Brian Anderson is our current President.
I’d like to introduce myself to you. My name is Brian Anderson. I am employed by the City of Leawood, Kan-sas and have had the privilege of serving as the Superin-tendent of Parks for the past 12 years. Leawood is a city of approximately 32,000 located in Johnson County in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. I have also worked for Park Departments in the cities of Leavenworth and Salina during my career.
At every step along the way, I have been a member of the Kansas Turfgrass Foun-dation, and I have found that membership has benefitted me in many ways over the years. Here are a few:
Continuing education. In my job, I am responsible for not only parks, ath-letic fields, city owned facilities such as fire stations, police stations and City Hall, but also traffic islands and green spaces. In short, I keep the city green. The KTF Conference and Field Day events keep my knowledge base fresh and up-to-date. By learning the latest findings from KSU research, I can adjust my management/maintenance programs to be the most productive, efficient, and least wasteful. Whatever your job is in this industry, it allows you to do the same.
Networking. I am always amazed at the diversity of “branches” in this indus-try: municipal/institutional grounds, residential/commercial lawn service, golf in-dustry, seed/sod producers, equipment/product vendors, research and extension. This is an excellent way to meet the best people to help you solve your problems.
Improved professionalism. Membership in the KTF tells others that I am serious about my profession, business, and career. It helps keep me motivated and impassioned. I believe that when you are able to speak with authority on a subject, you are able to convince decision makers not to cut your budget, or you are able to purchase better equipment, increase staff all because they know you are working hard and value the resources you are given and then everyone benefits. This applies to all of us in whatever level or branch of this business we’re in.
I wanted to share these thoughts in my message for the New Year because I know the economy has had an impact on our industry and during these times with budget cuts, slowing development and reduced revenue, we are all tightening our belts these days. Sometimes training and memberships are tempting areas to look at to reduce expenses. Hopefully, these benefits will bring to mind your own examples of how you have benefitted from your KTF membership and encourage you to re-member that your membership is an investment in your continued success. Keep supporting the Kansas Turfgrass Foundation and encourage others to join as well.
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