This is the official website of The Alamo Chapter 065 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The chapter is better known as Alamo ASHRAE.

Gene Raanes, P.E., C.P.D.
Alamo ASHRAE President, 2009-2010

President's Message (January 1, 2010)

The New Year has come and gone, and we are beginning a new decade. Every new beginning holds the hope and promise of things bigger and better looming in the wings, there for our consideration and participation. I trust that this message finds all of our ASHRAE family Healthy, Happy and Prosperous ... or at least on the way to achieving the triad.

Last month we had our Christmas Social. There were 32 individuals that signed up for the event with only 27 attending. The Social was held at the Oak Hills Country Club on December 9th. Our very own Manuel Lizcano was the MC for the event. There was an "official" installation ceremony for the officers that were present and a brief program on the history of the chapter was presented. I hope everyone who attended the Gala had a great time.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Shannon Novak to our Chapter. Shannon has recently moved from Houston where she was the YEA chair for the Houston Chapter. A nomination was made, seconded and with a unanimous vote of the Board of Governors, Shannon has graciously accepted and has been appointed as the Chairperson for our YEA committee. Again, Shannon welcome aboard and thank you for your participation. We all look forward to working with you to make this program a success.

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss a fiscal matter with the membership. Our monthly meetings are typically well attended. We have a RSVP process in place that allows our team to give an attendance head count to the country club prior to the month meetings for the meal counts. What most of you don't know is when we give Oak Hills Country Club (OHCC) our final attendance number we are charged for the meals whether every one attends the meeting or not. We have had quite a few RSVPs in the past that have not attended and the chapter ends up paying for these people not to be there. I believe there some people who RSVP not knowing for sure whether they will be able to attend or not and in the process they cover themselves so they are not charged the additional five dollars for showing up unannounced. What I would ask of the membership is, if you RSVP and are unable to attend, please call or email Rezaur letting him know you won't be unable to attend. It has been discussed by the board to charge those people who RSVP and don't attend, the price of the meal the chapter had to cover. I don't want to get to that scenario, so I am asking for everyone to be diligent about their attendance intentions and to keep emailing Rezaur your RSVP, but also to let us know if you won't be able to attend. Preferably this needs to be done the day before the meeting. In this day and age with email and cell phones this should not be a huge issue. But best of all, you will gain this leadership team's unfettered gratitude with a great big Texas sized THANK YOU!

Lastly (You didn't think I would forget to mention this did you?), membership in ASHRAE is a must for those engineers and non-engineers who make a living in the HVAC industry. ASHRAE is the guiding doctrine for all we do as design professionals. If your membership has lapsed, and you find yourself unaffiliated, do not despair there is hope. All one needs to do to once again become a part of this august body of professionals who deal with cutting edge HVAC technology and wizardry is take a few minutes, go online and renew your membership today. Go to www.ashrae.org and sign up. We need your support.

I look forward to meeting and chatting with all the members over the course of this new term. Everyone stay safe and see you at the next meeting.

Gene Raanes, PE, CPD
President
2009-2010 Alamo Chapter