Peoria Standard

In an April 10 Facebook post, Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) shared that it's National Safe Digging Month. 

"April is National Safe Digging Month. Thanks to the Whiteside County Farm Bureau for the reminder to call or click before you dig" Spain posted. 

Spain also shared an April 3 post from Whiteside County Farm Bureau. 

"Striking a single underground utility line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient outages," the bureau posted. "Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 811. Dial 811 or visit JULIE’s website: http://illinois1call.com"

More information is available online. 

"Nationwide, more than 49.3 million Americans will put themselves, their families and their communities at risk by not contacting their local 811 Center before digging. As Illinois’ FREE notification service to prevent underground utility line damages, JULIE is dedicated to keeping homeowners, landscapers, contractors, professional excavators…and the entire community…safe.. the top cause of these dangerous and costly incidents. This statistic jumps to 60 percent for landscaping and fence-building projects," the JULIE website notes. 

JULIE offers five steps to safe digging in a Youtube video. 1. Pre-mark the area with white paint or stakes. 2. Call 811 to notify utilities of your intent to dig, up to 14 days before you dig. 3. Wait the required amount of time that it takes for area utilities to determine whether they have lines where you’re proposing a dig. 4. Respect the marks. Do not remove flags until each utility notifies you whether they have utilities in the area where you plan to dig. 5. Dig with care.

Spain has represented the 73rd District since 2017. Before he served in the state legislature, Spain was elected to the Peoria City Council as the youngest at-large member in Peoria history, a seat he held until fall of 2016.   

He is currently employed at OSF Healthcare System as the vice president of Economic Development.