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GENERAL SESSION MINUTES |
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NCSBCS GENERAL SESSION at the 36th
Annual Conference NCSBCS President Tom Joachim (MN) called the 36th General Session of the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards to order at 1:30 p.m. Attendance was taken and noted as follows: Delegates/Proxies and Voting Members Present: Arkansas - Proxy for Whit Waller, Director, Arkansas Manufactured Home Commission held by Cynthia Wilk, NJ California – Richard Conrad, Principal Architect, Division of the State Architect Delaware – John Rossiter (Proxy for State Fire Marshal Willard Preston) Florida – Proxy for Ila Jones, Program Administrator, Florida Department of Community Affairs held by Tom Joachim, MN Kentucky – Dennis Langford, Commissioner, Department of Housing, Buildings & Construction Louisiana – Jerry Jones, Director, Louisiana Department of
Facility Planning & Coordination Minnesota – Tom Joachim, State Building Official Nebraska - Proxy for Mark Luttich, Director Manufactured Housing, Nebraska Public Service Commission held by Tom Joachim, MN New Jersey - Cynthia Wilk, Assistant Director, Division of Codes and Standards, Department of Community Affairs New York - Proxy for Dottie Harris, Deputy Secretary of State, held by Cynthia Wilk, NJ North Carolina – Proxy for Patrick Walker, Deputy Commissioner, North Carolina Department of Insurance held by Jack Proctor, VA North Dakota – Richard Gray, ADA/Building Code Manager Oregon - Proxy for Mark Long, Administrator, Building Codes Division, Department of Consumer and Business Services, held by Joan Stevens-Schwenger, Manager, Oregon Tri-County Services Center Rhode Island - Proxy for Dan DeDentro, State Building Code Commissioner held by Tom Joachim, MN Virginia – Jack Proctor, Deputy Director, Department of Housing and Community Development Washington – Tim Nogler, Managing Director, State Building Code Council Associate Member – Steve Kerzan, Building Official, City of Indianapolis, proxy held by Tom Joachim, MN Affiliate Member - Proxy for Don Boehmer, President, PTC Consulting held by Tom Joachim, MN Organizational Member – Proxy for Tom Weekes, Underwriters Laboratory, held by Cynthia Wilk, NJ Others present but not eligible to vote: Dwight Perkins, IAPMO The Secretary reported that delegates, proxies and voting members present provided NCSBCS a quorum to conduct business at this General Session. MINUTES President Tom Joachim asked if there were any questions, additions or corrections to the minutes of the October 22, 2002, General Session held in Louisville, Kentucky, as distributed by the Conference. There were none. On a motion by Richard Conrad and second by
Jack Proctor the minutes were approved as distributed. The Executive Director noted that there was no correspondence
to report. President Tom Joachim gave members and attendees his President’s Report for Conference Year 2002-2003. In his remarks Mr. Joachim noted that he was pleased with the progress that the Conference had made during 2002-2003 in going through its transition following the sale in July 2002 of the Housing and Building Technology Division of NCSBCS to the Institute of Building Technology and Safety. He thanked Board members Richard Gray and Mike Unthank and the IBTS and NCSBCS staffs for their efforts to work cooperatively together to make that transition successful. Mr. Joachim noted that the past year had been extremely challenging to the organization and to state and local government and the private sector given the state of the U.S. economy. He added that during this time frame, however, he was proud of the work that was being done by NCSBCS in supporting the National Alliance on Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age. He noted that one of the marks of the successful work the Conference was doing with the Alliance was the request from the software industry for NCSBCS to establish a new committee for them to interface with state and local code enforcement personnel on the issues of regulatory streamlining, information technology and interoperability. Looking ahead, Mr. Joachim noted that he was pleased with the input that both NCSBCS and AMCBO had received earlier in the day from members and guests as to future areas of possible work for both organizations. (Attachment A) Mr. Joachim closed his report by noting that he was pleased to announce that next year’s NCSBCS/AMCBO annual meeting would be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Code Council. TREASURER’S REPORT NCSBCS Treasurer Richard Conrad distributed and reviewed with the Delegate and voting member body the contents of the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report. In his report Mr. Conrad noted that due to the restructuring of the Conference and lower revenues from delegate assessments and revenues from services that the conference incurred a $78,000 equity loss for the year, bringing the Conference equity position to $206,000. He noted that NCSBCS Board had adopted a budget or FY ’04 that addressed those issues and projected an equity gain for the year of $23,000. President Joachim thanked the Treasurer for his report and asked members if there were any questions for the Treasurer. There were none. On a motion by Jerry Jones (LA) and second by Tim Nogler (WA) the Treasurer’s report was approved as given. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT NCSBCS Executive Director, Robert Wible, in his annual report thanked annual meeting hosts the States of Oregon and City of Portland for their hospitality and assistance with the annual meeting program. He noted that Conference Year 2002-2003 had been a challenging one for the Conference and that the completion of the separation of IBTS from NCSBCS now enabled NCSBCS to focus its resources and staff on the directions being set by the members and Board of the association. Looking ahead to 2003-2004, he noted that he and staff looked forward to working with the Board and members of the Association in adopting an updated strategic plan for the organization, strengthening existing member services and rebuilding equity. He added that given the current financial strains on state and local governments efforts would be made to identify additional services that help jurisdictions enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their codes administration programs. He hoped that members were taking full advantage of best practices identified during the annual meeting and on the Alliance portion of the NCSBCS website. Mr. Wible also noted that another area of concentration in the coming year would be on filling delegate vacancies and following up on the actions taken here at the 36th annual conference, including those before the voting body during the General Session. Mr. Wible closed by thanking the Board again for their leadership and direction during the 2002-2003 year. BYLAWS/RESOLUTIONS President Joachim thanked the Executive Director for his report and requested Jerry Jones to give the report to the members on the status of NCSBCS Bylaws and on the five draft resolutions before the membership at this meeting. Mr. Jones, assisted by the Executive Director, described action by the NCSBCS voting membership on six proposed changes to the NCSBCS Bylaws that were letter balloted during the summer of 2003. It was noted that four of those balloted Bylaw changes passed and two failed. Changes to Bylaws that passed were changes to Articles: III, Membership Section 1; IV, Directors, Section 7; V, Officers, Section 1; and IX, Finances, Section 7. Changes failing to pass were changes to Articles: III, Membership, Section 9 and IV Directors, Section 3. (See Attachment B – for copy of balloted bylaw changes). A copy of the NCSBCS Bylaws as amended during the summer of 2003 was distributed to attendees (Attachment C). Mr. Jones noted that no new proposed bylaw changes were submitted for consideration at this year’s General Session. Turning to proposed Resolutions for action during the General Session, Mr. Jones said that he had five draft resolutions for the members consideration. Copies of all five of the resolutions were then distributed to the voting members (Attachment D). The resolutions were reviewed and acted upon individually. Resolution #5 was accompanied by a white paper written by Maryland Delegate James Hanna. (Attachment E) The White Paper on the need for federal regulatory streamlining had been circulated in September to all NCSBCS voting members. The resolutions and actions were as follows: RESOLUTION - 10/22/03 – 1 - RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION HOST
STATE ROLE IN ANNUAL MEETING RESOLUTION – 10/22/03 – 2 - RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
NCSBCS STAFF FOR ROLE IN ANNUAL MEETING RESOLUTION - 10/22/03 – 3 - RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
HOST CITY FOR ROLE IN ANNUAL MEETING RESOLUTION – 10/22/03 – 4 – RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION
TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR SUPPORT OF STREAMLINING AND REQUEST
FOR FUNDING GRANTS TO STATES & LOCALITIES RESOLUTION - 10/22/03 – 5- RESOLUTION TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
REGARDING NEED FOR FEDERAL REGULATORY STREAMLINING President Joachim thanked the voting members for their action on the above resolutions and instructed the Executive Director to forward the resolutions onto the individuals and agencies to whom they were addressed. Mr. Jones was thanked for chairing this portion of the meeting. NCSBCS VISION, MISSION, GOALS AND SERVICES Assisted by the Executive Director, President Joachim described the work during the conference year of the NCSBCS Vision, Mission, Goals and Services Task Force. It was noted that the Task Force had one recommendation to come forward to the voting members during the General Session and that regarded a modification in the NCSBCS Mission Statement to incorporate the concept of the association as a forum in which the public and private sector can come together to discuss and take common actions in support of public safety in the built environment. A motion was made by Mike Unthank and seconded by Jerry Jones to amend the NCSBCS Mission Statement to incorporate the recommendation of the Task Force. The motion passed unanimously. The new amended NCSBCS Mission Statement now reads: MISSION: NCSBCS SERVES AS A FORUM FOR THE INTERCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND PROVIDES TECHNICAL SERVICES, EDUCATION AND TRAINING TO OUR MEMBERS TO ENHANCE THE PUBLIC’S SOCIAL, ECONOMIC WELL-BEING THROUGH SAFE, DURABLE, ACCESSIBLE, AND EFFICIENT BUILDINGS. The members were thanked for their action. Virginia Delegate and chair of the NCSBCS International
Academy for Professional Code Administration briefly discussed
the availability of Academy services to the members of the
Conference and urged them to make use of this important
resource. President Joachim reintroduced the members of the NCSBCS Board of Directors for 2003-2004 and asked Past President Jack Proctor to swear in the new Board and Officers for the Conference. Jack Proctor administered the oath of office to the new Board. The Members and Officers of the NCSBCS Board of Directors for 2003-2004 are: Tom Joachim (MN) President; Cynthia Wilk (NJ) Vice President; Richard Conrad (CA) Treasurer; Dennis Langford, (KY) Secretary; Mike Unthank, Past President; Jerry Jones (LA); Tim Nogler (WA), Tom Weekes (absent) Private Sector Member. President Joachim welcomed the new Board and noted that he would be making committee chair and vice chair appointments to NCSBCS standing and ad hoc committees in the coming months. Mr. Joachim was joined by Mike Unthank and the attendees in thanking Jack Proctor, who is scheduled to retire from state government in early 2004, for Jack’s years of service to the Conference. Mr. Joachim opened up a general discussion regarding the outstanding quality of programs at this year’s annual conference and the benefit that had been derived out of attending those sessions. Mr. Unthank requested that in addition to the annual meeting survey contained in the agenda packages that an additional survey be sent out to all attendees shortly after the annual meeting to gain their feedback on the quality and future structure of the annual meetings and topics that they would like to see covered next year in Salt Lake City. A general discussion followed regarding useful input gained from participating in various sessions at the Portland meeting. Feedback included a number of best practices learned from the Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age and the Building and Fire Officials Cooperation session. DATE AND LOCATION OF 37TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE President Joachim thanked the State of Oregon and City of Portland once again for hosting the 36th Annual Conference. He noted that the 37th Annual Conference would be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Code Council. He added that the exact dates for the NCSBCS meeting were to be determined shortly but that they would be held either prior to the start of the ICC conference (i.e. September 23-25, 2004) or come at the end of the ICC annual meeting (September 30–October 1-2). Mr. Joachim noted that he looked forward to working with the
members and staff in planning and holding a successful annual
meeting in Utah next fall. There being no further business to come before the General Session, a motion was made by Mike Unthank and seconded by Jerry Jones to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Dennis Langford (KY), Secretary, 2002-2003
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