NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! (LEADERSHIP IN FMA)

Michael Nowlan

“We would like to welcome you to the Board!” Those are words I would love to say to every member of FMA at some point. I guess technically I am saying them to you now, in a hypothetical sense! The reality is that holding a position of leadership in FMA, while fully open to all, is a limited engagement requiring some somewhat specific qualifications, while also securing the majority of votes in your favor. In order to be voted on, you need to get on the ballot, so let’s talk openly about the process.

First off, serving on the FMA Board is a volunteer position. It is not a paid position using FMA funds. Certain expenses are allowed for reimbursement, but I can’t remember the last time someone serving on the board tried to get reimbursed. While most/all of the board are paid by their companies/agencies to serve, there are some who have had to pay for their own participation at certain events that their employer did not wish to cover. Each person is left to negotiate their own arrangements with their respective employer. Most importantly, what I want to dispel is the notion that the Board of Directors is an exclusive club. If it is being perceived as an exclusive club requiring special access, then this article should hopefully dismantle that perception. You do not need to “know someone” to be nominated. It doesn’t hurt to know someone, but I am telling you now that it will not give you an advantage to being nominated and considered. After you are nominated, we will need to compare your qualifications to the qualifications for the position you seek to hold, to then place you on the ballot. That is why we have written out the position descriptions for each seat on the Board of Directors of FMA. The following link will give you access to a pdf containing these descriptions for your consideration https://floodplain.org/resource/resmgr/docs/ Board_Member_Key_Roles_May23.pdf

Please allow me to provide some background that may or may not have colored people’s perceptions in the past. Over the years FMA has been growing, we have been seeking input on the board from a diverse number of perspectives within the floodplain management community. Therefore, we have identified some positions on the board to be limited to certain geographical regions, because floodplain management issues can be different in Northern California and Southern California and Nevada. Issues can also be perceived differently by public and private sector individuals, so we have designated some positions to be held by either public or private professionals. This is intentional. In order to get such diversity on the Board, previous members of the Board “recruited” people. Believe it or not, it is not always that easy to get any candidates that are willing to give their time. FMA is subject to “market forces” like everyone.

The guiding documents for our association, that can be found on our website here, also direct that the board itself has its own leadership structure, requiring some additional experience/qualifications as well. This is also intentional. To keep the integrity of FMA intact, the chairperson of the Board should have experience on the Board before serving as its chair. There is a built-in preference to have an individual that understands how the Board works and the issues we typically deal with, before being considered to lead it. We also have some positions that are “At Large” for any individual, public or private, to hold. Some of these positions are open for nominations for the next election (this year). The following list is the complete list of positions that will be voted on this election cycle; Board Chair, Board Vice-Chair, Board Treasurer, Board Secretary, Northern Public, Southern Private, At-Large Director 1, At-Large 3 Elected Official, At-Large 6 EP (Emerging Professional), and Legal/Legislative At-Large.

Please, please, please, consider nominating someone you know that you believe meets the minimum qualifications, and we will contact them to see if they are interested. If you wish to nominate yourself, please do so. The person in charge of pulling together the ballot is the past chairperson (this is intentional as well), which is Alex Yescas. He can be contacted at Alex.Yescas@hdrinc.com