an active member ever since. I have served as Secretary for the association and have been known to drive the drink cart for the golf tournament. What are the benefits of UAPA membership? There are so many benefits for the type of member you are — whether you own a small- to mid-sized company or a large producer — UAPA has something for you. Everyone gets the networking benefit, but there is so much more … training, new products, enhancements to current practices, and legislative direction. Our legal efforts and push last year on the new “blue smoke” law will significantly save finances for our members and others. There are all kinds of benefits, but the biggest is that you have the ability to be heard about what is important to you. This changes from a producer to an engineer, a preservation specialist to an equipment dealer, but your voice matters to us. I don’t know if any of us will see every benefit, but we will see the ones that are on our priority list. What are the biggest issues facing the industry today? How do you plan to address these challenges? I think our issues again vary for each member. For some, this is workforce. For others, it is material availability, or, it’s adapting to the coming changes. My plan for addressing these would be to let our members highlight what their need is. I shouldn’t be telling them, I should be hearing them. Maybe if we hear each other and work on a solution together, we can be successful together. This may sound like a passive answer, but it’s not. We as members don’t all work on the same projects, with the same environments, the same challenges, or even the same goals, but I would like to address issues on a parking lot problem with the same passion as a highway problem. Everyone in this world needs transportation, and I think the perception out there is that our industry just wants to pave a road. Well, in some ways, we do, but it may be to get an ambulance safely to its destination, an outdoor enthusiast to their favorite spot, an athlete on a bike or run path, and someone not to trip in the parking lot. With all these needs, we will need members, and I look forward to watching those people step up and take on roles and positions to make them and UAPA better. What goals do you have for the association this year? My goals would be to travel to every county in the state, talk to members, and hear their needs. Utah is so diverse, so beautiful, and has many different needs. I’d like to set goals based on those discussions and have a lead from each type of member to highlight and address those goals. I also want to get our Technical Director hired to free up Reed so he can continue to focus on growing the association. We also want to always keep quality at the top of this list. How do we make asphalt better, how do we place it better, and how do we preserve it better? I think after this winter, we will see that this is a major need in every size and scope of asphalt use. What is the main takeaway you want people to remember after reading this article? Your work, your opinions, and your membership matter. We need you and your direction. If it’s preservation in a parking lot, specifications for asphalt, working on hightraffic highways, or deciding what types of materials to use as RAP, we need your help. The cost for membership is extremely small, but the results you could generate by being active with your membership are extremely large. 12
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