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C Factor—Patrick “Murf” Murphy
C FACTOR Happy New Year: Let It be True!
Patrick “Murf” Murphy
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President, FWPCOA
Ihope everyone had a great holiday season and is ready to tear into a new year! Yes, it’s true—you’re stuck with me for another year. Hopefully, none of you tried to see how far your skin could stretch eating all the seasonal vittles like I did; now I need to look for a new suit for 2023!
Executive Board of Directors for 2023
The FWPCOA 2023 election of officers was held at our October 2022 meeting in Juno Beach, bringing back the same group. S Patrick “Murf” Murphy – President S Athena Tipaldos – Vice President S Rim Bishop – Secretary-Treasurer S Kevin Shropshire – Secretary-Treasurer-
Elect S Ken Enlow – Past President
We will be holding the January board of directors meeting in FWPCOA Region 9, which is in the Deltona area, giving some of us the opportunity to visit the new training center there. We are eyeballing the weekend of the 21st for the Education Committee meeting, followed the next morning on the 22nd with the board of directors meeting. Locking in hotel rooms now is almost as difficult as getting parts and equipment delivered in a prompt time frame, so please keep an eye on the event calendar on the FWPCOA website (www.fwpcoa.org) for meeting notifications.
The renewal cycle is closing in fast, ending on April 30, 2023, so if you’ve dallied and need some continuing education units (CEUs) for your license renewal, take advantage of the FWPCOA Online Training Institute and get those needed CEUs. Pick from the 100 or so classes, the ones you need for the licenses you carry, or check out the voluntary licensing classes.
You can access the online training by going to the FWPCOA website and selecting the “Online Institute” button at the upper right-hand area of the home page to open the login page. You then scroll down to the bottom of this screen and click on “View Catalog” to open the catalog and see the many training programs offered. Select your preferred training program and register online to take the course. This is a great way to get those needed CEUs for your license renewal.
For more information, contact the Online Training Institute program manager at OnlineTraining@fwpcoa.org or the FWPCOA training office at training@ fwpcoa.org.
FWPCOA 2023 Spring State Short School and Fall State Short School
The FWPCOA 2023 Spring State Short School will be held March 13-17, 2023, at the Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. March 12, 2023, is Daylight Saving Time to throw everyone for a loop on the day of the board of directors meeting, and with St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, March 17, I may have to wear my leprechaun suit a few days earlier since I usually am not scheduled for anything on the last day of the short school. The FWPCOA 2023 Fall State Short School is usually held in August (it’s not on the event calendar yet, so again, keep an eye out for the exact week). Remember, this is when the bulk of the FWPCOA awards are presented, so look at the website, pick the appropriate award for one of your coworkers or employees, and get those nominations in before the usual June deadline for the August awards.
We look forward to having two more inperson, wonderful, and successful FWPCOA Spring and Fall State Short Schools!
Go to the website for event and awards details. For all events contact Shirley Reaves at (321) 383-9690 or fwpcoa@gmail.com, or Darin Bishop at (561) 840-0340 or memfwpcoa@gmail.com.
Florida Water Resources Conference
The Florida Water Resource Conference (FWRC) will be held May 31 through June 3, 2023, at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee. There is new software and an updated website, which should improve the service and make the experience of registering much better. Being one of the dinosaurs in the group and not liking apps at all, the promise of having an app that provides a variety of functions and QR codescanning sounds pretty good to me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left a technical session without having signed in on the “green card” for CEUs.
The FWPCOA Operators Showcase will be held again on the first day of the conference, and we are already making plans for it to be as great a presentation as was provided last year. Always a good time and free beer!
The FWPCOA awards that are presented at the FWRC awards luncheon and annual meeting must have nominations submitted to Renee Moticker, FWPCOA Awards Committee chair, usually by March. This is a great opportunity to acknowledge outstanding individuals in our association.
The awards are: S David B. Lee Award – Based on the operator’s plant operations and activities within the association. S Pat Flanagan Award – Given by the state
