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What ICC Leaders Should Do....

C

CowboyRR

Bronze Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
44
...to restore trust amongst the membership and crawl out of the whole they have dug? What are your thoughts/ideas? My prior posts have outlined my opinion of a few things I believe are wrong with the ICC. The complaints beg this question - if it's broke how do they fix it? A simple bullet list for starters:

1) Full transparency of the BOD on all of their actions and meetings. Get a real note-taking secretary to generate useful minutes that explain what they are doing in detail. Send the minutes to the BOD Members by email to get them approved - then post the minutes on the front page of the ICC website and send them by email to all the members. 2) Relocate the ICC headquarters from DC to a central US location easily accessible by air - maybe a suburb of Dallas of Chicago (prefer Dallas only because of the year round weather). The cost of office space in DC is insane - and it would be better to get the current CEO and ICC leaders as far away from the Feds as possible.

3) Stop trying to "save the world" by a) introducing I-codes to 3rd world countries, b) sending local govt employees to disaster sites outside our borders, c) creating separate codes out of sections that are already in the books (e.g. Green codes, Swimming Pool Codes, etc) and d) grow a spine and push back the code publication cycle to 5 years - with only 1 code change cycles between publications.

4) Use the extra resources from 2 & 3 above to provide members with competent, quality training - for even the least wealthy members. News Flash! Those big honking code books are meaningless if the staff in local governments don't have access to adequate training to understand how they should be applied.

Those items are just barely on the tip of the iceberg.....didn't even touch that certification mess. I'm interested in reading your thoughts on this.
 
The way to fix it is put votes on the floor to bring real change. A national Building Code Officials Association to get back a share of what others have directed away from us. Of course we would have to stop the buying of votes to have success. 1500 real people can make the difference! Think about that! Also, What rights do we have to the foundation that now contains the property of ICC?
 
DC is right where ICC should have their HQ... just like every other not for profit that lobbies congress.. (trust me.. they are ALL here). What better way to be in touch with the law makers than to go visit them when they are executing their official duties than here.

The regional offices are there for a reason.. to address issues of a more local nature; training is available - all a chapter has to do is ask for it.

Something that came up in Denver is the possibility of voting remotely during the code change webcasts.. Mr. Armstrong is well aware of budget constraints that keep some of us away from some of the code change hearings. Baltimore was good for me.. Charlotte maybe not too bad... Reno.. probably not.
 
cowboy, love the thread. Ah, D.C. the state that is not a state. a.k.a. Dodge City. Given the current state of affairs I think the midwest is a better location. As far as the current "leadership"? Resignation would be a good start. Certifications??? Don't even get me started. I do beleive that rjj said it well. Parapharsed: the cow is on a crash and burn course.

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The only real problem with ICC is that it is no longer a BUILDING OFFICIAL organization. We sold out to the fire service and we will only have in the building code what they allow us to have.
 
Peach: Remote voting has been an issue for at least 2 years. I have voiced this in every letter and every time code a hearings takes place. It is not new. They don't want it and have not figured out how to control it.
 
incognito said:
The only real problem with ICC is that it is no longer a BUILDING OFFICIAL organization. We sold out to the fire service and we will only have in the building code what they allow us to have.
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I have seen several BO that did not enforce the code per sec(politics, lack of enforcement powers, and good ole' boys). These BO's aren't the ones called at 0200 hrs when something goes wrong - Many BO's will tell you that they are only concerned with the building until it is CO'ed.

People have got to realize that the building codes, fire codes, mechaincal codes, electrical codes, etc. all have the same minimum requirments for public safety, well being, etc.

This has to be a group effort without any personal grudges, self - serving interest, for the betterment of the codes for the safety and well being of the general public.
 
The beginning of the slide came when they moved to DC and got in bed with the Feds and the home builders/realtors. Then came James Lee Witt and it has never been the same. It is about time the fire service got smart and got involved.

I agree with CowboyRR, RJJ and Builder Bob.
 
The ICC fell apart right in the middle of the Code Wars with NFPA. The NFPA hired staff right out of the ICC.

Hiring James Lee Witt was just an effort to make the ICC look like it was important. They could have hired someone that knew something about business and construction. And I agree that moving to DC was stepping away from the people who make the ICC work and getting into bed with politicians and other scoundrels.

The Fire Service was torn apart during the Code Wars. And only lately has a significant body of fire service people started back into the I Codes. Thats because they finally realized that NFPA will never give them control of the Uniform Fire Code. It is the same lesson learned by other groups that tried to get control of part of the NFPA.
 
I believe that the ICC has lost its focus. The tail wagging the dog these days is the concentration on public policy issues and "best construction practices" to the detriment of minimum standards of life safety and health. It is wonderful that people are concerned about access, energy conservation, "green technology", but I believe that the purpose of building codes is and should be life safety and health. In addition, there has been far too much complication introduced into the codes, as far as I can tell, mainly because computers make it possible. The design chapters are mostly by reference now. In most cases, the answers come out within a few percent of what they did 20 years ago, but the process takes many more calculations. That is not all bad, as we certainly can allow sound design using complicated methods (as we always have), but wouldn't it be nice to have an easily verifiable bottom or approximation of a bottom as we did at one time? I understand that the driving force of all of this is money, it seems that there is an unlimited supply for some popular issues, but TANSTAAFL.
 
V767 said:
This is a great thread guys. Thanks for all the opinions and points of views. V767
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Again - it is worthless unless ICC leaders or ICC members do something about it. Are you going to tell them about this? or, Can you advise whether they are reading it themselves? or better, Do the ICC leaders intend to chime in and tell us what they recommend is needed to fix things?

If they don't get their act together soon I suspect the members are going to start doing something tangible about it - or at least that is what I hope happens.
 
Keep the ideas coming! Here is another one:

The BOD members are not individually accountable for their performance because they have created an election process that is really a political sham. Each BOD member, including the officers, should be required to publish both quarterly and annual reports of their activities. The report should include explanations of their voting record on issues (not just what their votes were, but why they cast a yea or nay vote) and what their role was in developing and/or implementing ICC policies, etc.; and any expenses related to ICC activity and a synopsis of any travel (i.e. tell us what they delivered as BOD members vs. what they cost the org.). If they are running for an officer seat they need to explain their leadership agenda for the org. and tell us every quarter what they have done to fulfill that agenda - all the way thru their Presidency.

We need REMOTE VOTING!!!!
 
The board actions are open to the public (except for the executive sessions - city council executive sessions are also not open to the public, so there's nothing wrong with that). Since I don't work for a jurisdiction anymore (and hence, not a voting member), I haven't paid too much attention to the officers; HOWEVER, in the past, they have all published their vision and agenda.. I assume they still do.

ICC is more open to remote voting than you think; figuring out how to prevent fraud on the part of the voting members is the challenge.
 
Cowboy RR, I completely agree with you and these things are being said I am relaying up the chain.

Per the leaders commenting on this board, as I know right now, it is still just me. But, I would be surprised if some of these concerns and opinions are not addressed at Conference. I know I will be hosting a cracker barrel session on ICC's social media, which includes the discussion board. And likewise, our CIO will be hosting another cracker barrel session on the website and all the updates that have and will continue to happen.

So, I know for certain that some of the questions are already being acted upon. I will be sure to follow through with the any other comments that may slip through the cracks.

Thanks CowboyRR.

V767
 
peach said:
The board actions are open to the public (except for the executive sessions - city council executive sessions are also not open to the public, so there's nothing wrong with that). Since I don't work for a jurisdiction anymore (and hence, not a voting member), I haven't paid too much attention to the officers; HOWEVER, in the past, they have all published their vision and agenda.. I assume they still do.ICC is more open to remote voting than you think; figuring out how to prevent fraud on the part of the voting members is the challenge.
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You are missing an important concept here - I want to know what each BOD member is doing and why. I want to vote against those BOD members that are not voting and reasoning decisions based on my expectations - and I want to vote for BOD members who's decisions and reasoning meet my expectations. I want remote voting so I can cast these votes wihtout attending a conference - because my jurisdictoin is tight on funds and we cannot travel lie in hte past. If you know where to find this information from a public domain then please let us know.
 
CowboyRR: I understand your concept and agree! Thus the question remains is to bring change and order to a system and an organization that has lost touch. The only way is to get involved. The first step is to bring other like minded people to the table. We will never all agree on all issues, however, we must find common ground and work from that point. The voting and code process are the first step. If the ICC Board doesn't agree then we need to vote them out. If management tries to block such actions we need to fire them. They work at our discretion. We pay the money the eat off of, and it comes from the bottom up.
 
I'm just saying that if you feel like one of the candidates tickles your fancy...support them. If not...don't. It would be a way of voicing your opinion.
 
Mule said:
I'm just saying that if you feel like one of the candidates tickles your fancy...support them. If not...don't. It would be a way of voicing your opinion.
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A quick review of my prior posts will reveal that there is no way to tell whether they tickle anything - much less my fancy.
 
Mule,

No need to vote. I'm waiting for Obama to appoint a Czar over the codes. Then we will have "sustainable" consistent inconsistences.

Uncle Bob
 
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