[ABJ30] Committee Member Rotation

April 14, 2008 is our committee's official rotation date. According to the TRB rules a third of the committee must rotate every third year and no one (except emeritus) can serve for more than 9 years without special dispensation from the TRB Executive Director. This is why TRB makes its committee appointments for a period of three years. The way TRB operationalizes this is to look at the committee members as serving terms. Everyone's term on the Urban Data committee is up in April of 2008 but some are eligible to serve additional years as they are only in their first or second term. There are others, like myself, who are in our third terms and must rotate off. I am asking the Executive Director for two exceptions, Catherine Lawson and Shawn Turner, whom I will explain shortly. In the attached PDF is a summary of our committee by member including their start date, term, affiliation, gender and state. There is also a table I developed for myself when trying figure out who was in what term. I found it very helpful in trying to figure out the terms. Personally, I would like to see TRB develop a mechanism where 1/9th of the committee rotates every year which would still give TRB its one-third every 3 years and provide for a continuous churning of members. Maybe the new chair can take on the issue. But I digress… Hopefully you have looked at the PDF and found yourself. If you are in your first or second term both myself and the incoming chair want to know if you would like to continue your membership with the committee. TRB suggests that we give you three choices, "I want in", "I want out", I want in but I am willing to go". But I would hope that you would all want to stay. In summarizing the rotation, there are 10 of us who have to rotate off the committee. Of those 10 I will be seeking a special continuance for two, Catherine Lawson and Shawn Turner. Catherine has been recommended and approved by TRB to succeed me as chair. Her term will officially start on the rotation date for the whole committee, April 15, 2009. The other member's term I am seeking to extend is Shawn Turner. Shawn has just assumed the chairmanship of the Joint ADUS Subcommittee. The subcommittee is joint between us and the Traffic Monitoring Committee and Shawn is our critical link to it the subcommittee. I think that is about it for now. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. And remember, if you are in your first or second term I need to know your interest in staying on for another term. If you are rotating off I am truly sorry but we have all been around long enough to know the rules. I just hope that we still all stay together as a community. -- Ed Christopher 708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell) FHWA RC-TST-PLN 19900 Governors Dr Olympia Fields, IL 60461