Farewell to Andy Etmanski

Being nominated to serve on a Board of Director’s for an organization is an honor.  It is recognition that, although you may excel in your field, you exhibit other characteristics which are seen as beneficial to furthering the goals and agenda of the organization.  For some, being on a board is a resume building activity; you expect to attend a few meetings a year and then vote of what information people give you. 

But you get out of being on the board what you put into it.  Being a board member can also stretch your skills in a variety of areas which may also benefit you career; organization, team work, financial and marketing are just some of those skills.  The Canadian Land Reclamation Association started in 1976 as a national land reclamation association.  Over the many decades, many volunteers to the Board of Directors have come, made their mark and moved on.  This changing of the guard has recently occurred at the CLRA National Board of Director’s once again.

This past May, long term Director and more recently, Treasurer, Andy Etmanski, from Millenium EMS Solutions Ltd, based in Edmonton, Alberta, announced that he was stepping down from the CLRA National Board of Directors.  Andy had served on the board when he was nominated at the National meeting in Kananaskis Village, Alberta.  Andy had previously been on the CLRA Alberta Chapter Board of Directors and he wanted to bring that energy to the national level.  Andy was an involved board member, having been chair of the by-laws review committee and involved with the website committee. He felt strongly about maintaining a National membership as an umbrella organization to the Provincial Chapters as he felt it would provide cohesiveness as the membership in the local Chapters went through various industry cycles which impacted membership numbers.

In the Spring of 2014, the long-time Treasurer of CLRA National passed away and Andy stepped up to the plate to take on the role of Treasurer.  The organization was just starting to sort through the recent changes to reporting requirements to the Canada Revenue Agency and the additional governance that made Chapters responsible for separate filings.  Andy patiently sorted through the recent history of the CLRA financials so that the CRA requirements could be met.  He also assisted some of the Chapters in becoming more compliant under the updated CRA reporting requirements. 

The majority of the membership of the CLRA is from Alberta and the depressed oil prices of the past several years and the Fort McMurray fire two years ago, has had an impact on the ability to sustain those numbers, both within Alberta and nationally.   However, Andy was committed to the value of having a national organization whose goals included networking and the exchange of technology in the wide-ranging field of land reclamation and strongly encouraged Chapters to maintain their membership, thus supporting a strong and unified national Canadian Land Reclamation Association.

For the past three years, Andy went beyond just ensuring that the balance sheets and cash flow reports, along with the annual financial reviews were completed, and, while working closely with CLRA President

Andrea McEachern and Managewise, negotiated creative processes to ensure that the CLRA would remain on secure financial footing.

Andy, thank you very much for your many years of service to the Canadian Land Reclamation Association, both at the Chapter level and at the National level.  We appreciate your dedication, your passion, your patience and your good humor as we charted a new course for the CLRA National.

All the best Andy,

The Canadian Land Reclamation Association