Publisher’s Letter Prioritizing in a time of crisis In the last issue of this magazine, our association chairman, Scott Fraser with R.J. Noble Co., wrote about our association’s long-term strategic plan and our goals, which fall into four broad categories: Promotion, Learning, Advocacy and Networking. We use the acronym “PLAN” to make those categories easy to remember. Long-term planning is always important for any organization, but as the events of recent weeks have shown us, sometimes a plan must be changed on the fly to respond to major and unforeseen circumstances. A global pandemic that sweeps across our country is the ultimate example of that, a “Black Swan” that poses an existential threat to our lives, our businesses and our way of life. So, does that planning and preparation go to waste? Absolutely not. In fact, that planning focuses our thinking to our core mission, how all of our various activities support that mission. It ensures that we are prepared for any eventuality. CalAPA® is in the information, education and influence business. It just so happens we use our skills and expertise in support of the asphalt pavement industry. The other core mission for CalAPA® is to be looking over the horizon to identify threats that could be harmful to our businesses, assess them, and provide useful information to our members so that they can make good business decisions. As I have written previously, “You can’t make good decisions without good information.” When the COVID-19 pandemic surged across our state and nation, it overwhelmed everyone’s ability to comprehend the nature of the crisis and what it would mean for their lives and their business operations. CalAPA® already possessed the infrastructure to respond effectively to the crisis. Our top priority was the health, safety and well-being of staff. Once that was established, our second priority was continuity of operations. Our association already had contingency plans in place, and they were tested and ready to go. When health officials gave a “stay at home” order, for example, our staff was already working remotely, performing our work without interruption. Our third priority was gathering valuable and actionable information, distilling it to its most essential elements, and distributing it back out to our members, almost in real time. As I told staff, we were shifting into emergency response mode. Borrowing a page from my previous career as a reporter and editor for United Press International, I told them we were converting CalAPA® into a virtual newsroom. We anticipated the flood of questions that would emerge from our members, and we knew that our public agency partners would also be overwhelmed as they scrambled to understand the rapidly changing situation and develop guidance for their own employees as well as our industry. A time of crisis is where the relationships and credibility we have established over many years are put to the ultimate test. In our case, our lobbyists leveraged longstanding contacts within the Newsom administration in the Legislature to get the latest information and advocate for our industry positions. Our staff mined our public agency contacts to learn the latest situation on the ground, and also reached out to our members to assess the impact events were having on operations. Since having a united front in extraordinary times like this is essential, I reached out to other associations to coordinate messaging. We funneled all of this information into a central location, processed it, and immediately sent it out to our members in the form of “Member Alerts” and other essential communications. We quickly assembled the most important information on our website so it would be easily accessible to all, 24/7. As I write this, events continue to unfold, but rest assured that our association will continue to operate at a high level to provide essential information, insight and advocacy in support of our industry. Sincerely,
Russell W. Snyder, CAE Executive Director California Asphalt Pavement Association
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California Asphalt Magazine • 2020 Special Emergency Response Issue