2022 TAAA Board President Paul Bruton convened a meeting of the Board in College Station this past week to receive updates on several issues. The main focus was on the association’s financials, the upcoming conference, and on proposed changes to the Bylaws.
With respect to the financials, Covid and the downturn in the stock market have not been kind to TAAA’s balance sheet. Fortunately, the association has had a strong savings account and will be able to weather this storm without impacting our operations. And, even with the downturn in the market, we are still in the black in our investment accounts.
The Board was happy to hear that everything has come together for our first convention ever in Lubbock. You will be hearing a lot more about that in the coming days and weeks, so we will leave it at that for now.
Finally, Paul Bruton appointed Brad Lauderdale to chair the Bylaws committee this year and that committee has proposed and the board has agreed to present to the membership several changes to the Bylaws. This effort is long overdue, and includes several clean-up changes and corrections, as well as a number of substantive changes to reflect current practices. The entire membership will receive a copy of the proposed changes in advance, and will have the opportunity to vote on them at the Business Meeting in early January at the Convention in Lubbock.
The Board adjourned after nearly three hours to an excellent dinner at Porter’s Steakhouse hosted by six generous sponsors: Lane Aviation, Bart Roye, Trevor Cook, Eddie Shores, the Kornegay Family and Andy Christian. Many thanks to that group for an excellent evening.
The following morning, the Board met out at Coulter Field to hear three outstanding presentations. The first was from Brad Tullis, who is a senior Inspector in the Ag & Consumer Protection Division at TDA. There was a lot of give and take in a very constructive discussion about how we can help better educate TDA inspectors. Both the Board and Brad Tullis gained some insight that will make a difference moving forward.
The second presentation was from Jeff Hemeyer with Capstan Ag. The company recently announced that its SwathPRO aerial spray system has received its STC from the Federal Aviation Administration, and is now available for sale as a factory-installed option on new Air Tractor aircraft and retrofit installation on customer airplanes through the Air Tractor worldwide dealer network. We have asked Jeff to send us an article discussing SwathPRO to include in an upcoming newsletter.
The third presentation was from Brad Fritz, who provided a tour of the ARS facility at Coulter Field and of the USDA research on aerial application that is ongoing there. They have built a first-rate facility to test patterns from every possible set-up and conditions. Brad and his team were very gracious hosts and they are a tremendous asset for the industry.
The morning ended with a tasty barbeque lunch provided by none other than former TAAA Board member, Cody Whitten. As many of you know, Cody has two restaurants in the area, J. Cody’s Steaks and BBQ, and the new Gate 12 Bar & Grill which is located out at Easterwood Field. Thanks Cody!
SAVE THE DATE! TAAA ANNUAL CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION OVERTON HOTEL, LUBBOCK, TX JANUARY 11 – 13, 2023
We will be sending out registration links and providing all the information you need to come to Lubbock in about two weeks via this newsletter and the TAAA website. It will be our first time in Lubbock, and everyone is really excited about the new venues for the Exhibit Hall, the PAASS Program, the Welcome Reception and Auction, and, of course, the Awards Banquet. Please mark it on your calendar, and we hope to see you there!
