ASAC Presents Safety Awards/Hickenlooper Lauds Good Design/USGBC Launches Web Training Program

More than $270,000 in dividend checks were presented in December to 19 state participants in the 2005 American Subcontractors Association Workers Compensation Program. Also honored were ASA of Colorado members that are Colorado Cost Containment certified.

ASA of Colorado Honors Members

The American Subcontractors Association of Colorado held its second annual Excellence In Safety awards banquet in December at the Colorado History Museum. The awards were accompanied by the distribution of more than $270,000 in dividend checks to 19 participants of the ASA Workers Compensation Program.

The winners were:

• 25,000 to 100,000 man hours - Central Mechanical Inc.
• 100,000 to 200,000 man hours - Braconier Plumbing and Heating Inc.
• 200,000 to 500,000 man hours - Roche Constructors Inc.
• 500,000 to 1 million man hours - M. A. Mortenson Co.

Central Mechanical also received ASAC's Most Improved Excellence in Safety Program award and Mortenson was recognized for Best Overall Safety Program.

Awards were also given to applicants that are Colorado Cost Containment certified. They were: A1 Glass Inc., A.P. Eberlein Co., Automatic Entrances of Colorado, Braconier Plumbing & Heating, Central Mechanical, D&D Roofing, FCI Constructors, JHL Constructors, Kimmel Mechanical, MW GOLDEN CONSTRUCTORS, Mountain States Engineering, Roche Constructors, U.S. Engineering and ZPS Inc.

Hickenlooper Presents Mayor's Design Awards

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper honored 14 area business owners and the Denver Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in December with the city's first-ever Mayor's Design Awards, launched to recognize people who have made design excellence a priority in the community. Hickenlooper hosted a reception for the winners at the Colorado Convention Center in early December.

Selection criteria included adaptive reuse of space or materials; innovative paint application; design as branding, heritage, ethnicity; creative use of common materials; imaginative lighting; sign design; creative application of a theme; sustainable design; and relationship of buildings to the street.

The winners:

• Peter Marczyk, Marczyk's Fine Foods, 770 E. 17th Ave.;
• Teri Rippeto, Potager, 1109 Ogden St.;
• Kristan Coplans, Side Street (marketing initiative);
• Lisa Daniel, "Box City," AIA Denver;
• Randy Nichols, Clayton Lane, Clayton Lane at First Avenue;
• Thomas Nesler, Forest Room 5; 2532 15th St.;
• Patty Ortiz, Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Dr.;
• Maud Damrongsang, Tommy's Thai, 3410 E. Colfax Ave.;
• Bud Starker and Dick Landon, Broadway Central, Sixth Avenue at Broadway;
• Yasu Kizaki/ Toshi Kizaki, Sushi Den, 1487 S. Pearl St.;
• Tommy Gihooly, Oblio's Pizzeria, 6115 E. 22nd Ave.;
• Haileselassie Hagos, Buzz Café, 1229 E. 6th Ave.;
• Laurie Jekel, The Potted Garden, 1001 S. Gaylord St.;
• Zvi Rudawsky and Grant Barnhill, Aperture, 1777 Williams St.; and
• Chris Oakley, Jeff Oakley and Cissy Olderman, Bang!, 3472 W. 32nd Ave.
  

AGC Urges Supreme Court to Curb Corps Regulations

The Associated General Contractors of America filed in December a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' authority to regulate construction activities occurring in or near remote wetlands and manmade drainages that have little or no nexus with navigable waters.

The uncertain limits on federal control of waters and wetlands has led field staff to make inconsistent and often overreaching jurisdictional determinations, AGC leaders said.

In joining with several development and real estate organizations, AGC - in the cases of Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - supports two Michigan landowners by asking the court to reject federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction over nonadjacent, non-navigable wetlands and manmade drainages.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Feb. 21.

USGBC Launches Web-Based LEED Training Program

The U.S. Green Building Council has partnered with Turner Construction to launch its first Web-based training course designed to educate building industry professionals about LEED professional accreditation requirements.

The three-hour course, "Essentials of LEED Professional Accreditation," includes selected case studies, interactive learning exercises and a practice exam with questions similar to those encountered on the LEED Professional Accreditation exam.

The interactive course follows the Sienna Hills Library Project team as its delves into the LEED credit categories and prerequisite requirements. Divided into seven lessons, the course covers topics that include the LEED rating system, coordinating a LEED project during design and construction, managing the LEED certification process and verifying that a project meets LEED requirements.

Cost of the course is $150 for USGBC members and $200 for nonmembers. For more information, contact USGBC at 202-828-7422 or workshop@usgbc.org, or go to www.usgbc.org

DOL Enacts First-Ever Military Reemployment Rights

The U.S. Department of Labor published regulations in December interpreting the law that protects employment and reemployment rights and benefits of service members upon their return to civilian life.

It's the first time since passage of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act in 1994 that the department has developed regulations to clarify the act.

The department's action is the latest in a series of proactive steps taken to ensure job security for the largest group of mobilized National Guard and Reserve service members since World War II. USERRA prohibits discrimination against past and present members of the uniformed services and establishes reemployment rights for service members who want to return to the jobs they held before military service.

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