MINUTES

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

JUNE 2, 2005

 

     

    Acting President Ed Johnson called the meeting to order at 10:04 am.

 

    Outgoing President Don Bradley then gave the Invocation.

 

    Acting President Johnson  thanked everyone for making it to the meeting and proceeded with the meeting.

 

    Outgoing President Don Bradley then tendered his resignation. Don stated that with his new job as Director of Code Enforcement for the State he would be unable to stay on as President, but would like to stay on the Board as a Director. Everyone present agreed with this proposal. Don further stated that the State was going to allow him to hire two more people to work on plan review for the State. Don further stated that the fire inspectors would also be working under him instead of the Fire Marshall’s office. Don went on to say that the grant monies would still be available but under a different name and department. John Weesner then added that the grant money was now being called the Education Reimbursement Fund. John also stated that all the policies in regard to eligibility and requirements for reimbursement have remained the same. Bud Wheeler then asked if the fund would be reimbursing the Organization that put on  the class or seminar or reimbursing the individual jurisdictions. John Weesner stated that there had been some discussion on that and that some people wanted to reimburse the individual jurisdictions, but John said that it would be much easier to write one check to the Organization then to write 90 checks to reimburse the jurisdictions.

 

       Roll call of Officers was then taken with William Shaffer, James Koryta, Alan Nadon, and Bud Swathwood being absent.

 

       2nd Vice President Jeremi Meyers then tendered his resignation saying that he had the opportunity to be in charge of a Christian camp for youths and would be unable to stay on the Board. Everyone wished him luck in his new endeavor.

 

       Secretary Spitaels then moved the conversation to filling the opened offices. After much discussion Bud Wheeler made a motion that Ed Johnson become the new President with Warren Goodrich being 1st Vice President and David Soderquist being 2nd Vice President. Charley Weber seconded the motion and it passed with a unanimous vote.

 

      After little discussion Don Bradley made a motion to accept the minutes of the previous meeting as written. John Weesner seconded the motion and it passed with a unanimous vote.

 

       Treasurer Spitaels then moved the meeting to the Treasurers report. Treasurer Spitaels pointed out that on the first page in red was the total reimbursement of the stolen checks and service charges incurred by the association. The full amount reimbursed was $1,029.00. Treasurer Spitaels then pointed out the reimbursement of $9,172.00 for grants from the State. With no further questions Jack Douthit made a motion to accept the Treasurers report. Fred Davis seconded the motion and it passed with a unanimous vote.

 

         The meeting then moved to the Western Section report by Bud Wheeler. Bud stated that with this being an off year for the code that there were many different seminars to attend such as terminations, services and so on. Bud went on to state that he planned on working four more years and that the time was now to start getting a new Western Section Rep ready to take over the reins at the Western Section for the Indiana Chapter. Bud said that maybe it was something the Board might want to look into and that he would be available to answer any questions on the subject. Bud went on to say that anybody wanting to attend the Western Section Meeting had better hurry and get their hotel reservations in.

 

          Secretary Rick Spitaels then turned the meeting to ad and sponsorship for the Western Section Meeting. Secretary Spitaels stated that we had bought the $100.00 full page ad last year. Warren Goodrich stated that he had the ad from last year on file on his computer and that he could send it to the Secretary to have any changes made and then send it on to Ed Lawry at the Western Section. After some discussion John Weesner made a motion to take out the $100.00 ad out again this year. The motion was seconded by Dave Soderquist and passed with a unanimous vote.

 

          Secretary Rick Spitaels then gave the report on the February Annual Meeting. Rick stated that we made $4,795.97 this year, up from $3,207.42 in 2004. Rick also stated that some of the rates had gone up but nothing outrageous. Rick went on to say that the banquet totals were up just a little bit, but the bar bill was down. Miscellaneous expenses were down slightly. Refreshment breaks went up with room rentals staying almost exactly the same. With no further questions the meeting moved on to the survey results.

 

          Secretary Spitaels stated that the Association received 60 completed surveys. With 42 inspectors, 17 associates and 1 other taking the time to fill out the surveys. The average attendee had been to 7.3 annual meetings. The Association had 56 attendees state that the program topics were of interest to them and 1 that said they didn’t. 44 attendees stated that the fact that they received Continuing Education Units was important to their attendance and 14 that said it made no difference. The attendees were almost unanimous in thinking that the cost of attending was about right. We had 40 attendees state that they thought the overall content of the meeting was excellent with 19 stating they thought it was  good and 1 stating they thought it was poor The attendees were almost unanimous in wanting the Indiana Chapter to put on more classes throughout the year.  32 attendees stated that the fact that they received books was a major factor for them attending the meeting and 25 attendees stated that it had no effect. Bud Wheeler stated that the books were a major factor in  sending people from his department. Secretary Spitaels then stated that some of the seminars that the attendees would like to have were service and feeders, 1&2 family, and Soares grounding. After much discussion the meeting moved on.

 

         Chairman Jack Douthit then gave the Hotel Committee report. Jack stated that the hotel had proposed that we could keep our rate at $70.00 a night if we didn’t get the continental breakfast and $73.00 with the breakfast. Bud Wheeler then reminded the board members that if we planned on moving the site for the 2007 annual meeting that those proposals have to be submitted at the October board meeting for vote. After some discussion Warren Goodrich made a motion to keep the room rates at $70.00 without the continental breakfast. The motion was seconded by  David Schofield and passed with a unanimous vote.

 

          Chairman Jack Douthit then gave the Entertainment Committee report. Jack asked what the board wanted. Bud Wheeler stated that he was very satisfied with the Purdue students and that the show was completely different from the year before and had completely different students. After very little discussion David Soderquist made a motion that we hire the Purdue students again at the same $500.00 rate. Don Bradley then seconded the motion and it passed with a unanimous vote.

 

          The meeting then turned to the code panel. Assistant Secretary Bud Wheeler stated that he would be sending out invitations to the code panelists in the first part of July. The discussion then turned to maybe splitting the room up to let people that wanted to attend residential and commercial classes the choice. Fred Davis stated that they tried that format and it didn’t work. Bud Wheeler added that he was going to put in his invitation that the code references be from both the NEC and the IRC. Secretary Spitaels stated that you had to be careful with rotating people into different classes because they might not be interested in one of the classes and how then are you going to keep track of time for CEU’s. David Soderquist then stated that it was alright to think about the individual when setting up the program but in reality we cannot cater to the individual but try to make our meeting as educational as possible and hope we choose the right subjects. Dave went on to say that the business mind set today is “don’t waste my time” everybody just wants to hear the subject they are interested in and nothing else. Dave went on to say that that was not what this organization was about but to educate people on how to use the code book and how to interpret what is in the code book. Warren Goodrich then stated that maybe we should just keep the format the same saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Warren further stated that with the format we have now most of the code questions are about residential problems anyway with a few commercial and industrial questions sprinkled in to expose the attendees to that part of the industry. Dave Stalf then stated that he thought that maybe we have too many people on the panel and that he felt the panels job  wasn’t to show us how to find it in the book but to educate us on why the answer is what it is. President Johnson said that he thought that maybe we should have the questions and answers on power point so that they can be shown on a screen and make it easier as far as writing the information down. Warren Goodrich then stated that we could put the answers on our website but the problem is getting the answers from the code panelists. Secretary Spitaels stated that only 3 of last years code panelists supplied answers either in written form or computer disc. Dave Stalf then said that he still thought that should be more to the answers than just stating the Article numbers . Dave still felt that there should be some discussion as to why the answers are what they are. John Weesner then stated that he had gone to a meeting in Atlanta and they used a round table type of meeting in which the people teaching were put at specific tables and the people moved from one table to another having open discussions with the expert at that particular table. After much discussion David Soderquist stated that we just don’t have the people to do this format and that he feared we would just have a bunch of people milling around and that chaos would reign. David went on to say that round table discussions can be very good or very bad because sometimes you get the loud mouth who takes up all the time with his discussion and no one else benefits from the expert. After much more discussion President Johnson referred this subject to the Education Committee to bring a recommendation on format to the next meeting.

 

          The meeting then turned to the guest speaker for the February Meeting. John Weesner said that we could probably get the new Director of Code Enforcement in the State, Don Bradley, seeing as he was one of our Board members. Secretary Spitaels stated that he would contact Don Bradley and see if he would be willing to do so.

 

           Secretary Spitaels then stated that he would like any one who has an idea on a new mailing please bring it to the next meeting.

           Outgoing Membership Chairman Jeremi Meyers state that he had no report. At this time former Membership Chairman Don Bradley stated that since he was familiar with the committee he would like to be reinstated as Chairman of that committee. With no opposition the Board agreed.

            The meeting then moved to the Education Committee. Chairman Charley Weber asked where our analysis power point programs were at the present time. Secretary Spitaels stated that he had one for use in the northern sector and that John Weesner had one in Indy for the southern sector. John went on to say that he was working with Mike Johnston at the IO to make changes on the power point programs by adding the Indiana Amendments. John said he would keep everyone posted as to his progress on that subject. Bud Wheeler stated that he would like to see more education directed to the handicap accessible code as that seems to be coming up more and more. Charley Weber then asked about the train the trainer program in Richardson Texas. Charley stated that he might have someone that is interested but the individual would like to know if the Indiana Chapter might be willing to pay for some of the expenses. After some discussion it was decided that the Education Committee should  develop some guide lines that potential trainers will be  required to possess  before the Chapter would consider funding them to go to these training sessions.

           The meeting then moved to the Code Clearing Committee Chairman Ed Johnson. Ed stated emphatically that he needed questions and asked that people not wait until the last minute to send them to him. Ed further stated that it was easier for everyone involved if when you think of a question or when a question comes up at work to write them down right then and send them to him then. Ed said that he would compile them as the year went on and then would have them when he needs them.

 

           The Bylaws Committee Chairman Bud Wheeler then stated that there had been no changes submitted to the committee so he had nothing to report.

 

           The Fire and Safety Committee Chairman Alan Nadon was not in attendance so there was no official report but President Johnson wanted to bring up a safety issue he had come across in his jurisdiction. Ed asked if anyone was having trouble with the newer ROMEX’s outer sheathing being easily torn on the job sites by even the smallest burr. Ed further stated that he saw at least two occasions where  a splinter on top of the truss cut right into the outer sheathing of the ROMEX. Ed also stated that his jurisdiction had been having problems with siders using extra long nails to install their siding and shorting wires in houses. No one else seemed to be having these problems but they will probably be watching closer thanks to Ed. Jeremi Meyers then said that he had heard that the Indiana Builders Association had a proposal on the table to eliminate the arc-fault requirement in the State of Indiana. John Weesner said that he had heard of it but had no idea where it stood at the present time. President Johnson stated that the only people he knew that were having problems with the arc-faults were contractors who were still using the metal staples. Warren Goodrich added that he had a few of the older contractors that were still using metal boxes that were tightening their box connectors too tight and having trouble. Ed Johnson then stated that some contractors were having trouble with their arc faults that were feeding plasma televisions. Ed said that the remedy seemed to be to put the television on a dedicated circuit with arc fault protection and that it seemed to take care of the problem.

 

           Warren Goodrich then gave the website report. Warren stated that there were no problems that he was aware of but reminded anyone that when they change e-mail addresses to please send them to him so he can change it on the website.

 

           Jeremi Meyers then thanked everyone on the board for their help and kindness during his  short time on the board. Jack Douthit then stated that his mayor had instructed him to start getting information on licensing for his building department so Jack asked everyone in attendance to send him what ever information they had and to mail it to his home address.

 

            With no further business a motion was made by Warren Goodrich for adjournment. The motion was seconded by Dave Stalf and passed with a unanimous vote.

 

             The meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.