|
TFMA NEWS BRIEF - UPDATE
From the President's Desk 04/02/2020 Dear TFMA Members: On behalf of TFMA, I hope that you, your families and friends are safe and healthy. The COVID-19 situation has impacted all of us in different ways by introducing us to “social distancing”, making changes to our everyday home and work lives, and directly influencing our communities through “Stay Home and Work Safe” orders. As always, our continuing priority is the health and safety or our members and partners. With the understanding that our individual priorities are to cope with COVID-19 impacts, TFMA will strive to meet membership expectations by continuing operations through the CFM program, Continuing Education opportunities, and engaging our members and communities. As of today, we have cancelled our Annual TFMA Conference in San Antonio and April’s scheduled training due to COVID-19. These cancellations highlight the necessity for our organization to be resilient in addressing the challenges we face. After Hurricane Harvey, we discussed investigating and implementing other training options for our members, in which findings were not implemented. Our current situation is another opportunity to follow through with these new training options for future use. Within TFMA, we have many talented individuals that can help us make this happen. With their recent help, we have started exploring: · On-line training and webinars, · Virtual conferences, · Reevaluation of future conferences, and · Other sources for training. If you are interested and available to help with these training options or have other ideas, please contact either myself or the TFMA office. To read more of the President's message with important updates, click here to access the entire message. 03/20/2020 As referenced in previous emails and updates, the health and safety of our members and partners is our highest priority. Given the state of Coronavirus (COVID-19) globally and locally, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming TFMA Annual Conference scheduled in San Antonio (May 26 – 29, 2020). This unprecedented step to cancel our conference is driven by a global public health crisis. So, while we are saddened that we must cancel the Annual Conference, we realize this is the only possible course of action. This is about much more than our conference. We must respect the decisions and legal mandates of local and federal health officials.
TFMA acknowledges the health and welfare of our members and employees remain a top priority. Please understand that our decision was very deliberate while waiting on decisions of those with the authority to continue or cancel our conference. I deeply appreciate the patience all of you exhibited while we waited to make our decision. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Hotel Registration Cancellations - For those of you who have made reservations at the Hyatt Riverwalk, your reservations will automatically be cancelled with no fees of any kind. Conference Registration Refunds - For those of you who registered for the Annual Conference, please provide us time to work through the process of refunds and or options. In addition, we are working on other opportunities to obtain training and CECs (future emails and web postings). We appreciate your understanding and willingness to work with us through this process. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the TFMA Office (tfma@tfma.org ) or me at jespinoza@sanmarcostx.gov. And one last thing, stay safe and wash your hands (again). Sincerely, John Espinoza, PE, CFM
TFMA President 03/16/2020 As COVID-19 spreads across our Nation and now in Texas, TFMA continues to take practical steps to prepare for and mitigate the effects of coronavirus on our industry and our members. So how will COVID19 impact TFMA and our Annual Conference scheduled for May 26-29, 2020 in San Antonio? As of right now, the CDC and the City of San Antonio have indicated that “large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the US via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities. Therefore, the CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.” (March 15, 2020) Since the TFMA Annual Conference is still a little over 11 weeks away, TFMA will continue to move forward with the planning and preparation for the conference including accepting registrations. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and follow the advice of the CDC and local and state authorities. Your TFMA Board and Office staff are developing action plans that may be required due to COVID-19. We will keep you informed as this situation evolves or resolves itself. Here are the links to the resources we continue to monitor daily: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/ TFMA empathizes with you, our members. We understand the investment our attendees make in attending the conference and we know the impact a cancellation has on your professional goals. Always remember, your health and safety are our number 1 priority in any decisions the TFMA Board of Directors make. We plan to be transparent about our decision-making process and update you at least weekly via the TFMA Home Page. Any cancellation of the May conference will be communicated in a timely manner and if cancelled, information will be available ASAP. Know that the TFMA Board does not take any of our decisions lightly. Your TFMA Board of Directors, TFMA Office and I, stand ready to address any of your questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
John Espinoza, PE, CFM
TFMA President
03/10/2020
COVID-19 and TFMA As Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be in the news impacting many countries around the world, our nation, and for some of us, local areas, TFMA’s first priority is the health, safety and well-being of everyone. There are many sources of COVID-19 information, however I recommend you rely on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and local and state authorities. The following are two of many links providing COVID-19 information. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/ So how will COVID-19 impact TFMA and our Annual Conference scheduled for May 26-29, 2020 in San Antonio? As of right now, the CDC and Texas Department of State Health Services are stating that the risk of contracting the virus is low. Therefore, we are continuing forward with the planning and preparation for the conference including accepting registrations. TFMA continues to monitor the situation closely and follow the advice of the CDC and local and state authorities. Your TFMA Executive Board and Office staff are developing action plans that may be required due to COVID-19. We will keep you informed as this situation evolves or resolves itself. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the TFMA office (tfma@tfma.org) or me at jespinoza@sanmarcostx.gov. Sincerely, John Espinoza, PE, CFM TFMA President
*******************************************************************************
|
