About ASPE Norcal

This chapter is unique among all ASPE chapters in that it was started and sponsored by another chapter, the San Francisco Chapter. On December 27,  1981, Alan Neel, then Legislative Vice President of the San Francisco  Chapter, introduced a resolution to the San Francisco Chapter Board of  Directors regarding formation of a committee to investigate the  feasibility of forming a new chapter in Sacramento. He was appointed  Chairman of the Sacramento Chapter Committee. There were 20 members at  that time who ultimately transferred membership from the San Francisco  Chapter to the newly formed American River Chapter. The first meeting  held in Sacramento was called on January 20, 1982, with Alan Neel,  Harold Yackey, Paul Roman, Harry Moos, Phil Higley and Leonard Rea in  attendance. It was agreed to hold meetings monthly and to begin  membership recruitment, with a goal of meeting Charter requirements  within approximately one year.

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Membership growth was steady. At  the first Charter petition, it was discovered that two of the signing  members were ineligible because they had not paid their dues. It had  been planned to have the Charter issued in December 1982. At the  December 1982 meeting of the Interim Board, it was decided to wait until  April 1983 to resubmit the petition, as many new members would be  eligible to sign it, making the required 20 full or associate member  signatures easy to meet. It was then decided that the Charter would be  finalized in May or June 1983.

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By April 1983, the Chapter had 36  members and the petition was resubmitted on April 2, 1983. The ASPE  National Board of Directors approved the Charter petition the following  week. The American River Chapter Board of Directors decided in March  1983 to have the Charter Night on May 17, 1983. The elections were held  the same night and the official Board was installed on June 18, 1983 by  the National Society President Calvin A. Laws.

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In 1993 the  chapter membership voted to change the name from American River Chapter  to the Northern California Chapter. The impetus for the change was to  give the Chapter more identity regionally and nationally.