One Industry One Voice
See what delivers results and keep up to date with important news topics within our industry.
|
|
Ex-House Speaker Armstead, Congressmen Jenkins Appointed to W.Va. Supreme Court Seats
Photo by Steven Allen Adams Gov. Jim Justice, center, announces Saturday the appointments of Tim Armstead, left, and Evan Jenkins, right, to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
CHARLESTON — The former speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates is getting a new title, as is the congressman for West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District. Tim Armstead, a 20-year member of the House and its speaker for the past four years, and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., were appointed Saturday to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals by Gov. Jim Justice.
“The people of West Virginia should be confident before they go before the court that our justices should follow the rule of law and follow our constitution,”
Justice said during a ceremony in the Governor’s Office.
“We need true conservative with honor and integrity to restore trust and the blow to the stomach we’ve suffered the last few months.”
Read More...
|
|
Pieces plant being shipped on Ohio River
MARTINS FERRY — Motorists who travel along Ohio 7 and W.Va. 2 may have noticed very large pieces of equipment traveling via barge on the Ohio River this week.
The parts are being shipped to the construction site of the ethane cracker plant at Monaca, Pa.
Pike Island Locks & Dam officials confirmed the shipments were headed to Monaca and moving through their locks on the river. One piece came through Wednesday afternoon, while another load arrived at the locks at about 11 p.m. Thursday.
Read More...
|
|
Bid approved for Hancock County courthouse renovation
NEW CUMBERLAND — The Hancock County Commission, Thursday, approved the winning bid for restoration work at the county courthouse and will be seeking grants for other improvements. The Harry W. Trushel Construction Co. will finish the restoration work on the west-facing side of the courthouse at a cost of $109,800.
Read More...
|
|
Building Renovation a Bridge to a Rejuvenated Downtown Wheeling
Progress is being made at the Bridge Tavern and Grill building at 10th and Main streets in downtown Wheeling where motorists were detoured around 10th Street on Monday morning to accommodate roof work being performed by crews from Kalkreuth Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc. of Wheeling. The building is owned by Doug, Mike and Dave Carl who are undertaking a nearly $2 million renovation of the upper floors for commercial and residential use.
Read More...
|
|
Mountain State Momentum: State business experts say economy on the rise
Several state business leaders and academics agree that the Mountain State’s economy is starting to rebound following years of decline. “The economy of West Virginia is definitely in recovery,” said Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. In two years, Chamber of Commerce officials said, West Virginia has experienced a 3.5 percent increase in state revenue, seen the 11th highest wage growth in the nation since the Great Recession, witnessed the eighth highest GDP growth in 2017, seen a 6.4 percent increase in personal income tax collections and a 25 percent increase in severance tax collections, added 2,700 mining jobs and 4,100 new construction jobs and seen a 21.7 percent increase in natural gas marketed production.
Read More...
|
|
John McCain, military hero and Senate "maverick," has died at 81
John McCain, the military hero who had a long career as a "maverick" Republican senator, has died, his Senate office confirmed on Saturday. He was 81.
In a statement, his Senate office said he died at 4:28 p.m. on August 25, surrounded by his wife Cindy and his family. McCain was
diagnosed with glioblastoma
, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2017. On August 24, McCain's family said that "with his usual strength of will," he had chosen to discontinue treatment. Though McCain had "surpassed expectations for his survival, … the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict," the statement said.
Read More...
|
|
Key construction tech trends the US petchem industry must not ignore
Technology in the Twenty-Tens decade has moved at lightning speed and moving even faster as the world gets closer to 2020. The rate of adoption and disruption has been almost too fast for the petrochemical industry, an industry immersed in traditional habits and values. Robotics of today's construction sites are more advanced than the ones that emerged in the 1990s. Image: Welding Robots by RobotWorx
The idea that some technologies are moving too fast does not mean, however, that those technologies won’t become the next big thing. The technologies are moving quickly because the demand is so strong, an analyst told Petrochemical Update.
Read More...
|
|
Detect and Prevent Construction Fraud
With construction ramping up in many markets, construction firms plan to hire more workers, indicating the industry's continued optimism about a healthy economy. It's news that is both exciting and perhaps a little daunting: hiring competent, qualified tradespeople is challenging under any conditions. No one wants to hire a poor employee—or worse, someone who turns out to be a thief.
|
|
Five Reasons Commercial Contractors Need Marketing and Public Relations
The good news is commercial construction companies recognize the value marketing brings to their businesses. In fact, most construction companies have a marketing department that handles everything from marketing strategy to website updates. But how many marketing departments have a professional—or work with a firm--that can handle their public relations (PR) needs? In many instances, PR is lumped in with marketing, even though they are two different, but complementary, functions. The not-so-great news: All too often, construction companies tend to think of marketing and PR as the same. Even worse, some companies tend to define marketing as responding to RFPs, while PR is reduced to sending out news releases randomly and securing media placement.
Read More...
|
|
How to Use Facebook to Find Great Candidates
Facebook is known as a place to post baby pictures, memes and even the occasional rant. Hidden inside its two billion active users is a wealth of opportunity for construction companies looking to tap into new and extremely qualified talent. While many tech companies use the social media giant to actively recruit great people, less tech-savvy companies often miss this opportunity. Whether it’s because no one in HR has the expertise to navigate the platform or because they simply have never thought of it, all construction executives should make sure their teams are using Facebook to recruit top candidates.
Read More...
|
|
Create a Competitive Advantage With Employee Health and Wellness Programs
No other industry feels the pressure of the war for talent like construction—and it seems as though this battle has no end in sight. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the need for construction laborers will increase by 12 percent by 2026, which is almost double the average growth rate for all other occupations. As if a shrinking talent pool wasn’t bad enough according to the latest Gallup research, a shocking 51 percent of employees who come to work are actively disengaged, which leads to an increase in accidents, injuries and turnover.
How can employers win the war for talent while ensuring employees perform at their peak and satisfying customers’ needs? The answer lies in cultivating a culture of health.
Read More...
|
|
Recruit and Retain Women in the Workforce
Gender diversity is an important topic in the U.S. workforce, especially in sectors known for being male dominated, such as architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C); facilities management; and real estate development.
While organizations in these industries realize the positive attributes that women can bring to the table and want to enhance their gender diversity at all levels, there is an extremely small talent pool from which to draw qualified candidates. Therefore, organizations need to have best practices in place to successfully recruit and retain this valuable talent resource.
Read More...
|
|
The tumult surrounding the State Supreme Court gets crazier and more unpredictable with each passing week. Earlier this month, the House of Delegates, after an exhaustive investigation into lavish spending on personal offices, $43,000 in working lunches, the use of state cars and gas cards for private use and the substantial overpayments to senior status judges, overwhelmingly passed articles of impeachment against four (Justice Ketchum resigned before the proceedings began) of the standing members of the Supreme Court.
The House will now be charged with prosecuting the impeachment charges to the WV State Senate which has the constitutional obligation to act as jurors in the unprecedented impeachment process. A team of five House of Delegates will act as case managers and will present the articles of impeachment and accompanying evidence to the Senate. The Senate has passed a resolution creating the guidelines by which they will administer their unique trial duties. The trail is expected to begin in mid September.
Besides the late July resignation of Justice Menis Ketchum, Justice Robin Davis also resigned her seat immediately following the House impeachment vote. Davis, the wife of an ultra successful trial attorney, allegedly spent over $500,000 in her office upgrades and remodel. Davis had spent 21 years in the state’s highest court. Her resignation was effective on August 14.
Presently, the Supreme Court is left with two elected Justices: Margaret Workman and the newest elected member, Beth Walker. Governor Justice has appointed Huntington attorney, Paul Farrell to temporarily fill the seat of suspended Justice Allen Loughry. Loughry, you will remember, has been indicted on over 20 criminal accounts brought by the federal prosecutor for the state’s Southern District, Mike Stuart. His trial date has not been set.
Governor Justice is expected to name two other temporary replacements for the two resigning Justices. Most political and courthouse observers believe that current US Congressman Evan Jenkins and recently resigned Speaker of the House Tim Armstead are the front runners for the two empty seats. Both have indicated their intention to permanently seek the two seats once any temporary appointment may conclude. Former Senate President Jeff Kessler has also indicated his interest in pursuing election to the seat recently held by Robin Davis.
In some extremely optimistic budget news, the WV Tax Department has announced that the state has ended the 2018 fiscal year with a $32 million surplus. In addition to the fiscal year surplus, July receipts were an astonishing $36 million beyond estimates. Hopefully this economic trend will continue into the fall months.
*On Saturday, Governor Justice appointed former House
Speaker Tim Armstead to replace former Justice Menis Ketchum and current US Congressman (R-3rd) Evan Jenkins to replace Robin Davis who resigned in the face of possible impeachment.
Pat McCune: OVCEC Political Consultant
|
|
Governor Kasich has recently announced that the state has finished its fiscal year with a $657 million surplus. That excess revenue has been transferred to the state’s Rainy Day Fund which now has a balance of a healthy $2.7 billion. These reserve funds are a good indication that the state’s economy is growing stronger the robust tax collections should militate against any business or personal income taxes in the foreseeable future.
The state’s unemployment rate edged up slightly from 4.5% to 4.6% in June. Despite this small uptick, the Governor’s office announced that 7600 new jobs were created in June alone. Most of these jobs were related to construction, manufacturing, health services and hospitality.
The General Assembly has for two years unsuccessfully grappled with possible reforms to Ohio’s precarious unemployment compensation trust fund. This week, House leaders announced the formation of another bipartisan, six member commission that is expected to renew drafting efforts with the hope of passing legislation during the year end lame duck session.
Pat McCune: OVCEC Political Consultant
|
|
Wendy Scatterday is a registered architect and Wheeling native, who returned to her hometown in 1998 after graduating from the University of Tennessee - College of Architecture and Design, and having lived in a few other places to gain experience. Ms. Scatterday’s return to Wheeling was intentional in order to work under the mentorship of Victor Greco, AIA of Schamu Machowski Greco Architects, where she spent close to fifteen years designing and managing a wide variety of commercial, residential and historic preservation projects.
In 2013, Wendy launched her own firm,
Scatterday Architecture
, to focus on small and medium sized projects utilizing her diverse experience of serving public and private clients with modest to complicated scopes of work in a variety of contexts, project requirements, budgets and timeframes.
Wendy is a creative thinker, a problem solver that believes all projects are best accomplished in service to the client with a team approach. She is a loyal friend and family member, as well as an avid volunteer, community organizer, board member and public servant. She is a hockey fan, a hockey player and an even bigger fan of independent thinking, conserving resources, and actively giving her time and talent to serve her community.
|
|
With record results and many of the firm’s attorneys
having been named to Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists year after year,
Bordas & Bordas has established a reputation as a premier law firm in the Ohio Valley and beyond. The firm includes 21 attorneys and nearly 30 staff members with offices in
Pittsburgh, PA; Wheeling, W. Va.; St. Clairsville, Ohio; and Moundsville, W. Va. The firm
takes pride in its reputation of being willing and able to take on any opponent in the courtroom. This reputation is derived after years of fighting for justice and the ability to obtain record results across a broad range of practice areas, including: commercial litigation, mass torts, medical malpractice, personal injury, nursing home injuries, mesothelioma/asbestos, oil and gas rights and injuries, insurance misconduct, auto/ATV accidents, defective products, toxic torts, bank/lender misconduct, consumer protection and trucking accidents.
Because of the firm’s success in the courtroom, most of the cases taken on are able to be settled without the necessity of a trial. The attorneys at the firm take settlement negotiations seriously and put the time, effort and money into creating dynamic settlement videos to enhance and maximize settlement value. Almost all of the firm’s cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, which means that clients only pay a fee if a recovery is made for the client. Initial consultations are always free, and no retainer is required as the firm advances all case expenses.
|
|
How to conduct business in a world of discrimination and harassment claims
Sexual harassment and discrimination claims and lawsuits in business environments and the workplace have been at the forefront of national news during the past year, and the construction industry is no exception.
Read More...
|
|
Contractors Seek Pension Reform Legislation
On August 13, 2018, eight national construction employer associations submitted a joint letter to Senators Orrin Hatch and Sherrod Brown, Chairmen of the Congressional Committee tasked with finding solutions to maintain the health of multi-employer pension plans.
Contractors Emphasized the Following
- Congress should pass the "GROW Act," enabling "composite" plan designs, which incorporate the best aspects of defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
- Government should avoid dictating plan assumptions on interest rates that would harm pension plans.
- Congress should only increase premium payments to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation after enacting other pension reform measures.
- Time is running out, and bi-partisan legislative reform is needed now.
|
|
|
|
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that
412,000 new manufacturing jobs
have been created since November 2016 – including 37,000 new jobs in July.
|
|
What Is the OVCEC Plan Room?
- It is a conveniently located source of construction plans for the Ohio Valley area
- It publishes a weekly Construction Report listing projects out for bid, due dates, apparent low bidders and contracts awarded
- It provides updates on projects throughout the week by email
- It provides online access to plans and specifications for your review and downloading
- It provides bidders lists
- It has staff that will get the plans you need whenever possible
|
|
Submit Plans & Specs
As an Owner or Architect of a project, placing your project plans in the OVCEC Plan Room will help to insure the success of your project.
The Plan Room will:
- Help you publicize your project
- Increase the quantity and quality of bids you receive for your project
- Help you get addenda out to bidders
- Reduce your cost of blueprint duplication by allowing electronic submission to Plan Room Online
|
|
Follow Us On Twitter Like Us On Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
