Houston Contractors Association
Houston Contractors Association
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HCA Committee Reports
Want to serve on a committee? We'd welcome your help and support. All HCA committees are composed of volunteer members and were created to support and promote the local Heavy Civil Construction industry through advocacy at the local and state levels.
HCA addresses issues with all government entities to ensure the understanding on how policies can impact this industry. Members are kept up to date with latest committee information through this page.
Clay Shoot Committee: Updated Report - April 2023 Chairman Jeremy Peltier- was not present but submitted his report where he thanked the Board of Directors for the opportunity to serve as chairman of the HCA Clay Shoot Committee. He explained that the 2023 Tournament was very successful because of the 420 Shooters in attendance, sponsored items for the raffle, and everyone involved in volunteering and working this event. There was a net profit of $46,130. A big contribution to that profit was the $36,000 in raffle sales. Antonette Friesenhahn reviewed the attached budget and gave a breakdown of the revenue and expenses for this event. Cody Barker asked about raising the pricing by $100. Antonette explained that the event was a big success and that there is not a current need to raise the pricing for this event because the profit for the event is already very good. Cody Barker asked about raising the price on clay shoots. Antonette explained that the Executive Board would need to discuss how much profit they would like to make from events. Previous Report: August 6, 2022 Chairman Jeremy Peltier- reported that the clay shoot sold out 2 weeks prior to the tournament this year. His report included the April 1, 2022, attendance of 395 shooters which brought in a new profit of $64,500 in comparison to the 2021 336 shooters and a profit of $42,000. The raffle for this event brought in $40,000.00. Antonette Friesenhahn reviewed the attached revenue and expenses for this event. Education Committee: Update - April 2023 Chairman Curt Martin was unable to attend but did provide a list of 2023 Pending Programs that he and the committee are working on putting together. A new item added to the programs for 2023 is a two-part Construction Law Basics program. Ben Westcott also suggested that if there are specific matters you would like to have covered by the education committee, please email Ben or Curt. Previous Report: August 6, 2022 Angela Connor with Peckar and Abramson started off informing the Board of the organized 15 programs with approximately 430 attendees total over the last two years. With shifting to virtual programs there has been a rise in attendance. Surveys were sent out to the membership and over 60% responded that they preferred keeping these programs a virtual platform. Upcoming presentation include: “Hot topics in Employment Law” on September 7th at 8 a.m. Planned webinars coming later in 2022-2023 are “Prompt Payment and Trust Fund Statutes”, “Lien Claims”, and “Payment Bond Claims”. In late fall and June 2023 there will also be Legislative Updates. Angela also reminded the Board that by using the Teams meeting option we are able to record and post these courses onto the HCA website for later review. Flood Control Committee: Update:April 2023 Chairman Matt Strickland was unable to attend. Matt provided Casey with an update to read, for his committee report. HCA Flood Control Committee has participated in two in person meetings and email correspondence with Harris County Flood Control Regarding their update General Terms and Conditions. The committee reviewed these and made multiple suggestions for changes along with the help of attorney’s, members, and surety companies. The full report is attached to the packet. Ben Westcott spoke at the meetings and matters that need to be discussed. Some of the items are delays and projects, the contract that is currently in place, is not realistic. David Boehm suggested reading your contracts thoroughly. Previous Report: August 6, 2022 Chairman Matt Strickland provided an update -The report included that the HCA Flood Control committee was called upon to review a change in the specification related to construction and expansion joints in slope paving and we provided our feedback accordingly. Casey met with members of HCFCD and they provided two items for review. HCFCD is revising their General Conditions to their contract – HCA will send out to members to get their feedback, It appears to be straightforward and should be a positive thing as the old conditions contained a fair amount of supplementary provision and changes that had occurred over the years which made the general conditions. Golf Committee: Update:April 2023 Co-Chairman Bob Nelson was unable to attend. Bob compiled a comparison for 2021-2023 that was included in the packet for review. Bob also provided a list of items reviewed by the HCA Golf Committee. In 2023 the Golf Tournament will begin registration earlier, at 7 a.m. start time will be 9 a.m. Pricing has increased; these changes were provided in the packet as well. The committee has already ordered items and set up timing for the upcoming Spring Tournament. Bob Nelson will be stepping down as the Chairman for this committee and mentoring Jeff Peltier for the next few years to fully take charge of this committee. Antonette discussed the profits from the 2022 Fall Tournament. Previous Report August 6, 2022 Chairman Bob Nelson compiled a comparison for the HCA Golf Tournaments for 2021-2023. Bob also discussed a list of items he will be reviewing with the HCA Golf Committee. In 2023 the Golf Tournament will begin registration earlier, at 9 a.m. start time will be 10 a.m. Pricing will also be discussed due to the increases HCA will be incurring from the Golf Courses. Total revenue was down for the 2022 Spring Golf Tournament, with a total profit of $18,250 to go into the HOUCONPAC fund, which includes all PAC Players and the Raffle earnings. Government Relations Committee / State: Updated April, 2023 Chairman Ben Westcott reported on 5 of the below that he felt was most important to point out: Key Bills filed so far (as of 3/24/23): Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (ASSET BILL) –HB 2127 (Burrows)/SB 814 (Creighton) https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB814 Problem in San Antonio and Austin creating benefits. If you have to have different sets of rules for employees working in different cities. This is up again; your support would make this law change to a statewide rule rather than cities which is less confusing for all businesses. No Damage for Delay – HB 2265 (Leach)/SB 803 (Hughes) This applies to the cities, counties, everyone. Talk to your state rep if possible. Trust Fund Claim Assignment – HB 1864 (Slawson)/SB 586 (Hughes)
Opportunity to fix your work before someone can sue you. This would help with your insurance, because there would be less claims. Reserved Funds (Retainage) as Trust Funds – HB 1963 (Leach) https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB1963
Monetary limitation on owners to prevent them from making changes that are 10% of contract. Increase Change Order Limit – HB 2854 (Gervin-Hawkins)
Requiring neutrality on labor agreements for public works contracts David Boehm asked about the voter voice program. Casey explained that it was purchased for $7200.00 and was not utilized. Gregg Reyes and David Boehm said that AGC has been successful with using it and feels HCA should purchase it and utilize it. Casey did voice concern that communications like these frequently have the opposite effect and can be easily ignored by staff members. Previous Report- August 6, 2022 Chairman Ben Westcott went over upcoming likely bills that would affect the HCA membership members.
Updated: April 2023 Chairman Chris Scruggs was unable to attend. He did provide a report for Casey Christman to discuss in his place. His report is included in the packet. The report included a review of the Harris County Safety Record Policy. This has been implemented as of March 1st. Casey also included the certification that needs to be signed by the contractor and the subcontractor. HCA was very involved with the county even though HCA was brought in late in the process. This policy was worse, they did make some adjustments. Ben Westcott explained that a lot was done by being part of the process. Time extensions are still an issue, but Ben is staying in his ear. Previous Report Update-August 6, 2022 Chairman Chris Scruggs stated the face to face meeting requests have not been successful. Last year the committee did work with Joe Zapata to update the Harris County Standard specification and have been asked to review projects for construability. The EEO department has reached out as well and have met a couple of times. Casey is trying to coordinate timing. Stacey Slawinski from Ft. Bend County has also reached out to a group of HCA contractors as a whole to give comments (suggestions) which he is looking at to help create a Fort Bend Co standard spec as well. Chris is hoping that after all the elections take place HCA will be able to meet with the Engineer again. Updated - April 2023 Chairman Gregg Reyes reported that the city is still taking 6+ months to get out the contracts. OBO is the problem and is costing the contractors and the taxpayers money. They need to streamline the process. Closeouts are even worse. The HCA Executive committee are meeting with the city and need to make this a priority. Michael Ereti presented a process, the timeline says 3-6 months. Steven Aranda let Michael know, and he expressed that he would push for it. Gregg suggested putting pressure on the mayoral candidates and the council members for the upcoming election. Anthony Colombo said there is one way to move the needle, is when you get the extension letter for a company to say “no”, but not a reasonable contractor would do that. Mark Boyer brought up that TxDOT gets out their contracts in 30 days, it is the same process. Council members need to understand how many people are employed through the contractors. Previous Report Update - August 6, 2022 Chairman Gregg Reyes was unable to attend, Steven Aranda presented the report for Mr. Reyes. Escalation and supply- TxDot sent out a memo regarding the 2023 unified transportation program online comment form, which Carol Haddock had not heard of when Steven and Chris spoke to her. There have been some long-term service contracts that were held. Jon Harper said that he has turned in two requests and they were both denied. Good faith efforts are being rejected, but the city is saying to please resubmit them. Chris Smith said if we can put together a list with specific examples for the county they would like to review. If a list is presented, they will review and respond because it puts them on the spot with actual situations. HCA needs a list of the claims. Companies are asked to please forward them to Casey's email.
Updated April 2023 Chairman Jon Harper was unable to attend. In January the Board voted to combine Management development, small business, and membership into one committee. Create an incentive program for membership. Create a targeted recruiting campaign for new members. Jon set a goal of 6 new contract members by 2023-year end. Previous Update Report - August 6, 2022 Chairman Jon Harper went over the Networking Mixer statistics. The attendance is way up and small business have commented that meeting the contractors in a laid-back environment. Jon’s committee will reach out to the guests that visit as potential members. Sponsorships are strong! We did up the budget this year and it has been successful by increasing sponsors. METRO Committee: Updated - April 2023 Chairman Anthony Colombo included Houston METRONext Status Update report, this is in the packet. Anthony and the METRO committee meet with METRO once a month. Keep pushing for local contractors. METRO is concerned about contractors meeting their 35% minority goal. The capacity to make this goal is unrealistic currently. Gregg Reyes suggested that contractors may have to come up with a fund to help support small businesses. Roger Harris is coming on as a consultant and Casey will be alerting the Board once a meeting is set. METRO has their own small business companies that you must use. Previous Report Update - August 6, 2022 Chairman Anthony Colombo informed that HCA donated a large amount of money in anticipation that they were going to be doing all their new rails, but that was put to a halt because of covid. Casey is working on getting regular meetings scheduled together again. Because they are starting back up with will be good for HCA. Anthony provided in the packets a list of proposed improvements and their plan for moving forward. Updated - April 2023 Chairman David Boehm would like to work with someone that he can mentor to take his place on this committee. The disparity study that was done is inconclusive. Public requests for the study have been denied. HCA needs to meet with Director Murray, they have hundreds of applications in review for certifications and limited personnel to review them. Harris County, Jack Thomas wants to do some education sessions to try to resolve issues. The county is pressing CUF and reviewing all contractors’ plans thoroughly and is not afraid to go to second or third bidders. Houston Airport System new goals are IAH-36%, Hobby 34%, these are overall goals and may not be fully reflected in bids. METRO and the Port seems to be using Small Business, after having done studies. The response from the County and City are getting tougher regarding goals and they are cracking down on pass throughs. The capacity is not there! They need to be educated that these capacities cannot be met. All the entities are having problems with finding qualified employees, many are going to the private sector. This leaves the public sector with training new employees, and it takes time to get them on board. Last Report Update - August 6, 2022 Chairman David Boehm was unable to attend. Casey presented Mr. Boehm’s provided report. Over the last two years several owners have put MWBE programs in place, the list of Owners with programs are listed. Harris County is behind with a second Director in place since it’s conception. They still do not have procedures established and working off the policy statement. The Port of Houston’s program is robust, and they are reviewing and calling all MWBE’s submitted, vetting both the GC and all subs. The City of Houston has not released the Disparity study which is 2 years late, but instead have called for a new study. And Fort Bend County Disparity study has started and say they will have a program in place within a year. TXDot update is that Collette Holt is doing research on an availability study, to review goals. Many hospitals, school districts, universities and other entities are placing goals. Almost all of the owners are using the City of Houston or TXDOT for their certification. This should concern all of us as the goals for the total number of MWBE dollars are rapidly growing and the pool of certified MWBE companies is stagnant. Neighborhood Committee: Updated - April 2023 Chairman Chad Harris shared Fort Bend County guidelines that went into effect last year. The terms are a little better. There is still a problem with paving work because of how the County treats contractors. Chad is trying to set up a meeting soon with the new Harris county, Jason Haines soon. Chad included a report with some numbers, including supply chain, supplies, utilities. Dayton is the new spa, development is coming up near there soon. Previous Report Update- August 6, 2022 Chairwoman Sherry Barker is trying to build relationships with Fort Bend and Montgomery County. Sherry told the attendees that if there are any specific issues happening, to please get with her and she would be happy to try and set up some meetings. There is not a lot going on in the county at this time
Update April 2023 Casey presented for Chairman Justin Teague his provided report. Our safety awards luncheon was lengthy. The Committee will discuss ways to change how the awards are passed out. HCA has signed a new OSHA alliance and we are hoping they will do a few events with us soon. The committee is considering changing the categories based off man hours instead of by membership. Last Report Update - August 6, 2022 Justin Teague reported that the OSHA alliance that was signed in March of 2020 is still valid till 2023. For the 2021-year Mr. Teague is working with Jim Shelton and is planning to hold 2-3 safety awareness and/or safety leadership classes via team meetings. Currently there is a safety page updated with information provided by Mr. Shelton, but Mr. Teague would like to send out more blasts to alert HCA members. Annual safety award applications will go out in June and all application must be submitted by July 30th. The winners will be selected in August and the awards will be handed out at the HCA Luncheon in September. Last Updated August 6, 2022 Chairman Steven Aranda reviewed the increase of Small Business Contractors, Steven asked that any Board members who see new members called at the luncheon to please approach them and welcome them. Jennifer suggested tiers for the Small Business pay scale. Many of the companies cannot go from the $250.00 per year to the larger amounts. Some subs are reaching out to Steven regarding the certification for small businesses not receiving their certifications for long periods of time. |
