The Des Moines Chapter AGA met at Mercy Capital’s cafeteria side room on April 1st, 2008. President Suzanne Dahlstrom opened the meeting and welcomed everyone, including our guests –Joyce Thomsen, Jyl Husky, and Kent Farver all from the Department of Education, as well as, our Grandview scholarship recipient Michael Stevens and his instructor Alec Zama.
She noted that the CEC is currently planning an ethics seminar for May 14th. Stan Kuhn, one of our CEC members will be presenting during the morning session. Stan teaches a Business Ethics class at Upper Iowa University. A two-hour audio will be presented in the afternoon entitled “The Anatomy of Ethical Slips in Government.” Registration forms will be available shortly.
Suzanne asked that members please consider donating to the Food Bank of Iowa. We collected $120 in donations at the March meeting and will collect again at this meeting. Our chapter is planning to match the first $100 in donations, in addition, to contacting National to see if they will match our grand total donation to the Food Bank of Iowa.
We are not sponsoring any educational events this month, however, a few members will be attending the Lincoln PDC on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conference covers a variety of topics including Time Management, Communications & Careers, Motivation & Leadership, Fraud Investigation & Prevention, Computer Forensics & Network Security, and Payment & Stored Value Cards. The cost is $120 if registrations are submitted before 04/12 and $130 after 04/12. If anyone is interested, please contact Suzanne and she will put you in touch with the other members who plan to attend.
Our next chapter meeting will be held the evening of May 6th at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse at 6800 Fleur Drive. Spouses and significant others are welcome to join us. We’ll be presenting awards at this May meeting. Our speaker for this meeting will be Jack Ketterer from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. The meal for the evening will be $25/guest (includes tax and gratuity) and your choice of Chubby Cut Top Sirloin, House Pork Chop, Chicken Marsala, or Fettucine Minelli. More information can be found in the newsletter. Please RSVP with your meal choice and payment to either Suzanne Dahlstrom or Sue Battani by May 2nd.
Deb Schroeder, our Early Careers Director, presented Michael Stevens, a senior at Grandview College, with a certificate and a $500 scholarship from our AGA chapter. Michael was accompanied by one of his instructors, Alec Zama. Congratulations Michael Stevens!
Suzanne commented that our Chapter Executive Committee (CEC) is still looking for members to fill the Community Service position. Michelle Wendel volunteered to fill the position. Valerie Wedgeworth as next year’s president presented the list of nominations for the 2008-2009 Chapter Executive Committee. Andy made a motion that we cease the nominations and approve the list of slated positions. All were in favor. Motion passed. These positions will be effective with the passing of the gavel at the May meeting. A big thank you to all who volunteered to serve during this next year!
Suzanne announced that our CEC had nominated to of our members for AGA national awards. These awards are presented to AGA individuals who have made significant contributions to AGA in a variety of areas. National AGA selects the winners and invites them to the PDC which is in Atlanta, GA in July.
Our first nomination is for the Chapter Service Award. For this award, eligible nominees will have made consistently important contributions to the development and enhancement of the chapter. Janice Jensen, a long-time active member, has provided invaluable service to the Des Moines chapter for several years and has always been an excellent promoter for AGA. Janice has held many CEC positions over the years including President. She left the CEC to hold the position of Regional Vice President. She was responsible for the newsletter for a period of 5 years and has been an AGA member since 1995. She has been a great role model for other AGA members as well as employees who work for her. Therefore, we feel she certainly deserves this nomination for Chapter Service Award.
Our second nomination is for the Chapter Education Award. This award recognizes chapters that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment providing one or more educational events, which requires significant commitment of time and/or resources. We are nominating Andrew Nielsen, on behalf of the Des Moines chapter for this award. Andy has been an AGA member since 1992. He is extremely valuable to our chapter and does an excellent job identifying topics of interest and making appropriate contacts with key personnel in all areas of government. Because of his position as Deputy with the State Auditor’s Office, he is knowledgeable of current issues affecting state and local government and is knowledgeable of the appropriate contacts which result in very informative and relevant chapter meetings and educational events. He is well deserving of recognition for this efforts to AGA, not only for this current year, but for years past!
Congratulations to both Janice Jensen and Andy Nielsen!!
Andy Nielsen introduced our guest speaker, Jeff Riese from Polk Des Moines Taxpayer Association. He gave a very informative speech on how this association operates.
There was 1 speaker, 5 guests, and 20 members present. The name drawn for the year-end drawing was Andy Nielsen.