Greetings again to each of you Charter Members now involved in the Texas Public Purchasing Association!

Momentum seems to be the key word right now to describe TxPPA and what is going on with our new association.  That word, “momentum,” can certainly be associated with our membership total, the just completed Momentum 2008 Conference in South Padre, our Special Assistance Committee success story, the list/serve participation, our outstanding website, charter sponsors, legislative opportunities, and, of course, our committee member participation.

Let’s start first with our charter membership numbers.  At the present time our records indicate that we have approximately five hundred (500) charter members in TxPPA since our inception January 1, 2008.  You can go to our website and click on Member Organizations to see if the city, county, school district, university, or special district in your area has joined.  If not, pick up the phone, tell them about TxPPA, and encourage them to join our new association.  Our goal of reaching one thousand (1,000) charter members by the end of our first year is still attainable if everyone helps with the recruitment process.

The Momentum 2008 Conference in South Padre, June 25-27, was simply outstanding!  We had the largest attendance in its history with about two hundred (200) delegates learning from the finest group of speakers ever assembled in Texas to hear topics related to our Public Purchasing profession.  Prior to that conference most of the officers and board members toured the South Padre Convention Center and voted to get in line with everyone else and move our Momentum Conference to that facility as quickly as space and dates are available to accommodate TxPPA.  What a beautiful facility it is and something that will continue to keep that momentum in South Padre.  Not enough words of praise or thanks can be passed along to our Treasurer, Adrian Garcia from San Benito ISD, Melonie Chisholm, Paul Calapa, and the folks from NAPM Rio Grande Valley for all the hard work they did to make the Momentum 2008 Conference the best planned, best attended, and best value Public Purchasing conference in the State of Texas.  They all outdid themselves once again.

Momentum is also increasing for our Special Assistance Committee.  Co-chairs, Beth Fleming of Denton County and Peggy Watkins of the City of Allen have been busy.  To date, their committee has been extremely active, having made presentations for both Hunt County and Hood County, with future presentations planned for the City of Decatur and Ector County prior to our November 2008 workshop in Odessa.  You might want to go to our website, txppa.org, and click on Resources to find the testimonial letter from Carl Nichol, the first Hunt County Purchasing Agent, to learn more about what this committee has done and can do for our members.  I’ve heard that Beth and Peggy are still looking for a few more good women and men to work with this committee!

Another momentum gauge should be placed on our TxPPA list/serve!  Never a day goes by that there is not a lively discussion on topics of interest to most everyone and a healthy exchange of new vendors, knowledge, and solutions to their problems from cities, counties, school districts, universities, and special districts.  Even if you don’t have time to monitor the list/serve throughout the day, the day’s end summary is a welcome alternative.  I have been pleasantly surprised at the spirit of cooperation from everyone working together for good government and the sharing of information.  You should all be commended for the quick responses and for following list/serve etiquette.  It has truly been a benefit to TxPPA members.

If you have not taken or found the time yet to fully explore our website at txppa.org, do so every once in awhile.  New job postings, upcoming events, TxPPA merchandise for sale, workshop times and locations, and testimonials are added immediately after information is received.  In order not to let our momentum as an association slow down, we determined before our beginning in January that all our information must be kept current.  We have not failed to keep that vision a reality.

In my mind, besides our record-setting new charter memberships, the largest milestone for TxPPA momentum occurred on June 1, 2008.  On that date TxPPA officially welcomed to our new association two (2) charter sponsors.  René Bates Auctioneers, Inc. became our very first charter sponsor, with Corporate Express being our second charter sponsor.  The members of our association should commend both of these excellent companies for their vision, commitment to excellence, and support of Public Purchasing through TxPPA for good government.  Their financial commitment to our association will be utilized entirely for the acquisition of educational requirements associated with our workshops and conferences as directed by the officers and board of directors for our association.  Please take the time to thank each of these companies personally for their faith and commitment to our association.  We are certainly grateful for their belief and trust in what TxPPA means to our profession.

Last on my list of momentum happenings would be the large number of charter members that have served and are now serving on our various committees.  Any association is only as strong as its committee members.  Although most of you committee members have not been asked to do much yet, that will be changing in the next few months.  I contacted all the committee chairs and co-chairs not long ago and asked them to contact each of you to communicate what their plans will be for their particular committee.  The fact that you have volunteered to serve, period, is important to me and to them.  Please remember that, at this point in time, some committees are still a work in progress.  We have done so much as an association in such a short period of time that some of our committees are still formulating criteria and working to get established.  That, too, will happen.

Our most active committees so far have been the Conference/Workshop, Special Assistance, Constitution and By-laws, and Legislative committees.  I had an opportunity not long ago to testify in Austin, along with Cyd Grimes of Travis County and Auditor Rick Dollahan of Gaines County, before the House Committee on County Affairs in regard to raising the bid ceiling amount from $25,000 to the $50,000 ceiling given to the cities during the last legislative session.  Carol Cooper of the City of Garland, Cyd Grimes of Travis County, and Rick Dollahan of Gaines County have all done an outstanding job in garnering support for this change, as well as in educating our membership as to what they need to do to make things like this happen smoothly.  I truly believe that the House Committee on County Affairs members were impressed by the spirit of cooperation and desire to succeed by the audit and purchasing types working together for good government.  We haven’t always conveyed that image in the past.

As you can see by now we have an incredible amount of momentum working for us as a new association!  We have traveled so far in such a short time.  So much has been accomplished, yet there is so much more work still to be done.  Our momentum will continue to grow only if you take the time as charter members not only to care about how we came to reach this point, but also to give back, with committee and conference participation, just a little of what you have already received in your careers by working together for good government.

Take advantage of our educational opportunities, stay active, remain enthusiastic, and tell the TxPPA story to help recruit new members.  This is your association, and it will take all of us working together to keep our momentum going.

The officers and your board of directors are honored to serve our association.  See you in Odessa in November!

Jack Beacham, C.P.M., A.P.P.

President, Texas Public Purchasing Association

Purchasing Agent, Tarrant County Purchasing