REDWOOD EMPIRE CHAPTER

OF THE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BUILDING OFFICIALS

Minutes of the Meeting of Wednesday, November 7, 2001

1. Call to Order

President Joe Willer City of American Canyon, called the November 7, 2001 meeting to order at 12:09 p.m., at Cattleman’s Restaurant in Santa Rosa.

2. Self-Introductions

President Willer, City of American Canyon, welcomed 36 members and guests

3. Approval of Minutes

The September minutes were amended (the last sentence in the CALBO Liaison report was deleted) and both September and October minutes were approved as sent out. It was also requested by the membership that each page of the minutes be dated.

4. Program

No program

5. Officers and Committees:

A. Treasurer:

Treasurer Chris Warrick, County of Mendocino, gave the current financial report:

Assets as of November 7, 2001

Business Checking Account $ 2,137.15

Business Money Market $ 2,734.74

Educational Account $ 3,793.14

C.D. $11,001.16

Total for Month $19,666.19

B. Secretary:

Secretary Mary Jane Fagalde, County of Lake asked everyone to check the membership list and email list for accuracy. Also, Dave Martinez, City of Santa Rosa, distributed a current list on disk to the membership

C. Vice President:

Vice President Chris Warrick, County of Mendocino, reported that a Thank You letter was received from Christmas in April for the Chapter’s donation..

D. President:

President Joe Willer, City of American Canyon, No report

E. Executive Committee:

President Joe Willer, City of American Canyon, No Report

F. Education Committee:

Ed Henry, County of Marin, reported that there would be an Energy workshop in Marin on 12/11.

G. Code Development Committee:

No Report

H. I.C.B.O. Committee:

The plan for re-organizing the 3 model code organizations into the single organization of ICC will be given to the general membership in September 2002 and should take effect around January 2003. The new CEO and Board of Directors have been selected. It was discussed that California will still be a player and that ICC will have a presence in CA and there will be an effort to accommodate dual certification for individuals as is now being done by ICBO.

I. CALBO Liaison:

Lee Braun, City of Rohnert Park, discussed the CALBO sponsored a “break-out” session at the ICBO Conference in Greensboro.

Lee also discussed CBIA’s concerns about code adoption at the national and state levels and their proposal to develop a committee comprised of building officials, fire officials, and members of industry to look at NFPA 5000 and the IBC in order to make a recommendation themselves. He also discussed the possibility of another proposal that Stan Nishimura, the Executive Director of the State Building Standards Commission, has recommended to the commission that they develop another Code Partnership.

Cindy Heitzman, City of St. Helena, gave a report on CTI’s Ed Week North, held October 15-18,stating that it set a new record for attendance with approximately 542 people pre- registered, and approximately 85 walk-ins for a total that exceeded 600. Ed Week, South, is scheduled for November 13-16 and there are already 600 pre-registered.

7. Correspondence & Announcements:

Lee Braun, City of Rohnert Park, announced that at the next California Fire Prevention Institute at Monterey in February 2002 there will be two sessions presented by Building Officials, sort of a “CALBO 101” explaining what CALBO is, who it represents and what it does. This will be a first.

8. Nominating Committe:

Ron Averiette, City of Novato, said that he has not been able to come up with anybody that would accept a nomination at this time.

President Joe Willer, City of American Canyon, reminded the membership that the organization is only as good as the leadership, and that we have tried several ways to get people to volunteer, and that it is coming into a slow period now and we really need more people to volunteer, and items that will be discussed later will probably open up opportunities to more people that are not Class A members.

9. Old Business: Note: Due to the complexity of the discussion and the number of speakers, only a general description of the topics discussed and any motions are included in this section of the minutes.

President Joe Willer, City of American Canyon, brought up the subject of meeting dates, times locations. It was discussed that we resume alternating locations (between North Bay and Marin) Some locations were discussed, including the Garden Court Restaurant, The Villa. It was proposed that meetings be held in one location (North or South) for 6 months and then the other for 6 months so reservations could be made. It was also discussed that there be a meeting location committee with the Vice President as chair. There was discussion regarding issues with the current location at Cattleman’s. Cattleman’s in Petaluma was also discussed. Ed Henry, County of Marin, volunteered to research some other locations. The possibility of switching locations every 3 months was discussed. The meeting date was also discussed; the third Wednesday was discussed to allow for joint meetings with Fire Prevention Officers. There was discussion regarding conflicts on the third Wednesday. There was further discussion regarding joint meeting(s) with the Fire Prevention Officers. (on a quarterly basis) There was discussion about evening meetings and other possible joint meetings with other groups.

Cindy Heitzman, City of St. Helena, began the discussion of the retreat and some of the history that lead up to it. The retreat was held October 6, 2001 in Santa Rosa, with facilitator Rebecca ?? from St. Helena. Issues were identified. 3 basic areas were identified:

1. How we operate;

2. Officers/Committees- how they are appointed and established;

3. Our Membership

The participants started out by brainstorming on what it is that we do: Why do we meet on a monthly basis? Established our imperatives with the top being: Code development; Current information and the way it is delivered/distributed (How do we get the “word out”?). Talked about the way other groups do it: Web sites, monthly meetings seminars. Talked about Why are Building Officials Important: Guardians of Public Safety. Focus on how we can best serve the needs of the membership. How to improve meetings: more attendance, speakers (who, state agencies, and in-house experts). How to raise stature of Building Officials and increase our effectiveness: TV & Radio messages, videos, seminars, and booths. Discussed programmatic changes: Hiring staff (PR person, someone to send out minutes, clerical work, bookkeeper), Follow through on issues discussed, Commitment, Annual Audits, By-law amendments to allow non Class A members to hold office.

By-law amendment was one of the most critical items that were discussed. (There was a lengthy discussion regarding options and ramifications) There was an advisory vote to allow bylaw amendment to allow non-class A members to vote. Additionally there was an advisory vote to establish a committee to take a wholesale look at the bylaws, the chapter ICBO agreements and return with a report to the membership regarding options and ramifications. The committee chair will be Cindy Heitzman, with Lee, Dave, Joe and Wayne volunteering to assist.

A website was discussed. Larry Jones agreed to head a committee. Members are asked to come up with ideas and comments at the next meeting regarding what should be on the website.

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the Secretary position. Items discussed were a paid secretary, the timely distribution of the minutes to the membership, electronic distribution, etc. No action was taken other than to purchase (from petty cash) a set of headphones for transcription.

The speaker was cancelled for the next meeting in order to continue discussion on issues from the retreat.

10. Adjournment:

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting, the vote passed; President Joe Willer adjourned the business meeting at 2:40.

Respectfully submitted by Mary Jane Fagalde, Secretary