Selection of Chief Operations Officer: After Board discussion, upon motion made and duly seconded, the Board approved the Executive Committee’s recommendation of Kelly Connolly as the next Chief Operations Officer of GSOC.
Approval of Business Rule: Barbara Cederberg provided an overview of the desire to establish a GSOC business rule which would provide that all normal and update tickets have a start time of 12:01 a.m. If an excavator choses to provide additional time in the original notification to perform a locate, the excavator would need to do so in full day increments.
COO Report: Barb gave a short overview of 2023 operations. A surge in ticket counts in November and December brought the volume up above 2022 volume. Bob Rumpza of Rumpza Consulting will act as meeting facilitator.
Strategic Planning: Bob went over the results of his survey of the Board. "Connecting Minnesota for Safe Digging" is being retained. Refinements were made to the Core Values that have driven innovation efforts over the past 5 years. They are now Safety Driven, Trustworthy, Industry Leader, and Collaborative. Meeting concluded with preliminary development of strategic priorities around the ideas of advancing technology and deamage prevention education.
Closed Special Session: The recruiting process and retention of a recruiting firm was delegated to the Executive Committee. Committee will also finalize salary adjustments for GSOC employees. Review of the 2024 Financial Projections was led by Pat Warden. Communication budget is increasing slightly in 2024 in the hopes of establishing relationships with Twin Cities Road Crew, Twin Cities Transit, and other media organizations. Board approved 2024 financial projection as well as the establishment of restricted reserves for 2024-2025.
Open Session: Tom Coffman of MnOps discussed stakeholder survey results. At length discussion of proposed legislation ended with a consensus that the board may provide additional comments to MnOps and/or issue a letter of support as the statutory proposal continues to be refined.
Chairs Report: Introduction to Dan Krier, the new State Marshall and Director of the Office of Pipeline Safety. Introduction to Brad Seber, Shane Alexander, and Crystal Gorres all with CenterPoint Energy. Introduction of Richard Klein from the City of Redwing. August minutes approved. Explanation and approval of government relations proposal by GSOC's lobbying firm. Barb Cederberg proposed another strategic planning session. The last was 5 years ago and extremely helpful in guiding GSOC management. This was approved.
Guest Discussion - White Lining: Richard Klein from the City of Red Wing addressed the board regarding a substantial lack of whitelining. GM of GSOC, Tammy Gardner pointed out that there are required questions whether filing online or by phone about whether or not the area has been whitelined. Ultimately it was decided this is an enforcement issue, not a call center issue, and that MnOps should be engaged for compliance.
COO Report: GSOC visioning team previously looked into software for field communication between locators, excavators, and facility operators. All were deficient in some way. OCC has decided to develop software in-house and is planning to have that up and running by the 2024 busy season. Concerns over record keeping standards and security of information being stored was discussed. Non-excavation review committee has met and is in the process of gathering useful suggestions from facility operators. PHMSA grant to SahredGeo to assist with the development of software to share mapping data between organizations. The first will be MnDOT and WSB Engineering. Michigan notification center has received funding from the state to assist in funding innovations and is interested in the mapping project.
PR/Awareness Report: New program called Twin Cities Road Crew which brings damage prevention messaging to schools. Also working on a new billboard program with the Green and Blue metro lines. 13,000 yard sticks were given out at 2023 State Fair. TV coverage was received by WCCO and KARE11. 811 Run had significant increase in participants and sponsors from previous years. Olivia is seeking new information to keep the DP meetings fresh and interesting. Discussion of a learning management system that ends with a certificate of completion.
OCC Presentation: 2024 staffing plan is to retain more personnel over the winter and train closer to busy season than in previous years. KPI compliance is high for the year and ticket volume has evened out to within 1% of 2022. Review of the dynamic start time innitiative. Proposed statutory change to have all ticket start times at 12:01am to help with scheduling. My Ticket Analytics is being offerred to all of the largest volume stakeholders. Efforts to enhance employee engagement have been more difficult as the work from home model continues, but is an important strategy to retain employees. Notification center has processed more than 20,000 map updates so far this year.
Presentation - GPS Locating Technologies: Travis Beran, Preident of Subsurface Solutions, shared new developments in GPS locating technology including some that may be used where cell service is not available.
MnOps Update: Damage rates reported to MnOPS are down slightly for Q3. Working with the MN Department of Management more than 8,000 surveys have been sent out to the industry for feedback regarding current industry issues and possible legislation changes. GSOC members are encouraged to participate and pass the survey along to other stakeholders. A special meeting was proposed to continue discussion of adjustments to the statute.
Finance Committee Update: Ticket volumes are slightly down, but so are expenses so overall financial performance remains near expectations. Development of the 2024 financial projection will be later this month.
