International Right of Way Association
Garden State Chapter 15 Issue No. 4 December 2004
Website: WWW.IRWANJ.ORG
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THE CORRIDOR International Right of Way Association Garden State Chapter 15 Issue No. 4 December 2004 Website: WWW.IRWANJ.ORG |
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Recipe Apple Crisp 4 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples (about 4 apples) 2/3 cup packed brown sugar ½ cup each: all-purpose flour and rolled oats ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened Heat oven to 3750. Grease an 8” |
It has been many years since New Jersey hosted a Regional Forum. For those
of you unfamiliar with these forums, the typical forum includes a one day
seminar, a Region IV business meeting where the Chapter presidents represent
the chapters to discuss local and regional issues, and typically a trip
to an interesting location afterwards. |
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The International Board of Director’s meeting however dealt with more serious topics. Our organization on the International level has been forced to enter a round of belt tightening. There are a number of factors behind our loses in income. Perhaps the largest is a decline in membership. Continued on Page 3 |
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| International Director's meeting (cont.) We are an aging organization with fewer younger members joining. At the same time many are retiring. Along with the loss of dues, education courses which provide revenue have not been as frequent or profitable. There have also been some issues with aligning the budget process with these new realities. Several steps were taken to help put the organization back on a sound financial footing. The Directors approved a revised dues schedule which will increase dues for both Regular and Senior members by $25.00 and Retirees by $10. The last dues increase was in 2001. While a dues increase is always a painful thing to vote for, both Kris Hofmann and I felt that this was necessary to help our overall financial health. The association has improved their course pricing structure to simplify the costs to chapters for putting on courses. This step will make it easier for chapters like ours to put on courses and help improve the funds coming in from education. The association has put into place a number of initiatives to reduce costs and spend our money wisely. One step approved by the Directors was a by-laws amendment to change to a July 1-June 30. fiscal year from a calendar year. The change is effective July 1, 2005. This change will simplify the budget process and help save costs as well. While enrollment will continue to be an issue, I am confident that International is looking in the right places to improve their stewardship of our assets. The final action of the International Directors was the election of the new IEC members. Each nominated candidate was approved by acclimation except for the final IEC member at large. In an unusual move, the nomination of Faith Rowland SR/WA for the final IEC member at large was challenged by a nomination from the floor for Joseph Bottino SR/WA of the Philly Chapter. After recommendations for each candidate were made a close vote resulted in the election of Faith. The conference closed with the traditional installation banquet for our new international officers. |
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Spring Forum (continued). Any member of the Chapter is more than welcome to attend the
business meeting. On Thursday evening we will have the Forum dinner at
the hotel. Finally, we will be hosting an interesting trip on Friday. Tentatively,
we will visit the Convention Center, with its connection to the Atlantic
City rail line. Following that we anticipate traveling to Smithville for
lunch and a look at adaptive reuse of historic structures. If you would like to get involved or participate in any way, let us know by phone, mail or by clicking here. Be sure to look for announcements for the Spring Forum shortly, in the meantime, we are busy getting all of the details in place. |
Spring Forum Sponsorship Chapter 15 is one of the smaller chapters in the Region. Our goal is to have a fun and affordable forum. Sponsorship can get your message out while helping to keep the forum within reach. If you are interested in sponsoring the forum, or think your employer might be able to help, please feel free to contact any of the officers by visiting www.irwanj.org or directly by clicking here. |
Our Regional Fall Forum was held in Cromwell Connecticut last October. It included a training session with some of the new leadership materials that will be available to the chapters, along with a report from our Regional Chairman on events related to the Education Conference. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the forum did not allow enough time for a formal region meeting between the presidents of the chapters. With New Jersey hosting the Spring Forum 2005, we hope to have a forum that provides more opportunities to work together toward strengthening our region. |
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Our last meeting of the year was held on December 7th, at Robins Nest in Mount Holly.We were fortunate enough to have one of our own members, R.J. Krueger, share his perspective on surveying issues as they relate to the right of way field. RJ illustrated how complicated a seemingly simple dwelling survey can become, and the importance of researching the adjoining property deed descriptions. RJ went on to show some of the difficulties a surveyor runs across when forced to return to early deeds which describe the property corners by describing three blazes, cut on each side of a large pine tree (this deed was for land in the pine barrens), which leads to the obvious question, which tree was that again? Thanks to RJ for an enjoyable presentation. We look forward to hearing from other members so that we all can learn more about aspects of right of way outside of our own specialty. |
Call for Articles Do you have an opinion? Is something new and different happening in your area of specialization? Do you feel an urge to explain how to do things right? If you said yes to any of these, you could be a contributor. You don't have to submit a full blown article even an idea would be a great help in making this newsletter better. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, click here. |
| Other News IRWA is hosting a Federal Agency Update. For details, follow this link
or ropy and paste into your browser. http://www.irwaonline.org/news_events/meet_events/2005-Federal-Agency-Update.cfm Register now for the Federal Agency Update |
| Humor A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it closely. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Momma, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: "I think it's Adam's underwear!" When my son was in the ninth grade, we reluctantly agreed to let him move into the basement. Then I realized how convenient it was to get him to the breakfast table. his name. Now all I had to do was flick the basement light off and on, and he was here. One morning I flicked the switch, and nothing happened. I did it several more times. "I'm on my way," my son called up. "You didn't have to yell." |