| Members' 25-Year Reminiscences Gene Franchett, AICP Apple Valley, Minnesota It was in the spring of 1970, in Atlanta, Georgia. The National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) was holding its annual conference in the Regency Hotel. Earlier, the Association had established a recognition system to focus on the highest quality work being done by the 500 regional councils around the country. The most prestigious award was in the category of technical publications by a regional council. At the time, I was a young aspiring executive director of a small regional metropolitan council in east-central Wisconsin, the Fox Valley Council of Governments in Appleton. The COG had been asked and had been provided with funds by a group of local industrial and business leaders to prepare a study of area-wide health planning needs and opportunities in the region. We took it on, using our in-house staff planning skills to craft a study in a relatively new field. Our patrons were very satisfied with the study report. We liked it. We decided to enter it in the contest for an award from NARC, even though we knew we were going up against the biggest metropolitan agencies around the country. The presentations were to be awarded at a noon luncheon meeting of the conference. I sat close to the front to be sure to see the program. Tom Bradley, soon to become Mayor of Los Angeles, was President and presiding chairman. First came the three awards for best newsletter, then for best public publication, and finally the three awards for best technical publication. The chairman announced the awards for third place, then second place. We had not been mentioned. And then he said, "Just like in the Academy Awards, the best is last. The first place award for technical publications goes to the Fox Valley Council of Governments for their report on areawide health planning." I was elated. It was a feeling of ecstasy that I had never had before. Later as I was flying home, I thought, wow! I have sure set a high standard for myself. As, of course, I had. But it all helped me to eventually become executive director of the Wisconsin Governor's Task Force on Metropolitan Problems, executive director of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Association of Metropolitan Municipalities, and executive director of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council.
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