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NCALC New Member Rewards

NEW MEMBER REWARDS

MORE THAN $2000 IN GOODS & SERVICES

IF YOU JOIN NCALC/DLI NOW

A PLANT ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE INSPECTION by Greg Icenhour, CED of Shield Engineering

A PLANT MAINTENACE CHECK-UP By Tri-State Laundry Equipment Co.

A SUPPLY INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM from N.S. Farrington & Co.

A FULL REGISTRATION to CAROLINA CLEAN from NCALC

"QUALITY SHIRT FINISHING" IN PLANT TRAINING VIDEO OR DVD IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH from DLI

20,000 CUSTOM INVOICES AT STOCK PRICES from Liberty Pittsburgh

A STANFORD SPOTTING KIT from Fabritech

A 10% DISCOUNT ON SECONDARY CONTAINMENT TRAYS from MCF Systems

THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THE SERVICES OF AN NCALC MENTOR

Access to Scholarship for DLI Resident Courses

In order to qualify as a new member you or your cleaners cannot have been a member of NCALC/DLI in the past year and you must pay your annual dues in the correct dues category in full with your membership application.

memberapp.pdf

North Carolina Association

of Launderers & Cleaners

The Source of Official Information

for NCALC

Carolina Clean

February, 2012

• NCALC 2012 Convention at Blockade Runner
• First Annual Draw Down Raffle at the NCALC Convention
• Change is Inevitable
• Member Matters
• NCALC Winter Board and Committee Meeting
• So What Triggers and Environmental Investigation?
• Petitioning In: The Best Time to Enter the DSCA Program

NCALC 2012 Convention at

Blockade Runner

Talk about a sock in the chops! Well, I sure got one when the catering manager called from the Atlantic Beach Sheraton to tell me it didn’t look like they would be back in operation by Memorial Day due to the damage from Hurricane Irene. Our recipe of a family-oriented weekend at the beach for a three-day weekend worked well for us for many years, but there are only a few hotels that can and do accommodate us on Memorial Day weekend.

Fortunately, our old friend from 2000 and 2001 is back at the Blockade Runner at Wrightsville Beach as Sales Manager, and we were able to make a deal for a limited number of rooms at a good rate which includes their famous buffet breakfast for two. The special rate requires a three-night stay. All rooms have two queen beds. There is no extra charge for children staying in the room with their parents. Rates are $189/night plus tax harbor side and $219/night plus tax ocean front. [Note: the Blockade Runner is parallel to the ocean and sound so you look right out your window at the ocean or sound.]

The convention format will be the same as you are used to. The Friday night seafood and chicken buffet dinner will offer beads, mask and face painting and a silent auction table for toys for young cleaners.

Saturday night will reunite us with “The Bopper,” DJ Dave Overby and our hula, hula hoop, limbo contest for the young at heart.

Sunday night festivities will be split into a Young Cleaners party, and our usual reception and banquet which will feature a “drawdown raffle” to benefit NCALC and a number of lucky ticket holders.

We really hit the jackpot with speakers this year who include DLI’s Jon Meijer, who will discuss DLI’s new Direct Mail Marketing program; Chris Tebbs, Executive Director of IDC and member of the CINET committee developing the new international care label symbols; Brian Wallace, CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, talking on Marketplace Realities; and Dave Johnson, retired VP of R. R. Street, who will talk on the future of the industry.

To insure your place at the table, make your hotel reservations NOW.

First Annual Draw Down Raffle at the NCALC Convention

In lieu of the Silent & Live Auction as our annual fundraiser, the NCALC Board of Directors approved District Director Tom Wilson’s plan to conduct a “draw down raffle” at the 106th annual convention on Memorial Day weekend.

The plan calls for the sale of 149 individually numbered tickets for $100 each and ticket #145 in a live auction when there are only four tickets left in the draw down for $3250 in prize money. An additional wrinkle is a majority of the final five ticket holders (min. three actual ticket holders must be present) can elect to receive $500 each and stop the final draw. You do not have to be present to win.

$100 prizes will also go to the holders of the 50th and 100th tickets drawn. As tickets are drawn (removed from the drawing as potential winners), they will be placed in a second drawing for door prizes donated to or purchased by the raffle committee.

To purchase a raffle ticket or donate door prizes or money to support the projects and programs of NCALC, contact any member of the Fund Raiser Committee:

Tom Wilson

American Cleaners

10 Penland St.

Canton, NC 28716

828-648-2817

tom@americancleaaners.co

Gloria Cowell

Cowell Cleaners

428 E. Grantham Rd.

New Bern, NC 28560

252-514-7361

cowellcleaners@earthlink.net

Marie Davis

Medlin Davis Cleaners

108 Gorge Ct.

Cary, NC 27511

919-363-2222

Sue Farrington

NS Farrington Co.

1-800-722-0374

suef@nsfarrington.com

Jimmy Lee

Jones Dry Cleaning

1601 E. 4th St.

Charlotte, NC 28204

jimmylee@jonesdrycleaning.com

Charisse Lassiter

Southern Laundry & Drycleaners

Henderson, NC

252-438-5525

classiter11@nc.rr,com

Change is Inevitable

Well, the old saying “change is inevitable” certainly holds true within the confines of NCALC. Around the first of the year, Sto received word from the Atlantic Beach Sheraton that their renovations after last fall’s hurricane would not be completed in time for our convention. Within a few weeks a contract had been negotiated with the Blockade Runner at Wrightsville Beach and after a meeting in San Diego, a fantastic slate of speakers had been procured! Now that’s performing under pressure. Eli Manning, eat your heart out.

Your Board of Directors recently met at the Pine Crest Inn in Pinehurst. As always, it was a delight to see the folks that make this organization such a valuable resource for ALL North Carolina cleaners. Changes are in the making at NCALC too. Ben Royal of Consolidated Equipment Company unveiled a new forum for NCALC members only. The purpose of this site is to allow our membership further networking opportunities and the ability to ask fellow cleaners questions concerning any industry topic. The only things strictly prohibited thus far are pricing (as prescribed by Anti-Trust law) and profanity (as prescribed by us). As situations arise, further censoring may become necessary. But if we all act like the ladies and gentlemen our parents raised us to be, we won’t have a problem. Check it out at www.ncalc.proboards.com. There is a signup procedure that might take a day or so, but please join us and fire off a few questions so we can get the dialog going.

We’re also changing the format of the convention to replace the Auction with a Draw Down. This is going to be fun! Also, since the Blockade Runner package includes breakfast, there will be new opportunities for sponsors in lieu of the continental breakfasts of years past. Plans are in the works for other entertaining events to encourage friendly competition and build stronger relationships amongst our members.

On a somber note, by now you may have heard that our Executive Director Sto Fox has some additional health issues. At press time, we are awaiting more test results which will give us a better idea of his prognosis and potential treatment. Whatever happens is going to require operational changes in order to continue the smooth operation of the office. Currently, several Board members are shadowing Sto in key areas so as to be able to assist him when the need arises. We ask each and every one of you to keep him in your prayers and offer assistance when asked or compelled to do so.

Sincerely,

Marvin Thomas

President

Member Matters

NCALC extends its sympathy to Billy Kincaid, Consolidated Equipment Company, who lost his mother, Linda Rose Foy Kincaid, December 3, 2011. Mrs. Kincaid was a store manager for Coastal Cleaners in Jacksonville, Florida, for many years.

We also extend out sympathy to Brenda Honeycut in the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband, Dan, on February 7, 2012, Brenda and Dan have operated Plaza Dry Cleaners in Chapel Hill since 1992, which was founded by Brenda’s parents. Brenda has served on the NCALC Board of Directors as District 3 Director for many years.

New DLI Membership Benefit: Ask DLI's Legal Expert

Do you have a legal question? Frank Kollman of Kollman & Saucier, P.A., has agreed to be a resource for DLI members who may need legal assistance. Frank is available for a minimum of one free consultation a year, during which he will evaluate your particular legal question and direct you toward the best possible solution.

While you may call Frank directly at 410-717-4300, he prefers that you send him an e-mail to fkollman@ kollmanlaw.com along with the best time of day to call you.A brief description of the problem will allow him to understand your question before he calls you back. Additional free consultation may be offered in appropriate circumstances.

If you call, mention to the receptionist that you are a DLI member. Please leave a voicemail if Frank is out of the office.

NCALC Winter Board and Committee Meeting

56 wonderful members of NCALC and their family and friends participated in a wonderful weekend get-together in Pinehurst Feb. 3 and 4 for NCALC’s Winter Board & Committee meetings. Thanks to recommendations from Rick Kane and Chris Edwards, we discovered the Pine Crest Inn. Built in 1913 and owned by the legendary Donald Ross from 1921 until his death in 1948, the inn has been owned and managed by the Barrett Family since 1961.

It is, in fact, a charming step into the past in a well-kept hotel staffed by people dedicated to guest comfort and pleasure. The staff is so nice that Bayard Crumpton was heard to say, “These folks are as nice as the folks in Person County.”

Your room at the hotel comes with dinner from a wonderful and varied menu which includes entrees like a 22 oz. pork chop, tenderloin steak, baked chicken or salmon with all the sides and trimmings. Whatever you want for breakfast can be found at the buffet or omelet station, or cooked to order eggs, bacon, sausage and more. The lobby bar is a convenient and comfortable place to congregate before dinner and, since the weather was so mild, a covered porch to spill out onto that stretches across the front of the inn.

Saturday morning from 8 to noon was dedicated to Board and Committee matters. Treasurer Jimmy Lee reported that the Association’s financial condition is sound with total assets of $104,750.32 and total liabilities of $1,088.18. He noted that although our income was down 14.5 percent in 2011, our expenses were also down 10.7 percent, resulting in a net loss of $2,183.59. This was primarily due to the use of restricted funds to pay our lobbyist in lieu of seeking contributions to the Legislative/ Regulatory Fund last year. Receipts from the Silent and Live Auction were also substantially down at last year’s convention. However, if the cost of lobbying is removed from Operations (as it is covered by funds previously collected for that purpose), the net from operations is $4,385.

At this meeting Executive Director Sto Fox presented his report on the prior calendar year’s operation (actual vs. forecast) and his forecast for the current year.

The Committees then broke out to consider their individual agendas and prepare their reports and recommendations.

Governmental Affairs; Chris Edwards, VP

• Peter Dorn has been promoted to head the DSCA program, replacing John Powers. Mr. Dorn has been supervisor of the Project Managers and was a logical choice.

• The Committee recommends a Legislative/Regulatory fund raising goal of $7500 in 2012.

• The Board approved the hiring of Henry Jones as NCALC Lobbyist in 2012.

Membership; Tom Volk, VP

• NCALC had a net loss of five members in 2011. Most were due to cash flow problems, not business closings, and will rejoin when they can. In comparison with other states, we are doing well in member retention.

• Recommend Mack Davis as a “Life Active Member.”

Member Services; Bayard Crumpton, VP

• Tammy Rigdon, Division Manager with Heartland, has assumed responsibility for our accounts. She has altered the Association’s status to remove the monthly statement fee so we will get a residual on members usage.

• We need to promote the Poly Recycling Program offered by N. S. Farrington and DLI’s Hanger Recycling Program.

• Recommend addition to the newsletter of:

• Member/Plant bios.

• “It Works Well” column

• Form to request mentor visit

• Recommend Tom Wilson head task force to replace auction with a draw down raffle at convention.

Technology

• Office computer is okay for the present. Set up off-site backup.

• Member-only bulletin board is up and running at ncalc.proboards.com and a link at the NCALC website.

Environmental Corner

So What Triggers and Environmental Investigation?

For years we’ve worked with drycleaners that suspect they might have an environmental problem, but have been afraid to find out whether they do or not. It is completely understandable why drycleaners would be afraid of collecting soil and groundwater samples at their site. Of course, the biggest reason for not looking into the environmental conditions at your site or sites is opening up that proverbial “can or worms,” or maybe it’s “Pandora’s Box.” Simply stated, the cost of an environmental cleanup would cause financial hardships at best. That being said, this issue causes many a drycleaner to lose sleep.

So what triggers an environmental investigation? Sometimes you can control the situation, but most of the time you can’t. More times than not, the triggering event is a requirement by a bank lending on the property. Specifically, the property owner wants to refinance his or her property or a perspective buyer of the property is trying to obtain financing. What happens next is that a bank will require a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment or Phase I ESA.

A Phase I ESA is a due diligence evaluation of the property to identify potential or existing environmental contamination liabilities. This work is conducted under guidelines established by ASTM International. ASTM International is an organization made up of engineers, scientists and policymakers that set technical standards for all types of materials, products, systems and services. The consultant conducting the Phase I ESA will inspect the site for signs of staining, evidence of spills, stressed vegetation, determination of underground and above ground tanks, secondary containment, violations and operating practices. They will evaluate records at the fire department, local health department, state environmental agencies and federal EPA, to determine whether fires or chemical spills were reported on the subject property or on neighboring properties. This review would also evaluate what businesses are operating in the near vicinity that could cause environmental impacts that could impact the subject site. The most current guidance protocol is set forth in ATM E 1527-05, known as “All Appropriate Inquiries” and can be found on the internet. Never does a Phase I include actual subsurface samples such as soil, soil gas, or groundwater.

Should the Phase I ESA identify a reasonable potential that soil and groundwater may be impacted, the consultant will suggest that a Phase II ESA be conducted. This will include actual collection of subsurface samples to determine whether the property has been impacted with chemicals that pose a risk to human health or the environment.

And this is where the costs start to mount, should chemicals be identified.

Other issues out of your control that trigger environmental investigations include: 1) contamination showing up in municipal or private drinking water wells; 2) contamination showing up beneath neighboring or downgradient properties; and 3) regional investigations conducted under the direction of state or federal regulatory agencies such as those conducted in Modesto and a new investigation starting in Visalia.

In these situations, typically perchloroethylene (PERC) has been identified in the groundwater and because PERC is a common dry cleaning solvent, focus is put on drycleaners both past and present.

We have seen situations where the State of California found levels of PERC in municipal drinking water wells and immediately set out to identify all drycleaners that operated within a mile radius of the well over the past 50 years. By using old phone books and city directories it is fairly easy to identify the address, name and period of time that a drycleaner has operated at a location.

We have seen the State pursue a retired couple that operated a drycleaner for just two years from 1958 through 1959. While we don’t believe that in the end the State required this couple to cleanup the contamination, they spent time and money defending themselves from the long arm of the law.

While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, it is important that all drycleaners understand how investigations are triggered and what to expect once they are triggered. For this reason we always talk about finding the businesses or property owner’s old comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies.

Most people that know me understand that these old policies may be the most valuable paper you could ever have. Old CGL policies written before 1985 or 1986 do not have absolute pollution exclusion language in them and therefore may be used to defend the insured against claims. A claim is what an injured” party can bring against a business or individual that owned or operated a business that is found to have any amount or responsibility for the contamination found in the subsurface, typically the groundwater.

This topic is an article in and of itself and one that we will write about in a future article. For now, my goal is to educate you about the environmental arena, for you to understand how investigations are triggered and to understand that old insurance policies of yours or those that you bought your businesses from may be worth millions of dollars. I want drycleaners to be aware of their surroundings and what drilling activities are happening in your neighborhoods, know your rights by reviewing your lease agreements, find your old insurance policies and store them securely, write down and secure store information regarding the individuals that operated at your location before you did, and seek qualified environmental assistance. And one more thing, remember the story of Pandora’s Box? Zues had given Pandora a box and told her not to open it, but she did anyway. And even though all evils subsequently unknown to man escaped from the jar, at the very bottom of the jar there lay hope.

Legal Briefs

Petitioning In: The Best Time to Enter the DSCA Program

Sto Fox is sometimes asked by dry-cleaning operators and property owners, “What is the best time for me to consider putting my place into the Dry-cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act program?” It is a good question. In DSCA, North Carolina operates what may be the most business-friendly such program in the nation, and dry-cleaners and property owners alike have a shared interest with the State and its citizens in resolving contamination issues.

Sto, as always, gives each such question his studied consideration but, in the end, generally concludes that sooner is better than later. On the other hand, there are a few points that ought to be kept in mind in thinking about this issue.

First, there is no artificial rush; the game clock is not ticking down to its last seconds. The original 2012 automatic DSCA repeal, or “sunset” provision, was extended in 2009 to January 1, 2022.

Second, property is ineligible for the DSCA program unless there is evidence that it is contaminated by “hydrocarbon or halogenated hydrocarbon used as a solvent in a drycleaning operation or the degradation products from these solvents,” to quote the statute itself. In simpler language, there must be or have been an active perc or hydrocarbon dry-cleaning plant on the property, and there must be physical evidence that it produced contamination that is detectable in the soil or groundwater.

Generally speaking, the longer an active plant has been in operation, or the longer ago that dry-cleaning operations were carried out at a closed or abandoned plant, the more likely it is that the operation resulted in contamination. But DSCA requires evidence, and this means that the soil and groundwater must be tested.

Third, the required environmental testing costs money. Some people are positively on fire with the need to know whether their site is contaminated but, for most of us, the testing that can answer that question might best be done when there is another reason to incur its expense. This occurs most frequently when a lender is asked to finance a purchase of the property, or when the owner seeks to refinance it. The lender will want to protect itself by limiting its risk, and typically a large part of this risk-management strategy consists of determining whether there is pre-existing evidence of environmental contamination. If you are a refinancing property owner or a prospective property purchaser, you can expect the lender to pass on to you the cost of the environmental investigation.

So, to summarize the analysis so far, there is some reason to delay the testing that would produce the evidence necessary to support a DSCA petition. Are there any contravening reasons to move forward more quickly?

There sure are. The presence of unremediated contaminants in the soil and, especially, in the groundwater is a ticking time bomb. Even perc, for all its density, seldom sits still under a site once it reaches the groundwater. It travels as the groundwater takes it, spreading out in a “plume” much as smoke drifts laterally from a smokestack. And the farther it travels, the greater the chance that it may find its way into a drinking water well or otherwise come into contact with a person or a protected natural resource, such as a stream.

Then there may be trouble. The most common trouble is a claim from a neighbor that the migrating contamination has lowered the neighbor’s property value or, worse, that it has made a neighbor sick. The latter claims, especially, are almost always emotionally loaded. It can be very difficult, no matter what the scientific evidence, to convince a sick neighbor that contamination migrating from your property did not produce his illness.

Now, a DSCA petition and a spot on the program’s prioritized cleanup list will not be a shield against a major lawsuit. But if your site turns out to be contaminated, and if it is “hot” enough to require prompt action by the State that will be paid for mostly with State money, then the spread of the contamination can be stopped and perhaps even reversed. Neighbors who might be imperiled by contaminated groundwater can be connected to municipal water systems. In other words, the damage and the risk can be limited.

Moreover, at least for owners of former operators of currently of inactive sites (such as drop-off/pick-up stores where there used to be an active dry-cleaning plant), there is a possible way to deal with the cost of the environmental testing necessary to establish contamination and thereby to petition into the DSCA program. A 2007 change to the statute permits the DSCA program to spend up to 1% of the DSCA fund balance each fiscal year to perform its own investigations of inactive sites that it reasonably believes to be contaminated by a dry-cleaning solvent. While the owner of the inactive site will be responsible for the cost of such a State-run investigation, these costs will be included within his or her deductible when the property goes into the program, a deductible that the petitioner would have to pay anyway. Thus, if the property proves to be contaminated by a dry-cleaning solvent, and the owner or former operator petitions the site into the DSCA program, the costs of the initial investigation will take the place of other costs that would have been billed to the petitioner. In practical effect, the investigation is free to the potential petitioner.

The availability of an environmental investigation at DSCA expense is dependent upon three conditions. First, the property must be shown to have been, at one time, the site of an active dry-cleaning plant. Second, there must be uncommitted funds available in the program’s coffers. Third, there must be at least anecdotal evidence of a spill or leak. Such evidence could consist of: (a) the discovery of possibly dry-cleaning related contamination on or beneath property adjoining or property nearby the former dry-cleaning facility (this commonly comes to DSCA from other environmental programs under which testing is conducted, such as the leaking underground storage tank program, the Brownfields property rehabilitation program, or the Inactive Hazardous Sites program carried out under the North Carolina version of the federal Superfund law); (b) first-hand knowledge of the release of a dry-cleaning solvent, such as a credible eye-witness report of a discharge submitted by a former operator or employee; or (c) credible evidence of the use of perc on the site prior to November 8, 1986 (when the federal treatment standard for solvent-containing wastes became effective and thus the disposal of perc became highly regulated). Finally, the use of the 1997 DSCA amendment to provide a program-run initial investigation is within the discretion of the program personnel – a bad compliance history may rule a site out.

A word of warning: the statute applicable to DSCA sponsorship of initial environmental investigations provides for the recovery by the State of the money spent in an investigation if thereafter neither the property owner nor the former operator petitions the property into the DSCA program. This includes the possibility of a lawsuit for reimbursement commenced by the Attorney General. I will have to add, however, that I am not aware of such a lawsuit’s ever being initiated, probably because after the investigation it becomes obvious that the property should go into the program.

So while there is no black-and-white answer to the question when to consider putting a property into the DSCA program, the general rule is that the sooner that the presence or absence of contamination is determined, and the sooner that any necessary remediation can be begun under DSCA, the safer your business will be going forward.

Rick Kane is an At-Large Director of the North Carolina Association of Launderers and Cleaners and a lawyer with Poyner Spruill LLP in the firm’s Charlotte and Raleigh offices. He has been recognized for his work in environmental law in Business North Carolina magazine’s “Legal Elite” in 2005, 2006, and 2011, and in the publication Best Lawyers in America® for the years 2009-2012.