Florida Chapter
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes
Naples, Florida
January 13,2001

Chairman Ben Cotroneo called the meeting to order at 8:30.
The Chair led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chaplain Terry Summerell gave the invocation.
Secretary Lee Wansor called the attendance. Attendees were Koert Van Wormer, Don Brindley, Max Godwin, Nelson Montgomery, Terry Summerell, Eric Wasser, Steve Mitchell, Ben Cotroneo, Jim Sennello, John Martin, Dallas Stratton, Clarence Wilson, Tomas Menendez, Bob Moore, Tom Lasprogato, Joe Bolesina, David Hawkins, Tim Wright, Pete Pluta, Leonard Devine, Dave Appler, Tom Bray, Robert Stickles, John Travers, Jake Wright, Dick Widera, Ruben Rocha, Larry Cogburn, Andy Shipley, Julian Burnside and Robert Duncan.
Secretary Wansor mentioned to the Chair that we had a quorum at which time the Chair opened the meeting.
The minutes from the September 30,2000 Board of Directors meeting were accepted with a motion by Tim Wright and seconded by Don Brindley. Motion passed.
President Koert Van Wormer in his report stated that the Florida Building Safety Coalition is meeting February 3rd and that he is looking for about three people to join him. He then mentioned he had not gotten any volunteers for committee appointments and he wanted to hear from the different divisions before the end of the day.
Treasurer Eric Wasser reported that the year-end summary was in the handouts. Motion was made by Koert Van Wormer to accept the Treasurers report and seconded by Terry Summerell. Motion passed.
Secretary Lee Wansor in his report stated that most of the items would be discussed later in the agenda. He did comment on two items not on the agenda. The first item was on communication and how it is getting better, but asked that if you receive an e-mail please acknowledge that you received it. The Second item was on the amount of work that he has and that he was basically only doing what had to be done and not what could be done. The reason is that it would almost take a full time position and that some day in the near future we might want to consider hiring an Executive Director.
Palm Beach Division reported by Leonard Devine stated that they were solvent. He mentioned that on October 8th Mark Ode did the seminar on Grounding and Bonding with 143 attendees. He then introduced their Division President Mr. Michael Fox. At that time there was some discussion on what Divisions were charging for their seminars. Mr. Devine than stated that they are making their first disbursement from the Kurtz/Shipley Scholarship fund. The disbursement will include three separate scholarships. Andy Shipley also stated that they had given seven IAEI student memberships out of the fund. Installation of officers would be done on the 27th of January at the Emerald Dunes. Further discussion on attendance to meetings and Mr. Devine stated that they have about 25 attendees a month.
Central Florida Division reported by Ed Fox stated they meet on the second Wednesday of each month with about 30 attendees. He then stated they had few seminars this past year at which time he proceeded to go over the criteria for each. He then mentioned that they had 79 inspector members and 101 associate members.
Suncoast Division reported by Robert Christleib stated they meet every 2nd Thursday of the month. He then turned the rest of the report over to Dick Widera who is their new incoming Secretary. Mr. Widera said he was proud to be back in the saddle again. He then mentioned that they are trying to keep their seminar to February and August. February 17th James Stallcup will be holding a seminar on grounding and Mr. Widera then stressed the fact on how important it was to have people understand the importance of grounding. He then stated he was looking to put on a seminar on “Impedance Grounding and the Effect on the Meter Spin”. Mr. Widera continued with a discussion on a seminar that Bussman had put on for them and that they were impressed with the amount of attendees. He also mentioned that Bussman puts on an excellent seminar and to use them along with other companies when you are looking to put on a seminar.
Maynard Hamilton Division reported on by President Jim Sennello stating they are solvent and that they are going to have seminar on grounding and bonding on February 24th instructed by Mark Ode. He then stated they have started a scholarship fund and the proceeds from the seminar were going to be donated to the scholarship fund. Their meetings are the 3rd Wednesday of the month with some day and evening classes. Mr. Sennello also stated that they have anywhere from 50 to 80 attendees. The President of the Palm Beach County Division, Mr. Michael Fox then wanted to thank Tarry Baker for putting on three continuing education seminars.
Treasure Coast Division reported on by Leonard Devine. He stated that the Division is not active at all and that a letter was sent out with little response. Apparently there is nobody willing to do the work to maintain the Division. Koert Van Wormer stated we have to decide what to do with them. Andy Shipley stated that they have always been an on going problem with trying to get participation from the members. There was further discussion on the issue with a mention of the Palm Beach County Division possibly absorbing the Division. Ben Cotroneo than spoke and said we will discuss this further under new business.
Miami/Dade Division reported on by Division Treasurer John Travers stated that they are solvent and they have elected a slate of officers in June and that they will roll over for the year 2001. Don Jhonson President, Don Michelson Vice President, Bill Snelling Secretary, and John Travers Treasurer. Mr. Travers then stated that Don Jhonson sits on code making panel for article 240. He also stated that they had a meeting on January 10 and that they have scheduled four more meetings for this year, March 14th, June 13th, September 12th, and December 12th. Attendance has been small but he said that with any luck they might be getting some cooperation from the building department to allow inspectors to come to the meetings. At present they are not allowed. John then spoke about the electrocutions that have been taking place in Miami/Dade area, and that Walter Bost the NECA Executive Director has made contact with the local CBS television network to do an exposé on the street lighting problem. The problem stems from a lack of maintenance and qualified personnel. Part of the exposé is to bring to the attention the need for cooperation from the state in regards to having licensed journeyman. Mr. Travers also said that the IEC and NECA together are going to bring the license journeyman issue back to the legislators. On another note there is a membership drive ongoing with the help of NECA they are hoping to have a barbecue in the near future.
Florida Gulf Coast Division reported on by Pete Pluta, Division Secretary. He stated that they are active and solvent. They meet on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Attendance at these meetings has been low because everyone is so busy. Two seminars were put on this year. The first one being a grounding seminar by John Minick and the second one being a two family dwelling seminar by Jim Pauley. Pete also stated that they are the host of this Board meeting and the Chapters annual meeting in May.
North Florida Division reported on by Don Brindley, Division Education Committee Chairman. He stated that their President, Dan Carter could not attend because he was made President of the Master Association the night before. They are solvent and have their meeting the 1st Wednesday of every month. They have 152 members. Mr. Brindley said he was working with the State Secretary on some new courses. He has also submitted for and got approval for a 200 hour electrical course, for cross training inspectors under the FBC and the BCAI Board. This will be used in conjunction with the one and two family inspector’s certification. He then gave and open invitation to attend their meetings.
Panhandle Division reported by David Hawkins, Secretary/Treasurer for the Division. He stated that they are solvent. They will be the host of the 2002 annual Chapter meeting at the Destin Beach Resort, which is not in Alabama. Their meetings are the 3rd Thursday of each month. This past year they had two grounding seminars and are working on future ones. He closed his report by stating they are looking very forward to hosting the 2002 meeting and that he hopes everyone will make an extra effort to attend.
Old Business –
a) 72nd Southern Section was reported on by Koert Van Wormer. He said that it was a good meeting and that he spent a lot of money. Mr. Wansor commented on the election stating that voting had taken place prior to the presentations by Jim Carpenter and Wayne Lilly the two candidates. Joe Bolesina also commented on the election and said under the circumstance that voting by the membership was better than the Southern Section Board of Directors making the appointment. Mr. Wansor then stated that the both presentations were excellent. Terry Summerell explained that there was some mix up on procedure. Tim Wright stated that the vendor display area was good and he got a lot of good information.
b) Chapter Committee Assignments – Discussed earlier
c) By-Laws – reported on by Tom Bray, Committee Chairman. Mr. Bray stated that the Chapter Secretary had sent to him the model By-Laws from the I.O., which he is reviewing at this time and will have the updated version for the next Board meeting in May.
d) Nominations Committee – Tim Wright, Committee Chairman had no report.
e) Public Relations & Publicity Committee – Clarence Wilson, Committee Chairman reported that he is working with the Vocational school and there is an influx of foreigners signing up for the electrical trade. He then went to say there is a lot going on in the education field. Ben Cotroneo then stated the vocational school in his area did away with electrical course because of funding and the lack of participation. Tim Wright then stated that there is no incentive because there is no requirements for licensed journeyman. He then said that it is obvious by the quality of work in the field today and that our organization should take a strong stand on this issue. Meaning we should contact our legislators and push to reenact the Journeyman requirement. There was much discussion about apprenticeship programs at which time Mr. Wansor stated that apprenticeship as it stands today might be going by the way side. He further stated that the trend seems to be to specialize in different facets of the industry instead of learning the whole process you would be certified in individual aspects, such as pipe bending and installation etc. Mr. Widera then spoke on this issue and asked that we all should get involved in pursuing the requirements for education and the journeyman issue. Tomas Menendez and Ben Cotroneo both stated that this has to be handled in Tallahassee at the State level.
d) Membership Committee – Pete Pluta reported that the Chapter membership is still around 1600 and that he had nothing further to report.
g) Education/Code Clearing & Code Question Committee – Lee Wansor, Chairman of this Committee reported that he would like to stay as Chairman of this Committee if for no other reason than being the contact person with the state as far as all education matters for the Chapter. He then stated that at the next Annual Chapter meeting in Naples that the new format is set up and a copy of the schedule is in the agenda packet. Mr. Wansor then stated that we should only need about 40 questions based on the four hour code panel session and to please submit them to him in a timely matter.
h) Electrical Fire and Accident Committee – John Travers, Committee Chairman said he didn’t have anything further to discuss on this issue because he had not received any information from the other divisions. He ten gave out is e-mail address so that he can be contacted whenever there is an issue of not only electrocutions but anything relating to accidents and fires caused by electricity. Koert Van Wormer then asked how many people there were working for a Building Department that was tied in with the Fire Department. If you are it should be easier for you to obtain theses reports and he would like those people to be on this Committee.
i) Legislative Committee – In the absence of Chairman Tarry Baker, Joe Bolesina stated the Building Officials Association of Florida had asked that the Florida Building Code be pushed back to January 2002. Ben Cotroneo stated that everything was still go for July 1, 2000 and that the codebooks are being printed as we speak. The only issue he knew of had to do with who was going to get the copy write SBCCI or FBC. Nelson Montgomery stated that the books might not be ready in time to be able let everyone to get familiar with the new code, which might ultimately push the date up. Tim Wright asked if the only thing on electrical in the new code was the adoption of the NEC. Ben Cotroneo stated there is some electrical in a few of the other chapters that we will have to be aware of. A discussion pursued regarding State Statute 468.604 plan review.
j) Fiscal Affairs Committee –No report was given due to the absence of the Chairman, Larry Fuhrman
k) Annual Meeting Negotiation Committee – Max Godwin stated that they were working on it and everything was going fine.
l) Insurance invoicing to Divisions – Eric Wasser stated that the Divisions had been invoiced and that half had already paid.
m) Florida Building Commission Update – Already discussed.
n) ECLB requirements – Secretary Wansor stated that in their packet was a copy of a letter, which explained what is required from us as a provider of continuing education and also a copy of the required attendance roster to be used. John Travers made mention of the new course renewal dates at which time Mr. Wansor stated that the Sponsorship renewal date was the same. Mr. Wansor then proceeded to hand out a list of the approval courses with the new course numbers to each Division Secretary. John Travers stated that there was an ECLB meeting in the Pompano Beach area. Mr. Wansor stated that he would be attending and hopes to get four new courses approved at that meeting.
o) ECLB Sponsorship – Mr. Wansor stated that it had been renewed till 2003.
p) Building Code Training Program – Don Brindley said he was working on these courses. Mr. Wansor stated that there will be a FBC meeting pertaining to this training program on January 21st & 22nd and that we need someone from our organization to attend
q) Update on 71st Annual Chapter meeting - Pete Pluta stated that things were going well and that packets will be going out within the next couple of weeks. Also the rooms have been blocked and anyone wanting to make reservations can do so. Ben Cotroneo discussed the facility and said that it cost a few dollars more but it is well worth it. Secretary Wansor then mentioned that the new format should allow more time to enjoy the resort and that a copy of the schedule was in the agenda packet.
r) 2003 IAEI Diamond Jubilee meeting at Disney World – Bob Duncan stated the meeting will be held from 9/7-9/13 at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort. Bob continued to discuss on cost projection and programs. The education program is going to be on the 2005 R.O.P. Terry Summerell asked if CEU’s for Florida were going to be given and Bob said only if we submit them for approval. Mr. Duncan was specific in stating that this is an I.O. function not a Section or Chapter one. Joe Bolesina at that time stated that although it is not a Chapter function it would be a reflection on Florida, so anything we can do to help should be considered.
s) 2003 Annual Chapter meeting FT. Lauderdale Beach – Cancelled do to the Diamond Jubilee that year.
t) Florida Building Safety Coalition - Secretary Wansor reiterated that there is a meeting in Orlando on February 3rd and that they are looking for topics of discussion. Three topics were brought up, one being the journeymen issue and the others being apprenticeship and privatization. There was a discussion on FPL doing lighting work on private property and whether or not this could be brought before the coalition. It was determined that this was not an issue for the coalition and that if municipalities enforce the permitting laws that should stop the problem. People attending that meeting will be Koert Van Wormer, Lee Wansor, Steve Mitchell, John Martin and Nelson Montgomery.
u) Article on privatization – Secretary Wansor said that a copy was in the agenda packet. Ben Cotroneo mentioned about a couple of articles that stated the some local municipalities want to put Architects/Engineers and Contractors on an honor system by taking sworn affidavits that the work conforms to the code. Areas not being able to keep up with plan review precipitated this. Much discussion pursued, at which time Ben stated that we have to keep our eyes and ears open and make sure we are policing our own work.
v) Web Page – Ruben Rocha stated that he had made some changes to the web page and that he was waiting for some feed back from the users. We still need those people to sign on and registered that have not. Ruben then spoke about e-mail lists and discussion groups, which are set up or will be. He also stated that order for us to have true multiple domains that our costs would double. This would allow each division to post a web page on the states web site. Mr. Rocha is opened to any suggestion to enhance the web page.


New Business
a) 2010 73rd Southern Section Meeting at New Orleans, Louisiana 10/14-10/17- Secretary Wansor passed around some brochures. Terry Summerell said that they are going to use his registration program.
b) 2001 September Board of Directors Meeting – Don Brindley has contacted the Ocala Hilton and that they have openings for September 7th & 8th or 28th & 29th. Motion made by Jim Sennello and seconded by Terry Summerell. Secretary Wansor asked the body if they felt it was necessary to have the meeting. It was suggested to send out the agenda prior to the meeting to possibly cut down on time. After much discussion a vote was taken to have the meeting on the 28th and 29th and the motion passed 14 to 12 in favor of having the meeting. Don Brindley is to contact the Secretary with the particulars.
c) 2002 January Board of Directors Meeting – David Hawkins, Secretary for the Pan Handle Division said he was looking forward to everyone coming to south Alabama. He then mentioned that you could fly into Pensacola, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes away or Fort Walton, which is about 20 minutes away. Tentative date of the 12th.
d) 2002 Annual Chapter Meeting, Panhandle Division - David Hawkins will send out a survey about items that pertain to the set up of the seminar.
e) Format for 72nd Annual Chapter Meeting – Secretary Wansor questioned doing the seminar on the 2002 NEC code changes and it was agreed even though Florida might not adopt the 2002 NEC that we should still do it. In addition discussion continued with Don Brindley about a 2-hour handicap and a 3-hour contractor requirement course coupled to 8 hours of 2002 code changes and a 1 hour course to make up a total of 14 hours. The secretary than stated that any contact or course approvals to the ECLB must go through secretary’s office.
f) New & Old ECLB Courses – Secretary Wansor handed out the list of new courses to each division and went over courses he will not renew. Terry Summerell brought up about the courses being approved for the Southern Section meetings. The secretary stated he would bring it up for question to the ECLB next week. In addition Mr. Summerell asked if partial credit could be given for any of our courses. The secretary stated that there is no partial credit ever given.
g) Chapter Instructor Pool - Secretary Wansor passed out a copy of the instructor pool list and stated he was going before the ECLB to get everyone on the list to be approved to teach anyone of our courses. He then stated anyone that wants to be added to the pool must submit a resume’ to him.
h) ECLB and FBC meeting attendance – Secretary Wansor stated that we need representation at these meetings and the dates are in their agenda packets.
i) IACET – Secretary Wansor stated that the I.O. have been approved by this organization for CEU’s as an authorized provider.
j) IRS 990 forms for 2000 – Eric Wasser treasurer asked Dick Widera what the process was and Dick stated that each division and the chapter will get the forms from the I.O. and must return them to the I.O. by May 15th. Eric Wasser stated that copies should also go to the Southern Section and the Chapter.
k) Budget – Eric Wasser Treasurer stated a copy was in your agenda packet and he had sent it to the Fiscal Affairs Committee. Fiscal Affairs Committee had no comment on it so a motion was made by Bob Duncan and seconded by Steve Mitchell motion passed/
l) Bills and expenditures – Secretary Wansor stated that all financial items should be forwarded to Eric Wasser the Treasurer and not to the secretary.
m) Travel reimbursement policy - Secretary Wansor stated that as of January 1,2001 the mileage allowance has increased to .345 cents per mile.
n) Assistant to the Secretary - The Secretary stressed the need for an assistant for back up purposes as recommended by the I.O. at the Southern Section meeting. It was agreed that Eric Wasser would be the secretary’s assistant.
o) Where is the chapter headed – Chairman Ben Cotroneo spoke, at which time he felt the Chapter has come a long way and that we have great working relationship with all the Divisions and just keep this tradition going. He then mentioned that it is crucial when selecting new people from your divisions to take office or be a committee member. We need working people for these appointments.
p) Phone, Fax & e-mail Numbers – Secretary Wansor said we need any updates and that the Division Secretaries list is in your agenda packet.
q) Other New Business – Ben Cotroneo spoke about maintaining or dissolving the Treasure Coast Division. The question was asked if they have any checking accounts or equipment. It was concluded that all checking accounts were closed and they had no equipment. Andy Shipley said he had worked closely with Doug Harvey in that Division and that there was no help or input from the members over the years. It was suggested that the Palm Beach Division pick up their territory by letting the I.O. and the Southern Section know. In the interim the members will be at large. Dick Widera stated that we keep the Division as inactive. Tom Bray suggested we set up a committee and report back in May. Bob Duncan stated that the Southern Section had dissolved Chapters without any problem in the past and that we should do so with this Division. Ben Cotroneo stated that we have been pursuing them for 2 years with no headway made. Bob Duncan then stated that all we have to do is notify the Southern Section and the I.O. A motion was then made by Koert Van Wormer and seconded by Steve Mitchell to dissolve the Treasure Coast Division. Motion carried with one opposition by Dick Widera. It was then stated that the rotation of officers would have to be reworked.
Bob Duncan than asked that we give further thought to the Diamond Jubilee as to sponsoring a coffee break through the Divisions and the Chapter. The cost will be around $4,200.00 based on 2,000 people.
Ben Cotroneo than asked the group if we have any one that has died our is sick. The North Florida chapter stated that Phil Sapeanza; Chief Electrical Inspector for the City of Ocala passed away. The question was asked if any body had any information on Jim Jackson. No one had any information since our last report.
Eric Wasser than said he had asked the I.O. if they could allow Associate Members to vote for officers and has not heard back from them yet.
Ben Cotroneo reiterated that the divisions should be prepared to present nominations for Board and Committee assignments.
A motion was made and seconded to adjourn meeting at 2:50PM – motion passed.