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Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association | Contact us at: MChurch245@aol.com |
January 21, 2003 January 2003 is already coming to an end and the 46th IPLSA Annual Conference is a few weeks off. We can all hope that 2003 is as good to the land surveying profession as the past several years have been. It is not only a new year it’s also a new era for Illinois. For the first time in 27 years we will have a Democratic Governor. Governor Blagojevich will also have a Democratic controlled House and Senate to work with. We hope that the future remains bright for our profession. IPLSA lost a valuable asset when it comes to the activities of the Illinois Legislature with the defeat of Tom Berns, PLS, PE as a State Representative. I personally want to thank each of you who contributed to Tom’s campaign. Thank you Tom for your work on behalf of IPLSA and the land surveying profession. IPLSA 46TH CONFERENCE I’m sorry that we experienced problems with the U.S. Postal Service in delivering the conference mailing in a timely fashion. We have had many calls, faxes and e-mails from those who got the mailing late or not at all. We will get everyone registered and are looking forward to meeting many new members. I apologize to our Catholic members and friends of my mix-up with the dates of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday is not until March 5th so we will not be offering a Lenten menu. A BUILDING YEAR FOR THE CONFERENCE AND IPLSA MEMBERSHIP With the adoption of the Professional Development Program by the IDPR Licensing Board, we are experiencing a growth in both conference attendance and membership in IPLSA. Many past members are not only returning to the conference but are also rejoining the association. Many land surveyors who have never belonged to IPLSA are attending the conference and have also joined the association. Now it is up to members of IPLSA to welcome these new members and show them why it is important to be a member of ones professional organization. I can assure you that the IPLSA Executive Committee, Official Board of Directions and state office staff are looking at ways to make everyone’s membership more meaningful. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? It is the goal of the IPLSA Executive Committee and state office to provide the educational seminars and conferences that will provide the membership with the opportunity to meet their Professional Development Hours (PDH) at the lowest cost available. IPLSA will continue to host the annual conference. If you attend the two conferences within the 2 year renewal period you will obtain more than enough hours to meet the requirements. We will also have at least one spring and fall seminar starting with May of this year. These spring and fall seminars will be held one day in the northern part of the state and repeated the next day in the south central part of the state. Watch the newsletter and the IPLSA website: www.iplsa.org for more information. Another idea we have for you to obtain PDH’s is discussed in the next item in this column. HOW TO MAKE IPLSA MEMBERSHIP MORE MEANINGFUL Let me begin at the chapter level and review what needs to be done: 1. Provide a reason for all members new and old to attend chapter meetings. 2. Make a member feel welcome, introduce yourself and welcome them to the meeting. 3. Include an agenda in your meeting notice, follow the agenda, start and end the meeting on time. 4. With the mandatory continuing education program, chapters should provide at least 50 minutes of contact time on a subject that would fall under continuing education. IPLSA is looking into presentations that will qualify under the guidelines set forth by the administrative rules. The presentations and presenters the chapter comes up with need to be sent to the IPLSA Education and Training Committee for approval. If you have a presentation that you would like considered please send it to the IPLSA office. All programs approved will be made available to all chapters. Offering a 50 minute presentation at chapter meetings will provide one (1) Professional Development Hour (PDH). All chapters should have presentations at least 6 times per year. That means 6 PDH’s per year that could be obtained just by attending chapter meetings. 5. Chapter meetings could become more meaningful by committee members giving complete and accurate committee reports. This can only happen if the chapter committee member attends the state committee meetings. 6. Have meaningful discussions on action items that come before the chapter but don’t drag the action out. Many times the same item is discussed over and over, meeting after meeting, and the members get tired that nothing gets accomplished. 7. Chapter delegates and chapter committee members need to do their job. You are representing your chapter and they are counting on you to keep them informed. So do your job! Keep in mind the reason to have a state association is to bring together a group of people with the same goals and objectives and to work together as a group to accomplish those goals and objectives collectively where as individuals we could not. HAPPY NEW YEAR Bob Church IPLSA Executive Director |
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Illinois
Professional Land Surveyors Association 203 South Walnut Street P.O. Box 588 Rochester, IL 62563 Phone: 217/498-8102 Fax: 217/498-8489 |
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