Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
September 12, 2005

NLTAPA President Bruce Drewes called the meeting to order at 2:35 PM Eastern Time.

Attending: Bruce Drewes, ID LTAP, Lisa Harris, KS LTAP, Linda Howe-Steiger, CA LTAP, Evan Hong, California-Nevada TTAP, Chris Adhmadjian, CT LTAP, Terry McNinch, MI LTAP, Marie Walsh, LA LTAP, Jim Burati, SC LTAP, Ken Skorseth, SD LTAP, Lisa Pogue, LTAP Clearinghouse, Gib Peaslee, FHWA, Cameron Ishaq, FHWA

Absent: Ed Stellfox, MD LTAP, Al Alonzi, FHWA

Approve Agenda. Lisa Harris moved and Jim Burati seconded to approve the agenda with three changes: 1) add discussion of 2006 internal conference to "New Business; 2) add discussion of 2007 LTAP conference to "New Business;" reduce report times for EC work groups to 1-2 minutes each. The motion passed unanimously.

Approve Minutes of August 8, 2005 Conference Call. Jim Burati moved and Marie Walsh seconded to approve the minutes as written. The motion passed unanimously.

Continuing Business

1. Fall Executive Committee (EC) Meeting - Bruce Drewes. In mid-October Bruce will meet in Washington with the FHWA Office of Operations, NACE, AASHTO, APWA, and FHWA's Office of Safety to discuss their meeting with the Executive Committee at its Fall Meeting, November 30-December 2. The EC prefers a format of a short report and then group discussion on 3-4 topics of mutual interest. Bruce will report back to the EC when he returns from Washington. The EC will meet at the NHI Building, pending FHWA approval, or the APWA offices as a possible back-up. Bruce advised the group to wait to make plane reservations until FHWA sends travel information. Hotel reservations can be made now.
2. EC Orientation Packet - Lisa Harris and Evan Hong. Evan is coordinating a discussion, to take place by conference call or email, with a small group of new and experienced EC members. The group will discuss the goals of an orientation process for NLTAPA reps and a proposed list of items to include in an orientation packet. Terry McNinch, Marie Walsh, Ken Skorseth and George Huntington will be asked to participate.
3. Update on FHWA Innovative Research Focus Groups - Bruce Drewes. Cheri Marti (MN LTAP) and Linda Howe-Steiger (CA LTAP) will participate in these focus groups. Cheri has received travel information; Linda has not. Bruce gave Linda Joe Conway's contact information to follow up.
4. Topics for Regular Reports - Lisa Harris. Lisa Harris said it would be helpful to know when FHWA staff and Clearinghouse staff meet with NTLAPA partners, if LTAP is mentioned at those meetings. She asked for any more suggestions from EC members in the next few weeks. These will passed along to Al Alonzi and Lisa Pogue, for their monthly reports.
5. LTAP.org URL update - Bruce Drewes. Bruce reported that it will be less cumbersome for the ownership of the site to remain with Michigan for the short term and then move to NLTAPA. No action needed.

Regular Reports

1. Work Group Reports. Group leaders reported on EC group progress:
   • Leadership - Bruce Drewes. Terry and Bruce have been working on their work plan by telephone and will send an update to the EC within a few weeks.
   • Partnerships - Marie Walsh. The Association's Committee on Partnerships (ACP) has had several LTAPers express interest in the NACE and APWA partnership liaison positions, and also serving on the ACP. The Committee will meet soon to make selections.
   • Internal Communications - Chris Ahmadjian. Chris and Lisa Harris talked last week and outlined a few steps to accomplish in the next month to meet their committee's goals. They will give a more detailed report in October.
   • External Communications - Terry McNinch. Terry composed a thank-you letter (for the president's signature) to three organizations that helped advocate for increased funding for LTAP in SAFE-TEA.
   • Training Products and Resources - Ed Stellfox. No report; Ed absent.
   • Professional Development - Linda Howe-Steiger. Linda has been starting the process of categorizing LTAP Centers by type and size, in order to have diverse representation on their professional development committee. Examples include large research center-based university LTAPs, smaller department-based university LTAPs, extension-type stand-alone LTAPs, DOT-based LTAPs, and more). She and Jim Burati need to meet next.
2. LTAP Clearinghouse Update - Lisa Pogue. Lisa gave an update on the Clearinghouse's recent work in product development. The Clearinghouse and its product development committee have developed a list of potential products that could be funded upon reauthorization. The committee consisted of one LTAP director, one LTAP training coordinator, and three LTAP trainers. It was heavily safety oriented. Ideas were solicited from the Centers, with less than 50 percent responding. The group also looked at developing basic courses. Two technical groups were formed to further this work: a signs and pavement marking technical panel, which established core competencies, and a low cost safety improvements technical panel. The technical panels are in the process of preparing reports to submit to FHWA. Lisa expressed desire to work together with NLTAPA's "Training Products and Professional Resources" work group to mesh tasks and avoid duplication of efforts.
3. FHWA Report. See first item under new business.

New Business

1. Reauthorization - Cameron Ishaq, for Al Alonzi. Al Alonzi, Cameron Ishaq and Gib Peaslee have been working on a financial model for next phase of reauthorization. Spending proposals for next 3-5 years need to be added to it. Cameron suggested the EC have a special conference call to discuss the proposals and provide feedback to FHWA.
2. NLTAPA Governing Structure - Evan Hong. Bruce and Evan identified some experienced LTAPers to participate in a discussion about the issues some Centers have with the governing structure of NLTAPA. Evan will present a proposal about this project at the Fall EC meeting, incorporating comments from this discussion.
3. 2006 International/LTAP Conference - Marie Walsh. Marie said there was some concern expressed at a recent conference planning meeting about LTAP-only sessions being held during plenary international sessions geared towards directors. Marie said it was important to have offerings for nondirectors during these times, and wanted to be sure this was the previously-stated desire of the EC. The EC concurred. Some EC members said these sessions would be critical for their Center's non-directors to attend. Marie will advocate for 1-2 technical sessions, geared toward technical staff, concurrent with the international plenary sessions. Marie asked the EC for ideas for these sessions and will ask EC members to solicit ideas from their regions' Centers. Ideas will also be culled from the LTAP 2006 workshop evaluations; Lisa Pogue will send these to Marie. Bruce Drewes said that the Office of International Programs plans to fund 10 people to attend the conference from the international community. NTTD will be attending, as well. FHWA Division offices will be encouraged to send their T2 person, and DOT T2 reps will also be encouraged to attend.
4. LTAP 2007 potential locations in Chicago - Terry McNinch. Terry reported that Kevin Burke (IL LTAP) will visit three potential hotel locations later this month. The EC asked for the $149 federal rate as the conference rate. The EC would like to be near downtown. Our usual dates are not available at all the hotels; Kevin will also look at July 14-18, and July 22-25. The hotels would like a decision by the end of this month.
5. Vendors for the 2007 conference - Evan Hong. The EC had brief discussion about the pros and cons of managing a vendor/sponsor program at LTAP national conferences, and who should have any profits. This is part of a Roles and Responsibilities (R&R) Group "parking lot" item. Lisa Pogue and Ron Hall did R&R homework pertaining to annual meetings; they are awaiting feedback. Evan will write a position paper on this topic for discussion in November. This topic may grow to a larger discussion by the EC of the best ways to manage various aspects of LTAP conferences. Bruce will distribute the R&R homework to the EC.
6. Review NLTAPA Constitution for changes - Bruce Drewes. Bruce noted that the current constitution has outdated information about dues and notification for payment of dues. The EC decided to wait to propose changes until next summer, when there might also some other proposed governing structure changes.
7. Adjournment. Chris Ahmadjian moved and Jim Burati seconded to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. The EC adjourned at 4:09 pm.

Next call: Scheduled for October 10 - which is Columbus Day, a holiday for some. Bruce will try to reschedule this call.

Minutes submitted by Lisa Harris, Kansas LTAP, NLTAPA Secretary