February 11, 1999

Call to Order: John Kelly, President, called the February Business Meeting to order at approximately 12:30 p.m. .

Roll Call of Officers:

President John Kelly, Present
Vice President Carol Jacobson, Absent
Treasurer John Cheng, Present
Secretary Richard Lucas, Present
Past-President Peter Hess, Absent

Host: Eugene Zeller, City of Long Beach, announced that in addition to his duties he now has the title as Planner with the City of Long Beach. The new Long Beach Aquarium, which the City is quite proud of, has opened. Major new development is about to get started in what is called the Queens Way Bay, next to the Aquarium. Also, the city is getting ready for the Long Beach Grand Prix coming up in April.

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

Attendance: The meeting began with self-introductions. Sixty-one (61) Los Angeles Basin Chapter Members & Associates attended.

Approval of minutes: It was moved and seconded to approve the January 14, 1999 minutes.

Action Items: None

Committee Reports: None

Communications: None Reported

John Kelly, President, had several comments:

John extended a special welcome to a group of young civil engineers recently hired by the City of Los Angeles.  Ray Chang, with the City of Los Angeles, invited them as his guests.

The 1999 Christmas Banquet requires early planning and Mac Dalgleish has graciously volunteered to arrange the upcoming event.

We received a very nice letter from Sara Kidd, with the California Center for Childhood Injury Prevention, thanking us for having her as a guest speaker last month. She also provided us with a copy of A.B. 3305 which was discussed last month and provided as one of the handouts.

John requested Ron Darville to announce his upcoming seminars.

Ron announced that he has prepared a handout called the Hottest Changes to Volume 1 of the 1997 Uniform Building Code. Also, he will be instructing two seminars in March at El Camino College. see enclosed

The City of Los Angeles Housing Department has an opening for a new Assistant General Manager. For information, call (916) 630-4900.

David Breiholz, Breiholz Quzi Engineering, Inc., announced that the Quality Assurance Committee of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California drafted a letter to the membership regarding code required quality issues. The letter stated that there would have been significantly less damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake if buildings had been constructed in accordance with code requirements and the approved plans. Also, in order for the code provisions to be enforced we need cooperation from building officials.

Jon Traw, ICBO, had three announcements:

There will be three seminars on Sunday, March 14, 1999, offered by the three Model Code Groups, located at the Double Tree Hotel in Costa Mesa. The seminars will be on the IMC, IPC, and permit counter front line staff. The seminars are free and are on a first come, first serve basis. For more information about the seminars call ICBO or the Double Tree Hotel at (714) 540-7000.

The Federal Agency of Seismic Safety and Construction is responsible for checking compliance of various codes with the Presidential Executive Order on Seismic Safety. If you do not comply with the design standards, funds for disaster relief from FEMA may be jeopardized. The design standard in the 1997 UBC is equivalent to those of the Federal Standards. Both the 1997 Standard Building Code and the 1996 National Building Code do not comply.

ICBO recently created a subsidiary called the International Evaluation Service. This new division will handle all international activities relative to the conference in product evaluation and other services.

Michael E. Dillon, Dillon Consulting Engineers, cautioned that when reading the new ICC Monographs, there are several code sections that are being reviewed by different code committees. This means that two different proponents may have the same section reviewed by different committees;

Jon Traw, stated that this cycle of the hearings will be the start of the sorting out period. The membership will make a decision in Saint Lewis not only about the code provisions they want in the 2000 edition but also what committee will be maintaining them;

Dennis McCreary, ICBO, announced that to make things easy for the hearings beginning March 15, 1999, the agenda will be printed in the IRC Monograph for all four Monographs.

CALBO Annual Business Meeting:

Linda Haines announced that the CALBO ABM will be February 24, 1999 through March 4, 1999. She will be providing a CALBO update during the March, Los Angeles Basin Chapter business meeting.

ICBO Code Opinion Policy:

John Kelly announced at our last meeting that there were very emotional discussions regarding the ICBO Code Opinion Policy. A letter was received from Mr. Ken Larsen, Chairman of the ICBO Board of Directors, responding to our letter expressing the Chapter’s concerns. Both letters and a copy of the Code Opinion Policy were available as handouts. John asked if anyone would like to reopen the discussion based on either of the letters;

Don Wolfe, County of Los Angeles, spoke on behalf of the ICBO Board of Directors, stating that they received letters from our Chapter, other Chapters, and the CALBO Board of Directors. As a result of our letter, a meeting with CALBO, and discussions with others, they have altered the Code Opinion Policy to alleviate most of the concerns. ICBO feels that the new Code Opinion Policy will be positive;

Bob Fowler, City of Pasadena, stated that if you look at the big picture, our goal is to strive for National Building Safety. We are working toward a system that is enforced consistently across the country. Our existing system is very patchy. We have different codes with different amendments and they are interpreted differently. All of that is counter productive, making it difficult to design, and adds to the cost of construction. As a building official, he is not afraid to have somebody else double check his interpretation. If he is wrong, he wants to know about it. Bob feels that we should try this new policy and if problems develop, he is confident that they can be corrected;

Eugene Zeller shared his views and read a letter that he later sent to Dan Chudy, President of CALBO.

Michael Dillon, expressed reasons why architects, engineers, or other professionals should be able to get a code opinion from ICBO. Mike cautioned that ICBO should not give advice on how a non-complying situation could be brought into compliance. This would make ICBO part of the design team and could create liability. He also suggested that the questions should be structured to answer yes or no and give the reason. Adding that there are good things in what ICBO is proposing to do with the Code Opinion Service;

Jon Traw stated that the other model code groups have been doing this for three decades and it has been working;

There was considerable discussion on whether or not to table the matter and it was decided to make this an agenda item for the April 8, 1999 meeting.

Action Items: None

Committee Reports: None

Program: Proper adoption of the State Code was explained by: Jung Kao, City of Monterey Park; Steve Cloke, County of Los Angeles; and Fady Mattar, County of Los Angeles.

Additional Items: John Kelly, announced that the Chapter received a letter from Jay Elbettar, Newport Beach, requesting the Chapter’s support for Jay’s appointment to the CALBO Board of Directors. It was moved and seconded to draft a letter of support for Jay to be appointed to the CALBO Board of Directors.

Adjournment: The February Business Meeting was adjourned by President John Kelly at approximately 2:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Lucas, Secretary

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