• Benham Design, Craig & Keithline, and Garver Win National Engineering Excellence Awards

• ACEC OKLAHOMA Board Meeting Recap

• ACEC Business Insurance Trust FREE Webinar - "Design Professionals Risk Impacted by Changing Technology and Inexperience"

• Treasurer Adam West presented Current Financial Report which was reviewed and approved.

• Membership Vice Chair Mike Vahabzadegan presented Membership Report was reviewed and approved.

• Vice Chair of Education/P.R. Doug Glenn reported that he and Business Practice Vice Chair David Neuhauser would be working together to develop a brief survey of member firms to determine challenges and opportunities firms are facing as the pandemic continues, and what ACEC OKLAHOMA can offer to be of assistance by providing timely programming and information.

• Vice Chairman of Business Practice David Neuhauser discussed his firm’s approach to the impact on firms’ employee relations during the COVID crisis. He urged firm leaders to take time to have more personal, non-business related interactions with staff, especially in cases where firms are still requiring employees to work remotely.

• ACEC National Director Brent Schniers reviewed that actions taken during the recent ACEC national Board of Directors Meeting.

• On Chairman Grinsteiner’s recommendation, the Board approved formation of five new committees to implement the new Strategic Plan: Knowledge Exchange, Key Partner, Legislative Advocacy, Branding, and Membership Diversity. Grinsteiner reported that he had assigned a Board member to chair each committee and those chairman had recruited members to serve. Lastly, it was also noted that those appointed would serve as a “steering committee” for decision making purposes, but that all committees would be “open” to allow interested ACEC OKLAHOMA members to join and participate.

• Grinsteiner presented amendments to the Strategic Plan which would update various target calendar dates. He explained that with the pandemic, dates originally set in the plan became unrealistic, and that the amendments would simply change 2020 dates to 2021 targets. After review, the Board unanimously approved the amendments to the Strategic Plan.

• Brent Schniers and Chairman Grinsteiner next led a discussion regarding municipal engineering contracts which contained language which might be both outdated as well as punitive to engineering consultants, and how ACEC OKLAHOMA could work with municipalities to assist them in updating their engineering contracts. After discussion, it was decided to form an ad hoc committee which would be charged with developing a “model” contract.  It was further decided that after development the Committee would then work with a select municipality to determine their willingness to begin discussions to update and modernize their contracts.

• President Sullins provide a brief update on possible legislation for the 2021 session which will begin in February. He reported that Representative Ryan Martinez had agreed to introduce both the Peer Review and Indemnification legislation from last session which were held up due to the COVID crisis. Additionally, Sullins noted that there had been two interim studies from which legislation was expected to be introduced, those being legislation proposed by the county officials to gain control of the CIRB program without ODOT oversight, and, legislation dealing with electric and electric/hybrid vehicles to implement some type of fee paid by owners to offset lost motor fuel tax revenue.

• Consulting Engineers PAC Chairman Geoff Covalt reported that the PAC had expenditures of $22,750 during the recent election cycle. He further reported that the PAC was involved in 25 specific races, and that the supported candidates won 22 of those 25 races. He further reported that in all cases, the PAC met personally with all 25 of the supported candidates which allowed members to educate the candidates on issues important to the engineering community as well as provide an overview impact the consulting engineering business has on the overall quality of life in Oklahoma.

• ACECPAC Champion Keith Angier reported that ACEC OKLAHOMA was well behind in efforts to reach our 2020 contribution goal, having raised only just over $4,000 (35%) of the $11,657 target. He noted that while ACEC OKLAHOMA members had only contributed $4,000, ACECPAC had contributed $10,500 to Oklahoma candidates for federal office during the same time period. Angier also reported that the year-end “Last Chance Sweepstakes” was being conducted by ACECPAC, and asked everyone at the meeting to consider entering the sweepstakes by making at least a $100 contribution to ACECPAC.

• Lastly, President Sullins reported on two letters which ACEC OKLAHOMA had sent recently to U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe regarding the PPP/FAR issues as well as an issue with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers TORN policy. Sullins noted that Inhofe was contacted at ACEC’s request since the Senator is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a member of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee.

• How design professionals are becoming more reliant upon technology
• How a reliance on emerging technologies is affecting claims and overall liability exposure
• How technology is impacting the standard of care and what constitutes reasonableness for the work performed by design professionals
• How a lack of experience can lead staff to rely too much on technology, putting them at greater risk to violate the standard of care
• How design professionals can help limit their risk through the use of best practices risk management techniques