The PEGG

May 2001

COUNCIL BRIEFS

President's Honorarium Succeeds in Member Vote

Members have spoken: from now on, APEGGA's presidents will be paid an honorarium. Council heard in Calgary, at its regular meeting on April 26, that 64 per cent, or 2,801 ballots, were in favour of the honorarium. Votes against totalled 1,565 or 36 per cent.
The bylaw passed by members states: "An Honorarium shall be paid to the President, or the President's nominee in an amount and under such conditions as may be determined by the Council from time to time."

Supporters of the bylaw have argued that being president has a significant impact on regular employment. A one-year terms typically requires about 50 per cent of an APEGGA member's work time, which means either a loss of income or an understanding employer are necessary.

New Building Guideline Devised

Seven guideline documents have became one, with Council's approval in Calgary of a new guideline detailing the responsibilities of engineers in building projects. Norm Webster, P.Eng., chaired the Practice Standards Committee subcommittee that devised the document.
The Council motion allows the 93-page guideline, Responsibilities for Engineering Services for Building Projects, to go to technical editing, publication and distribution.
Mr. Webster and the subcommittee won praise from Council. "A tremendous amount of work was done here and we're all proud of them," said Sue Evison, P.Eng., in her last Council meeting as president.

Coun. Ron Triffo, P.Eng., added that the new guideline and its consolidation of old guidelines were a lot of work for one committee. "I'd really like to thank Mr. Webster and his colleagues. This is just an exemplary piece of work," he said.

Secondary Liability Insurance Coming

The issue of requiring members to join a national program of secondary liability insurance returned to the council table. APEGGA is still on-board, providing the majority of associations and members across Canada also join.

The proposed secondary liability insurance program would cover professionals in situations that go beyond their normal practice. It would cover liability after retirement or after a company ceases operations. The program would also cover advice or work that isn't part of regular employment, such as donated services to a community league.

The insurance would be an add-on cost to members of perhaps $10 a year, depending on the level of participation across Canada. Coverage would be $100,000 per claim or $250,000 per project, plus legal fees.

Nominating Committee Finalized

Rounding up nominees for future APEGGA Councils is the job of at least 11 professional members. One of the last duties of each year's Council, in fact, is to appoint members to sit on the committee for two years. This year, Council has approved 11 members to join six others and Past President Sue Evison on the committee.

New nominating committee members are Kim Ng, P.Eng., chair of APEGGA's Central Alberta branch; Tony Howard, P.Eng., a past president; Linda Van Gastel, P.Eng., a past councillor; Elizabeth Cannon, P.Eng., a professor with the University of Calgary; Gordon Williams, P.Geol., past executive committee member; Diana Purdy, P.Geol., of the Government of Alberta; Grant Smith, P.Geol., Geological Survey of Canada; Jim Henderson, P.Geoph.; Dave Chalcroft, P.Eng.; Jamie Marriot, P.Eng.; Ted Webb, P.Eng.

Returning are Perry Kotkas, P.Geoph.; Connie Parenteau, P.Eng.; Kip Fyfe, P.Eng.; Peter Kruselnicki, P.Eng., deputy provincial treasurer; Jim Hutton, P.Eng.; and Vernon Fedor, P.Eng., Medicine Hat branch past chair.

Pre-screen Committee for Geoscience Technologists

A committee will pre-screen applications for Registered Professional Technologists (Geological and Geophysical) to make the process similar to the one for R.P.T. (Eng.). Council passed terms of reference for the new committee, which will be an arms-length committee from the Board of Examiners. It will forward those applications that appear to meet the minimum threshold requirements for registration to the Board of Examiners for further consideration.

For R.P.T. (Eng.) applicants, the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists does the pre-screening.

Science Foundation Partners With APEGGA

APEGGA has a new partner for a newly created annual award, to be presented as one of the Summit Awards®. Council approved a research excellence award carrying the name of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Science and Engineering Research. This is the first of the Summit Awards® to be presented jointly with another group.

Darrel Danyluk, P.Eng., a past APEGGA president, sits on the foundation board. The award demonstrates that the provincial government wants to "to reach out to our professions," said Mr. Danyluk.

The foundation was established last year by the Alberta government, with an endowment of $500 million. Six foundation board representatives are also APEGGA members.

Recipients of the AHFSER Research Excellence Award will be selected by representatives of APEGGA and AHFSER. It brings to 11 the total of Summit Awards® categories.

Geoscience PD Centre Wins Support

APEGGA's support of professional development outside of its own programs is taking a leap forward, with three years of contributions to support the Geoscience Professional Development Centre at the University of Calgary. Council decided to contribute $10,000 a year in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The centre is being created with a US$50,000 award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists has committed $10,000 a year for three years. And the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists' contribution, also of $10,000 a year, appears to be openended, Council heard.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to show some real, substantial support to the geoscience community," said Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., professional development director.