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Highlights of the Council Meeting at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel

June 27-28, 2004

As the chapter delegate to the council meeting, I thought that it would be appropriate to highlight the results of elections and rulings made by Council.

  • Jim Birch was re-elected as president of PTG. Kent Swafford was re-elected as vice-president. Dale Probst was re-elected as secretary-treasurer. Paul Kupelian was re-elected as Northeast RVP.

  • Chapters will now be required to pay one-half annual dues (instead of one-third annual dues) for chapter members who have chapter-sustaining membership.

  • Speaking of annual dues, there will be an increase in annual dues for next year.

  • As of April 30, 2005, technical exams will be required to be administered by a "Certified Technical Examiner" (TEC). ETSC will compile a list of RPTs, based upon experience in administering technical exams, and ask the Board to certify them as TECs. Any RPT may become an TEC by undergoing training. (Please see the revised bylaws for details.)

  • The Lehigh Valley Chapter, PTG, proposal to restructure the membership categories by adding student and apprentice categories failed to pass.

  • Language changes were made to the Graphics Standard Manual. The new Graphics Standards Manual is included with the newly revised bylaws. This was mailed with the latest issue of the Journal.

  • Pacific Northwest Regional Vice President Keith Kopp, as chair of the Long Range Task Force, outlined a general proposal to address the concerns of those who are unhappy with the current Associate membership category, and would attempt to revitalize PTG. This general outline envisions PTG as an umbrella corporation with two divisions. One division would be a certified piano technicians association. The other division would be an association for piano technology. In the latter division, manufacturers would be permitted membership. Please note that this was a general outline that was well received by Council. Council gave the Long Range Task Force authorization to develop these ideas in greater detail and report back in 2005.

As your chapter delegate, I encourage you to monitor progress of this task force through the Internet. The URL is www.ptg.org/members/planning.

If you have any concerns or input, there is a mailing list to which you can subscribe: http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/planning. PTG is your organization and your input, particularly in this matter, is important and needed.

Report by Allan N. Schumacker, RPT