Update 10-14-08

ECAT BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING IN GRAPEVINE, OCTOBER 18TH

The next Board of Directors? Meeting will be held on October 18^th, Saturday, 2008, in Grapevine at the Comfort Suites Hotel meeting room at 1805 Enchanted Way. The ECAT Board Meeting will begin at 4:00 PM at the hotel meeting room. At 6:30 PM, we will go eat at a near-by restaurant. Afterwards, we will meet in the hospitality room for a network conference.

Officers and Directors, please let the Executive Secretary know that you will be attending and will need room reservation as soon as possible or by October 1^st by calling 830-629-1620.

All Members are Welcome to Attend the Board of Directors Meeting!

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ECAT / BITUMINOUS INSURANCE SAFETY GROUP PROGRAM DIVIDEND

Not only has your support of the ECAT/Bituminous Safety Group Insurance Program benefited the association immensely but it has also generated real returns for you in great coverage and very competitive rates--and continues to do so.

We are pleased to announce that dividends totaling $721,492 are being returned to program participants on a pro rata basis for July 06 to June 07 program year.  Since inception the insurance program has retuned two million one hundred seventy four thousand nine hundred thirty six dollars ($2,174,936.00) in dividends to our contractor participants. What a great reward and benefit for our members!

Thank you for your participation and please tell the earthmoving contractors in your area how effective the ECAT membership and insurance programs are in improving your bottom line.

 Your ECAT Board of Directors

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THE 50TH ECAT ANNUAL MEETING AND CELEBRATION

The 2008 ECAT Annual Meeting was held at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio on June 20th, Friday, and 21st, Saturday.  There were 13 past presidents in attendance and everyone had a good time and enjoyed the education and recreation provided.  More news on the 50th meeting will be coming in our October newsletter soon.

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50^th ECAT ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING REVIEW

The Annual Business Meeting was held in San Antonio at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk Hotel on June 21, Saturday, 2008, and was called to order at 1:30 PM by Tommy Watson, President.

Tommy welcome guest, members, and other associate present; Howard Hicks of Holt Cat, Don Willemin of DONCO, Bob Turner of Rural Issues Consultants, Reynolds International Equipment - Angelila & Jesus Davalia, Steve Barnett of Bituminous Insurance, CMI - Ernie Aguilar, Bituminous Insurance Company - Steve Barnett, and Performance Lubricants - John Morkovsky & Pete Roese.

Roll call of officers and directors were made with just two members being unable to attend.

Don Aurogn of Bituminous Insurance of the San Antonio Regional office provided the safety program on safety in and around construction, heat stress, heat stroke, and refueling, and equipment use.

Ernie Aguilar of CMI (Compliance Associates) provided information on drug and alcohol testing program administration. Aguilar provided information on how his company could help keep our members in compliance with state and federal laws on drug testing. If you are the owner and operator, you must comply one hundred percent. In addition, your companies operating standard must cover your drug and alcohol testing. The former provider of this service to ECAT is no longer in business. Aguliar gave a brief summary of how their service could prevent contractors from extreme liability. CMI has an office in Schertz headed up by Donnie and Ashley Achterburg.

Tommy called for any other items to be considered on agenda. The drug-testing program was added to the agenda. The Board approved the agenda.

Minutes of the 2007 Annual Meeting at Corpus Christi were sent to all directors for their review. A motion was made to suspend the reading of the minutes and to accept the minutes as written. The motion was seconded. The board approved the motion unanimously.

The Annual Financial Report was given for last year and a copy provided to all members. At the end of 2007 we made a net profit of $6.009.18 after taxes. A motion was made to accept the financial report and the motion was seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Bob Turner gave his legislative update. A copy of his presentation is attached to the minutes. Presently he has been attending the Sunset Commission Meetings. This year, the Sunset Commission will be reviewing Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Agriculture, Prescribed Burn Board, Department of Public Safety and others. TX DOT is being raked over the coals. He has had numerous meeting with staff member of both house and senate and has taken a number of them out to lunch or dinner. He has met recently with Chairman Senator Kip Averitt and Senator Kel Seliger of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Senator Averitt?s new definition of Brush Control is ?Urban Instream Flow Enhancement? when he is talking to urban and suburban legislators. It is always a compliment when you are asked to come back and visit with a member or his key staffers and he will be doing that in the weeks to come. He anticipates that after the November election, he will see most of the legislators begin drafting their proposals for the 2009 session although several have already started. They will file their legislation on the second Tuesday of January 2009. Therefore, we must stay on our toes ready for what is to fallow. We need to show our appreciation to some of our key legislators, whether you do in person or you do it with some other organization. One thing that always affects us is whenever they redistrict the state of Texas and we are presently going though a census count and shortly thereafter we will have a redistricting alignment and this always affects our rural influence. We need to make new friend with suburbanites. Turner also recommended that we form a PAC (Political Action Committee) separate from the ECAT association to provide some insensitive seed money to key legislators.

Steve Barnett with the Bituminous Insurance Company in San Antonio provided an update on the effectiveness of the Bituminous Insurance Safety Program and the provided a progress update on contractors participating in the Safety Program. The overall growth in the Safety Program for the 06-07 insurance year recently yielded a 27% dividend to participants. Last year was the highest and do not expect that each time. Each year Bituminous makes two calculations and the first calculation has been done which you in the safety program have received the dividend and the second calculation may provide another small dividend.

Members from each district proceeded to elect their director and associate. Directors elected for the following districts are; District 1 - Lawrence Krause, 2 - Edmund Jenschke, 3 - Eddie Leatherwood, 4 - Bobby Watts, 5 - Ed Smith, 6 - Chad Ottmers, 7 - Galen Weber, 8 - Thomas Watson II, 9 - Wayne Saur, 10 - Edwin Eckhardt, 11 - Arnold Frerick, 12 - Clint Krause, and J D Godby will be the Director-at-Large, and for associate director - Dave Sund. Motion was made to accept the slate of directors and was seconded. The motion was unanimously approved.

Tommy then called for the election of the officers. A motion was made to keep the present officers - Tommy Watson for president, Marty Caston for vice president, and Dennis Foerster for secretary - and the nomination cease and they be elected by acclamation. The motion was seconded and the motion past unanimously.

Tommy called for discussion on the drug testing issue as recommended by CMI. It would be in our best interest to be associated with someone who could take care of the issue for each one of us and recommended we inter into an agreement with CMI who would provide maybe a reduced rate for keeping all of the records and handling any audits, which may occur. The motion was made that the association pursue a drug testing program with CMI. The motion was seconded past passed a unanimously vote. Tommy asked Eddie to follow up on arrangement with CMI.

Tommy then called for discussion on the location for the 2009 annual meeting. It was suggested that Abilene or Grapevine be considered. We might be able to get a tour of a windmill energy farm in Abilene. The Board approve that the two locations to consider be Abilene and Grapevine.

The Board then approved to keep next years dues the same as has been in the past. Membership report was given and a copy attached to the minutes.

There being no further business, the board approved the adjournment.

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The (2^nd QTR) Summer Board of Directors meeting was held at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk Rumba Board Room on June 21, Saturday. President Tommy Watson called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.

Roll call was made and all but two directors were absent.

The agenda was reviewed and it was asked that we discuss a PAC (Political Action Committee) under new business. There being no further request, the agenda was approved.

The minutes of the past June board meeting at the Best Western in Fredericksburg were provided and approved.

The financial report was given by the executive secretary and a copy projected for viewing by all directors present. The income from operation for the last quarter came to $448.33. A review was made of the members renewing their dues for the 2nd Qtr, new members, and our CD investments were given. New members were; Paskey Inc. of Pasadena, Christiansen Construction Services of Kerrville, and Greg Graves Construction of Mart. The financial report was approved by the directors.

No old business was brought forth for discussion.

Under new business, Tommy called for discussion on the association?s agreement renewal with having Bituminous Insurance as our preferred insurer. It was unanimously approved by the directors.

President Watson asked the directors for their desires on designating someone to be our insurance negotiator with Bituminous. It was unanimously agreed that David Sund with Insurance Concepts of San Antonio will continue as our insurance negotiator for the Association.

Tommy then asked for discussion on the need for a political action committee (PAC). It was pointed out that the committee must be totally independent of the ECAT association and that a separate bank account with book keeping system will need to be kept along with other requirements. After much discussion, the motion was made to form a committee to explore all the requirements of setting up a PAC for the association. The motion was seconded and the vote was unanimous. Tommy appointed Eddie, Clint, Tommy, and JD as the committee to look into the formation of a PAC. Tommy appointed Eddie Leatherwood as chairman of the PAC Committee.

Tommy called for discussion on the next meeting place and it was mutually agreed that we would meet in Grapevine in October.

The board then review the 50 years of history in a power point presentation, which was prepared with the help of Carl & Christy Englerth and Effie Leatherwood for the annual banquet.

There being no further business to come before the board, the Board of Directors adjourned at in time for the evening reception and the 50^th annual banquet.

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New Rules on Underground Pipeline Damage Prevention by the Railroad Commission of Texas effective as of September 1, 2007.

The new rules apply to everyone and provide excellent guidance on the responsibility of everyone digging or excavating.  The new rules are too lengthy to provide here and you may go to the Texas Railroad Commission web site at www.rrc.state.tx.us/rules/rule.html and scroll down to Chapter 18 Underground Pipeline Damage Prevention and click on it to bring the chapter up.    Remember to Call 811 before you Dig!

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EDUCATIONAL SAFETY AWARENESS

There are two groups which provide educational safety awareness programs on the rules and regualation governing working in the area of underground high pressure pipelines.  They are the Texas Excavation Safety System, Inc (TESS) and The Pipeline Group.

The Texas Excavatorion Safety Systems, Inc. programs can be found by viewing a complete training schedule and register at their website at www.digtess.org. which is provided by local pipeline and gas distribution companies.  Or you may call 1-887-280-8636 to register or with any questions.

The Pipeline Group travels throughout Texas holding educational safety awareness programs on excavating around utilities.  For the next program in your area, you may find it by going to their website at www.pipelinegroup.com or you may call toll-free 800-933-7370.   You may register for the program in your area at the same time. 

Remember you will need to RSVP at least 8 days prior to the scheduled meetings to be included and you can do so at the above websites or toll free numbers.   The Groups usually provide a dinner with the program and their speakers are very intertaining.   So take advantage of their programs and learn how your safety can depend on it.

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WELCOME OUR NEW CONTRACTOR MEMBERS!

WELCOME OUR NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS! 

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