Minutes

Minutes of Quarterly Meeting December 14, 2006

President Gentile called meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

The meeting began with the educational session: “Code Official dealing with the Press/Media” presented by Brenda Viola, Public Information Officer for Lower Merion Township. 

The education session ended at 9:50 a.m. with the regular meeting starting at 10:05 a.m.

Jeff Gentile called the meeting to order followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

Present:

Jeff Gentile, President
Brian Gallagher, Vice President
Kevin Pezzano, Secretary
Glenn Holt, Treasurer

Board of Directors

Robert Loeper
Robert Neely
Stan Altzman
Mark Zadroga

Absent

Richard Dillon

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Jeff expressed the importance of sending in the registration form to attend the quarterly meetings. Numerous times there are educational sessions offered that require paper work to be prepared (booklets, sign-in sheets, certifications etc) prior to the meeting. Also, as with today's meeting food must be prepared for the correct number of people. Registration forms are mailed out to each current member and the form is also available on the web site.

Fall Forum

The Fall Forum was a big success. Jeff thanked everyone who participated in the Fall Forum and also the Board Members who organized the event, in particular Kevin Pezzano. The Fall Forum was one of PACO's most successful training sessions.

Spring Forum

The Spring Forum will be occurring again this April. More information regarding the Spring Forum will be presented in the Educational portion of this meeting. The Board will be reviewing the seminar evaluation sheets from the Fall Forum to determine which training courses to offer at the Spring Forum. The course selection will be finalized in January. Please e-mail any suggestions to Jeff at jgentile@upperdarby.org.

UCC

The 2006 UCC codes are enacted January 1, 2007.

Residential Certifications expire April 7, 2007. All residential code inspectors must get certified or renew their certification by April 7, 2007.

All the amendments that were made to the 2003 UCC will continue in the 2006 (accessory structure, alterations etc). If your municipality intends to regulate these types of constructions you will need to amend your ordinance.

1 & 2 family dwelling - anchor bolts - this will be a big issue for code officials as 6” on center does not exist anymore. Starting January 1, 2007 soil conditions will have to be considered when determining the spacing for anchor bolts e.g. heavy clay soil will require 9” on center.

HB 881

HB 881 will be enforced January 1, 2007 so familiarize your self with this bill. Two of the main issues are:

1 & 2 Family dwelling plans submitted to a municipality for review and approval that has an architects seal and statement certifying that the plans are designed in accordance with the 2006 UCC codes must be review and approved or denied within five (5) days. Plans must still include all details necessary to determine if the plans complies with the code. If the plans do not comply with the code you have the authority to deny the plan. It was suggested that you consult with your solicitor to determine if overtime fees could be past on to the applicant in order to comply with the five (5) day requirement. The plan could be approved within the five days contingent upon approval of zoning, grading etc.

State training fee collected for each permit issued by a municipality is increased from $2.00 to $4.00. The initial $2.00 is for code enforcement education and the additional $2.00 will be for contractor education.

Everyone should be getting updates on House Bill 881 from PABCO via e-mail. Please let anyone on the Board know if you aren't receiving the e-mail.

L&I audits

L&I is conducting accessibility audit (Upper Darby, Radnor, Lower Merion, Tredyffrin, Lower Providence, Yeadon). The inspections are consistent:

Certified in accessibility

Occupancy per UCC (type of construction)

Date of Occupancy (date it was issued)

If you have any questions regarding the accessibility inspections please feel free to contact one or all of the municipalities listed above.

Existing structures that can not comply with accessibility code - The architect must apply for a variance from the accessibility code.

The application for the variance requests the name, certification number and phone number of the certified code official.

MISCELLANEOUS


Jeff read a thank you note from Don Forry's (President of LANCO) wife to PACO for the monetary gift to help with his rehabilitation. Contact one of the board members if you would like Don's phone number. Don is recovering nicely and continues to improve each day.

PACO service award - form available on the web-site so please take the time to submit your entry for the member you think should receive this award.

Minutes are available on the website. Please take the time to read the minutes prior to the next meeting.

Minutes will be posted on the web and not mailed out to members.

Approval of minutes from the September 14, 2006 meeting.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Glenn Holt reported that as of December 13th:

Checking account - $43,916.14
Money Market - $8,108.00
6 month CD - $6,949.46
1 year CD - $3,796.04
SUB TOTAL - $62,769.64
PABCO BILL (second year contract) - $10,682.00
TOTAL - $52,087.64

FALL FORUM
Income - $26,350.00
Expenses - $8,234.00
Income - $18,116.00

Typically $25,000 remains in the checking account. Currently the balance in the checking account is high because of the income from the Fall Forum. The audit committee will determine where and how much money should be deposited into an interest bearing account.

Treasurer's report approved.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Kevin Pezzano reported that Membership renewal forms will be mailed out shortly and are due by March 1, 2007. Membership fees for 2007 have been increased to $40.00 (an increase of $15.00). The increase in the fee will cover the costs for membership with PABCO as well.

PACO Membership certificate will be issued to all renewing members for 2007 along with a copy of the By-laws.

Persons who became members two years ago in order to attend the Spring Forum but did not renew for 2006 will be dropped from PACO as well as PABCO members list. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding membership.

Letters will be going out to code officials in the surrounding counties to encourage membership with PACO.

EDUCATION

Brian Gallagher reported that the Spring Forum has been scheduled at the Best Western in Towamincin located at Route 63 and the PA Turnpike.

The forum will start with the golf fundraiser on Sunday April 22nd with the course starting on Monday, April 23rd, Tuesday, April 24th and Wednesday, April 25th.

There will be no testing offered at the end of the course due to the convenience of electronic testing.

Fall Forum seminar evaluation sheets will be reviewed to determine what courses the membership would like to see offered at the Spring Forum.

Web site has been updated to include the 2007 schedule along with the minutes and various links to other organizations that would be beneficial to PACO members.

PACO is an ICC certified organization and all credited courses offered by PACO are acceptable credits for certification renewal.

Reimbursement of course fees for non-attendance at a seminar will only occur if a major medical or similar situation occurs. The Spring and Fall Forum requires a financial commitment, in advance, to the location of the forum, instructors, meals etc. and many times there is a waiting list of people who would like to attend but are unable to do so because of room capacity cap.

In an effort to assure that each individual is attending the total required hours to obtain a certification, course participants will have to sign-out at the end of the day to receive the certification.

CODE REVIEW

PABCO

Bob Loeper reported that PABCO (Pennsylvania Association of Building Code Officials) has been recognized by ICC as the PA State Professional code official chapter. The next meeting will be held in January where there will be discussions regarding an informal code review task force committee to be formed between PABCO and PBA (PA Builders Association). The committee would work towards getting a better understanding and interpretation of the codes and report back to the code officials. PABCO is also looking to meet with the American Institute of Architects to establish a relationship with this organization, and the forming of a UCC advisory board at the state level to hear issues pertaining to the UCC.

Other topic to be discussed - Grandfathering of code officials and accessibility audit.

REGION VII OF ICC (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C.)

There was a meeting held two weeks ago with the main topic being the ICC Governance Review Committee and the internal structure and network of the ICC. The next meeting of Region VII of will be in March. This meeting will concentrate on code changes as they will appear on the floor in New York.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

By-law changes - available on web site and hard copies handed out at last meeting.

Membership fee increase to $40 effective March 1, 2007

Renewal date to January 1, 2008 effective January 1, 2008

By-law changes approved

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Lee Milligan appointed election officials - Calvin Bonenberger, Sandy Cantrell-Edward, and Jeff Gentile. (handed out ballots)

There are two (2) two year Board of Directors positions open. One additional Board of Director position (1 year term) will become open if the Officer's listed by the nominations committee are elected. Top three vote getters will fill the positions on the Board in the order of votes received.

Nominated:

Officers

President - Brian Gallagher - East Caln Township
Vice President - Glenn Holt - Bethel Township
Secretary - Kevin Pezzano - Plymouth Township
Treasurer - Robert Neely - Lower Merion Township

Board of Directors

Stan Altzman - Code Inspections Inc.
Terry Bennett - Springfield Township
John Beswick - West Goshen Township
Robert Loeper - Radnor Township
Steve Travers - Lansdowne Borough

Results:

Officers - unopposed

Board of Directors:

Robert Loeper - 2 year term
Stan Altzman - 2 year term
Terry Bennett - 1 year term (finishing Robert Neely's term)

Existing Board members

Mark Zadroga - 1 year remaining
Richard Dillon - 1 year remaining

Meeting end at 12:02 p.m. followed by the Holiday Luncheon which concluded at 1:30 p.m.

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