President's Report

I hope you were able to make the trip to Key Largo in July. The annual conference at Ocean Reef Club was another great success for the Chapter. From the speakers to the tours to the social events (not to mention the view), everything was organized and handled terrifically. Many thanks need to go to our Conference Chair Deena Bell for keeping us all organized throughout the year. Our Association Manager Corey Mathews and his team were also invaluable to the success of the conference As were all the the countless volunteers who helped through the planning process as well as on site. As the sun sets on the 2014 conference, we are excited to have Richard Klar, our Conference Chair for 2015, heading up the planning for the Orlando Conference, happening next July. Details coming soon!

I also wanted to express a very special thank you to all our vendors. Without their support of the conference and other Chapter events, none of this would be possible.

Please take time to read the monthly Legislative Report from Rutledge Ecenia. As you heard at the conference, there is a proposed deregulation bill in the works for next year’s legislative session. Our lobbyists have met with Representative Grant who may be pursuing the bill. We have been told that this proposed legislation will not include Landscape Architects. However, we will continue to monitor this closely as things progress. Please see the the rest of the report for other government affairs related issues.

Lastly, I also wanted to inform you of the strength of our Chapter. Through the recession, we found our membership drop almost in half, from close to 1,000 members in 2007 to a mere 560 in 2011. These numbers bounced back to 600 in 2013 and we are happy to report we are at a total of 678 members as of today. While the economy helps, this is also due to the hard work of David Flanagan, our Member at Large for Leadership and Membership as well as our Association Management team. We expect the growth to continue, and to encourage those Chapter members that have staff, especially younger staff, to support them through encouraging joining and helping subsidize their membership. They will be the future leaders of our profession, and the Chapter will need them soon! Let’s do our best to get them engaged with us.