PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF CODE OFFICIALS
ICC CHAPTER
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

FALL MEETING
The Pennsylvania Association of Code Officials will hold its quarterly business meeting on Thursday June 19, 2003 at 9:00 A.M. at the Montgomery Fire Academy at 1175 Conshohocken Road, in Conchohocken, Pennsylvania. Immediately following the meeting there will be a presentation on Segmental Retaining Wall (SRW) Applications. Basic design concepts, engineering, and installation concepts such as internal drainage, soil conditions, fence and piping intersections and specifications will be presented. For those who inspect retaining walls this is great opportunity to learn the proper installation of SRW. For more information please contact Brian Gallagher at 610-334-5017. There is no fee for current PACO members to attend this meeting.

ACT 45: Things may change by the time you read this but our most recent correspondence with the Department of Labor & Industry indicates that they have submitted to the Governor’s Office proposed amendments to the regulations. The current focus of this office appears to be the budget but review of the L&I proposals is anticipated. Once these amendments get approval and are re-submitted to the IRRC committee we will be back on track and we will again have reasonable projections as to when we could anticipate local adoption.

Statewide Code Coalition: Bob Loeper and I met with the PENNBOC Executive Board at the invitation of President Craig Hynes. We were very well received by the PennBOC Board and we would like to thank them for their hospitality. Bob and I were very pleased with the apparent willingness of their Board as they prepare for investigating the best way to provide the vehicle towards establishing a statewide group that recognizes all ICC chapters. We appear to be on the same page regarding the need to monitor activities in Harrisburg relative to Act 45 and provide a consolidated training effort for the benefit of all our memberships. To this end Bob Loeper will be serving on a joint committee to develop a draft copy of By-Laws for this umbrella group. Bob will be serving with Craig Hynes, John Eby and Paul Purtell and we wish them luck in this endeavor.

Fall Training Agenda: Mark your calendars for a very aggressive fall agenda of training. The first item to mark on your calendar is our quarterly meeting. This will occur on September 19th at the Fire Academy, training for this is in the works and you will be notified with the meeting notice. Next we will be putting together a full day seminar in October to cover the 2003 IBC update. The date and location will depend on the ICC instructor assigned. Watch for this notice. Finally we have decided to run a dual track of training in November ( 6th & 7th ) to coincide with paper testing available at Delaware County Community College. This program will offer two days of building code training (IBC 2000) to help in taking the Commercial Building Inspectors certification exam and a two day Mechanical inspection program to assist in taking the Commercial Mechanical Inspectors certification exam. More information including registration forms for the training and testing will be forth coming. Watch our web site for updates www.PACO-71.org.

PACO BY-LAWS
PACO will be asking the membership to vote on a change to the by-laws. PACO has successfully obtained a “Non-Profit Corporation” status and the by-laws need to be amended noting this change. The amendments are merely changes noting the PACO title as a non-profit corporation. The proposed changes will be presented to the membership at the September quarterly meeting for review, and placed on the agenda of the December meeting for approval. The organization has also received fictitious name registration for the use of PACO as a logo. This essentially copywrites the logo to this organization and protects us from other entities who may wish to use this or similar type logos. The tax exempt application to the IRS has also been submitted by Joe Bagley and PACO is anticipating approvals in the very near future.
A new accounting system will be put into place to help with tracking assets.

CERTIFICATION TESTING
PennBOC is scheduled to sponsor training for Building Plan Review, Commercial Plumbing Inspector, and Transition to the 2003 IRC at the 29th Annual Conference from October 22–24, 2003 at the Hidden Valley Resort and Conference Center in Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania. PennBOC is offering the choice of certification testing for Building Plans Examiner and Commercial Plumbing Inspector on Friday October 24, 2003. This is a great opportunity to obtain the required certification under UCC Act-45 and in the code profession. For more info contact the Conference Chairman James Matscherz at 412-882-9600 ext. 258. or at his cell number 412-292-4776.

PACO CODE REVIEW COMMITTEE
The PACO Code Review Committee submitted proposed code changes to the ICC under the International Fire Code. The current committee chairman is Calvin Bonnenberger Jr., and he reported that the change request has been placed on the agenda at the code change hearings scheduled in Nashville Tennessee, September 5 thru 12, 2003. Calvin stated that the proposed change could reach the floor for a vote between Saturday, September 6 and Monday September 8. Code committee member Kevin Pezzanno is scheduled to attend with Calvin to represent this code change before the ICC membership.
As a result of the recent tragedy that occurred in Rhode Island, we are attempting to promote a code change in the International Fire Code that could help to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in our communities. The repeated large loss of life events that have occurred in our nation over the past 50 years is unacceptable but more importantly preventable. Here are some of the highlights that the committee submitted for new and existing structures. Please contact Calvin Bonenberger Jr. for more information or if you have any questions.

903.2.1.2 Group A-2.
Add a 4th condition
An automatic sprinkler system shall be provided for Group A-2 occupancies where one of the following conditions exists:
4. All Restaurants, taverns and bars that provide live entertainment, and all banquet halls and nightclubs.
 

903.6.1 Group A-2.
For Existing Buildings
An automatic sprinkler system shall be installed in existing Group A-2 occupancies, in accordance with Section 903.2.1.2

907.2.1 Group A.
A manual fire alarm system shall be installed in accordance with NFPA 72 in Group A occupancies having an occupant load of 300 200 or more. Portions of Group E occupancies occupied for assembly purposes shall be provided with a fire alarm as required for the Group E occupancy.
1. A manual fire alarm system and an automatic fire detection system shall be installed in accordance with NFPA 72 in the following Group A-2 occupancies.
1.1 Restaurants that provide live entertainment, and all banquet halls, nightclubs, taverns and bars. When automatic sprinkler systems or smoke detectors are installed, such systems or detectors shall be connected to the building fire alarm system.

907.2.1.2 Emergency voice/alarm communication system.
An emergency voice/alarm communication system shall be installed in accordance with NFPA 72, in conjunction with any fire alarm system installed in an A-2 occupancy. Such system will be allowed to serve as a public address system, but must be audible throughout the entire building.

Archive Newsletters: May 2000 August 2000 November 2000 January 2001 May 2001 August 2001 November 2001 January 2002 May 2002 August 2002 November 2002 February 2003 May 2003