LUCC Meeting Minutes         

November 2nd, 2023

Welcome – President Rocky Stewart called the meeting to order and welcomed all attendees.

Self-Introductions –  35 people were present.

Meeting Minutes –Meeting minutes were approved at the opening of the meeting.

Treasurers Report – Naomi Shirtcliff: Sept & Oct budget summaries were provided. The PO Box fee has been paid.

Publicity & Education–

Damage Report– Jason Williams: One shallow service damage. Jason is working with locators to notify NWN when they notice shallow lines during a locate.

New contractor working in the area called Fibertel had some issues with calling locates, Jason is working with them to provide education.

There was a handful of no-locate damages.

Web Page– Amy Abramson: Still looking to have someone take over this role.

OUCC Standards Review – Rocky: Recommends all operators register for Positive Response. This allows the ticket requester to see if a locate has been completed by the operator / locator.  This is especially helpful during the rainy season when marks wash away quickly.

Old Business: Jason W: brought in an email example of the notification being sent out by Lumen in response to nearly all locate tickets. The email notification states they have critical facilities in the area and advises not to dig until locate marks are completed. This feels like an attempt to meet the rule of “making contact”, allowing them to be late on the ticket. They have been doing this for a while and it feels like a work around to the rules. NWN is starting to charge for down time.

It was asked if Lumen experiences damages due to not locating on time. Roman (Lumen) replied to say they do have damages and often are called to make repairs. Q: can we get a copy of the damage stats? Roman: our damage reporting is national, and they don’t typically disperse regional reports. Rocky: can we request a copy? Roman is going to look into it.

South Eugene HS sponsorship – Amy proposed supporting tier 3 funds that includes one school year advertising via a banner on the football field, basketball court, and on their website. Motion was made and approved. We will also look into shifting our budget items around to make this an annual opportunity.

New Business:  RWD shared recent experiences with receiving large quantities of locate tickets in Springfield from a new contractor working for Ziply Fiber called Pets Group Logistics. They called in 49 tickets in one day in September. And several other since then. They aren’t using white paint to mark the locations and are referencing old SUB pole #’s that no longer are valid. A suggestion was made to close the ticket siting “unclear marking directions” if the location can not be determined by reading the ticket.

Jim F: you can also lean on the county with permitting, he will enforce where he can.

2024 Officer Nominations were made and approved. Jim F has stepped down from the Promo and Education chair, but otherwise all positions are nominating the same person as current. Voting will be held at December meeting.

Program:  Ed Fredette – COE Erosion Control Specialist – Erosion Best Practices

The city of Eugene maintains an MS4 permit with DEQ for all city sewer and storm facilities. Ed is tasked with enforcing compliance to meet the permit, specifically as it applies to construction conditions. COE has received three complaints from DEQ staff last month. DEQ has local staff and keeps an eye on construction around town. Our storm water goes straight to the river. COE has to report all contamination events to DEQ. “Runoff from construction is the primary contributor of impairment to water quality in the nation” -EPA

Ed focuses on education and on-site assistance to help excavators make a plan and meet requirements. A new concern is with rain gardens aka “vegetated facility”; if sediment fills over the planning soil it must be removed, and new soil & plants are replaced. This can be costly to a projects budget and time.

Remember to cover stockpiles. Pouring concrete in the rain will cause high PH discharge. Maintain and replaces biobags (or similar) often as they deteriorate or get damaged. There is an exception for emergency work but is no longer valid once responding personnel arrive onsite and are able to deploy containment measures. Crews should always have spill kits and inlet protection devices on their trucks for quick response to emergencies.

As always, reach out to Ed anytime with questions or concerns. EFredette@eugene-or.gov

Meeting Adjourned-   1 pm