SOUTHEAST UNDERGROUND FACILITY PROTECTION COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES FROM BIRMINGHAM, ATLANTA
October 10, 2000
Introductions were made.
The Minutes from the 3rd quarter meeting, July 12, 2000 were approved.
There was no old business to discuss.
#Dig Program Update
 | AT&T - Currently has activation in New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Charlotte, Los Angeles and Denver. They should be able to escalate more cities soon. Press releases were provided to major newspapers in Georgia advertising the #DIG program and the information was provided to the Utility Contractors Associations in Georgia and Florida. Danny Barrett requested that when a member is contacted to assist with test calls that these calls be completed as they help to test the system to ensure the switching is programmed properly. |
| Sprint - Currently has Metro Atlanta and the thirteen surrounding counties operational. This will be tested for a month and then other cities will be cut over. |
| BellSouth - Program should be operational for use in Georgia within a week. Once Cingular Wireless is operational then the potential for national coverage is an option. |
The
wireless companies have asked that the One Call Centers help advertise this #DIG
number in print ads, brochures, manuals, webpages, etc.
Danny Barrett requests that any advertising done on behalf of the One Call
Center be communicated to him as he has to document $50K in advertising for the
#DIG number.
Alltel and Verizon still need to be contacted to initiate the program.
Common Ground Alliance (CGA)
Tim Brubaker reviewed the past history of this organization and how they have reached the point of developing a non-profit organization that is to be funded by private industry. The following committees have been established for CGA:
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Finance |
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Bylaws |
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Membership |
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Nominating |
The current objectives of the CGA include the following:
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Promote education and use of Best Practices |
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Data review and analysis of statistics |
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Advocate of one-call legislation and a legislative resource |
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Shepherd the Dig Safely Program |
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Encourage and report on research and Development |
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Potential for Grant Funding allocations |
On September 18, 2000, the work that had been done by the transition team was turned over to the Board of Directors and officers were elected. Rich Felder with the Department of Pipeline Safety will serve as Senior Advisor for possibly the next eighteen (18) months and his expenses will be paid by the DPS. A search committee has been set up to find a full time staff person. Funding is still an issue and there currently is not a defined mechanism to bring members into the organization. The CGA is still hoping for some grant funding and contribution from major industries.
"Dig Safely" Program Update
Changes and updates are being made to the Dig Safely website. A list of promotional items is being compiled for use at a national level. There will be three (3) television spots available for national use. The new safety video is still being worked on. A script has been presented to the Dig Safely Committee for review. NUCA has some concerns about the "view of the excavators" in some of these videos and is presently working on a video internally.
SOCS Update
Danny Barrett asked that Annette Reburn update the SEUFPC members on the purpose of SOCS and how it compares in its mission to the SEUFPC. He also asked that at the next SOCS meeting, the support of SEUFPC for SOCS be communicated and express the desire to have SOCS member's participation in the SEUFPC. The dates for the Fall SOCS meeting are available at www.se1call.com.
Trenchless Technology Presentation - Mike McCrary
Mike presented an overview of the Trenchless Technology. There has been a request to have someone from the SEUFPC and the NTDPC to serve on the regional and national Societies for Trenchless Technology and assist with the development of standards for this type of excavation activities. Mike provided minutes from the last two Southeastern Society for Trenchless Technology (SESTT) meetings. These can be found at www.sestt.org/seminutes.html. He also provided a list of contacts pertaining to this subject. The list is attahced. Danny Barrett is planning to attend the SESTT meeting in Charleston, SC, on October 26, 2000.
The concern of the amount of damages that are occurring from the back reaming operation of Trenchless Technology was discussed in depth. WorldCom and Level3 have worked out an agreement to have bore path plans submitted to and signed off on by the prime contractor, subcontractor and both facility owners.
It was suggested that a representative from the Trenchless Technology Industry should be invited to attend future SEUFPC meetings.
The Horizontal Directional Drilling Rodeo (HDD Rodeo) will be held in Perry, GA, on March 5-8, 2000. The SEUFPC agreed to hold their first quarter meeting in conjunction with this show and possibly display a trade show booth. The UPC will follow-up to obtain additional information on this meeting.
A motion was made by Tim Boatfield and seconded by Danny Barrett that the SEUFPC be represented with both the regional and national STT organizations and Steve Stull with WorldCom will be the representative to this group.
New member Solicitation for 2001
It was agreed that SEUFPC needs to continue to invite more locator representatives, contractors and other area one-call representatives. It was stated that any member can invite a guest to a future meeting. It was requested that the Chair be notified that this person will be attending so accommodations can be made.
Introduction of Legislative Sub-Committee
Danny Barrett had contacted Brad Martin from Sunshine State One Call requesting that he chair the Legislative Sub-Committee. This sub-committee would monitor what is happening with damage prevention legislation. The remainder of the committee was formed and are as follows:
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Tim Brubaker - AT&T |
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Jim Allen - Mississippi One Call |
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Tim Boatfield - UPC of Georgia |
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Mike McCrary - BellSouth |
Call Center Updates
Alabama
| Currently experiencing a 15% increase in locate request volume and 11% increase in call volume. |
| Has almost completed transition onto new computer system and should be allowing Web Ticket Entry by the end of the year. Can now provide members with the option of receiving their tickets via email delivery. |
| The PSC ruling has been made in conjunction to the request by Huntsville Utilities to be certified as a statewide One Call Center. The request has been denied and Huntsville Utilities has until October 26, 2000, to become a member od Alabama One Call or be fined $10,000 per day. |
| Alabama One Call has also provided for a Marketing Liaison in its 2001 proposed budget. Annette Reburn requested that the members of the SEUFPC show their support in Alabama pursuing the efforts of more damage prevention efforts by the One Call Center on behalf of its members to the Alabama Board of Directors. |
Florida
| Currently experiencing a 20% increase in locate request volume and has transmitted 7.5 million transmissions as of August 2000. |
| The Board has established a committee to select a new Executive Director. |
| Florida is continuing to work on monitoring non-compliance issues and improves the communications between the excavators and facility owners. |
| The next Florida Utility Coordination Council (FCC) meeting will be held in Fort Lauderdale on November 1-3, 2000. |
Georgia
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The new law went into effect on July 1, 2000, which made changes to the operations of the UPC. These changes included the extension of the ticket life to twenty-one (21) days; penalties for unnecessary restakes which requires a software revision to provide a 3 day window for restakes; and positive response. |
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UPC is continuing to work on improving their automated mapping and are presently looking at optional land bases for their mapping system. |
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United Water, Atlanta based water company, has joined the UPC and are receiving locate requests. |
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In the process of conducting a Customer Service Survey of all members and as part of this three (3) new liaisons have been approved in the budget that will be responsible for member contacts, communication and recruitment. |
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The GUCC and UPC Annual Meeting were attended by 280 people. |
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An electronic notification bulletin board system has been implemented and has been instrumental in improving communications. |
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Buckshot Jones has moved up to the Winston Cup circuit and it is unsure yet if his new car will continue to carry the Dig Safely logo. (*** Editor's Note: The Dig Safely logo will be on the new car.) |
Mississippi
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The center has moved to its new facility. |
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Hired a new Damage Prevention Coordinator as of the first of the year. Also a request has been presented to the Board for a third Damage Prevention Coordinator. |
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Twenty-one (21) Damage Prevention Coordination Council (DPCC) meetings have been set up this year. |
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Continue to increase educational efforts in damage prevention, white lining and courtesy stops. |
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Working with insurance companies to establish program that would allow reduction in premiums for facility owners who participate in MS One Call and contractors who utilize the service. |
North Carolina
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Should process 1.35 million locate requests this year. |
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Sixty-two percent (62%) of their operation is done on the internet. this includes both ticket entry and delivery. |
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In the process of changing their mapping system to a gridlet system which would reduce the 1/4 minute grid notification to a 264 ft notification grid. |
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There will be legislation introduced in April to require mandatory membership and revise the penalty provisions. |
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NC has 37 UCC's that meet monthly. |
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The Excavator Manual and State Law have been translated into Spanish and these are made available to the major companies. |
Tennessee
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GeoCall, the Progresive Partnering software, was deployed on January 27, 2000. In addition, Arkansas cut over on March 1, Mississippi on June 5 and Oklahoma on August 1. |
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Call volume has increased by 16% over 1999. |
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The Tennessee Regulatory Authority has been doing training and presentations on enforcement of the law with local officials. |
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Expanding office into available space next door which will almost double the office space. |
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Damage Prevention Committee is collecting damage data. |
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The Associated General Contractors will have their annual conference in Nashville in 2001. |
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Tennessee will be a test center for the East Coast for the NTDPC on the use of railroad markers. |
Status of Damage Prevention Efforts by Company
AT&T
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Conducting program with Radiodection for the built in GPS units. |
BellSouth
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Blocked call index down due to efforts in damage prevention, restoration and redundancy. |
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Damages are down from last year for Kentucky and South Carolina |
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Have had several near misses in North Carolina, SE Florida and Louisiana. |
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Mobile area has instituted a revised Damage Prevention Program. |
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Keith Walker is working with Georgia UPC to develop an educational training video for one call operators for industry terminology. |
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Courtesy Stop program is operating well in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. |
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Instituting a regional electronic reporting of damages from the field technicians. |
Level3
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Currently in construction phase. As system is turned up, more damage prevention programs will be implemented. |
WorldCom
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Nondisclosure agreement has been implemented for 2000-2001 between WorldCom and Level3 for adjacent facilities between the two systems in regards to parallel builds. |
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Conducted public education programs throughout the eastern US. |
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Provide Quarterly newsletter to outside employees and contractors. |
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Have 10-14 crews working at night in the Atlanta area - no damages since starting the program. |
Qwest
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Nothing to report. |
Williams
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Near Miss Damage Data needs to be sent to Brad Hargrove for this month but after that a new person needs to be responsible for gathering and maintaining this information. |
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has been conducting education sessions with 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) with high schools in the area. Has had a very successful impact. |
360 Networks
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Currently in construction phase. |
Nomination and Election of 2001 Officers
The following individuals were nominated for officers:
| Chairman | Steve Stull | WorldCom |
| Vice Chairman | Keith Walker | BellSouth |
| Secretary | Holly Files | AT&T Broadband |
The nominations were accepted and seconded.
Scheduling, Sponsorships and Locations of 2001 Meetings
AT&T will sponsor the 1st quarter meeting which will be held in conjunction with the HDD Rodeo. After the NTDPC meeting dates for 2001 are scheduled, the remaining quarterly meetings will be discussed.
General Discussions
Holly Files had received quotes for letterhead and envelopes for
correspondence on SEUFPC's behalf and for membership recruitment. Steve Stull
was able to obtain better pricing which is as follows:
1000 Sheets of Letterhead and Envelopes - Hammermill Paper
$381.35
1000 Sheets of Letterhead and Envelopes - Linen
paper
$419.35
Mark Slover made a motion that the SEUFPC purchase the Linen paper quality
letterhead and Keith Walker seconded the motion.
The following companies agreed to purchase the letterhead:
AT&T, BellSouth, Sprint, WorldCom
The issue of railroad derailments was discussed.
The meeting was adjourned.
Action Items:
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Provide Test Calls when needed to verify #DIG number programming |
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Advertise #DIG in brochures, manuals, webpages and advertisements of one call centers |
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Recruit Verizon and Alltel for #DIG Program |
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Promotion of purpose of SEUFPC to SOCS attendees |
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Members to invite potential participants to future meetings |
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Attend the HDD Rodeo in Perry, GA, in March 2001 |
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Assign individual to be responsible for gathering near miss/damage data |
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Attend AGC Conference in Nashville in 2001 |
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Order Letterhead and Envelopes |
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Name/Email |
Company |
Phone |
Fax |
| Allen, Jim | MS One Call | 662-720-1002 | 662-720-1002 |
| Barrett, Danny | AT&T | 904-350-5425 | 904-350-5320 |
| Biehl, Tom | 360 Networks | 678-442-9510 | 678-442-9509 |
| Boatfield, Tim | UPC, Inc. | 706-295-4838 | 706-295-0828 |
| Bowen, Fiona | UPC, Inc. | 770-476-6088 | 770-623-1847 |
| Bowling, Angie | BellSouth | 770-590-4863 | 770-590-5881 |
| Brubaker, Tim | AT&T | 770-929-4162 | 770-785-4274 |
| Buchanan, Bill | WorldCom | 770-370-3217 | 770-370-4685 |
| Glenn, George | NC One Call | 336-855-5760 | 336-299-1914 |
| Jones, Bobby | Qwest | 205-217-3568 | 205-755-8412 |
| Lee, Danny | BellSouth | 205-714-0358 | 205-321-2551 |
| Lewis, David M. | BellSouth | 404-761-6868 | 404-669-8619 |
| Martin, Brad | Sunshine State One Call | 850-514-9221 | 850-514-9223 |
| McCrary, Mike | BellSouth | 205-977-3441 | 205-977-0734 |
| Reburn, Annette | AL One Call | 205-414-1840 | 205-414-1899 |
| Sarzynski, Walt | 360 Networks | 256-352-8591 | 256-352-9305 |
| Slover, Mark | Williams Comm. | 918-574-0969 | 918-574-0950 |
| Stull, Steve | WorldCom | 918-590-3378 | 918-590-0315 |
| Threatt, Jimmy | Level 3 | 404-748-2013 | |
| Walker, Keith | BellSouth | 770-452-1728 | 770-452-1791 |
| Wallace, Angela | UPC | 770-623-9913 | 770-623-1847 |
| Zachman, Terry | Sprint | 404-649-2355 | 800-215-4252 |
This page was updated on Friday, February 16, 2001
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