Good news! The Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) can help you with all the above in the coming year. How can PGMS help you make more time for family or reduce the high level of stress you may be experiencing? It?EUR??,,????'???s simple; we will help you work smarter, not harder.

Our national and regional education offerings, certification publications, online applications, Certified Grounds Manager program and Green Star Awards are all tailored to allow you to share and glean best practices from grounds programs all across the country. Why reinvent the wheel when it comes to developing a snow preparedness plan or how to bring interns into a union shop when you can get helpful tips, pointers and real life examples from your colleagues? Why try to figure out appropriate levels of services for different areas of your campus when much of this is spelled out in the PGMS publications, Operational Guidelines for Grounds Management and The Grounds Maintenance Management Guidelines. Perhaps you face the possibility of having your site?EUR??,,????'???s grounds management operations outsourced.

Then it would be crucial to network with other PGMS members who have successfully overcome the same situation via the PGMS list serv or education seminars in your vicinity.

All of these hypothetical challenges and many others can be best overcome by relying on the network of PGMS members who have learned what to do and more importantly, what not to do, in such situations. This will result in more time to strategically manage your grounds program. In turn this will reduce the amount of fires you are putting out and the anxiety that comes with such situations. This means more time for you to spend with your family, on the golf course, or in the class room.

PGMS has also identified a resolution for 2007: continuing to improve its education offerings for the institutional grounds professional. As part of this resolution, the Society will be expanding its series of Regional Grounds Management Seminars. This series will offer seminars for grounds managers in North Carolina and Cincinnati, Ohio and more are in the planning stages. The PGMS Education Committee is also examining how to strengthen and grow the educational opportunities offered at its annual School of Grounds Management which will be offered in conjunction with the newly aligned GIE EXPO in Louisville, Ky. on October 24-27.

Additionally, PGMS is looking to increase its network of local chapters throughout the country. These chapters are crucial to enhancing the value of PGMS membership due to the local educational programming and networking opportunities they provide. Just this past fall, the Texas Chapter of PGMS was added. The society is expecting to add even more chapters in the coming year!

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the revamped PGMS Salary Survey that will be unveiled in 2007. Always a useful tool in determining whether you and your crew are being properly compensated and in making budget requests, PGMS?EUR??,,????'??? Board of Directors is busy at work refining this useful resource.