NEW JERSEY CHAPTER

NJAPPA

Chapter President’s Report

September 2007

Ken Olsen, Chapter President

Ocean County College

 

Chapter Leadership for NJAPPA is provided by:

President Ken Olsen Ocean County College

President-Elect Dianne Gravatt Rutgers University

Past President Danny Fuchs Middlesex County College

Secretary Rona Lehtonen Rutgers University

Treasurer Patty Smith Princeton University

Director Jule Raichle Ocean County College

Director Mark Showers Rowan University

Director Lou Dursi Princeton University

 

ERAPPA Representatives:

Technology Bob Cornero Monmouth University

ERAPPA Board Lou Dursi Princeton University

Education Mark Showers Rowan University

Chapter Affairs Ken Olsen Ocean County College

Membership Jule Raichle Ocean County College

 

Business Partners Representatives:

Voula Liacopulos Blackney Hayes Architects

Lisa Westerfield Schoor Depalma Engineers

Committee Member Guest:

Amy Baker Radey Associates Architects

 

Changes in Chapter Governance

The original Bylaws of the New Jersey Chapter were written in November of 1987. These bylaws followed recommendations made by ERAPPA. The Bylaws were first revised in 2001 to add additional member classifications and were again revised in 2006 to allow Business Partners to become members. We anticipate another update in the fall of 2007 in order for us to charge membership dues.

We anticipate making some changes in the tenure of officers and directors. NJAPPA has grown substantially in the last few years, and we find it critical that an order of progression and selection be developed so we do not have an entirely new board of directors at any time.

Meetings that were held in 2006/2007

The fall 2006 membership meeting was held at the EP Henry hardscape manufacturing plant in Wrightstown, New Jersey. We combined technical sessions with plant tours and vendor presentations. Stuart Appel of Wells Appel Land Strategies discussed Sustainability in Higher Education and Steve Leone from Cubellis Ecoplan and the New Jersey Green Building Council discussed sustainability as it relates to LEED. Jeff Britt of EP Henry was an exceptional host and all costs of the meeting were borne by his firm. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors under a tent. Approximately sixty members and guests attended the event. Our general membership meeting was held during lunch.

Princeton University hosted our spring 2007 meeting at its First Campus Center on April 20, 2007. Shana Weber, sustainability manager for Princeton University, discussed ways to reduce electricity by “pulling the plug” in dormitories and common areas. Shana was followed by Dave DeHart, assistant director of environmental services at Rutgers University, who discussed the ins and outs of green cleaning. Patty Smith, associate director of housing at Princeton University, presented us with environmentally friendly ways to recycle dormitory mattresses and furniture. The final presenter, Dianne Gravatt, director of environmental services at Rutgers University, discussed additional ways to handle campus recycling.

While at Princeton we were given a tour of the new Whitman College addition which is now under construction. John Ziegler, assistant to the vice president for facilities, conducted the tour and answered many of our questions. How would you like to construct buildings designed to last two hundred years? I would like to see one get through the first year warranty!

NJAPPA held its first mini conference from March 28 to March 30, 2007, at the Seaview Marriott just outside of Atlantic City. Tim Gard, a nationally recognized humorist, kept the audience entertained and informed. His presentation was “Developing a Comic Vision – Can I Say that at Work.” There was a considerable amount of audience participation and, from the comments we received, the program was outstanding. At our first mini conference attempt, we received many favorable comments and the conference attracted over sixty registrants. The NJAPPA board has agreed to hold a conference again next year at the same location.

Another first for NJAPPA will be the hosting of APPA’s Supervisor Toolkit to be held from August 6 to 10, 2007. At the time of this writing, we have thirty registrants. The training will be held at the Rutgers University Conference Center.

Meetings Scheduled for 2007/2008

We are finalizing arrangements for our fall meeting which will take place toward the end of October after our ERAPPA Conference in Ottawa, Ontario. We will focus on new legislation introduced this past June covering guaranteed energy savings contracts and how our colleges and universities can benefit. The fall meeting is scheduled to take place at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

The board of New Jersey APPA meets monthly and rotates the location among board members.

Membership

Our membership roster has grown slightly but is still at what the board considers an unacceptable level of involvement considering we have over forty higher education institutions in New Jersey. We continue to update and refine our mailing lists, and we also attempt to keep our website current (as I am sure everyone knows, that alone is a full time job). We now have fifteen business partner members and continue to receive requests.

This fall we will begin to collect dues from our members. This is necessary in order to determine the actual number of active participants we have. Because some institutions are members of ERAPPA and some are members of APPA, we are never certain what institutions consider themselves participants on a local level.

Major Initiatives

• Develop our business partner base.
• Enhance our mini conference to attract even more participants.
• Continue process improvement as it relates to communicating with both current members and prospective members.

Major Areas of Concern

We have been actively working with APPA and will continue to do so in order to obtain the following:

• Chapter incorporation papers.
• Chapter declaration of tax exemption from the IRS.
• Chapter federal tax ID number.

We hope that APPA will continue to find ways for institutions to identify with their local chapters, ERAPPA, and finally APPA and to understand how they are joined. Many still believe that they are three separate unrelated entities. In some cases, maybe they are!