Underground Construction - May 2020 - 34

CONVENTION REVIEW

PCCA

Celebrates 75th Anniversary Amid Big Wins for Industry

While celebrating its past, 75 years of serving the power and
communications construction industry, the PCCA focused
sharply on its present and future during the association's annual
convention, in the Bahamas.
Some 370 PCCA members, family and friends traveled to the fabulous Baha Mar resort in February, where they learned more about
the PCCA's role in a $6-million, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
grant to tackle workforce issues and about a change in Rural Utility
Service contract language that will beneﬁt broadband contractors.
They also raised more than $180,000 for Bahamian communities ravaged by Hurricane Dorian last September and $30,000 for
the family of a member who was struck and killed by a motorist in
a work zone last year.
During the convention, members participated in the PCCA
Leadership Development Program, heard an inspiring keynote
with practical business/life advice from ex-Navy Seal Alden Mills
and an upbeat economic outlook from FMI's Chris Daum, learned

PCCA honored outgoing Chairman David Aubrey, Okay Construction,
with the 2020 PCCA Distinguished Service Award.

New PCCA Chairman John Fluharty, Mears Group, accepts the chairman's
gavel and outlines an aggressive agenda for the coming year.

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MAY 2020 | UConOnline.com

about building a work culture that helps retain employees, and
welcomed Ron Tagliapietra into the PCCA Hall of Fame. PCCA also
announced this year's scholarship recipients; welcomed incoming
Chairman John Fluharty, Mears Group; and honored outgoing
Chairman David Aubrey, Okay Construction, with the PCCA
Distinguished Service Award.

Workforce
A major topic of discussion during the Construction Industry
Roundtable was the DOL grant that was announced the week
before the convention. Part of the agency's grant program,
"Apprenticeship: Closing the Skills Gap" is designed to support
large-scale expansions of apprenticeship.
PCCA partnered with the Wireless Infrastructure Association
(WIA) on the grant, which will provide the necessary funding
to design curricula and deliver training to develop qualiﬁed
applicants for placement in middle to high-skilled jobs nationwide.
The nearly $6 million grant is supplemented by more than
$9 million in matching support from industry, including cash
and in-kind contributions from WIA, PCCA, Ditch Witch, FS3
and participating employers, for a total commitment to
apprenticeship of $15 million in a public-private partnership.
Five institutions of higher education have been developing
utility construction programs as part of PCCA's "Who Will Do the
Work?" program and are already committed as technical partner
schools with PCCA and WIA: State Technical College of Missouri,
Terra State Community College (Ohio), Wisconsin Indianhead
Technical College, Monroe County Community College (Mich.)
and Somerset Community College (Ky.).
"This grant will greatly accelerate the good work that PCCA's
Education Committee and Education & Research Foundation have
undertaken to tackle the broadband industry's critical workforce
shortage," PCCA President & CEO Tim Wagner said. "PCCA and its
foundation are now poised to help train the workforce necessary
to realize the promise of the nation's 5G network.
"All of PCCA thanks Sellenriek Construction for having the
vision to involve State Technical College of Missouri in their
workforce solution, and Mark Bridgers for conceiving the idea
of a standardized curriculum and for moving the ball forward
with the PCCA-aﬃliated schools."
Another big recent win for PCCA is language in the
construction procedures of the Rural Utilities Service's new
ReConnect Program for rural broadband that permits using
RUS Form 773 on "small-scale" projects. RUS deﬁnes "smallscale" as $1 million or less, whereas the previous limit on the
use of Form 773 was $250,000.
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