President`s Message: Duluth Section Award Banquet

DULUTH SECTION
Volume 17, Issue 8
April 2013
ASCE's mission is to provide essential value to our members, their careers, our partners and the public by developing leadership, advancing technology,
advocating lifelong learning and promoting the profession.
In This Issue
President’s Message
Page 1-2
Meeting Announcement
Page 3
March 28 Board Meeting Minutes
Page 4-5
ASCE Washington DC Fly-In Report
Page 6
Younger Member Tour of City of Duluth
Water Plant April 16
Page 7
Board Member Spotlight
Page 8
Sponsors
Page 9
Interested in submitting an article
for the ASCE newsletter or becoming a Board Member next year?
Contact Cindy Voigt (newsletter editor)
for information at 218.341.8488 or
President’s Message:
Duluth Section Award Banquet
Please join the Duluth ASCE Section at our 2013 Dinner/Award
Banquet on April 23 at the Greysolon Plaza (231 East Superior
St.) Remember that guests are welcome. So bring your spouse,
any guests, and any young people you know that are interested in
civil engineering. Please RSVP via the PINGG announcement you
should be receiving via email and note the number of guest you
are bring. If you didn’t receive an invite, please give me a call.
Our guest speaker will be ASCE’s President Elect Mark Over.
He will be giving us an overview of ASCE from a national perspective; how ASCE benefits the engineering profession; and how we,
as members, can promote our civil engineer profession. A main
topic of Mr. Over will be the recently released ASCE 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure http://
www.infrastructurereportcard.org/. We are arranging for his interviews and appearances on the local media for helping our Section’s roll-out of Report Card.
As part of the program, we will also be honoring the Past Presidents of the Duluth Section. I have been calling up all the Presidents to personally invite them. So if you are a past president:
be there!
[email protected]
Thanks.
(Continued on page 2)
American Society of Civil Engineers
1
Duluth Section
DULUTH SECTION
Volume 17, Issue 8
April 2013
ASCE's mission is to provide essential value to our members, their careers, our partners and the public by developing leadership, advancing technology,
advocating lifelong learning and promoting the profession.
President’s Message Continued:
We will also be honoring the two civil engineering students who competed for our Section’s
two $1,000 scholarships. We had the most ever entries this year, so the recipients had
lots of competitions. Please give a personal invite to all our engineering students, even if
they didn’t receive a scholarship. All of our engineering students are the future of our
profession. Honoring past presidents and honoring our students is a very fitting recognition of what the Duluth ASCE Section is all about: honoring and learning from our “old”,
experienced engineers; and passing the torch off to our young engineers that will take our
experience, technical knowledge, and leadership into the future to make the world a better
place and to earn an honorable and prestigious contribution to our society.
Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô
Ñ Ò Ó
Boat traffic is moving in and out of Duluth, though the ice is hindering some of that traffic. Last year I was launching my sailboat by now, this year, it might be Mother’s Day before any small boats can make it in. Spirit Mountain still has lots of snow, but all the
slopes are painfully closed and the jumps are empty of skiers and snowboarders. All the
projects that I thought were going to be done by now, but got delayed by all the great winter activities, are now due. My 8’ piles of snow around my driveway have shrunk to 4’.
When will the first daffodils poke their heads out? The sun is rising further out on Lake
Superior. Summer is around the corner!
Take a break from working, welcome the warming weather, and join us at Grey Solon plaza
on April 23!
Art Johnston
ASCE Duluth Section President
American Society of Civil Engineers
2
Duluth Section
DULUTH SECTION
REGION III
Est. 1917
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2012-2013
Please join us for a
Awards Banquet:
President
Art Johnston, P.E.
USDA Forest Service (retired)
April 23, 2013 @ 5 pm Social, 6 pm Dinner Greysolon Plaza
Moorish Room, 231 E. Superior Street
37 N. 93rd Av. W.
Duluth, MN 55808
(218) 626-1997; cell (715) 360-6629)
[email protected]
President-Elect
Lisa Karlgaard, P.E.
LHB, Inc.
,
21 West Superior St, Suite 500
Duluth, MN 55802
(218) 279-2486
[email protected]
Vice President
Cindy Voigt, P.E.
City of Duluth
411 W 1st Street - Room 211
Duluth, MN 55802-1191
(218)730-5071; Fax: (218)730-5907
[email protected]
Secretary
David Franseen, P.E.
Krech Ojard Engineers & Architects
227 West 1st Street
Suite 200
Duluth, MN 55802
(218)727-3282; Fax: (218)727-1216
[email protected]
Treasurer
Matt Decur
City of Duluth
411 W 1st Street - Room 211
Duluth, MN 55802-1191
(218)730-5088 ; Fax: (218)730-5907
[email protected]
First Past President
Craig Bursch, P.E.
Meyer Borgman Johnson
501 Lake Avenue South
Suite 300
Duluth, MN 55802-2390
(218) 722-1056; Fax (218) 722-9306
[email protected]
Historian-Vacant
Toothpick Bridge Co-Chair
John Hinzmann, P.E.
4639 Island Lake Drive
Duluth, MN 55803
(218) 590-3158
[email protected]
Toothpick Bridge Co-Chair
Amy Thorson, P.E.
Golder Associates Inc.
4438 Haines Road
Duluth, MN 55811
(218) 724-0088; Fax (218) 724-0089
[email protected]
Younger Member Chair
Tom DesMarais, EIT
MSA Professional Services
Duluth, MN
(218)-722-3915
[email protected]
Membership Chair
Matt Nordine
Meyer Borgman Johnson
501 Lake Avenue South
Suite 300
We have the honor of hosting ASCE National President
Elect Randy Over
to hear the latest on ASCE initiatives. We will award our
2013 scholarship recipients, hear and update from the
UMD Student Chapter, welcome
the newest past presidents and honor/welcome all of our
past presidents.
Please RSVP by responding directly to the electronic invitation you received, emailing [email protected], or calling Lisa Karlgaard at
218-279-2486 by noon Tuesday, April 16, 2013 if you plan to attend.
This is a great opportunity to take your spouse or significant other out for
a nice dinner and have them see what our profession is all about.
Professional rate is $20. Student rate is $10. Costs will be collected at
the door.
Duluth, MN 55802-2390
(218) 722-1056; Fax (218) 722-9306
[email protected]
American Society of Civil Engineers
Next month back to our normal schedule for May 21, 2013, Noon (note date
change) back at the Raddison.
3
Duluth Section
ASCE DULUTH SECTION BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 28, 2013
Old Chicago, Duluth, MN
Board Members present were Art. J., Lisa K., Cindy V., Craig Bursch, Tom DesMarais, Matt Nordine and student chapter president Dave Polson.
The meeting was called to order at 4:33. A quorum was present.
February, 2013 minutes were approved.
Treasure’s Report: (David F for Matt D)
Cash balance as of Dec 31 was $12,596.83. We did not cover the whole cost of the March luncheon due to low turnout. Craig
Bursch requested $250 travel/lodging reimbursement for the legislative fly-in; this was approved unanimously.
Membership Update: (Matt Nordine)
Matt is continuing to follow-up on some membership discrepancies between known ASCE members/fellows, and the list National
provides to us. He’s made additional contacts within the National organization to help resolve some of the remaining how’s and
why’s of these discrepancies.
Student Chapter Report: (UMD Student Chapter President Dave Pollson)
Dave Polson reported that Art J. spoke to UMD student chapter, and that 15-20 students showed up. He indicated this to be smaller
number than we’d like to see. The Concrete Canoe is curing! Congratulations to the students! They are continuing to work on the
presentation and working out details of transportation. Additionally, they are working through setting up a process for electing/
appointing officers for next year.
They have made formal application to ASCE National to become an official student chapter.
Younger Member Report: (Tom D.)
April 16th is confirmed for a site visit / tour to the Lakewood Water Treatment Plant. Tom is working on setting up another tour in
May…details pending.
Newsletter Report: (Cindy V.)
Cindy set a deadline of April 5th for submitting newsletter articles, minutes, and updates.
Lisa will include a write up of the Annual Award Dinner, and the Member Spotlight will be on Craig Bursch, our out-going past
president. Craig will write up a summary of the legislative fly-in.
Legislative Fly-In: (Craig B)
Members from every state were present, unfortunately the senators/representatives were voting during the gathering. Good connections were made with staffers. It was a good event; Craig thanked the board for their support in sending him. Additional details
to be included in the newsletter.
Section Records: (Art J, Cindy V.)
Art has made progress on reviewing, and sorting the set of records he has. He does not have a number and type of records available for getting a budget estimate for scanning yet. Cindy has not made significant progress in reviewing the documents she has.
American Society of Civil Engineers
4
Duluth Section
This is an on-going work in progress.
Scholarship:
Tanja Mattonen and Peter Demshar were revealed as the named winners of our two scholarships for 2013. Congratulations! Discussion on updating our criteria for scholarships was discussed in regards to repeat members, direct membership, and other possible items. Lisa K will put together proposed updates to the criteria for the April
Board Meeting.
Matrix:
Discussion was tabled until the April Board Meeting.
Proposed speakers and luncheon at the Radisson
Lisa will bring projector for upcoming meetings.
Please note date change of May meeting to back to MAY 21!
April 23 – Dinner Awards Banquet – Scholarship Awards, Past Presidents Plaque Presentation and Roll Call
May 21 – Heather E. Wright Wendel, PhD, Barr Engineering – “Assessing Equitable Access to Urban Green Space: The role of Engineered Water Infrastructure” Note date UPDATED change
September speaker is tentatively scheduled, and will be announced closer to the September meeting.
Other Topics
Toothpick Bridge
Amy Thorson has requested assistance in taking on much, if not all, her substantial role in the toothpick bridge competition and other
contributions of organizing and promoting ASCE Duluth for the coming year, and possibly beyond. Per her request we will
hold her nomination to fellow status. Lisa K will work with Art to schedule a media update when Randy Over (National President Elect) is in town for the Annual meeting.
New Letterhead
New format with discussion tabled for further discussion at the April Board Meeting.
Website
Do we have one? Yes, we do (http://sections.asce.org/duluth/), but it hasn’t been updated since 1999. Discussion on creating a website
chair was tabbed. Lisa is in dialogue with National about website support/options.
Ad-Hoc Chairs
The President may appoint ad-hoc chairs at their discretion.
Future Board Members
We are in need of volunteers or nominations for future Board Positions.
Awards
The board considered the possibility of a project award, or projects within the Duluth Section for recognition on an annual or quarterly
basis. Discussion tabled until April.
Next meeting location and time
Next meeting is on April 25th at the Dubh Linn 109 W Superior St.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:03.
Dave Franseen, Secretary
American Society of Civil Engineers
5
Duluth Section
I was privileged to attend the 2013 ASCE Legislative Fly-In on behalf of Duluth Section
from March 19-21. ASCE had about 200 members in attendance representing all 50 states in
the Union.
Congressman Nolan, Senator Franken and Senator Klobuchar were all on “the floor” voting
on bills, so I met with staffers from each respective office. Our message this year was to inform our elected officials on the release of the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
and to discuss the upcoming Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) reauthorization. Of
particular interest, the 2013 Report Card is available as an “app” that I could show on my iPad.
WRDA will be of particular interest to those of us in Duluth, as part of ASCE’s push is to
keep funds dedicated to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund from being raided by the federal
government for other uses. I am happy to report that all three of our elected officials appear
to be on board with ASCE’s request to protect the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. Hopefully,
is successful, this will help “Raise the Grade” on Ports from a “C” in the 2013 Report Card to
something better in the 2017 version.
Thank you to the Duluth Section for allowing me to represent us in Washington!
American Society of Civil Engineers
6
Duluth Section
American Society of Civil Engineers
7
Duluth Section
Board Committee Spotlight:
Craig Bursch,1st Past President
Q1 "What is your most memorable or enjoyable memory while on the board?"
Representing Duluth Section at the ASCE Legislative Fly-In in Washington DC. The 2012 Fly-In in particular was enjoyable
as the cherry trees were in full bloom...Washington really is as pretty as they say during cherry blossom season.
Q2 "What do you wish you knew when you started serving on the board that you know now?"
How much work it actually takes to keep the newsletter going on time each month. The other Board positions seemed easy
by comparison.
Q3 "What advice do you have for the incoming president?"
Delegate. Set priorities. Get one thing done before moving onto the next thing. Have some fun.
Q4 "Any additional comments?"
It has been a pleasure to serve on the Duluth Section Board with such a fun group of people.
American Society of Civil Engineers
8
Duluth Section
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
Please note there is room for more
sponsor logos!
American Society of Civil Engineers
9
Duluth Section