Big Daddy Garden Supply, Inc.
Miguel Merino
420 Ford Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
(707) 380-7731

 

Pacific Coast Iron, LLC
Adam Murray
520 Truck Street
Placerville, CA 95667
(916) 933-6050
www.pciheavyequipment.com

Jeff Roberts, CRA chairman of the board, announced the results of the recent board elections. Officers elected to a one-year term are: Rusty Parr, president; Ryan Leis, vice president; Kathryn Mitchell, treasurer; and David Dworschak, secretary. Directors elected to serve a three-year term, beginning July 2020, are Andrew de Vries, Rob Dickey, David Dworschak, Colin Grill, Ryan Leis, Janice Petersen and Patricia Sarris. Elected to serve as an associate director for a three-year term is: Allen Buck. CONGRATULATIONS to all of our newly elected officers. Their dedication and hard work are most appreciated!

The Rental Services Industry Foundation (RSIF) was founded as a separate 5013c nonprofit corporation to assist students in the rental industry, members in need of disaster relief and rental-related educational projects. RSIF provides scholarships for adult students of all ages and at many levels. Full- or part-time students in trade schools, community colleges or universities are eligible for these scholarships. Applicants must be CRA members, their children, their employees or the children of employees. Scholarships are awarded twice each year, for the fall and spring terms. All contributions to RSIF are made by members, vendors, memorials and remembrances. Funds are managed by Morgan Stanley and overseen by the RSIF board of directors. Consider RSIF in your charitable giving and estate planning. Donations can be made online or sent to RSIF at the CRA office. The future and current generation of rental industry employees and leaders will be grateful!

Businesses and governments are trying to determine when COVID-19 infections qualify for workers’ comp benefits. Some states such as California, Wisconsin and New Jersey have taken steps to provide workers compensation benefits for workers infected with COVID-19 by making it a rebuttable presumption that the infection occurred at work. In Wisconsin and several other states, the rebuttable presumption applies only to health care and emergency response workers. Other states, such as California, have issued orders covering all “essential” employees. In California, “essential” means “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers,” which includes workers in grocery stores, banks, transportation services, utility and communications industries, and many more people. Businesses and many legislators have resisted these efforts, and in Illinois, for example, the state workers compensation agency got a judge to agree to invalidate a legislative rule that would have presumed all COVID-19 cases involving essential workers to be work-related.

Plaintiffs' lawyers are already aggressively filing lawsuits (some of which may be class action lawsuits), and your insurance may be of little or no benefit! It is important that you “post” warnings throughout your Rental Center (for both your employees and customers) regarding strict compliance with all protections. You should consult with your attorney regarding revising your rental agreement to provide for the customer’s agreement to waive claims and indemnify the rental center from coronavirus issues. You may wish to obtain and post a copy of the new OSHA COVID-19 poster.

Peer Executive Groups (PEG) announced the winners of the 2020 Top Gun achievements in advance of the fall PEG meeting schedule. This designation recognizes the rental store operators who receive the PEG Pinnacle Award for Financial Excellence. This award is given to the top 25% of stores based on two ranked financial indicators that are calculated from financial statements submitted by rental store operators enrolled in PEG peer groups and non-members who elect to participate. This is the third year that PEG has named the Top 25% companies for General Tool/Construction. These companies will be recognized at a non-competing peer group meeting for Top Gun recipients only. 

CRA’s 2021 Equipment and Party Rental Tradeshow will be back at the South Point Casino Hotel & Convention Center where we will be celebrating CRA’s Diamond Jubilee Anniversary! A great venue choice with the convenience of having the convention center and hotel on the same property.
We Love our Vendors! They are our partners that assist in our successes. Due to this unprecedented business environment and trying times, the CRA Executive Committee has decided to roll back our 2021 Rental Rally Booth Rates to our 2018 level. Visit www.RentalRally.com for more information. Thank you to the exhibitors that have already signed up for the tradeshow. Click on “Learn more” to see the list of exhibitors signed up for the show to date. And check back often – new exhibitors are being added daily!

Fred Daniels has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Virginia Abrasives Corp. An economics and business graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Daniels began his career at Herc Rentals. During his 23 years at Herc, he held a wide range of roles in sales, management and IT before becoming Eastern Region VP. In 2012, he joined AMES Taping Tools as president and CEO. Daniels and his team at AMES significantly expanded the business and successfully completed the sale of the company in 2017. He is a Six Sigma Greenbelt and has extensive training in LEAN operations and in integrating acquisitions.

The Ahern Family of Companies (“Ahern Companies”) is pleased to announce that it has selected Trackunit® as its telematics platform partner. Owned by Don F. Ahern, the Ahern Family of Companies includes Ahern Rentals™, the largest independently-owned rental company in North America, high reach OEM’s, Xtreme Manufacturing™ and Snorkel™, and an extensive global distribution network, including Diamond A Equipment™ in the USA, and Ahern International™ dealerships in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Spain.

Makinex and Edco have joined forces to produce webinars with helpful tips and tricks for those who are now working remotely. Here are three of their videos: 

~Ergonomics of your at-home workspace
~How to manage work and kids at home
~Video marketing tactics to drive sales.

 

Contact Jason Stanczyk of Edco (JStanczyk@edcoinc.com, 1-855-713-4255) and Brandy Carmona of Makinex (b.carmona@makinex.com, 1-310-383-5730) at any time. Let them know how you liked the webinar!

 

A proposed change to California’s sacrosanct Proposition 13 that seeks to raise $12 billion annually for schools and local government was already primed to be one of the hottest battles on the November ballot before the coronavirus pandemic hit. But the financial damage brought on by the disease is transforming the fight over a measure that would raise property taxes for many businesses into a struggle over the future of California. Passing the initiative “was critical a few months ago,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, whose city is one of many in California that are teetering on the edge of a financial abyss. “Now, it is a matter of life and death for many California families.” The initiative’s opponents are sounding equally dire messages about how the pandemic has changed the political and economic climate. Changing Prop. 13’s formula to raise commercial property owners’ taxes is “tone deaf” at a time when countless small businesses are already dying, opponents say. “It will increase the cost of living in California,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which opposes the initiative as part of a coalition called Californians to Save Prop. 13 and Stop Higher Property Taxes. “People are already gravely concerned that California is too expensive a place to live.”

 

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has listed tax rate changes above, which apply only within the indicated city or county limits. The new tax rates, tax codes, acronyms and expiration dates will be available to view and download as a spreadsheet prior to July 1, 2020, on our California City & County Sales & Use Tax Rates webpage (scroll down to Download for the spreadsheet). To find the specific tax rate for your area or business location, go to Find a Sales and Use Tax Rate by Address. The new rates will be displayed on July 1, 2020. You may also call the Customer Service Center at 1‑800‑400‑7115 (CRS:711). Customer service representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific time), except state holidays.

 

  

Thank you to all who took time to participate in our surveys. CRA uses the information we gather to better serve you. If you have an idea for a survey for CRA members, please send your request to CRA at Info@CalRental.org. This month, we asked members about the availability of customer handwashing/sanitizing stations in their businesses due to COVID-19.

Rusty Parr from A V Party Rentals in Newhall, CA is the winner of the June Survey Raffle. Congratulations Rusty!