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Minutes of the March 14,
2008
Chapter Meeting
President Mark Wood called the meeting to order at the Dante
Club in Sacramento; the salute to our flag and self-introductions followed. We
were welcomed to Sacramento
by Brad Kortick of Willdan Consulting Group.
The
February minutes were approved as submitted.
BOARD REPORTS:
Presidents Report:
Chapter President, Mark Wood thanked those in attendance for coming. Mark
discussed the most recent board meeting focusing on the financial picture for
the future. He indicated that the board was looking at ways to work through the
challenging fiscal environment that the jurisdictions are finding themselves in
this year. Mark discussed the income of SVABO and talked about how the training
programs income is what provides for the fiscal stability of the chapter. He
indicated that we must depend on this income and with the economic environment
what it is, that it will be difficult for jurisdictions to send people to
training this year. He indicated that SVABO is looking at ways to ensure we
continue to provide affordable quality training programs while finding ways to
cut-back and balance our SVABO budget during these challenging economic times.
Vice
Presidents Report:
Chapter Vice-President, Bob Latz welcomed those in attendance. He discussed the
February membership enrollment indicating it was strong over the last month. Bob
discussed this years Installation Awards Dinner indicating that Saturday
December 6th at the Neotomas Inn was negotiated for the SVABO awards
dinner. He indicated that there would be limited rooms available and to book
early indicating that the information would be placed on the webpage as soon as
possible.
Treasurer Report:
Chapter Vice President, Bob Latz provided the
Treasure’s report in absence of Treasure, Rick Swenson. Bob discussed the number
of expenses that the Board members were looking at and how we can be fiscally
responsible during this economic slowdown. Bob discussed how the Board is
reviewing the current budgets final numbers and how the last CALBO, ABM had a
great affect on our current budget because of the large expense of supporting
the ABM. Bob also mentioned that the Atkins Scholarship would be paid out of the
current budget. Bob further discussed the cutbacks that will be made this year
in order to remain solvent in our budget and how we need to look at locations
wherein we could cut costs such as training locations that don’t cost SVABO as
much and cutting back on lunch programs etc…
Secretary Report:
Chapter Secretary,
Todd
Cunningham reported that the letters of support requested at the February
meeting supporting Becky Fraser and Rick Renfro for CALBO positions had been
prepared and forwarded to President Wood for approval and presentation to CALBO.
Committee Reports:
Code Development Committee:
Code Development Chair, Michael Vieira and members Yvonne Christensen and Greg
Mahoney provided the report. They provided an informative power point
presentation along with handouts outlining the information discussed at the Code
Hearings. The group discussed the many proposed Code changes indicating that
these are important to watch and to be involved with. The group indicated that
the committee focused on several of the more important Code changes and
discussed the ones the committee thought were most important to the Chapter.
Michael indicated that there is a link on the ICC site where the proposed code
changes can be reviewed. The group talked about some of the more important
proposed changes within each of the categories.
Chapter President Wood
thanked the group for their thorough presentation and huge effort in gathering
information and attending the development hearings acknowledging the long hours
invested in this effort. President Wood also called for the membership to get
involved with this committee noting that the people voting on the actions at the
Code hearings are not always representative of our group.
Education
Committee:
Education Committee Chair, Becky Fraser provided the report. Becky discussed the
classes scheduled for the remainder of the fiscal year and the scheduling of
other upcoming classes. She indicated the classes would be: Residential
Electrical Provisions for Inspectors and Plans Examiners; Plumbing and
Mechanical with a focus on Commercial Kitchens; Urban Wildland Interface Code;
Accessibility, Residential Provision and a possible Wood-Frame Construction
class put on by ICC. Becky discussed cost-saving measures such as half-day
classes without lunch being provided in order for jurisdictions to afford to
send staff members and for SVABO to save funding and get through the slower
economic times.
Inspector Training Program:
Inspector Training Program Chair, Rick Walters provided the report. Rick
reported that the group had a recent inspector breakfast meeting and that there
were twenty in attendance representing twelve jurisdictions. Rick indicated that
they had a speaker from USG Company provide a presentation on acoustic ceilings
which was very informative. Rick also announced that there were around fifty
people in attendance at the most recent free energy training and that the
feedback was excellent. He indicated that the next SVABO general meeting in
April will be in Woodland with a speaker from OES.
Code Review Committee:
Code Review Committee Chair, Bob Stetson was not present. Chapter President Mark
Wood provided a report forwarded to the chapter by Bob. Mark indicated that the
attendance of the committee continues to grow indicating that there were fifteen
in attendance at last months meeting with representation from various
jurisdictions and companies. Mark discussed last months question regarding soils
reports and discussed the difference between the IBC/CBC and the IRC
requirements. He further discussed the specific design requirements of the codes
related to soils investigation and soils report requirements. President Wood
encouraged the membership to attend the meetings of this committee and get
involved.
Scholarship Committee Chair:
Scholarship Committee Chair,
Winfred Deleon provided the report. Winfred indicated that the committee had its
first meeting on February 21st to discuss the update of the
scholarship application. He indicated that the group would be extending the
application to those members of CALBO and their families. Winfred indicated that
the group had made arrangements with CALBO to have a one-page flyer placed into
the CALBO, ABM information packet. Winfred also thanked Karen Zdrowski SVABO’s
representative from ARC for her quick response in preparing the flyer.
Outreach Committee:
Outreach Committee Chair, Craig Sarmento provided the report. Craig reported
that the first event in Dixon was a success and that it worked out very well. He
indicated that the home needed to be prepared for the Contractor to come in and
perform the work needed to get the elderly lady back in the home. Craig
indicated that about twenty-two people had responded to his request to work at
the home and get it ready. Craig gave thanks to the group that assisted and a
special thanks to Rick Julian for his extra efforts in getting the job done.
Craig announced that there are pictures on the Web site of the event; he noted
that there would be other events planned for the future. The future events would
be funded through fund raisers such as the golf tournament. Craig discussed
having a ramp-a-thon wherein building inspectors and others could go out into
the community and fix up various ramp problems. He said that this effort could
bring media attention to our organization as well. Craig reported the he would
advise the membership on future plans as they are developed.
President Wood briefly
discussed the SVABO webpage and the information found on the webpage including
that Rick Swenson has taken over the webpage monitor job. He mentioned the
pictures of the Outreach Committee’s most recent project are posted on the page.
Mark further discussed the availability to advertise on the SVABO webpage and
that there will be spots available for that purpose.
STATE AGENCY REPORTS:
CALBO Report:
CALBO President, Rick Renfro provided the report. Rick talked about how
important it is to participate in the Code Hearings and in getting involved in
other events such as the ABM. He discussed the current economic market and how
this creates problems for the attendance numbers at various events. Rick
reported that industry is having a huge impact on the code development process
and urged the members to have more participation by building official
representatives. Rick indicated that California’s effort in the code change
process is lower than previous years and recommend involvement in getting back
to the numbers of representatives we used to have. Rick discussed the new
Web site link on the CALBO Web site called “building it right” and encouraged the
membership to take a look at it. He thanked all of those that had developed the
Web site.
Rick indicated that CALBO
director Dan Kaiser would be dropping off the Board and mentioned that there is
the potential for three members of the SVABO chapter to be involved this year
with Gene, Becky and himself being involved. Rick discussed finances and that
CALBO would be canceling the “train now, pay later” program because of
difficulties in collecting some of the money. He mentioned that there may be
penalties for those that do not pay after sixty-days. Rick mentioned the CALBO
outreach project indicating that the improvements that the CALBO group had done
to the war veteran’s home would be highlighted at the ABM and that the program
was well worth the efforts.
League of Cities:
SVABO and League Member, Pete Guisasola provided the report. Pete mentioned the
efforts of the CALBO-CSLB Committee to change the owner-builder designation. He
mentioned that the proposed form will enhance the process for permitting and for
follow up by the CSLB. Pete mentioned that the committee would be introducing
this through a presentation at the ABM. Pete also reported that the League of
Cities meeting last week discussed the green building code and the development
of that process indicating that there is a great deal of opinion for individual
jurisdictions to get there own green codes verses using the upcoming state green
building code. He mentioned that the League of Cities would be discussing this
further and getting a ground-floor understanding of the new standards.
California Energy
Commission (CEC):
Chris Silvera of the California Energy Commission provided the report. Chris
discussed the availability of the upcoming standards discussing that April is
the proposed action date for the standards with an effective date of April of
2009. Chris indicated that the new standards are available on-line at the Energy
Commission Web site at www.energy.ca.gov. Chris
discussed the handout information available to the building departments and
asked that the membership take advantage of using this information by contacting
him.
State Fire
Marshall (SFM):
Kevin Reinertson of the SFM office provided the report. Kevin discussed the 2007
annual rule-making cycle. He discussed the wild-land interface provisions
indicating there would be minor modifications. He mentioned the NFPA adoptions
and discussed that NFPA 13 may be modified as well. Kevin discussed that the SFM
Web site is going through some changes. Kevin discussed the submittal of code
changes at the code hearings proposed by the SFM’s office.
Building Standards Commission (BSC)
No Report:
Housing
Community Development (HCD) (Providing today’s meeting presentation)
ICC Report:
No Report
Past
Presidents Report /
No Report
DSA /
No Report
SRFPOA
(Sacramento Regional Fire
Protection Officers Association) /No Report
Old Business /None
New Business:
SVABO Member, Elmer Larson discussed the chapter history and creating a new
history book; he indicated that if there is anything the members wanted to share
they could contact him. Elmer suggested developing this new history book through
a chapter project. He suggested that the group create a new history of the past
ten years with a more in-depth history book this time around since most of the
members are still active. Elmer read a list of items that he felt should be
presented in the history book suggesting that the project could be completed in
2009. Elmer also presented a short discussion on dome structures showing a model
of one he had created. He indicated that if anyone wanted information on dome
structures that he could provide them with some handouts.
Announcements:
Nancy Springer mentioned that she would like to receive input on mistakes or
editing for ICC events, classes, books, etc… any input would be appreciated.
DeWayne Starnes introduced
himself as the President of the Redwood Empire Chapter of ICC mentioning that
their chapter may want to speak with ours regarding the two chapters getting
together and providing joint training programs. He indicated that they are a
small chapter and that a joint effort would be very helpful. DeWayne also
mentioned that they would share their chapter information for upcoming events
and training by keeping in touch with our chapter.
Code Discussion /
None
Next Meeting:
President Wood announced that the next meeting will be held on April 11th
in Woodland. Please visit the SVABO Web site for more information and to RSVP.
President Wood announced
that there would be two presenters today Doug Hensel of HCD and Brian Sehnert of
the LEED program.
Respectfully submitted,
Todd Cunningham
SVABO Secretary |
