Dear OEMA Members,

July marked the beginning of my tenure as the Association's President so I want to take this opportunity to share with you what my goals are for the next year. However, before I get into the future, I need to revisit the past. When you get the chance, please join me in thanking Rose for the great job she did in leading our organization during the past two years. Under her leadership the Association made great gains in transforming itself from being a service to its member, to being an Association that has an impact state-wide.

Because of what the Association was able to accomplish under Rose's leadership, its pretty easy for me to pick out the areas that I would like to have the Association concentrate on during my Presidency. The reason for this and the first item on my list is to continue to formalize the Association's strategic planning process establishing links to the annual work plan, assigning tasks to the committees, and updating the process so that we can adapt to changes in our profession and the environment we operate in. We have been making great strides in this area, especially during the past two years, but there are a few more things that need to be addressed so that it becomes truly integrated into the way the Association conducts its business.

My second goal is straight out of the strategic plan and is to continue what Rose has started in getting OEMA recognized at the State level, by state agencies and our legislators, as being the one-stop shop for emergency management expertise. We will continue to market ourselves to and partner with the State agencies that have roles and responsibilities related to emergency management and continue to be a proactive voice in Salem regarding emergency management legislation.

My third goal relates directly to the Association's Mission Statement, and I feel is key to ensuring we are truly able to meet the goals we set, and that is to take specific actions to make the organization more inclusive of the private sector. The Association's Mission is "The OEMA is a statewide association of individuals who share an interest in the emergency management profession and is committed to minimizing the impact of disasters on communities throughout Oregon." To achieve this we need to go beyond inclusion of the private sector in word only, but also ensure that they gain value from their membership; whether they are Emergency Managers working for business and industry or a business that provides emergency management related products and services. I truly believe that as we grow our membership to include more of the private sector, all our members will gain through an increase in the Association's overall base of knowledge, experience, and resources.

The key to continuing the growth of our success as an Association is through the participation of our members. All contributions and levels of participation provide value to our members and indirectly the people we serve. I'd like to encourage everyone to set a goal of becoming engaged with the Association at some level; whether it providing editorial corrections on a draft change to the bylaws, volunteering to be part of a committee, providing testimony before the Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Ocean policy; even just making it a priority to attend one of the Association's meetings during the next year. Make a commitment to participate.

There are a couple of things I would like to highlight for the coming yearÉ.make that years.

As done in the past, the E-Board will travel around the state for the E-Board meetings and General Meetings. While we may not make it all the way to Jordan Valley, we are trying to spread the meetings out to where most of our members will be in a reasonable distance to one of the meetings. A complete schedule of our meetings is posted on the Association's website at http://www.oregonemergency.com/calendar.html. All members are welcome to attend both the general meetings and the Board meetings.

We will be inviting members of the Joint interim Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Ocean Policy to attend our meetings and will be working on the possibility of having a joint meeting with them.

Even though the 2008 Conference is only in the initial planning stages, we are working with the Washington State Emergency Management Association on a joint conference in September 2009. We are tentatively looking at the week of September 14 - 18 at the Salishan Spa and Golf Resort, so you might want to pencil it in on your calendar now. A survey will be sent to the members shortly to see if they would like to support OEMA moving their Annual Conference to the fall permanently, to facilitate future joint conferences, or just leave it in the spring and change as needed. In the meantime, Tom Manning, Vice President, will be Chairing the 2008 Conference Committee, and will likely be looking for volunteers to help out with the conference planning. If you are interested in participating, please let him know.

I'm looking forward to a great year for the Association, and everyone's participation, as we step out as a team and expand on the partnerships that we established this past year and continue to pursue our mission and goals.

Michael Mumaw, CEM, ORCEMS
President
OEMA