Atlanta, GA – August 12, 2010 | Thanks to everyone that attended last nights chapter meeting. I believe there were a total of 35 members and guest present with 7 members absent. We are thrilled to have the new members joining up and hope that the guest in attendance will consider becoming involved with us. We need more good people. Thanks to everyone who brought guest as well and please continue to help with this effort to grow our chapter.

Thanks to Kirk Hammond and Arch Chemicals for the very informative presentation and sponsorship.

Thanks to John Adams as well for his presentation and insight in regards to the Lead Paint Regulations we’re faced with.

We realize that the past two meetings have involved topics such as risk associated with OSHA and potential risk we face if not in compliance with the lead paint regulations. We’ve chosen these topics because we feel they are relevant to us as contractors and not an effort to scare people away from being contractors or to sound negative..

That said and in an effort to continue along these motivational lines, our next speaker will discuss details as to why the Mayan and Aztec calenders end on December 21, 2012 and why we can shorten and adjust our business plans accordingly and a definite end to this economic slowdown. lol Just joking

In all seriousness I do want to encourage our contractor members to enter projects into the National Deck Design Contest. I know you all have great looking projects that need to be recognized. There are several categories and it’s very east to enter. Just go to the NADRA website and click on the “Deck Design Contest” box and follow directions from there. If you have any issues or questions you can contact Heather Beaudry by email or phone. Her contact information is listed on the NADRA page.

The entry date is August 20th so please don’t wait too long.

As mentioned last night there is a huge evening event planned for us by NADRA in terms of an awards dinner and national meeting. The Deck Expo and NADRA dinner are events you should not miss out on.

In regards to our local “Deck Design Contest” please begin planning your entries. Ginny and Frank are heading this up and you’ll receive more information soon.

In regards to the Deck for a Soldier, we have to begin planning immediately. I will produce specific material takeoffs soon and post them so that everyone can see just what we’ll need. I’m requesting that all vendor members who are willing to participate contact me and let me know to what extent you can help with whats needed.

To all contractor members I need to be sure who is willing to help out.. We should be able to do this so that no one has to donate more than a day of labor. The key will be to coordinate this in a way that we agree who does what and make sure we have a good rhythm and job flow. Dave Tibbets has agreed to help me with planning this but we need everyones input and oopen to suggestions. There are a number of ways we can go about this.

Everyone will receive credit for being involved and we’ll come up with a way to arrange a photo shoot so that each company can get shots with our “Deck for a Soldier” customer along with your signage or banner. We’re targeting “Veterans Day for dedication and hopefully some news coverage. It’s my vote that any speaking representation for our chapter that may be involved with media coverage be done by Keith Compton as he has put alot of time and effort in putting this program together.

I apologize for this long email but felt that it’s important to recap and get the effort moving forward.

Bobby Parks
NADRA Atlanta NADRA Chapter President