Meeting, meetings and more meetings

One of the things that has amazed me about my internship is the number of meetings that my employer has on their schedule. Everyday consists of a series of meetings. Some are held to formulate new policy initiatives or changes to existing policy, some are committee meetings held to discuss upcoming events and some are social gatherings held to provide an opportunity for the membership to meet in a relaxed environment. ARPA's membership is made up of representatives from competing companies and often times, depending of the issue, the atmosphere in the room can get a pretty tense. I find many of the meetings interesting, especially those regarding new policy initiatives. Its fascinating to watch the machinations of the stakeholders as they attempt to reach an agreement. Like many of my fellow students who are also working as interns, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement with my employer. This precludes me from getting into some of the specifics of the information discussed in the meetings that I attend. However, I will attempt to make these posts as interesting as possible.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting at the offices of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, or as they refer to it in the office, ADEQ. The meeting was attended by private landowners and representatives from companies whose property is adjacent to a riverbed or a wash, along with officials from ADEQ. This was one of an ongoing series of meetings that are being held to discuss the State's new permitting policy for storm water run-off. Though Arizona does not receive a lot of rainfall over the course of a year, when it does rain it tends to be heavy and generates a significant amount of run-off. The permit and associated fees are issued based on land use. It allows ADEQ to monitor storm water that flows into the river bottom and to ensure that the run-off is as contaminant free as possible. ARPA's membership is comprised of companies that mine aggregates from the riverbeds and the fees for obtaining the run-off permit could potentially cost a member company thousands of dollars a year, making this an important issue with the corporations that ARPA represents. This was the first time that I had attended a meeting of this group and I felt like I sat down in the middle of an ongoing conversation. After two plus hours the meeting adjourned and I left not really sure that anything had gotten accomplished.

I spent most of the first week in the office, trying to get acclimated to my new surroundings. My fellow co-workers welcomed me with a very nice potted plant and they have gone out of their way to make me feel at home. The office is located at 9th Avenue and West Adams Street in downtown Phoenix, within walking distance to the State of Arizona Capitol Complex. Throughout the week I had several meetings with Steve Trussell, Executive Director of ARPA, to discuss my duties and the activities that he would like me to be apart of while working for the association.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. Before I get started I would like to tell you a little about myself and how I got to this point. I moved to the Phoenix area in 1982 and began my career working in roadway construction, primarily as a concrete finisher. I left the construction industry in 1994 to start my own commercial printing company, which I sold eight years later to return to heavy construction. It was at this point in my life that I began to think about returning to college to finish my degree studies. Finally in 2008 I enrolled at Arizona State University in order to finish what I had started a long time ago - obtaining my college degree. I have been married to my wife, Angel, for twenty eight years. Together we have two sons, Ryan, who is twenty five years old and a graduate student at the University of Memphis and Tyler, who is twenty three years old and a recent graduate of Wright State University with a degree in finance.

I recently had the privilege of working through the summer break as an intern for the Arizona Rock Producers Association. This alliance is best known by the acronym ARPA. ARPA's member companies are producers of aggregates, ready-mix concrete, asphalt and cement. These materials are used in every construction project throughout the State of Arizona. Collectively the companies that make up ARPA are a significant contributor to the Arizona economy and as an advocacy organization, ARPA prides itself on its ability to effectively represent its membership on any policy issue that is relevant to the industry. While working for this organization I was able to see first hand the process, from conception through implementation, of public policy being formulated. This peaked my interest and my desire to pursue a career in policy making.

Throughout the semester I will blog about some of the interesting and not so interesting things that I was a part of during my internship. Hopefully you, as a reader of this blog, will gain some benefit from my experiences.