If you are following the presidential campaign at all, it seems that almost every major candidate is calling for change. In the October issue of this newsletter I spoke about change and how it may affect you. Change for change’s sake doesn’t necessarily add value. However, a willingness to change as necessary is an asset. We can’t grow without change.

So where is this going? All of you should have received your ballots from Institute to elect our national officers for FY’09. Included in that mailing were 4 proposed Bylaws amendments. Last year the proposal to restructure/reduce the board failed by a small margin. There were some concerns stated then that the new proposed amendments have hopefully addressed to the members’ satisfaction. There are additional Bylaws amendments that address the Institute Nominating Committee, the method to submit names for nomination, and determining delegates at the Annual Meeting (typically held during the convention).

If you haven’t already sent in your ballots, I encourage you to become familiar with these proposals and the candidates for office and cast your vote. In addition to the typical cast of characters such as President-Elect and Treasurer, we also get to vote on our Region Director, and one of the candidates for Vice-President, Industry is a North Central Region member. I’m not going to suggest one candidate over another, since I know them all as much or little as you do. But I will say to vote for the candidates that you think will do the best job for CSI. And vote soon; the deadline is March 7.

Last month I talked about the member survey and how several of you indicated an interest in helping on a committee or the Board. Just to nudge you a little bit…. have you contacted the committee you were interested in?

There was a lot happening with the Chapter in the month of February. First, the Professional Development Committee co-sponsored a door hardware seminar with AIA Minnesota, presented by our very own Paul Lepeska, CSI, CDT, AHC. I thought Paul did an excellent job. There was good turnout with a fair number of members in attendance. Then we had our annual Product Showcase, co-sponsored by the U of M’s College of Design and held in Rapson Hall. The seminars went well and the venue was fun, although parking wasn’t ideal for everyone. We exceeded expectations for exhibitor registrations. Unfortunately, I had to leave early for a prior commitment and was not able to visit every booth as I would have liked. But I would like to thank each of the exhibitors for your participation. The turnout seemed reasonable; we had over 100 walk-ins that night in addition to the pre-registrations. We need to do more though to make this work for everyone. Thank you to Bruce Saline and his Showcase committee for pulling together a quality event. Finally, the Certification Committee started their study workshops the next evening for the CDT exam. This is also a major commitment by several presenters as well as the committee. I hope you had an opportunity to take advantage of some of these wonderful offerings.

Next month we have another interesting monthly program. McGough Construction along with Perkins and Will Architects will give a presentation on the Great River Energy LEEDS platinum project. They will address several innovative efforts to bring about this achievement. So get your RSVP in now before you forget.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Chapter meeting.

Jon Rao Papke, CSI, CCS, AIA

President, Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter CSI