PBACCA

Contributed by Pam Ripple, PBACCA Executive Director

The Palm Beach Air Conditioning Contractors Association (PBACCA) celebrated the installation of the 2020 Officers and Directors’ on January 11th with a wonderful cocktail hour and dinner at Benvenuto’s in Boynton Beach.

More than 60 members of PBACCA enjoyed fabulous food, great company, and entertainment by The Promises, which was sponsored by Federated Insurance. The installation began with an open bar, appetizers and socializing compliments of Al Packer Ford Lincoln.

Afterwards, David Hutchison PBACCA 2019 President, gave his departing speech, accepted the oath of the 2020 Officers and Directors, and presented the “gavel” to incoming President Steve Sanders. One of Steve’s first actions as President was recognizing the 2019 Member of the Year.

This year the award for Member of the Year was presented to two individuals: Mark Worrell of State Energy and Jim Carr of Complete Comfort. Mark and Jim’s hard work and selfless effort has earned them 2019 Member of the Year, or SEER (for Service, Enthusiasm, Effort and Reliability) Awards.

Mark sits on the Construction Industry Licensing Board and keeps members up to date on unlicensed activity in Palm Beach County. Jim is a PBACCA Past President and has returned to the Board for the past several years. He is a member of the Building Code Advisory Board and regularly reports to PBACCA Members. Both men have devoted a great deal of their time to important issues to the industry.

The 2020 Board Members are Directors Dustin Hoffman, Rob Mayhew, Jim Holman, Daryl Sholar, Arturo A. Alba, Jr., Carissa Duemig and John Riley; and Officers Secretary Robin Worrell, Treasurer Sean Caplan, Vice President Tony Kiser, President Elect Jim Pickard, President Steve Sanders and Past President Dave Hutchison.

Photos of the PBACCA installation banquet are available here, and at flhvacinsider.smugmug.com.

RACCA

The Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (RACCA) of Tampa Bay hosted their 53rd Annual Installation and Awards Banquet on January 30, 2020 at the Tampa Bay History Museum in downtown Tampa, FL. Hosted by Federated Insurance, the evening began with a cocktail hour for socializing and private museum gallery viewing. Dinner catered by the Columbia Restaurant was followed by a retrospective of RACCA’s past 70 years delivered by Keane Bismarck.

The 2020 Board of Directors was introduced and installed: officers Bryan Wade, President, Paul Keller, President Elect, Brendan Fuller, Vice President, Ken DiLallo, Secretary/Treasurer and Renee Pagan, Ex-Officio; directors James Heinz, Garrett Lingerfelt, Richard Houghton, David Riedinger, Jr. and Associate Director Paula Desantis-Tarris.

President Bryan Wade then presented his awards for 2019: Keane Bismarck was presented with an Honorary Lifetime RACCA Member Award. Awards of Excellence were presented to member company Pelican Aire Commercial Services and associate member Federated Insurance. President’s Awards of Excellence were presented to member company individual Paul Keller of Service Tech Corporation and associate member individual Paula Desantis-Tarris of Trane Supply. Rene Pagan was honored with the prestigious CJ Dillard Award for outstanding individual contributions to the HVAC industry.

Photos of the RACCA installation banquet are available here, and at flhvacinsider.smugmug.com.

SFACA

The South Florida Air-conditioning Contractors Association (SFACA) held their annual Board of Directors installation and State of the Association meeting on January 8, 2020 at the Sheraton Suites in Plantation, FL.

Highlights of the officers reports include that hosting a casino night added to the Association’s revenues in 2019, along with the addition of monthly meeting sponsorships. Changes in membership dues structuring and improvements to the golf tournament are being implemented in 2020. Spring and fall membership drives are being developed and co-hosting and sponsoring events with the Palm Beach Air Conditioning Contractors Association and the IAQA is being explored. SFACA input has resulted in revisions to Broward County AC system change-out forms, no longer requiring a homeowner signature and needing only one contractor signature. Fund-raising continues to be an issue for the MEP Coalition for fair competition. An encouraging sign was the airtime given to the Coalition recently by WPLG-TV Channel 10.

Florida Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (FRACCA) Executive Director Paula Huband encouraged the members to promote the FRACCA Educational Conference being held February 26 -29, 2020 in Daytona Beach, FL.

Plaques of Appreciation were presented to the past year’s Board of Directors and the new Board was sworn in. The 2020 BoD is Skip Farinhas, President, Kelly Dexter, Vice President, Gregg D’Attile, Secretary/Treasurer, Doug Lindstrom, Past President and Directors Bob Volin, Ernie Sariol, Oscar Calleja, James Schaefer, Howard Pearl, Gonzalo Azpurua, Ed Lawton, Mark Worrell and Alfredo Andrial.

SWACCA

Contributed by Cheryl Harris, SWACCA Executive Director

The Southwest Florida Air Conditioning Contractors Association (SWACCA) held its annual Installation and Pioneer Awards Ceremony on February 4, 2020. Newly elected Directors William Barnes, Ellsworth Heating & Cooling; Ty Copeland, WinSupply of Port Charlotte, Marc Labuzienski, Air Flow Air Conditioning Systems and Jim Roberts, TWC Waldinger, Inc. were installed for a two-year term by outgoing President Tim Dupre, Conditioned Air. New officers for 2020 Michael Antonucci, Advanced Air & Refrigeration, President; Jim Britton, Gulf Shore Cooling, Vice President; and Peter Pietruszko, Speedy Air, Secretary/Treasurer were also sworn in by Dupre. All pledged to dedicate themselves and their services to promote, enhance and strive for the betterment of the association, our economy and our industry. Directors Don Condee, Condee Cooling & Electric, Inc.; Ken Danziger, Tropic Supply; Michael Porter, Carrier Enterprise; Rick Sims, Johnson’s Air Conditioning, Inc., whose terms do not expire until 2021, remain on the Board and complete the SWACCA Leadership team.

Honored during the evening’s ceremony was John Cole, Cole’s Air Diagnostic’s, Ft. Myers, Florida. He was the recipient of the SWACCA HVAC Industry Pioneer Award for his more than 40 plus years of service to the southwest Florida area HVAC industry and community at large.

SWACCA is the HVAC trade association representing HVAC contractors and affiliated organizations in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties. For information on the association go to www.sw-acca.org or contact the SWACCA office at 727-209-0890.