November 9, 2004 10:00 AM
· Call to Order
Chairperson Lola Ausby welcomed everyone to the meeting. Group introductions were made. Minutes from the previous month’s meeting are on the web page.
· Old Business
Treasurer’s Report - Bob Renegar,Teleixs, reported, in Steve Nichols absence, the current NCUCC account balance is $8,673.78.
The homeowner brochure can be printed on 11 X 14 paper from the NCUCC.org website. Stephanie Saintsing suggested the brochure be copyrighted.
The Committee organizing the 2006 Joint Seminar will meet on Thursday evening, January 20, 2005, at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. This will be in conjunction with the next NCUCC Meeting and NCOCC Board Meeting to be held January 21. Details about the meeting room and time will be communicated at a later date. David Jackson, Piedmont Natural Gas, will follow-up on several meeting site suggestions prior to the January meeting. Suggestions included: Sea Trail at Sunset Beach, New Bern, Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Wrightsville Beach.
· New Business
The 2005 NCUCC Meeting dates, hosts and locations are as follows:
January 21 NCOCC, Grandover Resort, Greensboro
March 8 PSNC Energy, Raleigh
May NC/SC UCC Annual Joint Conference, Charleston, SC
July 12 AGC, Charlotte
September 13 Fayetteville Public Works, Fayetteville
November 8 Progress Energy, Wilmington
· Reports
NC DOT - Aydren Flowers reported the “letting list” is posted on the NCDOT web page. Over one-half of the “lettings” will occur within the next two months with 25 projects/$310 million in November and 30 projects/$375 million in December 2004. Moving Ahead projects are continuing. With the Design Build Projects, design build firms have been responsible for the costs of the utility relocations. This process has been reconsidered and NCDOT will change this part of the process. On a case-by-case basis NCDOT will handle these costs. David West reported an increase in the number of encroachments being submitted. The approval process is taking 6-8 weeks in most cases. He urged everyone to get their projects submitted as early as possible especially the ones which include controlled access.
NC One Call Center – Stephanie Saintsing reported total tickets year to date are 1,098,683. This is an 8.6% increase from last year. The total transmissions this year are 5,806,722. This is a 3.8% increase from last year. On average for the year 2004, there is a total of 5.3 transmissions per locate. Total remote ticket entry requests year to date are 444,817. This is a 4.4% increase from last year. The City of Wilmington (fiber) is a new member of N C One Call. The NCOCC Board of Directors voted to eliminate the membership fee and to increase the Type 1 (email) transmission fee from $0.40 to $0.52 per transmission. Type 2 (FAX) transmissions will not change. Ticket volumes have increased 3.7% since 2001 but overall transmission volumes have decreased by 12.1%. Most of this is attributed to the utilization of the gridlet option versus the quarter minute grids and the updates to the web ticket entry mapping. These changes have resulted in savings to utility companies by reducing locate costs. Stephanie reviewed several advertising opportunities being utilized by NCOCC. The annual meeting will be held January 21, 2005, 9:30 at the Grandover Resort. An open house will be held at the NCOCC at 1:00 p.m. on that same day.
Power Companies - Paulette Warren said Progress Energy is pulling stub poles. Keith Reid reported Fayetteville managed to dodge the hurricanes. Fayetteville Public Works is installing a work management system and a work order writing system.
Gas Companies - David Jackson with Piedmont Natural Gas reported the company has undertaken a process improvement initiative. Changes include moving to a total automated meter reading system and the closing six of their smaller offices.
Contractors – James McCarter with Damage Prevention Specialist (DPS, LLC) reported some contractors are using yellow paint to outline jobs and requested everyone’s help in trying to halt this practice. Allen Gray, AGC, congratulated Piedmont Natural Gas and DPS for the very noticeable improvement in the gas lines being located since DPS took over this responsibility in the Charlotte area.
Local UCC’s – Sandra Johnson reported a successful Awareness Breakfast for the Wake County UCC. The support received from all parties was appreciated. They discussed damage prevention and injury avoidance and had 150 people in attendance. Mark Mchune, Cardinal Pipeline, will provide the program at their next meeting on November 30. Wilmington UCC will hold their annual BBQ next Tuesday from 4:30-6:30. They anticipate 70-80 to be in attendance. North Hampton held their breakfast on October 20 with 40 people attending. This was an increase from the 25 attending last year. Onlsow UCC held its annual breakfast and “cooked their own.” They had a speaker from OSHA with 170 people attending. Wayne County has started a new UCC meeting at NCNG in Goldsboro. Two meetings have been held. Adrian Flowers offered assistance to anyone having difficulty getting DOT representatives at their local meetings. Adrian will be glad to give them a call and encourage them to attend.
· Program
Allen Gray, Carolinas AGC, gave an informative presentation on “Preventing Damage to Underground Facilities – A Shared Responsibility.” He gave an overview of the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) and the North Carolina Unified Underground Safety and Damage Prevention Coalition (NCUUSDP) and their efforts. The CGA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to a shared responsibility in damage prevention and promotion of the damage prevention Best Practices identified in the Common Ground Study Report. Building on the spirit of shared responsibility resulting from the Common Ground Study, the purpose of the CGA is to ensure public safety, environmental protection, and the integrity of services by promoting effective damage prevention practices. The NCUUSDP is drafting a recommendation to NC Legislators to update the damage prevention law. This group has met monthly since August 2002. Their next meeting is at the Greensboro Operations Center of Piedmont Natural Gas on December 8, 2004 for those interested in attending.
Lola thanked NCNG/Piedmont Natural Gas for hosting the meeting. Door prizes were awarded and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by
Teresa VonCannon
Secretary - NCUCC
Piedmont Natural Gas
501 N. Main Street
Salisbury, NC 28144
704-638-3556 (ext. 2662)