January 21, 2005 10:00 AM
· Call to Order
Chairperson Lola Ausby opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Group introductions were made.
· Old Business
Treasurer’s Report – Teresa VonCannon reported, in Steve Nichols’ absence, the current NCUCC account balance of $8,673.78.
2006 Joint Conference Committee Report – Teresa reported the committee met on Thursday evening to establish the various sub-committees and chairpersons. (See list below for committee members.) Frankie Denmark also met with this committee as the representative from the SCUCC. He outlined some of the issues the committee will face going forward. Boone, Carolina Beach, New Bern and Sunset Beach will be considered for possible locations for the 2006 Conference. The Site Committee will research further and report back at our next planning meeting of the 2006 Joint Conference Committee the evening of March 7, 2005 in Raleigh.
March 8 – PSNC Energy, 600 W. Cabarrus St., Raleigh (PSNC Energy will provide lunch at the March 8 meeting. Please RSVP to Sandra Johnson by phone at 919-836-2421 or by email at Sjohnson2@scana.com.)
May 4-6 – 2005 NC/SC UCC Joint Conference – Charleston, SC
July 12 – Carolinas AGC, Charlotte
September 13 – Fayetteville PWC, Fayetteville
November 8 – Progress Energy, Wilmington
· New Business
Frankie Denmark, SCUCC, announced the 2005 North & South Carolina Utility Coordination Conference. The annual Conference will be held in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston, from Wednesday, May 4 through Friday, May 6. With the theme of “A Joint Effort”, the Conference will present seminars including a review of the Damage Prevention Act, Utilities Protection, Contractors Concerns, and many more interesting topics. Vendors will have the opportunity to display their products and services to perspective clients from various South Carolina & North Carolina markets. (See attachments for Conference Vendor information. For room reservations for the Conference, call The Embassy Suites at 1-843-747-1882. Please mention you are attending the NC/SC Utility Coordinating Committee Conference.) Frankie would like to get the NCUCC more involved in the 2005 Conference and for the SCUCC to be more involved with the 2006 Conference. We all agreed this was an excellent idea. He also mentioned the SCUCC is in the process of setting up a web site which will be available soon.
Lola reminded the Officer Selection Committee to be thinking about new officers for the upcoming fiscal year beginning in July. Aydren Flowers will meet with the other members of the committee and present the nominations at the next meeting.
· Reports
NC DOT - Aydren thanked the members of the NCUCC for helping to make the NCDOT design/build projects successful. He reported there will be $1 billion of design/build projects this year. This is the last year for the Moving Ahead projects. There is $700 million that has to be obligated or spent by August in order to be considered for the Moving Ahead project. Information on NCDOT projects can be found on their web page at NCDOT.gov. Aydren announced that Robert Memory, formerly with NCDOT, is now a consultant for TBE Group. Aydren wished Robert success in his new role.
NC One Call Center – The NC One Call Center report was given at the NCOCC Board Meeting held prior to the NCUCC meeting and was not repeated. Stephanie SaintSing asked for specific directions and addresses to be given when calling or entering a locate ticket request. There has been an increase in the number of ticket requests with vague directions/addresses.
Power Companies – Lola reported Dominion will this year begin their second phase of implementing Automated Meter Reading (AMR). This will result in a workforce reduction. Dominion is changing the meters to accomplish AMR. Doug Morris reported Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities is in the process of installing AMR units on their water meters.
Gas Companies – Teresa said Piedmont Natural Gas’ AMR project will, in most cases, install the AMR devices on existing meters.
Railroads – No one was present from the railroads. Lola asked if anyone had contact information for them. Larry Morris, Duke Power, has email addresses and/or telephone numbers for some of the railroads. He will send email addresses to be added to the NCUCC mailing list to Teresa. Larry will call those without email addresses and invite them to our next meeting. He will also investigate getting one of the railroads to present a program at one of this year’s NCUCC meetings.
Local UCC’s –
Sandra reported the Wake County UCC is looking for a chairperson for 2005. Their next meeting will be held January 25, 10:00, at the PSNC Energy offices in Raleigh. They are working through their UCC to encourage companies to give accurate and complete information when calling in a locate ticket. Sandra asked for completed jobs to be removed from the system. She received a printout 164 times and it had generated a ticket for each. She encouraged everyone to look for duplicates.
Bernard Hicks reported the Rockingham County UCC had gone from 12 to 40 in regular attendance at their meetings. He contributed their success to serving food and not just complaining but also complimenting those in attendance when warranted. Bernard also said it works better and results can be seen when the field personnel attend.
Richard Swann reported the Harnett County UCC meets in Dunn (Highway 421 South). They had a successful Contractor Breakfast. Richard would be glad to share information with other UCCs to help them.
Jeff Clark reported the Guilford/Alexander UCC has a problem with redundant tickets and callers giving false telephone numbers.
Doug Morris said the Mecklenburg County UCC is experiencing inconsistent attendance at their meetings, possibly weather related. They also had an issue with a ticket being called in for 5 miles of Highway 49. The contractor wanted it located in 2 days and refused to specify. A Damage Prevention Safety Meeting was held recently with Pike Electric.
Lola reported the Halifax UCC placed the Call Before You Dig brochures in public offices in Halifax County.
Ricky Patterson reported the Lee County UCC is having success with getting the City of Sanford and NCDOT involved in their meetings. He also said they were having an issue with emergency tickets being called in and work not being performed for 2 days. They requested a printout from the NCOCC of the companies making the requests. They visited 3 different companies in the field to discuss the issue.
Teresa reported the Rowan/Cabarrus/Stanly UCC had a very successful Awareness Breakfast last week with 90 people in attendance.
Frankie said the South Carolina UCCs had the same issue with attendance and offered food to promote attendance.
· Other
A discussion was held on the drafted amendment to the NC Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act of 1985 developed by the NC Unified Underground Safety and Damage Prevention Coalition (Coalition). Some of the proposed changes involve the tolerance zone being reduced; paralleling potholes every 50 feet; mandatory membership in NCOCC (League of Municipalities has asked for another OCC); defining the responsibilities of parties; general clarification; penalties and fines for damages and calling in false emergencies; and defining emergency locates. The Coalition has been meeting monthly for 2 years to work on this proposal and hopes to present it to the Legislature this year. (NOTE: As the program at the November meeting in Wilmington, Allen Gray, Carolinas AGC, presented information on the efforts of the Coalition and efforts nationally by the Commonground Alliance. Anyone wishing to have a copy of Allen’s presentation or the proposed North Carolina amendment, please contact Teresa by email at Teresa.VonCannon@piedmontng.com or by phone at the number listed below.)
Lola thanked NCOCC for allowing us to hold our meeting in conjunction with the NCOCC Annual Meeting and Quarterly Board Meeting. 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)
2006 Joint Conference Committee
Ken Griffin, PSNC Energy
David Jackson, Piedmont Natural Gas
Sandra Johnson, PSNC Energy
Vendors/Sponsors – Chairperson - Theresia Creswell, Duke Energy
Sandi McBride, Telics
Doug Morris, City of Charlotte
Steve Nichols, Telics
Agenda/Speakers/Program – Chairperson - Mark Hannah, PSNC Energy
Aydren Flowers, NCDOT
Jenny Stamey, BellSouth
Registration – Chairperson – Yvonne Ellis, Piedmont Natural Gas
Lola Ausby, Dominion
Sandi McBride, Telics
Gary Rhodes, NCDOT
Greg Stevens, NCDOT
Rick Mahaley, Piedmont Natural Gas