As the new Executive Director of Construction Business Group (CBG), I am pleased and honored to present our Fourth Edition of the CBG newsletter.  The CBG newsletter provides us with a means of improving communications with signatory employers about our organization and promoting industry issues of importance to all of us.  The construction industry is a vital part of our economy but it continually faces many challenges especially in these difficult economic times.  To be mutually successful, labor and management have an important joint responsibility to work together and support common goals that will preserve and promote our industry.

 As a little background on me, prior to joining CBG I served as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for a Wisconsin financial organization and prior to that worked as an attorney in the areas of construction, employment and contract law.  I am also in my third term as Mayor of the City of Monona in Dane County.  Additionally, as a little refresher on CBG, we are governed by a board of trustees from IUOE Local 139 and from the employer associations signatory to the collective-bargaining agreements. Our initial mission of work preservation via prevailing wage compliance and education still actively continues today as is exemplified by our recent educational seminars and work on the annual survey discussed throughout this newsletter. However, our role has expanded into involvement in other industry issues all of which involve fair contracting.

 Our biggest challenge continues to be insuring prevailing wage and public contracting laws allow our employers an equal contracting opportunity.  Specifically, intergovernmental contracting between public agencies has placed local government units in competition with the private employer on an ever-increasing basis, employee misclassification issues have degraded the integrity of our industry and unfairly disadvantage law-abiding employers, and government-financed construction projects evade the application and protections of public construction laws by using funding mechanisms such a Tax Incremental Financing.  While there are certainly numerous trade organizations in Wisconsin, none other than CBG is so focused on these and other issues surrounding fair contracting.  CBG will continue to work daily to educate and assist you on the issues surrounding fair contracting and where appropriate work to enforce or seek changes to those laws to ensure all those that compete for construction work are able to on an equitable basis. 

 In closing, my sincere appreciation to Mike Dixon for his work leading CBG on an interim basis.  Mike did a great job for us and will continue to serve as a consultant on important issues.   Finally, we are here to serve you and our industry but we can only do so successfully if we are informed and united in our efforts so please feel free to contact us with any concerns, suggestions or comments.

 I hope that your companies have a safe and prosperous construction season.