How did Springfield Contractors Association, now in its 60th year, get started? What was the impetus? There was a group of 23 general contractors who got together officially on March 30, 1953, and their purpose was to enable the contractors to negotiate with the local crafts on wage scales. They called themselves the Associated Contractors of Springfield. We were incorporated in 1963 as the Springfield Contractors Association. The first president was Ray Aton and the vice president was Chester Carson. I don’t know of any surviving members of the original charter group.
When did you become involved? I was hired in October 1986. I was only going to do it for a year, but it was a good match. George Innes was going to be president in 1987, and he didn’t have a secretary in his office to help him run the organization. It was a favor to George that I said I would do it for 1987.
How many members were on board when you first started, and how many are on the rolls today? We had about 100 members. (Today) we have about 340, but before the slow down in the economy, we had a high of about 410. That was probably in 2007 or ’08.
The most dramatic drop has probably been in the subcontractors category because some of the smaller subs just couldn’t stay in business. We’ve also lost associate members, such as banks, insurance companies and (media), the companies that want to support the contractors association but aren’t directly involved in construction.
But in February, we approved four new members, and three of them [Arcel Concrete, Ewing Signal Construction and Premium Painting] were former members. I think we’ll get a lot of them back.
Do any of the charter member companies still operate? (Few) of the original companies still exist, but some of them have evolved. Chester Carson’s company, Carson Mitchell, still exists and three of his sons are running it now, with help from some of their sons.
Garrett Concrete was one of the first members, and it was later acquired by Conco in the late ’50s. Garrett Concrete, when it joined, was represented by a guy named Gaylord Weeks and he later become part of architectural firm Wright-Weeks, which became Wright & Associates, but that’s now Anderson Engineering. So Anderson Engineering can trace its roots back to Garrett Concrete, too, through Gaylord Weeks.
Bill Johnson had a company named W.W. Johnson Construction, and he and his son later incorporated Prestressed Casting in 1957. Those are the oldest ones that I could trace.
As a sign of an improving economy, the nation’s nonresidential construction spending rose 0.7 percent in February, according to a U.S. Commerce Department report issued April 1. The leading sectors were lodging, up 4.2 percent; highway and street, up 3.5 percent; and health care, up 1.9 percent. What sectors do you see improving locally? It seems like all of our members are busier than they have been the last two or three years. The highway people have stayed fairly busy because of the money that was put into the roads and bridges.
We haven’t built much in the schools lately, but with the passage of the bond issue (April 2), we will see some more activity. Traditionally, during slow times in Springfield, the nonprofit sector has kept everybody busy, but this time even the nonprofits had to slow down when the money just wasn’t available. We’re seeing an increase in those kinds of projects.
I think the renaissance downtown is going to help fuel some commercial development, and of course the outside edges of Springfield are continuing to grow.
Does the SCA board have a position on the statement by the Minorities in Business board that minority-owned construction services companies have been shut out from receiving school project bids? Our board does not have an official position. We are an apolitical organization and we try to not take positions on most issues. In the last election, we encouraged our members to vote and provided information to help members make good decisions.
We have a standing committee that meets monthly with R-12 representatives, and they have discussed the difficulty in finding qualified minority businesses. Some of our other members who do highway work, for example, they try really hard to solicit and find bids for minority owned businesses. It is an ongoing situation.[[In-content Ad]]
