Barnard may employ 200 on dry lake project
At the installation of board officers at the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce dinner held on Tuesday evening at Boulder Creek RV Park, chamber members were introduced to the Owens Dry Lake Project Manager from Barnard Construction, honored the “Volunteer of the Year”, and were given “fun” facts by 5th District County Supervisor Matt Kingsley.
Last year’s board members are returning. Kathleen New, the Chamber CEO, humorously noted that, “They either did a really great job last year and we asked for them to come back…or they did a terrible job and we told them to ‘try again.’”
Aside from the successes of the Chamber over the years, the bonhomie and great sense of humor of its members largely accounts for its success. When they come together in a meeting or dinner, it is a room full of people that genuinely like each other and are always ready to help each other in promoting the community.
The primary purpose of the Chamber is “business,” so the guest speaker at the dinner was Paul Kraus, the Barnard Construction Project Manager for Phase 7a of dust mitigation work on the Owens Valley Dry Lake under an eighteen-month, $208 million contract with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The company has worked on dust mitigation at the Owens Valley Dry Lake for 12 years on seven projects totaling more than $700 million. Barnard is a familiar and a much-welcomed company to the Lone Pine area. The current project is scheduled for completion by mid-2015 and it will be using a workforce of as many as 200, which will include jobs for local residents.
Barnard Construction, based out of Bozeman, Montana, is very much a family-friendly company. Paul Kraus’ wife, Tammy, also works for the company and they work and travel together on many projects. Given the length of time for many projects, entire families of the company stay together and travel to new places similar to the lifestyles of military families.
Barnard families typically boost attendance at local schools, rent housing, support and join in community events, and provide a much-needed economic boost to local businesses.
Kraus offered an overview of the Phase 7a Dust Mitigation project. Barnard will be installing 24,000 sprinkler heads for shallow flooding and managing vegetation, using over 400 miles of pipe, 900,000 tons of gravel, 1 million tons of earth moved for berms, roads, and fill, 14 miles of power cable, 40 miles of berm roads, and using approximately 200 pieces of equipment. Three miles of walkways will also be built to provide public access with information signs on the project and local wildlife.
When asked what the town could do for the company to make their stay enjoyable, Kraus said, “Our just being able to have the opportunity to work in such a beautiful area with such wonderful people that have always welcome the Barnard family, is already as much as they could ask.” Turning the question around, Kraus asked those at the dinner to “Let them know what we can do to help you!”
Art Hickman, of Hickman Construction and Boulder Creek RV Park, was honored as the chamber’s “Volunteer of the Year.” Chamber CEO Kathleen New said it might have come as a surprise to Hickman that all the heavy construction work that he has provided the chamber and community over the years fell under “volunteer work” as he probably was still expecting payment. That drew a big laugh from the chamber members who have known Art Hickman, along with his wife Jaque, to be among the community’s greatest supporters whether it is providing heavy construction equipment for a community project or hosting fund raisers.
Fifth District Supervisor Matt Kingsley provided a few laughs as well with his list of “fun facts” along with a list of accomplishments the 5th District. He also acknowledge the presence of two other former District 5 Supervisors, Richard Cervantes and Paul Payne. There was no end of teasing the chamber’s CEO Kathleen New about her long history with the town. New is known for her sense humor and occasional stubbornness when it comes to getting things done.
The 2014 chamber board members for the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce are President Dave Blacker, Vice-President Richard Cervantes, Treasurer Paul Payne, Secretary Kathi Hall, Past-President and Board member Chris Ellis, and Board member Janet Hansen.
