The PBCA Fall Fundraiser Dinner & Auction was a giant success!

Dinner Auction

The committee, lead by Dan Hunt & comprised of Sean Gavin, Kris Owens, Kevin Kluender, Clem Hackworthy and Jason Coleman, did an amazing job at gathering auction items and laying out a fantastic dinner menu.  For those of you who missed the event, you must come next year!  A portion of the money raised went to Habitat for Humanity.  In these tough economic times, a special Thanks You for those business who donated Items:  Laughing Dog Brewery, Pend Oreille Winery, Sandpoint Building Supply, Ponderay Garden Center, Air Seal Insulation, Lignetics, Festival @ Sandpoint, Co-op Gas & Supply, Coldwater Creek, Pend Oreille Mechanical, Behind the Wheel Hobby Shop, Mountain West Bank, Emma Fields Massage Therapy, anonymous Artist, Sears, Mountain Communications, Interstate Asphalt, Selkirk Glass & Cabinets, Sleeps Inn, Sandpoint Furniture, Kevin Kluender CPA, Idaho Lights, Excell Drywall, North Woods Canoes, Clem Hackworthy, Long Bridge Grill, La Quinta, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Pro Build, Pend Oreille Cruises, Stacey’s Country Kitchen and Mountain View Construction.  We would also like to thank those who purchased items, our auctioneer, Jonny Knight,

Auctioneer

and the Wiley Widgeon!  See you all next year!

The PBCA 25th Annual Home & Garden Show this past April 17 & 18, 2010 went really well.  Thanks to all the vendors and the attendees for making it a great show.  We had 43 vendors in this years show.  Our attendance consisted of 1200 people during the 2 days event.

Landscape display, Horizon Landscaping, Best large booth diplay

This year we awarded 3 plaques.  Best large booth display, best small booth display, and friendliest booth.  Horizon Landscaping was awarded the “Best large booth display”.  Envik Construction was awarded ” Best small booth display”.  Century 21 Riverstone was awarded “Friendliest booth”.  Congratulations to all of them.

Envik Construction, Best small booth display

Century 21/Riverstone, Friendliest booth space

Next years  PBCA Home & Garden Show

April, 9 & 10, 2011

PBCA Goes To Boise

Sandpoint, ID – February 24, 2010 – Three members of the Panhandle Building Contractors Association, a non-profit trade association dedicated to promoting and protecting the local building industry, traveled to Boise this month to participate in the Idaho Building Contractors Association Winter Board Meeting.  The annual meeting took place at the Red Lion Downtowner in Boise February 17 – 19.

PBCA meets with Idaho Legislators

Making the trip to our state’s capital was PBCA’s Executive Officer Kris Owens, President Sean Gavin of Mountain View Construction and Legislative Chair Larry Jeffres representing R.C. Worst & Co.  Although slated as an annual board meeting, current legislative issues have traditionally been on the agenda as well and this year was no exception.  In what was anticipated as a budgetary heavy session for our state legislators has seen a flurry of new bills being introduced with many of those affecting the building industry of Idaho.

Although some of North Idaho’s legislators had conflicting schedules with PBCA’s contingent, they were able to meet with Representative Eric Anderson, Representative George Eskridge and briefly chatted with Senator Broadsword outside of her office.  As usual, this time of year was very busy for our legislators and the PBCA members were appreciative of the time carved out by our area representatives.  Several pieces of legislation affecting the building industry were discussed and valuable insight was gained by all.

Welcome to the Panhandle Building Contractors Association.

Installation of  New PBCA Officers and Directors

2010 PBCA President Sean Gavin, Mountain View Constrution

Sandpoint, ID – February 2, 2010 – Panhandle Building Contractors Association, a non-profit trade association dedicated to promoting and protecting the local building industry, installed new officers and board members for 2010 this past Wednesday, January 27 at the Elks Club in Ponderay.  Traveling from Southern Idaho to perform the installation duties was Ron Whitney, current president of the Idaho Building Contractors Association.

Installed as officers are as follows:

President ~ Sean Gavin,      Vice President ~ John Knowles,     Secretary ~ Lisa Moline,     Treasurer ~ Kevin Kluendner,   and  Past President ~ Wayne Meaux

Installed as Directors are as follows:

Builder Director (2yr) ~  Doug Smith,      Builder Director (1yr) ~ Scott Schriber,                   Builder Director (Alt) ~  Erick Miller

Associate Director (1yr) ~ Sheila Toldness,  Associate Director (2yr) ~ Jon Sayler, Associate Director (1yr) ~ Larry Jeffres,     Associate Director (Alt) ~ Larry Dehart

Installations for the 2010 PBCA Board of Directors

The night’s festivities also included a presentation by Sue Baldwin of Avista on various rebate programs Avista has in place for builders and homeowners.  The rebates revolve around energy conservation measures related to building practices, materials and appliances.  The audience of 70 members and guests asked several good questions of Ms. Baldwin and the overall presentation was well received.

2008 & 2009 PBCA President

Two years ago, I wrote my first draft for the President’s Corner to be included in the monthly PBCA newsletter.   My thoughts were never published, as the newsletter’s production ended, and as of this writing, it still doesn’t exist.  Our newsletter committee has looked at many avenues to re-instate it, but with no success to date.   Due to pressure from the PBCA Board, I have been coaxed into writing a farewell letter to the membership.

There have been many highlights during my two year term.   It began with the interview process to find a new Executive Officer, as the previous one had given her notice to quit.   The Board of Directors unanimously voted to hire Kris Owens.   She has been a great asset to our organization, and has adapted well to the ever changing challenges put before her.

The Home and Garden Show made the move from the Bonner Mall location to the Bonner County Fairgrounds.   The number of participating vendors has more than doubled, and likewise, the amount of volunteer work to put in on. It’s great success lands on the committee and the host of volunteers.

The inclusion of the Food Bank donations at our General Membership meetings has been slowly gaining momentum.   We all know that we have room for improvement in this community effort.  We have also donated a great deal of materials and labor to the High School Carpentry Program and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.  We have put our energy into other community projects, as well, and we will be involved with many more in the future.  This is a great commitment from our organization’s members, and I am proud of all of the volunteers that have contributed.

Our involvement with the Homebuilders Association at the State level, has increased and has made an impact on more than one issue in our industry. Our actions and communication with the IBCA must continue so that our voices in North Idaho can be heard.  We can make a difference.  Also, we have made an effort to be part of our sister organization in Coeur d’Alene, the NIBCA.  I believe that our individual fundraisers can be mutually beneficial to each organization, as we are geographically close enough to be able work together.

The successful membership drive that we were a part of last June has almost doubled the size of our local membership.  With the inclusion of the new businesses, there shouldn’t be any reason that the same members need to be involved in multiple committees, unless they choose to do so.  I am asking all of you to help out, so that we, as an organization, can do more to expand the goals of the PBCA.

I think that enough has been said about the current economic gloom.  We have all felt the hardships of doing business this past year.  If we stay together and remain strong, we will come through this down turn with new vigor.

I sincerely wish to thank the Officers, Board members, Committee members, and all of the others that have contributed their valuable time and effort during my term in office.  A great deal has been accomplished, and there is still a lot of room left for greater efforts towards positive changes.

My hat goes off to all of you!

Thank you so much,

Wayne Meaux