Welcome to the
Marine Construction Industry Alliance

Business Class Program

If you're here, you already are aware of the challenges facing our industry and the critical need for leadership.

We have a solution.

Marine construction industry businesses are invited to join Citizens For Florida's Waterways, Florida's oldest and largest boating advocacy group, as Business Class Members.

Business Class Members benefit from government advocacy (lobbying) services provided by MW Consulting. These services include tracking legislation; advocating before committees, councils and agencies; and representing the marine construction industry at the Manatee Forum.

The cost of this service, which is no longer being provided by other marine construction associations, is $250 per firm, per year.

MW Consulting is owned and operated by Steven Webster, who served as executive director of Florida Marine Construction Association for seven years, and Peggy Mathews, who served as legislative representative.

If you aren't familiar with what we have accomplished for the marine construction industry, please call 850-391-7674 or for info. For those of you who do know what skilled leadership can accomplish, please call 850-391-7674 to sign up for this inexpensive and effective new program!

Click here to download a CFFW Business Class Membership application PDF.

Cost

Business Class Membership costs $250 per firm per year, payable by check, and includes all the benefits of membership in Citizens For Florida's Waterways.

Benefits

Business Class Members will receive confidential status reports on pending legislation, agency rule-making, and Manatee Forum activities. Your industry interests will be represented and communicated to decision-makers, and you will have the opportunity to share your views and opinions face-to-face.

Business Class Members will have access to our Tallahassee office, located just steps from the Capitol, when we organize legislative and agency office visits during the legislative process that is already underway.

Business Class Members will be represented FULL TIME here in Tallahassee by me and by Peggy Mathews, who I retained six years ago to represent FMCA and CFFW. We are professionals with more than 40 years experience working on marine and marine industry issues before government.

We will work with Members to identify and address other important matters (such as unemployment compensation, insurance and licensing) in addition to our current priority items.

Membership in CFFW is a great business asset. Its websites -- cffw.org and boatflorida.com -- are very popular, offering excellent exposure to advertisers. The Central Florida Marine Flea Market attracts thousands of customers every April. In fact, several marine construction businesses exhibit every year and as a Business Class Member, you can, also.

Business Members will be kept up-to-date, giving you an advantage over the competition. I have always emphasized the importance of being first in line with the most accurate information. In today's economy, this can be the difference between business success and failure.

ONLY CFFW Business Class Members receive these benefits.

Click here to download a CFFW Business Class Membership application PDF.

For more information about this program, please visit www.mwconsult.us.

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Governor, Please Sign Docks Bill Office of Governor Charlie Crist State of Florida The Capitol 400 S. Monroe St. Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001 Dear Governor Crist: Please sign into law S1118, sponsored by Senator Altman. This good bill will support small businesses and protect jobs in the marine construction industry. Either copy and paste this brief message onto your own letterhead to US Mail to the governor, or.... click here to email the governor

For information on the Green Marine Summit, please click here to link to cleanwaterfront.net/summit.

1. Dependable, proven, respected leadership on industry issues at the state, federal and local levels.
2. Promote boating and other water dependent activities through informed review of existing laws and rules.
3. Champion the importance of advocacy and being stakeholders for water dependent activities.
4. A level playing field, including clear license standards, affordable and available insurance, reasonable permitting requirements, and science-based environmental standards.
5. An Advisory Board of seasoned industry experts with whom you will be proud to associate.
6. A marine construction industry association designed to lead!

GREEN MARINE GOALS

1. Motivate the marine construction industry to ACTION.
   
2. Learn what works from green building professionals.
   
3. Develop reasonable, science-based standards and incentives for marine construction products, consultants, builders, operators and vessels.
4. Find out how you can make money going green.
   
5. Network with profitable companies that provide green products and services.

What are the key issues and how do we address them?

There are four issues that the marine construction industry must address. To succeed, our industry needs respected, effective, government advocacy.

Permit streamlining.

For the past four years, I have been shepherding a permit reform bill through the Florida Legislature. The old marine association NO LONGER HAS a registered lobbyist working on your behalf in Tallahassee! With your support, we can get this passed! If this bill does not pass, then well-intentioned efforts to emphasize permit and license enforcement could backfire terribly.

Construction fees and fines.

Take this to the bank. Fees and requirements for permits will be going up and are going to get even tougher unless a strong marine construction industry advocate is there to protect our businesses, and our waterfront owner clientele.

Manatee habitat.

The old marine contractors association no longer has a seat at the Manatee Forum. It just doesn't have the clout to be heard (those of you who were there in its early days remember what it was like to be completely ignored) or the knowledge to be effective on this never-ending challenge. Manatees are still the legal tool of choice for groups that just plain don't like what you do for a living.

Read about the coming Federal manatee habitat designations. This article originated at Florida Today. It has been picked up by the Associated Press and run in papers across the Southeast. Click here for a PDF of the article.

Click here to view a PDF of the great story about manatee poop. (How can a critter so abundant that its feces can close a beach be "endangered"?)

Making a living.

Everything on the waterward side of a home is regulated to an extreme, and the costs of those regulations are completely borne by you and your customers. There is little or no financing, and little or no insurance. Waterfront owners, many of whom are retired and on fixed incomes, pay a premium in taxes. Where does that extra tax money go? It's sure not being used to benefit the public waterways, or your clients!

This is the baseline reason why, when the economy turns sour, marine construction is the first to suffer and the last to recover.

There are answers to this fundamental challenge. With your support, we can bring them to fruition.

What are your top issues?
What's your opinion on these four challenges?

Join the conversation about the marine construction industry at marineindustry.org. Contact me to share your thoughts.

Contact me to learn how the leadership vacuum creates an opportunity for all of us in the marine construction industry. Contact me to learn how we can work together to improve our industry.

Get more information on linkedin.

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Join the conversation on marineindustry.org.

Sincerely,

Steven E Webster

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