I share with the Association in its greeting wish of a happy and prosperous New Year to all LCCA members! Unfortunately, forecasts for 2009 project a difficult year for the national, state and local economy. I am optimistic and hopeful that things will improve, but – as a construction industry – we all might have to work just a little bit harder to maintain and grow our businesses (there’s that optimism again).

To assist you, your Lake County Contractors Association will also be working harder. The Board of Directors has worked hard to refine the 2009 budget and reduced expenses wherever possible. The Board of Governors will continue to work closely with all of the LCCA committees to spur the best and most effective association programs to maximize your member benefits.

The LCCA leadership team will move forward in 2009 with just a few changes. Jim Becker of Becker Electrical Group has resigned from the Board of Governors (Thanks Jim for your service!) and there are 6 new Governor appointments – Steve Pflueger of Becker Electrical Group, Josh Boller of Boller Construction Co Inc, Steve Dalbec of Concord Construction Services, Bill Vignocchi of John Keno & Company, Jamie McKeown of Manusos General Contracting and Dan Sjong of Maxim Construction. Oh, and we hired that Penno guy to replace the retiring Gary Dowty.

Tim and the rest of the LCCA staff have fresh, new ideas to combine with the tried-and-true concepts you have come to enjoy. Together, leadership and staff pledge their best effort to make the Association an even more valuable asset for you and your business.

What’s still missing in this recipe for group improvement? You. You are the catalyst or active ingredient. Be an active member. Plan to attend as many seminars, events and meetings as possible. Use LCCA’s services whenever possible. Interact with other LCCA members and make that one extra contact that could turn into a great opportunity.

Remember that wish for a happy and prosperous New Year? Be a part of the LCCA effort to help turn that wish into reality.

LCCA President Lyle Ehlers has appointed the following members to serve on the 2009 Board of Governors. In addition to the Board of Directors, the members include:

Bob Boller - Boller Construction Co.
Josh Boller - Boller Construction Co.
Steve Dalbec - Concord Construction Services
Barry Heinrichs - Burris Equipment Company
Craig Jones - Blue Boy Portable Toilets
Jamie McKeown - Manusos General Contracting
Scott Nelson - HH Holmes Testing Laboratories
Paul Nick - Lincoln Financial Advisors
Steve Pflueger - Becker Electrical Group
Fred Rodheim - Abbott Laboratories
Dan Sjong - Maxim Construction
Ed Stuckey - Stuckey Construction
Bill Vignocchi - John Keno and Son
Mike Wolff - Lake County Grading

LCCA’s Program Committee is pleased to announce the Membership Meeting and Event schedule (see enclosed) for 2009. “We’re offering some exciting new programs this year,” committee chair Mike Ryan explains.

The first Membership Meeting of 2009 is the must attend event of the year. This vital and informative meeting will feature a panel including Scott Yelvington, President of NorStates Bank, and Todd Horlbeck, owner of Horlbeck Capital Management. The panel will examine strategies for business survival and even growth in the coming year.

The LCCA Expo will be held on April 2^nd at the new Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake. New to the Expo this year will be an added car/truck show. Expo vendors and members will be invited to register their “toys” to display at the show. The Expo is one event that should not be missed!

The May Membership Meeting at Kemper Lakes Golf Club will include the opportunity to golf with the pros at Kemper Lakes. Use this opportunity to get ready for the LCCA Golf Outing on August 6, 2009.

Lake County government is implementing a new procurement system for many small works construction projects and will host an informational breakfast seminar at 7:30 am on January 7, 2009, at Country Squire Banquets in Grayslake (US 45 & Route 21). Learn about Job Order Contracting (JOC), how to bid and how to seek subcontracting and small works contracting opportunities with Lake County government.

Lake County believes that JOC can provide numerous advantages for both the county and the contracting community and will quickly reduce the extensive backlog of funded work. LCCA is assisting the county on this project.

There is no fee for the breakfast seminar, but Lake County would like to have a rough estimate of attendance for seats, coffee and pastries. Please call the LCCA office or Matt Garrison of the Gordian Group at (312)505-4809 to reserve your place at this important meeting.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the 2009 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning on January 1, 2009, the standard mileage rates for the use of a vehicle will be:

The turmoil surrounding Governor Rod Blagojevich is impacting all areas of Illinois politics:

Burris Appointed to US Senate
On December 30, 2008, Gov. Blagojevich named former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the US Senate. The action comes despite warnings by Democrat Senate leaders that they would not seat anyone appointed by the disgraced governor who faces criminal charges of allegedly trying to sell the post. Blagojevich's criminal defense attorney had said previously that Blagojevich would not name a Senate successor to Obama.

Gov. Blagojevich had also indicated he agreed with other Illinois politicians that the best option might be a special election to fill Obama's seat. State Democrats have backed away from the idea, publicly citing the high cost of a special election and privately fearing that a Republican might win in a special election.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) previously warned Blagojevich in a letter signed by all 50 sitting Democratic senators that following the governor's arrest Senate Democrats would not seat any appointment the governor made.

Burris, age 71, became the first African-American to win statewide office as comptroller in 1978. He failed in three consecutive runs for governor in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

Blagojevich Impeachment
Burris’ appointment comes in the midst of efforts to impeach Gov. Blagojevich. Most observers believe that the State Assembly will vote to impeach Blagojevich within the next few weeks. A conviction in the State Senate seems less likely. In order to convict, State Senators may need to see actual evidence of criminality. At this point, federal authorities do not wish to spoil any federal criminal conviction and are not disclosing the full content of their wire-tapping and evidence against Blagojevich. It is not known what impact the Burris appointment will have on the impeachment or federal criminal proceedings.

Ethics/Pay to Play Legislation
In 2008, the Illinois Legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto and passed an ethics or “Pay to Play” disclosure law that governs business contracts with agencies under the governor’s control. In response, Gov. Blagojevich issued an executive order that basically extends the same provisions to members of the General Assembly. Both the law and executive order take effect January 1, 2009. The major provisions of both include:

1) All business entities whose aggregate bids or proposals on state contracts or actual contracts total more than $50,000 annually must register with the State Board of Elections. This requirement applies whether the business makes political contributions or not.

2) All impacted business entities are required to include the certificate of registration with any bids or proposals submitted to a state agency.

3) The business is also required, within 10 days, to send a copy of its registration via mail or hand delivery to each “Affiliated Entity” and “Affiliated Person.” The definition of affiliated entity includes associations and not-for profits to which the contractor or business belongs. This means that LCCA contractor members will need to notify LCCA of their state registration.

In the simplest terms, neither business entities nor their associations like LCCA will be able to make direct contributions to agencies controlled by the governor or to legislators. Contributions to PACs are still permitted, as long as the PAC does not receive 33 percent of more of its funding from a single business entity. Contributions to LCCPAC or ICIPAC are still permitted.

Both the law and the order require registration via a fully automated (read: computer) process no later than February 2, 2009. But the State Board of Elections is nowhere near ready to begin implementing the new ethics law and executive order. The Board has drafted a new emergency rule, but has not yet officially filed the rule and major compliance concerns still remain.

The Blagojevich impeachment brouhaha has only complicated matters further. LCCA and its legislative collaborative group ICIC will continue to push the Board of Elections and legislators to address the outstanding compliance issues in January. LCCA will inform its members of any movement on the issue.

LCCA is pleased to announce the scheduling of a Construction Quality Management for Contractors Course on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The Construction Quality Management (CQM) Course for Contractors was developed by the Corps of Engineers to help familiarize contractor personnel with the Corps CQM concepts and procedures. This CQM Certification is necessary when working on ANY Navy project. The instructor for the course will be John Parker formerly of NAVFAC SE. Space is limited, so sign up today! To register, or for more information, give Heidi a call (847) 623-2345 x3 or register online at www.lcca-il.org/events.

Through a partnership with Illinois State University, the University Center of Lake County will host two professional development programs - Project Management Certification and LEED-NC 2.2 Exam Preparation.

ISU’s successful Project Management Certificate program will run again from January 15 through April 30th. The project management certificate involves the study of principles, practices and methods for proving leadership to work groups and teams engaged in the completion of complex projects. Eight 3-hour class sessions broadcast from the ISU campus will be augmented by 36 hours of online exercises (4.5 hours per class session). The Lake County class sessions will be held at the University Center of Lake County in an interactive video classroom that permits full interaction between the Lake County students and the downstate professor and classmates.

Students in the LEED-NC 2.2 Exam Preparation course will learn about green building and sustainable construction practices. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a market-driven green building rating system developed and managed by US Green Building Council (USGBC) to support the widespread adoption of sustainable design and construction through its certification process.

This course is specifically designed to help professionals take the LEED Accredited Professionals (AP) exam successfully and achieve highest understanding of the current LEED green building requirements and processes. It includes two full-day face-to-face classroom sessions (February 20 and April 17, 2009) augmented by additional online study. This program will be held at the College of Lake County’s Southlake Campus in Lake County’s first public building with a green roof.

Additional information and registration instructions are available at www.ucenter.org or from Hilary Ward Schnadt at (847) 665-4004.

Applications are now available for the Construction Industry Service Corporation’s (CISCO) 2009 Scholarship Program for both the 2-year Continuing Education and the 4-year scholarships are available at www.cisco.org/schol.htm or by calling CISCO at (630)472-9411. The candidate must be a child of a member of a building trades union or a non-bargaining union employee of a union contractor that is affiliated with CISCO (including LCCA members).

Each year, four 4-year scholarships valued at $2,000 per year, and two 2-year Continuing Education scholarships valued at $1,000 per year are awarded. Completed applications, along with all required materials, must be returned to CISCO by February 15, 2009. Winners will be notified March 31^st and awards will be presented at CISCO’s Annual Luncheon in April.

Applications for LCCA’s 2009 Safety Awards have been mailed to Contractor Members. Remember, you do not need to be “perfect” to apply. Since your results are compared with national averages, you are not competing against other members, but rather your results are judged against all contractors across the country, doing the same type of work.

Completed applications are due into the LCCA Office no later than January 31, 2009. Awards will be presented at the February Membership Meeting on February 26^th at the Country Squire Banquets in Grayslake.

LCCA will once again have a booth at the 18^th Annual Construction Safety Conference & Expo. The conference will be held February 17-19, 2009, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Manning the booth will be LCCA Safety Committee Members so if you are going to the conference, be sure to stop by our booth to find out how LCCA can help your safety program.

Complete conference information can be found on the Chicagoland Construction Safety Council’s website – www.buildsafe.org. Exhibit space is still available. If interested, please call CCSC at (708)544-2082 x202.

In November leadership representing 15 construction trade associations and 8 Union Building Trades Councils in Northern Illinois (temporarily dubbed “Construction U”) met three times to discuss problems and solutions in the standstill residential construction market. A smaller sub-committee of the participants - including LCCA EVP Tim Penno - met twice more in December to identify strategies and solutions to persuade home developers to keep the area’s residential construction work union and to help motivate new home buyers.

Residential developers are dealing with an 18-month backlog of existing new homes, plunging real estate values, foreclosures on the properties they presently hold and increasing difficulties in obtaining financing for any future development. Developers have been force to roll back their new home prices to 2005 levels and are threatening to cut future costs by building non-union.

After three full days of intense and productive conversation, the Contractor U group has formulated a list of short and long term ideas. These ideas include offering a 5-year Protection Package to homeowners on all union work, temporarily buying and holding developers’ current real estate, assisting in financing and even rolling back union wages (not benefits) to 2005 levels.

To their credit, the Union Building Trades leaders seem to recognize the dire nature of the residential construction marketplace and have not yet rejected any idea. All Construction U group participants recognize that some of these ideas may require some level of CBA or PLA negotiation or re-negotiation.

The next step in the process is for the Building Trades leaders to bring all of the unions into some form of an agreement. That meeting is scheduled for January 12, 2009. If that Herculean task is accomplished, the Contractor U group will move forward with informational meetings with developers and potential marketing efforts to new home buyers.

This project is a long way from fruition, but there exists a fair chance that something could be accomplished. LCCA will continue in its involvement in the process and keep you posted.

It may be January, but here’s your chance to bask in the sunshine and watch the Cubs square off against the White Sox! LCCA is sponsoring a raffle to benefit the LCCPAC. Raffle tickets are just $100 each for the chance to win a March Madness/Spring Training Trip on March 19-21, 2009.

The grand prize includes 2 round trip airline tickets from Chicago to Phoenix, 2 nights lodging at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel & Spa in Glendale, AZ, and 2 Cubs vs. Sox Dugout Field Box Tickets for the March 20, 2009 exhibition game at the brand-new White Sox spring training home - Camelback Ranch Ballpark.