Tony Shelton
BS Detector, Esquire
Yesterday Ron and I went to Orange County.
I met with Mr. Boon. The conversation was very good. Just like almost every other Stormwater manager I've met over the past three years Mr. Boon was a very sensible gentleman with a concern for the environment and a concern for business interests as well.
The recent issue has been tough on his staff. As expected they just want to put this behind them and move forward.
I let him know that we are reaching out to the PWNA to look for common ground so that hopefully this will be the last time we have to deal with this type of problem in our industry.
I offered to help populate any workshop he might have with not only UAMCC members, but hopefully PWNA members AND any local contractors we can reach. A local workshop like this isn't about orgs, it's about local contractors.
After leaving there Ron and I both went to speak with Ty Eubanks at his shop. Ty is a PWNA board member and was the local liaison for Robert's dealing with the Orange County authorities.
Ty has a great looking shop and has a nice professional setup that any power washer should aspire to.
At first Ty was a little on the offensive as would be expected since we had never met and our only knowledge of each other was from filtered information coming from others, each with their own agenda.
That didn't last long and soon we were able to discuss some common ground. We also spoke about our differences. None of which mean much except for the BMP shopping which effects everyone in the industry whether org members or not.
During the conversation it dawned on me that just a short 3-4 years ago I was a member of both orgs. Ron and I sat and had dinner with PWNA board members at numerous events culminating at Jerry's San Diego event.
It is amazing how much damage has occurred since then.
I doubt any of the longstanding personality issues will ever be resolved. And I'm not sure they should. I know there are characters involved that I will personally never associate with again.
Disagreements are one thing. Ron and I disagree all the time. But certain character issues are where I draw the line personally.
Ty seemed genuinely interested in our position on the BMPs. I sent him a lot of information regarding concerns via email today. I hope it will get more traction than it did when we presented those concerns to Robert almost three years ago.
I hope we can come to a consensus that allows all of us to quit having to worry about problems we bring on ourselves and work together to deal with problems that come from outside sources.
We are cleaners, not polluters.
Ron was able to communicate some of the frustrations we have had with industry reporting and other issues as well as get in some discussion on the concept of no off property discharge.
We walked away with high hopes. If the other BOD can spend some time learning what we are about, rather than just relying on snippets or posts or selected screenshots sent from those with an agenda we might be able to at least work side by side, if not together on some issues.
Time will tell.
I met with Mr. Boon. The conversation was very good. Just like almost every other Stormwater manager I've met over the past three years Mr. Boon was a very sensible gentleman with a concern for the environment and a concern for business interests as well.
The recent issue has been tough on his staff. As expected they just want to put this behind them and move forward.
I let him know that we are reaching out to the PWNA to look for common ground so that hopefully this will be the last time we have to deal with this type of problem in our industry.
I offered to help populate any workshop he might have with not only UAMCC members, but hopefully PWNA members AND any local contractors we can reach. A local workshop like this isn't about orgs, it's about local contractors.
After leaving there Ron and I both went to speak with Ty Eubanks at his shop. Ty is a PWNA board member and was the local liaison for Robert's dealing with the Orange County authorities.
Ty has a great looking shop and has a nice professional setup that any power washer should aspire to.
At first Ty was a little on the offensive as would be expected since we had never met and our only knowledge of each other was from filtered information coming from others, each with their own agenda.
That didn't last long and soon we were able to discuss some common ground. We also spoke about our differences. None of which mean much except for the BMP shopping which effects everyone in the industry whether org members or not.
During the conversation it dawned on me that just a short 3-4 years ago I was a member of both orgs. Ron and I sat and had dinner with PWNA board members at numerous events culminating at Jerry's San Diego event.
It is amazing how much damage has occurred since then.
I doubt any of the longstanding personality issues will ever be resolved. And I'm not sure they should. I know there are characters involved that I will personally never associate with again.
Disagreements are one thing. Ron and I disagree all the time. But certain character issues are where I draw the line personally.
Ty seemed genuinely interested in our position on the BMPs. I sent him a lot of information regarding concerns via email today. I hope it will get more traction than it did when we presented those concerns to Robert almost three years ago.
I hope we can come to a consensus that allows all of us to quit having to worry about problems we bring on ourselves and work together to deal with problems that come from outside sources.
We are cleaners, not polluters.
Ron was able to communicate some of the frustrations we have had with industry reporting and other issues as well as get in some discussion on the concept of no off property discharge.
We walked away with high hopes. If the other BOD can spend some time learning what we are about, rather than just relying on snippets or posts or selected screenshots sent from those with an agenda we might be able to at least work side by side, if not together on some issues.
Time will tell.