13th Annual Facilities Officers Conference
The 13th Annual Facilities Conference has been cancelled
As you are aware, the State of Georgia has been experiencing a continued decline in revenues, resulting in significant pressure on the USG budget. Last week, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) issued a travel moratorium curtailing all non-essential in-state travel, including conference attendance, for state employees. In response to this situation, Vice Chancellor Linda Daniels, in consultation with the Facilities Advisory Board and System Facilities Directors, has canceled our 2008 Facilities Conference (FOC) scheduled for September 29th-October 1st in Savannah. We will however, proceed with the one day Project Sapelo event with appropriate adjustments to allow a more regional focus and to address the current budget constraints - more details will follow concerning the Project Sapelo event.
It has been a very difficult decision to cancel the 2008 Facilities Officers Conference. In the process of making this decision - many of you let us know how valuable the annual FOC is to you and your institution. We thank you for this input. We are disappointed that we must delay providing information about best practices for facilities construction and operations and maintenance, as well as the opportunity to network with your peers. However, key to our mission to promote effective and efficient management of our facilities, in light of these budget constraints, we also have a responsibility to respond to the state's financial situation.
For those individuals who have already registered for the 2008 FOC and the Tuesday Evening Dinner Event, refunds will be forthcoming soon. If you paid for your conference registration using FY08 funds, we encourage you to check with your institution's business/accounting office to insure any issues with lapsing funds are properly addressed. For those not participating in Project Sapelo - Please remember to cancel your reservations at the Savannah Hyatt Hotel. You can contact the Hyatt direct at (912) 238-1234.
We have made the decision to move forward with the 1-Day Project Sapelo event scheduled for Monday, September 29th. A strong public-private partnership has developed and we are committed to seeing this project be a success. In light of the overall FOC Conference being cancelled, we would like to offer you the opportunity to reconsider your participation in Project Sapelo, thus we have extended registration to Friday, September 5th (There is no registration cost for Project Sapelo). If, however, you deem it necessary to also cancel your registration for Project Sapelo, you can do so by calling (404) 463-7574.
Please understand that the USG Office of Facilities remains committed to bringing you the important information we had scheduled for the Fall 2008 FOC Conference. We will be working hard to offer you training opportunities this fall and winter that require limited travel and/or take advantage of distance learning technologies. We will be calling on you for ideas and support to accomplish this.
We hope you understand the reason for cancelling the Conference, and please feel free to contact me or other members of the Facilities Office staff if you have questions or concerns about the cancellation of the conference or about your participation in Project Sapleo. I can be reached at (404) 463-7574 or by email at michael.miller@usg.edu.
Thank you for all you do for the University System of Georgia.
Michael Miller, 2008 FOC Chair