The Nominating Committee issued a call for nominations for the Secretary/Treasurer position and board positions with expiring terms.  The two board positions, currently held by Doreen Lam and Kent Olsen, are for three-year terms.  The board position, currently held by Mary Anderson-Pickle (candidate for Secretary/Treasurer), is for a one-year term.  Nominations have been received and considered. A list of candidates has been announced and may be viewed on the website.  The list of candidates will be finalized and elections will open on March 23, 2010.  Please take time to vote, especially since last year’s election emphasized that every vote counts.  

The State Legislature started the 2010 Session. Due to the severe economic conditions, a primary focus will be the projected state budget deficit.  The Legislature will need to make cuts to balance the budget.  The areas that will be affected will most certainly have impacts at the local level.  As part of the policy statements, the Legislative Committee, under Diane Reichard’s leadership, provided a concise statement of the issue, analysis, recommendations and sample legislative language. The Legislative Committee will continue to analyze and inform our members by providing hot topic e-bulletins during the 2010 Legislative Session.  These policy statements are available on our website and are intended to be a tool for local governments in the development of legislative agendas. Congratulations to Diane and the Legislative Committee for all of their accomplishments to date. 

For the coming fiscal year all local governments, will continue to be affected by the foreclosures, high unemployment and the economic conditions around the state.  The commercial real estate valuations are down this year and will cause problems with maintaining levels of service to the residents of our communities.  We must endeavor to deal with these challenges in fiscally conservative, creative and sustainable ways.

The Certification Committee, under the guidance of Donna Wright, has established the next Certified Government Finance Officers (CGFO) review classes and exams. The CGFO Review Classes are scheduled for March 16-18, 2010 in Orlando. The Spring Exam is scheduled for: Monday, March 15th in Miami; Tuesday, March 16th in Inverness; Wednesday, March 17th in Cape Coral and Pensacola; Thursday, March 18th in Jacksonville; and Friday, March 19th in Edgewater, Orlando and Tampa. 

The Small Government Committee under Marilyn Rosetti has been working diligently on the charge given to them at the Annual Conference last year.  There are six sections of the Small Government Manual that will be considered at the next Board meeting.  The Technical Resources Committee, with Tim Howard as chair, continues to supply timely technical articles for the newsletter, keeps up with the discussion threads on the list serve, and maintains a watchful eye on the GASB website for “invitations to comment” on any proposed changes.

Our 2010 Annual Conference will be held May 22-26, 2010, at the Hilton in Orlando. The Conference Host and Conference Program committees have been actively working on organizing the annual conference events.  Committee Chair Linda Howard and the Conference Host Committee have been busy planning several events that include networking at Association Night and the Tuesday Night event that will offer an exciting evening of food and fun for the whole family at Universal Studios City Walk.  Committee Chair Tim Pozza and the Conference Program Committee are completing the conference educational program with top-notch speakers and timely topics.    Look for the conference program announcement on the website for further details and remember to register early to take advantage of the early registration discounts.  See you at the conference!

Quote: America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.  Harry Truman, 33rd President