AGC Nebraska Building Chapter's E-Update

May 13 , 2009

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Thank you to corporate sponsor Woods & Aitken!

Golf Outing Update

Golf Outing Update- We are hoping for great spring Nebraska weather on Monday for the annual outing at Quarry Oaks.  There are 127 golfers registered as of today.  There is still room for a few more golfers and the final list of golfers will not go to the course until Friday morning.  Contact the office if you still want to take part!

Remember the new start time:  11:30am shotgun start.  Click here for full details.

THANK YOU to all the fine sponsors who are making this outing another successful event for everyone!

Corporate Sponsors:
Gene Lilly Surety Bonds
Lutz & Company, PC
SilverStone Group

Dining Sponsors:
Duncan Thompson Group Inc.
Kiewit Building Group
Nebco Companies
Pella Products of Omaha & Lincoln
The Harry A. Koch and Company
Union Bank and Trust Co.
Woods & Aitken LLP

Beverage Sponsors:
Constructors Bonding & Insurance
Dynamic Consulting Inc.
Endurance Power Products, Inc.
Holmes Murphy & Associates
Mechanical Contractors Association
Midwest Scaffold Service, LLC
Paulsen, Inc.
Pella Products of Omaha & Lincoln
The Schemmer Associates
Thiele Geotech, Inc.
Thrasher Basement Systems AND YES, also the Watering Hole #7
Unico Group, Inc.

Flag Sponsors:
Apollo Steel Co
Bryant Air Conditioning & Heating Co. Inc.
Builders Supply Co. Inc.
Christensen Lumber Inc.
Copple Insurance Agency Inc.
Drake-Williams Steel, Inc.
Fucinaro Excavating Co.
Gerhold Concrete Co.
HBE Becker Meyer Love LLP
Kingery Construction Co.
Lyman-Richey Corp.
Mechanical Contractors Association
Nebraska Ash Co.
Nebraska Brick & Supply Co.
Nebraska Fire Sprinkler Corp.
Nebraska Machinery, Inc.
O’Keefe Elevator Co.
Overland Constructors
Pinnacle Bank
Porter Trustin Carlson
Sampson Construction Co.
Snell Services, Inc.
Stetson Building Products, Inc.
Travelers
The Waldinger Corp.

 

GC Member Telephone Interviews

The information that is gathered during the interview will be compiled and shared with the AGC Board for use in the bi-annual updating of the Chapter’s strategic plan and the 2010-11 Plan of Work.  Your feedback and input is vital to the planning process.  Jean will be contacting all GC members to set a time for the phone interview, the interview form will be sent to you the day before with a reminder of the scheduled call.  She is scheduling 8-10 interviews per week.

 
Construction Learning Center At State Fair

The Nebraska State Fair folks have invited the Nebraska Chapter and the Building Chapter to partner with them to develop and provide a Construction Learning Center event at the last fair in Lincoln later this summer.  The Construction Learning Center will be housed in the Lancaster Building at the State Fair Grounds and will be open August 28-September 7th.

The main objective of the event is to provide interactive activities and static displays about the construction industry in Nebraska and the many different types of jobs and careers it offers.  The target population for the event will be K-12 students, educators and parents.  If the partnership goes well this year the CLCenter will have a prime spot at the new fair in Grand Island in 2010.

The initial planning and business plan for the event has been the joint work of people from both AGC Chapters.   Wes Oestriech, Don Wrieth and Jean Petsch are representing the Building Chapter.  Curt Smith, Sam Porter, Joe Delgado and Katie Wilson are the committee members from the Nebraska Chapter.  Bob Carlson, Carlson Consulting, has volunteered to be the site manger for the event for the run of the fair.

More details about this event will be out in June.  We are going to need volunteers to help make this a successful event.

 

central community college

Heavy Equipment Training
Central Community College-Hastings

  • 22 two-day workshops, April-October
  • Each focuses on one type of equipment
  • 10 types of equipment included

All sessions cover:

  • Basic equipment orientation and operation
  • safety procedures
  • loading and excavating

Click here for schedule and details or go to
www.cccneb.edu/HeavyEquipment

 

Make A Donation To Our State PAC Fund And Earn A Chance To Win

Make a donation to our State PAC Fund and earn a chance to win a free registration and lodging at the 2010 AGC of America Convention to be held in Orlando, FL the first week of March.  The Building Chapter recently won the free registration and 3 nights lodging for the 2010 convention and will pass the package worth over $1500 on to one of you.  To have your name included in the drawing you must donate a minimum of $100 to the Nebraska Construction Industry PAC between now and September 25th.  We will draw the winning name at Fall Conference.

Donations to a state PAC may be made from personal or business accounts.  Checks should be made payable to Nebraska Construction Industry PAC and mailed to the Building Chapter Office between now and Fall Conference.

This week we had our first $1,000 contribution to the fund!  That equals 10 changes to win…………….

 
Golden Hard Hat Award

Today we received the following information and links by email from the Colorado Construction magazine.  The editors asked that the information be passed along to the membership.

Dear Nebraska Construction Association Members:

Colorado Construction magazine (www.colorado.construction.com) will devote its October issue to the Gold Hard Hat Awards, highlighting outstanding construction projects in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota. The annual Gold Hard Hat Awards is a competition to determine the best projects completed in these states by local firms involved in any aspect of a project, including owners and developers, public or private. There is no charge for entries.

Judging will be done by a panel of industry experts, based on design quality and innovation, craftsmanship, the project's contribution to the community and the industry, solution of unique design and construction challenges, and overall excellence. The size of the project will not be a factor in the
judging.

This is the first year we have expanded the program into your state, so we are seeking your assistance in spreading the word about this free competition that will lead to a national competition hosted by McGraw-Hill Construction.

Winning projects will automatically be entered in the National Best of 2009 Awards and will be judged against the winners from other regions. The winners of the National Best of 2009 Awards will be profiled in a national supplement that will run in Engineering News-Record (www.enr.com) and 11 Regional Publications reaching over 150,000 design and construction professionals.

Click here to see the call for entries for project submission criteria, categories and deadlines.

Sincerely,

Mark Shaw
Melissa Leslie
Editors, The Daily Journal & Colorado Construction
Call: 303-584-6724

 
From AGC Of America

OSHA Unveils New Inspection and Regulatory Plans

The acting head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) gave a preview of how the agency will operate under the new administration.  During an address to the Small Business Labor Safety Roundtable last week, acting OSHA chief Jordan Barab said the agency plans to hire between 130 and 160 new safety enforcement inspectors over the coming weeks. 

Of those new inspectors, 35 will be exclusively assigned to review safety procedures on stimulus-funded projects.  He added that the agency was bringing on an additional 20 people to help write new safety standards. 

While these moves clearly indicate a greater emphasis on more regulatory and enforcement efforts, Mr. Barab did back down from earlier reports that the agency would walk away from its efforts to partner with employers.  He noted, for example, that  while the agency has suspended its practice of setting quotas, early reports that the agency was planning to disband its VPP and alliance programs were not true.

He added that the agency was planning on circulating a proposed Globally Harmonized Systems rule within the administration for review “very soon.”

 
AGCA Legislative Action

AGCA Legislative Action needs to continue on the industry’s key issues.

Here is a great suggestion from one of our Omaha members.  AGCA provides all of us a great resource to use in contacting our national delegation in Washington DC.  The Omaha member is sharing this resource with other business people in and outside of the construction industry, asking them to help oppose the “Card Check” legislation.  He tells them that they can print a sample letter to adapt and all the addresses and background information is located in the action center.  This is a great idea so here is the link to the AGCA Legislative Action Center: 

http://www.agc.org/cs/advocacy/legislative_activity/card_check

This link will provide background information and other resources about Card Check legislation.  Look to the right-hand side of the page for “TAKE ACTION” box.  This will take you to the prepared letters to the Nebraska Representatives. 

 
Reminder of Change of Email Address!

The email address for the Building Chapter has changed to agcnebuilders@windstream.net. This address goes to Linda. Jean’s direct email address has changed to jdpetsch@windstream.net. 

After May 15th, emails using "@alltel.net" will no longer be forwarded to us. Please make the above changes in your address books.

 
If there are other people in your company who would like to receive this E-Update, please send their e-mail address to agcnebuilders@windstream.net or call (402) 438-0400.