National LTAP Association Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
May 14, 2007 Conference Call

Lisa Harris called the meeting to order at 9:09 am MDT (11:09 am EDT)

Lisa Harris, KS-LTAP; Janet Leli, NJ-LTAP; Alison Black, ARTBA/FHWA Clearinghouse; Stuart Thompson, UT-LTAP; Clark Martin, FHWA OPCD; Ed Stellfox, MD-LTAP; and George Huntington, WY-LTAP, were on the call.

The agenda for this call was unanimously approved.

Marie Walsh, LA-LTAP, and Patsy Anderson, KY-LTAP, joined the call.

Proposed changes to NLTAPA's bylaws that better reflect the current operation of NLTAPA were discussed. The general consensus was that the rewrite performed by Linda Howe-Steiger, CA-LTAP, constituted a major revision, and that it needs to be examined in detail before moving forward. It was also agreed that we should move forward with this effort. Lisa will ask John McCarthy, AL-LTAP, to review the proposed bylaws. Patsy pointed out that the old bylaws should be compared to the proposed new bylaws. Lisa will send the proposed bylaws to John for review by the end of the week, and get John's comments back to the EC.

A discussion of the recent EC meeting held in Baton Rouge followed.

First, the recent APWA Education Summit held in Denver was discussed. The general consensus was that it was a worthwhile event. Centers should contact their local APWA chapter(s), particularly their education chairs, and work with them to better address training needs.

The recently awarded ATSSA Work Zone grant was discussed. Ed said he'd spoken with Juan Morales about having LTAP/TTAP work with ATSSA on delivering the training developed as part of ATSSA's grant. Juan told him that ATSSA's project will include eight workshops, four of which have already been developed. It was brought up that ATSSA may not have a good understanding of LTAP/TTAP. Ed said he'd set up a conference call with himself, Marie, Lisa, Janet, and either Clark or Mike Burk. A follow up call between several LTAP/TTAP representatives and ATSSA may also take place.

Lisa requested that Mike Burk sit in on future EC conference calls when an issue he has been working on is to be discussed.

Activities with the Governors' Highways Safety Association were briefly discussed. Lisa will be meeting with Mr. Champagne of the GHSA in DC; she and Marie may also meet with the FHWA Office of Safety. Clark suggested that they might also meet with NHTSA and ATSSA. NHTSA had previously expressed interest in meeting with NLTAPA.

Jim Grothaus, MN-LTAP, joined the call.

Next, possible revisions to the NACE Action Guides were discussed. Jim discussed the results of a survey assessing Minnesota county engineers' use of the Action Guides. It turns out that about half hadn't heard of them, and most of the rest used other information sources, particularly the Internet. While some of the operational guides might be of some use and their revision might be worthwhile, the engineers are mostly using other, more current, sources for the technical topics. It was the general consensus of the EC that until the NACE board comes to a conclusion on the direction they want to take, no further action is needed by NLTAPA.

A request from the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) to conduct a survey of LTAP/TTAP advisory boards was mentioned. Lisa will ask Cheri Marti and others on the SPC to take the lead on developing the survey to meet the needs of the SPC.

A discussion of Roles and Responsibilities in LTAP followed. Better coordination with FHWA Division Offices was felt to be a step in the right direction. Mary Stringfellow, FHWA Louisiana Division Office, Mike Burk and Clark will discuss how this might be accomplished.

The draft FHWA LTAP/TTAP Business Plan was discussed next. The business plan is being developed by OPCD and currently includes about eight areas of emphasis for FHWA relating to LTAP/TTAP, including working with Highways for Life and the TCCC (Transportation Curriculum Coordinating Council). Clark is working on a PowerPoint presentation that will describe the business plan, and he hopes to have it ready for the Region 8 meeting in Colorado May 15 – 16. Lisa asked when the plan will be implemented. Clark responded that the answer to this question was not yet available, and that as the plan is developed, milestones will be put in place.

Discussion followed about the Clearinghouse assisting the EC's work groups. Clark said he'd try and have more information on this in the next several weeks and get it to the EC for their review, with a new position created at the Clearinghouse within the next few months.

Bernie Alkire, MI-TTAP joined the call.

Lisa asked who from NLTAPA will attend the APWA Congress this fall. Marie said that Dan Cady, NE-LTAP (NLTAPA's liaison to APWA), will attend. Lisa said NLTAPA should reimburse Ken Skorseth, SD-LTAP (NLTAPA's liaison to NACE), for his attendance at the NACE conference. It was concluded that NLTAPA should pay for Dan and Ken to attend the APWA and NACE conferences, respectively.

Patsy said that the agenda is in place for the 2007 LTAP Conference in Chicago and that moderators are being lined up. Marie said that partners are starting to contact NLTAPA after receiving their invitation letters.

NLTAPA's partnership with the Salt Institute was discussed next. Dick (and all partners) will be offered ten minutes to discuss the Salt Institute at a lunch at the national conference. There will be further discussions about changes in the relationship between NLTAPA and the Salt Institute since it is generally felt that trade organizations should have a different relationship with NLTAPA from those with our primary partners, APWA, NACE, FHWA offices, and AASHTO. Jim will discuss the role of the Winter Maintenance Committee, now under the EC's Training Development workgroup, with Kathy Schaefer. Ed and/or Patsy will have further discussion with Dick Hanneman about the Salt Institute's relationship with NLTAPA.

Jim had to step out of the call.

Patsy reported on the recent Region 4 meeting. She said it was a good meeting. A number of topics were discussed, including the role of the Executive Committee. They felt the EC should concentrate on advocacy and partnerships, largely since the EC's capacity is limited without a paid staff. They like the idea of new bylaws. They support greater involvement by FHWA and like what the Office of Safety is up to.

They asked about FHWA's take on the 'LTAP Exchange.' Jim has spoken with Charlie Goodspeed and will talk to him again about the use of the name, LTAP. (LTAP Exchange is also the name of the Minnesota LTAP's newsletter.)

Region 4 had questions, mostly legal and financial, about NLTAPA's management of the national conference. They support keeping costs down so more people can participate. They're glad to hear FHWA is working on more revisions to their LTAP/TTAP related business plan. They had a number of suggestions about two FHWA documents, the Strategic Plan and the draft Roles and Responsibilities document.

New Employees

• Patsy will get information on the new North Carolina employee.
• Missouri LTAP has a new Director, Heath Pickerill.
• Stuart Thompson is leaving the Utah LTAP.
• Sally Collopy is the new Vermont LTAP Director.
• Donna Shea has returned as Director of the Connecticut LTAP.

FHWA Programs were discussed next. The Office of Safety is soliciting RFA's (Request for Agreements) to develop Road Safety Audits from LTAP/TTAP Centers. The deadline for these is June 15th, and there is $200,000 available, with up to $50,000 available for each Center. It was explained that the short timetable is due to the number of steps that must be taken to award these funds.

Tim Arnade is the contact person for the Safe Routes to School program.
Louisa Ward has left the Office of Safety and is now with NHI.

Clearinghouse Update
Alison Black reported that the draft Web site is up and the Clearinghouse is soliciting comments by May 18th. This is an ongoing process and comments for further revisions, additions, and so on are welcome at any time. The first E-news should be out soon (it is now available – GH, May 17, 2007). The Clearinghouse had an exhibit at NACE with about 200 people visiting the booth. They will be attending the National Scenic Byways conference, the APWA conference, and other conferences as identified by the FHWA. 1600 publications were sent out with the April quarterly mailing. LTAP 101 is in its final planning stages, with promotions to be sent out soon. Any suggestions should be sent to Alison. Sarah Crane and Lisa McCluskey have been attending regional meetings. The Clearinghouse has a national library of resources.

Clark had nothing new to report on international technology transfer from the Office of Professional and Corporate Development (OPCD).

Marie is following up with Mike Burk on a possible liaison with ATSSA and the FHWA Office of Safety. John Balser is the external liaison; this should be on a future EC agenda

Workgroup Reports
Jim said the Professional Development workgroup has two nominations for the national LTAP/TTAP award, to date. Janet said that the Internal Communications workgroup has set up a May 31 roundtable call on working with UTC's; Terry McNinch will be the moderator. George said the Training and Resources workgroup reminded the EC regional representatives to get their regional Needs Assessments to him and Sandy Greenwood, FL-LTAP, as soon as possible after their regional meetings. Ed will follow up on getting links to the TCCC and Office of Safety databases. Bernie is the interim chair of the External Communications workgroup; he isn't ready to give a report yet.

National conference sponsorship information is not yet on the Program Web site. Lisa will follow up on this.

Agendas for the EC and business meetings at the national conference in July will be discussed at the June conference call.

PAR data is an important source of data for reauthorization efforts, and Marie would like to get together a fact sheet, working with the External Communications workgroup.

EC members were reminded to get region and workgroup write-ups to her as soon as possible for the Annual Report.

After the July national conference, Bernie will be taking over bookkeeping responsibilities from Duane Smith.

The possibility of an online SAFETEA-LU survey, questioning Centers' use of these funds, was raised. Marie and Stuart will follow up on this.

Lisa is still working with the members of the Nominating Committee and is looking for nominees for the three officer positions.

Marie will be meeting with the League of Cities in DC.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:08 MDT (1:08 EDT).

Minutes prepared by George Huntington