• Metl Span, Bill Alma, 425-527-0934, wlalma@aol.com
• Carlisle CCW, Bob Simmons, 253-946-2436, arobertwsimmons@cs.com
• DeaMor, Mark Casper, 206-352-9466, mcasper@deamor.com
• Georgia Pacific Gypsum, Jeff Herrmann, 253-756-8191, jfherrma@gapac.com

• ABW Construction, Inc
• Air Associates LLC
• Anderson Specialties
• ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions
• CETCO
• Coastal Specified Products
• Concrete Waterproofing Products, Inc.
• Custom Building Products
• Dex-O-Tex, Crossfield Products Corp.
• Dow Corning Corp.
• Draper Inc
• Grace Construction Products
• Henry Company
• ICI Paints / Devoe HPC
• Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies
• Interior Technology
• Kelly-Moore Paint Company
• NorthClad
• Northwest Architectural Products, Inc
• Pacific Polymers, Inc.
• RAECO
• Rodda / Cloverdale Paint
• Serious Materials
• Sherwin Williams
• Skyco
• Skyline Building Systems/DecTec
• TekTerior Systems
• USG Building Systems
• Window Tech Inc.
• Zesbaugh, Inc.

taxes; plural of taxis: movement of an organism in response to a stimulus

One of the side effects of the recent reorganization of the Institute Board of Directors is that Institute Directors are no longer required to visit the chapters in their regions. Region officers will take on the responsibility for chapter visits, and the expense of those visits will now be borne entirely by the regions.

If you know how regions are funded, you can skip the next few paragraphs; if not, you might be interested in where regions get their money, especially as a reorganization of our dues structure is in the making.

At the moment, regions get money from their respective chapters through an assessment. Each region decides how much money it needs to operate, then divides that amount by the number of chapter members to get an average cost per chapter member. Each chapter is then invoiced for its share of the expenses, the amount being determined by multiplying the number of members in the chapter times the average cost per chapter member.

If, for example, a region with 2,000 chapter members needs $20,000, the average cost is $10 per chapter member. A chapter with 100 members will be assessed $1,000, and a chapter with 200 members will be assessed $2,000. Finally, each chapter in that region bases its dues on its operating expenses plus the amount of the region assessment.

In reading the above explanation, the astute reader will notice that instead of referring simply to "members", I used the term "chapter member" - but not "region member". Obviously, a member of a chapter also is a member of a region, so isn't a region member automatically a chapter member? No! It is possible to be an Institute member and not be affiliated with any chapter.

There is good reason for allowing at-large membership; many members are so far from the nearest chapter that they would receive no significant benefit from chapter membership. However, even though non-affiliated members are region members, they contribute no money to the region. Remember, regions get their money by assessing chapters based on their chapter membership.

So a few members don't pay into the regions, what's the big deal? You might be surprised how many non-affiliated members we have; the North Central Region, for example, has about 170. At $8 per member, that's $1,360 the region doesn't have for its programs. Another problem regions have faced is late payment of assessments by their chapters. Even when chapters eventually catch up, as most do, late payments affect cash flow and planning. Both of these problems can be solved by collecting money for the regions along with Institute and chapter dues.

The Institute Board recently approved a Region Allocation Program (RAP) that will address all of these issues. Briefly, Institute dues will be increased by seven percent, and that seven percent will go directly to regions to support region activities. For professional, industry, and associate member, the increase will be $15, intermediate members will see an increase of $7, and students will pay $2 more.

The result of the allocation will vary from one region to the next, as each region determines its own activities, budget, and means of generating income. Region assessments currently range from $6.00 to $22.50 per member, with most set at less than $10.00. Ignoring everything else, those regions with assessments of less than $15.00 will receive more money than before, and those with assessments greater than $15.00 will not receive as much. (The net difference realized by the regions will be slightly less, as regions no longer will benefit from use of the Institute Directors' travel allowance.)

Only the Northeast Region has an assessment greater than $15.00, so the new plan is essentially a stimulus package for regions. The RAP does not prevent regions from continuing to assess chapters, so the Northeast Region is still able to collect money needed to fund its activities. Ideally, regions will reduce or eliminate chapter assessments, but that decision is in the hands of the regions.

Similarly, if a region does eliminate or reduce assessments, each of its chapters will then be able to reduce its chapter dues, thereby offsetting at least some of the basic dues increase. Again, that decision is left to the chapters.

I suspect at least a few members are asking, "Didn't we just have a dues increase?" Institute dues were last increased in July 2006, from $210 to $220. The accompanying table shows how much membership dues have increased in the last dozen years. Since 1997, when Institute dues were $155, this will be our fifth dues increase.

The following table shows the year and amount of each dues increase, and the amount the dues would be if they increased at a rate of four percent per year.

Year     Dues         4% incr
1997   $155.00    $155.00
2002   $180.00    $188.58
2003   $195.00    $196.12
2005   $210.00    $212.13
2006   $220.00    $220.61
2009   $235.40    $248.16

Even though inflation has been closer to three percent, Institute dues have been relatively constant for the last decade.

The question now is one we've been hearing a lot lately; "How will the stimulus money be spent?" I trust that our regions, which soon will enjoy more income than ever before, will provide a better answer than the Feds.

Following are the new and renewing chapter members as of May 2009.

New Members
Mr. James R. Fair, CSI, Fair Building Technology LLC
Ms. Carolyn H. Forbes, CSI, KPG
Mr. Matthew Harris, CSI, AHC, Builders' Hardware & Supply Co., Inc.
Mr. Stephane P. Hoffman, CSI, Morrison Hershfield Corporation

Renewing Members
Mr. Jesse M. Ahlberg, CSI, CDT, Greene Gasaway Architects, LLC, 7 years
Mrs. Anna Anderson, CSI, Cambria, 7 years
Mr. Fritz Anderson, CSI, Anderson Specialties LLC, 23 years
Charles T. Calvano, CSI, 3 years
Mr. Jim Carlson, CSI, Building Envelope Technology and Research, 8 years
Mr. Ken L. Dzioba, CSI, CDT, Glacier Northwest Inc., 13 years
Mr. Dan Elliott, CSI, Spec Products, Inc., 9 years
Mr. Rick Grimes, CSI, CDT, Freiheit & Ho Architects, 13 years
Mr. Jeff Herrmann, CSI, CDT, Georgia-Pacific, 7 years
Mr. Dennis Milsten, CSI, Westmark Products, 32 years
Mr. Eric A. Peterson, CSI, Anderson Specialties, 19 years
Ms. Mayra L. Salas, CSI-S, 1 year
Mr. Scot Simpson, CSI, S.S. Framing, Inc., 26 years
Ms. Georgeanne Smith, CSI, CDT, KPG, 1 year
Mr. Daniel J. Stordahl, CSI, Puget Sound Realty Advisors, LLC, 10 years
Mr. Doug Turner, CSI, Architectural Surfaces Northwest, Inc., 16 years
Mr. Ronald E. Vietmeier, CSI, MILCON Specialist, 27 years
Mr. Joel D. Wessenberg, CSI, Specifications Northwest, 34 years
Mr. Bryce E. Williams, CSI, Northwest Architectural Products, Inc., 3 years