Hard to believe it’s already halfway through June. Record rains in May and as I write this our first potential brush with a tropical storm this summer is developing in the Gulf. Continue safe practices whether walking a job site or just travelling around town. We are entering our summer break at SEAoT, with the June meeting being our last meeting until September.
On June 1st the 84th Texas Legislature adjourned and HB 3469 relating to the certification of structural engineers was left for dead in the Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee but as I understand things it is not expected to make it out.
Based on comments at the May meeting, no major engineer-affecting legislation of note passed during the last session. We’ll see what develops in 2017.
Our May 21st meeting was sponsored by Ramset/Red Head/ITW Buildex. Company representative Don Buytaert gave a brief overview of the ITW product line and encouraged us to contact him with any questions, particularly relating to code compliance of post-installed anchors. Don can be reached at DBuytaert@itwccna.com or 847-924-8367. Thanks again to ITW Buildex for their continued support.
Our speakers Mr. R. Mark Brocato and Mr. Umesh Bachu, P.E. presented on the topic “Using GeoPier as Intermediate- Depth Foundation Solution for Ground Improvement” Mr, Brocato represents Cardno PPI, who is the sole licensed installer in Texas and Louisiana for industrial applications for Geopier rammed aggregate piers and provided some project profiles. Mr. Bachu elaborated on the design approach. All in all was a very informative presentation and provides us with another optio for dealing with the active soils in our practice areas.
Our June presentation will feature Sherry Mundell, PE representing Woodworks. Please come out and support the chapter before our summer hiatus.
The board is working on ways to improve our communication to members and introduce new activities. A Young Engineer’s event is in the planning stages for the end of the summer, we have talked about adding a lunchtime program or two, the “bring a colleague”program, and adding content to our newsletter. As always, we welcome suggestions and/or volunteers. Also stay posted for information regarding the state conference in October.
We’re still looking for newsletter content from our members. Do you have a technical article you’d like to share? Please pass on your information to me, and we will work with the publisher to include it with a future newsletter.
Thanks as always for your participation and if we don’t see yo in June, have a safe summer
and see you in September.
