I hope this message finds each of you doing well and dug out from all the snowfall!

Some of you may know that I am planning to retire within the year.  The Board of Directors has appointed a search committee that will find the next executive director, and we'll determine a transition process to ensure a smooth turnover.  I anticipate the new person will be officially introduced at the 2010 Fall Membership Meeting in November, and then we'll have some transition time.  With our strong support staff, a very involved Board of Directors, and our active membership, I'm sure the process will go well. 

For my part, I'm making this announcement so you are up to date, but haven't taken a step back for doing and enjoying my job...still the best job in the state.  In fact, I'm busier than ever which is just the way I like it!

I hope that many of you have or will be registering for the upcoming 2010 PRPS State Conference in Seven Springs.  The Conference Committee and staff are putting the finishing touches on the planning, and we look to another terrific event at Seven Springs! 

For those who have already registered, you will be receiving an email confirmation from Tracy Robert in our office using our new online system for which the database was uploaded in mid-February after a great deal of preparation time.  We are still working on customizing the conference receipts and the tie-in to our financial records.  For the time being, those for whom we are sending a bill to the agency will see an invoice # in the purchase order space.  We consider the signature on the "bill my agency" essentially a purchase order and promise to pay.  We hope the new system will enhance our service and allow online registration for future workshops as well as dues payments and product purchases.

As you probably know, Governor Rendell released his proposal for the 2010-2011 State Budget at the beginning of February and hearings are already underway in the House and Senate to begin the long budget adoption process.  For DCNR, the proposed reduction is 1% from what was in the 2009-2010 budget, and there will be an increase in wages for non-management employees.  The overall reduction in buying power will be greater than 1% as it is proposed right now.  Governor Rendell is supporting a severance tax on the natural gas drilling, but would not provide any of those funds to conservation purposes as we've advocated, and more leases for drilling on state forest lands is proposed which we oppose until the environment and other impacts of what's already leased are properly assessed.  To say the least, we'll have our work cut out for us.  The Governmental Affairs Committee lead by Bill Forrey is addressing these issues.

On the federal level, PRPS will be sending a group to Washington DC on March 18^th to participate in the NRPA Legislative "Day on the Hill" to address federal issues like the increase of the Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriation level and the renewal of the Transportation Enhancements program.

For our therapeutic recreation members, you'll want to know that the planning for the 2010 Annual Therapeutic Recreation Institute, June 9-11, 2010, is well underway.  One of our confirmed speakers will be Susan Newell from TR Tips who is a well-known expert and very popular speaker on long term care topics.  She'll be doing six hours of training during the TRI.  Other well-known speakers are also being confirmed. 

A change to this year's TRI will be the reduction of one overnight to help reduce the overall cost to registrants.  By including some optional evening training and utilizing Friday afternoon, we'll be able to keep the number of CEU's available for those who need them for certification.  Watch for more registration and program information in March!

Also, for our TR members, we'll be offering a new PTRS Dementia Workshop with regional workshops scheduled to begin in May.  These will be low cost and feature a new, practical guide to working with dementia. 

So, that's a quick update on activity here in the office.  I'll be back in touch in the not too distant future for the next Update in March.

Best regards,

Bob Griffith