This is the announcement of CGI’s annual meeting on December 2, 2022.  We will meet in-person this year at IAMU, 1735 NE 70th Ave., Ankeny, IA 50021, also listed on the attached agenda and on the registration.

Register for the event please go to this link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/common-ground-iowa-annual-membership-meeting-tickets-407406432607  we do need everyone to register to plan lunch.

The meeting starts at 10:00 a.m. and lunch at Noon.  Here is the meeting’s AGENDA (PDF Download).

Presentations during the meeting:

Jacob (Jake) Larson, Assistant Attorney General has been the point person at the AG Office for many years dealing with One Call complaints and enforcement.  Mr. Larson’s presentation will address the activities that the AG Office has been working on to reduce utility damages and disruptions.

Ben Booth, Iowa One Call, Manager, Public Relations & Communications.  Ben has been with IOC for 20+ years and has vast knowledge of the Iowa one call laws and will discuss the voluntary Dynamic Start Times that started earlier this year as well as other activities that the IOC and One Call Concepts have been and are currently working on.

Dr. Roy Sturgill, Ph.D., P.E., topic Project Development and Utility Approaches to Promote Damage Prevention.

Bio: Dr. Roy Sturgill is an assistant professor at Iowa State University. Prior to this position, he worked as a research engineer at the Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky in their Construction Engineering and Project Management Program. Dr. Sturgill was also an engineer with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in the divisions of Construction and Design. Dr. Sturgill’s research over the past decade has primarily focused on utility coordination within transportation projects.  During this time, he has participated in training related to SUE and utility coordination and currently serves as an instructor for the NHI Utility Coordination for Highway Projects course. Dr. Sturgill is also the Chair of the Transportation Research Board, Standing Committee on Utilities.

Presentation Summary:

Legacy approaches of transportation project development and utility coordination entail limited utility company involvement during the formative stages of highway project design. This typically entails completing the highway design and requiring utility relocations for any areas where the new design is in conflict with existing utility infrastructure.  Advancing practice in utility coordination promotes early utility involvement using an avoid-minimize-mitigate approach. This not only promotes reduced relocation of utilities but also damage prevention as utility investigations become a more emphasized effort within the project. This presentation will highlight these utility coordination practices and how the roles of all stakeholders evolve in their use.

I hope you make plans to register and attend this years CGI annual meeting, seating is limited to 50 people.