Legislation proposed by ARM to clarify property tax treatment of properties with aggregate reserves has been included in a Tax Bill passed by the Minnesota Senate and was also included in a House Tax bill which was defeated in Committee on Thursday (May 4).  The House bill may be resurrected before the end of the session and continue to include the aggregate property tax language. The House and Senate Tax bills would need to go to a conference committee before being sent back to the legislature for final passage. Representative Denny McNamara (R-Hastings and Senator John Hottinger (DFL-St. Peter) are the authors of the ARM sponsored legislation. For a Copy of the House Language, Click Here  (Aggregate language can be found in Article 2, sections 3 and 6)

Click Here for a Summary of the Bill

The Pipestone City Council on May 1 chose concrete for a local street project in the city.  Dan Scotting of Pipestone Concrete worked with Dan Frentress from ARM and Brad Burke from NRMCA to provide design information and life cycle cost comparisons on the project.  The project is a full reconstruct of four blocks of a city street and will replace the existing asphalt pavement.  The concrete design calls for 6” of concrete over 9” of class 5 aggregate and will begin construction in May. The contractor is Carstensen’s Contracting, Pipestone.

Dan Frentress, PE and others were on hand April 21 to train ARM ready mix producers and others to use the new concrete pavement design guide that has been included on the MnDOT State Aid for Local Streets website which dramatically changes the specifications for concrete pavements on local streets.  Also included in the training were presentations by John Garrity, MnDOT Bituminous Engineer; Brad Burke, NRMCA and Matt Zeller, CPAM.

Click Here to Download Information on the Concrete Pavement Design Guide

80 concrete homes built by over 30 different builders were featured in the first-ever Minnesota Statewide Concrete Homes Open House.  The homes, which were located throughout the state, were either open for viewing or available to be seen on a drive-by basis Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23, 2006.

ARM’s newest website www.chooseconcretehomes.com will continue to provide information on this year’s featured builders through next year’s event.  ARM’s ICF Committee will be meeting again May 23^rd to begin making plans for the 2007 Open House event.

ARM members participated in a meeting at the MnDOT Materials Lab to explore implementing an additional carbonate test to the current array of tests for aggregate used in concrete mixes bridge deck and road construction applications.  The ARM Aggregate Committee will continue to work with the Materials Lab to move forward with implementation of this test and work with ARM aggregate members to provide matching funding for the implementation work.

For background information click here

The 11^th Annual Concrete Open that will be held June 6, 2006 at The Legends Club in Prior Lake has sold out even earlier than in year’s past.  A waiting list has been established in case of cancellations.  Please call the ARM office at 952-707-1250 if you would like to be placed on the waiting list.

A BIG thank you to this year’s Hole-in-One Sponsors Enduracon/FORTA, Lehigh Cement Company and Lafarge North America.  Our Regular Hole Sponsors are Aggregate Industries; American Engineering Testing/American Petrographic Services; ATS/CON-E-CO/Command-Alkon; Barton Sand & Gravel; Degussa Admixtures; GRT; Hayden-Murphy; Headwaters Resources; Holcim (US) Inc.; Intex Corporation; Martin Marietta; McNeilus; Reward Wall Systems; Tandem Products; and W.R. Grace.

ARM Executive Director Fred Corrigan joined Heather Arends, Industrial Minerals Geologist, from the Minnesota DNR in a presentation on aggregates and aggregate overlay districts at the Livonia Township Hall in Sherburne County. The meeting was organized by the Planning Staff at Sherburne County.  Township officials expressed interest in learning more about the possibility of adopting an aggregate overlay district in the southeast part of the Township. ARM is working with County officials to organize a public meeting in June with township residents and aggregate producers.  For more information, please contact Fred Corrigan at fcorrigan@armofmn.com

ARM staff and members of the Aggregate Committee have been participating in a series of meetings organized by the Minnesota Board of Water resources to review the Wetland Conservation Act. The meetings have included officials from throughout the state and have covered all sections of the Act. Of interest to ARM members is the following session held regarding incidental wetlands.  Click here for notes from that session.

The workshop will cover all aspects of concrete rehabilitation for concrete pavements, concrete curb and gutter, and median or sidewalk pavements. The workshop includes two field sessions—one will involve how to determine what to repair, and the other will review actual concrete rehabilitation repairs using the new Minnesota LRRB manual on the best practices for concrete repair of local streets and county roads. LRRB has designed new repair standards for the course based on successful repairs performed by the City of Owatonna and Mn/DOT. This workshop is intended for those who repair concrete pavement structures.

Who should attend?  County or city engineers or their technical staff who have responsibility for maintaining concrete pavements and associated concrete structures. The course is limited to 35 people to accommodate the field survey teams.

The topics being covered are:  Introduction to concrete pavements and CPR plates; training with the standard plates; travel to local city street for field survey; field survey using standard plates; review of team reports of field survey; review of standard plates and LCC of team reports; and a field review of actual city street concrete repairs.

The course instructor is Daniel P. Frentress, P.E., Frentress Enterprises, LLC.  Dan  owns a consulting business specializing in concrete training and research of concrete pavements. During his 27-year career, Frentress has served as vice president of highways for the American Concrete Paving Association and as executive director of the Concrete Paving Association of Minnesota.

To register, submit your form online or download the form and fax to Mindy Carlson at 612-625-6381.  Registrations must be received no later than May 15.  For more information, contact Mindy Carlson, 612-625-1813, carlson@cts.umn.edu.

The Insulating Concrete Form Association recently hired Vera Novak to become its Technical Services Manager. The position is a newly created position that will help promote the use of the insulating concrete form building system by fighting for code and standard advancements, creating publications and brochures and helping to further define the potential uses of insulating concrete forms (ICFs).

Novak brings to the ICFA a unique combination of ICF and green building industry experience, as well as technical knowledge coupled with a marketing perspective. In her recent position as the Environmental Specialist for ECO-Block, LLC, Novak was a respected conference speaker and contributor to industry journals on matters of sustainability and building science. An MBA graduate from the University of Western Australia, Novak also holds several construction industry accreditations: USGBC LEED AP, EPA Green Lights Certification and Residential Energy Auditor. Novak has first hand experience working on ICF construction sites, and also enjoys carpentry and home remodeling. Novak says, "I firmly believe that more technical and environmental knowledge will help us integrate ICFs into mainstream construction practices and accelerate the growth of our market share in North America. I am delighted to join the ICFA to contribute to this process."

The creation of the Technical Services Manager position is a huge step forward for the ICF industry, as it looks to makes a significant impact on the construction, code, standard writing and building materials communities. Joseph Lyman, executive director of the Insulating Concrete Form Association, says, "This is a value-added position that will not only help increase the credibility and acceptance of ICFs, but will also act as a resource to ICFA member firms."

The North Central Cement Council is pleased to announce that Jason S. Kruger will be representing NCCC as Pavement Engineer for the State of Minnesota.

He is responsible for market development and promotion of concrete parking areas in the State.  Jason will be working with the design community, project owners, and allies in the concrete and cement industry to advance the use of concrete for building site development and parking pavement applications.

Jason has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University.  He brings over fifteen years of experience in the cement and concrete industry with particular emphasis and expertise in product promotion.  His past employment includes engineering support and management positions for ready mixed concrete associations in both Iowa and Minnesota.  Ten years of service with Holcim (US) Inc. included stints in New York, Massachusetts, and Minnesota working in Sales & Marketing Management and Technical Services.   While with Holcim, Jason was the recipient of the Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of Minnesota 2003 “Promoter of the Year” Award for his efforts promoting ICF construction and concrete houses.

The following construction industry economic report was received from AGC of America on April 24, 2006.

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To View the House Bonding Bill, CLICK HERE

To View the Senate Version of the Bonding Bill, CLICK HERE