“We have great construction companies here and some of them are developing real specialties,” he said. “Some of the industries moving here require very unique facilities. I would spend some time figuring out who you are as a company and where your expertise lies so it can be put to use when it is needed.”

AGC Heads for the Hill

The Utah State Legislature began its 45-day session Jan. 29, a week after the AGC convention, and AGC President Rich Thorn said the annual meeting was an opportunity to hear from members and prepare for another busy year for lawmakers.

“We will have good representation on the hill this year, with me, our vice president, Joey Gilbert, and two lobbyists,” said Thorn. “Our association will be actively involved with about 10 to 15 bills in this session, and we’ll be monitoring and tracking about 40 others related to our industry. Some of the specific issues we are looking at are changes in the lien laws, workers compensation and what effect the Affordable Care Act will have.”

Thorn said the AGC has been pleased with state leaders in recent years, who have worked to manage the state finances well, provided funding for infrastructure projects and maintained a “rainy day” fund. The November election brought 20 new representatives to the House, and Thorn said AGC will be working to educate the large crop of freshmen lawmakers about the important role of construction in the state’s economy.

“We want them to know what we do and that we are here for them as a resource,” he said. “We will also be working to make sure that state departments like UDOT and the Dept. of Facilities Construction and Management are funded to the highest levels.

There were several large highway projects completed in the last year (the rebuilding of Interstate 15 in Utah County—the I-CORE project—and significant portions of the Mountain View Corridor), so we are looking at a drop in highway spending. But we want to do what we can to make sure it is not too much of a drop.”

New AGC Leaders Installed

Mark Green, president of M.C. Green and Sons Inc., a general contracting firm specializing in excavation, concrete and paving work, was installed as the association’s chairman for 2013, taking the gavel from J. Randy Okland of Okland Construction.

Doug Watts of Watts Construction will serve as vice chairman, and Bob Jones of Jones Excavating was installed as secretary. Officers representing Utah AGC at a national level will be James C. Gramoll of Gramoll Construction, serving as national building director, while Robert Tempest of Tempest Enterprises will serve as national highway director.

Thorn said the Utah organization has remained strong through difficult years and maintained about an 87% membership retention rate. Current membership is approximately 400 firms.