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WABO President's Report Welcome to a new year and I, for one, have high hopes for this year. After all we are still alive, having survived two potential world ending calamities. First the world did not end when the Mayan calendar came to a close as some were predicting, and secondly, the large asteroid only passed in close proximity to our world. If it had struck near a populated area, it would have been a huge strain on WABO’s Disaster Response efforts, FEMA and all world relief organizations. Though a meteor, said to be unrelated to the passing asteroid, did impact the earth in Russia blowing out windows and resulting in 1,000 injuries. This kind of event is said to happen every century, though they usually fall into one of the oceans covering our world. Who knows but this meteor incident may incite another round of code change proposals for even greater impact resistant buildings and/or glazing in the next International Building Code cycle. All this being said, WABO’s outlook is very positive and any challenges to the organization we may face this year will seem paltry by comparison to the events noted above. I am continually impressed with the WABO membership’s effort to make positive changes in the regulations to provide safety and sustainability for the built environment we actively enforce. This is seen in the local government level through our work with citizens, council members and disaster preparedness and response. Also, at the State level on the State Building Code Council committees, legislative, apprenticeship committees, and at the national level on the International Code Council committees. I have had the privilege of appointing WABO members as representatives on committees at the State and ICC levels, and as more opportunities arise and you, the membership, step forward to serve on committees, I would look forward to making recommendations for other appointments this year. I would especially like to encourage the membership on the East side of the State to become more active in WABO and the SBCC. I know travel makes it a bigger challenge to participate, but WABO provides some funding to aid in your participation at the SBCC committee level and has scholarships for voting representatives at the ICC Code Hearings. We need your voice, expertise and involvement for the betterment of WABO and the codes we enforce. The WABO membership will need to stay involved in the political arena this year to make inroads with the new members of the legislature and with our new Governor regarding legislation that may impact our work with the built environment and the citizens we serve locally. This segues in to a survey WABO is sending out to the membership on a six-year code cycle bill being proposed. It is our goal to accurately represent the membership, so please take the three or four minutes to complete the survey to provide direction to the Government Relations Committee. I want encourage each of you to visit the WABO website regularly to stay informed on what is happening within our State and at ICC. View the committee pages, participate on the “Chat Line” or order your new code books. The resources WABO offers to its membership are plentiful, and yet are often underutilized, so please take advantage of all the resources available to you through this great organization you have built. I am looking forward to seeing you at the Spring Meeting at Leavenworth on April 25th. Trace Justice
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