November 4th 2021
Welcome – Vice President, Rocky Stewart called the meeting to order and welcomed all attendees.
Self-Introductions – 17 people were present.
Meeting Minutes –Meeting minutes were approved at the opening of the meeting.
Treasurers Report – Naomi Shirtcliff: We have about $4700. Went online to pay the state registry fee but it says we are currently paid. Checking to see if the state paid it for us ($50/yr)
Publicity & Education– Jim Franklin: No topic to share but would like to start thinking about ideas for 2022.
Damage Report– Jason Williams: Overall gas damages have been down. Had one hit by 3C concrete and another by an unknown contractor.
Roman: CTL was hit by NWN on River Rd. Was recently in a neighborhood and noticed concrete forms up and no locates present, so he left a note for them.
Web Page– Amy Abramson: no update
OUCC Standards Review – Rocky Stewart: no review
Old Business: USIC was invited via certified letter to join us at this November meeting, to discuss concerns addressed at Oct meeting. Two USIC managers are in attendance, in response to the invite (Sean Crosby – Dist Manager & Mike Foreman).
[See Program section below for results of the conversation]
New Business: Jason would like to request people utilize flags for marking in wet weather. It was suggested to have locate callers add a note on the ticket “please use flags” as a reminder to locators.
2022 LUCC Officer Elections: the following members were voted in for the 2022 year.
President: Rocky Stewart – Hole in One Locating & PRG Consulting
Vice President: Vern Dozier – Locating Inc
Secretary & Web: Amy Abramson – Eugene Water & Electric Board
Treasurer: Naomi Shirtcliff – Williams Pipeline
Publicity & Education: Jim Franklin – Lane County
Programs: Sandi Bonn – City of Eugene
Damage Reporting: Jason Williams – NW Natural Gas
Program:
Rocky kicked off the discussion by stating we are going to address specific general concerns and focus on solution. We don’t have time to dissect each locate ticket. The floor was opened to Sean.
Sean expressed he would like to work on communication and building relationships with the council and local excavators. He is offering his assistance with bridging the gap of “locate concern calls” by providing his direct contact info. Sean Crosby: (office) 503-908-7875, (cell) 503-858-5650. Email is also a preferred method of contact: seancrosby@usicllc.com
He is also providing the contact info for his area supervisor Kyle Race: 458-212-1434, he requests the first attempt to contact USIC for local questions or concerns be directed to Kyle first. If you are unsatisfied with the response from Kyle, then please reach out to Sean. There is also a “Cable Protection Line” via 800 number on the locate ticket to contact Lumen directly. (This phone number was dialed in the meeting and got a busy signal the first try, and a phone tree loop the second try. Members present shared their previous experience using this number was not successful.)
The council asked that USIC start attending the monthly meetings regularly, to continue strengthening their relationships with the members and participate in locate discussions to lessen the buildup of issues. Sean agreed and said he will have Kyle start attending monthly.
In response to the concern of over-marking duct rubs, Sean shared they have a contract with Lumen that requires them to mark ducts using “corridor marks” |<>| and these marks are to be 24”-36” wide, for each duct. For Lumen, a duct is any run of two or more conduits.
When asked why they don’t label the marks with size/quantity, Sean responded they don’t have that detail available on the mapping for all locations.
Conclusion, the council will continue working with USIC and the members to find solutions to the issues. Being present at the meetings and opening communication is a good start. It was agreed that the RAA will not be filed at this time, but we will continue to monitor the situation.
Meeting Adjourned- 1:00 pm