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Celebrating past accomplishments and looking ahead to a brighter future was a recurrent theme at the CalAPA Annual Dinner & awards ceremony held last week at the elegant Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
More than 100 industry leaders, spouses and guests attended the gala event Jan. 18 to pay tribute to the latest inductee into the CalAPA "Hall of Fame," Len Nawrocki, and also to recognize the installation association officers for 2018.
The dinner program also featured a keynote speech by former Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, who is now executive director of CalAPA-supported Transportation California, who spoke of the many road-improvement projects in the pipeline due to the historic passage of SB1, the Road Repair & Accountability Act of 2017. Dickinson was introduced by Brian Handshoe with Kenco Engineering, who took over as Political Action Committee Chairman last year upon the retirement of Nawrocki.
Dickinson and others emphasized that the industry and public works agencies must work together to get SB1 road-improvement
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Roger Dickinson |
projects designed, advertised and built quickly and efficiently to show the public their tax dollars are being spent wisely.
"If those of you in this room can't hear opportunity knocking, it can't get much louder," Dickinson said. The passage last year of SB1, which will generate more than $50 billion in new revenue for state and local transportation improvements over the next decade, will finally begin to address many years of neglect of our infrastructure, Dickinson said, which he said "is deteriorating at an exponential rate."
Dickinson also made reference to a campaign launched by political operatives seeking to overturn SB1 at the ballot box, which he described as a "cynical" political ploy. "It will be up to us to make sure they don't succeed."
To underscore the point, Dickinson unveiled updated SB1 fact sheets and a talking-points memo that debunks the many "myths" being spread by SB1 opponents. CalAPA also distributed special SB1 "Fixing YOUR roads" bumper stickers. The SB1 fact sheets, in PDF format, are available to download on the
CalAPA.net website. A direct link to the general SB1 fact sheet is
HERE. The "myths" talking-points memo is
HERE.
The industry-agency collaboration theme was further reinforced
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Len Nawrocki (left) and Juan Forster. |
with the attendance at the Annual Dinner of Pat Probano, Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, and Angela Driscoll, of the agency's government relations group. They said LADPW is redoubling its efforts to work in partnership with industry to protect and enhance the county's vast road network.
The Annual Dinner was attended by many members of the CalAPA industry "Hall of Fame," who gave a thunderous standing ovation to the association's newest "Life Member" -- Len Nawrocki, who recently retired from Valero. Nawrocki, who was active in the industry and the association for many years and held several leadership positions, was introduced by another Life Member, Juan Forster. Forster noted that Nawrocki embodied the noble qualities of many other leaders in the room, donating time and expertise for the betterment of the industry as a whole through active participation in CalAPA.
The 2018 association leadership was also announced to the gathering, including incoming Chairman Mike Murray with Vulcan Materials. The other officers for 2018 are Alan French with DeSilva Gates Materials (Vice-Chairman), Scott Bottomley with Sully-Miller (Treasurer), and Jim Ryan with Delek US (Secretary). Mike Herlax
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MIke Murray |
with Syar Industries, the 2017 Chairman, will serve as "Immediate Past Chairman" in 2018 to ensure the association has continuity in its leadership ranks.
At a meeting of the CalAPA Board of Directors, held earlier in the day, the association officially named Toni Carroll with Graniterock as the association's new co-chair of the Technical Advisory Committee, and also welcomed Tony Limas with Granite Construction to the Board of Directors.
The evening program also included a memorable demonstration by Life Member Carlos Hernandez, a veteran, on the proper way to salute the flag while leading the room in the Pledge of Allegiance. Don Goss, recently retired from Valero, delivered an inspirational invocation. CalAPA past Chairman, Jeff
Reed of George Reed, Inc., introduced Yanlong Liang, a graduate student in engineering from U.C. Davis, as this year's CalAPA-sponsored International Road Federation "Road Scholar" Scholarship recipient.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Murray and the CalAPA staff surprised Executive Director Russell Snyder with a special recognition marking his 10 years representing the industry -- a presentation that left Snyder dumbfounded and nearly speechless. Snyder repeated his oft-cited mantra that association work is "all about the members" and paid tribute to his hard-working and dedicated staff: Member Services Manager Sophie You, Director of Technical Services Brandon Milar and Administrative Assistant/Training Coordinator Ritha Nhorn, who is majoring in engineering at Sacramento State University.
To view more photos from the Annual Dinner, click
HERE to visit CalAPA's Facebook Page.
CalAPA extends its gratitude to the sponsors of the evening: California Commercial Asphalt Enterprises LLC; CEI Enterprises; CRM Company; Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions; R.J. Noble Company; Road Science, a Division of Arrmaz; Sully-Miller Contracting / Blue Diamond Materials; Valero Energy Corporation; and Vulcan Materials Company. The event's Jonathan Club host was "Life Member" Scott Lovejoy.
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Members of the CalAPA "Hall of Fame" and spouses in attendance at the Annual Dinner last week in Los Angeles.
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