Utility & Transportation
50 Years and Counting....
contracTOR
PKF-Mark III
august 2019
I
de i s n
:
blic f Pu o gh ury ent throu C A e vic ing Ser ineer Eng
president’s message
From the desk of: joe walsh
I
• Leading negotiations with PBA leaders and State agencies to create a standardized structure and process for Uniformed Traffic control policies
In September of last year, I stood on the stage in Atlantic City and spoke about our industry goals for increased accountability in capital spending, and public perception of the industry and controlling wasteful spending masked as owner requirements to complete our work.
• Structuring and staffing our association and its board for the future, while looking strategically at our industry. Where do we need our Association to be for our businesses?
t seems like just yesterday I was sworn in as UTCA President, yet here I am writing my final message. As I reflect on this term in 2018-2019 and think back to my first term in 2012-2013 I find myself asking the same question about both periods. Did I, as President, and we, as an organization, accomplish the goals we set out to achieve?
As you all know, a year can move very quickly but I, along with the UTCA leadership team led by Bobby Briant and his great team of Dan Kennedy, Dave Rible, Zoe Baldwin, Dan Neville, George Lobman, Helene Nasdeo, and Lauren Hagan have worked tirelessly on so many of these issues this year.
• Creating an additional presence for utility contractors with the development of NUCA NJ
I am proud of the work we have done and grateful to all of you who have contributed to our success this year. This Association’s work will never be finished and as we pass the midway mark on our way to 2020, I look forward to continuing our fight for a better industry. In just a few short weeks, I will be passing the gavel to my friend Dave Smith of Mount Construction Company who will continue to lead our industry and fight for our businesses. Dave’s passion for this industry comes out in everything he does for the Association and his company, and I look forward to working with Dave during his term.
Some of the steps we took in accomplishing that which we set out to do in this past year are: • Defending the best interests of UTCA members. Trenton has been busy drafting bills that are detrimental to our industry, but our Association has done a yeoman’s work knocking them down or rewriting the language to reduce the impact to our businesses
I would like to congratulate two member firms that are celebrating significant milestones. PKFMark III is celebrating 50 years in construction and NJIT (Newark College of Engineering) is celebrating its 100th anniversary. I wish both these members continued success.
• Meeting with the leadership of our public agencies to review not only their budgets but more importantly their annual spending • Meeting with legislative leadership as well as executives of the Gateway Corporation and NJ Transit to voice our concern with “mega projects” that affect the ability for our local New Jersey family owned contractors to compete on a level playing field • Questioning and criticizing the state’s continued diversion of constitutionally dedicated gas tax revenue to Transit operations, instead of using that funding for its intended purpose – critical improvements to our massive network of roads, bridges, and rails • Passing legislation that improves accountability and protects the industry, including the most recent bill which holds both NJDOT and local aid funding recipients accountable for spending TTF dollars in a timely manner. As the industry that led the charge for an increased gas tax, we need to ensure that the motoring public feels the impact of their investment
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UTCA staff is also preparing for another successful convention and PAC auction September 26th through the 29th at the Tropicana. This year, Tom Hardell of George Harms Construction Company will be presented with the Robert A. Briant Sr. Memorial Award and Tim Watters of Hoffman Equipment will receive the Larry Gardner Award; two prestigious awards to two very deserving people. Congratulations to both great industry leaders. In parting, I want to thank you, our members, for allowing me to lead our Association this past year. It has been an honor, and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Convention in September.
Best regards,
Joe Walsh
CONTENTS
Cover story 42
pkF-mark iii 50 years and counting
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
2 7 13 21 29 35 51 59
54 NJIT: a century of public service through engineering
President’s Message financial overview legal dig accounting corner legislative news safety perspective labor relations
NEWS 67 human resources technology 71 improving safety & efficiency in the construction industry 80 utca committees
the pipeline
Published Bimonthly During 2019
1670 Route 34 North Farmingdale, NJ 07727 PO Box 728 Allenwood, NJ 08720 PH: (732) 292-4300 FAX: (732) 292-4310 www.utcanj.org
Publisher: Robert A. Briant, Jr. Editor: Helene Nasdeo Editorial Contributors: Zoe Baldwin, Dan Neville, Dan Kennedy Advertising Manager: Helene Nasdeo Production/Graphics: Helene Nasdeo, Lauren Hagan Circulation: Helene Nasdeo Printed By: American Plus Printers Affiliations: ARTBA, Clean Water Construction Coalition UTILITY AND TRANSPORTATION CONTRACTOR (ISSN 0192-4843) is published six times a year by the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey, 1670 Highway 34 North, Farmingdale, NJ 07727. Periodical postage paid at Farmingdale, NJ and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to UTILITY AND TRANSPORTATION CONTRACTOR, PO Box 728, Allenwood, NJ 08720.
Utility & Transportation Contractor | august| 2019 3
By: bill ruckert, provident bank
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s we embark on the third quarter and look forward to enjoying the summer season, there are pressing issues that can affect businesses during the second half, not the least of which is your banking relationship. By now, most companies have completed renewal of their lines of credit and with favorable overall market conditions coupled with a somewhat more relaxed regulatory environment, it should have been less cumbersome than prior years. The mundane renewal process, however, should cause management to review other financial products and services to help protect, as well as improve its business for the balance of the year. Fraud protection is critically important to ensure your funds are safe and your accounts cannot be hacked. Criminals can access your bank information in a variety of ways and two very basic safeguards are password protection and dual control. While these safeguards are procedural in nature they are not enough. Companies’ bank information is readily available through the issuance of checks and electronic payments. Products like Positive Pay, ACH Block and UPIC provide safety measures that allow businesses to stop fraudulent activity through these payment methods, in an inexpensive, pro-active, automated environment.
Capital spending for the balance of the year should be re-visited as your forecast becomes clear and job needs more identifiable. Several factors can come into play here including completed, new and/or lost work to name a few. For jobs that have been completed, it may be time to sell equipment that will sit idle but continues to incur carrying costs. New work may require capital spending but leasing could be a preferred option. Lastly, lost work means less capital spending will be needed and those funds could be deployed in other areas to improve your company’s performance and financial condition. Forecasts, budgets and projections should be routinely looked at during the year, and are especially relevant at the mid-point. Generally speaking, economic activity in the first quarter is at its weakest, especially in the construction industry, but ramp-up should be evident as the year progresses. If a company misses its targets at mid-year, it will be difficult to reach fiscal year end projections causing Loan Agreement issues, among other things. Conversely, exceeding forecasts could improve a company’s cash position and provide an opportunity to invest the cash effectively. Both scenarios merit attention and action as the year unfolds.
Long term interest rates remain at historic lows yet short term rates continue to be stubbornly high. This inverted yield curve represents an opportunity to restructure some debt over a longer period with either a refinance or perhaps a re-capitalization. Refinancing existing debt at a lower rate has its obvious merits and should be considered. Similarly, the inability to retire short term debt under a working capital line of credit, can be restructured over a longer period, at a lower rate, reducing interest expense and benefitting the balance sheet. Recent FASB pronouncements are material in nature and will impact companies financial reporting. The accounting treatment for revenue recognition can affect revenue as well as profitability, and the results should be readily discernible by the users of the revised financial statements. This modification is effective in 2019 and the following year will bring a change in the treatment of lease accounting. Changes in financial reporting resulting from the lease accounting pronouncement could be far more dramatic, affecting the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flow. Loan covenants will most assuredly be impacted causing unnecessary violations/defaults that could drag out the renewal process in years to follow.
Financial overview
random summer thoughts from a banker
Much discussion about replacing the “London Interbank Offered Rate” (LIBOR) index has occurred of late, due to its manipulation earlier in the decade. The most likely substitute is expected to be the “Secured Overnight Financing Rate” or SOFR. Timing of the change has not been decided and most pundits agree that current contracts linked to LIBOR will cause the index to remain in place until these agreements expire. Further the SOFR index rate is expected to be aligned with its predecessor. Loan Agreements need to be reviewed to address all of these items. As mentioned in the past, loan documents are intended to allow for a company’s evolution. Failure to recognize the need to address fraud, financial performance, interest rates and changes in accounting rules will put companies at a disadvantage with their bank when negotiating new borrowing terms and conditions. Loan Agreements should account for these categories; and reviewing them as the second half begins is important. On behalf of Provident Bank, we extend congratulations to PKF Mark III on celebrating 50 years in business and applaud Newark College of Engineering, NJIT, on its 100 year anniversary.
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recovering delay costs
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hen contractors encounter owner caused (excusable/ compensable) delay costs, they may be entitled to recover both the time resulting from the delay, as well as delay damages. Whether delay damages are recoverable and how they may be calculated depends, in part, on statutory provisions and the terms of the contract. The views of the court on the issue also come into play. NO DAMAGE FOR DELAY CLAUSES The first issue to be considered in determining whether you can recover delay damages is whether there is a no damage for delay clause in your contract. If there is such a clause, in the public contract arena, New Jersey has two statutes which deal with the enforceability of such clauses. State contracts are governed by N.J.S.A. 2A:58-3 and municipal contracts are governed by N.J.S.A. 40A:11-19. Both statutory provisions prohibit contractual provisions that limit a contractor’s remedy for the contracting unit’s negligence, bad faith, active interference, or tortious conduct to an extension of time. Of course, if the matter proceeds to litigation, a key issue for the court to decide is whether certain actions by the public owner, such as unwillingness to respond to multiple Requests for Information, amounted to bad faith in the administration of the contract. If your contract does not have a no damage for delay clause, or if you plan on challenging its enforceability, the next question is how you will calculate damages. Idled equipment and labor/material escalation costs are fairly easily calculated. What is more difficult is the calculation of extended field office overhead or general conditions costs. There are three general methods of calculating field office overhead costs: actual cost method; total cost
method; “jury verdict” (the court’s fair and reasonable approximation of damages). ACTUAL COST METHOD When calculating extended field office overhead costs as part of a delay claim, you can only include time-related costs. One time or fixed costs do not change when the project is delayed, so they cannot be part of the delay claim. Examples of non-time related costs to be excluded from the delay claim are mobilization and demobilization; site utility costs installed at the inception of the project (as opposed to monthly costs); purchase costs of furniture, computers, etc., which can be used for other jobs.
Legal Dig
By: adrienne l. isacoff, florio, perrucci, steinhardt & cappelli
Once you have removed the non-time related costs, you can add up all the field office overhead costs expended on the entire project and then divide them by the duration of the project to derive the daily cost and multiply that by the number of delay days being claimed. While simple and, therefore, appealing to a court struggling to understand the complexities of project accounting, the drawback with this method is that you have to wait until the end of the job to determine the total costs of field office overhead. This impedes the possibility of settling claims as the project continues, perhaps by a change order extending time and providing for some additional compensation. In addition, the average field overhead cost method effectively assumes that pricing each day is the same throughout the project. In reality, the costs may climb over the middle of the project and then taper off toward the end. If the delay happens at one of the extremes and is of limited duration, the average may not accurately depict the actual delay damage experienced by the contractor. TOTAL COST METHOD The total cost method is calculated as the difference between the field office overhead cost contained in the contractor’s bid and the total amount of field office overhead costs incurred on the project. Courts are generally very skeptical about accepting the validity of this method, preferring to be provided with actual cost data that allows an equitable adjustment to be made that is fair, and not a windfall. The contractor must prove that the nature of the particular losses suffered makes it impossible
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Legal Dig
to attach a dollar figure to determine them with a reasonable degree of certainty; that the bid was realistic and accurate; that the actual costs spent were reasonable under the circumstances; and that the contractor was not responsible for its additional costs to complete the job because of its own delays and mismanagement. This is a very high burden to meet but, may be resorted to when there are circumstances that significantly impacted the contractor’s ability to determine costs associated with things such as differing site conditions, compounded by adverse weather conditions that were not initially anticipated. JURY VERDICT METHODS A “jury verdict” requires that the court or arbitrator arrive at a reasonable “equitable adjustment” based on the evidence admitted. The contractor must provide some basis to the court for the calculation of damages that the court can use or modify. For example, the contractor may present a comparison of the field office overhead cost incurred on another similar project. The contractor bears the burden of proving to the court that the projects are similar enough that the costs are truly comparable. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS Some contracts include provisions that identify how delay damages will be calculated (if at all). The NJDOT Standard Specifi-
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cations, Section 104.03.06, provides that the Department will not make payment for costs calculated using the Total Cost Method; the Modified Total Cost Method; Productivity Factors; or the Eichley Formula, other than as specified in Section 104.03.08. That Section identifies all the elements that may be paid using a Force Account, including items such as direct labor, fringe benefits, etc. With respect to overhead, Section 104.03.08, provides for payment at the rate of 15% applied on direct labor, fringe benefits, and total material costs. Section 104.03.09 sets forth the compensation for “excusable, compensable delays.” It allows for payment of overhead, including all field and home office overhead and general superintendence, at a rate of 15% of the sum of labor and labor fringe benefits. TAKEAWAY Claims for delay damages are among the most common claims that contractors experience. They are also the most complicated to prove. Start with the contract, determine the applicable statutory provisions and seek the advice of a delay claims expert to determine what method of calculating delay damages is appropriate for your set of circumstances.
the investment value of fixed assets By: bill mcnamara, cpa, ccifp, the curchin group
While the new laws allow us to depreciate or write off equipment purchases sooner, we want to look at ways to hold the value of these items on your books, thus increasing your net worth. Significant dollars are invested in the property acquired by a contractor, and that value is as important as cash or contracts receivables. Favorable but Not Final The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provided huge write-off incentives to tangible personal property. Fixed assets with a useful life of 15 years or less are now allowed a 100% write-off of the cost basis under tax depreciation rules. Provided that the asset was new and necessary in the trade or business, the owner could deduct from taxable income the entire purchase price of their equipment acquisitions. However, these favorable tax considerations should not be the end of the planning process for a contractor. Rather, there are a host of additional items warranting further consideration. Let’s examine a few of them and envision how these pieces fit together. Timing is Everything… While the deferral of taxable income is often a large topic of conversation prior to year-end, the financial statement or book income needs a few moments of attention. By electing bonus de-
preciation for tax, timing differences are created under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for financial statement reporting practices. These timing differences create the need to record the future deferred tax charges on a company’s profit. So, when tax depreciation is higher than the books, we see a deferred tax charge being recorded. Accelerated depreciation allows us to take more expense today and postpone recognition of taxes on profits until later periods. GAAP has us adjusting the measurement to reflect this future liability. …And Speed Isn’t Since often our financial statements are evaluated by banking and surety underwriting standards, deferred tax liabilities, both current and long-term, impact areas of liquidity like the current ratio and working capital calculations. While the deferral of taxable income reduces current tax expense and improves current cash, it may not be the best answer for the business. Maybe the combination of using the Internal Revenue Service established MACRS tables and Section 179 depreciation allows a contractor to obtain the same deferral of taxable income. By using a slower method, we get a residual depreciation expense in a subsequent tax year.
Accounting Corner
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ontractors, take a look at your balance sheet. Your fixed assets—such as your property, plant and equipment— have been the basis of numerous tax law changes in recent years. They also provide an all-purpose planning tool for you as a business owner.
Salvage Value An additional consideration for book reporting is the establishment of salvage value. Rarely, after a 5-7-year period, is a piece of equipment more than a pile of scrap iron. Many assets have either trade-in values or auction values; identifying a salvage value before book depreciation is calculated will reduce the depreciable charge of an asset for GAAP reporting benefits. It will also increase the net book value of the asset, which will improve the carrying value and correctly provide the appropriate amount of residual. Closing Considerations As stated earlier, banks and surety underwriters are evaluating the strength of a company’s financial statement. Oftentimes, the net book value of equipment is one of the larger dollar values posted on the contractor’s balance sheet. By reflecting a salvage value, we increase the reporting of total assets. Book depreciation expense is reduced, allowing a contractor to show a larger balance in retained earnings. Net capital accounts are closely monitored and are often used in many bank covenants, surety programs, and state bidding qualifications.
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Accounting Corner
We can’t leave the world of fixed assets without a discussion on repairs and maintenance. Before accelerated depreciation rules came into existence, analyzing repairs to determine if they extended the useful life of an asset had much more priority. Despite all of the tax law nuances, repairs and maintenance calculations and classifications are still important to the contractor. An easy example of why is readily evident when a contractor endures a New Jersey Sales Tax audit. Any contractor who has undergone this audit can appreciate the need to be diligent. Too often, repairs and maintenance are not reclassified to fixed assets when they truly extend the useful life. And too often, those repairs and maintenance invoices do not reflect the proper amount of sales tax charged. This creates a use tax liability, which is not an immaterial amount of dollars. Invoices should be scrutinized for tax charged on materials and labor, if not extending the equipment’s useful life. Additionally, some specialty equipment used in a manufacturing operation for cement or asphalt production has its own considerations and benefits. Lastly, we remind clients to understand listed property rules for vehicles under 6,000 pounds and trucks with gross vehicle weight over 26,000 pounds. Both items roll with unique rules that, if not identified and managed in a timely manner, can create hidden tax burdens or the loss of some tax saving benefits to the contractor. For assistance with these and other important accounting issues for contractors, contact the Curchin Group.
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in the lobby By: zoe baldwin
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IGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED, THEY’RE LAWS Despite the frenzied budget season, (more on that later), UTCA was able to make progress on a few key issues important to the industry.
LOCAL AID As previously mentioned; UTCA has been working on legislation that would tighten up the way the New Jersey Department of Transportation allocates local aid funding to local governments. Governor Murphy has since signed the bill into law following last minute negotiations with NJDOT. Sponsored by Senator Paul Sarlo and Assemblyman Dan Benson, S2863/A5380 sets specific timelines for NJDOT notification of Local Aid allotments and requires the Department to execute an agreement with each county and municipality no more than 90 days after the award letter is issued. Additionally, the measure establishes timeframes by which counties and municipalities must begin construction of the Local Aid projects in order to ensure that this critical funding is getting out of local coffers and onto the street. The new law will also help ensure that projects are built by qualified professionals by barring localities from using their in-house employees to build local aid construction projects, by mandating that all construction contracts be bid in accordance with Local Public Contracts Law, and by requiring contractors on projects over $5M to be prequalified by NJDOT. To help get new projects in the pipeline, communities will now be able to use 10 percent of their award for design costs in the first year, and five percent in the second year and beyond. NJDOT will also now have the ability to rescind funds from communities that fail to award construction or other approved contracts within the new timeframes. However, certain circumstances out of local control can affect project schedules, so coun-
GATEWAY Legislation formally establishing the Gateway Development Commission has been passed and signed into law in both New York and New Jersey, bringing the region one step closer to the nation’s most critical transit project. All legislation governing Port Authority and other bi-state entities must be passed by both states and must be identical to each other. UTCA was able to participate in the bi-state negotiations behind-the-scenes, ultimately securing protective language in the bill that will ensure any work done in New Jersey will be subject to existing New Jersey labor law. We had also been working to have greater specificity in the procurement sections in an effort to ensure that New Jersey contractors would have a chance to bid on portions of the project, but New York representatives would not budge, concerned that the Federal Transit Administration would see it as a potential cost-escalator.
Legislative News
I-BANK ACCESS TO FEDERAL FUNDS Every year a small package of bills to reauthorize the I-Bank’s powers is passed by the legislature. Thanks to I-Bank Chairman/UTCA CEO Bob Briant Jr., this year’s slate included an exciting new provision that enables the Bank to apply for federal transportation funding from programs such as TIFIA and RRIF, expanding the financial resources available to local governments by about $80-$100 million. There were problems with the initial bill text, but UTCA was able to work out a compromise that appeased both the I-Bank and NJDOT. The bills were signed into law in mid-July.
ties and municipalities will have the ability to file for a 6-month extension under one of the following categories: bidding problems; permit delays; utility relocation; right-of-way; or a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor or the President of the United States that directly impacts the ability of the municipality to award the contract. These extensions must be substantiated with evidence of the locality’s effort to advance the project and are not guaranteed. Important to our industry, is that these exemption applications will also provide much-needed data and insight into which external factors are truly slowing Local Aid project delivery.
Another key element of the new law is that for the first time, New York and New Jersey will be required to pay equally for the local share of construction of the Gateway tunnels and the Portal Bridge. This element of the negotiation was central to NJ’s priorities, as the original bill would have guaranteed three-year terms for the current commissioners and given them the unilateral power to determine the cost share between two states, and did not give either Governor veto power over the entity – a critical tool to ensure transparency and accountability. A decade ago, when the ARC Tunnel project was still advancing, New York’s share of the funding was slated to come from Port Authority funds – a move that angered many in New Jersey. The new structure has a much more equitable cost-share and includes key NJ infrastructure such as Portal Bridge and NY Penn Station South. CUSTOM SIGN PLA BILL Also during budget, a bill further amending custom sign fabrication labor rules was passed by
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the Senate. S3924 intended to add custom sign fabrication to the laws covering both prevailing wage and project labor agreements. Although the intent of the legislation was to impact only signs used in buildings--and more specifically building projects receiving EDA funds or other state tax incentives--the initial language was written with an overly-broad scope that would have gone far beyond its intended reach.
Legislative News
After conversations with the sponsors in both houses, we’ve been able to secure clarifying amendments to S3924, which we expect to include in the Assembly version once it moves through the lower house. The new language clarifies that the PLAs are still only applicable to buildings and permanent signs on the buildings. In the prevailing wage portion, custom fabrication was clarified to apply only to the fabrication of signs that are to be permanent upon a building’s completion. THE MAIN EVENT On June 30, Governor Phil Murphy signed a $38.7 billion state budget at the 11th hour, once again averting a shutdown. Frustrated that he had to accept a plan that did not include his proposed millionaire’s tax and several items he had prioritized, the Governor used his line-item veto power to cut $48.5 million in spending items and froze $235 million in other costs until he is convinced the state will have enough revenue to support the added expenses. He did, however, secure nearly all of the other proposals laid out in his original budget, along with an additional $50 million for NJ Transit operations. As reported in our last issue, negotiations between the Murphy Administration and the Legislature were nearly nonexistent this year, stoking fears of a shutdown until just days before the annual deadline. In Executive Order 73, Murphy justified the freeze of certain funds by undercutting the Legislature's revenue estimates and calling into question projected savings that the Administration felt were not likely to materialize, later stating that the 64 items placed into reserve were added by the Legislature but not adequately funded. Most of the budget items frozen by the Governor fall outside of our industry, targeting charter schools and entities and projects tied to south Jersey entities. However, a comparatively short list of potential projects for UTCA members has been placed in reserve: • Bergenfield Borough Pedestrian Safety Improvements $50,000 • Ewing Twp Roadway Improvements
$1,000,000
• Fair Lawn Borough Pedestrian Safety Improvements $50,000 • Franklin Twp Stream Restoration
$1,100,000
• Little Ferry Borough Traffic Study
$50,000
• Perth Amboy Green Infrastructure
$250,000
• South Amboy Intermodal Transit Village
$1,000,000
• Brown Ave/Rt 206, Hillsboro – Large Truck Bypass $500,000 • I-287 Access Ramps from Rt 27 Final Design Costs $450,000 • Restoration of East Orange Train Stations
$1,000,000
• Rt 440, Bayonne – Pedestrian Safety Improvements $250,000 • Rt 46/Rt 93 Intersection, Ridgefield – Traffic Study $250,000
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Beyond the additional cash infusion for NJ Transit, there were no big surprises this year in operating aid for state transportation agencies. Governor Murphy's original budget provided a $25 million net increase in state assistance, but lawmakers included a $75 million boost before passing their own spending plan. In total, the state's direct operating subsidy increased from $307.5 million to a record $457.5 million in the final budget signed on June 30. This year’s increase once again marks progress, albeit incremental, for the long-term fiscal health of the agency. The influx of funding is offset by a $75 million decrease in funding diversions taken from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the state's Clean Energy Fund, raids that began under former Gov. Christie but are being slowly phased out under the current administration. The agency also plans to continue its annual transfer of capital funds to support its operations, diverting $460 million this fiscal year. Over the past decade, the agency has diverted some $5.5 billion from its capital funds to cover operating costs. The agency now receives $668 million from state operating support, up 57 percent since Murphy took office. State support provides 28 percent of NJ Transit's total annual revenue, and the capital-to-operating transfer provides an additional 19 percent of total revenue. CAPITAL PLANS As expected, Governor Murphy’s FY2020 budget includes $2 billion for the state transportation capital plan. The total program will reach $3.679 billion in 2020, with $2.277 billion allocated to NJDOT projects and $1.402 billion to NJ Transit. For its part, NJDOT has cited a top-line list of priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, including $633 million for state and local bridges; $402 million dedicated to road assets, including pavement rehabilitation, reconstruction and resurfacing; $149 million for safety improvements; $265 million to address highway congestion through infrastructure improvements as well as efforts to better manage traffic and respond to incidents; and $71 million for multimodal investments that support maritime, freight, and rail initiatives as well as bicycle and pedestrian improvements. Transit’s capital planning includes approximately $326 million to be invested in rail infrastructure improvement, including $58 million for bridges, (which includes $41 million for Raritan River Bridge replacement); $24 million to fund electric traction and signal improvements, $95 million for the County Yard Expansion, $18 million to fund the Track Program, $36 million for Mason Building 9 Substation Replacement; and $51 million for Portal North Bridge; and $2 million for Transit Rail initiatives such as engineering work to support the Glassboro to Camden light rail line.
Health & Safety in the Construction Supply Chain By: ray master, construction risk partners
A
s in many construction markets, health and safety (H&S) remains an ongoing concern. According to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), of 5,147 fatal workplace injuries reported for 2017, 971 of these (18.9 per cent) were in construction – a marginal reduction on the 19.1 per cent registered in 2016.
Lost in translation There are pockets of progress across the industry that should be applauded, however. One New York trade contractor has (like many of its peers) a largely Spanish-speaking Latino workforce
Safety Perspective
with an English-speaking management. The language barrier was perceived as posing great risk when relaying H&S procedures, leading to the company giving their dual-speaking construction supervisors more freedom in translating information. This empowered staff to drive cultural change, with positive results immediately apparent. In looking back, the company realized it was using this same strategy when managing production According to Turner and Townsend’s International Construc- and simply applied the same approach to safety. They learned a tion Market Survey 2018, 27 construction markets registered valuable lesson about integrating safety into existing processes skills shortages this year – compared to 24 last year. The US is rather than inventing new ones. It was eye-opening. not immune to such shortages and the report notes a number of US construction markets -– including New York City, Seattle Elsewhere, while the effectiveness of alternative delivery options and San Francisco – currently suffering from a lack of available remains to be seen, systems such as offsite assembly would apskilled labor. Considering the shifting industry landscape, it may pear to offer a solution – as offsite requires less intensive labor become necessary to explore what implications changes to con- resources. What’s more, with some operations offsite, time spent struction industry practices may have for current US approaches working in uncontrolled environments, where injuries can often to H&S management, given new technologies, increasingly com- occur, could be reduced. plex works and supply chain pressures. By investigating such avenues, construction companies could As OSHA statistics demonstrate, the US construction industry go a long way to addressing H&S concerns associated with conwould appear to struggle in its ability to proactively manage struction in US cities such as New York, which has seen signifand reduce H&S risks, with the proportion of fatal construction icant recent construction, in dense neighborhoods, involving workplace injuries hovering between 18 and 20 percent over the complex logistics. Ultimately, construction companies must folast five years as a percentage of all fatal workplace injuries. It has cus on driving cultural change from the ground up. In so doing, been suggested that a liability avoiding business culture tends to they could develop H&S systems that emphasize proactive H&S blame accidents on human error rather than addressing the cul- policies over more traditional reactive methods, lessening the tural shifts in attitude necessary to proactively reduce the likeli- likelihood of costly delays and hefty payouts. However, to drive hood and occurrence of accidents. wholesale change, US construction companies need to adopt a more holistic approach to H&S practices. This means delegating The construction industry’s fragmented structure and roving more responsibility to staff as well as giving greater autonomy to workforce make this blame game easy, but it is still critical for supply chain partners. In doing this, these companies can furconstruction companies and their clients to manage, embed and ther complement existing methodologies, building ever stronintegrate H&S practices into working life rather than taking re- ger, more resilient capabilities to challenge a traditional industry actionary, rule setting approaches. A failure to do so can impact mindset that does not currently appear to work as efficiently as a number of project stakeholders. Non-fatal injury, for example, it might. can lead to lost workdays, resulting in reduced contractor income. Fatalities, quite aside from the immediate personal impact A version of this article appeared in a JLT Group publication by the same to those close to the involved party, can have even wider effects author. on principal project stakeholders’ brand and reputation, as well About the Author. . . Ray Master is the Director of Loss Prevention & Risk as reducing supply chain productivity. Control Services with Construction Risk Partners. His over 25 years of experience in construction safety span a wide range of industries to include heavy, power, process, real estate, oil/gas, marine, transportation, hazardous material clean-up and emergency response. Prior employers have included JMJ Associates, Bovis Lend Lease, CH2M Hill, and Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation. He has held adjunct positions at both NYU and Columbia University. He works out of the firm’s New York City office.
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Cover Story
pkf mark iii 50 years and counting.... By: Tom Isenberg
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KF-Mark III, founded in the 1960’s and ultimately incorporated in 1969 is celebrating 50 years in the construction business this year, 2019. To put this milestone in context, in 1969 gas was $0.35/gallon, the United States had just put a man on the moon, the Mets and Jets both won their respective world titles and the number one TV show was Gunsmoke. Yes, that’s right…the Mets and the Jets. Can you believe it? When its founders, Bill Perkins, Al Kanak and Dick Foster made the decision to leave Peter Kiewit, an international construction firm, and start their own regional firm, they could never have imagined how PKF, the industry and the world would change. Gas is closer to $3.00/gallon, we have unmanned rovers driving on the surface of Mars, computers and cellphones have taken over almost every aspect of our lives and the Mets and Jets… well, they are no longer ruling the sports world as they once did. Excellence Built On Integrity – Since its inception, PKF has changed and grown into one of the region’s premier general contracting firms with a commitment to safety, productivity, timely completion and most of all, excellent quality of work and a finished product that makes the firm and owner/client proud. “Excellence Built on Integrity is our company motto and we try to keep those words in mind and relevant every day that we get into our trucks and arrive on the job,” said Glenn Ely, PKF President.
1-276 1-95 Interchange Bristol, PA
No longer a handful of employees working out of the family garage, over the last 50 years, PKF has evolved in its workforce and the nature and complexity of its work. PKF now has 72 salaried employees, 35 of which are shareholders and owners of the firm. At times, upwards of 200 hourly craftworkers call PKF home. On behalf of owners such as the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, NJ Transit, New Jersey Department of Transportation and local Municipalities and Authority’s throughout, PKF’s work spans the length of New Jersey, from Mahwah to Cape May and Toms River to Trenton. PKF continues to work in Southeastern Pennsylvania as well, performing work for the likes of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), among others. “Except for a period of time in the 1990’s when we ventured into the Boston Harbor project, PKF has made a concerted effort to stay close to home. We value the fact that, for the most part, we make it possible for our employees to get home to their families and friends each night,” said Larry Keough, PKF Vice President. PKF Then and Now -
Raccoon Creek Bridge, Swedesboro, NJ
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After the tenure of Dick Foster, Dick Scherr and Peter Getchell as President and/or Chairman of the Board, Glenn A. Ely was named President of PKF in 2013. Glenn is joined by Mark J. Reisinger, Vice President and Larry P. Keough, Vice President on the Board of Directors. In 2019, long time valued employee, Mitch Baland was named an officer and currently also serves as a Vice President of the firm. The corporate structure for the company includes various committees, including the Safety Committee, Operations Committee, Big Pick Committee. PKF’s Management Committee makes most of the corporate management decisions. Its members include all five of the Corporate Officers as well as Zachary Nyce (Project Manager), Jeremy Rohrer (Proj-
ect Manager), Fred Hertlein (General Project Superintendent), Jeff Keba (Project Manager), Don Michell (Chief Financial Manager) and Thomas Isenberg (Director of Compliance and Contract Controls). Throughout its 50-year history, PKF has taken great pride in its extracurricular role as industry representatives and leaders on various Boards and construction trade associations. Believing it important to have a seat at the table when industry wide issues are presented and resolutions addressed, PKF, through
Dick Foster, Peter Getchell, Mark Reisinger, Larry Keough, Tom Beveridge, Don Michell and Tom Isenberg have all been active in, and have assumed important leadership roles in the National Association of Utility Contractors, ABC of Eastern Pennsylvania, Associated Pennsylvania Contractors (APC), American Road and Transportation Builders (ARTBA) and the CFMA, to name a few. PKF’s relationship with UTCA is long filled with activity and leadership roles, including past and present Board members, Tom Beveridge, Pete Getchell and current PKF President, Glenn Ely. The Work and the People – Priding itself on its ability to self-perform most of the critical aspects of its work, PKF has traditionally performed many major plant, bridge and highway projects throughout New Jersey,
I-276 I-95 Interchange, Bristol, PA
As part of the New Jersey Turnpike’s Widening Program, PKF completed approximately $220 million in work spread over two contracts at Exits 7A and 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike. Between 2013 and 2017, PKF was awarded, built and completed its largest non-joint venture project to date wherein PKF completed the approximately $160 million Contract 1 of the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Rt. 295/I-76/Rt. 42 Direct Connect Project. Currently, PKF is expanding its work on navigable waterways while performing bridge fender replacements and substructure concrete repairs on 14 bridges owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Of recent historical significance, PKF was proud to serve as the D-10 Prime Contractor on the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s “Missing Link” project which, after decades of talk, plans, studies and designs, earned I-95 the distinction of making whole the nation’s longest north to south Interstate reaching from Maine to Florida. The approximately $145 million project consisted of five new bridges, numerous sound and retaining walls and 2.5 miles of new widening of the joint I-95 and I-276 corridor. PKF has also been fortunate enough to take part as a partner in the historical new $400 million I-95 Scudder Falls Bridge Project which is owned by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and includes the building of a new bridge and toll plaza across the Delaware River in Bucks County.
Cover Story
PKF Electrical Department
Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware, none of which could have been accomplished without good people and great craftsmen. “For me, the best part of working at PKF is the people I get to work around,” stated long time employee and Site Superintendent, Jack Clark.
Again self-performing the majority of the work with its own labor forces, PKF has traditionally also served as the Prime Contractor on many plant projects, including multiple projects for the Cities of Trenton and Camden, New Jersey American Water Company, AQUA of Pennsylvania, Middlesex County Utilities Authority as well as the Bayshore Regional and Somerset Raritan Valley Sewerage Authorities. Into the Future – Although 50 years in business is an accomplishment not many in the construction industry have achieved, PKF continues to look to the future and quite possibly, another 50 years. “An individual goal I have in the coming years, is the whole generational transfer of knowledge from our older generation to our next generation. It’s true for both management and those in the field. The employees we respect and count on most are, right now, in the midst of training that next generation,” said Glenn Ely. Vice President Larry Keough echoes the same sentiments when he commented, “It’s a challenging time right now and we recognize the need to properly train, mentor, challenge and provide opportunities to the next generation. I see a very talented pool of individuals in our workforce right now and am very excited for the future, in our ability to keep the company going and to offer the same opportunities I was fortunate enough to have offered to me.”
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Cover Story
Despite the passage of time, change in leadership, geographic expansion and the "Excellence Built on rise and fall of the Mets and Integrity is our company Jets over the last 50 years, PKF remains committed to motto." its Corporate Vision – “To be the premier employ- Glenn Ely ee-owned engineering, construction and management company within our chosen markets. A company that our stakeholders and the communities in which we work view as integral to their success, able to anticipate their needs, suited to create unique solutions and ultimately, deliver on every commitment we make.” Excellence Built On Integrity is not just a saying around PKF – it is a way of life.
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North Jersey Bridge Fender Construction
proactive human resources management By: jonathan landesman, cohen seglias pallas greenhall & furman
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• Conduct a self-audit for wage and hour compliance. There are more overtime compensation lawsuits filed in federal court than any other type of employment claim. Bottom-feeding plaintiff ’s lawyers love bringing claims for overtime under federal and state law, especially class actions. This is because even if they recover only a few hundred bucks for each employee, they are still permitted to file bloated petitions for hundreds of thousands of dollars of attorneys’ fees. And even though these lawsuits are so common, many contractors continue to expose themselves by misclassifying employees as salaried-exempt. Do you have an as-
sistant estimator, purchasing agent, or junior estimator who receives a fixed weekly salary without receiving overtime compensation when working more than 40 hours per week? If the answer is “yes”, then you are not alone. You are standing alongside scores of other contractors who will fall prey to a predatory wage and
hour claim. What should you do to avoid this grim fate? Consult with a lawyer who really understands wage and hour law to ensure that your entire workforce is properly classified. • Watch your subcontractors’ payroll like a hawk on rated jobs. If your company performs public works projects, you know all about prevailing wage compliance, including paying the correct rate and benefits package and completing weekly certified payroll records. But did you know that your company can be held responsible for a subcontractor’s prevailing wage violations? But surely a general contractor cannot be held secondarily liable for a subcontractor’s prevailing wage violations if the general contractor reviews the subcontractor’s certified payroll records every week and those records show that the employees have been paid correctly, right? Wrong! The Department of Labor in New Jersey will not accept any excuses. The only way to effectively avoid secondary liability for a subcontractor’s payroll violations on a public works job is to review the subcontractor’s actual payroll account and see that all of the required money has actually been remitted. • Understand that not all of your most trusted employees will be loyal forever. Some contractors assume that once an employee has been employed at the same place for 10 or 20 years they are a permanent fixture. That’s just not true. Even long-term employees fall out of love with their employers and/or can be lured away by promises of vast riches. If you have one or more employees who could take a substantial amount of business to a competitor or otherwise cause substantial harm to your company, you need to tie up that employee with a non-compete agreement. I hear contractors talking about non-compete agreements a lot, and the misconceptions abound. The truth of the matter is that while they are not 100% bullet proof in all situations, they are enforceable as a general principle. I know, I’ve personally litigated dozens of cases to enforce non-compete agreements. Learn from the mistakes of my other clients and don’t wait until after you lose your most valuable employee to implement non-compete agreements for everyone else.
Labor Relations
n any given year, my firm represents nearly 1,000 contractors. I’m on the phone with contractors talking about employee and union issues all day every day. I’m not complaining, I get to hear some pretty interesting stories about how employees find new and creative ways to get themselves into trouble and create difficult, and often times, expensive problems for my clients. Most of what I do is reactive. I usually wind up giving advice on implementing damage control measures after the fact. But every now and then, I’ll have an especially business savvy contractor call me when things are relatively quiet and ask me what his company should be doing proactively to better manage exposure to potential human resources liability issues. When answering that question, here are a few items that are almost always at the top of my list:
• #MeToo isn’t just a Hollywood thing. We’ve all heard about the #MeToo movement taking down powerful celebrities like Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein. But the movement has effected the workplace in all industries, even male dominated industries like construction. And it’s not just the stereotypical claim of women working in an office reporting harrassment by their male co-workers. Indeed, I have seen an explosion of cases involving
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same-sex (male on male and female on female) hostile work environment claims, as well as claims involving harassment allegations because of age and race. What can you do about this national phenomenon and to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for your employees? For starters, you should dust off your employee handbook and make sure that you have a comprehensive harassment policy that prohibits all types of discrimination and harassment, and includes a multi-channel complaint procedure. And you should invest in live, in-person harassment training for all of your employees. In fact, harassment training is now required for employers in many jurisdictions.
Labor Relations
• Embrace a true Open Door Policy. Whether you operate a union or open shop, you need to continually exercise vigilance to make sure that your employees are being treated fairly. If you have a bully on a particular crew or in a particular department, your employees need to be able to come to you and talk about it. In an open shop, allowing a rogue supervisor to run roughshod over the employees he or she supervising is a recipe for a union organizing campaign. And in a shop that is already organizing, allowing a supervisor to behave too aggressively often costs the employer both in terms of lower morale and lost productivity as well as an increased number of union grievances. Employees should have an outlet – typically a human resources professional – to voice issues of perceived unfairness. Again, letting things fester and remedying this type of situation after the fact is often a very costly mistake. About the Author. . . Jonathan Landesman is Co-Chair of the Labor & Employment Group at Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC. He is an aggressive trial lawyer and has successfully represented UTCA members and other contractors in all aspects of labor and employment law. Jon can be reached at jlandesman@cohenseglias.com or 267.238.4726.
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Feature Story
NJIT: a century of public service through engineering
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he year 1919 was significant in our nation’s history. One hundred years ago, the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations, was created, the rotary dial telephone and pop-up toaster were invented, and the U.S. Congress approved daylight saving time. Prohibition was ratified and came into force with the 18th Amendment, and the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. As New Jersey Institute of Technology marks the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of Newark College of Engineering this year, it is important to note that the history of the college exists because of the eminent men and women who have dedicated their lives and work to its preservation. And the College has thrived over the past hundred years in no small measure because of its strong relationships with industry partners such as the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association (UTCA) of New Jersey, which provides financial support to NJIT students in the form of scholarships and critical training opportunities through internship programs. “It is so important to foster collaboration between industry and higher education, and NJIT’s relationship with UTCA is indicative of the mutually beneficial nature of such a partnership,” said
Newark Technical School's first dedicated building was located on High Street and Summit Place.
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The first students to attend Newark Technical School studied in a rented building on West Park Street.
NJIT President Joel Bloom of the university’s relationship with UTCA, which is also the lead sponsor for the annual NCE Salute to Engineering Excellence. “UTCA congratulates NJIT as this outstanding institution reaches its 100 year milestone. No other state institution has had a rich and profound effect on the construction industry in New Jersey. Throughout the years, so many of the greatest leaders of our industry have walked the halls of NJIT.” said Robert Briant, Jr., chief executive officer of the non-profit trade association that represents approximately 1,000 member firms in the public and private sectors who are active in all phases of heavy, highway, utility, and marine construction, as well as site work including remediation of brownfields and contaminated sites. The Early Years The New Jersey Institute of Technology that we know today has a rich history with its beginnings developing from the industrial age. Like many of the port cities around the world, the Newark of the late 19th century was a thriving industrial center. Its factories churned out thread, metals, paints and leather goods. In Newark, Thomas Edison set the stage at his Ward Street factory for his later astounding achievements, and Edison rival Edward Weston established the first factory in the United States for commercial production of dynamo electric machines. On March 24, 1880, the Essex County Assemblyman in the state Legislature introduced “An Act to Provide for the Establishment of Schools of Industrial Education.” The Newark Board of Trade sponsored the bill. The Act established three schools of industrial education: one in Newark, one in Trenton and one in Hoboken. The first Board of Trustees met July 1, 1884. The Newark Techni-
cal School opened Monday, February 9, 1885 with 88 students who attended despite a terrible snowstorm.
Under Dr. Allan R. Cullimore, who led the institution from 1920 to 1949, the modest Newark Technical School was transformed into the robust Newark College of Engineering. Campbell Hall was erected in 1925. During the lean years of the Depression and World War II, only the former Newark Orphan Asylum, now Eberhardt Hall, was purchased and renovated by the college. The Postwar Era The postwar period was one of enormous activity during which President Cullimore — like today’s post-Cold War university presidents — challenged the college to turn “war-time thinking into peace-time thinking.” In 1946, about 75 percent of the freshman class had served in the armed forces. Robert W. Van Houten was acting president of NJIT from 1947 until 1950 when the board of trustees named him president. Cullimore Hall was built in 1958 and two years later the old Weston Hall was razed and replaced with the current seven-story structure. Doctoral-level programs were introduced and six years later, in 1966,
As across the nation, the call to service in the Armed Forces and defense industries was strong at Newark College of Engineering during World War II.
an 18-acre, four-building expansion was completed. William Hazell succeeded Dr. Van Houten as president of NJIT in 1970. An Expanded Mission In 1973, with the addition of the New Jersey School of Architecture, the institution had evolved into a technological university, emphasizing a broad range of graduate and undergraduate degrees and dedication to significant research and public service. A stronger-than-ever Newark College of Engineering remained intact, but a new university name — New Jersey Institute of Technology — signified the institution’s expanded mission.
Feature Story
The first class, mostly evening students, attended classes in a rented building at 21 West Park Street. Soon the facility became inadequate to house an expanding student body. To meet the needs of the growing school, a second fundraiser — the institution’s first capital campaign — was launched to support the construction of a dedicated building for Newark Technical School. In 1886, under the leadership of the school’s dynamic first director, Dr. Charles A. Colton, the cornerstone was laid at the intersection of High Street and Summit Place for the three-story building later to be named Weston Hall in honor of the institution’s early benefactor. A laboratory building, later to be called Colton Hall, was added to the campus in 1913. Daniel Hodgdon served as the director of Newark Technical School from 1918 to 1920.
Full Circle As it did in the 1880s, NCE continues to have a major focus on industrial education, production and manufacturing. NJIT has developed and expanded several units — such as the Engineering Technology Department and the new 10,000-square-foot Makerspace — whose primary domain of interest is industrial education. Although the applications have changed, NCE’s current interests are in medical devices, avionics, communications, aerospace, robotics and transportation. And, as in 1881, government-industry partnerships continue to be the cornerstone of industrial education. “Review of what the profession has accomplished during the last century, and what NCE and NCE graduates have achieved during the same period, provides a strong sense that our discipline is still in its infancy,” said NCE Dean Moshe Kam. “Likewise, ours are likely to be nowhere near the technology, engineering and industry that will be celebrated at NCE’s Bicentennial in 2119. The main adventures in engineering and technology are still ahead of us.”
Charles A. Colton, first director of Newark Technical School
Allan R. Cullimore was the first president of Newark College of Engineering.
To read more about NCE 100, visit njit.edu/engineering100.
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staying on top of environmental rule proposals By: dan kennedy, director of environmental & utility operations
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TCA is always looking out for important regulatory reforms that are likely to impact our member companies. For environmental and utility-based work, the reforms proposed by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) represent the bulk of our attention. Although the DEP proposes rules through a formal process and takes public comments before it finalizes any rule, UTCA strives to get involved early in order to better influence rule proposals prior to formal publication. New Jersey has environmental laws that are as strong or stronger than the federal government and most other states. These laws provide DEP with broad authority to regulate activities on land, air, and on the water.
Earlier in the year, Governor Phil Murphy's Executive Order No. 63 took sight at New Jersey’s process for rulemaking. EO63 directs the state (among other things) to adopt more stringent standards where regulators believe federal standards are inadequate. This rescinded Gov. Chris Christie’s Executive Order on rulemaking, which stated that agencies would have to justify why they wanted to have stricter standards than the federal government. Depending how you read it, there are overtures to both Murphy’s pro-environmental base and the business community. Beyond the talking points, the reality is that not much has really changed in the rulemaking approach. The following is a brief rundown of some of the DEP regulatory reforms that UTCA is tracking: Proposal: Drinking Water and Ground Water Quality Standards for PFOA and PFOS UTCA Position: Supported
Status: Public comment period closed, pending final adoption Proposal: Surface Water Quality Standards (Upgrading to C1 Status) UTCA Position: Opposed The DEP is proposing to upgrade at least 749 river miles to a Category One (C1). This antidegradation designation has significant implications to the design, cost, construction and maintenance of water and transportation infrastructure. There are social and economic impacts to the construction industry that are not appropriately considered in this proposal. The 300-foot riparian buffer required by the Flood Hazard Control Act Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:7A et seq) for all C1 waterways has undeniable impacts to the advancement of projects in the water, transportation and energy sectors.
The Pipeline
Engaging before rules are published is a long-standing practice of the UTCA. While approaches to rulemaking typically change over time, DEP’s current Commissioner Catherine McCabe should be credited for keeping the pre-rulemaking practices of the last administration largely in place. It remains the practice of the DEP to hold stakeholder meetings in the form of working group meetings and publish information on its website to add transparency to the process. These are designed as invitation only-meetings for the purpose of gathering input from representatives of a variety of constituencies. UTCA had been a key stakeholder primarily as it relates to water infrastructure but now has expanded its position to be considered as a stakeholder for a wider scope of issues.
The DEP is proposing to establish Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for two unregulated contaminants (PFOA / PFOS) for all public water systems. We believe standards create a level playing field which is essential to retain public trust in the quality of their water. UTCA recommended that construction projects required to meet these new standards be prioritized for expedited review and approval within all programs at DEP. Streamlining the design, construction and installation of water treatment improvements should be an administrative priority for DEP. The agency should double efforts to increase its ability to review and approve these projects as quickly as possible, while also ensuring that the investment will result in the standards being met. Outside technical assistance is available and should be utilized to supplement the existing DEP workforce.
UTCA recommended that the DEP withdraw this proposal and re-propose it after a meaningful stakeholder process, as required by Governor Murphy’s EO63. UTCA also requested to be involved as a continued stakeholder so that the interests of utility and transportation contractors are properly represented. Status: Public comment period closed, pending final adoption Proposal: Stormwater UTCA Position: Supported The Department is proposing a surgical reform to stormwater rules that are mostly implemented by the DEP Land Use Pro-
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grams. Current requirements state that major developments incorporate nonstructural stormwater management strategies to the “maximum extent practicable” to meet groundwater recharge standards, stormwater runoff quantity standards, and stormwater runoff quality standards, with an additional requirement that green infrastructure be utilized to meet these same standards. The Department is proposing to clarify and modify the definition of major development, which defines the scope of projects to which these rules apply. The Department is proposing changes to apply the total suspended solids (TSS) removal requirement to the runoff from motor vehicle surfaces and to remove the TSS removal requirement as it applies to runoff from other impervious surfaces not traveled by automobiles, such as rooftops and sidewalks. The Department is proposing several changes which will support water quality and stormwater management improvements in communities with combined sewer systems.
This was related to a definition related to what parties are eligible to apply for the funds. The DEP agreed it was not their intention to limit the definition, and that all utilities will be eligible to apply for this funding and not simply municipal utilities as the language of the proposal read.
Status: Public comment period closed, pending final adoption
• Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) Regulations (pending Governor’s signature on reform legislation)
Global Warming Solutions Fund Proposed Rules - Supported
The Pipeline
The Legislature and the Governor worked to ensure that the State of New Jersey would re-enter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). These rules were proposed to reestablish the conditions of the RGGI program. As such, the UTCA supported this proposal which established a framework that requires a strategic funding plan (the Plan) to be developed jointly by the funding agencies; the Economic Development Authority (EDA), the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The provisions add transparency into the development of the Plan, including requiring a public meeting. UTCA recommended a clarification for the final proposal, which was acknowledged by the DEP in their final adoption document.
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Status: Adopted In the coming months, UTCA anticipates that the DEP will stakeholder and publish rule proposals related to the following program areas: • NJ Water Bank Program Rules / 7:22 • Water Quality Accountability Act Regulations • Public Access Rules (as required by PL 2019 c. 81)
• Stormwater – Comprehensive Reforms UTCA members should know that staff is paying attention to the rule-making process in the Murphy administration. There is clearly going to be a focus on expanding environmental regulations and in some sense, that will benefit UTCA members and the general public. This fits with the classic “the devil is in the detail” caveat. We are engaged with the business community as a whole and are regularly communicating with others in construction to stay engaged at every level. Details of these proposals and others can be found at: https:// www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices.html Please reach out to me at kennedy@utcanj.org if you are interested in learning more about these efforts.
human resources technology: By: nancy damato, rda benefit services
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ompanies are using technology in all aspects of their business today, to improve efficiencies, to streamline processes and to cut costs. As your business grows, the need for technology will become more and more important to the success of your organization. And the Human Resources’ function is no exception. Having the right HR technology in place will help your organization become more efficient and support many of the HR functions that are required today. From onboarding, payroll, time and labor management to HR management and Benefits Administration, there are technology solutions for every size business. There are a variety of HR technology solutions that a company can consider: 1. The most basic is just going paperless and handling all functions electronically. This definitely helps to create more efficient operations within your organization. 2. Online enrollment solutions for all group benefits—during open enrollment, as well as throughout the year, with new hires, terminations and status changes. This solution provides all the information needed for employees to make enrollment decisions, reduces the enrollment cycle, saves time in monitoring and tracking enrollments and eliminates data errors. 3. The most robust solution offers a complete HRIS (Human Resource Information System) system. This solution is a single source database that manages all the employees’ information in one place. From new hire onboarding forms and information, payroll, benefits administration, PTO, HR management, and much more. This solution also provides the data for filing ACA Compliance reports. 6 Reasons for choosing a Technology Solution for your Human Resources Department: 1. The role of a Human Resources Department has gotten more and more complex over the last few years. And managing all those tasks and requirements can be daunting, regardless of the size of your current department. 2. Use of technology will increase productivity and efficiency among your current staff members by decreasing manual administrative tasks. 3. It will also increase accuracy and eliminate costly errors, such as forgetting to terminate someone from the group insurance in a timely manner.
NEWS
streamlining employee benefits, hr administration & compliance
streamlining hiring and onboarding processes and increasing overall productivity and accuracy. 5. Integration with payroll and time and attendance software will help assist with the management of hours worked and overtime. 6. ACA Compliance tools are integrated into the system, to simplify the process of getting the necessary reports. What are some of your pain points when it comes to administering your group’s benefits and various HR functions? 1. Are you managing more and more employees? 2. Are you currently using systems that don’t communicate with each other? 3. Are you dealing with tons of paper forms? 4. Do you have remote employees that make it difficult to exchange paper enrollment forms back and forth? 5. Are you having difficulty dealing with ACA Compliance forms? When you take into consideration the types of savings opportunities, by eliminating paper, saving time on administrative tasks and reducing errors, the annual savings can be substantial. It was estimated that, for a group of 75 employees, using online administration for these three tasks alone, would save over $28,000 a year. Considerations when choosing a HR platform for your business: What are the most important goals that you want the software to accomplish? What is your budget? What is your timeframe? Develop a checklist of your needs and wants and prioritize them. Your benefits broker will also be a valuable resource for information about the different vendors and systems that are available and can be a good reference to start the process of researching your options. Checklists and other tools are available to help you with your analysis. Of course, training, vendor support and continuous online support are important considerations when choosing a HR technology solution. A comprehensive HR technology solution is an efficient way to streamline your administrative tasks and improve overall efficiency. As we move into the fourth quarter and prepare for another Open Enrollment Benefits season, consider what an HR technology solution can do for your company.
4. Technology will help to set the stage for company growth by
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By: carl bloomfield, managing director, graham company
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mproving safety and overall efficiencies on construction sites is a top priority for contractors as the industry continues to gain forward momentum. With workers exposed to a myriad of risks while on the job, this is for good reason. To mitigate potential hazards and get the job done in an efficient manner, many construction companies and lead contractors are implementing new technology and innovative processes into their operations. Below are a few we often recommend to the organizations we work with in the construction space.
valuable in reducing worksite injuries. Much like a sports team analyzes game film to improve their performance, construction companies can then return to the video in the same way.
Wearable Sensors
In addition, and an unfortunate reality, workers often get complacent and become too comfortable with the risks they encounter daily. When paired with video technology, AI can be used to identify and analyze hazards within the videos. These can be tagged and categorized so mitigating the biggest risks can be the highest priority at any given time. We believe the usage and integration of video, radar and AI technologies will become more widespread in the coming months and years.
Providing multiple benefits, wearables are one of the most widely used technologies on construction sites. Workers can be given wearable sensors, allowing project managers to know precisely where an employee is at any given time and basic information about that employee, including tenure and the number of training hours logged. Those last two factors are important with the number of new employees that are entering the workforce amidst the labor shortage. Wearable sensors also give project managers the ability to assess if an employee has fallen or needs help. Smart textiles are another technology that can help contractors check the well-being of their employees on a jobsite. Certain products can monitor respiration rate, heart rate and body temperature which is an effective way to determine if an employee is fatigued, at risk of a heat-related injury during the summer months or even under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Given that workers involved in heavy, civil construction projects could be spread out over miles of roadway, wearables are an effective tool for project managers to keep in touch with their employees and possibly prevent an accident before it occurs. Since wearables are easy to use and can improve safety and overall productivity, the use of this technology continues to benefit the construction industry and is usually implemented by general contractors. Video, Radar and Artificial Intelligence (AI) One way construction companies are getting ahead of safety risks is by incorporating video and radar systems on jobsites. By leveraging this technology, equipment operators can gain 360-degree visibility of the area adjacent to the equipment, thanks to the use of four cameras much like most automobiles already have in place. Working with radar technology, which can detect an individual within range of the machinery and set off an alarm to the operator or stop the machinery completely, video becomes infinitely more
NEWS
improving safety & efficiency in the construction industry There’s no surprise that when the boss walks on the job, in most situations, employee safety and productivity are at the highest levels – but when the boss isn’t on the jobsite, things might be more lax. Video technology can always be running to catch the good and the bad.
Innovative Training Processes Given the high stakes that workers face on the job, formalized training programs are essential for new employees as a way to thoroughly introduce the safety culture of the organization. These programs are also used as training opportunities to help new employees ease into the job by giving them the opportunity to recognize hazardous exposures and get acclimated. It’s critical that orientation programs provide resources through two mediums: (1) providing both hands-on practice and (2) a handbook that can be referenced on an ongoing basis. A formal training program can go a long way in preventing injuries from happening during the first couple of months and beyond. While these technologies and processes have already made a positive impact on construction sites, they can also help from an insurance perspective. As the insurance market continues to tighten in several key areas, only contractors who are innovating and challenging the norm will get better pricing than their peers. With competition as fierce as it is, contractors need every possible edge. The technologies and processes described here will not only help reduce worker injuries and keep insurance costs down, but also improve productivity on the job. All in all, it’s important to always keep in mind the top priority of creating a culture of safety, and making an investment in technology and rethinking processes will go a long way in helping achieve that goal.
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