two objectives: (1) To facilitate the participation of government engineers in the technical and professional development provided through ASCE membership; and (2) To increase the number of government engineers that are members of ASCE, thus making the Society more representative of the industry. The primary qualification is that at least 50% of the agency participants must be new or reinstated members.

The two primary benefits are: (1) Provides for a range of discounts on membership fees. Some examples—governments with 2-25 members obtain a discount of 10%, and 50-74 members obtain a discount of 20%; and (2) Allows group payment of membership dues, which creates easier administration of annual dues collection.

Note that the discounts apply to the Year 2002 National dues of $175.00, not our local dues. Please contact Gary Caroll at ASCE Membership Services for more details. He can be reached at gcarroll@asce.org or at 208-336-8673. I encourage our members to share this new information with your cohorts in the government sector to encourage their increased participation in our Society.

On another note, I would like to remind you about our Outstanding Project Awards Program. It is a tremendous opportunity to celebrate our local projects undertaken by the public and private sectors together and independently. Remember—the nomination submittal deadline is January 31st for the several award categories. And an Awards ceremony and banquet is planned in late spring. Ron Leimkuhler, the Section’s Past President (206-622-5822), can advise on the timelines and anticipated ceremonies.

Lastly, since we have turned the corner of this year, it is time for the State Legislature to convene in the month of January for their short session. Items important to our Section and Branches geographic area infrastructure will be considered. Contact our Architect and Engineers Legislative Council Committee and Legislative Committee Chairs, Jim Thompson (425-771-3304) and Jeff Highley (425-455-2525 or 206-768-5756) respectively, and volunteer your services with reviewing bills, contacting decision makers, or providing facts and figures on the condition and needs of our infrastructure. Start with a call to them to see how you may pitch in. Get invested, get involved!

Cost: $21 per person*

Social Hour 5:30
Dinner 6:30
Business Meeting 7:30
Program 8:00

At the December meeting, Andrew Leland, the 2001 R.H. Thomson Memorial Scholarship winner, was presented a certificate and the first of four annual payments. Andrew was selected from a field of 16 applicants by the R.H. Thomson Committee composed of Chris Larson, Fred Kern, and Susan Gardner.

During the process, junior member Kern noted that he was probably more nervous during the oral interview portion than were most of the five interviewees.

Andrew was a senior at Bellevue High School when he was selected and is attending Santa Clara University. His civil engineering interest comes from his desire to design golf courses—a pursuit he felt would use his math and science skills. During his high school years, Andrew job-shadowed at Entranco and CH2M Hill where he learned about the range of projects that civil engineers undertake. During this time, he wrote a report on a fish hatchery project designed by Rich Farrell; Mr. Farrell subsequently used Andrew’s report for communicating with interested clients and staff.

The Section meeting provided Andrew and his mother, Jill, with even more avenues for civil engineering careers with presentations about the World Trade Center rescue efforts and Hanford wastewater vitrification. And, of course, he met many friendly engineers.

We need a volunteer to organize our ASCE Section booth at the Puget Sound Engineering Council’s Engineering Fair to be held at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue on February 16 and 17th, 2002, in conjunction with the Popsicle Bridge Contest on the 16th. This is an exciting opportunity to share information about our engineering activities and careers, and our 150th Anniversary Celebration with the general public. Please contact ron.borowski@ci.seattle.wa.us to sign up.

This past year, ASCE University Advisory Board members visited seven local high schools and community colleges to share their experiences and discuss careers in Civil Engineering. We visited Rainier Beach High School, Holy Names Academy, Bainbridge Island High School, Highline Community College, Bellevue Community College, South Seattle Community College and Seattle Central Community College. We want to talk to even more students this year. More volunteers are needed for this fun outreach—please come share your perspectives and insights—it is time well spent in the community. If you would like to accompany or lead a visit to a local school, please contact Phillip Thompson at 206-296-5521 or thompson@seattleu.edu.

The 2002 Washington state legislative session promises to be an active session with infrastructure funding carrying over from the last session. Some of the issues anticipated in the 2002 session include the general budget deficit, taxation, A&E selection, infrastructure funding, liability reform, and professional licensing.

The ASCE Legislative Committee provides you with the opportunity to review bills under consideration by the Washington state legislature related to, or impacting our profession. Our voice is combined with the perspectives of other professional organizations represented on the Architects and Engineers Legislative Council (AELC). An Olympia law firm advocates the combined position of AELC to key decision-makers, tracks issues as they move through the legislature, and gathers information related to other legislative business. All of this information is communicated back through AELC.

In addition, the Legislative Committee will be participating in the Day on the Hill during the 2002 session. This event will occur mid February.

The 2002 Washington state legislative session will begin the first half of January. It is scheduled to be a short session. Once the session starts, the Legislative Committee will begin reviewing bills quickly thereafter.

This is a great opportunity to gain insight to the legislative process and make your voice heard. Because of the fast turnaround required, our work and coordination is done via e-mail and FAX, so please don’t let lack of time commitment discourage you from participating. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jeff Highley, ASCE Legislative Committee Chair, at jhighley@hntb.com or (425) 450-2525.

A special thank you to all the participants who attended the ASCE Mentoring Program Social Night at Seattle University on November 15. The over 40 mentors and students in attendance helped make the night a huge success. Don’t think it’s too late to participate in the program though. We plan to have another social this month or early February. Updates to come!

Please contact Terry Yuen (tyuen@ch2m.com) or Tawni Hoang (thoang@ch2m.com) with any questions.

Board Members: Ron Borowski, Ron Leimkuhler, Ray Walton, James Wilhoit, Bob Boudinot, Linda DeBoldt, Arthur Fleming, Susan Chang, Ann Epler.

Section President Ron Borowski called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m.

November 14, 2001 Meeting minutes: The following corrections were made:

Under Standing Committees report delete "(more on Mentoring Program under PSEC report)"

Under PSEC report:

1. correct "Greg Guyon" to "Greg Guillen"

2. add "(for UW)" after the names Greg Guillen, Larry Kyle, and Mary Holland, and "(for SU)" after the names Susan Chang and Ann Epler.

Under Larry Wade Memorial Scholarship Fund report: In last sentence, revise "Board voted to match donations from Section funds up to $2,000" to "Board voted to match donations from Section members with Section funds up to $2,000".

The Minutes were approved as corrected.

Treasurer’s Report: Report through November 2001 was passed out and reviewed. Treasurer Arthur Fleming advised that two Certificates of Deposit were about to mature. Treasurer’s report was approved.

Susan Chang, Linda DeBoldt, Bob Boudinot, Ann Epler, and Ron Borowski presented status reports for the Technical and Standing Committees, Branches, YMF, and PSEC, respectively, with some other attendees reporting on specific committees.

Technical Committees: Susan Chang reported: Geotech and Water Resources groups will not meet in December. Geotech group is planning its day-long Spring Seminar- Geotechnical Aspects of Earthquake Engineering- scheduled for April 20, 2002. Next Water Resources brown bag meeting will be Thursday, January 17th, from noon to 1 p.m at HDR, Bellevue (Ph: 425-453-1523), presenting the Clover Creek Regional Detention Facility Project. Ray Walton noted that Ports, Harbors & Waterways Committee had not been very active recently, suggested it might be good idea for it to merge with Water Resources. Ron Borowski indicated he would contact the current chair. Susan will investigate the status of the Lifelines and Infrastructure Committees

Standing Committees: Linda Deboldt reported: Public Relations (Dave Schwegel) continuing to publicize Section meetings, Infrastructure Report Card, and Outstanding Awards Program, also working with newspapers to print Dave’s article about the Washington Task Force to New York following the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks (in December newsletter). University Advisory Committee met as scheduled Dec. 7th at Seattle U. Mentor/student open house held at SU as scheduled Nov. 15th , with 25 mentors and 20 "mentorees". Student Recruitment Program planning high school visits. UAC still awaits Past Presidents’ Committee guidelines to be issued for use of special $2 per student Section dues allocation. Ray Walton reminded Board that UAC will need new chair Fall 2002 , and inquired when Student Presentation Competition "finals" would be held. Ron Borowski confirmed it would be May 2002 Section meeting. History & Heritage Committee developing H&H info to add to Section web page. Legislative Chair Jeff Highley is recruiting new members. Per Jeff, ASCE SPAG grant, if awarded, will go towards co-sponsorship of the "Day on the Hill" Legislative Reception in Olympia in February 2002, which the Section is offering (to Construction Industry Council) to co-sponsor with ACEC. Ron Leimkuhler reported that he had met that morning with Jeff and Section AELC rep Jim Thompson to discuss Section’s interaction with AELC.

North and Kitsap Branches: North Branch met Dec. 5th, Kitsap Dec. 11th, both as previously announced. Borowski noted that tentative plans for joint meeting with branches in Feb. or March 2002, discussed at Nov. Board meeting, would not work out because programs already planned for those Section meetings could not be coordinated with a meeting outside Seattle area. It was noted that both Branches should be advised of the meeting topics and be encouraged to attend Bob noted concern that both branches had built up considerable reserves undisbursed from the allotments they had been receiving from the Section the past few years. Attendees generally agreed they should be using funds they had for worthwhile purposes like community projects and should be requesting, and specifying how they planned to use, their allotments before receiving them. Arthur to work with branches to develop acceptable system.

YMF: Ann reported that six members and three additional guests had attended Holiday Party/Social with the group in Portland/Vancouver, which included a Sonics/Trailblazers basketball game, in Portland the weekend of Saturday, Dec. 8th. Ski trip with members from several states planned for March. Application for SPAG grant for Media Training and the Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (Feb. 16, 2002, at Crossroads Mall) submitted to ASCE National, and application for Opportunity grant for YMF District 12 retreat re-submitted. Ann is House Captain, and Mary Holland Volunteer Coordinator, for "Rebuilding Together" event, Sat., April 27, 2002- Section volunteers needed. As this is same date as UW Engineering Open House, YMF cannot coordinate Section involvement in Open House.

PSEC: Borowski reported, in PSEC rep Don Northey’s absence, that PSEC is seeking nominations for awards (to individuals, not construction or design projects). Ron has distributed information to Committee chairs, asking them to respond directly to PSEC rather than through Section, also noted that ASCE Section still needs to fill PSEC chairperson position. And he discussed PSEC plans for the Engineering Fair Feb. 16-17, 2002, at Crossroads Mall- volunteers are needed for ASCE Section booth set up on both days. He would continue notification in the newsletter, PSEC also requested it would like to get some suitable project photos from H&H Committee or other source.

OLD BUSINESS:

Past Presidents Committee Meeting: No follow-up report on developments in establishment of Student Activity Fund disbursement criteria/ guidelines. Borowski reported the nominations are due in to National in January 2002 for Zone Public Service and Zone Citizen Service Awards, and asked Ron Leimkuhler to see if there were opportunities to pursue.

Outstanding Project Awards: Packages are due to Ron Leimkuhler on Feb. 5, 2002.

Larry Wade Memorial Scholarship Fund: Leimkuhler reported that $5,560 had been raised so far. Section member contributions have exceeded $2,000, so Treasurer will send in Section $2,000 match.

State Public Affairs (SPAG) Grants: See comments under Committee Reports.

Newsletter Cost-cutting: No update, Borowski emphasized importance of following up on this with the proposed committee.

Government Membership Program: Borowski reminded the Board that National has released a new pilot program for group discounts, and encouraged the Board to share this news with our committees and overall membership.

Monthly Section Meeting Programs: Borowski advised that no program had yet been arranged for the Jan. 2002 meeting, and requested suggestions for his and Ron Bard’s attention, of which he received several. He had provided a table of target topics for several 2002 meeting dates. He also requested program input for the September and October 2002 meetings.

Public Sector Senior Management Recruitment Qualifications: Borowski distributed copies of a sample proposed draft letter to elected officials (as appropriate) at public entities offering ASCE Section assistance in filling public sector senior management positions. James Wilhoit related that this had been an issue of interest to the Professional Practices Committee several years ago, and it was suggested that the Committee’s chair Tom Tobin be contacted regarding re-activating the Committee to address this. The Board voted unanimously to support the President’s initiative.

Alaskan Way Viaduct Review Team Concept: Borowski presented a draft proposal he had prepared for establishment of a Section ASCE Expert Study Team to offer technical expertise and a beneficial review function to the State and City of Seattle as they develop a plan for Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement. This would be a means for the Section to indicate our availability as experts on infrastructure challenges facing the Seattle Section area. The Board responded favorably to pursuing this idea, but also noted liability, conflict of interest, etc., issues which must be addressed adequately. It also noted that selectees for such a team would have to be willing to make a considerable commitment to this effort. The Board recommended that Borowski explore this more with ASCE National, and discuss with key City and State officials prior to committing to initiating this process in earnest

Notices of Committee Activities: Tabled.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

The Section has a goal of raising $50,000 to establish an endowment to fund a scholarship for an engineering student at the University of Washington to honor Larry Wade. Donations can be sent to: The Larry Wade Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o ASCE Seattle Section, P.O. Box 24925, Seattle, WA 98124.