2004 Structural Symposium Evaluation

The 2004 Structural Pest Control Symposium was held in Sacramento at the Lions Gate Hotel on March 23 and 24, 2004. The event drew a total of 109 attendees — 71 attendees from various county agricultural commissioner (CAC) offices, 31 Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) staff, and seven Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB) staff. This year’s symposium was co-sponsored by DPR, SPCB, and the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association.

Most comments submitted were highly positive. Over 90 percent of symposium attendees overwhelmingly expressed great satisfaction with the relevance and utility of the symposium, citing that the knowledge they gained will assist them in making sound judgment in future administrative civil penalty actions. Attendees were also impressed by the volume and expertise of the speakers who participated at the symposium.

Topics that attendees felt were of great interest to their job assignments:

• Notice of Proposed Action writing procedures and examples
• Hearing officer/Advocate role and responsibilities
• Pest Control Operators of California responsibilities and mission
• Breakdown of elements of violations exercises
• Los Angeles County’s undercover Tarp Removal Aeration Plan surveillance activities

Suggested topics for future training:

• Personal protection equipment/legal ramifications and interpretations in structural applications
• Alternate this advance training with the basic training every other year
• Mock structural hearing
• More presentations on the structural sting
• Overview of real structural civil penalty actions
• Tarp Removal Aeration Plan review

The Structural Training Committee has compiled the materials presented at the Symposium onto a CD-ROM media to assist CAC staff in training new biologists in conducting their structural enforcement activities. The materials contained on the enclosed CD-ROM can also be downloaded from DPR’s Web site at www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/county/training/trngmenu.htm#structpest. At the closing of the Symposium we held a question and answer session where CAC and DPR staff asked various questions related to the structural pest control enforcement program. Enclosed is a summary of the questions asked and their answers.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Mostafa Chrichi, of my staff, at (916) 445-3884 or at mchrichi@cdpr.ca.gov.

Sincerely,