Assembly of delegates. (NAA Today).

On Nov. 8, 2001, members of the National Apartment Association (NAA) met in Chicago to kick off the 2001 Assembly of Delegates Meeting. This meeting is held every November to elect and install officers for the upcoming year and to carry out the work of NAA's standing committees. A new addition to this year's Assembly of Delegates meeting was the NAA Leadership Summit. The summit, designed to increase members' understanding of the association, its governance structure and affiliate operations, is a great new program where NAA members can learn how to become a more involved and effective leader in NAA.

Prior to the official Assembly of Delegates Meeting, NAA's committees and task forces met to discuss current action items, plans of work and motions to be presented. Below is a brief summary from the NAA committees:

Legislative Committee

Discussion at the Legislative Committee centered on terrorist/homeland security issues and how these will affect the apartment industry Other issues discussed included meth lab disclosure laws, second-hand smoke, mold and the Millennial Homing Commission. The committee approved the state issue agenda for 2002. The issues range from maintenance licensing to mold to landlord/tenant law issues.

NAA PAC Committee

The NAA PAC is less than $3,000 away from meeting its 2001 fundraising goal of $50,000. The NAA PAC approved five disbursement requests for the following Congressional representatives: Dick Armey (R-Texas), Sherwood Boelert (R-N.Y.), Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), David Hobson (R-Ohio) and Connie Morella (R-Md.). The trustees also unanimously approved a change to the Better Government Fund Policy to include disbursements to state and local candidates (where permitted) and issue initiatives.

Membership Committee Report

The total number of NAA members is 27,350, representing 4,414,910 units.

The Membership Committee approved the charter application for the San Diego County Apartment Association, which represents 2,661 members and 125,870 units. The Membership Committee also discussed removing the locks and latches clause from the NAA lease template as well as budget implications in regards to affiliate dues.

Strategic Growth Task Force

New NAA affiliates were formed in New York, California, Alaska, Wisconsin, Arkansas and South Dakota, while progress was made to secure affiliates in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Memphis, Tenn.; Detroit; and Hartford, Conn. Prospects for future strategic growth development will continue in 2002 in the Northwest, Northeast and Southern sections of the United States through the dedicated involvement of NAA Past Presidents, committee members, corporate sponsors, and staff.

Education Committee

The Education Committee moved to make the CAPS program available on CD-ROM. It was announced that the new CAM training program was released in early September and the new CAPS program was released in early October. A marketing initiative to announce the new CAPS will appear in the November/ December issue of Units, and CAPS ad slicks will be distributed to local affiliates to support their promotional efforts. In a review of all nine CAMT programs, only Safety and Fair Housing needed an update. The update will. be completed by year end.

Distance Learning Task Force

The Task Force discussed progress on the project to convert and launch on-line delivery of designation courses. It was agreed that negotiations with the vendor, 360Learning, for conversion and rollout will move forward as expected. 360Learning will provide an updated marketing plan and projected rollout schedule. The on-line Fair Housing course is also moving forward with a launch on the NAA Web site due by the end of November 2001.

AEC Committee

The Association Executive Council (AEC) approved the 2002 Officers as follows:

* President -- Nathan Slovin, New Jersey Apartment Association

* Vice President -- Stephen English, Apartment Association of New Mexico 

* Secretary -- Rosemarie Selman, Bryan-College Station Apartment Association

* Past President -- Mark Franks, Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Apartment Association

The AEC accomplished all of the goals set forth on the 2001 AEC Plan of Work, which included development of a ListServ, executive training sessions, and contributions to the NAA PAC initiative. The AEC also conducted a 2001 annual salary survey, which included categories for affiliate staff members.

Communications Advisory Board (CAB)

The CAB, which works diligently to ensure that Units magazine is the voice for the rental housing industry, discussed the preliminary findings for the Units readership survey. The preliminary data for the survey, which was requested by the committee at its June 2001 meeting to gain a better understanding of our readers' needs, provided concrete information about Units readers and helped guide the committee's discussion on how to increase the magazine's usefulness among its readership.

National Suppliers Council

Each year the NSC has set records in sponsorships, booth sales and new members. This year was no exception to that rule. In 2001 the NSC brought 24 new members for approval to the Board of Directors, bringing the current NSC membership total to 112 members. The 2001 goal for new members was exceeded by nine. The NSC also brought $355,000 in sponsorships to the 2001 Education Conference, almost $75,000 alone to the Closing Gala with Kool & The Gang. In addition, the NSC represented more than 200 of the more than 400 booths on the trade show floor, with 75 percent of the NSC buying booth space.

2002 Education Conference Committee

The 2002 Education Conference Committee met to discuss plans for the June 2002 Education Conference which will take place June 27-29, 2002, in Orlando, Fla., at the brand new Gaylord Palms Resort. The Opening Session Speaker, Dave Barry and the Closing Gala Entertainment, Three Dog Night, have been selected. The Closing General Session speaker has not been finalized but the committee provided guidance on top choices and the Speaker/Entertainment Subcommittee plans to finalize the Closing Session speaker sometime in early December. In addition, Tom Shelton, Booth Subcommittee Chair reported that 247 booths had already been sold toward the 2002 goal of 460 booths. Nancy Nicolosi, the 2002 Conference Chair, reported that registration forms were available on the NAA Web site www.naahq.org and that information was available from NAA by contacting Jeremy Figoten at [e-mail].

Leadership Summit

On Saturday morning, 100 of NAA's finest members and leaders in the industry met to take part in the first ever Leadership Summit. The program consisted of an NAA update; an NAA operational overview; a national, state and local development panel; and an affiliate operations panel. Valuable information about the NAA federation at all levels; tips on making the most of your membership resources; and benefits of being an association leader both professionally and personally were also discussed.

Installation Dinner

On Saturday evening, members gathered for the formal Installation Dinner to install the 2002 slate of officers. The 2002 Executive Committee was installed: President: Scott Gardner, CAPS, CPM, Crosshaven Properties, President Elect: Tom Shelton, CPM, Greystar Real Estate Partners; Vice President: Deane Dolben, The Dolben Company; Treasurer: Tom Day, CAPS, Hepfner, Smith, Airhart & Day Inc.; and Secretary: Joe Sharp, CAPS, The Sharp Network, Inc. Immediate Past President, Phil Carlock, CAPS, CPM, ECI Management Corporation, was also recognized for his extremely successful year as 2001 President.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION UPCOMING MEETINGS

2002

Capitol Conference
March 9-12              Arlington, VA     Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City

Education Conference
and Exposition
June 27-29              Orlando, FL       Gaylord Palms Resort

Assembly of Delegates
November 14-16          Phoenix, AZ       Ritz-Carlton Phoenix

2003

Education Conference
and Exposition
June 19-21, 2003        New Orleans, LA   New Orleans Hilton & CC