Kansas City, KS – Last week, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) visited ESCA Board member Garney Construction at the Ozone Facility for WaterOne in Johnson County, a project worked on jointly by Garney and ESCA Leadership & Development Council member Black & Veatch. The Senator was greeted by Garney Construction leadership, given a tour of the project and introduced to Garney employee-owners in Kansas. During his visit, the Senator saw the good work that employee-owned companies can do for their communities.
“Our ESOP is a game-changer for our employees, setting them up with significant retirement savings,” said Steve Harris, Project Manager at Garney Construction. “We had a great visit with Sen. Roberts and are thankful to him for being a long-time champion of employee ownership.”
Senator Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and the longtime lead Republican sponsor of pro S ESOP legislation, the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2017, that is now cosponsored by 40 members of the Senate.
“There truly is something special about employee-owned businesses. Helping workers feel more motivated and passionate about their companies, giving them a stake in their success, and increasing their retirement savings are things that everyone should support,” said Sen. Roberts. “I saw all of this on display during my visit to Garney Construction, and it is another example of why Senator Cardin and I continue to push for Congress to pass our bipartisan bill, the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act.”
Garney’s Ozone Facility for WaterOne in Johnson County, Kansas. WaterOne service covers about 272 square miles and nearly 425,000 customers. The project will add a new Ozone facility, which will be the first Ozone system for WaterOne. Ozone is a chemical that is used to disinfect the water, powerful enough to remove toxins from the water that conventional chemicals will not remove. The system will offer financial savings in chemical costs over the years as they will no longer need these chemicals once the Ozone is operational in November 2018. Garney Construction was founded in 1961 and specializes in water and wastewater construction for public, private, industrial, and federal clients. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, Garney has over 1,360 employee-owners across the country. Garney Construction has been an active Board member of ESCA since 1999.