Joe Scarborough analyzed the current political climate at the ACEC Fall Conference.

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe program, told Fall Conference attendees that infrastructure funding may be one of the few areas that the political parties will agree on in the next Congress.

“ACEC has done a great job in promoting the need for rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” said Scarborough. “There is no debate now that our infrastructure is crumbling.”

Geoffrey Yarema, a member of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, warned Fall Conference attendees that the nation faces “the most serious transportation funding crisis in our lifetime.”

With funding levels at less than 20 percent of what is needed for the maintenance and improvement of our infrastructure, Yarema said the long-term shortfall will reach $2.5 trillion by 2035. Short-term funding will “fall off a cliff in 2013,” he said, with state DOTs facing a $63 billion cutback nationwide.

Yarema said a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) concept offers the best hope for resolving the long-term crisis, while increases in the gas tax and heavy vehicle fee will eliminate the short-term gap.

ACEC/Oregon members met with Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) (second from left). Also pictured are (from left to right): Greg Ausland, OBEC Consulting Engineers; ACEC/Oregon Executive Director Alison Davis; and ACEC/Oregon Immediate Past President Gayle Harley, OBEC Consulting Engineers.

ACEC members are active in key House and Senate races throughout the country, providing critical support through ACEC/PAC to help shape the new Congress in 2011.

“With so many close races around the country, we have put a great deal of emphasis on helping to elect more pro-business House and Senate members,” said ACEC President Dave Raymond.

Raymond added that ACEC/PAC will also continue to face heavy demands after the election: “Many of the newly elected will be coming to us for help with debt retirement, which reinforces the need for all state organizations to stay focused on meeting their fundraising goals before the end of the year.”

Participants in the CIO Roundtable included (from left to right): Jim Walsh, chief technology officer, AECOM; Tom Lynch, vice president, information technology, URS; Brad Vaughn, CIO, Black & Veatch; and Chris Pinkney, CIO, Psomas.

From the CEO and CIO Roundtables to more than two dozen educational sessions, ACEC’s 2010 Fall Conference in Puerto Rico hit hard on the business issues that affect Member Firm’s bottom lines.

“The educational sessions were right on the money,” said Heath Overfield of Engineering Associates in Cody, Wy.

Other highlights included a special session with King Ghee of the Federal Highway Administration on FAR Compliance, and a presentation by Daniel Altshuler, former director of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Two industry experts outlined the legislative prospects for the water and energy sectors during the Fall Conference.

Citing a long-term funding gap of “half a trillion dollars to way over that,” G. Tracy Mehan of the Cadmus Group said Congress will have to act soon on legislation.

ACEC has lobbied strongly for a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar water infrastructure bill and will urge early action when the new Congress begins in 2011.

With comprehensive energy legislation “caught up in the brouhaha on Capitol Hill,” according to Barry Worthington, executive director of the U.S. Energy Association, ACEC and industry allies are working with Congress on focused energy legislation that emphasizes incentives for nuclear, renewable energy, and traditional sources.

Lennox Nishimura, (right) president of ECS, Inc. in Honolulu receives 2010 ACEC Chairmen Emeritus Award from former ACEC Chairman Mac MacMurray.

Lennox Nishimura, president of ECS, Inc. in Honolulu received the 2010 ACEC Chairmen Emeritus Award, given by ACEC’s past chairmen to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the Council.

ACEC Community Service Awards for 2010 were presented to: Michael Sutton, president, Infrastructure Engineering, Inc., Chicago; Marco Avila, senior supervising engineer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Baltimore; and Marsha Bomar, president, Street Smarts, Inc., Duluth, Ga.

Recognized for their exemplary contributions to their profession, the new ACEC Fellows are: Reginald Benton, Benton & Associates, Inc., Jacksonville, Illinois; Ronald Billstein, DOWL HKM, Billings, Mont.; Frazier Christy, Hatch Mott MacDonald, Birmingham, Ala.; Lowell Christy, Christy/Cobb, Inc., Birmingham, Ala.; Kimberlee DeBosier, Bayside Engineering, Inc., Tampa.; Peter Mesha, Wight & Company, Darien, Illinois; Rosalie Morgan, EMCS, Inc., Milwaukee; James Pappas, Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., Boston; Bennett Reischauer, Stanley Consultants, Inc., Muscatine, Iowa; Jane Rozga, CH2M HILL, Santa Rosa, Calif.; Peter Strub, TranSystems, Greenville, S.C.; Kenneth Wightman, David Evans and Associates, Inc., Portland, Ore.; Doris Willmer, Willmer Engineering Inc., Atlanta; Roger Helgoth, Michael & Associates, Inc., Omaha, Neb.; and Michael McMeekin, Lamp, Rynearson & Associates, Inc., Omaha, Neb.

Fundraising at ACEC’s Fall Conference, including two sold-out sweepstakes drawings, an evening cruise, and the ACEC/PAC Golf Tournament, brought in over $100,000 for ACEC/PAC, providing a critical boost to the Council’s political program before Election Day.

Abe Swidan of Janssen & Spaans Engineering in Indiana won the sweepstakes $10,000 grand prize; Terry Helms of Helms & Associates in South Dakota won the $5,000 second prize; Tom Collins of Collins Engineers in Illinois took the $2,000 third prize; and Joan Delorey of Ames & Gough in Massachusetts won the $1,000 fourth prize. ACEC/Arizona Executive Director Janice Burnett won a special drawing for an Apple I-Pad.

The winning foursome in the golf tournament featured Joe Hagerty and Dave Oates of Oates Associates, Reggie Benton of Benton Associates, and Jim Klug of AECOM, all based in Illinois. Jim Porter of J-U-B Engineers in Idaho won both the longest drive and closest to the pin contests, while his wife Kadee won the women’s longest drive.

For more information on ACEC/PAC, click here.

The ACEC Board of Directors approved amendments to the Strategic Plan that extend the deadlines for ACEC/PAC and national membership targets to 2015, in consideration of the economic downturn.

In addition, funding of non-appellate federal cases was approved under The Minuteman Fund.