APWA Florida Chapter Executive Committee Meeting Membership Committee Report – OCT 2014 – Amy Blaida

APWA Florida Chapter Membership Committee

I. Membership Committee Members and Subcommittees Membership Chair: Amy Blaida, Amy.blaida@rsandh.com, (813) 468-4576 Subcommittees:

(a) Records o Amy Blaida

(b) Recruitment & Retention o Co-Chairs: Greg Kern & Matt LaChance o Group Vacancy Contact

i. Randy Shane (c) Young Professionals Group

o Chair: Amanda Millirons o Members: Chas Jordan, Brandi Allegood

#34

FL Chapter Branch Membership Chairs 2013/2014:

With over 850 members as of 9/30/2014:

6/30/14 9/30/14 % change

North Carolina 868 893 2.88%

Minnesota 1002 1010 0.80%

Florida 1405 1408 0.21%

Chicago Metro 1416 1413 -0.21%

Mid-Atlantic 900 897 -0.33%

Texas 1632 1620 -0.74%

New England 992 982 -1.01%

Southern California 1266 1248 -1.42%

West Coast o ----

Treasure Coast o John Dunton

Sun Coast o Sue Garland, Chair o Norman Robertson

Southwest o Nicole Monahan

Gold Coast o Joe Roche

South Florida o Joe Kroll

Emerald Coast

o Ken Schnell Big Bend

o Deborah Warren o Adam Collins

Santa Fe o Mitch Morgan

Northeast o Bill Joyce o Seth Nehrke

Central Florida o Greg Kern

Where does Florida stand nationally??

II. Recruitment & Retention a. We will continue to focus on RETENTION. See at the very below a recap of our report on retention.

b. Branch and Individual Competitions –

GOLD COAST WINS OCT 2014 BRANCH COMPETITION WITH HIGHEST % OF NEW MEMBERS (.09% FOR 7 NEW MEMBERS) + INCREASE IN OVERALL

MEMBERSHIP (5.41% WITH 7 TOTAL MEMBERS)!!! Special kudos to the Sun Coast Branch who also added 7 NEW members and increased by

.05%!!!

July 10 2014 13-Oct-14 % NEW % of NEW

Big Bend 53 55 3.77% 0

Central 282 272 -3.55% 6

Emerald Coast 24 21 -12.50% 0

Gold Coast 74 78 5.41% 7 0.09%

Northeast 92 90 -2.17% 2

Santa Fe 81 81 0.00% 3

South Florida 213 213 0.00% 8

Southwest 127 124 -2.36% 0

Sun Coast 133 138 3.76% 7 0.05%

Treasure Coast 39 39 0.00% 0

West Coast 281 271 -3.56% 9

Other 0

TOTAL 1399 1382 -1.22% 42 5

Individual – we are going to draw for a winner on October 18, 2014 @ EC meeting. Below are the entries AND new members:

Scott Harkness, Uretek Holdings 863) 899-2863 SHarkness@URETEKHoldings.com 757767 5

Mr. Steven S. Gibbs, TSM Mr. Steven S. Gibbs

Business Development Manager

URETEK Holdings Inc

Gerry Rogers,City of Port St. Lucie, grogers@cityofpsl.com (Cell) 772-380-3543

783126 11

Mr. Michael Proscia Mr.

Michael Proscia

Project Coordinator

City of Port St Lucie

783125 11

Mr. Nick DiBenedetto Mr. Nick

DiBenedetto

Project Coordinator

City of Port St Lucie

Sam May 784134 11 Mr. Gary F. Sessa Mr. Gary F. Sessa

Public Works Crew Chief

City of Parkland

Amy Davies - CDM Smith 778463 5

Mrs. Meghan A. Marion Mrs.

Meghan A. Marion

Transportation Planner CDM Smith

782896 5 Mrs. Carmen T. Monroy Mrs.

Carmen T. Monroy

Director SW Area Office

Florida Dep of Transportation

Cathie Lewis, Public Works Director, Town of Fort Myers Beach, cathie@fortmyersbeachfl.gov 782571

11 Mr. Sam Updike Mr. Sam Updike

Special Projects Supervisor

Town of Fort Myers Beach

Sam May

601248 5 Mr. Brad L. Kaine Mr. Brad L. Kaine

Director of Municipal Services

Bergeron Land Devlopment

685961 5 Ms. Lee J. Rickles Ms. Lee J. Rickles Municipal Services

Bergeron Land Development

Sam May 636849 5 Mr. Manny Diez Mr. Manny Diez

Public Works & Development Services Dept. Manager

City of Lauderdale Lakes

Dave Derrick Adams Superintendent

City of St. Cloud

1300 9th St Saint Cloud

FL 34769-3339

Dave Derrick Clabaugh Sign Tech

City of St. Cloud

1300 9th St Saint Cloud

FL 34769-3339

Dave Derrick Fasnacht

Deputy Director/Operations

City of St. Cloud

1300 9th St Saint Cloud

FL 34769-3339

Dave Derrick Felblinger

Engineering Manager

City of St. Cloud

1300 9th St Saint Cloud

FL 34769-3339

Dave Derrick McDaniel Superintendent

City of St. Cloud

1300 9th St Saint Cloud

FL 34769-3339

Mike McCabe 672501 John Happel Suntree Technologies

Wei Lui 787962 5 Ms. Priscilla Davis Sale Ms.

Priscilla

Davis Sale E I CDM Smith

Bill Vest 784172 11

Ms. Barbara M. McKeathon, II Ms.

Barbara M.

McKeathon II

Section Administrator

City of North Port

Bill Vest 784168 11

Mr. James R. Biagioli Mr. James R. Biagioli

Section Administrator

City of North Port

III. Group Vacancies (Randy Shane)- We have 4 current vacancies.

Member # Member Type

Paid-Thru

Name Company Phone Fax Email

Members Allowed

Actual Members

Vacancies

648758 A Agency (10)

12/31/2014

ROSTER

Mr. Brian Usher, PWLF City of Largo P: (727) 587-6741 F: (727) 587-6780 E: busher@largo.com

10 9 1

118341 A Agency (10)

11/30/2014

ROSTER

Mr. Michael Shields City of North Lauderdale P: (954) 724-7070 F: (954) 720-2064 E: mshields@nlauderdale.org

6 5 1

3263 A Agency (10)

3/31/2015

ROSTER

Mr. Douglas Meurer Lee County FL P: (239) 533-8505 F: (239) 485-8335 E: muererdl@leegov.com

16 15 1

787964 C Heritage (22A)

7/31/2015

ROSTER

Mr. Ivan A. Oelrich Oelrich Construction Inc P: (352) 472-1334 F: (352) 472-1335 E: ivan@oelrichconstruction.com

2 1 1

IV. Young Professionals Group (Amanda Millirons) Young Professionals Group

o Chair: Amanda Millirons, City of Palm Bay, millia@palmbayflorida.org o Brandi Allegood, RS&H, brandi.allegood@rsandh.com o Chas Jordan, City of Largo, cjordan@largo.com

14-10-06/Executive Committee Meeting Report

2014 - 2015 Goals 1. Host a total of six young professional events annually throughout the Florida Chapter and Branches.

o Goal modified from "At least 50% of the FL Chapter Branches will hold a YP Event". The number 50% was more difficult to measure because there is an odd number of branches and it initially did not include the annual reception at the conference/expo.

2. The Florida Chapter will sign up at least one member per YP Event. o No changes.

3. Each Branch to designate a contact for Young Professional business. o Replaces "Work with Chapter leadership & Young Professionals Network (Nationals) to develop a smart phone application as a

means to continue to use social media to engage Young Professionals".

YP Event Communication & Support

1. District Reps/Branch Chairs/ YP Contacts, please keep me in the loop with upcoming YP events o Happy to help coordinate o Want to celebrate our successes and share with the YP Network o Would like to update current list of YP contacts so that we can communicate directly upcoming events/business directly with

correct point of contact.

2. A total of 5 events were hosted for the 2013 - 2014 program year. o Four Branch Events:

1. August - Northeast, baseball game 2. November- Central Florida Branch, networking event 3. March- Santa Fe, social event 4. June - Southwest, first event, baseball game

o One Annual Networking Reception at the Expo 1. July- Chapter Networking Reception

o Thank you to everyone for their support!

3. Upcoming events: 1. October 23 - West Coast, evening networking session 2. November 13 - Central Florida Branch, evening networking session

YP Network Steering Committee (APWA National)

1. Amanda Millirons and Chas Jordon represent the Chapter on monthly conference calls and at Congress events 2. The Florida Chapter is seen as an active Young Professional Chapter and the group often seeks our input on best practices. 3. The YP Network continues to be represented in various social media forms:

a. Section of APWA website dedicated to YP initiative - http://www.apwa.net/youngprofessionals/ b. For the past two years, Congress has used a " Young Professionals icon key" to designate presentations that may be of interest

to young professionals. c. There is a YP group on Linkedin.

V. CONTINUING ACTION ITEMS FOR BRANCH MEMBERSHIP CHAIRPERSONS

Monthly Membership Reports and Chapter Membership Roster

What to do when you receive the Membership Reports and Membership Roster:

NEW Members – reach out to your new members. You will need to cross reference with the Reinstated Members report as the Reinstated Members will be listed on the New Members Report. Your communication to the NEW members will be different than communications to REINSTATED members.

NEW members need to be added to your email distribution list. As Membership Chairperson for your Branch, it is your responsibility to ensure that the names and emails of ALL the new members are sent to your Branch Secretary (or whoever keeps your Branch email distribution list) so that they can update their records on a monthly basis.

REINSTATED Members – your communication should be to THANK them for reinstating their APWA membership; then tell them about all upcoming events; include copy of any upcoming meeting flyers and your most recent newsletter.

DROPPED Members – an email will not work for these. Call these members to see if there is anything you can do to get them to reinstate their membership. Be sure to have Membership Benefits Info in front of you.

PROSPECTIVE Members – send them an email introducing yourself; tell them about the benefits of APWA; notify them that they would be a member in YOUR Branch; then tell them about all upcoming events; include copy of any upcoming meeting flyers and your most recent newsletter.

GROUP Vacancies – Randy Shane contacts these folks on a monthly basis. Group vacancies do NOT count toward our Chapter Membership Numbers unless and until they are filled.

Membership ROSTER – You must look at the members listed in your Branch on a monthly basis to check for errors, or changes (for example, you have someone listed in your Branch that you know has changed jobs, positions, has a new email/address, etc.). These changes must be sent to the Records Chair, Amy Blaida, immediately so that she can notify National. Also, you need to review your current email distribution list and compare it to the current roster; make sure that ALL MEMBERS LISTED

Membership Retention, Greg Kern

“Common knowledge” items on member retention:

1. It’s easier and cheaper to retain a member than to recruit a new one

2. A member remains part of a group when he/she gains something from that group or experience

3. To retain members, the group must continually provide value to its members

4. Value to a member is based upon each individual’s personal experience

Our Branches cannot just assume each member is having a positive experience and receiving value for their membership investment ($169

annually). Branches should create a base of activities and networking systems that attract members to events and reinforce the value of

membership. Items that seem to be working include:

Branch newsletter (with pertinent, educational, and entertaining articles)

Member longevity recognition program (5-10-15-20-25 pins)

Charity events and volunteerism (great bonding experience for members)

Annual Scholarship & Awards meeting

Co-sponsoring of seminars, educations events, and activities (i.e. with ASHE, FES)

Research into membership retention indicates that there is no silver bullet that works for a majority of situations and groups. There are,

however, several guiding principles and strategies that reflect positive membership retention efforts.

Emphasis on renewing members the first 2 years; after 3 years, they typically become long-term members

Regularly communicate what the members are receiving for their dues; remind them when they renew (or are delinquent)

Continually provide service and value to our members

Identify and celebrate group/organizational members

Website and newsletters should emphasize several key issues affecting members, showing again what members receive for their dues

Conduct surveys of what members are interested in, and how your Branch may assist

A key word is relevancy; our Branches must continue to make membership relevant. And we must regularly and consistently communicate or

demonstrate its relevancy to our members.

A balance should be maintained between communicating the value of APWA membership, and the value of being a member of the respective

Branch. There are organizational benefits, such as those listed on the APWA website:

Free subscription to infoNOW electronic networking communities

Free subscription to APWA Reporter

Free subscription to APWA Washington Reporter

Free access to the online Members Library

Discounted pricing on books, videos, related PW materials

Discounts on conferences and workshops

Discounts on professional training from Vista, Excel Visual, PSMJ

Earn professional certification credentials

Marketing opportunities for your company’s products or services

But many of us know the real value is the local networking and camaraderie that is built through our activities in the Branch. Even though it is challenging to build rapport with all members, that is exactly where we need to put our emphasis. Since our chapter has a strong base of activities and communication tools in place, I propose that our member retention efforts should be focused on every Branch speaking directly its respective members we do not typically see at our events or activities. I know that phone calls can be difficult, but we may be able to develop some combination of call and/or email outreach that personally acknowledges a member’s presence in our Branch, and provides a personal link. Your Branch activities are really the draw. While a member definitely benefits from APWA membership, it’s the personal interactions that motivate persons to become more involved and to renew membership. Many of us are members of numerous organizations that really do not provide any benefits or real value, be it educational, professional, or personal. We should ensure that our APWA Branch members receive some level of personal attention and become linked to the group.