Minutes for Meeting on June 18, 2009 at 12:00PM

Minutes for Meeting on March 18, 2009 at 12:00PM

Missouri Common Ground

Minutes

Date: 3/19/2009

Time: 11:00am

Place: Missouri One Call Center

824 Weather Rock Rd

Jefferson City, M) 65101-1839

 Introductions

Everyone attending the meeting introduced themselves.

 Review of Precious Meeting Minutes

Previous meeting minutes were approved as written.

 Regional Meeting Update

Bo advised Derek had been canvassing area utilities in St. Louis.

Jerry Baker had booth at Farm fest in Springfield, MO.nnDesigned for Farmer and Homeowner. Large group of people attended. Items promoting DigSafe and 811 were given away. Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas residents attend.

They have also started another regional meeting in Branson. Meeting was setup but was cancelled and is being rescheduled. Putting in 35,000 miles of gas main, Century Tel has a big foot print down there. Two up and running in that area.

Bill Dexheimer was contacted by St. Joseph area. He is going to get together with them to get something going in St. Joseph.

 CGA Regional Partners Update

Ron Peterson was not in attendance. National Conference in Orlando in February. John Lansford was in attendance. He advised it was one of the best he attended in recent years. Down in Attendance because of economy, but the quality was fantastic. Damage prevention meeting was not attended by the group.

 Legislation Update

Two bills filed. One does away with Damage Prevention Act. SP 428 The other wants to make MO 1 Call a governmental body instead of a not for profit. Been assigned to committee but will most likely never get a hearing. MoDOT is still receiving tickets and is on the One Call Board. Having a Board member from DOT is unconstitutional but MO One Call will allow them to remain on the Board.

 New Business

Excavator safety meetings are being held. Averaging approximately 65 persons per meeting and doing 50 meetings. Meetings will continue through April.

Bill Dexheimer and One Call conducted a meeting just for site contractors for Site Improvement Association.

A link will be added to buy gloves on the One Call site.

The number of Non-Compliance tickets is going up. John Lansford attributed it to the first day not being counted.

Abandoned facilities were discussed and the possibility of using a DIGUP or a Bad Locate ticket for them. Non-Compliance tickets were discussed and the fact they are not listed in the excavators manual. CSR's advise them of the rules when they call for a locate. Bill Dexheimer advised that we need to keep the locates in the right categories for tracking purposes.

Handouts- Colored duct tape used for locates. Historic areas do not want paint on their cobblestones. It is currently not an approved method of locating. Since MO does not have a life of ticket they were not for it. Water based and chalk based paints were discussed.

Large complex projects are allowed to use specific processes established to enhance safety and coordinate buried facility damage.

Locating all facilities has been suggested to be added to Best Practices. Locating private facilities that are attached to a main facility by and Operator. Problem is that as a water company and irrigation system would be located. As an electric company a dog fence would have to be located. One Call may survey membership for other locating services to list on the website. Ten States are already doing it.

Summary Table of Importact Dirt Data Elements was passed out. John Lansford advised that we were in Region 5. The Missouri area is listed in others at the present time. Damage numbers are coming down. More notifications are being made and we are making some headway in that area. April is National Safe Digging Month. Missouri is trying to get the Governor to declare it in the State but they are running late. Next year they will try to see the Governor next year in March to get it declared.

Dale Johansen of PSC says they are contemplating going back to where they were a few years ago with Common Ground. Getting Pipeline safety staff back in the middle and spear heading the regional. Next grants come out in July and have to have applicatons in by May. Grant available is up to $200,000 per state. A letter from the Governor's office designates the entity to receive and manage the money. It has to be a state agency. By default it could be Gas Safety Staff. Money is designated for sponsoring booths and other contractor informational mediums. Someone to spearhead the development of regional councils. FEMSA money. It is from Federal DOT but is for Damage Prevention to pipeline related digs. Nine elements that came out of Federal Legislation. Nine goals if what a state damage prevention program should look like. The more of the nine elements targeted the more likely you are to receive the grant funds. Regional Councils of MO Common Ground would meet 5-6 of these elements. Enforcement would not qualify for grant money. Bo suggested a review Council could be set up for peer review because MO does not have a legislative legal process. The authority of that board has to come from State statute. There would have to be binding arbitration in order to get this paid through a grant. Staff will go to Commission first to convince them that there needs to be staff involvement in this. Common Ground has existed with little funds. A copy of the 9 elements is to be mailed to all the committee members. The Chairperson offered any help from Common Ground.

Dale will bring a firm proposal to the next meeting.

New Best Practices are out and are posted on the Common Ground website.

 Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned by the Chairman at