I want to express my sincere sympathies to all of you that are being affected by the Pandemic. Many good people and good firms are being closed out or are severely impacted. We all hope that some semblance of a return to normalcy is close. There are very good signals coming out of many “hotspots” that indicate we may be past the worst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. However, as we all can read in the newspapers and watch on TV, the “return to normal” is going to be very subjective and specific to certain industries and certain areas.

As you are aware from previous Newsletters, our industry is luckier than many in that we are, largely, able to continue working as Essential Services. That is not a “given” moving forward, and there is considerable pressure being exerted on County Health Services Directors to curtail more and more of the construction activity that is currently allowed.

With the above being noted, all of those in the Public Works, Transportation, and Permitting departments understand how important keeping the label of “essential services” is to us. Not just to their own jobs, but to the economy as a whole. They also are seeing a real cost savings in getting some jobs out to bid with the reduced public traffic the “shelter in place” is producing. There are many public officials that want to see more of us out there, working safely of course, but working!

To that end, advocating for and supporting those public officials and our safe prosecution of the work is what the ECA is spending most of our time doing these days. Calling on elected officials, department staffers, and groups that benefit from our working is a constant effort and is much needed right now.  Promoting a common “drumbeat” of KEEPING THE WORK GOING ON INFRASTRUCTURE is a shared message that many are conveying.

With that being said, it is incumbent upon all of us to continue to be visibly safe with our PPE and personal distancing, so the public does not feel threatened by our crews working out there. To that end, we put on a free safety seminar last week with George Petersen and Jim Persons and you can access the Power Point presentation by clicking here—

Losing the revenue stream from our events in 2020 can be dealt with. Rescheduling our events in 2021 to take place after a vaccine is available (an assumption to be sure), is doable. But none of this is going to be easy. Just as reshuffling your own business income stream is not easy. But I hope you believe, like I do, that the ECA is still a needed and unified voice to trumpet our concerns, and a necessary means to network and honor the accomplishments of those in the past and in the present, as well as continue to give back to the community with our community relations projects that does so much good for so many.

Not doing our planned events in 2020 doesn’t mean we won’t be working hard to represent your business at the various meetings we have been attending and will continue to be attending. And we will reapply ourselves to doing virtual meetings, workshops, webinars, and safety training to support your firms. But it does mean we are working through our cash reserves like most other companies. I have been in close communication with our Officers and an important meeting will be held this Friday with the Executive Committee. I have worked up several options for them to consider and we will be discussing those options soon. The options, once discussed, will probably necessitate a Board meeting to vote on, and we may also call for a Past Presidents Meeting to discuss how we operate moving forward. We need a different business model for the ECA for the next 6 months to 18 months and we are committed to developing that so the ECA is poised to represent all of you once the infrastructure bill is passed, stimulus money is pouring in for infrastructure projects, and the Pandemic ban on gatherings is lifted.

I think we can all appreciate how essential it is that the ECA continue to be viable and present in representing your firm’s interests.

This is an appeal to all of you to continue to believe in the ECA and to continue to support the ECA as we deal with the short-term loss of income from our events. Please keep in mind that your companies will not be spending money to purchase seats or meals for the events in the near future, so those dollars are not making their way to the ECA. We understand you all are our friends, but you also are our business clients and if we do not do the job for you, you will not continue your membership. Let me pledge to you that we are trying to do the job for you, and to also make certain you all are in the best position to do the job for your own employees such that you are in a good position to surge when this Pandemic is under control.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q Can the ECA get any of the help from the SBA or PPP dollars out there?

A. No. The ECA is a C-6 non-profit and those grant programs do not apply to us.

Q. When can the ECA events expect to be able to be held?

A. From the best information available, gatherings of over 10 people will not be allowed until summer is over. I assume that is August 31, 2020 at the earliest but more likely, events will not be allowed before Thanksgiving of 2020.

Q. Who makes the decision as to who is deemed an “Essential Service” so we can continue to work, or start back up to work?

A. Basically, it is the County Health Director working with County Counsel that makes the determination as to what is deemed an Essential Service and how the businesses that are sidelined now can be deemed to be able to be started up in the future. This is one of the main reasons the ECA needs to stay viable and active. We have had an effect, and we do have some influence over those decisions. Without our advocacy, I fear a far more conservative health decision will make the timeline much longer to get “back to normal”.

Q. How can we help the ECA get through this period?

A. First and foremost, be visibly safe out there with your crews and employees, and secondly, make sure when we send out your invoice in June for dues renewal, you renew and pay your invoice promptly. For now, if we knew you all are sticking with us, it makes an “unknown, known”.

Q. Will the ECA continue to be there for us a resource?

A. That is what we are trying to do. For the time being, I am still participating on weekly ZOOM conference calls with Supervisors, and other Executive Directors of Associations we are aligned with. Letters to elected are being sent to try to influence them to allow us all to keep working, and to get every shovel ready job out to bid right now. We need to keep working.

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