Introduction

Letter of Welcome

List of Planning Official Advisory Committee Members

List of the APA Regions

Purpose
The purpose of this manual is to orient you to your new role as your chapter's Planning Official Development Officer and to provide information on materials that are available to help you with your job. Your primary APA staff contact is:

Lynn Jorgenson
Leadership Affairs Chapter Coordinator
American Planning Association
122 S. Michigan Ave.
Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 312-786-6721
FAX : 312-431-9985
ljorgenson@planning.org

The national APA offices support your efforts in a number of ways. APA publishes a newsletter that is sent to all planning official members. We are also here to help you, answer questions and provide assistance as you develop this effort within the chapter. Further, in cooperation with the chapter presidents and the board committee, staff will provide ongoing orientation and training for PODOs.

Planning Official Advisory Committee
You will be assisted by a committee appointed by the APA Board of Directors called the Planning Officials Advisory Committee. The names, phone numbers, and addresses of the committee members are included in this manual.

These committee members serve as the voice of planning officials within the APA leadership. In addition, the committee oversees the development of the national program for planning officials, called the Planning Commissioners Service. This committee helped develop the orientation workshops for PODOs held at the APA National Conference. Feel free to contact any member of the committee with your questions. As the committee members are regionally selected, you may wish to develop a rapport with your regional committee member.