Mark your calendars!!! October 22, 2004 the Nebraska Chapter of the American Planning Association will hold its annual meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska. The day will begin with a tour of Architecture Hall and the Planning Program at UN-L. This is an opportunity for everyone to visit or revisit the college. We will then have a program on planning issues in Lincoln with a walking tour of Downtown Lincoln. Contact Greg Czaplewski at (402) 441-7620 or gczaplewski@ci.lincoln.ne.us to let us know if you will be at the meeting. The Chapter will be providing lunch for all attendees.

The tour in Omaha was so well received last year that we thought we would try it again this year only in Lincoln.

Along with the tour and a chance to find out about planning in Lincoln we will be holding our annual meeting.

As part of the annual meeting the executive board is proposing some changes to the bylaws of the Chapter. Enclosed in this issue of PLANNINGNEBRASKA you will find a copy of the current bylaws with the proposed changes. Deletions are strikeout additions are italics and only those sections that have proposed changes are highlighted.

Section 1.1 deals with the name of the organization. According to the bylaws our name is "The Nebraska Chapter of the American Planning Association." My preference would be for a shorter name such as "Planning Nebraska," "Nebraska Planning," or "Nebraska Planning Association". The shorter name would be more useful when members speaking on behalf of the organization identify themselves especially with the media. We would still identify ourselves as a Chapter of the American Planning Association but it would not be a formal part of our name.

Changes to Section 4.2 would increase the funding for the President or a representative of the Chapter to attend Chapter Presidents Council meetings and the National Convention. The current amount allowed by the bylaws is $500, which just barely covers the cost of conference registration without any travel or accommodations. The suggested increase is $1250 (enough to cover conference registration, airfare and some accommodations) for the national conference and $750 (enough for airfare and accommodations) for the Fall Leadership Meeting. If we don't increase the amount of funding the Chapter's ability to participate on the national level is limited or the President or his/her employer bears a cost that primarily benefits the Chapter.

Section 5.2 defines the role of the Executive Committee.

Sections 4.6 to 4.8 and 5.3 to 5.4 were added to insure succession of officers and executive committee members.

Section 6.3 removes the reference to Western Planner and substitutes regional affiliation. The bylaws have not been updated since the Chapter voted to leave Western Planner.

Section 6.4 establishes a publication committee to oversee the newsletter and website as well as make recommendations about publications to the executive committee.

Finally 10.1 defines a publication of the Chapter for purposes of amending these bylaws. Proposed bylaw amendments will be publicized in two ways. A postcard will be sent to all members to notify them of potential changes and the information will be available on the Chapter website. Members who cannot access the website to review the proposed changes may request that a copy of the proposed changes be mailed to them. Internet access will save the Chapter a tremendous amount of money for mailing and printing costs.

The Executive Committee is anticipating some possible changes for the meeting in the Spring of ‘05. These may include changes to the officers and balloting procedures including the possibility of rotating the officers from Secretary through Immediate Past President in a 4 or 5 year rotation. Also, we would like to formally redefine the Executive Committee to include the Newsletter Editor and Website Coordinator as official permanent members of the committee. We are not ready with those changes and not entirely sure what they should look like. If you would like to help with those changes send me an email at cnabity@grand-island.com or give me a call at (308) 385-5240.

We have been busy preparing for the APA/NPZA conference. The conference will be held in Kearney, April 6-8, 2005. Sue Schwartz, FAICP, President-Elect of the AICP Commission and Dr. James A. Segedy, AICP of Ball State University, Co-Chair of the Small Town and Rural Planning Division of APA will both be presenting at the Conference along with local planners and a national speaker Co-Sponsored by the Chapter and Nebraska Lied Main Street. More about the conference will follow in an upcoming newsletter and on the website.