WABO Technical Code Development Scholarship

Reports from Recipients on ICC Final Action Hearings
 Portland, October 25-28, 2012

Robert Meyers, CBO
City of Covington

This was a unique experience for me and the highlight of my professional development training for 2012. During the hearing process I saw firsthand the importance of professional and jurisdiction participation at the code hearings.  I had no idea that there was such a presence of special interest groups participating in the code change process.  I feel that the committee was right on in how the approached they proposed changes and I also saw that the floor voters used a lot of common sense and were drawing on their collective experience when voting.  I really feel that I understand the code better and seeing how the code is changed by this process and I also feel that I understand better where flexibility may be applied to my own decision making process. 

In reviewing the scholarship program goals I feel that they were indeed met and this was a very worthwhile experience for me.  I wish that I had more time to participate with WABO in general and I plan to attend hearings in the future as budget and time allows.  I appreciate the support from WABO, Thank you.

_________________________________________________

Mitch Nickolds, CBO
City of Pasco

A stated purpose of the TCD Scholarship Program is "to provide building officials a understanding of the background and intent of code requirements for building officials through the code development process." My attendance and participation as a voting member in the 2012 ICC Final Action Hearings certainly fulfilled this purpose and more.

After the first day of hearings, I'm confident that the built environment in Washington is under excellent stewardship with WABO and our dedicated technical code development committee volunteers. I was awed at the extent and depth of building code and building product knowledge demonstrated by the presenters and code change proponents; and the level of commitment all attendees and presenters had to the code development process. I was also amazed at the success of the WABO team, as time after time a majority of voters continually agreed with WABO positions; which can only be attributed to the excellent work by our presenters and speakers in preparing themselves and code subjects for their arguments and proposals.

What really opened my eyes at the first final action hearings however, was finding that the code development process was so heavily dependent on the relationships between construction product manufacturers, building designers and building and energy code professionals and enforcement officials. These parties were constantly interacting to work out what were oftentimes highly contentious issues associated with code change proposals, and introduction of new codes. The teams on both sides of the proposals fearlessly introduced their code changes, or supported or opposed the proposal of others, and respectfully conceded their losses and civilly acknowledged their successes. This scenario repeated itself over and over again, in spite of the fatigue that was showing as the hearings continued into the late hours of the night.

After attending the ICC hearings, I have a much clearer understanding of the code development process and a deep appreciation of the many, many hours WABO and SBCC code development committees spend reviewing and fine tuning the proposed code changes in advance of the final action hearings. I'm proud to be a participant in Washington's continued code development and grateful for WABO's support and assistance in my personal development as a building official.