In 1976, the ECA’s first Directors, Mario Ghilotti, Henry Ghilotti, Stephen Tyler, Arthur B. Siri, and Alfred J. Dalecio filed the Articles of Incorporation of the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association with the State of California. Those first Directors wrote down the ECA’s “SPECIFIC AND PRIMARY PURPOSES”:

1. TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN HIGH PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AMONG CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS.
2. TO ENCOURAGE SOUND BUSINESS METHODS, EFFICIENT HARMONY AND COOPERATION BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS, TENDING TO RAISE THE STANDING OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS GENERALLY IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.
3. TO OPPOSE UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES.
4. TO PROMOTE BETTER RELATIONS BETWEEN ALL THE INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS WITH WHICH CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS HAVE BUSINESS DEALINGS.
5. TO ADVVOCATE, FOSTER AND PROMOTE CONSTRUCTIVE LEGISLATION WHICH WILL INSURE THE SOUND DEVELOPMENT OF OUR STATE.
6. TO MAKE MEMBERSHIP IN THIS ASSOCIATION AN ASSURANCE TO THE PUBLIC OF THE SKILL, INTEGRITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF ITS MEMBERS, BY REQUIRING THAT THOSE ADMITTED TO MEMBERSHIP SHALL HAVE ESTABLISHED AN HONORABLE REPUTATION ON THESE FUNDAMENTAL POINTS, AND BY MAKING CONTINUANCE OF SUCH MEMBERSHIP IN THIS ASSOCIATION DEPEND UPON THE MAINTENANCE OF SUCH REPUTATION, AND UPON FAIR DEALINGS WITH ITS MEMBERS AND WITH THE PUBLIC AND WITH THE EMPLOYEES.
7. TO PROMOTE AND DEFEND EQUITABLE LABOR PRACTICES BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LBOR THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY.

When I read these “specific and primary” purposes, they represent that those that founded the ECA were concerned about the workers. They wanted to make certain that being in the ECA meant you have some moral compass that includes making sure you are not doing business practices that take advantage of workers to gain an unfair business advantage. We “sell” that concept to local officials so they can count on ECA members being a cut above.

Wouldn’t it be nice?

So here is the moral dilemma: if you knowingly hire people that are not being paid what they should, and if you knowingly are hiring people and paying them cash so they do not pay income taxes, and if you are knowingly employing specialty services that come from outside the area instead of employing firms that live, work, play, go to school, and go to church right here in the community, are you at odds with what the first ECA Directors hoped ECA Members would do?

Yep.

I have appealed to all that still read my weekly newsletter to hire local, and in particular, hire fellow ECA Members first. Why? Because they are standing for the industry and the community and they are giving back to the community by being a member of the ECA. ECA members are donating or supporting our Community Relations projects that have touched the lives of so many less fortunate. It is ECA members who get together and honor those that have gone before them with awards and stories that young people starting in their careers can learn from as to the right way to do things. It is ECA members who were first to help fire victims and most of our firms did not gouge people with their methods of cleaning up their properties nor as to how much they charged them. ECA members are guided by their moral compass. That same moral compass our first Directors recognized and wrote about.

Why do business with companies that are not ECA members if the dollars are close to the same dollars in cost? Even if it costs slightly more, look at the return-those dollars stay in our community, pay for our schools, our roads, our churches, our charities. THAT IS WORTH SOMETHING.

So as we move on with 2020, I once again appeal to you to go to our website, look up the Membership Directory, and ask your Project estimators, your Contract Administrators, your project superintendents, your project and area managers, your purchasing agents, do business with those ECA firms.

Everyone knows it costs a lot to live here, so make certain you are doing everything in your power to pay the folks working on your projects what they deserve, make sure they get paid in a way that they will pay their fair share of income and local taxes, so the cost of living does not go up!

The key and only thing we can really do, is make sure you can look in the mirror every morning and ask
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all”?

Have it be you!

That’s All Folks!
John

The County of Sonoma, God Bless them, have “connected the dots” for us to be directly concerned and perhaps involved in an issue that is social, not in our ‘wheelhouse’ of infrastructure work. Spending $11 million in emergency funds that would normally go to roads and slides and other “normal emergencies”, gets our attention. The PD article on that decision is here–

After weeks and weeks of discussion and staff immersion into this issue, the Sonoma County Supes (on Tuesday, 1-14-20) picked a site for the homeless encampment to be developed-it is right across from the entrance to Oakmont near Pythian Road, at Los Guilicos (which was where the “bad kids” had to go)—article here from the Sonoma Sun

What is prompting the County to have to build a homeless encampment at such a huge expense?

Two key reasons:

1. There was a local lawsuit regarding the breaking up of a homeless encampment behind The Dollar Store in Roseland and at the end of Farmer’s Lane in Bennett Valley in 2017 and 2018. This lawsuit was brought by a public interest group called Homeless Action, led by Kathleen Finnigan. “The settlement requires that homeless people moved from public areas be offered adequate, alternative shelter, depending on their individual circumstances — whether related to disability, sexual orientation, family status, possession of a service animal or pet, mental or emotional health. Approved by U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria for the Northern District of California, the settlement specifically notes that barracks-style placement like Sam Jones Hall, the region’s largest shelter, with 200 beds, doesn’t work for everyone.
2. In December of 2019, the Supreme Court refused to review the lower court Federal ruling called the “Boise” ruling (six people sued the City of Boise a decade ago when they “rousted them” and they claimed it violated the 8^th Amendment as Cruel and Unusual Punishment because they had nowhere else to go). The refusal to review that case was a huge victory for the homeless advocates and basically codifies the Federal statute that supports the local ruling I mentioned in item 1 above.  Despite the fact that the Sam Jones shelter has approximately 60 empty beds every night that are available to the homeless, that is not enough—Press Democrat article here

So, in December of 2019 the City of Santa Rosa and County of Sonoma had most of their options clarified for them as to the huge homeless population on the Joe Rodota Trail. They could no longer just “look away”. They had to create several types of alternative housing for the homeless in order to move them from the public camp sites on the Rodota trail and elsewhere.

So, now the County is budgeting over $11 million to be able to breakup the Rodota Trail encampment.

Do any of us believe that all of the Rodota campers will be happy to move out to the picturesque Valley of the Moon site? Even though the plan is to provide public transportation every hour from Los Guilicos to downtown Santa Rosa so the homeless can avail themselves of the free meals they can get there, and the free dog food they can get there, and the other amenities that the big City can offer where the remote Los Guilicos cannot, I do not see more than half of the homeless moving there.

But whether they actually go there or not, well, that is not the issue. The issue becomes “has the County and City” provided alternatives to the homeless that meet the criteria of both the local lawsuit and the Boise ruling? If so, now the police can ask the homeless to “move along” and get off of public rights of way.

You can see that I stayed away from the causes and reasons for homelessness here. It is too big an issue to deal with in this little space. I am only dealing with how this Boise law and the Dollar Store lawsuit and the Homeless Action group is getting funding that might normally go towards our industry. Will road repair suffer? I will attempt to ask the County folks if my fears are warranted and will report back when I hear some answers.

Until then, maybe you know just a little more about why we cannot just “Look Away” from this problem.

That’s All Folks!

John

So here we are with the second Newsletter of 2020. There is hardly any news to talk about-just drone attacks on an Iranian terrorist, Iranian missiles fired at our soldiers, Epstein didn’t hang himself, stock market keeps surging, impeachment games being played by Dems and GOP, Santa Rosa City Council interviewing 19 candidates on 1-7-20 for the Julie Combs’ seat and choosing Dick Dowd, homeless encampment is growing, stock market keeps surging, sales tax measures coming up on ballot in March, people leaving California, Ricky Gervais lambasts the Hollywood elite at the Golden Globes, and our economy keeps surging.

Deep breath. I did not pick any of those to write about.

I choose the SMART Train sales tax extension, called Measure I, that Sonoma and Marin County voters will be voting on in March, 2020.

In October, the ECA Board of Directors voted to support the proposed SMART sales tax extension. We endorsed it.

I am not going to sugar coat this; the support of this sales tax measure is not without controversy. There have been several newspaper articles claiming ridership of SMART is down, and the expenses per rider are too high so therefore, the logical negative conclusion is, don’t give SMART any more money. The latest article is from the SMART Board Meeting held yesterday, January 8, 2020-and here is the link to the Press Democrat article—

I do not care about the current ridership numbers. This is a new system (a little over two years in existence), and people that do ride it, like it. Weekday ridership has increased year over year, and although there was a slight decrease in weekend ridership (Hello-Sonoma County had fires, floods, and tourism took a huge hit-not surprising some weekend riders of SMART decided not to come!!), I am very confident the weekend numbers will be increasing steadily.  One main reason, the “Sail and Rail” promotion that gets you a train ticket plus Ferry ticket for $12!!! That is the type of promotions that SMART is just starting, and I believe it will have a big effect on ridership. Also, the train just added a station in Novato, and more importantly, added and opened the extension to Larkspur to complete the Southern leg that allows riders to get into Vallejo and San Francisco. All good!

Ridership will come. Some people will choose SMART over $5/gallon gas prices, $8 bridge toll, and $35 parking costs (not to mention traffic jams and the nightmare of driving in San Francisco!).

I also hear complaints about how SMART fares do not cover much of the expense of running the train. I don’t care about that either. The reason I do not care about that, is because all transportation is subsidized. ALL OF IT. How much does the Highway 101 “fare box” contribute to the building and maintenance of Highway 101? ZERO. There is no “fare box”. The funding comes from a complicated formula of fuel taxes, Federal and State subsidies, bridge toll revenues, auto registration and licensing fees, and other sources. But not from a “fare box”. If I never drive on Highway 101, I am still paying for it through fuel taxes, registration fees, and bridge tolls. Why is that any different than SMART being subsidized? So what if SMART is 100% subsidized? I could argue that you could take the fare box to zero! Free rides. If you did, I guarantee you ridership will go up.

Why is SMART good for us in the long run?

Options.

SMART provides options for people. Hey, we are all doing pretty well with our incomes, our equity positions in our houses, and our retirement funds. Yes, the cost of living here is high. But make no mistake about it, our ECA firms have been doing quite well and so have their employees.

We can afford 25 cents for every $100 we spend.

By doing so, we provide options like a multimodal pathway for 40 plus miles, a train system that runs every 32 minutes from Larkspur to Windsor, and less pollution per rider than that of any other vehicle except electric vehicles. Whether you believe in “Global warming” or not, it is hard to argue with a mode of transportation that is more efficient than a gas or diesel car/truck.

I may not have convinced you, but I keep hearing and reading the “boo birds” about SMART. I support it, I donated my own money towards this Measure I tax extension, and I urge you all to go to the website, STAYGREENKEEPSMART2020, and look for the “Endorse” section, look for the “Donate” section, and look into the new “Sail and Rail” Pass for $12 that will cover your train ticket and Ferry ticket! Hell, that is cheaper than the Ferry ticket by itself! I also want to thank Mike Brown Electric for kicking in some money to the cause, as well as Ghilotti Brothers and hopefully, Ghilotti Construction will also help the cause to get Measure I passed. If your firm supports the SMART train, or you do personally, you can donate right on the website STAYGREENKEEPSMART2020-LINK IS HERE—

ECA Members work on the infrastructure, good jobs have been created by SMART, and we will see high density housing being built near the train stations into the future. We need that housing. And by allowing and enabling people to ride the train as an OPTION, the SMART option will help move people from north to south without adding to the Highway 101 traffic commute.

I can just hear Randy Parker, Rick Downey, and Brett Wilmes screaming at their screen as they read this. Believe me, I was doing the same thing in 2008 when the first tax was passed. I have completly changed my opinion since 2008 when I was down on the SMART train. I have drank the KoolAid.

Maybe with cannabis and microbreweries and wineries attracting folks, we will see a “Sip and Trip” package soon! It could give new meaning to a “smoking car”.

Vote Yes on Measure I and keep a Green option!

That’s All Folks!

John

Yesterday, the ECA received a package from our friends at Sonoma Raceway. It was a well-produced and very informative 50 Year history of this local treasure. I thought I knew a thing or two about the old Sears Point Raceway, now the Sonoma Raceway, but after reading this wonderful gift, I realized that I didn’t know much.

Art Siri, Inc. was the original contractor, and that just happens to be who the ECA is honoring in February with the posthumous Hermsmeyer Hall of Fame Award! It was kind of a neat “fit”. This Installation Dinner is shaping up to be a special evening on Feb 8, 2020 at the John Ash Convention Center. New location, and a new opportunity to learn about a great man, and maybe one that some of you know very little about. Contact Mary for sponsorship opportunities and get some guests together to have an enjoyable evening! Now-on to the Soapbox!

So how did Sonoma Raceway come to be?

In the 1960’s, sports car racing was viewed by motorsports journalists as the “next big thing” in live spectator entertainment. Yet there were no tracks located near the biggest population center in Northern California-the San Francisco Bay Area.

Local Marin County attorney Robert Marshall was an avid sports car enthusiast, and he “had a dream”. He wanted to build a track where he and his buddies from the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) could get together and drive their sports cars on a real driver’s track. He was not interested in stock cars or drag racing, it as all about sports cars.

Marshall teamed up with his neighbor, his attorney, and a sports car journalist who got a promoter involved, and scouted for a location in Marin County for his “buddy track”. After a few months, they settled on a dairy ranch settled by Franklin Sears in 1851. They went looking for a contractor.

A young contractor named Art Siri Jr. was asked to join a group at a Sonoma restaurant to discuss a potential project. It was 1967. Without any plans, and after a 5-hour lunch, the group decided to move forward to build the track at what was known as Sear Point. The group convinced Marshall he should build a track to incorporate drag racing and to accommodate NASCAR racing as well as Marshall’s love-sports car racing.

Investors were rounded up in San Francisco, plans were drawn up by Murray and McCormick, and excavation started in May of 1968. Quickly, Siri discovered the pond, which was next to the dairy barn and where Turn 11 is now, had 18’ of cow manure in it. After almost swallowing one of his 50 earthmovers he had rounded up, they got it drained and mucked out and completed 500,000 cubic yards of excavation in time for the first race on Dec 1, 1968.

A side note for those familiar with rock and roll. Sears Point offered their facility for free to the Rolling Stones after San Francisco refused to issue a permit for a concert in Golden Gate Park. With audio equipment being set up, the small Sears Point group got cold feet and asked for money and the Stones left to set up their concert at Altamont Pass. That is the concert where Hells Angels took it upon themselves to “police” the concert and the rest, is history—

Big Daddy Don Garlits, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, A.J. Foyt, Roger Penske, and other Hall of Fame racers were attracted to the “driver’s course” and raced at Sears Point.

Meanwhile, the original investment and management team had given financial authority to Craig Murray who lined up the San Francisco investors to build the original track. Murray kept looking for investment money and found Filmways, of Green Acre/Addams Family/Beverly Hillbillies fame and sold the entire facility to Filmways in 1970 for $4.5 million without the original founders even knowing about it until they woke up one day and found themselves OUT.

Filmways shut down the track and tried to sell it out after a few short months. Finally, after a few years, a new “owner” leased the facility and introduced a dirt oval, motorcycle track and other improvements (including a much-needed sewer plant) in the early 70’s.

Bob Bondurant became a much needed and highly publicized tenant in 1973 and the Raceway went through a few years of trying to get their sewer plant built while still being owned by Filmways.

Chaos in ownership reigned for a few years until the property was sold at auction in 1981 for $800,000 to new owner Williams/Betts/Marshall and the track was renamed Sears Point International Raceway. Filmways was OUT.

Cash flow was a problem, and the track needed a sponsor. They landed Ford, then Skip Berg, Frank Scott and Don McKim to pump some money into the facility in 1984-1987.

McKim felt building a garage and shop complex was a must to attract steady income, and they approached Huffaker Engineering to be the main tenant and sole providers of parts and gasoline sold at the facility. In 1988, the deal was made for a Winston Cup Race to move from Riverside to Sears Point and there was stable ownership, management, and rental income coming in.

Steve Page was hired in 1991 and proceeded to oversee $4 million in improvements-new leader board, multi-use building construction, VIP suites located next to the drag strip, and a gas station. In 1997, Skip Berg sold the track operating rights to Bruton Smith-Chairman of Speedway Motorsports. From 1997 to 2005 an ambitious $90 million plus rebuild of the entire facility was done. Ghilotti Construction was a major part of the earthmoving and paving project, and Yours Truly rebuilt the aging and out of compliance sewer treatment plant.

Today the Sonoma Raceway is one of the premiere racing stops on the NASCAR circuit and hosts a big time NHRA drag racing event each year. Other events have been hosted there and many of us enjoy going out to many of their events. The management group has given a tremendous amount of money to charity, and we are proud to have Sonoma Raceway celebrate 50 years!

I hope this little article contributes to your enjoyment of the Racetrack, and you can click on their website right here to buy tickets for upcoming events. Way to go Steve Page and Sonoma Raceway!

That’s All Folks

John

To the ECA Member Firms

We need the ECA Member Firms to vote on two outstanding issues by the end of December, 2019. Please fill out and sign the attached ballot. You can return your ballot by mail, personal delivery, email or fax. It needs to be returned by December 31, 2019.

On November 14, 2019, our ECA Annual General Membership meeting was held in Rohnert Park, CA. As per our existing ECA Bylaws, the Membership was scheduled to take action and vote on two issues:

1. To vote on the ECA Board of Directors for 2020 and Bylaws- Click here for ballot.
2. To read the proposed changes to the ECA ByLaws.- Click here for bylaws

Due to a lack of a required quorum on November 14, 2019, we were unable to have the Membership vote on these two issues. The vote is therefore being conducted by written ballot.

Mailing address: ECA, PO Box 8249, Santa Rosa, CA 95407

Fax Number: 707-546-5507

Email: mary@nceca.org

If you have questions about the ballot, please contact Mary Kennedy or John Bly at 707-546-5500

John had to go to the dentist today so you got me!

But I will be brief…

We annually put on The Installation Awards & Dinner (where we say thank you to outgoing Directors and Officers and welcome the new Board and Officers). This is our 43rd Annual Installation Awards & Dinner and are excited that it will be held at Vintners Inn this year on February 8, 2020. We also will be honoring our Hall of Fame recipients. This year is Doug Hamilton, Oak Grove Construction and posthumously Arthur Siri, Siri Grading & Paving), and we will honor our Contractor of the Year, Jerry Engelke, Engelke Construction and Affiliate of the Year, Troy Soiland, Northgate Ready Mix.

This is a fun evening where you will get to hear from incoming President Dave Weller from RCX Inc. as well as remarks by outgoing President, Kevin Ghilotti, Team Ghilotti. We hope you come to this event and celebrate a new year with a new board and join us in honoring the above. Buy a table and bring some clients or prospective new members to the ECA!

Look out for the invitations which will be going out soon. We also are looking for sponsors!

************************************************************************************************************

Although we did send out invoices for dues, I want to remind everyone that you should not respond to an email from kim@archsautomotive.com regarding dues payment. I was advised to tell our members to block this email.

The only emails you will receive from ECA are: john@nceca.org, mary@nceca.org and cheryl.long@sonic.net.

I really don’t like people that do these sort of things… I am so sorry for.the inconvenience.

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

One of the best reasons to support the ECA and be an active Member, is the access to local policy makers that we can facilitate. Much better to go before a lawmaker as a group, rather than as an individual firm. The ECA can enable our members to speak with a unified voice and that voice is heard much more clearly by our legislators.

On 12/4/19, there was a meeting between State Senator Mike McGuire, Miguel Lemus from Ghilotti Bros., Tom Smith from Ghilotti Construction, Debbie Ferrari from MAG Trucking, Raul Valdivia from Valdivia Trucking, and me to discuss the impacts from a horrendous piece of legislation that becomes law on January 1, 2020.

Assembly Bill 5 basically eliminates the ability for trucking brokers to dispatch independent truckers to General Contractor jobs. The analogy would be that consumers would have to go shop straight to the farmer or supplier every time they need groceries. It is ridiculous.

This law is included here by clicking on the link here—

If you have not already had meaningful discussion with your attorney and your workers comp carrier, you should have them right now.

If you have not had a discussion with your estimating department, you should do so immediately. Trucking prices will be all over the “board” and GC’s will have to make certain they are safe from future claims for non-compliance. Keep in mind, the labor board of California will probably not go after the individual truckers that fail to comply, they will probably, out of necessity for “volume effect”, have to go after the brokers or GC’s that “cut corners”.

If you are thinking there is going to be a “quick fix” to this horrible bill, think again.

I really do want to thank Senator McGuire for hearing us out on 12-4-19. Man-did he get an earful! Miguel, Tom, Debbie and Raul were respectful but clear on the effects that AB5 will have on our industry. Senator McGuire heard that trucking brokers serve an important purpose (or did) to our GC’s in providing the trucks when needed, making sure the pricing was uniformly applied to a project’s estimator and project manager, helping to solve disposal problems, and on and on and on. McGuire also heard that estimators hate uncertainty, and AB5 is making things uncertain. Given a project schedule that GC’s cannot extend, having fewer trucks to perform the work will cost GC’s money. They cannot extend the time of completion, but they can pay a premium to get the necessary trucks and skilled trades to work in a compressed time due to the lack of trucks delaying certain aspects of the projects. Senator McGuire also heard that many of the estimated 70-80% of independent truckers in our industry, do not want to go to work as an employee of somebody else. They are independent because they choose to be independent. Some will sell their equipment and retire. Some will keep hiring themselves out but will probably not see as much work since nobody is brokering the work for them anymore. Some will move to another State that does not have such asinine laws as California. Senator McGuire also heard that our tax dollars will not go as far because of the dramatic increases that the trucking industry will see in 2020 and moving forward. Again-pricing for trucking is all over the board, and estimators hate risk, so as they bid work for 2020 and beyond, the customer will bear the higher price of their putting costs in the estimate to handle the uncertainty of the trucking industry moving forward.

Kudos to Miguel, Tom, Debbie and Raul for explaining all the above (and much more) to Senator McGuire. He listened, asked many questions, and in the end, had some painful but clear messaging for us.

Senator McGuire was not pleased that the Teamsters were unwilling to discuss “fixing” this legislation with CTA or anybody else. I suspect he will apply some persuasion. Although all of us acknowledge this is primarily a Federal “stance” the Teamsters are taking, Senator McGuire is a powerful man. His persuasion should matter.

Senator McGuire will also have a discussion with a few others that are in positions of power and will report back to us before our next ECA meeting with Senator Dodd on December 17. Senator McGuire was painfully honest-he said not much was going to happen anytime soon as legislators do not even come back to Sacramento until January 6, 2020. Prior to that time, he was willing to assist but was not hopeful or promising that much would happen.

So why am I so upbeat about ECA Advocacy? Even though this meeting did not garner instant “fix it” steps that will ease our collective pain, the ability to have frank discussions with such powerful Senators in a small setting is invaluable. Senator McGuire now knows about what effects AB5 will have on funding transportation projects. He knows that the bidding of cost estimates will be higher. He knows that the American Dream of starting out with one truck and doing well enough to eventually own a trucking broker company and employ hundreds, is severely curtailed. He knows the names of the four people that spent 45 minutes with him today. Face to face matters. Being unified matters. It is much more powerful to speak to how AB5 will impact the industry by being a group rather than one company writing a letter or even meeting one on one with the Senator.

I am proud to have played a small part in enabling this meeting today. And I am proud of our ECA Board of Directors who were wise enough to direct me to focus on this State issue rather than the very localized issues we usually deal with. I am proud that we are trying to help “Joe Q Citizen” with their tax dollars as well as standing up for our ECA Member firms that are trucking brokers.

I will provide updates as they happen on this important issue. In the meantime, the law is the law on January 1, 2020. I urge you to have a frank conversation with your attorney on the pragmatic way to avoid compliance issues with this new set of rules. We are all smart enough to realize that the State will have a tough time handling compliance issues quickly, but remember-the incidents can occur tomorrow and be dealt with 4 years from now by the State. It is a risk. You need to be aware of it.

Stay unified and please, write to your representatives-on our website, www.nceca.org, you can find who your local Senator and Assemblyman is, and the links to their contact info are right there. Emails and phone calls matter. If you are not willing to message those folks, then we will get what we get and that won’t be much.

The SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE!

That’s All Folks

John

President Kevin, Mary, Cheryl and myself, want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

The ECA and its wonderful, involved, supportive, and generous members have become my extended family. I personally am thankful that the Argonaut workers are back home after spending 7-8 months up in Paradise. I am thankful that most of our employees are working full time in our industry and making good wages. I am thankful that our family and friends will sit down Thursday and consider what blessings we have in our lives. I have many things I am thankful for.

I recently hired an electrician who was an immigrant (legal!!) from Syria. His positive thankfulness was shared in an hour long conversation with me. He does not just celebrate Thanksgiving one day per year. He reflects on his family huddling in a basement with bombs going off all around him for months. He reflects on living in a refugee tent camp in Jordan for 2 years. He reflects on his good fortune to come to the United States with his family a little more than a year ago. Every day he counts his blessings of safety, opportunity, and family health that he has here. It really put things in perspective for me. We all tend to overlook our family and friends and our blessings at times. We should not take those blessings for granted. Like my new friend from Syria, blessings can be taken away through circumstance so we should celebrate what we are thankful for each and every day of the year.

I hope you have many things in your lives to be thankful for. And I hope you share the blessings with friends and family tomorrow and have a very safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

That’s All Folks

John

I went to the Kincade Fire Community Meeting on Saturday in Alexander Valley. The Community Hall was completely full. James Gore was in charge and he did a great job not only expressing our compassion for those that lost property, but to all our Community that had impacts. James also did a nice job taking the mic around the room and having folks with resources introduce themselves and inform the fire victims how much help is out there. I introduced myself and the ECA and let everyone know we have contractors, suppliers, and testing firms that have lots of experience in the last few years with fire victims, debris cleanup, soils testing and even rebuilding. The County has listed the ECA as a Resource for Homeowners and Fire Victims to call for help with testing, cleanup and reconstruction. Just so you ECA Members know, as I field these calls, I guide the Homeowner/victim to our website, and I urge them to go through the entire list of ECA

James introduced Johannes Hoervetz (Head of the Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works) and Johannes explained the top few items they are dealing with right now:

1. Tree Removal: County has contracts with several tree companies and are falling trees that are dangerous to the public and the public roads. The County is not doing tree removal on private property. The County is having the trees felled, and brushed as much as possible, then will haul the logs off as they can get to them. They are still catching up from 2017 fire damaged trees. The County is going to remove the trees and treat the stumps so they will die on their own. Some hydroseeding will be done around the disturbed stump areas by the County.
2. Soil erosion: County has contracted with one or two big hydroseeding companies and will be hydroseeding right behind the tree falling operation. Surprisingly, to me at least, the companies that did site surveys of the Kincade burn footprint, did not see the burnt area as an emergency to the waterways at this point. They also see minimal risk of major landslides. Some wattles will be placed, but mostly hydroseeding is the erosion control for now.
3. Phase 1 Hazardous sweeping is going on right now. There were 173 homes destroyed and another 70 structures destroyed (barns, outbuildings, shops, etc.). The destruction did not meet the criteria for FEMA or the Corps or CALOES to step in (they only do that when it is decided there is too much for local resources to handle on their own). If you recall in 2017, the EPA did the initial hazardous sweep assessment of the properties, but we will not be seeing the EPA doing that on the Kincade Fire. The County has hired two firms that are doing it and they have enough teams out there where they should be complete by Thanksgiving. Homeowners can assist this process if they have gate codes needed by calling in to 707-565-6700 and letting the County have the gate code. These teams remove small propane bottles, gas cans, paint cans, weapons and ammo, and other small hazardous items they find in their “sweep” of the property. If you see white stakes out there, that means they have done the sweep or are in the process of doing that property. Once the initial sweep has been completed, the teams will report back to the County and the Environmental Health Department will track the properties that have been cleared. There is no cost for this Phase 1 cleanup to the homeowner.
4. For those of us familiar with the process from 2017 for debris cleanup and rebuilding, the process is much the same:
5. a) Phase 1 household haz waste sweep certified by County as completed
6. b) Homeowner or GC comes in to 625 5th Street and fills out application for debris removal (no charge by County
7. Application needs to ID the licensed asbestos firm that will do a site survey for asbestos. Once clear, go to next step. If not clear, site needs to be cleared legally and properly of asbestos.
8. On debris remove application, ID the specialty contractor that will do the debris cleanup.

iii.            ID the specialty firm that will test the soils within the footprint of burned area and get the background tests outside the burned footprint for final clearances. Typically, this is a soils engineer that works with a lab.

1. Sample “Work Plans” are available, and a work plan needs to be a part of the application. Things like which landfill will you be utilizing? To date, Clover Landfill in Calistoga and Central Landfill in Cotati have the necessary waivers to take the debris. Just like in 2017, concrete/metal/ash debris should be separated. I believe Stony Point Rock Quarry is taking concrete rubble with no tip fee for Kincade Fire Victims. There may be others but that is one ECA Member who has provided me with that info.
2. Because there is no FEMA and Corps on this project, concrete foundations need to be analyzed by a structural engineer if the homeowner wants to save them. Remember, all FEMA work required concrete foundations to go, and this caused great problems in the “scraping process” for achieving testing results that were within 20% of the “background” levels required. The other change this time is that the background levels to be used for final soils compliance in the burned footprint, are not regional averages but they are tested on the property just outside the burned area so the results should be much more attainable due to the specificity of the area of the debris pile.
3. A word about safety, hazwoper certification, etc. This was of great concern to us in 2017 and info was all over the place. I made certain I spoke with Christine Sokol (Head of the County Environmental Health Department) so I would give you the right information:

Somebody must have 40-hour hazwoper certification on the debris cleanup crew. The idea is that person is boots on the ground and can see if there is a concentration of potentially toxic material that needs to be tested. This person is obligated to call for additional testing as needed-if no toxics are found, the debris removal continues with PPE up to the debris removal contractor’s discretion. If toxic material is found, that is when a hazardous license is needed by the GC to come in and deal with the toxic materials. This is a tough license to get, several of our guys have it, but it is far more difficult and exclusive than the 40-hour hazwoper certification. All loads must be “burrito wrapped” like they were in 2017 to be received at the landfill.

Finally, a word about time deadlines. The County just came out with the rule that         debris cleanup permits shall be applied for by January 31, 2020. All Cleanup should be completed and signed off by the County by May 31, 2020.

I hope this helps. As calls come in to the ECA for “who they should use”, I hope you all understand that I cannot recommend any specific contractor or testing agency. We have the folks that can handle this as members of the ECA, and I will provide that list of Members in good standing to the homeowners as they call in. They are being encouraged to “shop around” so you guys know the drill.

I will say, there were several questions from the crowd of fire victims who just wanted someone to “guide them”. I offered

myself at no cost to be a resource that could help these victims but only through the debris cleanup phase. After that, I will send their questions over to Keith Woods at the Builders Exchange.

If anybody needs phone numbers for the County offices, the main one you will be dealing with is 707-565-6700. That is County Environmental Health and they administer the debris cleanup permits.

That’s All Folks

John

ECA FIRE RESOURCE LIST