Ohio Valley Construction Industry News
|
|
Dedicated to the Advancement of the Construction Industry for more than Eight Decades
|
|
WHEELING SUBARU BREAKS GROUND ON EXPANSION
Building on its reputation for service and commitment to its customers, Wheeling Volkswagen Subaru dealership owners have begun an expansion project at the U.S. 40 site near Elm Grove.
Savage Construction
Co.
is doing site preparation work, while
United Electric
and the Waller Corp., of Washington, Pa., are involved in the construction of the building. The new building will double the size of the business, officials said.
Read More...
|
|
Resources will go toward wastewater infrastructure for the City of Petersburg, energy efficiency for small businesses. U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $738,638 for West Virginia from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development. Funding will support improvements to the City of Petersburg’s wastewater treatment plant, allowing the city to better serve its more than 1,200 sewer customers, and energy efficiency projects for two West Virginian small businesses.
Read More...
|
|
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND BUILDING A $6B ETHANE CRACKER
Robots. Drones. The latest in computer simulation and part tracking. It’s all part of Shell Chemicals’ playbook when it comes to the building of its ethane cracker in Potter Township.
The multinational corporation pulled back the curtain — for a mostly technical audience at a chemical-industry conference in downtown Pittsburgh — on some of its strategy and execution for the petrochemical plant that is under construction, employing up to 6,000 construction workers over the next several years and 600 permanent jobs.
Read More...
|
|
SBA NAMES NEW ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES DIRECTOR
The state School Building Authority’s board promoted Ben Ashley from assistant director to director of architectural services on Tuesday and hired Sue Chapman, chief financial officer of the recently eliminated state Department of Education and the Arts, as SBA finance director. The SBA board also voted to give raises to SBA staff. Tuesday’s votes were voice votes with no nays heard. SBA Executive Director David Roach, who didn’t get a raise, said the moves will save personnel costs overall for next fiscal year because he’s not planning to fill the assistant architectural services director position Ashley vacated, thus dropping to three of those assistant directors, and Ashley and Chapman are planned to start with lower salaries than their predecessors.
Read More...
|
|
BALL ROLLING ON NEW SPORTS COMPLEX AT THE HIGHLANDS IN OHIO COUNTY
The Ohio County Development Authority has approved a $4.2 million bid to build the initial, main phase of a sports complex at The Highlands. The winning bidder was Colaianni Construction Inc., of Dillionvale. The company had the lowest, complete bid out of a total of six bids filed. One of the bids was not complete. “Victor Greco, a principal architect with Mills Group, and other staff, including Greg Stewart and other key players, evaluated and brought a recommendation to the Ohio County Development Authority,” said Commission President Orphy Klempa. “It is not always the lowest bid, but the best bid. We took it all into consideration.”
Read More
|
|
After seven weeks without an elected leader, the Ohio House of Representatives finally gave a majority of votes to Rep. Ryan Smith (R- Gallipoli) and elected him as the new House Speaker. House lawmakers had taken a number of votes in recent weeks without any candidate capturing a majority of caucus votes. On June 6, Speaker ProTem Kurt Schuring called for ten straight votes that were still short of the caucus majority. According to House Rules, if after the 10th vote there aren’t 50 votes from the 66 member caucus, the 11the ballot shall only require a simple majority of those present to elect a new Speaker. Smith prevailed on the 11the vote
Smith will serve the remaining term (6-7 months) of former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger. Rosenberger resigned his leadership position in April when he acknowledge that he was a target of an FBI investigation centering on his international travel expenses. These are ensues were allegedly paid by the pay day loan industry reps. Smith will now serve until House members vote for a new Speaker sometime after the November general election. Smith is expected to run again for a new two year term. He will be challenged by former House Speaker and current House of Representatives member, Larry Householder (R-Perry County).
The General Assembly will meet for the remaining two weeks in June before adjourning for the summer months.
In some interesting political news, a Quinnipiac independent poll revealed an extremely close gubernatorial race. Early summer polling results show democratic challenger Richard Cordray with a 2-3% lead over current AG Mike DeWine. The results fall within the statistical margin of error and demonstrates that this race reflects a dead heat in early June sentiment.
OVCEC Lobbyist/Consultant Pat McCune
|
|
In a surprising move this past week, Governor Justice asked for and received the resignation of Commerce Secretary, Woody Thrasher. The rift between the Governor and his Commerce Secretary developed when federal officials revealed that the state failed to spend approximately $150 million in federal flood relief money targeted for the flood ravaged areas of southern West Virginia. Additionally, Justice alleged that the Commerce Department had allowed a non-profit research and development company (Matric) special access to state negotiations with the Chinese Energy Company. The blame game culminated in Justice firing Thrasher and implicating Commerce Department ineptitude as the main culprit.
The Commerce Department has had a difficult month. Earlier last month, Woody Thrasher’ two top lieutenants, Kris Hopkins and Josh Jarrell, also departed for various personal and professional reasons. These departures leave a leadership void in a critically important state agency. Hopefully, the administration begins the steps to soon nominate a new and talented Commerce leadership team.
In other state news, The Governor’s Task Force on a permanent solution to the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) funding crisis completed its 20 city statewide swing of hearings and must now begin the hard work of recommending funding sources to the Governor and Legislature. State insurance executives say the state needs $50 million new dollars a year to guarantee solvency. We expect the Governor to call a special session once he digests the Task Force’s findings and calls for a permanent fix to the agencies annual funding woes.
In a bit of optimistic news, May revenue collections came in $20.2 million over estimates. This encouraging report from the state Tax Department, coupled with a substantial surplus generated in April, indicates a stronger and growing state economy. More importantly, an end of year surplus should act as a hedge against any executive or legislative urge to raise additional monies via taxes and fee increases.
OVCEC Lobbyist/Consultant Pat McCune
|
|
|
|
Safe + Sound Week: Tools for Success
For organizations participating in Safe + Sound Week August 13-19, there are many free resources to help plan activities and promote events. The
Safe + Sound Week website
offers a variety of activities, each focused on one of the three core elements of a successful safety and health program: management leadership, worker participation, and finding and fixing hazards. Employers can also use
these customizable tools
to promote their safety events.
|
|
|
|
FALLS ARE THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN CONSTRUCTION
In 2016, there were 370 fatal falls to a lower level out of 991 construction fatalities (BLS data). These deaths are preventable. Since 2012, OSHA has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) - Construction Sector on the Fall Prevention Campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about common fall hazards in construction, and how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented.
Read More....
|
|
MARIJUANA IN THE WORKPLACE: BALANCING COMPETING OBLIGATIONS
How can you reconcile conflicting laws and keep your workplace both safe and compliant?
It’s a Catch-22 with big implications for your workplace: Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law — in other words, illegal. Yet many states have legalized marijuana for medicinal and even recreational use, with new laws being passed all the time.
As an employer, you may have an obligation to accommodate employees who use marijuana for medical reasons, or you may want to relax your policies
to cope with a talent shortage
. But can you reconcile the conflicting laws in this area and keep your workplace both safe, compliant and competitive?
Read More...
|
|
|
Follow Us on Twitter and Visit Us on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
