Board meetings at the World of Concrete are always a busy affair with so many competing activities. The CFA board, however, tackled a host of initiatives and topics, several of which will result in additional member benefits and services. They are highlighted below.

CFA CONSIDERS SAFETY PROGRAM

A presentation on safety programs was made by Devon Dickson, president of Safety Services Company of Corona, California. Dickson’s company provides a wide variety of safety related materials and programs. Included are a series of tool box talk topics, customized safety manuals, and other related services. Safety Services is willing to develop custom topics specific to the poured wall foundation industry with information provided by members. Safety Services currently has over 250 Tailgate/Toolbox Safety Meeting topics developed. Under the program, they would send a package with four topics each month for use by participating companies. Spanish translations of the materials are available at no additional charge. The Toolbox portion of the program currently sells for $156 plus shipping per year but CFA members would receive a substantial discount if they participate in the program. Details of participation, billing, and actual discounts will be worked out with an AdHoc Safety Committee consisting of Mark Saldana, Mark Latorre, and Mark Markovich and Safety Services representatives.

RETAINING WALL PROGRAM

The board approved entering into an agreement with CEC engineers for development of a CFA interface for their on-line retaining wall program. The program, like the on-line foundation wall program, was developed; however, a user friendly interface – to allow CFA members to use the program online through a web browser – needs to be developed. When the system is in place, members will be able to go on-line and design the size, reinforcement, and other parameters for a retaining wall, similar to the way they can currently design foundation walls. If an engineer’s stamp is needed, CEC will provide it for a very reasonable fee in states they are registered.

NEW CFA POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Management was given approval to develop a new CFA PowerPoint presentation for its members to use when making presentations to builders and owners. It will focus on the benefits of poured-in-place walls but will also address the reasons why poured-in-place walls are better than alternative methods of construction, most notably concrete masonry. The current presentation is somewhat outdated in its graphics. The presentation will be customizable by members so they can include photos of their own systems, processes, and projects if desired.

LOWER LEVEL LIVING BROCHURE UPDATE – FUTURE UPDATES COMING

The new Lower Level Living brochure has hit the market. It is the most “upscale” marketing piece produced to-date by the Association. It is an eight-page flyer with fold-out center pages so the entire piece measures 11” x 34” when fully opened. It takes the place of the older version. This should prove valuable for use in selling builders of the possibilities of converting that basement into relatively inexpensive additional living space.

The marketing committee is also working on a technical piece that will replace the tri-fold brochures.

WEB SITE – PROCEEDING

The board authorized a redesign of the CFA website. The existing site has had minor improvements but a total new look and navigation system is in order. As members, and the general public, begin to use cfawalls.org more we need to maintain a fresh appearance, up-to-date information and efficient organization.

New features of the site include a greatly expanded section for National Associates known as the Products and Services Directory, more seamless integration of the CFA database with the website and secure transactions. One of the more confusing aspects of interacting with our website has been the presence of two domains, cfawalls.org and secure.sauterbaty.com. This update will add a secure domain to cfawalls.org making it the exclusive site for CFA business and database reference. The new site should be up and running by the middle of the year.