Last month I wrote about our Government Affairs Committee and their efforts. We went to press prior to the regular monthly meeting so I wasn’t able to say much about the auction. Now that it’s official I can tell you that we held our second-ever LCCA PAC auction at the April meeting and the results were spectacular.

Once again, our membership stepped up to the plate in a BIG way. The donations of auction items were even more generous than two years ago. Top quality items were available to bid on ranging from baseball tickets to cases of wine or a Las Vegas vacation.

Even more impressive was the level of bidding we witnessed on these items. Fueled by complimentary cocktails provided by the Association and delivered by cocktail waitress Steve Dalbec, our membership bid aggressively and competitively against one another, successfully driving up the prices of the auction items.

The food selections (especially the desserts) were great, the crowd was in high spirits, the auctioneers were both skilled and entertaining, and by the end of the evening we had raised over $40,000 for our PAC fund.

The availability of these funds makes our Government Affairs efforts much more credible both at the local level and with ICIC. Our voice seems a little louder when backed up by our checkbook. I believe that we have the opportunity to make a difference through our vigorous participation in political activities. I know that our Government Affairs Committee is filled with renewed enthusiasm and anxious to get busy.

Once again, I’d like to give my personal thanks to everyone who donated, everyone who bid, and especially to the Auction Committee for all of their hard work. The ability and willingness of the membership of this Association to get things done never ceases to amaze me.

MARTIN PETERSEN COMPANY, INC.
9800 55th St.
Kenosha, WI 53144
Phone: (262) 658-1326
Fax: (262) 658-1048
CONTRACTOR
Mike Anderson, Project Manager
John Donnell, President
Dan Ashburn, Vice President
Kevin Louis, Vice President
Rob Jossart, VP/CFO

HVAC, Piping & Plumbing
SPONSOR: Mike Henderson, Joseph J. Henderson & Son

UBS
181 W. Madison
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: (312) 683-6294
Fax: (312) 683-6412
ASSOCIATE
Douglas Winzelberg, Vice-President, Investments

Full service financial company
SPONSOR: Jim Drost, T.J. Adams

KATCO DEVELOPMENT INC.
415 S. William Street
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
Phone: (847) 222-9662
Fax: (847) 222-9661
CONTRACTOR
Karen Barba, President

Sewer & Water, Excavation, Plumbing
SPONSOR: Joseph J. Henderson & Son

MAXIM CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, INC.
31632 N. Ellis Drive, Suite 111
Volo, IL 60073
Phone: (847) 740-5400
Fax: (847) 740-5444
CONTRACTOR
Dan Sjong, President
Pat Wood, Field Operations Manager

General Contractor
SPONSOR: Craig Jones, Blue Boy Portable Toilets

AUSTGEN ELECTRIC INC.
801 E. Main Street
Griffith, IN 46319
Phone: (219) 924-7528
Fax: (219) 922-8409
CONTRACTOR
Lucinda Coffman, Controller

Electrical contractor
SPONSOR: Joseph J. Henderson & Son

LCCA’s Annual Golf Outing will take the course on Friday, August 5 at Countryside Golf Course. While we can accommodate 288 golfers in the afternoon thanks to Countryside’s 36 holes, the afternoon will sell out quickly. And if you want a more leisurely round, ask for the morning shotgun. This year we will go back to Beer Carts and sponsors will have their name on the cart. Four Beer Cart Sponsorships are available.

Beer Cart Sponsors
Waukegan Roofing
The Blue Book

Hole Sponsors so far include:
Boncosky Oil Company
McCann Industries, Inc.
Curran Contracting Company
Flow-Technics, Inc.
Camosy, Inc.
Meyer Material Company
Thelen Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Turner Construction Company
Waukegan Roofing Co., Inc.
Patten Construction Products
D. L. Franzen Construction
Berger Excavating Contractors, Inc.
Aldridge Electric, Inc.
T J Adams Group
NES Rentals
Multiple Concrete Accessories
McClure Engineering Associates, Inc.
Avalon Peroleum Company
Burris Equipment Co.
Wm. Schwartz & Co.

You can register on the LCCA website at www.lcca-il.org/events.

LCCA and Cingular Wireless offer cell phones to LCCA members at a discount price. The program provides a ten percent (10%) discount off the monthly recurring access charge on any Cingular Consumer Region, Cingular Consumer Nation (GAIT) or Cingular Consumer Nation (GSM) rate plan that is billed to an LCCA member company.  Activation fees for new Member Accounts are waived. Member Accounts may purchase accessories for twenty percent (20%) off the non-promotional consumer pricing for such accessories.

Cell phones for employees, spouses, kids, etc., that are billed to a home address will receive a 5% discount on any plan listed above.

Features Included on all Rate Plans at No Additional Cost include - Basic Voice Mail, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Three Way Calling, and Caller ID.

Our new contact is Steve Gaus who can be reached at (847) 765-3806.

Over half the tickets are gone and we are getting more calls to attend the summer outing to Miller Park in Milwaukee to see the Cubs play the Brewers. The outing is scheduled for Thursday, June 23, and will include bus transportation from Lake County, food or drink tickets which can be used at the stadium’s exclusive club level, and infield box seat tickets along the first base line. All this for just $75 per ticket.

We only have about 80 tickets left. So if you think you will be interested, call Terry at the LCCA Office. Tickets will be distributed first come, first served. Employees, family and friends are welcomed.

The LCCPAC Auction had great items to bid on. Vacations, restaurant gift certificates, a part in a film, sports stuff, golf, baseball tickets, you name it.  And bid they did! After the smoke cleared, Ritchie Brothers had auctioned off 79 items raising $40,185 for the PAC in less than 1 ½ hours. This was $7,300 more than the 2003 auction total.

The average cost per item was $508, down slightly from the $548 in 2003. But there was a greater variety of items valued from less than $100 to almost $3,000.

Last month we thanked the donors of the items. This month we must thank all the bidders – and especially the 38 “high bidders”. A special thank you to the following who dug deep to help the PAC:

Dale Berger, Berger Excavating
Dave Henderson, Jos. J. Henderson & Son
Glenn Peterson, Ernie Peterson Plumbing
Lyle Ehlers, Boller Construction

This month we start a new feature in the Newsbrief. As space permits, we will report member news. If you have an article of interest, please submit to the LCCA Office.

Ragnar Benson Joins William Charles Company – Ragnar Benson announced it has become the newest addition to the William Charles family of companies, a holding company headquartered in Rockford, Illinois.

According to Marty Guimon, President of Ragnar Benson, “This affiliation and the resources provided will make us a stronger and more competitive company.” Ragnar will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in Park Ridge, Illinois. “Our experienced team of construction professionals remain unchanged, and there will be no interruption of projects, contracts or proposals. We will continue to provide the same quality construction services our customers have come to expect.”

Waukegan Business Association Formed – Several local business leaders have come together to form the Waukegan Business Association. The purpose of the association is to provide members personal and professional development opportunities and to effect public policy to help the business community. Tom Mahoney has been retained as the Executive Director. The Board of Directors include:

Douglas Stiles, Fuqua,Winter & Stiles
Frank Furlan, Northern Illinois Survey
Fred Abdula, Bank of Waukegan
Michael Rodriguez, Northeast Illinois Heating
Al Fine, 1st Midwest Bank
Dave Brittsan, DB Aviation
Susan Link, SBC
Pete Couvall, GOJO's
Susana Figueroa, City of Waukegan
Rafael Rivera, Alderman
Tony Figueroa, Alderman
Ray Vukovich, City of Waukegan

Larson Equipment & Furniture – Larson Equipment & Furniture, a distributor of school equipment, is looking for a CFO with experience in the construction industry as a controller/CPA. Knowledge of Timberline software a must. Duties include cost accounting and preparing financial statements and cash flow analysis. Most projects are for General Contractors. Call Chris Lutz (847) 705-0460.

Kansas City Carpenters Settle – The Builders Association of Kansas City recently signed a 4-year agreement that provides $1.85 for the first year. This will bring wages to $30 per hour plus $9.66 in fringes – a 4.6% increase.

Kansas City Painters Settle – The Painters District Council has agreed to a new 4-year agreement that will provide $1.63 each year.  Painters will receive $25.20 under the new agreement plus $13.16 in fringes.

Minnesota Sheet Metal Workers Settle – Sheet Metal Workers have agreed to a 3-year agreement averaging 4% each year.  The agreement provides increases of $1.87, $1.90 and $1.95 over the term. Wages will be $33.25 plus $10.50 in fringes.

Cleveland IBEW Approves 3-Year Agreement – The agreement will provide $1.10, $1.25 and $1.35 over the contract life. Journeymen will receive $31.63 plus $14.10 in fringes.

St. Louis Painters Settle – The Painters District Council 2 has agreed to a 5-year contract. The agreement will provide increases of  $1.50, $1.35, $1.25, $1.25, $1.25. Journeymen will receive $26.99 plus fringes of $9.37.

Union Representation Declining – According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of construction workers represented by a union declined to 14.7% in 2004 – down from 16% in 2003 and 17.2% in 2002. Construction employment in 2004 was up 6% from 2003 at 7.55 million. But union membership declined 2.6% over the same period. Construction continues to be one of the highest union represented workplaces trailing only Transportation and public utilities.

Construction Needs 185,000 New Workers Annually – The Construction Labor Research Council estimates that the construction industry needs 185,000 new workers annually over the next 10 years to meet growth and replacement needs. CLRC estimates that increased construction will demand 90,000 per year and an additional 95,000 will be needed to replace aging workers in the trades.

Missouri Makes Workers Comp Changes – At least some states are getting the message that Workers Comp is in trouble. Missouri has approved a bill that provides:

• Workers receive compensation only when a “workplace accident” is the prevailing (rather than “substantial”) factor in the injury or illness.
• Limits compensation to cases where workers are able to present objective evidence of their injury. Critis say this will deny coverage of “soft tissue” injuries.
• The bill also increases penalties for fraud, violations of safety rules and violations of drug/alcohol rules.

IL Workers Comp – Negotiations have resulted in a bill that provides something fpor everyone.

HB 915 – Project Labor Agreement Act – OPPOSE - Authorizes a state agency or authority to include a Project Labor Agreement on some projects. This bill appears DEAD!

HB 188 – Prevailing Wage Act – This bill would amend the Prevailing Wage Act to require contractors and subcontractors to submit weekly Certified Payrolls to the Public Body in charge of the project, have records available for inspection and make workers on the project available for interviews by the Public Body or Department of Labor. Approved by both houses and is now in the House for concurrence with Senate amendments. This will PASS!!

HB 689 – Apprentice Requirements – OPPOSE – With regard to the new requirement that a construction contractor must participate in an apprenticeship program, this bill exempts bidders from the requirement if no approved apprenticeship program exists. Probably DEAD.

HB 2396 – Prompt Pay – SUPPORT – Requires all small businesses that are vendors on state projects to be paid within 10 days.  DEAD.

SB 518 – Construction Management – SUPPORT – ICIC’s Construction Management Bill.  Passed Senate and is on 2nd Reading in the House. Appears headed for PASSage.

SB 766 – Design-Build – SUPPORT – ICIC’s Design/Build Bill.  Probably DEAD this session.

SB 2084 – Contractor Defaults – Proposed by Capital Development Board; provides that in the case where a contractor defaults, surety and CDB must jointly select new contractor within 15 days.  Probably DEAD this session.

The top four seniors in the Lake County Tech Campus Building Trades program were recognized by LCCA during the annual Awards Program at CLC.

Recognition Plaques and $250 gift certificates were presented to:

Eduardo Madriles, Antioch High School
David Quedens, Grayslake High School
Andrew Rous, Antioch High School
Dustin Webber, Grayslake High School

The awards are presented annually by LCCA to the top seniors in the class. Students are not only judged on their skill with the tools, but also their attitude and dependability – traits we look for in construction.

LCCA and CISCO hosted the 4th annual Career Expo for 8th graders from many Lake County schools on May 3rd and 4th at the Lake County Fairgrounds. Almost 600 attended this year’s expo.

The expo provides kids the opportunity to “experience” many building trades. Creating the “experiences” were several Apprentice Programs who put together hands-on examples of their craft. Those in attendance this year included:

IBEW Local #150 – Bill Yukna
Carpenters Apprentice & Training Center – Scott Nimsgern and Gary Ellis
Sheetmetal Workers #73 – Dan Powers
Roofers #11 Training Center – Gary Menzel
Bricklayers District Council – Don Walker
Laborers Training Center – John Antich & Paul Hoetzer
Plumbers #93 – Tom Jennrich
Operating Engineers #150 – Ken Sharp & Gerry Allen
And CCSC’s, Gary Coleman, showed kids the power of powerlines.