Ken Manchen distributed a letter to area CHMMs in late April of 1991 asking whether they would consider forming a local chapter of ACHMM in Northeast Ohio. The initial meeting was held at MK Ferguson, Tower City Plaza on May 7, 1991. There were five people in attendance: Ken Manchen (Groundwater Technology, Inc.), Elise Allen (MK Ferguson), Ken Doyle (The Cleveland Clinic), Matt Knecht (HzW Consultants), and Michael Paessun (Wadsworth/ALERT Laboratories).

The general consensus was that there was sufficient interest in forming the chapter and that we should continue with chapter formation by drafting bylaws. We planned on a general interest meeting for area CHMMs for later in the summer. Officers were designated as follows:

· Michael Paessun, President
· Matt Knecht, Vice President
· Ken Manchen, Treasurer
· Elise Allen, Secretary
· Ken Doyle, Member-at-Large

Another meeting was held at Groundwater Technology offices in Solon, Ohio on May 21, 1991 to draft a constitution and bylaws for the newly formed Northeast Ohio chapter. The bylaws were based on the Buffalo Chapter's bylaws with input from the bylaws of the Indiana and Alabama/Tennessee chapters. We were joined at the meeting by two new members: Kim Griffith (Groundwater Technology, Inc.), and Mike Schall (Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.). Both were made members-at-large.

A final version of the bylaws was signed by all the officers and members-at-large at the June 3, 1991 meeting. We began planning for the late summer general interest meeting. Three additional officer's meetings culminated with a date, time and agenda for the chapter formation meeting.

The initial chapter formation meeting of NEOCHMM was held on July 22, 1991. We had a very successful meeting with 28 individuals in attendance representing consultants, industry and regulatory agencies. The meeting took place at the Holiday Inn, Rockside Road, which was a central location for Cleveland, Akron and Canton. Tom Carson presented the program "Hazardous Materials Management: A Certified Hazardous Materials Manager Approach." HzW Consultants covered the cost for the meeting room and refreshments. Letters were mailed immediately after the meeting to both the attendees and the non-attendees on our mailing list. Everyone received the following materials either at the meeting or in the follow up mailing: the names and addresses of the NEOCHMM Board of Directors, the NEOCHMM constitution and bylaws, and membership application.

A second meeting was held on September 26, 1991 in conjunction with a slide presentation and tour of the University Hospitals of Cleveland HAZMAT treatment center. The third and final meeting for the year took place at Ross Environmental Services in Grafton, Ohio. Ross hosted the meeting and provided a tour of their incineration facilities.

The officers met once again in December to plan for 1992. We agreed that the composition of our membership should mirror that of the ACHMM. Of our 28 paid members, 14 were consultant/engineers, five were vendors, seven were from industry, and there was no representation from the regulatory agencies. Of the total, 12 were CHMMs and 16 were not certified. We agreed that NEOCHMM should have more representation from industry and regulatory agencies. To this end, we added over 40 names to our mailing list to target these individuals. We also planned to design and print NEOCHMM letterhead, envelopes and outlined a tentative agenda for 1992.

Overall, it was a very productive year for NEOCHMM. The officers were pleased with the success of the initial chapter formation and continued the momentum into subsequent years.