PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Spring 2019
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE July/August 2019
PAAI Membership,
As the summer rolls along and we approach fall I want to take a few moments to update the membership on news and some things the Board has been working on for our members.
The PAAI ran an IAAI-Evidence Collection Technician Practicum at IES in Lehighton. 12 participants from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York were tested and passed and are now certified by the IAAI as Evidence Collection Technicians. We are considering running this class every few years in this area to support our member’s certification needs. If you are interested please go to the IAAI website and review the qualification and training prerequisites.
We just wrapped up our 2019 June Training and Annual General Meeting. Attendance this year for each day averaged 68 attendees which was a great turnout. Classes were well received and feedback was favorable.
At the AGM we raised our dues from $25.00 to $30.00 per year. This increase will help to offset the cost of bringing in quality instructors for our training sessions. We changed the Distinguished Service award to the Jack Mason Distinguished Service award in honor of Jack’s years of dedication and service to the Association. We gave out 2 awards for photography for arson and accidental fires. We also swore in new executive and Board members this year.
I am humbled and grateful to serve as the President of this great Association for the next two years. I look forward to increasing and improving the quality of our training. The PAAI was recognized by the IAAI as one of the most active chapter for training and I want us to continue to be active. Together with the Board and Officers we will continue to “Keep the PAAI Great” and continue to be one of the premier IAAI chapters.
The Membership year for the PAAI runs from July 1 through June 30. Our dues have been increased this year to $30.00 for chapter dues. If you are a chapter only member your dues are due. If you are a member of both the IAAI and the PAAI please take advantage of paying your dues through the IAAI website.
Our partnership with the IAAI as an Enhanced Chapter seems to be going in the right direction and we have picked up new members through the IAAI registration process. This doesn’t mean we don’t want our current members to promote the PAAI and get more people interested in our association. The more members we have the stronger the PAAI.
The PAAI currently has a membership of approximately 350 people. If you are a current member and know of people in your area that would be interested in joining please direct them to our website and have them apply for membership.
There will be a Special Meeting held Saturday October 26, 2019 at the Ramada Inn State College to approve changes to the by-laws. Meeting will start at Noon. The BOD meeting will start after the Special meeting. All members are welcome to attend both meeting. If you are attending the special meeting please let us know ahead of time. Please contact Joe Pfizenmayer @ Fmpfitz@comcast.net. Lunch will be served at 11:30.
The 2020 Jack Christmas Training Weekend topics have been set and the registration information is in the newsletter and available on the PAAI website. The dates are January 25-26, 2020. This year both training days will be 8 hours and testing will be done through the CFItrainer.net site. We do not charge non-members an additional fee, so that we can attract more participants and hopefully they will join and stay involved. As always please feel free to pass our training notices on to anyone interested.
Scholarships are available for this training class. Applications are on the Scholarship page on the PAAI website.
The January BOD meeting will be Friday night January 24, 2020 at 7:00 PM at the Ramada Inn.
The dates for the June 2020 AGM and Training Conference will be June 22-24, 2020 at the Ramada Inn. This year’s Class will be the IAAI 3-day Hands on Electrical Class. More information and registration information will be available in January. The June BOD Meeting will be held on June 21, 2020.
Many of you might not be aware of the different awards and scholarships the PAAI has and offers to our members. Please check out the PAAI Awards page on the website. We have a number of awards for our members and a scholarship program for family members of the Association for college.
We are still looking for someone to volunteer as a Zone Training Coordinator in the Central and West Zones. Information is available at http://paai.org/zone-contacts/ or contact me directly.
Anyone that has a suggestion for upcoming training classes please contact Kevin Pezzano k.pezzano@comcast.net or Dave Klitsch david@technicalfireanalysis.com. We are always looking for locations and suggestions for training.
The PAAI has adopted a formal cancellation policy and we have revamped our Sponsorship program. Information on both of these items can be found in this newsletter and on our website. If you know of any companies that might be a good fit as a sponsor for the PAAI please let them know about our Association and our sponsorship program.
Thank you to the all members of the Association, the current and past Board members and Past President Wunderley for their dedication, service and support. We look forward to a great things going forward in 2019-2020.
Kevin Pezzano, President
Pennsylvania Association of Arson Investigators
