AGC of California held its first division and state board of directors meetings of 2012 recently at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento, followed by the Installation of Officers’ banquet.
AGC’s state board covered a wide range of business issues during its meeting, including an overview of the association’s major goals and legislative program for 2012 as well as highlights of major accomplishments by AGC in 2011.
One major success on the regulatory front was the national 3% withholding requirements repeal. Also in the past year, the permit for stormwater went into effect and, currently, AGC is the only statewide construction trade association to provide QSP and QSD training. The association continued to excel in education and training efforts, adding multiple new programs and online webinars.
Nancy McFadden, executive secretary to Governor Jerry Brown, was keynote speaker at the board of directors meeting. She addressed the many current challenges facing the administration, including a budget put on the table this year that she said is designed to keep California on a good fiscal path. McFadden invited AGC and its members to work with the current administration to help move California forward and asked them to share industry concerns.
AGC of California’s two occupational division boards of directors, the Building Division and Joint Engineering Division, held their first meetings of the year on January 26.
The Building Division meeting included an address by Chester “Chet” Widom, FAIA, who discussed his new role as state architect for the State of California and outlined the many challenges facing the Division. He offered to establish a partnering process with AGC of California to discuss issues that have a unique impact to the building community in California.
Additional speakers to the Building Division included Paul Coleman, deputy director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), who discussed various facets of OSHPD’s review and approval of billions of dollars of hospital construction currently underway and coming up over the next few years; Jeff Baize, CEO of Brookhurst Development Corp., who discussed P3’s; and Gade Mobley, Flatiron West, Inc., and Kate Smiley, AGC safety director, who talked about jobsite safety and AGC’s leadership role in the safety arena.
AGC’s Joint Engineering Division heard a variety of compelling addresses on transportation funding, the high-speed rail project, jobs outlook and more. The diverse range of speakers included: Mark Leja, Caltrans’ chief of construction; Eric Mandell, chief officer of Small and Disabled Veterans Services – DGS; Bert Sandman, executive director, Transportation California; Jim Earp, executive director, California Alliance for Jobs; Dave Ackerman, AGC advocate; and representatives from the High-Speed Rail Authority.
More than 200 people turned out to welcome AGC of California’s leadership for 2012 during the Installation of Officers banquet that followed the AGC meetings. 2012 officers who were installed included President John Nunan, Unger Construction Co., Sacramento; Senior Vice President Randy Douglas, Tierra Contracting, Inc., Goleta; Vice President Curt Weltz, Flatiron West, Inc., Benicia; Treasurer Jon Ball, Hensel Phelps Construction Co., San Jose; and Immediate Past President Gerry DiIoli, Herzog Contracting Corp., Oceanside. Tom Holsman serves as CEO of AGC of California.
AGC of California and its districts will hold a variety of meetings, events and educational forums in the year ahead. Just a few of the events slated for 2012 include: the 25th Annual Constructor Awards banquet on April 14 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco; the AGC Spring Conference and Meetings in Monterey May 2-4; AGC Legislative Day in Sacramento June 19; the AGC Fall Conference and Meetings in Indian Wells, October 24-26; the Safety Awards of Excellence slated to be held in conjunction with the Fall Conference in October; as well as numerous other events throughout the year.
