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GEM Grounds & Facilities Committee Meeting
Posted 3/04/08
On February 5th, 2008 at 9:00am, the GEM Grounds and Facilities Committee commenced with its February meeting. This meeting was hosted by the Clark Regional Wastewater District at 8000 NE 52nd Court in Vancouver, Washington. In attendance were 20 personnel representing 8 agencies.
The guest speakers for this session were Carl Agee and Kurt Druffel representing John Deere Company. Also present was Ryan Horner of Clark County Lawn & Tractor, as he presented two new mowers of the John Deere line on display for demonstration. The focus of the presentation involved the following information: a brief history of John Deere Company and a very informational description of the commercial mower and small power equipment lines for John Deere. Please click here to view the presentation. The GEM Grounds and Facilities Committee would like to extend Carl Agee, Kurt Druffel and Ryan Horner a special thank you for coming to speak to the group. Your presentation was excellent and well received.
GEM Grounds & Facilities Committee Meeting
Posted 1/09/08
The GEM Grounds and Facilities Committee met on December 4th, 2007 at
9:00am, being hosted by Clark County Public Works, Maintenance and
Operations at 4700 NE 78th Street in Vancouver, Washington. In
attendance were 11 people representing 5 agencies. The guest speaker for
this session was Brian Loos from Clark County Public Works representing
its Campus Grounds Maintenance Program. The focus of the presentation
was on turf management. The presentation was broke into two parts; the
first part was an identification of maintenance activities associated
with turf management and the second part illustrated an annual, month by
month timeline, placing each associated maintenance activity as it is
conducted. The session was quite informational and there was excellent
interaction amongst the group throughout the presentation. Please click
here to view the presentation.
The next session will take place on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at
9:00am at the Clark Regional Wastewater District located at 8000 NE 52nd
Court in Vancouver, Washington. Please mark this date in your calendar,
and hope to see you there!
Jon Sebree, Safety Coordinator Presentation
Posted 1/09/08
Jon Sebree, Safety Coordinator with Clark County did a presentation at
the Dec 19th General Meeting on Environmental Safety Topics. Please
click here to view the presentation.
2008-2009 Executive Board
Posted 1/09/08
The new 2008-2009 Executive Board is:
Chair, Bob Kofstad with WSDOT
Vice-Chair, Tim Buck with the City of Vancouver
Past Chair, Gil Mitchell with C-Tran
Secretary/Treasurer, Renee Henderson with WSDOT
Member at Large, Brian Loos with Clark County
2007 GEM Annual Family Picnic
Posted 9/26/07
On Thursday, September 13th, 2007, the GEM Annual Family Picnic was held
at Hazel Dell Park in the lower shelter. The annual picnic was going to
take place at the upper shelter near the play ground equipment, but
unfortunately the area was under construction as the play ground
equipment as in the process of being removed for a full replacement.
Hazel Dell Park is receiving a new play ground for the park. The
overall reception for the choice of location was positive by those who
were in attendance and all the children at the picnic were still plenty
entertained despite.
The weather was overcast and cool, and did not put a damper on the
picnic. The picnic had a good turnout with well over 50 people in
attendance representing numerous local agencies. The menu was
hamburgers & hot dogs, with chips and assortment of salads, fruit and
vegetable trays along with various desserts. There was plenty of food
and many great raffle prizes were given out. All in attendance did
receive a raffle prize this year, including all the children. Hope to
see you all and your families next year at the picnic!
GEM Grounds & Facilities Committee Meeting
Posted 4/13/07
On April 10th, 2007 at 9:00am, the GEM Grounds and Facilities Committee met and were hosted by the Washington Department of Transportation site located at 4100 Main Street in Vancouver, Washington. In attendance were 13 people representing 7 entities. The guest speaker for this session was Dan Dearing representing Simplot Partners and his focus was presenting product information and application uses for pre emergent and post emergent herbicides and plant and turf growth regulators. The session was quite informational and well received. The committee sends out its special thanks to Dan Dearing for his time at this session.
The next session will take place on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 from 10:00am to 2:00pm as the 5th Annual Landscape and Maintenance Industry - Trade Show and Field Day. This show is jointly sponsored by GEM and WALP (Washington Association of Landscape Professionals). This event historically has taken place at Vancouver Lake County Park, but will be relocated this year to Whatley Pit, located at 11203 NE 76th Street, Vancouver, Washington. This opportunity will allow you to meet and talk directly with local landscape equipment and material suppliers as they present their newest products and provide hands on demonstrations. Vendors and suppliers will be onsite either displaying or representing the following: trucks & trailers, tractors, trenchers, excavators, landscape nurseries, grounds & building maintenance, safety equipment, bark dust, sod, landscape and cleaning chemicals, irrigation systems and supplies and much more. Also being provided at the event are free hot dogs, chips and soda. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP with Gil Mitchell prior to the event at 360.696.4494.
GEM Grounds Meeting
Posted 2/07/07
Clark County Campus at the 78th facility hosted the February 6th Grounds Meeting. Twenty three were in attendance from 9 different entities. Ron Hendrickson and Robin Simpson gave a power point presentation on some of the weeds that we all have to fight. The different methods of control were shown. There were questions after the presentation including work with Japanese Knotweed, chemicals, and biological control.
GEM Grounds Meeting
Posted 12/07/06
Fifteen people, representing eight entities (two came from Gresham, OR.) were in attendance to hear Ryan Durocher speak on Vancouver Urban Forestry. He gave a power point presentation of what is, what is wanted and what the goals for Vancouver are. There were many questions asked and answered well. Hand outs included the "Street Tree Manual", "Street Tree Ordinance Revision FAQ's", and the "City of Vancouver Urban Forestry Program 2007-2008 Work Plan." Information can be found on the web site www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry. The next meeting will be February 6th at the Clark County Public Works on 78th ST.
Grounds and Facilities Update
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Posted 10/5/06
12 were in attendance from 8 agencies at WSDOT Main St. facility. "Bob" Lowry and Ralph E. Coffman from United Laboratories demonstrated and gave talks on different cleaning, disinfecting, protecting products and sprays, etc. Brian Gladden of WSDOT told of his use of some of the products at Gee Creek Rest Area. Many questions were asked.
Our next meeting is expected to be at Hazel Dell Sewer on 78th St. December 5th. We will have Ryan Durocher of the City of Vancouver speak on the (then) new draft of the Urban Forestry Management Plan. There are to be area wide meetings to help make this draft. To make a difference in this plan contact Ryan at http://www.cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry. This plan will affect all who work in Clark County.
GEM Annual Family Picnic a Success
Posted 8/26/06
The GEM Annual Family Picnic was held Tuesday, August 22 at Lewisville Park. The beautiful weather set the scene for a good time to be had by all.
The Golf-A-Marshmallow longest drive winners were Pete Capell and Brian Loos from Clark County. Pete had the longest drive using a six iron and hitting a marshmallow 94'-11". Both Pete and Brian won a $25 gift certificate.
Carl Oman from Clark County and Paul Chamberlain from Clark Public Utilities partnered up to win the horse shoe throwing contest. It went into a play off situation when Ken Price from Clark County hit a ringer and he and his wife Teresa played Chamberlain and Oman for the first prize gift certificate and bragging rights.
The winner of the bean bag toss in the kids' division was Spencer Gordon.
The kids division was made up of 10 eager contenders battling fiercely for first prize.
Weston and McKenna had bean bags flying in the first go round with Weston winning. Then came Dillon and Maverick. Slinging bags and stacking them up put Maverick on top. Then came Cameron and Conner dueling fiercely and Conner came out on top. Morgan and Alex tossed the bean bags, raising the dust in competition and Alex won the duel. Last but not least were Mason and Spencer eagerly waiting their turn and Spencer was the winner in that competition.
The next go round pulled out three top contenders from six winners from the first go round - Maverick, Conner, and Spencer. When the last bean bag was thrown, and the dust was settling, Spencer Gordon was the winner.
The kids all were good sports and played well. It's rewarding to watch them all play - even the littlest ones working so hard and concentrating - wanting to make that hole in one!
There was not as much competition in the adult level. Monty, Karen, Gil, Ann, KJ, and Tammy ...and KJ came out on top!
It was a great picnic with an excellent turnout. There was plenty of good food for all and many great raffle prizes. We look forward to seeing everyone there next year !
Equipment Committee Meeting
Posted 4/19/06
The Equipment Committee met March 22, 2006 at C-TRAN's administrative offices. Three members were present representing 3 different agencies. Items discussed were the available training opportunities for 2006. The committee agreed upon scheduling the following classes: Multiplexing/PLC Systems in the fall, hosted by Clark PUD; Allison WT service/troubleshooting in the fall, hosted by C-TRAN; Hydraulics conducted by Eric Freimuth, date to be determined; Welding conducted by Clark College, Summer and Fall; A/C hosted by Clark County Public Works, Spring; and Cummins INSITE Diagnostic Software refresher. The next committee meeting will be scheduled sometime during the last week of May.
Grounds/Facilities Meeting
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Posted 4/6/06
Grounds/facilities met at WSDOT April 4th. There were 18 in attendance from 9 entities. Three representatives gave presentations for products in the "green industry" for use inside and out plus a reusable product for spills. It was very informative and our thanks go out to Zep, Coastwide and Soil builders,Inc. for their time and willingness to answer question.
GEM Interlocal
Posted 2/16/06
The GEM interlocal is available for use and may be found in the "Member's Tools" area.
Grounds and Facilities Update
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Posted 2/9/06
The Grounds and Facilities had their meeting on February 6th at the LaCenter Community Center. There were 23 in attendance from 11 different groups. Dan Dearing brought a presentation on the newest labels and chemicals to use for grass and broadleaf weeds in turf and ornamentals. He also gave the reasons for the high cost of fertilizers. The next meeting is set for April 4th but a place was not identified.
Equipment Committee Update
Posted 1/12/06
The Equipment Committee met December 14 at Portland City Fleet. New Chair, Tim Shellenberger, will begin in January. They discussed joint training and utilizing the website for selling and purchasing equipment.
Safety Committee
Posted 1/12/06
Norm Brentenson reported that the committee met December 13th with 3 people attending. Discussed CRESA emergency training, WISHA's new standards on heat stress. Gary Boe e-mailed out a recall on Louisville Ladders.
New Executive Board Members for 2006-2008
Posted 1/12/06
At the last General Membership Meeting held December 21, 2005, new officers were voted in for 2006-08. Congratulation to:
- Brian Vincent, Chair
- Paul Chamberlain, Vice Chair
- Terry McClure, Past Chair
- Sheila Ensminger, Secretary/Treasurer
- Gil Mitchell, Director at Large
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"GEM" is a regional network of
public agency employees who meet regularly to exchange successes,
concepts and general information to promote efficiency in government.