Rachford’s Reflections

Thomas M. Rachford, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE – EWRI 2003-2004 President

The Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) is in its fifth year of operation. Our first four years of operation have been very successful, but like any new organization, we are learning from our experiences…the need for change and the opportunities for improvement are evident.

One of the first orders of business for EWRI over the next several months will be to adjust to new parameters in our relationship with our parent organization, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). From the beginning, the operational relationship between ASCE and the Institutes was not well-defined and tended to change from year to year … a major obstacle to efficient financial management and long range planning. A significant step toward rectifying this shortcoming has been the ASCE Board of Direction approval of a recent report on ASCE – Institute Operations by the ASCE Task Committee on Institute Operating Procedures (TCIOP). The TCIOP, which was appointed by ASCE then- President Tom Jackson, included Institute representation. The EWRI Governing Board (Governing Board) met directly with the TCIOP Chair, Chuck Rendall, to exchange viewpoints. The EWRI Governing Board also had several opportunities to comment on various TCIOP draft products.

Included in the TCIOP report is a requirement for Institutes to prepare and update annually a three-year business plan and to implement the ASCE Program Assessment and Evaluation System (PAES) or a similar annual self-evaluation system. Starting in FY05, the Institutes will function under a new and uniform "ASCE Funding Model for Institutes" that will allow us to better predict our revenues. All Institutes will also begin the process of building reserve funds equal to 25 percent of their annual operating budgets. Through the Council of Institute Leaders (CIL), the Institutes will be granted the opportunity to recommend two Institute representatives for appointment by the ASCE President-elect to the ASCE Membership Committee. The EWRI is represented on the CIL by its President and President-elect. On balance, the implementation of these and other TCIOP recommendations should have a positive impact on the stability of all the Institutes, including the EWRI.

By virtue of appropriate foresight or simply fortuitous timing, the EWRI Governing Board had already planned to hold a Strategic Planning Forum in New Orleans on the weekend of September 27, 2003 and we were able to integrate the implications of the TCIOP report into our discussions.

All of the members of the FY03 EWRI Governing Board participated in the Forum (Cecil Lue-Hing, Michael Ports, Phil Burgi, Kyle Schilling, Bob Williams, Don Phelps and Dale Jacobson). Steve Abt, our then-incoming Vice President, and Jeanette Brown, our then-incoming ASCE Presidential appointment, were both in attendance and able to get a head start on their terms of office. Invited participants included Paul Bizier, the 2003 Philadelphia Congress Chair; Jerry Sehlke, the 2004 Salt Lake City Congress Chair; Debbie Reinhart, our External Organization Coordination Committee Chair; and Linda Pechacek, a member of the TAC EXCOM. Special thanks are due to Conrad Keyes, the first EWRI President, who graciously contributed yet another weekend of his personal time and his unparalleled institutional knowledge. Brian Parsons and Autumn Richter did a fine job of planning for the weekend and recording our discussions. By mid-day Sunday the participants in the Strategic Planning Forum were pleased with our progress … and everyone departed with a to-do list.

Discussion topics and discussion leaders were selected in advance of the weekend. During the weekend, we systematically examined both the organizational structure and the functionality of the leadership segment of EWRI. We also discussed the EWRI Congress; specialty conferences; targeted workshops; and other key issues, including how to make best use of ASCE and EWRI staff support and resources.

In terms of leadership, we focused primarily on the relative roles of the EWRI Governing Board, the executive committees, the councils and the committees. The real work, and hence the service to our members and to the public, is accomplished by committees. Thus, the councils, the executive committees and the EWRI Governing Board must be justified as value-added components … by their effectiveness in providing necessary fiduciary control, by generating ideas and activities, by being agents for change, and by maintaining a framework for active EWRI members to enjoy a satisfactory personal experience in the process of being productive.

While opinions on details vary, the participants readily concurred that EWRI is suffering a bit from the "law of unintended consequences". When the EWRI began operation, the first EWRI Governing Board decided that the committees and councils should be largely free to define their own objectives and to establish their own rules of operation. The first EWRI Governing Board also believed that committees and councils should not have to endure long delays or a torturous approval process to initiate a new activity or to secure funds for a pre-approved activity. Above all, the first EWRI Governing Board wanted to create a structure and an attitude that would be highly supportive of new initiatives and rapid action … in other words the overriding intent was to allow committees and councils to chart their own course and to avoid a one-sizefits- all mentality.

Overall, this approach has worked well. However, in the process we have re-learned the lesson that in a volunteer organization too little guidance can be as much of a hindrance as too much guidance. So, we will attempt to find a better middle ground by better defining processes and procedures; roles and responsibilities; and possibly make a few organizational changes along the way. A Task Committee, chaired by Phil Burgi, a former EWRI Governing Board member, has been formed for this purpose. The Task Committee membership includes two FY04 EWRI Governing Board members, Kyle Schilling and Don Phelps; and a former EWRI President, Jeff Bradley. The Task Committee will seek input from a wider circle of active EWRI members. Some organizational changes are already in the works … the EWRI Governing Board has amended the Bylaws to allow the immediate Past-president to be retained as a voting member of the EWRI Governing Board and to make the EWRI Treasurer a voting member of the EWRI Governing Board.

These are some of the highlights … I anticipate that many more suggestions for enhancing the value of EWRI membership to all of us will come from the February 2004 EWRI Council Weekend. I will try to report on our continuing progress as the year moves along.

As I end my first Currents article as EWRI President, I am compelled to observe that when EWRI opened for business on October 1, 1999 the initial EWRI Governing Board was particularly sensitive to the fact that, in spite of its name, the primary EWRI Governing Board role is not to "govern" but to "facilitate". The FY04 EWRI Governing Board members will endeavor to keep that concept at the forefront … trusting that the EWRI members will be quick to remind us if we forget.

Thomas M. Rachford