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District Developments - #2 Here's a re-cap of the various events & developments that transpired over the past 2 weeks throughout our districts across the state . This newsletter includes information about Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Southwest Louisiana districts. A Note from the CEO, Ken Naquin: Highway Division News: DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson announced the appointment of Mr. Chris Knotts as the new DOTD Chief Engineer. Chris was DOTD’s Chief Administrator of Public Works and Water Resources Division for the past six years and has 27 years of experience with DOTD. Chris previously applied for the Chief Engineer position when Janice Williams was appointed and was also a candidate for the Chief Construction Engineer’s position occupied by Mike Vosburg. LAGC will be meeting with Chris soon. Please join LAGC in welcoming Chris Knotts as the new DOTD Chief Engineer. Building Division News: LAGC staff and members will meet with Senator Jack Donahue next week to discuss the possibility of increasing the threshold that the Office of Facility Planning & Control can approve a change order. Currently FP&C cannot approve a change order if said change order is over $100,000 or if change orders in the aggregate exceed $100,000 for a month. If either threshold is exceeded, then the change order must get the approval of the Legislative Joint Budget Committee. Baton Rouge: Last week Louisiana AGC held a Long Range Planning meeting here in the Baton Rouge office. The meeting was a tremendous success and has set the direction of our Association for the foreseeable future. The committee prioritized looking at our Organizational Structure, Marketing & Communication, Member Engagement and Workforce Development. You will begin to see a renewed focus towards these goals and please feel free to reach out for more information. Louisiana AGC took part in the Fire Marshal Round Table discussion held last week. The focus of the meeting was on the new automated computer system that they recently implemented. It was reported that the system was working well and there were no known issues in the plan review process. The state welcomes any and all feedback on how to improve the system. Looking ahead the Fire Marshal’s Office would like to begin to have more virtual enforcement and even has a goal of handling Final Inspections through their digital system. For more information, please call our Michael Demouy at 225-344-0432 or email at michaeld@lagc.org Southwest Louisiana (Lafayette & Lake Charles) Lafayette: A Long Range Planning Meeting was held last week to find out from you, the contracting community, what you were looking for from AGC. With much input from our member contractors, we are plotting a course for the next 5 years. There is much excitement about the changes coming in the near future. To find out more about the meeting, log onto our website and go to the events tab. See you all soon. Lake Charles: A Long Range Planning Meeting was held last week to find out from you, the contracting community, what you were looking for from AGC. With much input from our member contractors, we are plotting a course for the next 5 years. There is much excitement about the changes coming in the near future. To find out more about the meeting, log onto our website and go to the events tab. See you all soon. Our next quarterly meeting is not far off. We will be meeting November 9th at The Harlequin. Our speaker will be Mayor Nic Hunter. The mayor will be sharing with everyone his vision for the future of Lake Charles and how it will affect the contracting community. To register, please log onto lagc.org and click on the events tab. Let’s have a really good showing and show that the contracting community is someone that he needs to pay attention to. See you all soon. For more information please contact your District Manager, David Landreneau, at (337)884-4735 or davidl@lagc.org New Orleans: The primary focus from the last two weeks was gaining an audience with the two ladies who are in a run off to be the next leader of the city of New Orleans. AGC in New Orleans was able to host a mayoral forum to hear directly from the candidates as to what their vision is for the future of construction in this city and region. We were able to ask some very pertinent questions and received commitments from both to ensure AGC will have a seat at the table for all business regarding the infrastructure program, the Department of Public Works, and the Sewerage and Water Board as well. Our work will begin in earnest immediately following the November 18 election. In addition, the 8th Annual Golf Tournament at the City Park South Course was a success. The weather was perfect and attendees competed well and made some strong professional connections. Thank you again to all attendees and sponsors for making this event possible. In the coming weeks, AGC will meet with newly appointed SWB General Superintendent, Mr. Bruce Adams to discuss the agency’s role in the infrastructure program and how this association can be of any assistance in moving the contracts along smoothly. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 8th. With growing and diversifying the membership in mind, AGC in New Orleans has been invited to present before a group of general and subcontractors doing work for the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board. The conversation will highlight all the benefits of being a member. For more information please contact your District Manager, Andre Kelly, at (504) 460-6811or andrek@lagc.org