ATSSA Signal July/August 2019

American Traffic Safety Services Association 36 The chapter is also pleased to announce that Jacob Pawelczyk from the 3M Transportation Safety Division was elected as pres- ident-elect for the AR-ATSSA Chapter, and Laura Wentz from ARDOT was elected as a director to the chapter board. The next chapter meeting will be in conjunction with AR-ATSSA’s annual golf event at The Country Club of Arkansas in Maumelle on Oct. 17. The California ATSSA Chapter (CAL-ATSSA) gathered in Sacra- mento on April 25, for the Caltrans Workers Memorial at the state capitol, with a chapter meeting immediately following the event. The chapter sponsored the Caltrans event, bringing The ATSS Foundation’s National Work Zone Memorial on-site for display during the ceremony. Deputy Director of Caltrans Maintenance and Operations Steve Takigawa was a guest speaker at the meeting and thanked the CAL-ATSSA chapter for being a great partner to Caltrans, sup- porting the memorial, and focusing on saving lives on the state’s roadways. Takigawa spoke about the department’s vision for restriping California in two years, an upcoming retroreflectivity contract coming soon, safety concerns related to the risk for California Chapter striping crews, and that they will be purchasing an automated Truck-Mounted Attenuator (TMA). State Assembly employee Eric Thronson also spoke at the meet- ing on behalf of Assemblyman Jim Frazier. Regarding SB1 fund- ing, Thronson indicated that many legislators have ideas for what the allocated money is meant to be spent on, but Frazier feels that SB1 clearly states it was meant to repair the issues with the roadway system we have. Regarding transportation funding in the future, Thronson said electric cars would even- tually have a drastic impact on the excise tax, and he would consider a road charge or vehicle miles traveled system. The next CAL-ATSSA chapter meeting and golf event will be Oct. 8 at Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine. At the California chapter meeting, Deputy Director of Caltrans Maintenance and Operations Steve Takigawa spoke with members about the DOT’s current road- way projects. As part of the chapter meeting, the California ATSSA Chapter participated in the Caltrans Workers Memorial event, where The ATSS Foundation’s National Work Zone Memorial was on display. Florida Chapter The Florida ATSSA Chapter met on April 11 at the Florida Trans- portation Builders’ Association, Inc. in Tallahassee. The current President of the Florida Transportation Builders’ As- sociation (FTBA) Ananth Prasad, who once served as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary, provided an FTBA update. During the meeting, the chapter presented $1,000 to the FTBA PAC, repeating previous years’ contributions. Members of the chapter shared about several congressional visits made to the offices of Senators Perry Thurston (D) and Keith Perry (R), and Reps. Barbara Watson (D), Geri Thompson (D), and Brad Drake (R), to help bring awareness to work zone safety and the work of the ATSSA chapter within the state. The chapter discussed hosting the annual golf outing in Oct. 2019, as well as meeting with FDOT in Tallahassee, and a round- table to discuss asset management in the fall. AR-ATSSA heard from Cindy Williams during its May 9 meeting in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Williams spoke about her visits with Sen. John Boozman (R), Rep. Bruce Westerman (R), and Rep. Steve Womack (R).