Dan Knutson AScT, CCBO, President — Since we were together in Humboldt I think we have all had a busy six months. The province keeps rolling along building like mad. I know in Swift Current we will be setting a record for number of new homes in one year as well as construction value.
In April I attended ACBOA meetings in Halifax and in September we met in Sudbury. ACBOA is continuing to push forward to strengthen our national voice. We are working hard to develop core training strategies that all provinces will be able to use in an effort to train all building officials to a nationally accepted level. In Sudbury we heard about an interesting project by Target in partnership with McDonalds and Kaiser Permanente where they are co-developing a software program that will do a code analysis of CAD based building plans. The program will have the ability to allow virtual tours. The guys from Target even suggested that the software may become available as freeware. Perhaps we can bring these guys in to speak to us about their project and plans.
Most of the executive have been very busy with their various roles: I want to thank Conference Chair Todd Russell for putting together another great conference agenda. Todd’s job can be very frustrating trying to find new speakers and new topics to present to the membership and then having speakers cancel out at the last minute. Please send any suggestions for speakers and topics for conferences to the conference chair. I want to thank Education Chair Chad Freeland for his hard work and extra effort in pushing forward with upgrading the BCTC in spite of numerous roadblocks. I understand that soon we will have a BCTC that is based on the 2010 National Building Code.
Newsletter Chairman, Dale Wagner continues to produce a great newsletter and I am looking forward to his fall newsletter. I think the addition of an e-mailed newsletter has been greatly received by the members. Once again I would like to remind you to send any suggestions or submissions for the newsletter to the Newsletter Chair.
I believe Certification Chair Gary Martens has done an excellent job of managing the requests for certification and upgrades as well as maintaining certification records. This is a critical role as members rely on this Association to provide a solid foundation for their credentials.
And what else can be said about the good work that Jerry Wintonyk, Membership Chair has done for 18+ years. Jerry also served as President in 1985 and 86. In addition to the membership roll, Jerry has created the membership email data base and currently manages and sends email current information to the members. Jerry is also our perennial master of ceremonies and always keeps us entertained with the raffles. One thing that I have always admired about Jerry is his eloquence when making tributes to members who are receiving SBOA service awards or remembering those who have passed away or retired.
Vice President Chris Gates has taken on the role of webmaster, and has been managing our web site as well as various administrative projects such as developing the SBOA’s Code of Ethics.
Past President Len Semko at 4 terms is on the verge of setting a record for number of terms as past president. And of course he served as president of the SBOA for 3 terms. Len is a valuable resource for the rest of us, he knows a lot of the history of both SBOA and the various forms of the national association. He has worked on CHIBO and ACBOA and currently sits on the Part 5, Standing Committee on Environmental Separation
- Working Group, Materials with Multiple functions
- Task Group, Chair, review Thermal Insulation Standards
- Joint Task Group, Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS)
- Task Group, Solar Collectors Canadian Commission Construction Materials Evaluation
- Represent Building Officials
LeRoy Evenson, Secretary Treasurer, this guy knows where all the bodies are buried and where the invoices, the receipts and all the cheque stubs are. LeRoy has had his finger on the financial pulse of the SBOA, he has managed our spending with some kind of internal budget mind trick that allows us to put on great conferences while still making a little money. The SBOA is in a great financial position. We have reserves to cover us from any unseen failures and this is all due to LeRoy’s insight. We have been able to keep our membership fees the lowest in Canada while still providing complete membership services. I believe LeRoy is going to ease out of his role and not leave us cold so we get to kick him around for awhile yet.
At this time our executive are getting a little burnt out but they don’t want to step down and leave the work to someone “cold”. I invite anyone who has an interest in joining the executive to consider becoming a committee member. Simply approach any board member with an offer to help out and I am sure they will welcome your help and assistance. I would also like to see those committee members at the board table getting their feet wet.
Ever since the last meeting we have been working to line up a new slate of candidates for election to various positions on the board as is the usual practice anyone who was comfortable with continuing on in their current role would let their name stand again for election for that position. Dale, Jerry, Chad Gary Todd and Chris have all expressed a desire to let their names stand again for positions on the board. I want to remind you that this is a democratic process if you want to nominate someone or have yourself nominated we will hold an election for any particular position except past president. A year ago LeRoy let us know that he thinks it is time to step down, We did find some names to submit for your approval to replace LeRoy at Secretary Treasurer. I had also announced last fall that it was time for someone else to take over as president. I thought we had convinced our vice president to step up to take over my job. After careful consideration our vice-president has reluctantly declined to step forward at this time but would like to be considered for the role sometime in the future. Therefore I am allowing my name to stand again for re-election. I want to thank everyone for your support and to remind everyone that this is your SBOA if you don’t like what is going on say something.