A Note From The Chair

Mike Nowlan

How are y’all doin’? My son lives in Texas now, so I thought I would greet you with a little hospitality. Now, in all seriousness, how ARE you all doing? After entering the “omicron wave”, like me, I’m sure many of you are asking “When is this going to let up?” I would like to give you a more definitive answer, but, like all of you, I can’t predict the future. We make plans, but plans change. Resiliency has become very personal for all of us. As we move into the new year, we have begun holding planning committee meetings for the 2022 FMA conference, and we are currently still planning on the conference being in person, in Sacramento this September. We are very intentionally trying to include themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our discussions, panels and presentations on floodplain management. If you are not already involved, but would like to be, please contact Mary Seits, our wonderful Executive Director. On the monthly luncheon front, we have not been able to get that rolling again as I had previously announced last November. Due to COVID concerns/restrictions, the in-person luncheon relaunch has been delayed. I am hopeful that the current surge will wane and the thought of meeting and speaking in person will become real again in the hearts and minds of our membership. I do believe in-person interactions are more beneficial to our professional “health”, but not at the expense of our personal physical and mental health. Just as spending time with family over the holidays is desirable and beneficial, spending time associating with colleagues is also desirable and beneficial. On that note, we have identified a local restaurant in the Sacramento region to hold luncheons. Hopefully this new venue will end up holding as many fond memories as the Buggy Whip once did, for those of you that remember. Stay tuned as we also get the logistics figured out for relaunching at all of our locations within our FMA world. Notices will be sent out via email, once specific topics and dates are set. The upcoming SouthWest Extreme Precipitation SYMposium (SWEPSYM) will be virtual this year, but we are still planning on holding the California Extreme Precipitation SYMposium (CEPSYM) in person at the Lake Natoma Inn, in Folsom, CA. Both should be an exciting exploration of the latest that is happening with extreme precipitation. The FMA Board of Directors met in January to discuss many important issues affecting FMA and the future of the Association. We were planning on holding a twoday in-person retreat, but it changed to a three-hour virtual meeting, with a follow up in April. The topics included inspiring/creating leadership and membership opportunities for all professional stages, clarifying the structure/definition of the Board, expanding professional development opportunities, defining diversity/equity/ inclusion/justice within FMA, financial/budget outlooks, and opportunities for improving our conference delivery to our membership. No decisions were made, but the Board will be working on these and other issues and making decisions in April, which will be communicated to all of you shortly thereafter.

SAVE THE DATE

Southwest Extreme Precipitation Symposium (SWEPSYM) April 19-20, 2022 Virtual – visit floodplain.org

California Extreme Precipitation Symposium (CEPSYM) June 21, 2022 Lake Natoma Inn, Folsom CA

Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference September 6-9, 2022 Sacramento Hyatt Regency

This is where our resiliency becomes personal, and there is no clever segue for the next topic. I have always believed it is important to remember and honor those who have gone before us. Therefore, this issue will include a memorial section for the fellow floodplain managers we’ve lost in the previous year or so. I hope that all of our efforts to keep you informed will make our time more meaningful and productive in the coming year. To wrap up with a modicum of optimism, I will quote some light and yet profound words from High School Musical, “We’re all in this together”. 5