may 2009 issue
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COUNCIL BRIEFS
APEGGA Register Grows in Tight Economy
The PEGG compiled the following items from the most recent APEGGA Council meeting on April 24 in Calgary — the final meeting of the 2008-2009 term. The first meeting of the new Council is scheduled for June 18 in Calgary.
Engineers and geoscientists continue choosing Alberta to practice. In fact growth of the APEGGA register remains “consistent and constant,” Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng., told Council in his annual report.
“We’re not seeing a significant levelling off,” he said. “Although we’re predicting level growth in 2009, there’s no strong evidence of a slowdown in licensure yet.”
Mr. Windsor’s report covered measurables in every area of the year’s business. Professional mobility in North America and abroad, member discipline, the uncovering of illegal use of the APEGGA titles, outreach of science and math into Alberta schools, development of practice standards, mentoring and professional development — he reported on these areas and many others.
Total membership in 2008 — which covers professional and non-professional individual members — reached 53,716. That’s up 4.8 per cent or 2,463 members from the 51,253 on the register at the end of 2007.
It does represent a lower growth rate than the year before, however, when the increase was 8.9 per cent in the midst of an economic boom.
Corporate licensure also grew in 2008. The total number of active permits to practice increased 5.5 per cent to 3,978 from 3,772.
Dues made up about $10.2 million in revenue in 2008, compared with under $9 million the year before.
The big financial hit APEGGA took in 2008 was an unrealized loss on investments of more than $800,000, because of the economic downturn. Otherwise, the Association finished the year with a small surplus of about $280,000.
Full financials appeared in the April PEGG, and the full APEGGA Annual Report, Cultivating Excellence, is now available online at www.apegga.org.
Indicators Suggest
On-Budget Year
APEGGA is keeping close tabs on how the economy affects its budget. And the news after the first quarter of 2009 is so far, so good.
Council received a staff-prepared report on economic indicators drawn from APEGGA activities, learning that overall the downturn has not hurt the Association.
Membership and application revenues are estimated to be up $20,000 and $15,000 respectively at year-end. The current trend also suggests PEGG advertising revenue will be up $100,000, but a drop in APEGGA Annual Conference sponsorship is expected to cost the Association $40,000.
The prediction for now? APEGGA will be $95,000 ahead of budget at the end of 2009.
“This is a very useful set of measures and metrics to help keep us on track,” said outgoing President Gordon Williams, P.Geol.
New Document
Addresses Outsourcing
To add clarity to an often confusing and troubling issue, a new APEGGA document delves into what the law says about the stamping of outsourced engineering. Council approved Determining the Need for Professional Involvement in Outsourced Engineering, a guideline created by the Practice Standards Committee in consultation with members and Council. It is now available in published form and on the APEGGA website, www.apegga.org.
The document is in keeping with a Practice Review Board recommendation, made after the board conducted an inquiry into outsourced engineering practices. “The need for this guideline was also emphasized by the number of questions received by APEGGA about whether outsourced engineering documents require engineers’ stamps,” says a committee report to Council.
The guideline reflects Alberta legislation as it stands now. It also reflects legal opinions on the limitations of APEGGA’s enabling legislation, when it comes to requiring Alberta-licensed engineers to be involved in outsourced engineering.
In responding to the request for comments, “several members expressed surprise that more involvement of Alberta-registered engineers is not required, but they acknowledged the reality of the Alberta Government having placed the responsibility for public safety in other hands,” says the report.
“Some members suggested that the legislation be changed to require more involvement of Alberta-registered engineers. Whether undertaking such an initiative is appropriate is a policy matter for APEGGA Council to determine. In the meantime, the guideline fulfills a need for clarity on what is required now.”
In a related matter, Council received for review and comment a near-final draft of a document developed to help engineers understand their responsibilities when inspecting and certifying equipment, preparing certified specifications, or overriding the specifications of a manufacturer.
Called the Guideline for Professional Engineers Providing Equipment Certification as Required by the Occupational Health and Safety Code, the full document is available for member comment on the APEGGA site.
Voting Improves
After Changes
Instituted
Voting in this year’s APEGGA election bounced back to within half a point of the 2007 rate. The improvement to 17.3 per cent of eligible voters appears to be the result of improvements and changes prompted by Council’s Voter Participation Task Force.
In 2008, APEGGA launched electronic voting as the preferred way of gathering ballots. Voting dropped to just 9.9 per cent from 17.8 per cent the year before. Unhappy about the low turnout, Council struck the task force to find out what went wrong and figure out how to turn voting around.
“All of the process adjustments, plus a commitment to not repeat things done in 2008 that may have contributed to a low turnout, were done,” says the task force’s report to Council. “In general, the functionality and simplicity of the voting website seemed better to most voters than in 2008.”
The report also singled out direct e-mail reminders as a likely contributor to the improved turnout. The PEGG added print publication of candidate biographies to its pre-election coverage, which was a big help as well, said committee chair Jim Beckett, P.Eng.
Viewership was low of online audio-video recordings, which showed an election forum for candidates for Vice-President and President-Elect. “We’ll need to look closely at how we use that technology next year,” said Mr. Beckett, the incoming APEGGA President.
“We seem to be on the right path,” he continued. “We’ve wrestled to the ground the issues involving electronic voting. But the results still aren’t good enough.”
For obvious reasons, APEGGA doesn’t know who voted for whom, but the Association was able to compile information on voter turnout percentages within certain groups. This allowed the task force to bring some interesting facts and statistics to the table, such as
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The three highest membership voting categories in 2009 were Honorary Life, dually licensed professional members and Registered Professional Technologists, at 44.4 per cent, 29.5 per cent and 25.7 per cent respectively.
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Women are less likely to vote than men are. The percentage in 2009 for women was 14.9 per cent, and for men was 17.4 per cent.
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The hot age group for voting is 60-69, with 20.8 of those members exercising their franchise in 2009. Next is 50-59 at 19.7 per cent, followed by 70-79 at 18.1 per cent and 40-49 at 17.5 per cent..
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The 80-plus crowd is least likely to vote — only 8.5 per cent cast ballots in 2009. Next lowest was 30-39 at 13.2 per cent, followed by 20-29 at 13.6 per cent.
Broad-Based Committee
Looks for
Council Nominees
A diverse membership in the APEGGA Nominating Committee helps build good Councils and Executive Committees, said outgoing president Gordon Williams, P.Geol.
“We try to have good geographic and disciplinary distribution, and we try to find people with access to others within the membership, so we can identify individuals suitable for Council, Vice-President and President-Elect,” he said.
Council recommended the appointment of the 2009/2010 Nominating Committee, which the Annual General Meeting confirmed and approved the next day.
Under APEGGA’s enabling legislation, the minimum number of members on the committee is 10 plus the outgoing President, who sits as the chair. Also, the new President attends meetings as an observer.
APEGGA typically puts about double the minimum membership on the committee — this year’s committee has 24 members, plus the chair.
A larger committee makes it easier to find a wide distribution and adequate number of candidates, said Dr. Williams. It also “blunts any criticism” that APEGGA is run by a small network of friends.
The Nominating Committee’s job is to come up with “the best possible slate of potential candidates to Council,” Dr. Williams’ report said. APEGGA also accepts mail-in nominations for office.
New appointments to the committee are George Anderson, P.Eng., of Bantrel in Calgary; David Bardwell, P.Geol., a consultant in Calgary; Bob Chisholm, P.Eng., of Alberta One-Call Corporation, Calgary; Lisa Doig, P.Eng., TransAlta, Calgary; Dr. Michael Enachescu, P.Geoph., MGM Energy Corp., Calgary; Dr. Allin Folinsbee, P.Geoph., Petro-Canada, Calgary; Dr. Bert Hunt, P.Eng., Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie; Brian Marcotte, P.Eng., consultant, Edmonton; and Tom O’Neill, P.Eng., Alberta Infrastructure, St. Albert.
Fifteen other members return from last year’s committee.
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