The GRA Board of Directors, State officers, Branch officers and invited guests participated in GRA's first-ever administrative planning and solutions-seeking Retreat. Carl Hauge, Chief Hydrogeologist for the Department of Water Resources, facilitated the session and pointed out that the event was actually an "Advance," as opposed to a retreat, for an advance brings something forward or accelerates the growth and progress thereof. Carl did an excellent job keeping the working group focused and moving along on a very full agenda. The attendees worked non-stop from nine in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon. 

The event was held on January 19, 1997 at the recently opened Rocklin Park Hotel in Rocklin, California, about 20 minutes east of Sacramento along Interstate 80. The Retreat was coordinated and attended by David Von Aspern; the other attendees included Tim Parker and Kent Parrish, representing GRA's Sacramento Branch; Susan Garcia, GRA President and representing the Southern California Branch; Michael Foster and David Abbott representing the San Francisco Branch; and Board members Anthony Saracino, Vicki Kretsinger, Paul Dorey, Tony Ward, Brian Lewis and Steve Goldberg. The Retreat was followed the next day by a regularly-scheduled, quarterly meeting of GRA's Board of Directors. The fact that attendees devoted two full days of participation speaks immensely of the high level of commitment that GRA's existing leadership has in regard to continuing the success of the organization. 

The first order of business at the Retreat was development of a Mission Statement for GRA. While GRA already has a sound set of Objectives and a well-defined Purpose, each of which can be seen on the Membership Brochure and in the Membership Directory, the new Mission Statement rounds out the endeavors of GRA in a succinct way. After much deliberation, the working group came up with the following Mission Statement: 

The Groundwater Resources Association of California is dedicated to resource management that protects and improves groundwater through education and technical leadership. 

Let that Mission Statement sink in for a moment. Then think about what the Mission Statement does and how you, in your own way, can either grow personally or professionally by being a part of it, and how you can contribute toward it. The Mission Statement attracts attention; it provides focus; it discourages shooting from the hip; the Mission Statement provides guidance; it builds loyalty and camaraderie; and it lets others know that we hold something meaningful that deserves our and their efforts. As a founding officer of GRA's Sacramento Branch, I cannot say enough about what a thrill it has been to have helped develop something totally from scratch into a fiscally sound, thought-provoking, safe haven for me and my peers in the industry. With all the sweeping changes in environmental regulations lately, the company downsizings and buy-outs, and the ever increasing hustle and bustle of life in the '90s, I actually look forward to GRA meetings where I can let go of the competitiveness and chat with folks who are the only ones who can truly relate to what goes on in our profession - it's all part of contributing to the Mission. 

After having spent about one-quarter of the Retreat on development of the Mission Statement, the working group spent the rest of the day forging plans to address administrative needs, procedural issues, membership services, long-term goals and finances, and improvement of external and internal communications. It was a very full plate. The material generated was boiled down to four broad categories, under which specific and less-broad topics were prioritized. The categories and prioritization, which were determined by vote of the attendees at the Retreat, are presented below. The reader should be aware that the Retreat attendees are taking immediate action on these items, rather than just talking about them. Parenthetical information shown below contains the GRA members charged with tackling the prioritized items, as well as a timeline, where appropriate. 

Standing Committees also were formed, and are shown below under the categories to which they are most closely related; the committee chair(s) are in parentheses. 

1. Organization 

Fill the now vacant Executive Director as a part-time position (Board of Directors, A.S.A.P.) 

Develop job descriptions for Board members, State and Branch Officers (Executive Committee - by April '97) 

Standing Committees: Executive Committee (Saracino, Kretsinger, Lewis); Bylaws (Goldberg) 

2. Communications 

Continue to improve/expand HYDROVISIONS (Lewis - on-going) 

Improve State/Branch communications, and the Internet site (Kretsinger, Parrish - status report by April '97) 

Standing Committees: Newsletter (Flood, Lewis); Liaison (Kretsinger); Annual Meeting (Saracino, Kretsinger); Electronic Communications (Lewis, Parker, Parrish) 

3. Membership 

Member retention, maintenance and recruitment (Dorey - status report by April '97) 

Make better use of the GRA membership database (implementation already in the works re: Paula Noble, Membership Administrator) 

Standing Committees: Membership (Dorey, Lewis); Education (Saracino); Technical (Bob Nicholson); Legislative (chairperson needed, new Executive Director?) 

4. Finances 

Evaluate present membership dues structure and Develop a Business Plan (Ward, Dorey, Goldberg - by April '97) 

Establish guidance and procedures for Branch Treasuries, build uniformity into the way each Branch operates and reports to State for income tax purposes (Goldberg, Von Aspern - by April '97) 

Seek increased corporate contributions and grants (new Executive Director, Saracino, Goldberg) 

Standing Committees: Finance (Goldberg, Von Aspern) 

Concluding Remarks 

GRA's first-ever Retreat stimulated thoughts, dialogue and action plans for continuing the success of the organization into the future. Volunteers that would like to help with any of the action items should contact the appropriate chairpersons named above. Comments also are welcome; use GRA's e-mail address, or send letters or faxes.