March 9, 2000

Location: Los Angeles County Public Works, Alhambra Room, 900 South Fremont Avenue, Alhambra

Call to Order: Carol Jacobson, President, called the March Business Meeting to order at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Roll Call of Officers:

President   Carol Jacobson, Present
Vice President   John Cheng, Present
Treasurer    Richard Lucas, Present
Secretary   Rick Becker, Present
Past-President    John Kelly, Present

Host: Stuart Tom, City of Glendale Building Official, described the variety of current building activities.  Major projects include the Disney/ ABC television facility, and a newly completed thirty-story office tower.  Their unreinforced masonry retrofit program is nearly complete.  Glendale is developing advanced technology applications including handheld field computers, and is participating in a joint document imaging study with John Cheng, City of Burbank.

Introductions: The meeting began with self-introductions. Forty-five (45) Los Angeles Basin Chapter Members & Associates attended.  Special acknowledgments included Gene Zeller, City of Long Beach Planning and Building Director, introducing Fady Mattar as the new Long Beach Building Official; Linda Haines, City of Downey Building Official introduced as the newly elected CALBO 1st Vice-President; Andrew Adelman as the CALBO 2000 Building Official of the Year; and Stuart Tom introducing Jan Bear as Glendale's new Deputy Building Official.  The Chapter members congratulated Fady, Linda, Andrew, and Jan.

Approval of minutes: It was moved and seconded to approve the February 10, 2000 minutes.

Action Items: None

Committee Reports: Morris Reaves, City of Los Angeles, noted the short time period between the release the ICC Monograph and the ICC Code Hearings April 9-20 in Birmingham.  To facilitate our review, Basin Chapter Committees can utilize e-mail communication .  Morris requested that the Chapter authorize our representatives to speak at the Hearings on behalf of the Chapter, since there will not be another Monthly Chapter Meeting before the Hearings.   The Chapter members supported this proposal. 

Communications: Handouts were provided for employment opportunities and code training.

Carol Jacobson, President, announced that the April Chapter meeting will be rescheduled for Thursday April 27th, since the ICC Hearings in Birmingham Alabama are scheduled April 9-20.

Don Wolfe, County of Los Angeles and ICBO Board Member, reported that a CALBO/ ICBO Partnership Task Force consisting of the CALBO Executive Board, CALBO staff, three California ICBO Board Members, ICBO staff, CBIA reps and a Kern County Fire Department Captain met in Sacramento on March 23.  A plan of action was formulated to pursue adoption of the I-Codes, to assure that there is not delay in the code adoption process.  CALBO President Steve Patterson will be contacting all California Chapter Presidents by 3/31 to discuss.   We need technical support on the Code 2000 Task Groups.

Andrew Adelman, General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, noted that building official participation at Building Standard Commission Meetings is extremely important.   A coordinated message to the California Building Standards Commission (BSC) is needed.  The Chapter unanimously voted to send a letter to the BSC and the BSC Secretary expressing support for the adoption of the I-Codes.  The next BSC Meeting is currently scheduled for May 24, 2000 in Sacramento.

Linda Haines, City of Downey Building Official and CALBO 1st Vice President, reported on CALBO activities.   CALBO's Annual Business Meeting February 29 - March 3 in Palms Springs was a great success.   ICBO, CALBO and the BIA are working together towards common agreed upon goals and are working on getting Fire Services involved.  CALBO is working to get the word out to the membership, whether it be through Chapter meetings of regional meetings.  A sample letter and ordinance will soon be available, by request, to use in garnering each jurisdictions support.  At upcoming Basin Chapter meetings Linda Haines and Don Wolfe will be discussing many other elements of the CALBO/ ICBO Partnership Task Force.

Ron Darville, City of El Segundo, announced that planning for an L.A. Basin Training Seminar, Disabled Access in Tenant Improvements, is scheduled for Tuesday April 25, 2000 at the City of Burbank Fire Training Center.   The instructor will be Isam Hasenin, P.E., CBO, Plan Review Supervisor, City of San Diego.  Also, planning of our CALBO Education Day in L.A. is continuing, with a target date of June 19, 2000.

John Cheng, Vice-President, announced that the LABC Board unanimously approved Eli Benitezos as the first recipient the Ralph Grippo Scholarship.  This program is administered through the First Chance Foundation.

John Kelly, Past President, noted that Los Angeles County's Mark Pestrella will be the Chapter speaker on the topic of NPDES requirements.  On June 9 the County of Los Angeles will be hosting a SUSMP public workshop with vendors; more info to follow.

Program:

Dave Breiholtz and Shafat Qazi, of BQE Engineering, discussed ATC-50, a new method of rapidly assessing wood-frame single family dwellings ability to resist future major earthquakes.  This proactive review uses a simplified seismic assessment grading form.  Anticipated users of this assessment methodology include owners, homebuyers, financial institutions, and insurance companies.  Taking into account data from previous earthquakes and the building's construction and location, upper and lower ranges of damage can be estimated.

Adjournment: The March Business Meeting was adjourned by President Carol Jacobson at approximately 1:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rick Becker, Secretary

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