The death of veteran engineer Ernie Jones in a tower elevator October 21, 2015, has resulted in the merger of his company, Consolidated Engineers, Inc. of Lynnville, IN, with Hodge Structural engineers in Evansville, some 34 miles southwest of Lynnville. CEO Cray Hodge made the announcement on December 31, and yesterday told Inside Towers “Both entities will continue to operate under their current names. Consolidated Engineers will be an unincorporated division of Hodge Structural Engineers. We will gradually change Consolidated Engineers over to Hodge Structural Engineers.”
The merger will become effective in the near future. “Both parties have reached an agreement on the overall terms of the transaction, and the closing will be completed as soon as possible,” Hodge said, adding “the terms of the transaction will remain confidential by mutual agreement of the parties involved.”
“Ernie was an incredible man and led many of the innovations and standards within the tower industry. We are merging to continue his legacy and provide an expanded level of expertise and capabilities to tower owners and operators,” Hodge said. “Dave Davies and Keith Barnett will remain on board and we intend to have a seamless transition.”
Hodge told Inside Towers, “Consolidated had three employees, including Ernie. Hodge Structural Engineers has three licensed engineers on staff. We hold professional engineering licensure in 48 states and our professional staff has over twenty years’ experience in the analysis and design of antenna towers. HSE also has considerable expertise in engineering for commercial and special structures.”
Jones, a highly regarded engineer and a frequent expert consultant to NATE and to NAB on engineering and safety issues, died while working on KOCO-TV/Oklahoma City, OK’s 1,500 foot tower. He died after the tower elevator began making a descent before he had unhooked his safety lanyard from the tower. Jones was alone at the time of the accident, having returned to the top apparently after discovering he was missing some important data for a report.
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