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UCC Review and Advisory Council

Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Labor and Industry Building, Room E-100
651 Boas Street
Harrisburg, PA 17121

Council Members Present:

 George W. Settle, Chair
Karen L. Welsh, Vice-Chair
Ray Cudwadie
Rich Roberts
R. Clem Malot
Stephen Black
Joseph A. Lavalle
Thomas F. McCosby
Chris McQuail
Merle Musick
John Kampmeyer
Edward V. Fegley
 

Also Present:

 Jennifer Berrier Esquire, Exec. Asst. to Deputy Secretary J. Scott Robinette
Dwight Decker, Esquire, Assistant Counsel, Dep't of Labor & Industry
Cindy Sheaffer, Esquire, Assistant Counsel, Dep't of Labor & Industry
 

Public Speakers:

 Shari Shapiro, Calliope Communications
John Caufield, NFPA
Bob Buddenbohn, PABCO
Doug Meshaw, PBA
John Eby, PABCO
 

Reporter:

 Rhonda K. Thorpe
 
 
The meeting was called to order by Chair George Settle, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and introduction of all Council Members and attendees.
 
  1. Approval of the Minutes from the May 14, 2014 Meeting: Mr. Fegley moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Kampmeyer seconded the motion. The Council approved the minutes by unanimous consent.
     
  2. Approval of Agenda: Chair Settle made a change to the agenda by adding the IBC Structural Subcommittee Report under new business. He asked for approval of the amended agenda. Mr. McCosby moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Kampmeyer seconded the motion. The Council approved the amended agenda by unanimous consent.
     
  3. Harrisburg Public Hearing Regarding "2015 Code Change": John Eby requested that the public hearing not count as one of the statutorily required hearings since the 2015 ICC Code Revisions link was not on the Council's webpage. Bob Buddenbohn pointed out that the ICC link provides incomplete code information and an error with the International Plumbing Code listed twice.
     
  4. Chair's Comments: The Chair reserved his comments for a later time.
     
  5. Report of Legislation Working Group: Mr. McCosby discussed the working group's review of HB 2073 P.N. 3098. The group had no issues with recommending approval of sections 8 and 9. The group did not agree with the language contained in section 10 and 11, and did not think it is something the Council should support because of the safety risks involved. Mr. McCosby moved for the Council to adopt the working group's recommendation to the General Assembly. Mr. Kampmeyer seconded the motion. The Council approved the adoption by unanimous consent.
     
  6. Report of Regulation Working Group: No action taken since last meeting.
     
  7. Old Business:
     
    1. SB 1023 Status: Chair Settle mentioned that the bill did not pass, and the bill process will begin over again during the next session.
     
  8. New Business:
     
    1. 2015 Reviewing Subcommittee Status (Attachment C): Chair Settle explained Attachment C and how each Council Member is on a reviewing subcommittee.
       
    2. 2105 Reviewing Subcommittee Experience/Discussion: Chair Settle requested that the subcommittees keep their reviewing files so they can hand them over to the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) with their recommendations as a courtesy.
       
      He also discussed Attachment D, which were the recommendations he drafted for the International Mechanical Code, in light of the code review process. He indicated that each change must be evaluated on the merits: health, safety and welfare, and economics and feasibility.
       
    3. Subcommittee Reports
      1. ADM: The subcommittee had met on October 6, and Mr. Fegley was voted chairman. He indicated that there were no future meetings scheduled.
         
      2. IBC-Fire Safety: Mr. LaValle was voted chairman. Mr. Lavelle stated that the subcommittee had 105 amendments to review, and the amendments were evenly divided by the members for initial review.
         
      3. IBC-General: The subcommittee had met on October 6, and Mr. Fegley was voted chairman. At the meeting, 25 code changes were assigned to each member.
         
        Mr. LaValle noted that each member is participating in a minimum of five subcommittees, and it is difficult to participate in all of the teleconferences since some conflicted.
         
      4. IBC Means of Egress: Ms. Welsh indicated that the subcommittee has been unable to organize a conference call yet.
         
      5. IBC Structural: The subcommittee had met on October 15, and Mr. Roberts was elected chairman. At that meeting, 32 to 33 code changes were assigned to each member.
         
      6. IBC/ICCPC: Ms. Welsh stated that the subcommittee had a conference call and populated a spreadsheet. Mr. Rush was elected the chairman.
         
      7. IECC Commercial: The subcommittee met on October 10, and Mr. McQuail was elected chairman. Mr. McQuail said that he will soon send out a populated spreadsheet and schedule a conference call when the spreadsheet is distributed.
         
      8. IECC Residential: Mr. McCosby had not set up a conference call yet, but anticipated that there should not be any problems in reviewing these changes since there is a great deal of overlap with the IRC and the changes are mostly clarifications.
         
      9. IFC: Mr. Kampmeyer indicated that he sent out an e-mail trying to set-up a conference call but did not get any response. As a result, he reviewed the first 40 changes on his own, split up the remaining, and sent them to the other group members.
         
      10. IFGC: Chair Settle mentioned that Mr. Henon is the point person for this subcommittee, and he has not heard anything from him.
         
      11. IMC: Chair Settle explained that his group met on September 30 and October 15 and that he was submitting recommendations (Attachment D) to the Council today in favor of the first 20 changes. He also stated that these recommendations will be posted on the Council's website for the public.
         
      12. IPC:Mr. Kampmeyer indicated that he had the same experience as he did with the IFC. He split up and sent out the code changes to the members, and he will try to get a chairman elected through e-mail.
         
      13. IRC-Building: The subcommittee met on October 13, and Mr. LaValle was elected chairman. Mr. LaValle explained that the group has its hands full with 272 amendments, the changes were divided up amongst the members, and the group is in the process of reviewing the amendments.
         
      14. IRC-Mechanical: Mr. Musick indicated that he hoped to have a conference call set-up the following week.
         
      15. IRC-Plumbing: Mr. Fegley noted that the subcommittee has not yet met, but will have a meeting before the next Council meeting.
         
      16. IWUIC: Mr. Malot stated that the group had not met, but intends to set something up within the next few weeks.
         
  9. General Public Comments: Mr. Buddenbohn spoke about SB 1023 and his hope that it will be fast-tracked next session. He recommended that the Council perform outreach to the General Assembly to communicate the importance of building codes and promote education.
     
    Ms. Shapiro discussed the ICC's free access to the revised code and its copyright protections. She also extended, on ICC's behalf, help to the Council on providing information about the code changes.
     
    Mr. McCosby mentioned review of the electrical code changes through NFPA. Mr. Caufield replied that he will get the code revisions to the Council before the next meeting.
     
    Mr. Meshaw requested that the current hearing not count as one of the statutorily required hearings. The Council discussed this request, and Mr. McCosby made a motion to hold the Harrisburg public hearing on January 14, 2015. Mr. LaValle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
     
  10. Future Meetings: The Council scheduled its next meeting for November, 2014 in Youngwood, Westmoreland County.
     
  11. Adjournment: Mr. McCosby moved that the Council adjourn the meeting. Mr. Kampmeyer seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous consent. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:31 a.m.