NULCA... no more?

**TheCableVine** · January 10th, 2009, 01:15 PM

What happened to NULCA? Are they still around? Their web site is gone. One of those advertising pages is sitting in its place.

**ifinditunderground** · January 12th, 2009, 09:54 AM

Who cares, they never did a thing.....except manage to put out one solitary newsletter under the leadership of the fearless Rob Shively.

**UULC** · January 12th, 2009, 10:10 AM

I agree. I use to pay my $100.00 every year and never received anything in return. They never helped or did anything for the locators. The web site was never updated. Last year I received a invoice for my dues and sent it back asking what they would do for me. I never received a reply.

**TheCableVine** · January 12th, 2009, 10:41 AM

I always wondered what they did. I know they had some window stickers out there. The CGA has a larger presence by far than NULCA ever did.

When I got into the business I never heard of the CGA but I did see those neat little NULCA window stickers.

**big boots mcghee** · January 12th, 2009, 10:59 AM

So are you guys saying that my NULCA certification isn't going to "wow" the chicks anymore?

**ifinditunderground** · January 12th, 2009, 11:28 AM

We signed on four years ago, took me 6 months just to give my money away to them.....but, they never invoiced me again.......I guess in the end it was minimal money for minimal return......hey, it was free advertising on their site for 4 years.

**GWJ_CAS** · January 13th, 2009, 11:09 AM

In 2006, the issue of Locator Certification started to heat up. In 2007, California officially enacted the Locator Qualification requirements. In 2008 the issue of Locator Certification really started to heat up with Georgia creating the Locator Certification requirement for State Highway Projects (administered through the Georgia UCC and Utilities Protection Center) and Wyoming instituting a certification program through Casper College.

Where was NULCA in all this? Nowhere to be found!

I personally emailed each and every NULCA board member, the executive director, the marketing rep and anyone else the website indicated as being connected to the core of NULCA about this issue....No response, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA!

I hosted a Locator Certification Round Table discussion at the Marco Island Hilton in August 2008 and invited each and every NULCA Board Member...One showed, but NOT as a NULCA rep, he came representing his own firm. Another person showed up claiming to have been sent by NULCA, he was a Utiliquest employee and spoke from a script provided to him by the top dog at Utiliquest whose views are not necessarily representative of the rank and file membership of NULCA.

What was funny was this "representative" of NULCA knew absolutely nothing of Georgia's Locator Certification program and even less about Wyoming's (is it possible to know less than nothing?).

Now, there is a Locator Certification Round Table being held at the CGA conference in Orlando this February. I am co-moderating this discussion with the newly elected Executive Director of NULCA, Ron Peterson. We'll have to see if NULCA can emerge as a real player and representative of the membership body or if it will remain a do nothing organization...

I will direct Ron to this site to read the comments. Hopefully he will get a new appreciation for the general sentiment and move to do something about it.

**AULupstate** · January 13th, 2009, 04:13 PM

All of these post are great about the total unresponsiveness of NULCA but the question is still there. WHERE ARE THEY?????????? Website is gone, contact information is gone etc. etc.. I bet the ONLY thing that still goes on with them is cashing checks sent for 'membership'. Gee, why does that sound familiar? An organization set up to do great and fantastic things that dissapears when it's time to pony up???? Do stickers and a newsletter/magazine really cost as much as they charge for membership?????

**Inverted** · January 13th, 2009, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by AULupstate

All of these post are great about the total unresponsiveness of NULCA but the question is still there. WHERE ARE THEY?????????? Website is gone, contact information is gone etc. etc.. I bet the ONLY thing that still goes on with them is cashing checks sent for 'membership'. Gee, why does that sound familiar? An organization set up to do great and fantastic things that dissapears when it's time to pony up???? Do stickers and a newsletter/magazine really cost as much as they charge for membership?????

This is what I have been trying to tell you for the last year!!!! And I keep getting kicked out. This is exactly my cause. You can't sit around waiting for "them". Who is "them"? They are regular folks like you and me. I have a website, but no support. I want to know what is CAS's motive to get locators certified if he clearly benefits from training regulars like Joe the unemplyed plumber into a locator. My motive to get locators certified like a natural gas technician would have to be, and to get locators paid more, and be recognized as an official profession. Not some kid putting paint and flags for $11 bucks an hour and over working ourselves to protect multi million dollar infrastructures.I also want to get paid from the moment I turn on my truck at home until I turn it off at home. Not when I get to my first ticket an hour away. In the mean time I'm responsible for this $20,000 dollar truck and equipment, but I can't get paid for that driving time!???
You also have to see what is the motive of these other organizations CAS is talking about. I think they just want to make this a requirement so they can be the first to corner the market in training Locators. I don't want to meet up with them because their plans and motives are not in alignment with my plans and motives. I'm not saying that they are bad or wrong , but I am in the corner vouching for the locator, not the diploma mills and current contract holders.

**TheCableVine** · January 13th, 2009, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by Inverted

This is what I have been trying to tell you for the last year!!!! And I keep getting kicked out.

Justice... Nice to see you.

**sprayandpray** · January 13th, 2009, 08:12 PM

You might try to contact Rob Shively thru LaClede - I don't know if he went back to them but I would bet he's in touch with someone there.

**AULupstate** · January 13th, 2009, 10:08 PM

This is my thought behind NULCA and this whole 'Standardization' of Utility Locating.
First let's agree that there ARE acouple of places out there where one can go to learn Utility Locating, one of those places is Stake Center University and the other that I know about I won't give them the least satisfaction in even mentioning their name. Ok these places exist but you go to them or for a 'fee' they will come to you. Either way not very economical from any stand point really, not to mention it ISN'T NATIONALLY STANDARDIZED.
Second, if NULCA did their jobs and used their resources and what ever influence they had as an organization to develop and impliment a Nationally Standardized Certification, enforced and governed by every states Dig Safe we wouldn't be having this conversation. But they have not and did not (if in fact they are gone).
Third, and this is partially devil's advocate here, What EXACTLY would they teach and offer as courses for completion and certification?? Depending on the state and what company has what contract and only locates this one utility or this company does a seven way locate etc. etc.. Would they teach how to locate EVERYTHING and to use EVERY piece of equipment out there for it??? Maybe they could give it a rank structure like Locator, Locate Tech, Master Locate tech with every title being more that the locator has learned.

It sounds good in theory to say 'Oh well I represent an organization that will train you and give you the tools to make more money'. That isn't how it is and should NEVER be that way. What WILL make you MORE MONEY in this industry is flexibility (to go where the money is) and time (honing your skill and craft by learning and doing all you can). There IS alot of money out there for this career but it ISN'T just going to magically show up in your check. You have to look for it and sometimes make the hard decision to go get it!

**Ghost Tone** · January 13th, 2009, 10:11 PM

The comments I've seen today as a new guy on the block are all valid. Where is NULCA right now and what have they done for me lately? "Nowhere and Nothing" may be the right answers but the real question is do we need them? I believe the answer now more than ever is "yes". Locators need to be united to address this "certification issue". Certification is coming whether we like it or not and I believe it is better to steer this bus than to be run over by it. We can't let people that have no clue what we do or how we do it set the rules and standards. NULCA was founded to be the voice of the locator (not just the big locate companies) and somewhere along the way things went south. Early on we had competency standards, certification and were represented quite well in organizations such as the CGA. Unfortunately, as the CGA grew, we faded to the point where people reference locating practices through the CGA, not us. NULCA's board is trying to reorganize as we speak. The Executive Director is gone, a good thing. But he shut down the website for the moment as he left. We are trying to get approve a new ED, someone who knows the industry and start moving forward. Hopefully, the certification roundtable at the CGA Convention will be a good start. Immediately after that meeting will be a NULCA summit meeting. Let's hope that this is the start of a new NULCA that really does something for the industry and its members.

**AULupstate** · January 14th, 2009, 12:27 AM

I'm in total agreement with you Ghost but I have a question in regards to this topic. With large companies here and there with their membership and donations to an organization such as NULCA, who's interests are being served? Who's doctrine will be followed as the model for 'certification'? USIC, Utiliquest, Premier etc.???? Who will have loudest voices, the deep pockets or us?
I'm not trying to create desention here but I'm pretty sure we have all seen this and heard this before. Those who can afford it get the appointments to positions that dertimine doctrine. Will it be business as usual with the 'new' re-organization???

**sprayandpray** · January 14th, 2009, 08:11 AM

Again, I will disagree with the majority on this subject. There is no real need for certification, it's just going to be a revenue generator and new governmental 'fiefdom' for more non-productive civil service jobs which will cost more in taxes. I know most of you see this as a way of legitimizing our jobs and making them more professional but I just see another layer of bureaucratic BS initiated and managed by another group of people without 1st hand knowledge of the job.
Ask yourself this question: If every current and future Locator gets certified, what will change in the Industry if the Contractors are not held to higher standards?