|
From the Executive Director's Desk
|
Hello Members!
April is National Safe Digging Month and thanks to the efforts of the NM Regional Common Ground Alliance, Governor Susana Martinez has proclaimed April as "New Mexico Safe Digging Month." Read the Proclamation here. During the month of April, I'll be out and about visiting members so I'll hopefully see some of you in the coming weeks.
The 4th Annual Associate Showcase is coming on April 18, so get registered right away. We'll be at the Albuquerque Country Club from 10am - 1pm and following up with golf in the afternoon. Click Here for more information and to register online. John Stomp, Albuquerque Bernailillo Water Utility Authority, is the guest speaker for the meeting. Tom Growney Equipment will have their GP Motor Grader Simulator that you can try out on site also.
March was a busy month for NUCA of NM as the NUCA Annual Convention was held in Ft. Worth TX, the new Rules for Prevailing Wages was published and has been challenged on appeal; the white lining issue has come to closure, and the construction salary survey has been published. Our own Dan K. East, Reynolds Southwest was awarded the NUCA Ditchdigger of the Year award. NM has a new NUCA Certified Instructor and Competent Person Training is being set up in the next few weeks; look for a special notice for registration.
I hope to see you all that the Associate Showcase on April 18th. This is the best meeting to network and some time to browse and talk with NUCA of NM's Associate Members while touching base with our contractor members. If you're interested in a booth for the showcase, please fill out the registration ASAP as there is limited space. See you in April!!
Jane Jernigan
|
| April 2012 Dates |
- 04/06/12 Good Friday - office closed
- 04/10/12 Membership Committee 9am
- 04/10/12 CICA 10:30am
- 04/11/12 Safety Committee 8am
- 04/12/12 Planning Committee 8am
- 04/12/12 Education Committee 3pm
- 04/18/12 Associate Showcase
- 04/26/12 9-11 NMRCGA EXPO Planning
- 04/26/12 11-1 NMRCGA General Meeting
- 04/27/12 JAG Conference
|
| Welcome New Member |
|
Ferguson Waterworks, Albuquerque
801 Candelaria NE
Albuquerque, NM 87107
505-449-4900 Phone
505-803-3340 Cell
505-341-1755 Fax
Jay Corazza
Paul Monahan
Shana Waller
Dustin Case
|
| White Lining |
|
The issue of White Lining has come to a close and the mandate will be included in the rules and become law. The decision was made on March 29, 2012 at the PRC meeting in Santa Fe. The PRC heard oral arguments in January and rendered their final decision to mandate the use of white lining. The law is not black and white however and there are some exceptions outside of incorporated areas with less than 10,000 populations. The final (and official) language will be released soon and I will pass along that information as soon as it becomes available along with the effective date and what this new law will mean to your usual business activities.
This has been a long drawn out battle and I'd like to thank Kari Biernacki, AUI Inc. for testifying on behalf of the utility industry and to TLC Plumbing & Utility for providing valuable statistics on how this mandate will effect their operations.
White Lining procedures and instructions have not been introduced or discussed. It is not clear if the CGA Best Practice on White Lining will be used. As I mentioned earlier, this just became final on March 29th, so more information will be forthcoming.
|
|
Construction Salary Survey
|
|
NUCA of NM sponsored the 2011 Construction Salary Survey conducted by CFMA and as a result, as a member, you have free access to the results. You may CLICK HERE to browse the file online but the file is quite large and will take a few minutes to load. If you would like the file emailed to you, let me know and I'll send it to you compressed.
|
|
April is National Safe Digging Month
|
|
|
Damage to underground utility lines is a major problem in the United States. Incidents caused by unsafe digging practices can compromise community safety and disconnect people from critical services.
And these incidents occur more often than you'd think. Digging activity damages a buried utility line every three minutes in the United States, and one-third of incidents are caused because a free call wasn't made to 811 to notify the local call-before-you-dig center, according to Common Ground Alliance statistics.
This free phone call is the first step to prevent utility damage, and it's an important one. Calling 811 before digging reduces the likelihood of an incident to less than 1 percent.
THERE ARE FIVE STEPS TO SAFER DIGGING, REQUIRING PARTICIPATION FROM ALL STAKEHOLDER GROUPS:
- Make a free call to 811 a few days before digging.
- Wait the required time.
- Locate accurately.
- Respect the marks.
- Dig with care.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE 811 PROMISE WEB PAGE
|
Contact Jane at nucanm@nucanm.org or 888 0752 for more info.
|
