OOIDA's board of directors, executive officers, legal counsel and others convened last month in Grain Valley, MO, for the association's annual spring board meeting.

OOIDA President Jim Johnston's agenda focused largely on the association's strategies for June Safety Month 2003 and the new hours-of-service rules.

Claiming the top spot on board business was OOIDA's June Safety Month. In November 2002, the board voted to sponsor and promote the project, authorizing the use of all available association resources to make it successful.

OOIDA's Director of Regulatory Affairs Rick Craig updated the board on the new hours-of-service rules, announced during the four-day meeting. Johnston moderated a lengthy discussion on the new rules in which each of the 22 members of the board had the opportunity to voice impressions and specific concerns.

Among the board's duties for the spring meeting was to vote on two executive positions and to fill a vacancy on the board.

Robert Esler, Taylor, MI, was re-elected as secretary. Esler was first elected to the board in 1980 and in 1983 was appointed to the position of secretary.

The death earlier this year of longtime General Vice President Robert Driscoll vacated an important executive office and a position on the board to be filled. W.L. “Woody” Chambers, Eddyville, KY, was elected to serve OOIDA as general vice president. Chambers has been an OOIDA member since 1985.

Alternate board member Bill Boyd was elected to full board membership. Boyd, a trucking veteran of more than 30 years, first joined the association in the early ‘80s. He is a resident of Mount Pleasant, SC.

The OOIDA board of directors meets twice a year to conduct the association's business, to assess organizational needs for various projects and to discuss and implement core strategies regarding the association's target issues. The next board meeting is scheduled for fall 2003.

--by Sandi Soendker, managing editor

Sandi Soendker can be reached at ooida@aol.com.