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BUILD ALABAMA DAY 2010
2-23-10. [Montgomery] We gathered on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at the State Capitol Auditorium and waited to hear from invited elected officials. Who would show up? we wondered. Just outside, the gambling protesters were assembled, loudly cheering whoever was speaking at the podium. In half an hour, they would leave, and the pro-gambling folks would assemble and cheer for their speakers. Elected officials that didn’t want to get caught in the crowds would have to use the tunnel, we decided. The auditorium doors opened, and we all went in and found our seats.
The briefing began at one o’clock. Don Brown AIA was the master of ceremonies. He first introduced Sen. Lowell Barron, who spoke passionately about SB121, the “Highway Bill”, which would take $1B from the Alabama Trust Fund, and fund 10 years of roads/bridges/transportation work. This bill is sorely needed, and will most likely pass. He also spoke of the need to improve the immigration law, and get the law to “line up” with our neighbor states.
Suddenly, all the doors in the auditorium swung shut. Don went onstage and introduced the man who really didn’t need an introduction, Governor Bob Riley. Riley had just returned from the Governors’ Meeting with President Obama in Washington DC. He told us that the President is concerned about states’ needs and described him as being very “engaged”. Governor Riley stated that the “Highway Bill” will likely pass and he will sign it. Alabama needs stimulus money to fund infrastructure. Riley also said that three German companies and one Asian company are seriously looking to locate their operations in Alabama, which will bring jobs to our citizens. After being with us for 17 minutes, and much applause, the Governor returned to his office.
Following the Governor, Don introduced Senator Rodger Smitherman, Anne Elizabeth McGowin (Recovery Coordinator, AL Dept of Finance), and Don Vaughn PE (Dep Director, AL-DOT). Mr Vaughn spoke about a lot of issues facing AL-DOT in his 15 minutes at the podium, but focused on the extreme need for “longterm sustainable funding”. There is much to do, but not a lot of funding available. Passage of the “Highway Bill” will help tremendously.
Don then introduced Jay Reed, President of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama. Jay handed out a position paper which listed some of the bills we are watching, its synopsis, and whether we support or oppose it: HB547 (oppose), SB11 (oppose), SB52 (oppose), SB59 (support), SB121 (support), SB179 (support). This was the tool we would refer to when we visited our state senators and representatives during the remainder of the afternoon.
Participating members of Build Alabama 2010 are: AAPA, ABC, ACEC-Alabama, ACIA, AGC-Alabama, AIA-Alabama, ARBA, and JECA.
ENGINEERING COUNCIL OF BIRMINGHAM AWARDS TWO ASPE MEMBERS!
2.19.10 [Birmingham] ECOB held its annual awards banquet last night at The Club. Approximately 350 people attended.
ENGINEER OF THE YEAR award was presented to Fouad Fouad PhD PE, professor and chair of the department of civil, construction and environmental engineering at UAB. Fouad joined UAB more than 28 years ago, has received numerous awards, 3 patents, and is known particularly for his work and research in concrete engineering. Fouad was nominated by the Birmingham Chapter ASPE. Congratulations, Dr Fouad!
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE award was presented to Edward Senter PE, principal of MJR/Senter PC, which he joined in 2007. For more than 15 years, Senter has focused on energy management, instrumentation and controls for industrial and commercial clients. As Energy Manager for UAB, Senter reduced energy costs by 12%, which resulted in savings of $11 million. Senter was nominated by ASHRAE. Congratulations, Ed!
Young Engineer of the Year award went to Shunna Marie Cannon, who works for Alabama Power Co.
The Engineering Leadership Award was presented to Garry Neil Drummond. (This information was provided by the Birmingham Business Journal.
LEGISLATIVE ALERT !!
SB52 passed the Alabama Senate (30-0), and will likely be considered soon in the House. This bill prohibits no-bid contracts, and apparently would supersede requirements to use the qualification-based-selection (QBS) process to procure professional services.
What you can do NOW: Phone calls, faxes and emails to your Representative may make a difference in his/her vote.
Use this link below to find (by zip code) your Representative’s contact information:
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/zipsearch.html
The ALISON (AL Legislative Information System Online) link below allows one to research a proposed bill and its history. Under the “Regular Session 2010” column on the left of the home page, click on “Bills” on the “Session” tab to view a drop-down menu, then click on “Status” to search for a bill. Type in the bill number (e.g., “SB52”) in the box, click on “Get Status,” then when the Bill Status page appears, click on the box listing the bill number under the “Instrument” column to activate the various tabs at the top of the page for that bill (e.g., clicking on “View” tab brings up an engrossed copy of Bill SB52 as passed by the Senate on 2-4-10; clicking on “History” tab gives details on its legislative history to date). Here is the link:
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/acaslogin.asp
Here is what was said about SB52’s passage in the Senate (read the comments too):
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/02/alabama_senate_passes_ban_on_m.html
MathCounts 2010
Local Competition Info:
Montgomery & Auburn area> Feb. 5, Faulkner University campus
Birmingham area> Feb. 13, Berry Middle School, 4500 Jaguar Rd, 35242
Dothan area> Feb. 20, Troy University campus
Huntsville area> Feb. 20, at Challenger Middle School
Mobile area> Feb. 20, Engineering Building, USA campus
Muscle Shoals> Feb. 20, Stevens Hall, UNA, Florence
Tuscaloosa> Feb 13, Comer Hall, Univ of Alabama
State Competition info:
to be held March 27 in Montgomery, at the Harris Business Building, Faulkner University.
State Chair is Brian Shelton: bshelton@mwwssb.com
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REGISTER NOW FOR PE, FE EXAM REVIEW COURSES!
It’s official! ASPE is partnering with the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers (MnSPE) to bring you the review courses that many of you have requested. PE Civil, PE Mechanical and Fundamentals courses are taught by licensed PEs with background and expertise in the various subject areas. If you don’t pass the exam after taking the course, we guarantee that you may take a second MnSPE-provided review course FREE, provided you attend at least 80% of the classes and complete at least 80% of the homework.
Courses for PE-Civil, PE-Mechancal and FE Review will be offered via webinar.
Registration information and deadlines, Webinar system requirements, online discounts for books and additional details can be found at http://www.mnspe.org/professional_dev/pe_review.shtml.
If your company would like to offer its facilities to employees (no limits as to the number of participants), the fee will be $2500 per site for the PE course review and $1800 per site for the FE review. Participants who wish to receive credit for taking the course, or for the course guarantee to apply, MnSPE will need your names. Please contact Mary Detloff at mdetloff@mnspe.org for more information.
Basic details for each course are noted below:
PE Civil—
>Mostly Tuesday and Thursday evenings between Feb.23 and April 8 for the webinar course. Classes meet from 6-9pm.
>The cost is $600 + books (for the ASPE member) and $850 + books (nonmember).
PE Mechanical—
>Mostly Monday and Wednesday evenings between Feb 15 and April 9 for the webinar course. Classes meet from 6-9pm.
>The cost is $600 + books (for the ASPE member) and $850 + books (nonmember).
Fundamentals of Engineering—
>Mostly Tuesday and Thursday evenings between Feb.15 and April 8 for the webinar course. Classes meet from 6-9pm.
>The cost is $350 + books (for the ASPE member) and $550 + books (nonmember)
All classes will utilize books published by Professional Publications, Inc (PPI), provider of the popular Lindeburg books. When you order your review materials through MnSPE, you save 15% on selected PPI products.
If you have any questions, contact Mary Detloff at mdetloff@mnspe.org.