PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF CODE
OFFICIALS
Quarterly Meeting Minutes – October 8, 2003
Montgomery County Fire Academy
President Lee Milligan called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM with the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL:
President:
Lee Milligan
Vice-President: Jeff Gentile
Secretary:
Brian Gallagher
Treasurer:
Calvin Bonenberger, Jr
Board of Directors:
Glen Holt
Dan Kerr
Robert Loeper
Robert Neely
Kevin Pezzano (absent)
SECRETARY’S REPORT:
Due to an office over site, the copies of the June 19, 2003 minutes were not available. They will be approved along with the October 8, 2003 minutes at the December 11, 2003 meeting.
PRESIDENTS REPORT:
At the State Level:
Lee Milligan & Robert Loeper attended the CTC Training recently. The regulations for the UCC are moving forward. They are to be released from the Governors Office on 10/8/03. The IRRC Committee should start their review by 10/14/03; they are due for publication by L&I on 10/20/03. The group did not see anymore MAJOR roadblocks or de-railments.
Municipalities should be prepared for local adoption between May & August 2004.
There were modifications made to definitions, specific to: Minor Repairs vs. Routine Maintenance.
The provisions allow for local jurisdiction to supercede the UCC on Minor Repairs/Routine Maintenance thresholds.
At the Certification/Training/Registration Level:
All non-registered inspectors are URGED to register now. After May 1, 2004 you will no longer be able to register as an existing inspector, without the new certifications.
Certification starts three-five years from the date of the adoption of the regulations.
The L&I certification packets HAVE changed on 9/15/03, please make sure you download the correct form from the website and send in the proper document.
All Certified Inspector WILL be required to maintain certifications with both the ICC and L&I, they are not automatically reciprocal.
UCC definition changes:
Minor Repairs, exempted by the revised regulations:
re-siding of home
20% of re-roofing per year
allows for annual permit for
large facilities to
conduct annual repairs.
ICC Conference Highlights from Nashville, TN.
Lee Milligan, Robert Loeper, Kevin Pezzano, Calvin Bonenberger attended the conference and jointly had the following comments:
The conference was one of the better held in the last few years. With the consolidation of building groups, the crowd was large and diverse.
The ICC wants to be ‘the place to go to’ for Building & Design Professionals
Local chapters were urged to form legislative groups for their respective regions, which are now Multiple States and not service sectors within States.
Our Region now consists of: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia.
Calvin Bonenberger, Jr & Kevin Pezzano represented PACO at the International Fire Code hearings. They successfully joined forces with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, to present a unified front and were successful in getting the changes to the Occupancy Loading of Assembly Buildings reduced to 100 people, for the installation of sprinkler protection. The final draft of the amendment will be on the block for final approval at the May 2004 hearings.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT:
From 1/1/03 until 10/1/03 there were 218 code professionals joining or renewing their membership with PACO.
Between the June meeting and October meeting we had three new members join: George Dougherty of West Conshohocken Borough, Sinclair Salisbury of Lower Providence Township and Robert Stroup of Lower Providence Township.
| Checking Balance: 4/30/03 |
$xxxxx.xx |
|
| Deposits through 10/8/03 |
$xxxxx.xx |
|
| Expenses through 10/8/03 |
$xxxxx.xx |
|
| E-Bank & Securities |
$xxxxx.xx |
|
| Net Worth through 10/8/03 |
$xxxxx.xx |
Motion by Ernie Schmidt & 2nd by Bob Neely to approve report, approved.
EDUCATION:
Jeff Gentile and Lee Milligan provided an update on the upcoming training and provided the following highlights:
Todays program on Green Buildings is presented by Bill Cologie, Executive Director of the Green Buildings Association of Central Pennsylvania.
2003 IBC training will be held on October 30, 2003 at the Hampton Inn in Oaks, registration is already closed for this session.
Three (3) concurrent classes will be running at the Fall Training Symposium on November 6th & 7th at the Montgomery County Fire Academy. Closing date for registration is 10/17/03.
Groundwork for the 2004 PACO Annual Spring Forum will be starting at the December 11, 2003, 4th Quarter Meeting. All interested are asked to sign up at this meeting. The 2004 program will be chaired by Brian Gallagher and the facilities will be the quest of Dan Kerr and Dan Jenkins. Continuing with our objective to move the Forum every year, the 2004 gathering will be in the Northwestern Montgomery/Eastern Bucks County area.
The Pennsylvania Construction Code Academy will be altering their schedule to bring training to the Metro-Philadelphia area, starting with Seminar at the Inn at Chester Springs (Lionville, Chester County) beginning in January 2004 and through April 2004.
Bob Fritz of Atlantic-Inland Inspections spoke on the Electrical Underwriters Association and offered up mini-training from their group, for future meetings.
CODE REVIEW COMMITTEE:
Calvin Bonenberger, Jr explained that the Code Review Group did present six (6) changes for the Fire/Building Codes at the ICC Conference. Four (4) of the proposals made it to the floor for a vote, largely in part to the partnership with the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
NOMINATIONS:
Bob Duncan reported that there has been little support from the membership in the submission of candidates for the PACO Annual Award. He strongly asked that all members look at each other and members of their staff to see if they could/would be submitted for the award. Applications are available on the website at PACO-71.org.
The following positions are up for election this year on the Board of Directors: Kevin Pezzano & Glenn Holt, both one-year directors. The new terms will be two years to start the proper rotation.
NEW BUSINESS:
| Dan Kerr spoke
extensively on the Incorporation and Non-Profit status of PACO. Dan has
spent the last year working with attorneys, accountants and the Commonwealth
to have the organization qualify and register as a §501.C6 tax-exempt group. Title 26 of the IRS Restrictions prohibits PACO from funding a lobbyist or having any political involvement. Our Attorney is going to issue a letter of guidance in regard to this topic. The total project came in $82.00 over budget due to legal costs. MOTION BY DAN KERR, 2ND BY BYN LAW TO ALLOCATE $3000 TO PURCHASE A LAPTOP COMPUTER & SOFTWARE TO MANAGE THE FINANCES OF PACO. Motion passed. |
| Robert Loeper discussed the State Wide Coalition of Code Officials. The executive committee of PennBOC and PACO met to discuss the need for a central focus group in the Commonwealth. A model charter was drafted and sent out to all six (6) chapters within Pennsylvania, with comments due by 11/15/03. The draft charter highlighted the goals, objective and purpose of the group. |
| General discussion was
held regarding the need to assist the attendees at the ICC Conferences.
MOTION BY BOB NEELY, 2ND BY BRYAN LAW TO APPROPRIATE $1000 ANNUALLY FOR REIMBURSEMENT, EXPANDABLE TO ANOTHER $1000 IF NEEDED AT THE EXECUTIVE BOARDS DESCREATION. Motion passed. |
| Bob Fritz of Atlantic/Inland spoke to the assembly about the upcoming NEC Conference in Orlando, Florida. Currently, there are over 500 proposed changes to the NEC before the review committee. |
| Lee Milligan headed
the discussions concerning HB 1654, which amends the definition of Minor
Repairs and Permit Requirements. The bill is supposed to be in Committee
until January ’04. The key issues in the House Bill were/are: A
threshold in dollars that requires a permit, • a $2 surcharge on all permits
issued that must go to the Pennsylvania Training Consortium to pay for the
training of inspectors.
The concern of the general assembly was
that the Southeastern Portion of Pennsylvania is paying for a program in
which we receive no benefit. The PCCA courses are normally in the Central
and Western Portions of the State. Dan Jenkins stated that he has
worked with PCCA and the main reason for such few courses in the Metro-Phila.
Area is the inability to fill classes. In essence we are causing the problem
we are complaining about. |
Being no further discussion, the general meeting was brought to a close by a MOTION BY DAN KERR, 2ND BY BOB LOEPER TO ADJOURN. Motion Passed at 10:32 AM.
The Executive Board went into Executive Session to discuss HB-1654 and adjourned at 12:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian M. Gallagher, CBI/CFI
Secretary