HBA Changes Message from the President Spring 2023

2022 brought about some noticeable changes with the HBA. I would like to highlight some of them for you.

Lunch and Learns

We used Zoom to set up several Zoom calls for business insurance, 401K benefits and HR, and Workman’s Compensation. We are continuing this in 2023. Look for the information in our Weekly HBA Newsletter.

Events

Membership and events, Thirsty Thursdays, Reading Royals, Night at the Reading Phillies, Spring Golf and Lobsterfest. We had a few Thirsty Thursday events where members network and had a few libations. Our first of the year will be at Shirley’s in Temple.

We had events at the Reading Royals in March 2002 and the Reading Phillies. Both events were well attended. We recently had our second event at the Reading Royals and we more than doubled the attendance from 2022; maybe this will become an annual event. Coming in June of 2023 will be another night at the Reading Phillies ballpark. This would be a great way to see the improvements at the ballpark since last year. Let’s face it, after the fall World Series run and the Eagles run during football, what a great way to see up and coming future big-league players.

Spring Golf was a great event as always. In the fall we teamed up with RBAR, Reading Realtors, for our golf outing. This was a fantastic way to meet others who are connected with what we do.

All of the previously mentioned events provide members the ability to meet other contactors and businesses. It is a great way to meet others and be able to provide referrals to and from other local HBA members.

Lobsterfest

I am separating Lobsterfest from the events for one reason. Lobsterfest provides our members the chance to speak to our local officials, from the state and local council people. This event is a great way to voice our concerns to our local and state representatives about the Berks County building industry. What other organization do you belong to that provides you with the ability annually to meet and speak with these people that work for us, the builders and contractors of Berks County?

We are fortunate this year to be able to have our two PBA Government Affairs staff join us for this event. One is Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, who is the go-to for codes and regulations. The other is Director of Governmental Affairs and is the person to go to for GA successes, PaCAH goals and bill information/research. Both these individuals work with the legislators across the state to make them aware of our concerns and issues that may impact the building industry.

Also, the food is not too shabby either.

Board and Committee members

This for me is probably the most exciting item from the past year or two. For the first time in the past several years we have additions to our boards and committees. We have been working on bringing other members into the committees. This is where we came up with the idea of Lunch and Learns from a new committee member in 2022 when they joined the Membership and Events committee (way to go Tyler). The new members on the committees and boards provide us with new ideas and information.

HBA Property

One of the things that the past several years has shown us is the ability for remote work. I think all of us are familiar with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and virtual meetings. Our Executive Officer, Cathy Sloan, has proven to be able to work from home. That showed us on the HBA Board that Cathy has been able to spend more time on HBA business.

Since we have been able to work and meet remotely it was decided that the need to have a physical location was not a primary need of the HBA. In 2022 the HBA board decided to sell the 25 Stevens Avenue property. Our EO can now focus solely on the HBA instead of having to divide time between property management needs and the HBA. The property has been requiring more time to coordinate repairs, maintenance, and day-to-day operation. There are also less meetings required since there were property and or tenant issues. If you are interested in serving on the board or a committee, please reach out to Cathy Sloan, our Executive Officer, at cathy@hbaberks.org or 610-777-8889 or myself at peterb@sahinc.com or 610-413-9199.

Peter J. Bonargo, IV 2023 HBA of Berks County President