COVID-19 Update and the Governor’s Executive Order, March 2020
On March 17, 2020 Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a State of Public Health Disaster Emergency. Whereas this act does activate the public health response and recovery aspects of the State Disaster Emergency Plan, it does not alter the requirements of the Underground Facilities Information Act –
Iowa Code chapter 480.
Utility Services are considered life sustaining operations and do not fall under the current Iowa Governor’s executive order.
The requirements of the Iowa Code chapter 480 have not changed.
Iowa One Call remains fully operational through both our call center and online services, to receive underground facility locate notices and to transmit those notices to the utilities throughout Iowa.
Excavators:
If you have an active ticket and are delaying the work, please call to cancel the notice to prevent utility locators from unnecessary activities.
Please know that the utilities may reach out to you in an effort to negotiate mutually agreeable locating timelines in order to mitigate time constraints due to potential decreases in the utility’s locating workforce. Whenever possible, please work with the utilities to establish reasonable, and mutually agreeable scheduling alternatives.
Underground Facility
Iowa Code chapter 480 permits an underground facility operator to reach out to an excavator in order to negotiate a mutually agreeable locate
date/time.
Once a mutual agreement has been reached between the operator/locator and the excavator, the operator/locator must use the Ticket Check response code, “Agreed To Marking Schedule.” It is important to note that agreements must be mutual, and will therefore require direct contact between the operator/locator and the excavator – which must be initiated by the
operator/locator.
Please visit the IOWA One Call website at http://www.iowaonecall.com for further
COVID-19 updates.