ARIZONA ROCK PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION 2015 Strategic Planning Report Session facilitation provided by: Stacy Tetschner, CAE, FASAE 602-770--0177
ARIZONA ROCK PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION Members and leaders of Arizona Rock Products Association (ARPA) convened on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at the ASU SkySong facility for the purpose of updating the strategic plan/direction for the Association. The goal of the session was to identify issues the industry may face in the future and to make recommendations to the leadership of ARPA to ensure the Association continues to serve its members and the industry most effectively. Following is a list of those attending/participating in this planning session: Company Advanced Mineral Recovery Arizona Materials AZ Materials CEMEX Drake Cement FNF Construction Granite Construction GRSG Haley & Aldrich Hanson HollyFrontier M.R. Tanner Reuter Equipment Co. Ryley Carlock & Applewhite Southwest Asphalt Speedie & Associates SRMG Vulcan Materials ARPA Staff Members Name Larry Walker Eric Loken Mike Hull Rob Cutter and Tori Robinson Brad Belt Lee Hulbert Bill Mackey Tony Enos Eric Mears Jim Schroeder and Ron Carruthers Randy Clark Toby Skinner Carol Fellars Bert Acken Richard Kissling Don Cornelison and Dan Dragonetti James Carusone Mark Reardon, Deb Hutchison and Gregg Monger Dan Duffy, Nicole Massarand, Elaine Trujillo and Steve Trussell Page 1 of 4
Review of Programs, Projects and Survey Results ARPA Executive Director, Steve Trussell provided an update on ARPA programs, activities and successes over the last year. The group agreed that the organization continues to make tremendous progress and remains in a strong position as an industry leader/voice in the state, an association that other state associations strive to model, and provides high value to its members. Focus of the last two years (since the last strategy session) has been on Regulatory issues, Funding, Community/Public Relations, Land, and Work Force Development. The Director also shared the results of the most recent membership survey. This survey identified two additional critical issues that have arisen since the last planning session in 2013. Those are: Technical Specifications and Continued Access to Key Decision Makers. The group then engaged in a discussion of the following as potential strategic priorities for the association over the next two years. Regulatory Project Funding Community Relations and Continuing to Improve the Industry s Image Technical Specification Process Improvements Work Force Development Land Issues Access to Decision Makers and Agencies Associate Business Development Assistance Increased Involvement in the Political Process After discussion it was determined that a number of these issues were interrelated and could be condensed under single headings. Further discussion determined that the list of strategic priorities for the association for 2015-18 would be: Sustainability through engagement of - Advocacy - Community Relations/Public Relations (telling our story) - Technical TECHNICAL NOTE: The work group determined that their feeling was that the Technical strategic heading be clarified as Technical Expertise and took the approach of developing strategies to support this change. Discussion among the larger group did not necessarily support adding expertise to the heading and resulted in discussion of broader strategies vs. specific industry issues and Page 2 of 4
regulations. The facilitator recommends the ARPA Board make a determination on how best to move the strategy forward. All recommendations are in addition to the existing responsibilities and are from the work group and the larger group of attendees that are listed below. 1. Expand existing tours for public to MAG, Counties, and State Specifications. 2. Develop an agenda to focus on technical needs of the industry that ARPA can affect. Examples to include: a. Asphalt & Concrete Technical Continue to work with ADOT to finalize specification and test method submittal, review, and approval process. b. Environmental 100 year vs. 500 year flood plain, waters of the US, and water rights issues ADWR c. Safety Rule or policy notification and consistent interpretation from MSHA is not occurring. Goal: ARPA to work with MSHA to ensure that revisions to rules and policies are provided to affected parties before implementation. d. Environmental Emissions testing blue smoke emissions sampling and testing are not consistent across agencies e.g ADEQ and Maricopa County. Goal: Develop streamlined and consistent workable protocols & schedules between all involved agencies. e. Environmental Ozone and Waters of the US Rule Proposed new EPA rules that will lower threshold, will have impact on entire state across businesses. Goal: Work to ensure new proposed standards are not implemented. 3. Facilitate a better communication process among committees along with exploring reduction of committees. 4. Facilitate consistent protocols and schedules between regulatory agencies. ADVOCACY 1. Align the message, membership and money spent by the association to ensure everything we do has focused efforts. 2. Develop communication processes that will encourage and allow for easy sharing of ARPA messages throughout a company with an ultimate goal of increasing participation of multiple staff/members from the same company. 3. Develop consistent and concise strategy for ARPA messages that can be shared with all industry related audiences and beyond. 4. Engage membership and identify those who can assist with increasing ARPA s reach within the legislature and regulatory agencies to communicate a consistent educational industry message. 5. Set an annual monetary goal for ARPA PAC. 6. Fully fund the ARPA Independent Expenditure Committee or IE in order to fully support the strategic planning efforts. Page 3 of 4
COMMUNITY/PUBLIC RELATIONS (telling our story before someone else does) 1. Create stronger messaging/communication with trade schools, community colleges, workforce development agencies, and department of labor to strengthen future workforce for the industry. 2. Develop stronger outreach to the high schools, counselors, etc. to showcase the industry for future employment/career opportunities. (i.e. counselor luncheons) 3. Host or develop more community outreach meetings (i.e. feedback/listening, mine tours, social media audiences). 4. Share messaging to show social benefits of mining or tally of projects our members are engaged in. NEXT STEPS Prioritization Due to time constraints the group was not able to prioritize the strategies that were developed. It was suggested that these now be sent to the Board of Directors to ensure the strategies align with the broader vision and mission of the organization and then be prioritized to allow staff to create strategies for implementation, resource allocation and execution. Budgeting and Staffing Once clear priorities are set for each of the strategic objectives, budgets, staffing and committees should then be aligned to support each priority. If the association is funding and staffing programs outside of the strategic plan, then the Board can purposely determine why those outside strategies and projects should be pursued. Additional Support The facilitator will also provide an easy chart process that will allow ARPA leadership to see all projects and programs on one sheet, monitor progress, and communicate the association plan and priorities to the larger association membership Page 4 of 4