View Online

PAC Committee Meeting with Local Candidates

By Dustin Steiner, Vice President Government & Industry Relations

This week, the AGC Political Action Committee (PAC) will be meeting to interview local candidates. The Presidential election is a mere six months away and your PAC has been raising money and gearing up for another busy season. We have already endorsed Assemblymember David Alvarez, Supervisor Joel Anderson, Poway Councilmember Caylin Frank, and Cajon Valley School Board Member Jim Miller, who are all running for re-election, as well as former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is seeking a seat on the County Board of Supervisors, and Andrew Hayes and Kristie Bruce-Lane, who are running for open seats in the state legislature. The AGC PAC is where you can meet and interact with candidates running for office and elected officials seeking reelection.

This Friday, join us as we interview La Mesa Councilmember Colin Parent, who is seeking a seat in the California State Assembly (79); Oceanside Councilmember Ryan Keim who is running for Mayor; and both candidates for San Diego City Attorney: Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert, and Assemblymember Brian Maienschein. Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins (also running for Assembly 79) is unavailable on this date but will interview at a future time.

To have a vote on AGC’s PAC, a minimum annual contribution is required. Please contact me for more information on how to get involved. We hope to see you Friday as we embark on another exciting election season!

City Streets -- Not So Sexy After All

By Mike McManus, Director of Engineering Construction & Industry Relations

In a marathon session earlier this month, the San Diego City Council heard an in-depth report by city staff on the state of the city’s streets. The Office of the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) also weighed in from a financial standpoint. The bottom line is that the city has let its streets deteriorate and it will take a huge budget increase to the annual street maintenance budget just to get the streets into an average/fair condition over the next 10 years.

So, what does the City Transportation Department recommend? Going further into the construction business. The analysis of this proposal by the IBA showed some inconsistencies in the city’s numbers comparing contractor costs against in-house crew costs. For example, they claim that for slurry seals, done by city crews, it would take significantly longer for city crews to finish the same work that contractors do. However, for mill and fill crews, according to city staff, the city crews would be as equally efficient as contractors. The IBA is skeptical of that claim and so are we.    

The last time we looked, city operators and laborers were not paid prevailing wages. City contractors are required to pay their workers prevailing wages. So, the analysis is deeply flawed, and it is apples compared to oranges. The in-house crews are not required to meet mandatory Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE) goals, which add additional costs to the overall construction contract. Only one council member seemed skeptical of the city going into the construction business, as he questioned whether city crews worked on a “daily production basis” similar to what general contractors do. No answer to that question was given.  

The starting point in the street repair discussions was a presentation about the latest “Pavement Condition Assessment” that resulted in an average Pavement Condition Index (PCI). The last PCI the city had was generated by a study done in 2016 which resulted in a PCI of 71. A score of 70 to 84 is considered “satisfactory.”  The latest PCI presented by the city earlier this year showed the street conditions have deteriorated significantly to an average PCI of 63. A PCI of 55 to 69 is considered “fair.”   Most cities have a goal PCI of 70, which is the low end of the “satisfactory” range. What we noted in the particularly troubling report is that almost 40 percent of the city’s major roads are in “poor” to “failed” condition, which is what most people see as one of the major issues in the city.

Over the last four fiscal years, the city has put an average of $56 million per year into street maintenance and rehabilitation. This fiscal year they are putting $140 million into street paving and repair, some of it with borrowed money, which is not sustainable. But that amount of funding will not turn the situation around according to the city staff report. If the past investment is continued, the city’s pavements will deteriorate to a PCI of 45, “poor” condition, over the next 10 years. 

To turn the situation around, according to the staff report, the funding levels over the next five years would need to be increased to $250 million per year or more starting in 2025. The funding gap over the next ten years was reported to be $1.25 billion including $46 million to pave what are now dirt streets and alleys. The staff recommends that the city create new funding sources for street maintenance. The IBA’s recommendation, in short, is to fund pavement rehabilitation and the paving of dirt roads with bond financing. Maintenance treatments, including overlays, should be funded by an ongoing revenue stream, which is not yet identified.

The most glaring deficiency that the IBA pointed out is the lack of council policy on how often and how streets should be assessed and how the maintenance of city streets should be paid for.

The Transportation Department has a history of requesting funding for in-house paving crews. It seems to be based on their need to respond to the ongoing major street failures, with the ability to move their resources daily to handle the day’s most urgent paving problem. We recommend that the City Council develop a process for awarding annual “Time and Materials” (T&M) contracts to contractors and have city staff give the contractors daily orders to handle the day’s most urgent pavement problems.  

Other obvious things the city could do are to waive or lower the SLBE requirements on paving projects, which would increase the number of willing bidders and lower the cost per mile of paving. Also, the city could help the county develop a standard region-wide asphalt concrete mix design, lowering the cost of paving materials on city paving projects.  

The AGC Board of Directors and AGC staff welcome the following new members to the Association:

Align Builders

City Wide Protection Services

Prestige Paving Company, Inc.

Signature Analytics

Unlimited Environmental, Inc.

AGC's Motto: "It's Good Business to do Business with an AGC Member."

HR CORNER: File your Annual Payroll Employee Report – May 8!

This is a friendly reminder that May 8 is the deadline for CA employers with 100 or more employees and/or 100 or more workers employed through a labor contractor to file the annual Payroll Employee Report. This report includes data on pay, hours worked, and demographics for your employees. Additional information for filing this report can be found on the California Civil Rights Department website.

For more information and resources throughout the year, join us at the HR Committee quarterly meetings where we cover important employment topics facing your company.  

You can join by completing an AGC committee volunteer form here.

Marathon-RDO Field Trip Brings 60+ Students to AGC San Diego HQ

Thanks to everyone who supported San Diego State University students from the Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) program as they played with construction "toys" (RDO equipment, namely excavators, a backhoe, and an articulating dump truck; along with AGC’s simulators). Special shoutout to Marathon Construction Corporation and RDO Equipment Co. for hosting, and our board members and apprenticeship program for coming out to show their support on a Friday afternoon.

AGC Build & Serve Committee Makes-A-Wish for a Farm Playhouse

By Soula Wynne, Sundt Construction Company

During our January 2024 AGC Build & Serve Committee meeting, we invited Make-A-Wish® San Diego to ask if any wishes needed to be fulfilled for 2024. They mentioned they had one for a little girl named, Lizzie, whose wish was to have a farm playground where she could invite her friends and pet pigs to play with her.

The playground structure was already procured from Playhouse Warehouse; however, the site needed some work. Adam Mack of Sundt Construction met with Make-A-Wish staff at Lizzie’s house to assess the future site of the play structure. Adam put together a crew of volunteers and they all met at Lizzie’s home on March 25 to dig, level, compact the site of the play structure, and repair a small retaining wall. We reached out to Pierre Landscape to ask if they would partner with us for Lizzie’s wish by donating the rubber mulch for the playground and they generously agreed.

On April 19, we reconvened at Lizzie’s home and met the Playhouse Warehouse crew who assembled the play structure and Pierre Landscape who delivered 220+ backs of rubber mulch to unload. We framed the playground for the mulch, laid the fabric, and unloaded and placed the mulch. Then Make-A-Wish did what they do best... created magic in the lives of children who fight like warriors to overcome critical illnesses. Lizzie, her family, friends, and pet pigs were thrilled to see the completed project. I am certain that Lizzie’s wish came true that day and will remain imprinted on her heart and ours forever!

If your company would like to get involved in build projects for the future needs of the AGC Build & Serve Committee or if you would like to serve on this committee, please email Marcy Knopman at marcy@agcsd.org.

Together we can all make wishes come true.

2024

May 16, 2024 - Boy Scouts Lunch-O-Ree honoring Mike Furby - Paradise Point Resort

May 21 - Specialty Contractors Council - Meet Your GC/Cornhole Tournament - AGC HQ Lakeside

June 6, 2024 - Baseball Bash - Padres vs. Diamondbacks - Petco Park

June 24, 2024 - AGC/EGCC Spring Golf - Steele Canyon

July 8-12, 2024 - AGC Blood Drive - AGC Member Hosts

July 26, 2024 - Day at the Races - Del Mar Racetrack

August 9, 2024 - Affiliate Day Golf - Singing Hills Golf Resort - Sycuan

September 19, 2024 - Public Agency Showcase - San Diego Yacht Club

October 7, 2024 - AGC Fall Golf - Country Club of Rancho Bernardo

October 17, 2024 - CLC Car Show & Mixer - AGC HQ Lakeside

December 14, 2024 - Holiday Dinner Dance - Hotel Del Coronado

APRIL MEETINGS

April 30 - NAVFAC - 10:15 a.m. @ Lakeside

MAY MEETINGS

May 1 - 7:00 a.m. - Safety Committee - Lakeside

May 1 - 11:00 a.m. - Airport Liaison @ Airport Design & Construction office

May 2 - 11:30 a.m. - HR Practices Committee - Lakeside

May 15 - 7:30 a.m. - Build & Serve Charitable Alliance - Virtual

May 16 - 1:00 p.m. - City of San Diego @ City Office

May 17 - 11:00 a.m. - Technology Committee - Virtual

May 22 - 12:45 p.m. - Water Authority Liaison - Lakeside

About Monday Morning Quarterback

AGC San Diego Chapter's Monday Morning Quarterback is a "hot off the press" and to the point Monday morning briefing on the important issues facing San Diego's construction industry. It is prepared by AGC Chief Executive Officer, Eddie Sprecco, and Vice President Government & Industry Relations, Dustin Steiner.

Please contact Eddie Sprecco or Dustin Steiner with your comments, or with information that should be conveyed to the industry through this service. Well over 3,000 individuals employed by AGC member firms are part of this system.

AGC San Diego Chapter, Inc.

The VOICE of Construction

(858) 558-7444

agcsd.org

Connect With Us