b"- resident's- - - - Q Article~ Starting at ZERO By Rodney Petrick, M A RC President Ilike to take this opportu L ryear MRCA has schedwouldate this nity to wish all MRCA members auled regional conferencesMay in in Happy andProsperous New Year.KansasCityandin December in Withthepastmonth's weatherinMinneapolis. If you h an imporave theMidwestrangingfromseveretantissuethatyouwouldlike ice, snow and cold, to fin some allyaddressed,shouldyour youcontact rainintheSoutheastandheavylocal association to get thisissue almostdaily snowsinthe North consideredforyourareaconfereast, we all have had some time toenceorcallMRCAdirectlyat reflectlast year's business.800/497-6722. on I am always somewhat troubledWith the informationMRCA that As a contractor Iat the start ofew year as we againmembership provides me, I a n should start back at ZERO. No matter howlose thatfeeling. As a should utilize thetroubledconwellworkhasgonetheprevioustra I shouldutilizetheMemctor Member'sOnlyportalyear we again must be focused andber's Only portal and also plan to start the drive to keep our workforceattend anear me. This conference and also plan tobusy. If it was ayear finan willallow theopportunity tonetdifficult cially a contractor must look intowith attend a conferenceworkother contractors who are waystohelpmake their businessandnational governments.In111alsolookingtobetter themselves inear me.profitable.nois thenew SmokeFreeIllinoisand their businesses. T is whereMRCA member Act startedon January 1, 2008.IAs professional roofing chisontracship can help. Take aminuteshave a n changestoIRStors,let'sstartputtingnufewlsootedmbers to review the Member'sside ofissueswithtr eldeductions.ahead of the ZERO. Let us and our OnlyavtheMRCAwebsite(www. OSHAactivitycouldalsobeanemployees all work smartly, safely mrca. org).It providesbusinessforms,issue in many areas as we are expe and profitably. updatedapplicatoragreements,riencingincreased activity in Dis Good Luck in 2008. OSHA Links, SHARP Training doc trict 5. umentsalongwithmanyotherMRCA is expanding the regional helpful aids to abusi co schedule which starts in contractor'snference ness.St.Louis onMarch1 , 2008. 1-12As contractors we also have theTheseconferenceswillallowthe responsibility to keep current withlocal group to drive theramprogchanging issues in our local, statemingtoissuesspecifictotheir areas.WhetherSafety,Business Management or Tech , MRCA nicalwill bring speakers qualified in specific areastopresenttop-notch programming to the local groups. 3"