WABO Annual Business MeetingJune 25-26, 2015Vancouver, WashingtonThe swearing in of the new WABO Board of Directors
President's Report by Jonanthan Siu, PE, SE, ACO
Happy WABO new year! We kicked off the year at the Annual Business Meeting at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver at the end of June. Highlights of the meeting included the election of WABO officers and committee chairs, a review of recommended WABO bylaws changes, the annual banquet complete with awards and door prizes, and a visit by ICC President Guy Tomberlin. Congratulations, welcomes, and lots of thanks are in order. Congratulations to award recipients Dave Spencer - Code Official of the Year, Willie Hill - Associate of the Year, and Gary Nordeen - Outstanding Educational Achievement Award. These awards were announced at the banquet and given in recognition of their service to WABO, to the profession, and to the industry—in Willie’s and Gary’s cases, over many years. Congratulations and thank you to outgoing Executive Board members, Gary Allsup and Mike Noot, for your service to the membership over the past few years. Welcome to newly elected Committee chairs/Executive Board directors Todd Blevins (Walla Walla County, Outreach Committee) and Dave Spencer (North Bend, Government Relations Committee). Thanks for making the commitment to be involved at this level of the organization. We look forward to the new ideas and energy you’ll bring to WABO’s leadership team. Thanks also to the other officers and committee chairs who re-upped their commitments to WABO and were re-elected: Tom Phillips (First Vice President), Ray Allshouse (Second Vice President), Pete Rambow (Certification and Registration), Doug Powell (Emergency Management), Lee Kranz (Technical Code Development), Tim Nordtvedt (Education), and Kurt Aldworth (Finance). Special thanks to Immediate Past President Trace Justice, Past President Gary Schenk, and Apprenticeship Committee chair Andy Higgins for continuing to serve WABO with their knowledge and skills. Thank you to ICC President Guy Tomberlin for traveling out to the West Coast to attend the vast majority of the meeting. He shared his thoughts and ideas on what’s going on in ICC leadership during lunch, and officiated in the installation ceremony of the new Executive Board at the annual banquet. The Executive Board also had an opportunity to meet with President Tomberlin, and we very much appreciated the chance to have an open and frank discussion about issues that are facing WABO and ICC (mostly revolving around the code cycle), and how we can work together to address them. Thank you to Immediate Past President Trace Justice for heading up a committee to review and update the WABO bylaws. The proposed changes were posted on the WABO website. While most of them are minor, we thought it was important that our bylaws be updated reflect our current practices. Thanks to those of you who took the time and returned your ballots—the bylaws amendments passed via the subsequent online voting and are now official. The normal business of WABO continues through the all the committee work whose reports are posted below. As has been (and will continue to be) my theme, your involvement in the work of WABO is crucial, so if you haven’t already been involved, I encourage you to find an area where you have a passion and join in the work. The committee chairs cannot do it all by themselves and I thank those of you who have been and continue to be involved in our work. Speaking of being involved, as I said at the meeting in Vancouver, the time has come to “put up or shut up.” Complaints that we don’t have the opportunity to be involved in the ICC code development process because our jurisdiction won’t let us travel no longer holds water. Recalling a saying I once heard to the effect that those of us who are too busy, “don’t have a time management problem, but a priority-setting problem,” it is now only an issue of making code development a priority. Through ICC’s cdpACCESS system, every one of us ICC Governmental Voting Representatives now has the opportunity to have a say in what goes into or stays out of the building codes from the comfort of our computers at work or at home. I strongly encourage all of you who read this to talk to the person in your jurisdiction who determines your voting representatives (even if it’s yourself!), get registered as one of your jurisdiction’s voting representatives, and make sure you are utilizing your votes. The hearings are in Long Beach, California at the beginning of October. Toward the middle or end of October, there will be a two-week window during which you can cast your votes on line. You’ll likely be receiving voting guides from several organizations, including our own WABO Technical Code Development Committee. Take the time to read the guides, consider the topics, and vote your conscience (obviously, we hope you support the TCD recommendations), but cast your vote. Now is the time to BE INVOLVED! Finally, thank you, the membership, for your support and work in this past year, and for your confidence in electing me to another term as your president. Most of all, many, many thanks to Executive Director Julie Rogers and the rest of the WABO team who keep us all organized and in line, and without whom we would not be able to function! With their help and your participation, WABO is a healthy and vibrant organization, and I am proud of what we all are able to accomplish together. I look forward to serving you for another good, productive year.
Committee Reports Government Relations Committee - Chair Gary Allsup Committee chair Gary Allsup introduced lobbyist Amy Brackenbury who gave a report on the still ongoing legislative session, which was in its second special session. She discussed the provision in the Capital Budget to form a task force to review the State Building Code Council. Tim Nogler stated that the SBCC supports the task force. John Darnall asked about who would be responsible for appointing members to the task force and Amy was unsure. (Note: The Capital Bill eventually passed the legislature but the provision for the task force was removed from the final version of the bill.) Amy reported on other bills of interest to WABO: The WABO apprenticeship bill died in the House Appropriations Committee and all energy code related bills died. There was a discussion on the length of the code cycle and Trace Justice asked if the six year code cycle bill will come up in the future. Amy responded that it might but there was no cohesion between sides on the bill. ICC President Guy Tomberlin commented that some states legislate a three year code cycle, so ICC can’t stray from three years. He also stated, “At some point in the future, (code) books won’t be published and that’s no secret.” Gary Allsup suggested that the Government Relations Committee process needed improvement and suggested that telephone meetings may allow WABO to review and take positions on bills in a more timely manner. He also suggested that it might be helpful if the Outreach and Governmental Relations Committees be merged .
Education Committee and Outreach (joint meeting) - Chair Mike Noot and Tim Nordtvedt This well-attended joint committee began with a lengthy discussion on the location for the 2017 Annual Education Institute. The choices were to stay at the current Marriott hotel, move to the Hilton in SeaTac or hold it at the Tulalip Conference Center in Marysville. The committee could not reach agreement and decided to bring it to the full membership on Friday. Andy Higgins provided an update on the Code Official Apprenticeship Program. The funding legislation did not pass again this year but work on curriculum development is continuing with South Seattle Community College. There was a motion to move toward a WABO accreditation program and away from apprenticeship. Motion passed. More discussion will be held by the Board on the future of the program. The WABO Linked-In page is up and running and members are invited to join. There was only a short time left for dialogue on future training classes. Simpson Strong-Tie has a training facility that is available for use if WABO is interested. ICC President Guy Tomberlin Certification & Registration Committee - Chair Pete Rambow There were 4 topics of discussion: Fire-Resistant Penetrations and Joints (1705.16): LG Nelson and Kelly Mayo drafted an outline of the program development which was presented to the committee. Program development will be done by the SIRP Committee. Brice Miller was brought up at the meeting as having a very good Firestop seminar. OBOA attended his seminar and has already developed their FireStop program. OBOA is giving until 2018 for Agencies to get their accreditation. Special Inspectors will be implemented now after taking the FM or UL test. FM/UL is listed on the ICC site that is why OBOA has required those exams for FireStop Inspectors. Brice Miller had contacted WABO regarding Firestop training and had mentioned that the International Firestop Council (IFC) has an exam for inspectors (firestop.org) Mary Kate McGee has been tasked to find out more about the exam and report her findings to the SIRP Committee. ICC FireStop exam development update – I was notified in January 2015 that the exam development meeting was put on hold. I have not received another notification since. Kraig Stevenson will send an e-mail to ICC with my consent for a program update and find out why the program is on hold. OBOA written exams for non-ICC categories (reciprocity): Jay Ponce informed the committee that a proprietary statement is being drafted and Michelle Finley from the SW Chapter of ICC will release those to WABO. The exam review committee is Gary Schenk, King Drake, Mary Kate McGee, and Jay Ponce. Once the exams are released they will be sent to the committee members for review. On-Site Weld Certifications: Michael Hayes from Aero Welding expressed interest in on-site Welder Qualifications. The committee would like for him to draft a proposal to be reviewed by WABO Technical Consultants prior to being presented at the SIRP Committee. IAPMO Uniform ES: The executive board asked the C & R Committee to review the program to see if the IAPMO accreditation can added to the Steel Fabricator Registration Standard 1702 as an acceptable national certification. The committee felt the program has not been vetted or tested. The committee wants to review the IAPMO program more in depth before making any recommendations. The C & R Committee would like an assessment summary to review as well as speak to a fabricator who has been audited by IAPMO. The committee asked that IAPMO submit a proposal to WABO to be added to our Fabricator Standard to prove their equivalency.
Emergency Management Committee - Chair Doug Powell At the June 2015 Annual Business meeting, the Emergency Management Committee discussed the following items:
Other EM Committee business:
Technical Code Development - Chair Lee Kranz The following are the activities and accomplishments for the WABO TCD Committee. 1. WABO TCD meeting in Vancouver
3. Washington State Building Code Development
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