June 25, 2002 Meeting Minutes

PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF CODE OFFICIALS

QUARTERLY MEETING MINUTES - June 25, 2002

ASTM BUILDING

President Bob Duncan called the meeting to order with Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

Present:

President: Bob Duncan

Vice President: Lee Milligan

Secretary: Jeff Gentile

Treasurer: Brian Gallagher

Board of Directors:

Calvin Bonenberger, Jr.

Dan Kerr

Bob Loeper

SECRETARY’S REPORT

The March 26, 2002 meeting minutes are not available at this time due to a few minor adjustments to the final draft. They will be available at the next meeting.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President gave a report on the certification standards prepared by the PA. Department of L&I. Inspector Certification Standards are out and scheduled to go into effect sometime next month. You can register with L&I at anytime with the disadvantage being that the continuing education requirements go into effect as soon as you register. Please note that you are not required to register until the UCC standards are adopted and published. Probably early to mid 2003.

Members are encouraged to start preparing for the certifications they will need during the next three to five years. Please note that we are always looking for educational opportunities and members are encouraged to suggest programs for scheduling during the next six months to a year. Please let Lee know any suggestions so he can incorporate your comments into our educational program schedule.

Spring Forum: At our spring forum the Board of Directors met with BOCA President, Tim Ryan. Tim emphasized the need for more involvement from Pennsylvania BOCA members, as delegates for conferences from PA are relatively low compared to other states. Another suggestion from him is trying to get more of a presence in BOCA committees. We should step up our involvement, even though we recognize that not everyone is in a position to attend conferences. However, there are a number of committees that we can participate in at BOCA that do not need a major time commitment. Participation can be by the mail and/or e-mail. This can be accomplished by submitting applications through PACO or directly to BOCA. This is necessary for a stronger position for involvement in BOCA organization, especially as it goes to ICC, for future say into codes as it moves into national and international areas. We intend to write to Mr. Ryan regarding our commitment to involvement in BOCA.

As a follow-up to our BOCA and ICC involvement, one of the things that we discussed in our Code Review Committee in detail is how we will become more involved from the code review standpoint.

Employment opportunities: We have received a notice from ARRO Group about an employment opportunity for a code official at a private consulting firm. The information is located at the rear of the room. Please take information off of form as there is only one form.

TREASURER’S REPORT

See Treasurer’s report handout.

For the second quarter of 2002, we open the checkbook with $xx Deposits from March through June 22^nd are $xx Our expenses were $xx The E-Bank Investments $xx CD renewed at a value of $xx The $xx CD renewed at $xx. Total value $xx. Total net value today is $xx

A breakdown of expenses from the April, 2002 Spring Forum is also attached to the Treasurer’s Report. Net expenses were $xx. Net revenues were $xx Net profit from program was $xx

MOTION APPROVED.

After motion, a question was raised regarding the cost of hats and shirts for the Spring Forum. Question was satisfactorily answered by stating that receipts and invoices support the cost effective manner in which these items were purchased.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

MEMBERSHIP

Jeff Gentile reported the following:

We welcome 4 new members, all from Delaware County: Michael Shemeluk from the Borough of Prospect Park, Martin Shiller from Borough of Prospect Park, Roger White from Ridley Park, and Linda Pepi from Yeadon Borough.

Some memberships are coming in unsolicited. So for those of you who are getting the word out, we appreciate your efforts for our short term and long term growth.

EDUCATION REPORT

Lee Milligan reported:

Activities of Pennsylvania Housing Research Center and Code Training (PHRC) Consortium:

On April 24^th, 2002, several PACO Board of Directors attended the Code Training Consortium meeting in Harrisburg. BOCA representative Rolland Hall was also there. Roland suggested that The code change cycle will change from a 12-month cycle to an 18-month cycle in anticipation of the BOCA/ICC merger. This will give us more time as a nationwide organization to arrange for meetings and conferences which are necessary for code hearings. The merger is proceeding on schedule, as of April 24^th. Lee stated that he did receive some unfortunate news from Bob Loeper. Bill Tanguay who was appointed chairman of the International Code Council passed away five weeks ago. This will create a vacuum at the top of ICC until someone else is appointed. This will probably occur by September for the joint BOCA /ICC conference in Texas.

A joint web site for BOCA and ICC has been established. http://www.iccint.intlcode.org.

Lee wants to encourage PACO to proceed with L&I to become an accredited provider recognized by L&I. We are currently a provider for L&I recognized by BOCA. It is just a matter of paperwork to be filled out.

Regarding the Act 45 enactment, the training regulations are final and have been published. They will begin accepting registrations from inspectors beginning on July 12th. Packets will be available from L&I on July 15^th. There is no need to rush out for the registration form as there are changes to be made by L&I. Get the packet from L&I or the registration form online.

NOTE: After the BOCA and ICC merger, Experior will no longer be used as the ICC testing agency. There will be a whole new testing program, including new certification exams. Some of the existing exams will be combined i.e., residential. Some testing will be three and one-half hours and there will be multiple certifications under one testing.

ASI, who has two testing sites in the state, will more than likely be kept as a testing agency. Also, BOCA offices and special testing site locations for paper testing at possible ASI locations. An example is the paper testing that will occur at the PENNBOC conference. PACO may pursue this at our Spring Forum.

Administration regulations under L&I were submitted back in April to the Governor’s office for approval. After Attorney General approves the regulations, they will be sent to the IRC committee to start the formal review process. There will be three public hearings throughout Pennsylvania after the IRC Committee review. Regulations are expected to be published in the first quarter. It is expected that there will be full implementation of Act 45 by the middle of next year.

The next Code Training Consortium meeting is Wednesday, July 17^th, 2002. BOCA Officers will be attending that meeting.

Pennsylvania Housing Research Center (PHRC) has extended an invitation to PACO to sit on their board of directors as a voting member. The PHRC is funded through both state grants and funding from the Pennsylvania Builder’s Association (PBA). Our Builders Association member, Doug Meashall is with the PBA. This group provides the bulk of funding for PHRC. PBA mandate is to provide education and technology transfer for new technologies. The executive board determines the direction and what new technologies they will produce. Lee suggested that PACO pursue this membership because of PBA’s close ties with L&I and other state organizations. The PACO board of directors has agreed to our participation and we will attend our first meeting on October 3^rd, 2002.

Education:

It was noted at the Spring Forum and at a meeting with Bill Hartz and Tim Ryan that BOCA is not providing much training in our area, or for that matter in the state. Teleconferencing-type training is being provided for L&I, but BOCA has dropped the normal 4-5 programs a year usually held here. This is most likely due to a staffing problem at BOCA. However, they have offered a teleconferencing training program. Information was sent from BOCA and a municipality can sign up to establish a training site, with the cost for the site being $175. A minimum of 10 people and maximum of 25 can attend at each site. Each session is one and one-half hours from Noon-1:30 p.m. You must have the ability to teleconference to be eligible. Workbooks are provided and a training instructor is provided through teleconferencing. Students can ask questions, with e-mail used to contact the instructor. Sessions run for 15 weeks, with a different topic every week. Examples of topics: administration, building, planning, occupancy, types of construction in height and area, fire protection systems, etc.

Fall training:

PENNBOC CONFERENCE October 16^th, 17^TH, and 18^th 2002

2000 International Mechanical, Plumbing and Building Codes

Simpson - Mechanical connections

Hiltie - Fire Stopping presentation

PHRC - International Energy Code Training Session (Thurs, October 17^th)

BOCA testing on Energy Code (Friday, October 18^th)*

*NOTE: There are major changes in the Energy Code that will be impacted when Act 45 is enacted. Certification will be required.

A Uniform Codes Academy Committee, formed under the Governor’s Center for Local Government, under Mitch Hoffman, was formed to set up training for 2,200 inspectors needed to implement Act 45. There will be accessibility training with testing. They may co-sponsor training with PACO, PENNBOC, and BOCA chapters. PACO has offered assistance to the committee.

PENNBOC is looking at a means of egress program sometime in August - date to be determined.

PACO will be sponsoring a Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing Program for gas transmission.

Zoning training to be held on September 12^th, 2002 - full day.

Permit clerk training session is being put together by Cal Bonenberger this fall on a date to be determined.

BOCA concrete training program will be scheduled for October.

Next level mapping and records retention group presentation for digitalizing is scheduled for our next quarterly meeting in September.

December’s quarterly meeting will include a presentation on thermafiber, i.e., rotten cotton, rock wall, and how to use for fire stopping, installation, etc.

Lee wishes to thank all who participated in the Spring Forum. As Brian has indicated we made over $4,000 on the Forum.

There were a couple concerns raised about the funding for the golf outing at the spring forum. The golf outing was run completely independent of the training program. No monies came out of PACO, and no sacrifice on the training end of the program. The golf outing raised over $600 as a result of hole sponsor donations. It was felt that the golf outing was a good method to raise money.

President’s comments: Special thanks to Lee for his work at the Spring Forum. Also, special thanks to Matt Light and Steve Bonafacino for their pulling together the golf outing.

BRIAN GALLAGHER REPORT

Newsletter:

The National Home Builder’s has withdrawn its support of the NFDA Building Code. This basically sinks NFDA 5000 as far as being any kind of competition to the ICC.

There are a number of web sites listed for resources/information

Code Review Committee: Goals and objectives of committee have been changed for this committee as a result of the meeting between the PACO Board of Directors and BOCA President, Tim Ryan. We will try to have as many of our membership as possible serve on the code review panels at the BOCA and ICC level and we will push to have better representation at the state and national level.

Members were asked to become active participants. Those who would like to serve on PACO Code Review Committee or BOCA?ICC Committees should contact Brian by phone or e-mail. Board members can give you an idea of how many hours of work will be involved and what the overall goals and objectives are. Please note that most of the work will be done by e-mail and U.S. mail, and there are designated time frames for review and turnaround of the paperwork. You may be asked to travel occasionally to a code review conference held throughout the U.S. Sometimes payments for travel expenses are available through BOCA or ICC. There may be circumstances when PACO can help with travel expenses. Committee members will typically work around 8-10 hours per quarter. New members are usually assigned to the interpretations committees , which may be less time. These interpretations are broken down by the disciplines of building, mechanicals and fire, with a 10-12 day time frame for returning your response. It is a good introduction to the system of committee networking. The neighboring states of Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio all have a major presence on these committees. Although Pennsylvania has one of the largest groups of code officials, we have the least amount of representation on the various panels and boards.

OLD BUSINESS

No old business.

NEW BUSINESS

Todd Meltsch, the chairman of the Nominating Committee stated that he received letters of interest from potential ICC Board of Directors. ???????Next meeting we should announce qualified candidates (I thought this was announced by Todd???????. One of the members up for reelection is Pennsylvania representative Cindy Davis.

Construction Code Academy will be holding an accessibility course on September 12^th, 13^th, and 14^th at the Bucks County Community College. Building pencil/paper exam will be held on Saturday, September 14^th in Lehigh. There will be various accessibility courses in September throughout the state.

Regarding the L&I packet that is available online, it is the same as what L&I is mailing out.

Additions to Committee Appointments:

Bob Neely - Finance Committee

Cal Bonenberger - Code Review Committee

At the last Board of Director’s meeting, we discussed changes to the by-laws to increase the number from three to five to gain greater involvement in activities both statewide and on a national level. A notice will go out in the September meeting notice, and we will vote in December and the change will go into effect in March 2003 to coincide with our annual elections.