Fore! That’s the sound you hear before scattering when an errant golf shot is headed your way. That’s kind of how I had been feeling about the upcoming LCCA Golf Outing on August 6^th.

Ask around. In response to the struggling economy, many golf outings are experiencing difficulties this year – poor attendance, declining sponsorships, etc. We had already experienced declines in 2009 membership and directory advertising and I was beginning to really worry about LCCA’s event.

Sure enough, our event started seeing several non-renewals on sponsorships and registrations seemed to be trailing past years’ tallies. My first thought was to eliminate the morning round to cut our losses. I was seeing storm clouds and rain on the horizon.

But in a phone call last week, I helped a member with a thorny labor issue. Maybe he was pleased with my quick assistance or maybe he had planned on a sponsorship regardless, but – unsolicited and out of the blue – the member declared his intention to sponsor the golf event. “I’ve got a couple hundred dollars I’d be willing to contribute,” he said. I paused a minute and replied, “You know, we’ve got a fair number of hole sponsors. Would you be willing to bump up to $500 to co-sponsor a beverage cart?” And that was the moment things seemed to change.

That member agreed to the increased sponsorship (Thanks Ed). The next day, LCCA sold out all afternoon tee times. Heidi immediately made the call to Midlane to reclaim our morning event time. It had been so hard to remain upbeat when things seemed grey, but now the outlook for the LCCA Golf Outing is warm and sunny.

Plan to come to LCCA’s golf event on August 6^th. Share the day with your customers and clients. Spend some time with your colleagues and co-workers. Network with your past, current and future business partners.

Morning tee times are open now! Many event sponsorship opportunities are available. Did I mention that the afternoon golf is sold out? The course is in perfect condition. The beer will be cold. The food will be delicious. The weather will be sunny and warm (no guarantees, but I’ve got a good feeling now). Call Heidi today at (847)623-2345 x 3!

It’s often said that just one good golf shot in an otherwise miserable round will keep you coming back the next time. Sometimes life is like that, too.

Several LCCA Members and local unions have graciously volunteered to be sponsors of the 2009 LCCA Golf Outing. Sponsors to date include:

Platinum Medallion Event Sponsor:
<One Available>

Gold Beverage Cart Sponsor:
Chicago Area LECET
Stuckey Construction Co.
<Two and a Half Available>

Silver Special Event Hole Sponsor:
Northern Illinois Mack
Best Sanitation Services
<More Available>

Bronze Hole/Evening Reception Sponsor:
Aldridge Electric
Allied North America
Blue Book, The
Burris Equipment Co.
Curran Contracting Company
Lake County Building & Construction Trades
NES Rentals, Inc.
NorStates Bank
Olson Service Co.
Osco Oil
Prairie Material Sales
Riley Construction
The VanderBloemen Group
Vulcan Construction Materials Co.
Waukegan Roofing
<More Available>

If you are interested in becoming a Golf Outing Sponsor, contact Heidi Diederich (847-623-2345 x3).

Congratulations and many thanks to the following members who have found value in their membership and supported LCCA over the past 5 years:

Clean Cut Tree Service, Inc.
Happ Builders, Inc.
Illinois Architectural Glass & Aluminum
Kroeschell Engineering North, Inc.
Petersen Excavating, Inc.
PetroLiance LLC
R J Underground, Inc.
Repair Service Corporation
Ryan Incorporated Central
State Bank of the Lakes
Sunset Cartage, Inc./Horizon Cartage, Inc.
Traffic Control & Protection, Inc.
Wunderlich-Malec Services, Inc.

LCCA’s Annual Scramble Golf Outing will take the course at Midlane Golf Resort in Wadsworth, on Thursday, August 6, 2009! The field is filling quickly so make your reservations soon if you wish to participate.

Golf Outing Chair, Scott Nelson, H.H. Holmes Testing, explains, “The morning shotgun will start at 7:00 am and our afternoon shotgun will begin at 1:30 pm. This allows morning and afternoon golfers to share lunch from noon until 1:00 pm. Lunch will feature our program including door prize drawings and the drawing for the 50-50 Raffle. Golfers just need to decide whether they want to golf in the morning or the afternoon.”

Following the afternoon round, we will be offering a light dinner and sponsored drinks to those who want to hang around and talk about the awesome round of golf they just played. All golf prizes (low net, closest to the pin, etc.) will be announced at the evening reception.

It’s summer now, but inevitably fall and winter will return. Beat the winter blahs with LCCA’s Winter Conference. The 2010 event will again be held jointly with ASA of Chicago. Together, we will travel to the beautiful beaches and Caribbean waters of the Grand Cayman Islands.

Dates:	January 13 - 17, 2010
Location:	Westin Grand Casuarina Grand Cayman Islands
Cost:	LAND ONLY $1,475 per person (double occupancy) $1,999 per person (single)
Air Travel/Upgrades:	Air Travel, Hotel Upgrades & Travel Insurance will be made available through the LCCA/ASA travel agent.

Again, watch your mailbox! Final details will be announced shortly. When registration does open, be sure to register early because a $25 per person fee will be assessed after September 1, 2009.

The Winter Workshop Committee met last week and worked on an itinerary for a trip to Turkey March 11-23, 2010. Prices are still being negotiated, but the goal is to keep costs below $4,000 per person (based on double occupancy). Initial phone calls to past Winter Workshop participants yielded interest from approximately 10-12 couples. At the same time, Chairman Alan Pickus announced that this will be his final year as chairman of the committee. Watch your mailbox! Final details will be announced shortly, but plan now to celebrate Alan’s Farewell Tour of Turkey in 2010.

Labor negotiations for 2009 are finally reaching their conclusion, but the positioning for 2010 negotiations is just beginning. Just two LCCA/MARBA agreements were up for negotiation in 2009. The Auto Mechanics agreement has been settled, but negotiations are continuing on a Teamsters agreement. In addition, there have been several other recent labor actions impacting LCCA contractors. Here’s a breakdown:

Automobile Mechanics, Local 701 – A new 3-year contract between Local 701 & LCCA/MARBA has been ratified by the union and management. That agreement includes changes to employee travel reimbursement and per diem language and language requiring proper allocation of future increases to health/welfare and pension funds. Wage/fringe package increases are as follows:

$1.73 increase on June 1, 2009
(split between health/welfare & pension – NO WAGE INCREASE)
$0.63 increase on December 1, 2009
(split between health/welfare & pension – NO WAGE INCREASE)
$1.85 increase on June 1, 2010
$2.00 increase on June 1, 2011

Teamsters Joint Council No. 25 (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry & Will) – Negotiators for LCCA/MARBA & the Teamsters actually did reach a tentative three-year agreement. However, the MARBA Board of Directors voted on July 7th to NOT ratify the settlement, due in part to the higher than expected financial terms and some problems and questions regarding some language changes.

Bricklayers District Council No. 1 (Cook, Lake, Will, Grundy, DuPage, Kendall, DeKalb, Kane & McHenry) – The parties agreed to a one-year extension agreement last fall with an economic wage package increase of $3.25. But on May 28, at the direction of Bricklayers District Council President James Allen, the parties tore up the extension agreement and replaced it with a near identical one with all of the same terms, except that the economic wage package increase has now been reduced from $3.25/hour to $2.75/hour.

Electricians Local 134 (Cook) – IBEW Local 134 and the Electrical Contractors Association of Chicago reached a two-year tentative agreement with increases set for $2.20 in 2009 and $3.00 in 2010.

Electricians Locals 117, 150, 461 and 701 (117-McHenry & No. Kane; 150-Lake; 461-Kendall & So. Kane; 701-DuPage) – Northeastern Illinois NECA is negotiating twelve labor agreements with IBEW Local Unions 117, 150, 461 and 701 for the Inside Agreements, Residential Agreements and Voice Data Video Agreements. The Inside Agreements with the 4 locals were referred to arbitration and the details will be available soon. The Residential Agreements with the 4 locals were extended for 3 months. On Voice Data Video Agreements, the parties agreed to a three-year contract. The economic increases were $1.70, $2.00 and $2.20 with a number of language changes.

Glaziers, Local 27 – The parties reached a three-year agreement on May 31. The economics are $2.75, $2.75 and $2.85 and there were some minor work rule changes.

Ironworkers, Local 1 (Cook, DuPage & Lake) – The Associated Steel Erectors and Ironworkers, Local 1 reached a three-year agreement with for increases of $2.76, $2.75 and $2.85 and several work rule changes.

Ironworkers, Local 63 (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake & McHenry) – The Iron League and Local 63 have reached a 3-year agreement. Foremen will receive $0.25 additional increase effective June 1, 2011. Regular increases are:

June 1, 2009 - $1.50
January 1, 2010 - $1.25
June 1, 1010 - $2.75
June 1, 2011 - $2.85

Marble Setters, Local 66 (merged into Bricklayers District Council) (Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry & Will) – After a work stoppage lasting over five weeks, the parties concluded a one-year agreement. The economic wage package increase is $2.75. The new agreement provides for a Saturday make-up day as well as language to "police" the industry.

Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, Local 501 (DuPage, Kane, Kendall & DeKalb) – PAMCANI and Local 501 agreed to a new 3-year contract retroactive to June 21, 2009. Language changes include the following: mandatory random drug testing with Random, no strike/no lockout language with Industrial Relations Council (IRC) mediation, benefits, deductions & contributions on hours worked, not hours paid), “4-10” language and expanded work day starting/ending times, and the establishment of a labor-management committee. The wage/fringe package increases are:

June 21, 2009 - $1.50
January 1, 2010 - $1.00
June 1, 2010 - $1.50
January 1, 2011 - $1.25
June 1, 2011 - $1.50
January 1, 2012 - $1.25

This week Illinois Governor Pat Quinn approved the first capital construction program in more than 10 years. Lawmakers approved the measure in late May, but the governor only recently decided he would sign the measure, which will put people to work and allow for much-needed improvements to Illinois’ infrastructure.

The approximately $30 billion plan is supported by new revenues generated from the increases in motor vehicle user fees and taxes on alcohol, candy, and soft drinks, as well as the legalization of video poker. The three bills comprising the capital plan signed by the Governor are the capital revenue bill (HB 255), the capital spending bill (HB 312), the capital bonding bill (HB 2400), and the capital budget implementation bill. A fourth bill (HB 313), which includes an additional $3 billion of specific line-item capital projects along with the governor’s coveted $400 million for high speed rail, has not yet been included in the package.

The Legislature made special effort to outline all spending, eliminating the lump sums and mystery money that had been criticized in previous capital bills. Communities will have an equal opportunity to apply for competitive grants to make improvements to parks, museums, local sewage, water and treatment facilities and other projects.

While the Capital Infrastructure Bill’s approval is tremendous news for construction contractors, enthusiasm is somewhat muted by the knowledge that the state is out of money. Starting July 15, the State Comptroller is no longer able to cut any more state checks. The General Assembly was scheduled to return to Springfield on July 14 to determine whether to attempt to override the Governor Quinn’s vetoes of two separate budgets approved last month.

The Legislature initially passed SB 1197 – the so-called “50% budget” – that funded necessary state functions and left further budget debate to be considered later this year. Quinn vetoed that measure.

Legislators then passed HB 2145 – a package of five appropriations bills that appropriated federal and other state funds to various state agencies including $4 billion in general state funds to keep basic state operations functioning, including furnishing the salaries of state workers.

Governor Quinn vetoed that measure as well land last week announced $1 billion in threatened budget cuts. The Governor stated that his office has already begun to send out notices to the 2,600 state employees slated for layoffs contained in the cuts. The budget cuts also include 12 furlough days for unionized state employees, which must be negotiated with the unions before they can be implemented. If the unions reject those furlough days and do not agree to cancel a scheduled pay increase worth $125 million, the Governor warned that as many as 2,500 additional layoffs would be forthcoming.

After pushing for tax increases since taking office, Quinn says he’s willing to forgo any increase for now, but he’ll continue to push for a hike either in the fall or next year.

The Governor has raised the ante. To prevent any immediate shutdown of state government, lawmakers must decide this week whether to raise the stakes further by overriding the Governor’s budget vetoes or to negotiate and send Quinn an entirely new budget.

The political merry-go-round is spinning and local and state politicians are jumping on and off. Locally, 3 new Lake County Board members have been appointed by County Board Chair Suzi Schmidt. Collin O’Rourke (D-Waukegan) has been named to replace Robert Sabonjian, who was elected as mayor of Waukegan this spring. Aaron Lawlor (R-Vernon Hills) was appointed to replace Pam Newton who resigned to become the village administrator in Hawthorn Woods. Craig Taylor (R-Lake Zurich) was appointed to replace Michael Talbett who resigned to become the village administrator in Kildeer.

Also, Board Chair Suzi Schmidt recently announced she will not seek re-election and will instead run for the State Senate seat currently held by Sen. Michael Bond (D-Grayslake). Bond recently announced he will not seek re-election and will instead run for the US House seat currently held by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park).

Rep. Kirk had been expected by many to run for the US Senate currently held by tainted Blagojevich-appointee Sen. Roland Burris (D), who was tapped to fill President Barack Obama’s former US Senate seat. First, Sen. Burris must survive a likely Democrat primary challenge versus State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (State Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa) just announced his candidacy for Giannoulias’ state treasurer seat). Rep. Kirk was also thought to be considering a run for Illinois Governor, but recent news reports indicate that Kirk will forego both of those races and seek re-election to his US House seat.

The biggest political move last week was the announcement by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) that she would seek re-election to that office and forego a widely anticipated race for Illinois Governor. With Lisa Madigan out of the governor’s race, State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) has announced his intention to run for governor. It’s not certain what incumbent Governor Pat Quinn’s intentions are, but it is assumed he will seek re-election. One thing is certain, 2010 is shaping up as a wild election year in Illinois.

Highway Technologies
880 N. Addison Road
Villa Park, IL 60181
Phone: (630) 932-4600
Fax: (630) 932-7611
        www.hwy-tech.com
SUPPLIER 
      Joshua Jayne, Territory Sales Manager
Traffic control and products.

SPONSORED BY: Mike DeNinno, Lake County Grading