Staff Changes at CSA

By: Jim Moody, CSA President

We all have limited resources, and one of the significant challenges of our economic environment is the need to get more done with less. In that regard, CSA’s business is no different than your own.

We’ve taken a close look at the needs of our members and of the association and compared that to the work that is being conducted. The work that needed to be done in times past is not necessarily the work that needs to be done today or in the future.

For many years, we’ve had two very competent guys on staff whose primary responsibility was to serve as field agents for our Self Insured Worker’s Compensation Fund. Larry Marler and Kevin Rodgers have served ably and done good things for members and for the Fund. They’ve provided lots of insight on regulatory issues and also helped members improve safety conditions. When necessary, they’ve conducted claim investigations and they’ve both conducted more payroll audits than they care to admit. They’ve been our “relationship guys” out there keeping abreast of what’s going on.

While I would never discount the value of maintaining relationships, I also have to recognize that devoting two people full time to maintaining relationships may not be the best way for us to spend staff time. Additionally, there are important things I see going undone, and devoting more staff time to those will ultimately serve members better.

For those reasons, both Kevin and Larry will be beginning significantly different jobs by the end of this year.

Kevin’s changes are most dramatic. Kevin’s lived in Perry and served middle and south Georgia for some time. Kevin is relocating to Atlanta and will be based in the new CSA office. While he can still do safety and Fund work in a pinch, the bulk of his time will be developing, rolling out, and maintaining new programs and services. By that, I mean new products that will help you run your business better. It might be leveraging the buying power of our membership to create a discount for you on something many of you use. It might be developing a manual on how to operate more efficiently. It could be creating partnerships with similar groups to do things neither of us could do alone. The possibilities are endless. It’s very clear to the Board and to me that the association must continue to expand the things you receive in exchange for the dues you pay to CSA if we are to achieve our mission of building stronger independent dealers. Our strategic plan outlines many of those things. Kevin will be the guy to make them happen.

Larry will continue to live in Gainesville and be focused on the Fund, with some fundamental changes. Instead of serving just north Georgia, he’ll serve the entire state. While his focus in the past has been visiting every member in his territory multiple times per year, that won’t be physically possible any longer. His goal is to see every member at least once per year. Other contact will be by phone and e-mail. He’ll still do some payroll audits in person, but we’ll be doing more by mail. The bulk of his time will be spent working with the Fund members who historically have the highest losses. We have a responsibility to do all we can to educate owners about safety, help them develop adequate safety programs and ensure that those programs roll out to their employees. We know that Fund members who make safety a priority have fewer claims and smaller losses, yet there are some members who have not been as focused on it as they should be. Larry’s job is to help them achieve that focus and create safer work environments. The result will be safer workers, lower cost insurance, and an even stronger Self Insured Fund.

Do we lose some of the personal relationship with these changes? Perhaps. I’m sure many of you have struggled with the best way to get the important work done and still maintain relationships with your customers during these trying times. There are always trade-offs. On the other hand, I also recognize that relationships only get you so far if you don’t have the service to back it up. Relationships matter less than tangible value today. What are you getting in exchange for your dues? Are your worker’s comp rates as low as they can possibly be? We believe these are relevant questions for you to ask, and we want to do everything possible to ensure the answers are positive.

We’ve arrived at this decision by being honest about our resources, our needs, and our current weaknesses. The goal is to help the association and the Fund do more for you, our members.

I hope you would agree that CSA and the Fund have provided good value in the past, but we understand that what was good enough in the past won’t always cut it in today’s harsh business climate. We will continue striving to do more for you to ensure that independent dealers not only survive but thrive again.

CSA Celebrates with an Open House

The Construction Suppliers Association celebrated the opening of its new offices with an open house on Wednesday, September 30th. Over fifty members, friends, and associates attended throughout the day to tour the new offices and enjoy some lunch together.

The space is located at 120 Handley Road, Suite 610 in Tyrone, Georgia. We're open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. You're invited to come visit us anytime. Call 678-675-1860 for more information, directions and to schedule a tour. See all the photos from the Open House.

Our photo slideshow.

Official Notice to Members: Board Nominations

The CSA Nominating Committee has nominated the following people to serve new terms on the Board:

Kevin Hamblin, Builders Station, Carrollton GA, 2nd Vice Chair (automatically ascends to the chair)
Tee Bridges, Stone’s Home Centers, Bainbridge GA, Board member
Mason Kocher, Kocher Building Materials, Montgomery AL, Board member
Ray Gaster, Gaster Building Materials, Savannah GA, Board member

CSA’s bylaws state that members have 30 days from the date of notice Wednesday, October 7, 2009 to submit alternate names. If no alternate name is submitted by at least 20% of the eligible voting membership, the slate of nominees is automatically elected. If one or more names are submitted by at least 20% of the eligible voting membership, then an election will be held. If you wish to submit alternate name(s), please do so to Jim Moody, CSA President, by fax at (678) 674-1864, e-mail at jimmoody@gocsa.com, mail at 120 Handley Road, Ste. 610, Tyrone GA 30290, or phone at (678) 674-1860.

The Nominating Committee was composed of David Swift, chair; Billy Badger; Tom Hall; Jeff Edwards; and Chris Moon.

Changes in Bylaws Broaden Leadership Base, Make CSA More Transparent

Jim Moody, CAE
President

The Board of Directors has made a few changes in the CSA bylaws that I’d like to share with you. Admittedly, discussing bylaws is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Yet, these changes are important, and in our spirit of transparency, I want to make sure you know about them.

Here are the highlights:

· We’ve made it clearer that the company is the member, not the person. That means that anyone from a member company can take advantage of CSA programs and services.
· There are now term limits for Board seats. Terms are for three years, and they are renewable once. After that, there can be no one in a regular Board seat from that company for the next three years. The thinking here is that we want to be inclusive with our governance. We want to avoid the reality and the perception that a small number of companies control the association. The association belongs to all member companies, and every company should have equal opportunity for a leadership role.
· For that same reason, we’ve changed the makeup of the Nominating Committee. The committee now consists of the immediate past chair (who chairs the committee), chair, incoming chair, a sitting Board member and someone not currently on the Board (the latter two chosen by the immediate past chair).
· All companies will be made aware of the selections of the Nominating Committee via e-mail. Unless there is substantial disagreement by the membership (meaning at least 20% of companies submit alternate names), the nominations will become the final selections. If a nominee from the membership hits that 20% mark, it will trigger an election conducted by mail ballot.
· We’ve added an associate member to the Board. While this member can vote as a fully vested member of the Board, he or she will not be eligible to serve as an officer. Compared to our sister associations in other parts of the country, CSA is under-represented in associate members. We believe this is an important part of our community that is missing. Adding this seat on the Board is an important step in saying that we value associate members.
· The term of the treasurer, previously unlimited, is now limited to three years. This seat is only renewable if the person was named to fill an unexpired term, and in no case can someone serve more than 60 months. While no one is implying that previous treasurers failed to do a proper job of oversight, the term limits are important insurance against collusion. Transparency makes good business sense for an association like ours, and moving this detailed knowledge of the association’s finances around to more member companies more often is desirable.

We believe these changes in the bylaws, along with some other clean-up in the language, bring CSA into the modern era in terms of governance structure. We need to be inclusive and transparent in how the association is managed, and these changes allow that to happen.

Is this an indictment on the past? Certainly not. CSA has been strong in the past because of the vision and attention of its Board. But things change, needs arise, and people’s perceptions shift. In the same way that you can’t run your business successfully the same way it was done 20 years ago, CSA has to stay in tune with the times. These bylaws changes bring us to where we need to be for now, but 10 or 15 years from now the thinking may be entirely different.

If you have questions or concerns about these changes, I welcome a discussion. The document showing all the changes is posted on our website……..