The following is the tentative agenda for LCCA’s 2005 meetings. Dates are subject to change.

Jan. 7-11 - Mini Workshop Playacar, Mexico

Jan. 27 - Membership Meeting, Country Squire

Jan. 27 – February 9 – Winter Workshop, Vietnam

Feb. 24 - Membership Meeting, Country Squire - Safety Awards

Mar. 24 - Membership Meeting, Country Squire

April 28 - Membership Meeting, Country Squire

May 26 - Membership Meeting, Country Squire

Summer Outing - TBA

August 5 - Golf Outing

Sept. 22 - Membership Meeting

Oct. 27 - Membership Meeting

Nov. 17 - Annual Meeting

Dec. 2 - Holiday Party

At the Annual Meeting last month, the following Officers and Directors were elected to serve an additional year.

Mike Temple, Mechanical, Inc. - President

Mike Henderson, Jos. J. Henderson & Son - 1st Vice President

Micky Day, DK Contractors - 2nd Vice President

Lyle Ehlers, Boller Construction Company - Treasurer

Gary L. Dowty, LCCA - Secretary (Non-voting)

Pat Kirschhoffer, Kirschhoffer Trucking - Immediate Past Pres.

Jim Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equip. - MARBA Director

Tom Hegel, Kelso Burnett - Director

Karen Johnson, Roughneck Concrete Cutters - Director

Paul Nick, Lincoln Financial Advisors - Director

Mike Ryan, Meyer Material Company - Director

Steve Thelen, Thelen Sand & Gravel - Director

About 170 were in attendance for the second annual Trade Show and Annual Meeting at Midlane Country Club last month. A special thanks to the exhibitors who helped make the sellout show a success, and to the many contractors who visited the booths. The exhibitors include:

The Blue Book Bldg. & Construction

Boncosky Oil Company

Burris Equipment Company

CISCO

Corporate Imaging Concepts, Inc.

Dam, Snell & Taveirne, Ltd

Gatwood Contractors, Inc.

Lance Construction Supplies

Lee Jensen Sales Co., Inc.

Lincoln Financial Advisors

Lite Technology

McCann Industries, Inc.

McDonald Modular Solutions, Inc.

Metrolift, Inc.

NES Rentals

Northern IL Mack, Inc.

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Palatine Oil Co., Inc.

Positioning Solutions Company

Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers

John Sakash Company, Inc.

United Rentals

Waukegan Steel Sales, Inc.

Ziegler Associates, Ltd

LCCA is pleased to welcome Terry Skarbalus to the staff.  Terry will be working part-time and helping with many clerical activities.

The LCCA Office will be closed on Monday, December 27, and Monday, January 3, in celebration of the holidays. Most unions will be working at straight time on Friday and Monday; and Saturday, December 25, and Saturday, January 1, will be the recognized holidays. Please note that the Carpenters are claiming that Friday, December 24, and Friday, December 31, are also “holidays.”

On behalf of LCCA's Officers, Directors and Staff. We wish you a very happy holiday and a successful 2005.

The construction industry lost a long time friend and advocate last month when Henry Tewes passed away. Henry was a lifelong resident of Lake County and owned and operated Tewes Company until his retirement several years ago. Even after retiring, he remained active as a trustee for the Teamsters Local 301 benefit funds.

A long time active member of LCCA, Henry was presented the Governors Award in 1979 and made an Honorary Lifetime Member of LCCA when he retired. Our condolences to Bette and the rest of the Tewes family. He will be missed!

Carpenters Holiday Pay – The Carpenters are demanding that Christmas be celebrated on Friday, December 24, and New Years on Friday, December 31. According to the contract, “There shall be no work done on the following holidays designated herein or days celebrated as such, …” According to the Carpenters, when the holiday falls on a Saturday, it is “celebrated” on the Friday before.

We had this same dispute in 1999 and the Carpenters gave up at the last minute. Since then we have clarified several other agreements but there has been no chance to clarify the Carpenters language.

It is apparent the Carpenters are pushing this issue and might be able to make double-time stick for contractors who choose to work these days. MARBA’s attorney has stated our position, but so far the union has not replied.

Cement Masons Working Dues - Cement Masons Local 11-362 (Lake County) and 803 (DuPage County) have notified us that there will be a change in their working dues structure effective January 1. The International has instituted a 1% Working Dues checkoff that will be in addition to the existing local dues checkoff. There is NO increase in the total package. This is just an additional deduction from the after tax income.

Operating Engineers Layoff Rules – A recent grievance regarding a layoff is instructive for everyone. The contractor laid off the Operator but sent his check at the next regularly scheduled payday. According to the contractor, they had been paying this way for years – with no trouble! Well, he has trouble now. Just because you do something does not make it right. The contract requires the check be available at quitting time or sent by Certified Mail postmarked within 24 hours after the quitting time. Know your contract and avoid penalties.

MARBA Officers Reelected – The current MARBA Officers have been reelected for another year. They include:

• Paul Hellerman, Bulley & Andrews - President
• Kathy Stuart, S&J Construction – Vice Chairman
• Jim Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equipment – Vice Chair
• Tom Rakow, IHC Construction – Secretary
• Todd Harris, JC Harris & Sons - Treasurer

The elections are over for another year and very little change was made to the elected officials in the State and County races. The results follow. The number in brackets is the vote total from Lake and Cook County only.

STATE SENATE – All incumbents were reelected with only the Bill Peterson race even being close.

• District 26 (Southwest Lake County) – Bill Peterson (R) [42,865] defeated Nancy Peterson (D) [42,865].
• District 29 (Lake Bluff to Highland Park) – Susan Garrett (D) [30,667] defeated Daniel Bryant (R) [11,139].

STATE REPRESENTATIVE – Once again, all incumbents won reelection. Bob Churchill was the only race that would be considered tight.

• District 51 (Libertyville, Mundelein, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich) – Ed Sullivan (R) [28,486] defeated Nancy Shepherdson (D) [20,047].
• District 52 (Lakemoor south to Barrington) – Mark Beaubien (R) [19,035] defeated Larry Feigen (D) [8,183].
• District 53 (Buffalo Grove) – Sid Mathais (R) [26,336] defeated Nicholas Chrisos (D) [14,648].
• District 58 (Lake Bluff to Highland Park) – Karen May (D) [35,549] defeated Marc Brown (R ) [18,510].
• District 59 (Park City south to Buffalo Grove) – Kathy Ryg (D) [24,410] defeated Paul Tully (R) [16,325].
• District 60 (Waukegan to North Chicago) – Eddie Washington (D) [14,315] defeated Susan Tenzi (R) [5,665].
• District 61 (North Lake County south to Lake Villa/Wadsworth) – JoAnn Osmond (R) [27,584] defeated Bill Scheurer (D) [16,121].
• District 62 (Round Lake, Grayslake, Gurnee) – Incumbent Bob Churchill (R) [23,434] defeated Sheryn Elman (D) [20,306]

COUNTY BOARD – The only new addition to the County Board is Larry Leafblad who replaced Don Bauer. All other incumbents won reelection. Bob Powers in District 16 was the only tight race.

• District 1 (NE Lake County – Antioch) – Judy Martini (R) [9,352] defeated Spiro Georgeson (D) [4,250].
• District 5 (Wauconda to Volo) – Bonnie Thompson Carter (R) [8,409] defeated Ryan Finley (D) [4,590].
• District 6 (North Grayslake, Third Lake) – Larry Leafblad (R) [6,645] defeated Steve Skinner (D) [4,531].
• District 10 (Mundelein) – Diana O’Kelly (R) [8,008] defeated Roberta Rekus (D) [3,724].
• District 11 (South Grayslake) – Sandy Cole (R) [8,384] defeated George Kinser (D) [4,424].
• District 14 (North Chicago) – Democrat Audrey Nixon was unopposed.
• District 16 (Round Lake, Hainesville) – Bob Powers (R) [4,040] defeated Terry Wilke (D) [4,004].

REFERENDUMS – Of the construction referendums, three out of seven passed – all by very narrow margins. $87,000,000 in bond issues were defeated and only $64,000,000 passed.

• Deerfield $25,000,000 Library Bond to build new building YES – 3,168 NO – 6,913
• Barrington $28,000,000 Library Bond for building addition. YES – 5,450 NO – 6,219
• Gavin School District $4,000,000 Bond for Gavin Central School. YES – 1,349 NO – 1,856
• Gavin School District $1,000,000 Bond for Gavin South life safety upgrades. YES – 1,633 NO 1,576
• Big Hollow School District $29,000,000 for a new elementary and middle school. YES – 2,491 NO – 1,871
• Lake Villa School District $30,000,000 Bond for new school building. YES – 4,324 NO – 4,972
• Grayslake School District #46 $34,000,000 Bond for new school buildings. YES – 5,759 NO – 5,735

No Movement on Workers Comp Bill – Veto session ended with no action taken on HB 805.  ICIC is continuing to work with Senator Terry Link who is the bill’s sponsor.  Issues that remain to be resolved include the maximum weekly compensation rate for cases of partial incapacitation, penalties and accompanying language for workers compensation cases where employers legitimately delay payments and, most importantly, the calculation of the average weekly wage and the related issue of overtime and its impact on the average weekly wage.

Significant progress has been made on the first two points.  Over the next eight weeks, ICIC will be working with Senator Link to address our final and most significant issue. 

Unemployment Insurance Proposal Emerges at 11th Hour – Organized labor introduced a proposal late in the Veto Session to provide UI benefits for locked-out employees.  SB 1994, as amended, requires employers to provide unemployment insurance benefits to employees locked out as a result of a labor dispute.  This idea was offered by labor in the unemployment insurance negotiations in 2003, but was not part of the multi-billion dollar agreement last year.

On a partisan roll call, the Senate Labor Committee advanced the motion to concur to House Amendment One to SB 1994.  Senators Larry Walsh (D-Elwood) and Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) asked good questions of the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Carol Ronan (D-Chicago) and indicated their concerns about the bill.  Both voted to advance the bill to the Senate floor but noted that they were not committing to vote for the bill on the floor.  While the Senate adjourned for the Fall prior to floor action on the motion, the bill is poised for final action and could be voted on and sent to the Governor in the final two days of the 93rd General Assembly scheduled for January 10 and 11.

Governor Seeks $3 Billion Capital Authority – The General Assembly adjourned this summer without taking action on the state’s capital budget.  Governor Blagojevich last week requested the General Assembly pass a blanket $3 billion capital appropriation – without naming the projects to be funded.  The Governor, under his plan, would make those determinations at a later date, once a funding source for the program was determined.

The General Assembly balked at this notion, and again adjourned without passing an FY05 capital budget.

ICIC Bills Still in Limbo – ICIC’s Design-Build bill, SB 1497, and Construction Management bill, SB 1648, remain alive in the current General Assembly.  We know of no opposition to the bills.  There is still a possibility they will receive consideration in the final two days of the 93rd General Assembly, January 10 and 11.

Members of the legislature will be home for the next month.  Now is the perfect time to contact them in their home districts about Workers Comp, UI and ICIC’s two key bills.

Next year LCCA will offer two units of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) “Supervisor Training Program.” In January we will present Unit 1 - “Leadership and Motivation” followed by Unit 5 – “Planning and Scheduling” in February.

Our lead instructor will be Wayne Pratt, Oasis Business Group. Wayne’s career in the construction industry spans nearly 25 years. He has worked for some of the largest companies in the power industry, including Combustion Engineering and Westinghouse Electric Company. Starting as a shipyard boilermaker in the mid ’70’s building nuclear submarines, Wayne has worked in a variety of positions including commercial diver, quality control supervisor, construction manager, welding applications engineer and sales account manager. For the last few years, he has been helping others understand the lessons he learned the hard way.

Assisting Wayne with “Leadership and Motivation” will be John Reed, Jos. J. Henderson & Son.  Rick Grabowski, Pickus Construction & Equipment will help with the “Planning and Scheduling” course. Together, John and Rick bring “real world” experience to make the course even more valuable for participants. Two experts for the price of one!

The courses will be offered at the College of Lake County:

Leadership & Motivation – All day Saturday, January 8 and 15, and 6:00-9:00 pm on Tuesday, January 11 and Thursday, January 13.

Planning and Scheduling – All day Saturday, February 19 and 26, and 6:00-9:00 pm on Wednesday, February 23.

The cost will be $295 per person and will include all materials, lunch and breaks. These courses are designed to give experienced supervisors the skills to be even more productive. And the course work will be designed to be applicable for both general contractors and subcontractors. Space is limited. To make sure that your employees get first chance at the available spots, decide who you want to send and register soon. Register online at www.lcca-il.org/events.

The LCCA Safety Fund Trustees have voted to reduce the cost of training for LCCA members. Effective January 1, the new rate schedule will be:

OSHA 10-hour (10 hours)	$20.00
First Aid/CPR (6 hours)	$25.00
CPR Re-certification (4 hours)	$15.00
Excavating Competent Person (8 hours)	$25.00
Confined Space Hazard Awareness (4 hours)	$15.00
Scaffold User (4 hours)	$15.00
Fall Protection Hazard Awareness(4 hours)	$15.00

According to Fred Rodheim, Abbott Laboratories and Chair of the Trustees, “Now no one has the excuse that our safety training is too costly. Now it is up to the members to decide that safety training is a valuable part of having a safe worksite and reduced Workers Comp costs.”