December 2011
Hail to the Chief
RePlay: What was on your IAAPA agenda both for AMOA and as an operator?
Donovan: In recent years, AMOA conducted some planning meetings to coincide with the IAAPA Expo, but this year we moved up the schedule and held a series of dedicated sessions last month in Nashville. As a result, I did not attend the IAAPA Show last month in Orlando. As usual, there were AMOA operators walking the show floor, but minus the meetings tie-in, there was really no compelling reason for me/us to be there.
In the wake of the mid-year board meeting, what were the most important achievements of that event?
As you know, virtually every working committee in AMOA — and there are many of them — meets to gauge progress of ongoing programs and services. In the big scope of things, it’s all about brainstorming, networking and collaborating together as a leadership team, and in that regard, our time in Savannah was an overwhelming success.
Specifically, we started or continued plans for initiatives like our expo education and Hesch offerings; interacted with our legislative counsel about pending governmental issues; laid the groundwork for our next Notre Dame class and Master’s program as well; developed themes for our St. Baldrick’s promotional effort; previewed the content for the annual Council of Affiliated States meeting next February in Phoenix; and, of course, bounced around a lot of ideas for possible new membership benefits.
Where does the association stand in implementing some of the proposals made by Circone + Associates in the analysis of the member survey?
It’s a work-in-progress. C+A has incorporated findings from the survey and identified opportunities for program development. AMOA has green-lighted several of the ideas, and C+A is currently working on fine-tuning details with third parties prior to launch. We’re anxious to put some of them into play, but AMOA is trying to break some new ground here, and it takes time to put all the pieces together.
On the government relations front, what is AMOA’s position with regards to the dollar coin legislation proposed in Congress?
It’s somewhat ironic that AMOA and others spent a lot of time, money and effort to advocate for the dollar coin in the past. So much time has passed, and with little momentum to eliminate the paper dollar, the sense of urgency has faded, I believe, in our membership ranks
Actually, we just recently discussed the need to poll operators about their views on this these days. Maybe RePlay could do a survey?
There have been technological advances that have also changed the dynamic when it comes to the dollar coin, so it would be a timely exercise to try to gauge the level of operator support on this issue.
Tell us about your travel over the last several months.
Like I mentioned earlier, we decided to meet the first week in November for our annual budget meeting in Nashville.
The meeting went very well, and I can tell you that our budget sub committee did a great job balancing our upcoming budget for next year. AMOA has done a great job over the last few years making changes to our budget to coincide with the downturn in the economy. I am happy to say that AMOA’s finances are in order and are holding strong.
As for travel, after a busy summer and fall, I have slowed down. I am looking forward to attending the South Dakota state association meeting in December and the Council on Affiliated States meeting in February
Third-generation operator Donovan Fremin is an integral part of the family route operation Delta Music in Thibodeaux, Louisiana.
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