With the upcoming conference, elections will be held for Vice-President and Secretary this year. The Vice President position is a committed 3 year position serving as Vice-President, President , and Past President. The position of Secretary is a committed 2 year position.

     Anyone who would like to run for an office must declare their intention by sending an email to the Board (nioa@comcast.net) by June 1^st.  Setting this deadline will give the Board an opportunity to ensure that the candidate is in compliance with by-laws in terms of membership status and conference attendance. 

   The by-laws state “Any person wishing to run for office must have been a regular member in good standing for three consecutive years, including the year of the nomination and must have also attended at least two NIOA conferences in a five-year period, including the year of the nomination, in order to be eligible.”

Hello Region 8 Members,

Your area will soon have a vacancy for Region Director. 

With an increased workload and a reduction in staff in her fulltime career, Region 8 Director Cindy Matthews feels that she can no longer continue to serve and represent NIOA in her current role.  Cindy has done an excellent job in providing leadership and commitment to the members within your region and the Executive Board would like to personally thank her for serving as your Region 8 Director.  She truly is a valued member of NIOA.

If anyone is interested in representing Region 8 at the directorship level, please submit a letter of intention along with a recent bio to me directly callen@dps.state.nv.us .

Chuck Allen

Vice President NIOA

   We have been getting a number of emails kicked back from our membership due to bad email addresses and unacceptable emails directed to certain email domains.

  Please take time to check your email address on the NIOA website by clicking on this link http://www.nioa.org/members/search.htm and confirming that your contact information is correct. If it is necessary to update your information please click on this link to submit your updated information http://www.nioa.org/members/update.htm

   If your information is correct please ensure that you allow the address NIOA@comcast.net to your list of Safe senders. You may have to have your domain administrator to set these permissions.

NIOA members have elected Chuck Allen as Vice President for 2010-2011. Jack Goldhorn will advance as President of the organization. Marlee Boenig will continue to serve on the executive board for one year as Immediate Past President.

From Chuck’s recent election bio:

“…I have been with the Nevada Department of Public Safety-Highway-Patrol Division for twenty years and have spent the past six plus years as the spokesperson for my agency. I am also a twenty-six year member of the military and am currently assigned as the Human Resource Advisor for the 152nd Airlift Wing, Nevada Air National Guard, and report directly to the Wing Commander.

I have been a member of the NIOA since 2004 and have attended every annual conference since then. Additionally, I assisted with a presentation detailing the lessons learned regarding the Steve Fossett search at the Sparks conference in 2008 and spoke at one of the breakouts in Nashville last year about doing more as a PIO.

The core values for my full time career are Dedication, Pride, and Service, and my Air National Guard core values are Integrity, Service before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. As a public information officer I live by the core values of Approachability, Availability, and Visibility. With a belief system in applying all of these values, I truly believe I represent my agency in the most professional manner and believe that by building and maintaining relationships with the media is the key to being successful.

As for my involvement in the community, I have been a member of the Executive Board of Directors for the Nevada Humane Society for 4 years and am currently assigned as the Secretary. I am also heavily involved in the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) in Nevada and coordinate and participate in a number of fundraisers every year benefiting the athletes in the Special Olympics Nevada program. I also sit on the board of directors for the Sparks Traffic Survival School, a non-profit group involved with providing teen and adult driving safety training.

…I will work as hard and as passionately as possible in promoting and expanding the growth of the NIOA. I love this organization immensely and will continue to be a proud member and a hopeful officer of the board…”

Two candidates have met the June 1st deadline established by NIOA by-laws* to declare their intent to seek the Vice-Presidency – Joe Laud and Chuck Allen. Both positions will be up for election at the annual Training Conference in Clearwater in late August.

If you would like to vote for one of these candidates, but are unable to attend the conference, absentee ballots are available.

The ballot must be mailed to Executive Director Lisa McNeal and be postmarked by August 1, 2010 to be accepted. Please follow the directions* on the ballot clearly, or the vote will not be counted. Download the ballot form here.

Candidates for NIOA Vice-President

Joe Laud, City of Houston Emergency Center/Office of Emergency Management

“Greetings to all! My name is Joe Laud and I am seeking your support to help acquire the Vice President position in the upcoming election to be held in this year’s National Information Officers Association (NIOA) training conference in Clearwater, Florida.

I have been an active member of NIOA since 2005 and currently serve as a Co-Regional Director for Region 6.

On a local level, I have been with the City of Houston for approximately twelve years and I am the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the City of Houston Emergency Center and Office of Emergency Management. Prior to accepting this position, I was a PIO for the Houston Police Department.

In addition to my daily duties, I co-chair the Houston/Galveston Regional PIO Network and serve as the PIO for the Greater Houston Local Emergency Planning Committee.

NIOA is a great organization which has allowed me to develop friendships, networking opportunities, and the ability to stay current in the field of public affairs. It is for these reasons that I am compelled to seek a leadership position within the organization to apply my experiences for the benefit of NIOA.

Your support of my candidacy for Vice President is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration and I hope the conference treats you all well.”

Chuck Allen, Nevada Highway Patrol

“To give you some background about myself, I have been with the Nevada Department of Public Safety-Highway-Patrol Division for twenty years and have spent the past six plus years as the spokesperson for my agency. I am also a twenty-six year member of the military and am currently assigned as the Human Resource Advisor for the 152nd Airlift Wing, Nevada Air National Guard, and report directly to the Wing Commander.

I have been a member of the NIOA since 2004 and have attended every annual conference since then. Additionally, I assisted with a presentation detailing the lessons learned regarding the Steve Fossett search at the Sparks conference in 2008 and spoke at one of the breakouts in Nashville last year about doing more as a PIO.

The core values for my full time career are Dedication, Pride, and Service, and my Air National Guard core values are Integrity, Service before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. As a public information officer I live by the core values of Approachability, Availability, and Visibility. With a belief system in applying all of these values, I truly believe I represent my agency in the most professional manner and believe that by building and maintaining relationships with the media is the key to being successful.

As for my involvement in the community, I have been a member of the Executive Board of Directors for the Nevada Humane Society for 4 years and am currently assigned as the Secretary. I am also heavily involved in the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) in Nevada and coordinate and participate in a number of fundraisers every year benefiting the athletes in the Special Olympics Nevada program. I also sit on the board of directors for the Sparks Traffic Survival School, a non-profit group involved with providing teen and adult driving safety training.

If elected, I will work as hard and as passionately as possible in promoting and expanding the growth of the NIOA. I love this organization immensely and will continue to be a proud member and a hopeful officer of the board at the conference in Clearwater this year. I will be happy to elaborate this desire when delivering my speech.”

From the by-laws

*XII. ELECTIONS
C. Proxy votes may be cast by filling out a form provided by the Executive Director, and will only be counted if received by mail (USPS or commercial delivery service), postmarked by August 1st. No email proxy votes or proxy votes presented via other members at the Annual Training Conference will be accepted.

We wanted to pass along some news out of Region 9. Long time NIOA member and regional director Steve Frady from Reno Police and Fire has announced his retirement from Public Service effective May 6, 2010.

Steve has been a mentor and good friend to all of us and we wish him the best of luck in his retirement. With this in mind, Steve will also be stepping down as Regional Director of NIOA.

The Board has chosen Michele Anderson of the City of Reno to replace Steve as Region 9 Director.

Please be sure to congratulate both of these fine people for their accomplishments.

NIOA members Rob Brisley and Mark Basnight have helped the Charlotte Fire Department become the first recipient of the Social Media Responder award from the PIO Social Media Training web site.

According to the site:

The Charlotte Fire Department serves the city of Charlotte, North Carolina and its 800,000+ citizens. The organization is filled with tradition, but has continued to change and grow with their city into the 21st Century. The department responded to over 90,000 calls in the 2009 fiscal year. The Charlotte Fire Department began their blog in March of 2009 and has spread their Social Media presence across many platforms.

You can see their efforts at their blog, Twitter account, YouTube channel, Flickr photostream, and their Google Alert Group.

As the winner of Social Media Responder 2009, Charlotte FD will receive a full copy of the Depiction software and their two plugins (a $200 value).

Other finalists included: Bellevue PD, The Chronicles of EMS, Eric Neitzel, Los Angeles FD, and Montgomery Country Fire and Rescue Service who are all living examples of the best practices to communicate with their communities in Social Media.