President’s Message: July 2024
ACEC Florida President Tom Hayden, PE
To the ACEC Florida Community,
As the 2024 FES|ACEC Florida Annual Conference approaches later this month, I find it hard to believe that my term as the Florida Section President is nearing an end. My predecessors warned me that the term would go quickly, but I had no idea just how quickly that would actually be. In my final weeks as President, I am busy wrapping up the initiatives and goals I set for the year while working alongside our incoming President, Andy Lauzier, to ensure a seamless transition. Over the years, Andy has become a good friend, and I can promise that our organization will be in great hands under his leadership.
I am happy to announce that my primary goals for the year have been completed. My first objective was to work with our staff to upgrade our membership database and website so that individuals in our Member Firms could set up their own individual accounts within ACEC Florida. This new individual account will allow your staff to choose which committees and regional events they would like to be a part of and give them access to the resources available to all our members. As I write this President’s address, we are in the final stages of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) packet that will be emailed to our members, instructing them on setting up their individual accounts at acecfl.org. We anticipate this information will go out the week of July 15th, so we ask that everyone be on the lookout for the email and let us know if you have any questions or issues with creating your account. Even if you are a voting officer for your Firm and already have an ACEC Florida account, we ask that you log on to ensure that all the information we have on file for you is still accurate.
My second objective was to complete the task assigned to the ACEC Florida|FES Building Committee as we evaluated the rehabilitation costs of our headquarters building and adjacent parking facility in Tallahassee. This Committee was comprised of equal representation of ACEC Florida and FES Committee members, as the properties are jointly owned by both Organizations. The Board of Directors tasked the Committee with evaluating three options to accommodate our headquarters office space needs moving forward. The first option was to keep the existing properties and perform the extensive repairs that are necessary due to the condition of the existing structures. The second option was to sell the existing properties and rent space for our headquarters staff at a new location under a long-term lease. The third option was to sell the existing properties and purchase a new, smaller property with the proceeds from the sale.
Once we completed the research and evaluation, we were tasked with developing a “White Paper” with our findings for each option for the ACEC Florida|FES Board of Directors to aid in their ultimate decision as to how to move forward. At the time of this message, the White Paper has been completed and distributed to the Board, and the Boards are considering the various options.
Additionally, ACEC Florida adopted a new Code of Conduct this year to align with the National Code of Conduct policies that they recently adopted. As a result, our new policy has a “zero tolerance” policy regarding any physical contact (other than a handshake) with our headquarters staff. We want to make sure that all of our staff feel safe and comfortable at our events, and as part of that, we ask that every Member respects these rules at all times. Staff have been instructed to report any violations of this Code of Conduct, and our Board is firm that there will be significant punishment for any offenders of these new rules.
In closing, I want to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to serve as your President this year. This has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career, and I will forever be grateful to everyone who trusted me to lead this prestigious organization. I hope that I lived up to the expectations, and I hope that I helped expand ACEC Florida’s vision and goals of representing all Engineering Firms throughout the State of Florida. The future of ACEC Florida is brighter than ever, and we couldn’t do what we do without you, the Member Firms. Thank you for being a member of ACEC Florida.
Sincerely,
Tom Hayden, P.E.
Vice President / Senior Geotechnical Engineer
Environmental and Geotechnical Specialists (EGS)
Tom.Hayden@egs-us.com | www.egs-us.com
