I would like to extend congratulations to Don Alberg and wife Judy, Don’s staff, volunteers and the Town of Qualicum Beach for the great work done to provide an outstanding 2006 PWABC conference. The word is that everyone enjoyed their conference experience.

The conference success is due, in part, to the support of the Municipal Services Association.  They not only support our education fund, many of their members turn out to present the technical papers.  The technical paper this year provided a wide choice of interesting and informative topics.  The pre-conference workshop was the place to be to learn about “Harassment – Correction and Prevention”.  Our keynote speaker Ted Schredd gave us some pointers on how to keep fun in our workdays and free time.  If you missed it, you are probably not smiling.

It is with mixed emotion when we see members retire – we are happy for them to reach this stage in their lives. However, it is sad because they will be missed in their workplace; we hope to see them again at our conferences.  This year we had Jim Duckworth, Peter Rowe, Dick Reynolds, Brian Gray, Murray Capstick, Gord Mills and Don Hammer retire.  It was also an honour to present Jim Duckworth with a “Lifetime Membership” in the PWABC.

The PWABC was pleased to present awards to recognize our members for their accomplishments and projects.  Please see elsewhere the list of achievements by these people. The scholarship was awarded to Jason Wagner from Salmon Arm.

I welcome the new directors to the executive.  The nominations committee had an excellent group of individuals to choose from this year.  Welcome to Dave Myles, Andrew Wood, Kevin Goldfuss and Murray Steer.

A big thank you goes to Ron Bowman, Peter Rowe, and Kevin Ramsay for their dedication and time on the executive.  Ron served for 13 years and Peter and Kevin made an important impact in their single terms. All have agreed to be available when needed to assist with the education programs and organizational needs.

“WE ARE GOING TO VICTORIA” for the 75^th anniversary of the Public Works Association of British Columbia conference.  Oak Bay was the site of the first conference; Victoria and surround communities are working together to host the 2007 PWABC Conference.  Hope to see you all there; start planning now.

It is with humility that I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president for 2006.  The job is not all that hard when surrounded by enthusiastic and knowledgeable people and have the encouragement of the membership.  I know that Len Robson, president elect, will enjoy that same support; Len is a leader with a lot of enthusiasm, ideas and the where-with-all to get them accomplished.

Remember we have a PW Management training session on November 20th & 21st, see you there.

Your truly,

Garry Kaulbach

President PWABC 2006