June 2002
by J. Robert Howard
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President's Message
In the last days of my term, I look back on such great pride in
all that our chapter has accomplished. Our goals were:
Here are some valuable lessons I learned:
It is with much happiness that I will pass the
torch to Linda Delmas starting July 1. She led an outstanding strategic
meeting and there are so many new faces to add freshness to the board next year! With the weather agreeable and the volunteers anxious,
the day finally arrival for one of the Austin Chapter's biggest events of
the year . . . the IFMA Golf Classic presented by Schmidt Electric.
May 16th was the day of this annual event that brings members, friends
and guests of the Austin Chapter together for an afternoon of fun and
fundraising. This year, the Austin Chapter again teamed with Hospice Austin
to raise funds for Christopher House and to support the chapter's
educational development.
Registration started off the afternoon; however, the fun began with a
fajita lunch catered by G&M Catering. The lunch was made more enticing
by the Austin Business Resource Network, who surprised the attendees with a
keg of beer to go with the ice tea, water and all the trimmings. Players
also found goodie bags on their carts with balls donated by State Farm
Insurance, Titleist and First American
Flood Data Services in addition to
snacks from Platinum Sponsor Accent Food Services and our traditional
cookies donated by the Girl Scouts.
While people ate and drank, Toner Plus sponsored a putting contest where
all attendees could take 3 putts for glory (and a $50 gift certificate). Of
all the attendees, eight managed to sink one putt to force the finals. With
a one-putt final, Larry Scott with BLT Austin
found the hole to be the putting king. Special thanks goes out to
Greg
Montgomery and Troy Menchhofer with
Southwest Solutions Group for keeping the putting contest running and for
providing each participant with some golf goodies for trying.
Once people finished lunch, they had an opportunity to work on a spotless
golf game at the Golf Clinic sponsored by Spotless Cleaning as well as hit
range balls or visit with IFMA's honored guests for this year's tournament.
This year, the Austin Chapter invited emergency service personnel from The
Williamson County Sheriff's Department, The Austin Fire Department, The
Texas Department of Public Safety, the Round Rock Fire Department and the
Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services to play in our tournament as
our honored guests with the Austin Chapter picking up the expenses. In all,
24 of these wonderful men and women were able to come out and enjoy the
afternoon, courtesy of IFMA.
As the time for the shotgun start approached, the Austin Chapter began a
new tradition with a Caddy Auction of non-golfing volunteers with John
Sutton, Mary Duke, Ellen Matson and Andy
Andrasi offering their assistance. These four brave volunteers were
available to help the golfers find their ball, their clubs or the beverage
carts that were sponsored by STG and Interior
Resources. With the Caddie
Auction and the $5 Mulligans, the tournament was able to raise over $1200 in
additional cash.
The weather held steady and the sun continued to burn throughout the day.
Hole #8 was probably one of the more exciting holes on the course. With
Platinum Sponsor Herman Miller handing out water, Hole #8 was the sight of
the $1 Million Shot. While Jerry Achilles did
not make that shot, he would still prove to have one of the better
afternoons. Marilyn Davis with Diamond Sponsor
Teknion drove the course and took many photos to display on the web page.
As the day wrapped up and score cards were turned in, our golfers and
guests made their way to the Forest Creek Country Club for the Beer &
BBQ Bash sponsored by Dupont Flooring Services and
Mannington Carpets. As
people dined on great Elgin sausage and enjoyed some Shiner Bock,
Wayne Jermott of Visual Innovations treated the attendees to a PowerPoint
recap of the tournament.
As the presentation began, the golf committee was able to extend its
appreciation to Schmidt Electric who stepped up with a $5000 donation as
Tournament Sponsor. Mike Bradley from Schmidt
Electric presented to Judy Secrest of Hospice
Austin a $2500 check as IFMA first donation to Hospice Austin. The committee
also had the opportunity to honor Schmidt Electric with an engraved clock to
remind them that ever minute someone will feel the enduring benefits from
your generosity.
Finally after all the scorecards were gathered and most shot markers
found, we were able to announce the winners of the tournament as well as
most of our contest shot. The winners of our contest shots and their
sponsors were:
Hole # 1 Most Accurate Drive by
Professional Janitorial Services - Andy
Thomas Unfortunately, the Ladies' Closest to the Pin on Hole #8 was claimed by
Dick Hertz who was neither a lady nor a real person; moreover, the winner
will remain unknown since the marker for Hole #8 was not recovered. Each
winner, except Ms. Hertz, received a $50 gift certificate.
As for the winners, the scoring was better than last year and left a
tight finish on the top. In third place, the team of Greg
Jenkins, Aaron Webb, Bob Shepard and Steve
Giannone from Platinum Sponsor White Construction finished with a
score of 61. Dinner Sponsor Dupont Flooring Systems finished second with a
score of 60. This was a repeat second place performance for the team of Darrell
Hughes and Tim Mussey along with Mike
Daniels.
Our Honored Guests were also completing for top honors amongst the
emergency service personnel. With a score of 67, the Troopers from Department of Public Safety tied the Firefighters from the Austin Fire
Department; however, the tiebreaker favored the DPS Troopers. The Troopers
received acrylic awards for their effort plus Pro V1 golf balls from
Titleist. The Firefighters did not leave empty-handed as the best team among
our honored guests also receives a donation of $175 on behalf on our shot
sponsors and this donation will be made to the Austin Firefighter's
Association.
Before we awarded the first prize, we took a moment to recognize the team
of Shanna Overholser from National Wallcovering
who finished last amongst the entries. They were presented with passes for
Putt-Putt golf to start improving their game as well as many lost balls that
were found by volunteers, surrounding teams and local residents who
recovered them throughout the day.
The evening rounded out with the awarding of first place to the team from
Professional Janitorial Services of Rex Gore, Jerry
Achilles, Kimmery Poldrack and Don Dyer.
They received envious acrylic awards that were engraved with the Hospice
Austin and Schmidt Electric logos on top of $50 Gift Certificates. Jerry may
not have won $1 Million but faired well on the day.
Before the day concluded, thoughts were already turning to the 2003 IFMA
Golf Classic. Charles Dixon of CB Richard Ellis
has volunteered to be the chairman and will bring many ideas for
improvements to the tournament. If you have any feedback on the tournament,
please e-mail the golf committee at ifmagolf@yahoo.com.
Golf Pictures
Charles
Carpenter Employment
Second
Annual Joint Luncheon
We definitely made great strides towards these
goals by increasing over 50% in membership!
* Increase chapter professional membership.
* Have more fun.
* Focus on education and networking.
* You can't please everybody all the time.
* The buck stops here.
* Sometimes you have to put your foot down, and it's not always clean and pretty.
* Delegate or it will kill you.
* Empower and encourage-people to find their natural talents
and they shine!
* Follow your passions-you won't fail in the areas you love to work in!
Thanks to you all for a terrific journey!
Best Regards,
Judy Roessner
2002 Golf Tournament
Hole # 6 Closest to the Pin by FSG - American Light/Design Electric -
Jeff
Blue
Hole # 8 Ladies' Closest to the Pin by Chapter STEP Education Program -
Dick
Hertz
Hole # 10 Ladies' Longest Drive by National Wallcovering - Brandy
Adams
Hole # 12 Men's Longest Drive by Armstrong Moving & Storage -
Jerry
Achilles
Hole # 14 Men's Closest to the Pin by Professional Janitorial Services
- James
Cartwright
Hole # 17 Closest to the Pin by Avaya - Jack Sauer
Office Services Manager
First American Flood Data Services
New Members
John Spoerlein is a Facility Services Representative for
Rockford
Business Interiors
Kent Tooley is the Vice President for Skyline
John Gooch is a Project Manager
for YPS
Facility ServicesFred Rodriguez is
in Business
Development at Herman Miller, Inc.
Edward Rogers is the Administrative Services Manager at NetQos
Receives a Large Turnout
The Second Annual Joint Commercial Real Estate
Luncheon had a better than expected turnout of over 600 members of nine
Austin-area organization that focus on commercial real estate. The organization attending this year’s luncheon were Austin
Apartment Association (AAA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA),
Central Texas Commercial Brokers (CTCB), Certified Commercial Investments
Managers (CCIM), Commercial Leasing Brokers Association (CLBA), Community
Associations Institute (CAI), Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM),
The Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) and the IFMA Austin Chapter.
The focus of this year’s luncheon was transpiration and
growth issues in Austin and Central Texas and featured Council Member Will
Wynn and State Senator Jeff Wentworth.
In addition to Council Member Wynn and Senator Wentworth, several
candidates for area offices introduced themselves.
Fortunately, there were no fireworks from competing offices during
the introductions. Council Member Wynn spoke first and provided the audience
with a photo of a busy street without naming the town.
He pointed out almost non-existent sidewalks and a lone pedestrian.
The lone pedestrian turn out to be from a golf cart that had ventured
from the site of The Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. He then drew a comparison to Austin streets and plans to
include trees and sidewalks in future development. Council Member Wynn then briefly discussed plans for the
Robert Mueller Municipal Airport (RMMA).
He provided the audience with the current developmental site plan.
The site plan included several large streets to help funnel traffic
through the neighborhood as well as corridors for possible light rail of
other public transpiration. Council Member Wynn also discussed the level of involvement
in the RMMA Redevelopment plan of community focus group, the advisory panel
and many commercial organizations that were present at the luncheon.
Senator Wentworth concluded by providing the audience with
the sobering statistic that more people die on Interstate 35 between San
Antonio and Georgetown than on the remainder of that freeway, which runs
from Canada to Mexico. Senator
Wentworth also discussed the progress on State Highway 130 and his hopes
that it will contribute to a safer Interstate 35.
Charles
Carpenter Just The "FACS" Safety Notes
Setting a Good Example in Safety and Moral
Office Services Manager
First American Flood Data Services
With the economy being in the dump these pat few months and scores of
employers laying off employee's that reach into the 100's in most case's, Moral
is at an all time low.
When moral is low, so is our attention span. When our attention span is low,
this opens the door to many unsafe acts because our minds or wondering off in
other directions. Such as, Will I be the next to be laid off? Will I be able to
find a good job? Or will I be able to find a job at all?
Other employees certainly benefit by seeing operations conducted the safe way
and from someone that has a good positive attitude. As you all know from
experience, people who posses a good positive attitude not only leads to a
safer, more productive work environment, but also has a tremendous impact when
it comes to moral. New employees who have never held a job before-or who were
employed by a firm that had a weak safety program-will probably need
considerable safety instruction. The company will provide instruction and
training, of course, but important knowledge will also come from observing and
talking to fellow workers that demonstrate a positive attitude. These newcomers'
early impressions of you will be at least partially formed through these
contacts and observations. Likewise, newcomers whose former employers did
emphasize safety will probably think more of you personally if you measure up to
the caliber of people they are accustomed to working with. Some of us probably feel we have already set good examples for safety, and
perhaps we have. But consider just for a moment how, when we think about an
incident, its usually in regard to someone else. Incidents are a reality. Make
your personal safety just as real, and you will have a good chance of not
becoming that "other person" to whom incidents are always happening.
We might also remember that our children someday will be entering the
workforce. They, like the newcomers on the job, can benefit by our actions that
exemplify safety-consciousness and setting a good example in an effort to boost
moral. Most of us try to make a point of showing to our kids the safe way to
cross streets or how to light matches when they are an appropriate age. If,
through the years, they also learn from you how to use a ladder correctly, or
that it's a good practice to keep tools in their proper places, or that there's
a right way to lift things, your good example has given them an additional
opportunity for a better, safer life in the future.
Gary Hulse Mr. Gates replied, "Well, thanks, God. What's the difference God said, "You can take a peek at both places briefly if it will help Bill was amazed! He saw a clean, white sandy beach with clear Bill saw puffy white clouds in a beautiful blue sky with angels drifting Two weeks later, God decided to check up on the late billionaire to "How ya doin', Bill?" asked God.
Bill responded with anguish and despair. "This is awful! This is not "Oh THAT!" said God.
"That was the screen saver!"
Most people contract out annual inspections. The cost for this service
can vary greatly. There are some unknown names in the business with
well known clients. Maintenance contracts are a good thing if
your staff is green or you need immediate response. J. Robert Howard Technical articles are welcomed
Safety Manager
FACServices, Inc
"Well, Bill," said God, "I'm really confused on this one. I'm not sure
whether to send you to Heaven or Hell! After all, you enormously
helped society by putting a computer in almost every home in the
world, and yet you created that ghastly Windows. I'm going to do
something I've never done before. I'm going to let you decide where
you want to go!"
between the two?"
you decide. Shall we look at Hell first?" "Sure!" said Bill. "Let's
go!"
waters. There were thousands of beautiful women running around,
playing in the water, laughing and frolicking about. The sun was shining
and the temperature was as perfect! Bill said, "This is great! If this
is Hell, I can't wait to see Heaven!" To which God replied, "Let's
go!"
and off they went.
about playing harps and singing. It was nice, but surely not as enticing
as Hell. Mr. Gates thought for only a brief moment and rendered his
decision. "God, I do believe I would like to go to Hell." "As you
desire," said God.
see how things were going. He found Bill shackled to a wall, screaming
among the hot flames in a dark cave. He was being burned and
tortured by demons.
what I expected at all! What happened to the beach and the beautiful
women playing in the water?"
Elevators
You should do a monthly recall test, document them. Include a phone check.
During the recall test, make sure that if you are performing the test from
the 2nd floor, that all the cars return to the 1st floor. If performing the
test from the 1st floor lobby, all the cars will go to the 2nd floor.
Keep the tracks clear to avoid jams.
Keep the cab extra clean since people will inspect while waiting to get to their floor.
Have the elevator keys and the elevator door key handy. Get training for your staff and security.
Call 911 for help when no one answers the phone at your maintenance contractor.
Maintain your fire rating: no holes in the sheet rock and maintain the
2-hour door rating during your construction changes.
Otis
Dover
Schindler
Elevator Safety Foundation
FMA, CFM
Social commentary articles are welcomed
Jokes in good taste are welcome. Others aren't welcomed, but I will read them anyway.