Electrical Association

MEA Spring Conference Report

The MEA Spring Conference and Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with the NCEL Expo. Eric Seanger, MEA Chair, welcomed members to the appreciation dinner. He thanked John Benz of Federated Insurance for hosting the dinner and Doug Seaton of Seaton, Beck & Peters for hosting the hospitality suite.

Congratulations go to Tom Heng and Mike Kunkel who tied in the membership drive. Special appreciation goes to the Seanger family for the James T. Seanger Memorial Scholarship and to Border States/MESCO for the Scholarships they award to the children and employees of MEA members. Applications are on the MEA web site or can be requested by MEA. The awards presented are described on page 18.

The annual membership and board meeting was held on Tuesday, April 13, and Pat Vlaminck was elected Chair of the MEA Board, Mike Klein was elected Vice Chair, Tom Heng was elected Treasurer, and Brian Welling was elected Secretary. Chair Vlaminck appointed Tony Enger and Tim Zinniel to serve with Eric Seanger as advisors to the Executive Board. Bill Hoskins, Bruce Koenig, Tom Freetly, Mark Moderow, Mark Vierkant, Gaylen Hayes, Warren Olson, Dutch Hasskamp, Jim Fisher and Tony Enger were elected to serve on the MEA Board of Directors. Mike Schulz, Tim Zinniel, Joe Gatewood, Scott Wessel, Curt Brazier, Dave Franzen, Scott Twining, Todd Truedson and Kris Thompson are the current Board Members. Special thanks to Jay Malstrom retiring board member for his service. Advisory product service members elected are Jocko Mitchell, George Cusick, and Rob Olson.

We thank Eric Seanger for doing an excellent job of leading MEA through 2009/10. He gave many hours of time attending meetings, hearings and working with the staff. Thanks also to Jen Danich for being on the MEA Board and for her work making the Summer Conference a great success.

The Electrical Training Network (ETN) Trustees were announced at the Board meeting. They are Doug Kahler, Ken Javens, Eric Seanger, Brian Welling, Jim Fisher, Lon Lien, Wyatt Zaun, Dave Helgeson, John Kuntz, Jeff Kunkel, and Jay Malstrom. A special thanks to Mark Moderow for his service on the Board of Trustees for ETN.

The following were appointed as Committee Chairs: Building, Roger Klein & Mike Klein; By-Laws, Tom Seanger; Continuing Education, Tom Freetly; Executive Board, Pat Vlaminck; Finance, Tom Heng; Government Action, Dutch Hasskamp; Insurance, Matt McGinn; Membership & Publications, Tom Heng; REC Partnering, Jim Grant; Safety, Kris Thompson & Rob Olson; and Strategic Planning, Tom Kopperud. We thank Tom Seanger, Dan Klein, and Willy Hoskins for serving on the Board of Electricity and Doug Bischoff for serving on the NCEL Board.

The treasurer reviewed the financial reports from Smith & Schafer CPA's for 2009 and the MEA and ETN financial reports for year-to-date February 2010. Authorization was given to borrow money for the purchase of 2011 code books, to update the 401k documents and to continue the 4% match, to consider changing the number of signatures required on checks, and to finalize the key person insurance policy at the summer meetings.

Government Action Chair Dutch Hasskamp and lobbyist Bill Strusinski reported that so far MEA has had a successful year at the legislature and a full report will be given at the end of the legislative session. Tom Seanger reported on the actions of the Board of Electricity. The creation of a Residential Council was authorized if there is interest and participation by electrical contractors. The Strategic Plan was reviewed by the Executive Board and the Board accepted the plan that included changing the name of the organization to the Electrical Association while continuing to do business in Minnesota as the Minnesota Electrical Association. The By-Laws committee will recommend any necessary changes in governance. The appropriate trademark and other filings will be made by the MEA staff. The Building Committee will meet on May 22 and all present are invited.

Best value procurement was the subject of a presentation by JJ Levenske who gave a number of ways that electrical contractors can successfully participate in this kind of bidding process. Residential & Service Contractors met to discuss the idea of forming a Residential Council for MEA's electrical contractors. They also saw three presentations. David Crary of Hindsite showed them how they can find extra money by a system that allows accurate scheduling and invoicing; the Center for Energy & Environment gave a helpful update on rebate programs and Jen Danich, Eaton/Cutler Hammer, introduced their certified residential electrician program.

The meetings were followed by the NCEL Expo which was terrific as usual!