2016 Feb Newsletter - Iowa Land Improvement Contractors

February 2016
2016 officers elected for Iowa LICA
Iowa LICA
1310 8th Ave. N.E.
Independence, Iowa
50644
319-334-9884
Cell: 319-240-2420
ialica@indytel.com
www.ialica.com
Contents:
Page 2
Presidents Message
Page 3
John Peterson, LICA
Page 5
LICA Associate Members
Page 6
Savings Tip
Capitol Visit
Page 7
Down on the Farm
Page 8
Leichty is a Winner
Page 9
Barnhart Report
Page 10
Day on the Hill
Page 11
Upcoming Meetings
Page 12
Scholarship Applications
Page 15
57th Annual Convention
Page 17
From the Executive Director
Page 18
Safety Meeting Schedule
Page 19
Editorial Response
Dave Flewelling of
Moville, Chairman
of the Board
Scott Bohle of
Kingsley,
President.
Larry Vais of
Anita, State
Vice-president.
Award Night
District Presidents r eceived plaques for their ser vice in 2015. District Presidents were: Kevin Hemesath of Northeast, Brian Pickhinke of
Northwest, Victor Gingerich from Southeast, and Larry Vais of Southwest.
2015 Shiny Shovel Award
For the past few years, Iowa LICA, has been awarding the “Shiny
Shovel” award to a member who has gone above and beyond. The award
started in Illinois a few years ago.
This year’s winner took over the management of getting the dam and
overflow pipes installed at the farm. He worked with the engineers, suppliers, and contractors to coordinate the project under very difficult conditions.
Mark Erpelding of Erpelding Excavating Enterprises was the
recipient of this years “Shiny Shovel Award”.
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From your State President
Hello, my name is Scott Bohle and I will be serving as your State President
this year.
Well, the 2016 Convention is in the books and I feel it was a great one.
Thanks to all the members who planned and made this convention possible.
Thank you to all the Associate members who set up in the vending area with
your booths, taught sessions, helped and donated toward the auction, and hospitality rooms. Everyone coming together makes for a great convention. For those of you who didn't
stay for the President’s Banquet, Dan announced that we did reach our goal of 500 members, 504 to be
exact. Thank you to those members who worked hard to reach that goal. This is awesome! Did you
know that nation-wide LICA has around 2200 members? Iowa represents over 500 of that membership,
and Iowa is the largest chapter in the nation. But there are also concerns that come with this. Our Southwest district is in need of a President and Vice President for the district, so please think about this and
step up to the plate; you will not regret it. By becoming officers, you will make great contacts with people and create lifelong friendships, and just by visiting with any of them you will learn something that
will benefit you and your business. Iowa LICA is composed of membership and is “run” by membership, so please if you have been thinking about it or have been asked if interested, this is a great time to
step forward and help to keep this organization moving forward.
One of the great things coming up is Conservation Day at the Capitol Building January 19th and March
11th we will also be holding a Statewide District meeting, location to be determined and verified.
Our group is striving hard all the time to stay ahead on legislative issues and this year will be no different with Governor Branstad’s proposal to take a portion of the $.01 cent tax that is for school infrastructure and put towards water quality. Our group has not taken a position on this topic yet because we are
waiting to get more info and feedback for state legislators. This is a very touchy topic because it deals
with two important issues within our State.
In closing Iowa LICA is a great organization and I would love to see more involvement in committee
meetings and district meetings. Committee meetings are a way to get your voice heard on concerns you
come about through the year and realize that contractors across the state run into the same issues.
Working together as a group can get changes made. My challenge to each one of you this year is to do
your best to make at least one of your district meetings if not all of them and get involved. Our Associates are asked to sponsor these meetings and we need take time to go to the meetings and support our
Associates because they do a great job of supporting us.
Thanks to our outgoing President Dave Flewelling! He has done a great job and congratulations to Larry Vais for being voted in as our new State VP.
Have a safe and prosperous 2016!
Scott Bohle
State President of Iowa LICA
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2015 saw a record number of Federal rules.
By
John Peterson, LICA Director of Government Relations. 02 J AN 2016
In 2015, the administration added 81,600 pages of new rules to the Federal
register according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s count of the official record-keeping digest of federal agency rule-making. It’s the highest
total on record, and the third time this administration has crossed the 80,000
page level during its time in office. CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews said “this is
the pen and phone era, and the president has made it clear he’s going
around Congress when he gets the chance. We expected Congress to do
something about it, but it didn’t.”
Instead it was the federal court system that challenged the executive branch
in 2015. The president was dealt several significant defeats in front of
judges who shut down two of his biggest initiatives - to rewrite immigration
law and to extend the hand of the federal government in permitting decisions throughout the country - WOTUS.
All told, the administration proposed 2,334 rules and finalized 3,378 rules and regulations during
2015. With the exception of President Reagan, who managed to limit the Federal Register to under 50,000 pages of new rules and regulations per year, the recent level has been around 70,000.
But under Obama it has been hovering around 80,000. Crews said the size and scope of the regulations are beyond anything seen before. And academics and legal scholars are debating the role of
federal agencies, and asking if the executive branch should have such a concentration of power. I
know what I would say.
Lawmakers have not had much luck in overturning rules Obama has already initiated. Congress
passed resolutions disapproving of two EPA rules designed to force states and power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but Obama vetoed both, and Congress is unlikely to succeed
in overriding him. Earlier in 2015 Congress passed a measure to overturn rules from the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that allowed labor unions to force “ambush” elections on employers. Obama vetoed that bill, and Congress failed to override the veto.
In November the Senate passed a measure to overturn the EPA redefinition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The House has yet to take up that measure, but the courts have stepped in.
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay. That was one of several losses for the administrations regulatory agenda last year. The biggest was on immigration, where Obama’s deportation amnesty, announced through “guidance” memos issued by Homeland Security in Nov. 2014,
was struck down in Feb. The judge said Obama broke the law by short-circuiting the public notice
and comment required when the administration changes major policies. A Federal Appeals Court
went even further saying that granting work permits and future stays of deportation to millions of
illegal trespassers violates the Immigration and Nationality Act itself. It broke the law!
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In the coming year, if you need supplies, machinery, or information on how to
complete a project, make sure you give the LICA members below the opportunity
to help you.
They support us and we need to support them.
A & E Construction Supply
Advanced Drainage Systems
Agri-Drain Corporation
Alliance Pipeline
Altorfor, Inc.
Brown Bear Corporation
Brown’s Heavy Equipment, Inc.
Brown Supply Company
Bryan’s Heavy Equipment
Contact Engineered Solutions
Des Moines Winsupply
Ecosystem Services Exchange
Federated Insurance
FRATCO
Gierke Robinson Company
GK Technology Inc.
H & S Company, Inc.
HD Supply Waterworks, LTD
Heartland Construction Equipment
Hickenbottom, Inc.
Hilpipre Auction Company
Hotsy Equipment Company
IDALS
Iowa Pipeline Association
Iron Planet
Kahn Tile Supply, LLC
Land & Water
Martin Equipment
McCormick Equipment
Metal Culverts, Inc.
Mid America Trenchers
Mid Country Machinery, Inc.
Mid-Tech Services, Inc.
Midwest Plastic Products
Midwest Trailers Plus, Inc.
Mitko, LLC
Mobile Track Solutions, LLC
Moyson Materials
Murphy Tractor and Equipment Co.
N.W. Iowa Community College
Northern Iowa Const. Products
Northern Border Pipeline
Northern Natural Gas
Northland Trenching, Inc.
Port Industries, Inc.
Precision Intakes, Inc.
Prins Insurance, Inc.
Prinsco, Inc.
Purple Wave Auction
Quinn Equipment, Inc.
Riverland Expressions
River Valley Pipe, LLC
Road Machinery & Supplies Co
RTL Equipment, Inc.
RWF Bron
Scott Van Keppel
Springfield Plastics, Inc.
Star Equipment, Ltd.
SunSource
Timewell Drainage Products
Titan Machinery
United Fire Group
Vander Haag's, Inc.
Vermeer Sales & Service
Wiskus Group
XL Specialized Trailers
Ziegler Cat
6
Well, the tip on the right might
not work out the way they say in
this day with low returns, but the
savings will be very sizable by
the time they retire.
BottomLine Personal
At the Capitol
LICA Chairman of the
Board, Dave Flewelling
and State President,
Scott Bohle, and others
represented Iowa LICA
at the Capitol. They
spent the day talking
about issues that
concern Iowa LICA
members and discussed the continued
need to protect Iowa’s
land and water resources.
7
Down on the Farm
Well, there is not much happening down on the farm. The
Board did tell me to get the air conditioning working on
the John Deere 4230 this year. It hasn’t worked since the
first year we got it so I suppose I should get it fixed.
The Board also wants to finish putting the wall and insulation on the west side. I admit it does make the building
look a lot better on the inside. If anyone would like to
help with that project, give me a call. We won’t do it until
summer.
8
504 Contractor Members
Thanks to the work of several members, we have reached a milestone in
membership. Iowa has never had
500 members.
As many of you know there was a
membership contest. The winner of
the contest will
have his dues
paid for the
next 4 years.
The winner of
the contest was
Irv Leichty of
Leichty & Son
Construction of Mt.Pleasant.
9
Barnhart Report
I attended the State Technical Committee Meeting on December 3rd. For once I got
there early. I had a chance to meet Kurt Simon, who is our new state conservationist. As I introduced myself and told him I represented the Land Improvement Contractors he said, “Oh, LICA, I know who you guys are.” It is good to know that as
these people get moved around the country, most of them spend some time in a state
with a LICA chapter at some point during their career and they realize who we are
and what we represent.
There were presentations on funding of various programs, seems like a mixed bag, in some areas funding was up, other funding stable, others funding down. Looks like on an average it is not too bad. There
was much discussion on the development of a new erosion model tool. I think people are realizing that
even if our average soil loss is in the 3-5 ton an acre range, which is considered acceptable, the erosion
models do not do a good job in factoring gully erosion into that model, so when conservation planning is
being done, the tool is predicting lower soil loss than maybe actually realized. This led into a discussion
that with strip till and no till we are doing a better job on soil loss, but the problem is when gullies do get
started they don’t get filled in by annual tillage and get worse and worse every year and it needs to be
recognized that conservation repair work needs to be done in these instances.
The NRCS is working on creating several new things, the first being two new CRP programs that allow
grazing and haying on CRP acres with certain restrictions. NCRS has created a new division focused
solely on soil health. A position has been created where Iowa and Missouri share a specialist devoted to
soil health. The NCRS is trying to develop a new tool to more accurately evaluate a producers conservation activities and results. It is called Resource Stewardship.
To editorialize a little bit, I realize it is necessary to develop all of these programs and computer models
to plan and evaluate conservation activities, but as you know in the real world what Mother Nature does
and the results from that do not necessary follow the models, although I do think we are somewhat heading in the right direction realizing we cannot take whole field averages in the planning process since
25% of the acres of a field may cause 75% of the erosion problems so we need to focus more on the
steeper, more susceptible areas of the field.
10
Day on the Hill with LICA 1/19/2016
LICA was invited by the Conservation Districts of Iowa to display at Iowa Capital.
Members in attendance were Ryan Rasmussen, Bruce Barnhart, Aaron Lyle, Russ Peters, Scott Bohle, Dave Flewelling, Paul Keppler and myself. We set up the display
table and handed out squeeze dozers to legislators. Members spend time talking with
Jim Gillespie from Division of Soil Conservation, Governor Branstad and Lieutenant
Governor Kim Reynolds. Three items were the main focus of the day: increased
funding for water quality, a new approach with one percent local option sales tax, and
changes in the 179 depreciation.
We also spoke with several House and Senate members about the 179 depreciation and encouraged them
to couple with the federal depreciation. We also suggested that a bill needs to be passed before the
March 1st deadline for taxes. The group went into House Chambers with Representative Lee Hein for a
picture.
Bruce Barnhart and I met with Rep. Bobby Kauffman to discuss travel on interstate highways with oversize loads. Present at the meeting was Matt Sexton (Senator Ernst office), Alec Kennedy (Senator
Grassley office), Mike from Iowa DOT, and Monica Young (Iowa House staffer). We explained Iowa
does not have an annual oversize over weight permit for contractors that travel daily on the interstate
system. (Illinois has such a permit) This would take federal law change to grant Iowa such a measure.
All in meeting were positive this could be done. The day ended with talking with Branstad on the local
option sales tax idea and a conference was set up with LICA and the governor for January 27.
Tim Recker
Chairman of LICA Legislative Committee
11
Upcoming Meetings
Northwest District Southwest District
Northeast District
Southeast District
th
March 11 Statewide meeting at Ziegler (More info to come)
June 4th
June 11th
September 10
September 11
September 18
September 17
December 3
December 4
December 11
December 10
Summer Board/Scholarship Golf - Tuesday, J uly 28 (Tentative)
January 8, 9, and 10, 2017.
Iowa LICA Annual Meeting and Convention
Airport Holiday Inn, in Des Moines, Iowa
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Apply for 2016 Iowa LICA Scholarship Now
Scholarship applications are
due by March 1, 2016. Go to:
www.ialica.com for more
information on scholarship or
contact Lori Keppler at:
lori@kepplercustomhire.com
13
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The 57th Annual Meeting and Convention was a great success.
Several Iowa State Legislators attended the Annual Awards Banquet to thank
Iowa LICA for their commitment to preserving our soil and protection our water.
Representative
Lee Hein
Representative
Bobby Kauffman
Representative
Dave Maxwell
Representative
Norlin Mommsen
Representative
Ross Paustian
Secretary of Agriculture addressed
LICA contractors at the 57th
Annual Meeting and Convention.
Senator
David Johnson
The LICA ladies had a
great time at Cookies
and Canvas painting
an excavator.
Dave and Linda Flewelling and other LICA members participate in a great hypnosis act. Everyone
had a good time.
Merv and Craig
teamed up to have
another very successful auction.
We have one more
auction before the
2017 Midwest Construction Expo and
Field Day. We are
on track to have
the funds needed
to complete the
pond.
16
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From the Desk of the Executive Director
As members of Iowa LICA, you are very lucky to
have leaders who step up and support the association. Whether they are meeting with legislators at
the Capitol or just supporting the work you do at
home these men and women of the association are
helping you.
As their Executive Director, I can’t be more proud
of what they have accomplished. They sacrifice
time and money to support this association. I would
hope that more of you would become involved. It
does make a difference!
This year make it a point to attend your local district
meetings. Take pride in an association that has increased membership from 200+ just a few years ago
to over 500 today. There is a reason for that
increase. Supporting Iowa LICA does pay!
Dues are PAST DUE
For the few of you who have put off
paying your dues—this will be the last
newsletter you will receive. If you participate in the LICA endorsed insurance program, your name will be forwarded to the insurance company and
your LICA insurance will not be renewed. Call Dan Rasmussen if you
have any questions at: 319-240-2420
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Linda Moyna of Moyson Resources
LICA 2016
Safety Meetings
Date
District
February 17
SE LICA
Methodist Church
203 N Downey Street
West Branch
*March 2
Blazek Corp.
Lawler or TBA
Eastern Iowa Co.
Cascade
*March 9
NW LICA
Location to be announced HELP!
*March 11
Miene Septic
Robins (319) 393 4142
March 3




Location
All meetings will be held from 8:00 a.m .- 4:00 p.m.
Must be a minimum of 20 people registered for the class by January 15, 2015)
Cost is $50/person / day – payable at the meeting to Moyson Resources unless the class is a private class.
Private classes are indicated with an asterisk
Payment is due the day of the course. If payment is not received the day of the course the cost is $75/person.
*Does not include lunch unless the program is sponsored.
Itinerary
CSA Review / DOT Update
MSHA – Changes in the Mine (will receive 8 hour refresher course certificate).
Flagger Training
OSHA Review
Drug and Alcohol Training
Blood Borne Pathogen
Hazard Communication
Review of Excavation & Trenching
Workplace Violence
To register for the class please contact:
Linda Moyna / Moyson Resources
1474 Benson Avenue / Fairbank, IA 50629
E-mail: moyson@jtt.net
Call: 563 920-3251
19
Doug Egeland responds to the Letter to the Editor about sinkholes and tiling printed in the
Decorah Journal on December 10th, 2015.
Tiling of farmland is beneficial for everyone.
Tiling of farm ground does not let water run off the land quickly, but rather it causes the ground to act like a
sponge and slows the flow down as much as possible. Tile is installed about four feet deep, lowering the water
table as opposed to the surface water table. By lowering the water table, the soil is becomes more mellow thus
absorbing more rain, rather than it becoming runoff. Weeds thrive on excess moisture, which takes more chemicals to control, and even more than one trip to spray the wet areas. Even organic crops need the moisture controlled so cultivation can be completed before the weeds and grasses take over. Tiling enables farmers to start earlier in the spring to extend their growing season which produces larger and better crops that do not require as much
drying down. This helps by the farmers not needing to use as much LP gas, leaving more for home and business
heating at less cost to the consumer.
I have tiled for over 40 years and as time goes on, the land value has risen ten-fold. Tiling is a way for farmers to
produce more crops for less input cost, helping them stay in business as a family farm. For our company, the tiling
business from the manufacturing of the tile to the completed tiling project creates at least 12 jobs. All of our employees live in this area all of their lives and shop here as well. We take great pride in helping all farmers produce
more crops, lessening erosion, lessening compaction, and lessening runoff.
Farmers and landowners all want to produce more per acre to help stay in business and to create more, better, and
cheaper food for everyone. Can you imagine what your meals would cost with no tile, no soil conservation, and no
removal of junk trees and weeds? Perhaps you can afford it, but what about the people struggling with today’s
food prices.
The trees that are being grubbed out are mostly box elders, which grow in fence lines, ditches, etc. No one plants
them; they grow like weeds; and they are not even good fire wood. They do have branches that scratch and damage the farmer’s equipment. Also, the farmers own the land, so shouldn’t they have the right to decide what they
want to grow on it --- good, productive crops or scraggly trees and weeds. If you think that our grubbing of scrub
trees is wrong, we do plant over 400 quality trees per year for landowners, parks, and cities.
Instead of complaining about the farmer and their ways to produce more and better food, we all should be thanking
them as we all need their product.
Doug Egeland
Owner of Doug Egeland Tiling
20
Iowa Land Improvement Contractors’ Association
1310 8th Ave. NE
Independence, Iowa 50644
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