Most of us go through life not really “seeing” what is going on around us.  Here are 15 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives.  How many can you get right?  These little simple questions are harder than you think – it just shows you how little we pay attention to the common place things of life. 

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty’s torch?
3. What six colors are on the classic Campbell’s soup label?
4. What two numbers on the telephone dial don’t have letters by them?
5. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg?
6. How many matches are in a standard pack?
7. On the United States flag, is the top stripe red or white?
8. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
9. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
10. On which side of a woman’s blouse are the buttons?
11. Which way do fans rotate?
12. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
13. On the back of a $20 dollar bill, what is in the center?
14. How many curves are there in the standard paperclip?
15. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?

Had to stop and really THINK about these, didn’t you?  Maybe we should all be spending more time “seeing” each other; and not only the bad or annoying things about each other – the good stuff too.  As Humphrey Bogart said “Here’s looking at you, kid”

Oh, by the way, did you want the answers?  They are

1. - bottom 

2. - right 

3. - blue, red, white, yellow, black & gold 

4. - 1 & 0 

5. - right 

6. - 20 

7. - red 

8. - 88

9. - clockwise (north of the equator) 

10. - left 

11. - clockwise as you look at it 

12. - left 

13. - White House 

14. - 3 

15. - 5

Enterprise Fleet Services

1955 N. Techny Road

Northbrook, IL 60062

Phone: (847) 564-7800

Fax: (847) 564-5247

Supplier

     Marlo Hines, Account Executive

Automobile and Truck rentals

Sponsor: Kroeschell Engineering North

Rezek, Henry, Meisenheimer & Gende

162 East Cook Road

Libertyville, IL 60048

Phone: (847) 362-5959

Fax: (847) 362-0864

Associate

     Phil Smith, Associate

Consulting Engineers

Sponsor: Chris Dietz, TFW Surveying & Mapping 

You can win a $500 prize by just sponsoring a new member in this month. The LCCA Membership Committee, chaired by Mike Temple, Mechanical, Inc., wants everybody to help with LCCA’s membership efforts and you have a chance to win. The names of everybody who sponsors a new member by July 1 will be put in a hat and one lucky person will leave the September Membership Meeting with a nice prize. Already in the drawing are:  Ken Coslet; Mike DeNinno (2); Chris Dietz, Gerry Dumalski; Graycor Industrial Contractors, Dave Henderson; Joe Henderson; Kroeschell Engineering, and Mike Ryan.

President Day has appointed Jeff Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equipment, to represent LCCA on the Lake County Partners Board of Directors, and Ed Stuckey, Stuckey Construction, to sit on the Cement Masons 11-362 Benefit Funds.

Mr. Pickus replaces Raymond Camosy, Camosy, Inc., on the LCP Board. Mr. Camosy has served on the Board for several years and we appreciate his dedication to Economic Development in Lake County.

Mr. Stuckey replaces Louie Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equipment, who has also retired from the funds after many years of service.

The summer outing again this year will be to Miller Park in Milwaukee to see the Cubs play the Brewers, according to Program Committee Chair, Rick Grabowski, Pickus Construction & Equipment. The outing is scheduled for Friday, July 7, and will include bus transportation from Lake County, a tailgate cookout and club level infield box seat tickets along the first base line. All this for just $90 per ticket.

Unfortunately, we only have 180 tickets. So if you are interested, act quickly. Tickets will be distributed first come, first served. Employees, family and friends are welcomed.

Chairman Allan Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equipment, has announced that the 2007 Winter Workshop will be heading west to China and Tibet. The sixteen day tour will feature Beijing, Pingyao, Xi¢an, Lhasa (Tibet) and Shanghai. The cost will be $5,500 per person double occupancy, and include air, hotels and many meals.

Thursday, May 10 – Depart Chicago O’Hare for the flight direct to Beijing.

Friday, May 11 – Arrive in Beijing for a 4-night stay at the Peninsula Palace Beijing. Welcome Dinner in evening. <D>

Saturday, May 12 – City tour including Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. <B-L-D>

Sunday, May 13 – Morning visit to Temple of Heaven and afternoon tour to Summer Palace. <B-L-D>

Monday, May 14 – Morning trip to the Great Wall. Afternoon free. <B-L>

Tuesday, May 15 – TRAVEL DAY – Fly to Taiyuan and transfer to Pingyao for 2 night stay at Yunjincheng Guesthouse. City tour after arrival. <B-L-D>

Wednesday, May 16 – Morning tour of Shuanglin Temple and Zhangbi Fortress Village. <B-L>

Thursday, May 17 – TRAVEL DAY - Fly to Xi¢am and transfer to the Hyatt Regency Xi¢am. City tour after checkin. <B-D>

Friday, May 18 – Tours to the Terracotta Warriors Museum and Baxian’an Daoist Temple. <B-L>

Saturday, May 19 – TRAVEL DAY – Fly to Lhasa, Tibet transfer to Lhasa Hotel. <B-D>

Sunday, May 20 – Tour Jokhang Monastery and Barkhor Market. <B-L-D>

Monday, May 21 – Visit Potala Palace and Drepung Monastery. Afternoon free. <B-L>

Tuesday, May 22 – TRAVEL DAY – Fly to Shanghai staying at the Portman Ritz-Carlton. <B>

Wednesday, May 23 – Morning tours and afternoon free. Final Dinner. <B-L-D>

Thursday, May 24 – Free Day. <B>

Friday, May 25 - TRAVEL DAY – Depart Shanghai for the return trip to Chicago.

Note: <B,L,D> indicates meals that are included in the package.

Unfortunately, one of the stops (Pingyao), only has 18 hotel rooms so the trip is limited by this restriction. We will only take reservations until this stop is filled. Reservation forms will be sent in the next two weeks so plan ahead. LCCA members will have first preference until August 1. After that we will confirm reservations based on the date the reservation form and deposit are received.

Watch your mail for more information.

LCCA has a limited number of MARBA Labor Contracts on CD. The CD contains all the MARBA negotiated labor agreements as of January 1, 2006, in a format that is searchable. This can be great help when looking for a particular condition in a lengthy contract.

The CD is free of charge to any member who has assigned bargaining rights for any agreement that MARBA negotiates. To receive a copy, just contact the LCCA Office and we will send you a copy. Quantities are limited.

The Operating Engineers Craft Committee reminds contractors to document complaints regarding the competency and qualification of operators being dispatched by Local 150. If you receive an unqualified operator from the hall, send a letter detailing the concern to the union ASAP. Without this documentation, we have no chance to get problem operators retrained or out of the business. As the system works now, when you reject an operator, they will just get dispatched (with likely the same result) to someone else.

The Illinois Construction Industry Council (ICIC) has had a very busy year. Kim Robinson, Jack Dorgan and Jim McPike have faced many battles and the industry escaped reasonably unscathed. As you would expect, with Democrats controlling both Houses and the Governor’s Office, labor had a rather lengthy agenda starting with the “Truth in Employment Bill” soon to become the “Worker Misclassification Bill.” Trying to negotiate compromises and killing bills we just could not agree too occupied most of their time. Here is their report on the session:

Capital Budget Fails to Win Approval – A multi-billion dollar capital bill for roads and schools was proposed by the Governor but failed to gain sufficient support in the General Assembly, particularly among Senate Republicans who expressed concern over increasing the state’s bonded indebtedness and the lack of a specific list of projects to be funded. This marks the sixth straight year without a significant capital budget.

CDB

The Capital Development Board is expected to release its list of FY ’07 capital projects in the next several weeks. It is anticipated that most of these will be reappropriations of formerly approved projects.

IDOT

The following analysis of IDOT’s FY ’07 Capital budget was provided by the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, of which ICIC is a member:

Diversions: Estimated FY ‘07 diversions remain at around $665 million.

Construction: Appropriations for the FY ‘07 highway construction program total $1.975 billion, the amount proposed by the Governor in February. The Jobs for Illinois highway bond program was not adopted. The wording of the construction appropriations differs from last year in several respects: 

• There are fewer restrictions on how much funding is to go to each highway district and how much funding is to go to the engineering component of the program.
• There are more than $306 million line-item appropriations for the local High Priority Projects and Transportation Improvement projects which were earmarked in the federal highway bill. These projects do not require a specific state appropriation. Further, since the regular $1.975 billion construction program already included all the federal funding IDOT anticipated would be available in FY ‘07, it is unlikely that appropriating these projects will result in any significant increase to the FY ‘07 program. However, through this appropriation, the General Assembly has expressed its support for accomplishing these projects and given IDOT additional appropriations it could use if it believed that there were additional federal or state revenues available for construction.
• More than $76 million is appropriated from the Road Fund for matching the above-listed local projects, with the stipulation that local governments pay the Road Fund for the match. As with the projects noted above, no specific appropriation is needed for this purpose; the regular $1.975 billion construction program already included all the local funds needed to match anticipated federal funds. However, through this line item, the General Assembly has specified that local governments are responsible for paying the match on these projects and has given IDOT additional appropriations it could use if it believed there were additional federal or state revenues available for increasing the program above the $1.975 billion level.
• $55 million is appropriated from the federal earmarks for the CREATE rail project. While the federal earmarks actually total $100 million, the intent of this specific appropriation is to give IDOT the flexibility to pass through to the railroads a portion of the federal earmarks to be used for the non-highway portions of the project. 

Worker Misclassification Bill Fails

After months of discussion and negotiation, the so-called “Worker Misclassification” bill proposed by the AFL-CIO failed to gain enough support in the Illinois House. The bill was proposed in an effort to crack down on employers who fraudulently misclassify their workers as independent contractors to avoid paying workers compensation and taxes as is required for employees.

ICIC has long agreed with the underlying premise of this legislation – that everyone should follow the laws and pay their fair share. When unscrupulous contractors neglect to pay taxes and other liabilities, it hurts legitimate contractors’ ability to remain competitive.

While the overall goal of the legislation may have been well-intentioned, the specific language proposed would have hurt legitimate contractors and subcontractors. Specifically, in order to be considered an independent contractor or subcontractor, an individual would have to be free from control or direction over the performance of the service, and the service provided by the subcontractor would have to be outside the usual course of business for the contractor. It is ICIC’s position that these standards would be impossible for a construction subcontractor to meet.

ICIC offered two different amendments that sought to establish a specific definition of subcontractor. The second version was based on existing administrative rules used by the Illinois Department of Employment Security and was supported by Laborers International Union of North America (Midwest Region), but was opposed by other labor organizations.

Without language that would have protected the contractor-subcontractor relationship, the bill ultimately failed on a 12-82 vote in the House of Representatives.

ICIC will continue to be vigilant about protecting the contractor- subcontractor relationship. The state of Massachusetts enacted a similar worker misclassification law in 2004 and contractors and subcontractors are beginning to experience a changed business climate. Many builders, for example, are refusing to contract with sole proprietors or are requiring them to obtain their own liability and other insurance. For small subcontractors this can be cost-prohibitive.

Chicago Public Building Commission Seeks Design/Build Authority

In the final days of the spring session, the City of Chicago proposed legislation (SB 2049) that would have permitted Public Building Commissions throughout Illinois to use the Design/Build procurement method. ICIC and a coalition of design and other contractor groups initially opposed the legislation which was extremely vague and did not establish clear procurement processes.

ICIC and the coalition worked with the City of Chicago to redraft the bill closely following ICIC’s Design/Build language enacted by the General Assembly last year. The bill was approved by the House but was not acted on in the Senate.

ICIC appreciates the cooperation of the Chicago Mayor’s Office and the Public Building Commission in arriving at an agreed bill that is fair to all potential project participants. The legislation may be considered by the Senate in the fall veto session.

Start/Stop Time Reporting Eliminated

Last year’s certified payroll legislation (HB 188), which took effect August 10, 2005, included a requirement that contractors provide work start and stop times when making the reports. This provision proved particularly onerous to contractors.

This spring, contractor groups joined with labor organizations and the Illinois Department of Labor to eliminate that specific item from the certified payroll reporting requirement. SB 2399 was approved with no dissenting votes in either chamber. The Governor is expected to sign it into law in the next several weeks. 

The 6th Annual Career Expo, co-sponsored by CISCO and LCCA, hosted 350 8th graders on May 2nd at the Lake County Fair Grounds. This year students came from Mundelein, Waukegan, Winthrop Harbor, Ingleside, North Chicago, Antioch and Lake Villa.

Apprenticeship programs participating included: Carpenters, Operating Engineers, Laborers, Roofers, Bricklayers, Plumbers, Electricians, The Chicagoland Construction Safety Council and the Lake County Tech Campus Building Trade Program.

Students had a great introduction to the construction trades and enjoyed themselves because they got to participate – building tool boxes, operating a crane and a jack hammer, laying brick, wiring a simple circuit and much more.

LCCA’s Safety Committee chaired by Fred Rodheim, Abbott Laboratories, has been working for almost a year to update the 2000 Safety Manual developed by LCCA, Safety Committee members took sections of the manual and updated them to meet current OSHA standards and best practices in the construction industry. If you are looking for a new manual with the very latest information, stay tuned. The manual is scheduled for release the end of June.

As with the 2000 version, the manual will be available in digital format (Word 2003 or Rich Text Format). With this version, you can make your own changes to the document to customize it for your company. We also offer, for an additional charge, a completely personalized manual that you can use immediately.

Check your safety manual and if the paper is yellow, the dates on the book begin with 1 or you cannot even find it, plan on letting LCCA bring you into the 21st Safety Century.