Minutes of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board April 13, 2012

Transcription

1 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 1 Minutes of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board April 13, 2012 The meeting of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board was held at 9:00 am, Friday, April 13, 2012, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The following members of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board were present: Talmadge Jones Marion Peeples Chris Noles Gerald Canipe Tony Jarrett Waverly Sawyer Fred Herndon Joe Ramsey Department of Insurance staff members Director Mike Hejduk, Terri Tart, Jennifer Hollyfield and Phil Joyner were in attendance. Board Attorney Rebecca Lem was in attendance. Also in attendance were 2 visitors. Agenda Chairman Talmadge Jones presided over the meeting. After welcoming all the visitors in attendance he then turned the meeting over to Vice-Chair Marion Peeples to remind all board members of the State Government Ethics Act provisions to avoid conflicts of interest, the appearance of conflicts of interest, and the potential for conflicts of interest. Mr. Peeples asked if there were any such conflicts, none were voiced. Mr. Peeples reminded members of the Board who are licensed home inspectors that they have the potential for a conflict of interest because they serve on the Board that licenses them. Approval of January 13, 2012 Minutes Joe Ramsey made a motion to approve the minutes. Marion Peeples seconded the motion and the motion passed without dissent. Staff Reports-Director Director Hejduk reported that the database migration is on schedule. Staff is looking toward getting the application fee, exam fee and the license issuing fee up and running online in May. In the next two months, staff is hoping to have the CE Rosters and license renewals ready for online production. Hejduk also noted that this whole process is requiring more staff time than was expected. Chairman Jones asked Director Hejduk to explain to the Board the situation regarding the license number getting out of sequence. Director Hejduk stated to the Board that IT staff wanted to issue licenses out of sequence, where the license number would currently be 3,400 and then jumping to 11,000. Staff requested the numbers stay in sequence at all times. IT staff asked for direction regarding the issuance of licenses numbers and staff asked Chairman Jones his thoughts and direction on this matter. Chairman Jones agreed with staff to keep the license numbers in sequence.

2 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 2 Chris Noles stated that staff is meeting with IT staff twice a week, two hours each time or more making sure the changes are being made correctly with the migration from the database to Oracle. Director Hejduk stated committees will be reporting on the Pre-Licensing Sponsors, New License Report Audits and complaints. Staff will be looking for participation from the Board over the next 6 to 9 months regarding the development of the Ethics Course for continuing education. Director Hejduk asked the Board to consider creating an opportunity of a Q & A Session for the home inspectors here at the Raleigh office. Director Hejduk stated at the end of the Fiscal year, the Board will not be renewing Lisa Currier s contract for computer programming support for access due to the changeover to Oracle. Also, regarding the Contract Inspectors assisting with investigations there is a possibility of cutting back on their contracts. Director Hejduk turned it over to Terri Tart, License Administrator for the monthly report. Terri Tart stated there have been 5 applications approved. On April 12, 2012, staff administered exams with 30 individuals paying the exam fee, but only 23 were present to take the exam, with 7 individuals a no show. The individuals that didn t show will be rescheduled for the next exam. As of March 30 th there are 1033 active home inspectors, 677 inactive inspectors and 1270 expired inspectors with 5 new licenses issued. Tart reported as of March 30 th there are 36 active associates, 73 inactive associates and 359 associates expired. Tart stated as of October 1, 2011 there were no new associate licenses issued, but associates that already have licenses may renew until October 1, In March, combined staff received 326 calls and 4 visitors. Tart observed that individuals may be taking longer to complete application due to new requirements of the General Liability and the net assets, bond or E&O. Jennifer Hollyfield s, Education Coordinator staff report will be covered by Marion Peeples in his Education Committee report. Phil Joyner, Investigator reported currently 8 investigation reports have been issued, 2 investigations are currently in process regarding the reports, and 10 complaints have been received awaiting investigations (only 5 new complaints since the first of the year). Chris Noles brought to Director Hejduk s attention about the recommended language that the Home Inspector Licensure Board would like for the Appraisers to use in their reporting. Joe Ramsey stated the information would be put in the Appraisal Board Bulletin. Chairman Jones appointed a Special Committee with Tony Jarrett as Chair, Gerald Canipe and Joe Ramsey as members. This committee will work together trying to come up with a recommendation and present it to the Board at the next Board meeting in July.

3 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 3 Asking about reappointments to the board, Marion Peeples told Director Hejduk that he has submitted the paper work for reappointment. Director Hejduk stated the next Board meeting will be held July 13 th. Director Hejduk stated that Fred Herndon and Joe Ramsey will need to complete the 93B-5 Training. Public Comment Wilson Fausel asked if there was any way to put in continuing education a requirement to ride along with another home inspector as part of continuing education hours. The committee will take this into consideration. Committee Reports a) Application Evaluation Committee Waverly Sawyer stated the committee met and reviewed 6 applications. The committee approved all 6 applications. b) Examination Committee Chris Noles stated the committee did meet. The committee discussed the existing exam bank and went over some questions Bonnie Gregory submitted and identified new questions for consideration. The committee s goal is working toward creating a third exam test and getting to a point in the future where the exams can be given on a computer terminal here at the Raleigh office. The committee will meet again before the July Board meeting. c) Finance Committee Gerald Canipe stated the committee did meet. Canipe stated that the Home Inspector Licensure Board is affected by the economy regarding finances. The projected revenue is $245,000. There is a projected budget expenditure of $327,000. The numbers of home inspectors have dropped off, which has hurt finances. The Board is looking at a $70,000 to $80,000 short fall each year. Due to budgetary constraints, Gerald Canipe, on behalf of the Budget committee made a motion that the board investigator position be moved from full time to half time. The motion was amended to allow for a 90 day notice to the board investigator before the change was made. Tony Jarrett seconded the motion. The vote of 7 hands showing was unanimous for, with Chris Noles recusing himself from the vote. The motion passed. d) Legislative Committee Tony Jarrett stated the committee did not meet and had no report. Jarrett did mention the Association of Realtors will be meeting on June 5 th and 6 th in Raleigh. Director Hejduk will find out more information, if anyone would like to attend.

4 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 4 e) Continuing Education Committee Marion Peeples stated the committee did meet. The committee has received applications regarding Pre-Licensing courses for approval. One of the applications was sent in with 32 DVD s covering the various systems and components with varying levels of video quality. The DVD s did not include a mechanism for monitoring student progress through the course material as required by the Board rules. This course was not approved and sent back to them for more work. An application was submitted from Win Home Inspectors of Madison, Alabama with the 120 hours classroom course and it was approved. The National Institute of Building Inspectors (NIBI) submitted 120 hour classroom course and it was approved. Americans Home Inspector Training Institute (AHIT) sent representatives Katie Paepcke and Christopher Chirafisi to submit the 120 hour classroom course for online with the modification, it was approved. The committee made a decision to accept individual field trainer instructor applications, to be approved by the committee. The committee approved Butch Upton and Arvil Price from the National Institute of Building Inspectors (NIBI) to be field trainers. Last March the committee presented a rules change to the Rules Review Committee regarding the requirements to be a field trainer and it was refused by the Office of Administrative Hearings on the basis the Board did not have statutory authority. The committee is working with applicants on a case-by-case basis within the allowances of the General Statutes instead of reworking the rules change. Marion Peeples stated the rejected rules were changed to require an additional 4 hours of CE for those licensees coming in to the profession without going through the Pre- Licensing Education. Right now the committee does not have the answer for those licensees and how they can get the additional 4 hours. The committee is suggesting that the licensees be able to take the 4 hour Mandatory Program (Electrical Safety) from last year to receive the extra 4 hours of CE. The committee will inform the Board later if this will be an option for the new licensees. f) Standards/Rules and Interpretations Committee Marion Peeples stated the committee did meet. There are report recommended languages on the Board website that have become out of date. One is the Polybutylene Piping that shows PB Piping.com as a link. This link no longer exists and needs to be removed from the Board website. In addition, the comment was made that references to stone in the board s recommended language need to be changed to reflect adhered masonry veneer. The recommended language previously approved for EIFS referencing the Exterior Design Institute should be changed to evaluation by a qualified EIFS inspector or competent stucco repair contractor. Fred Herndon made a motion to accept the changes proposed by the committee. Gerald Canipe seconded the motion. The motion passed.

5 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 5 g) Investigation Review Committee Gerald Canipe stated the committee did meet. The committee made a recommendation to the Board to display disciplinary actions for a maximum period of 3 years on the website rather than indefinitely as now practiced. Marion Peeples made a motion to accept the changes recommended by committee. Fred Herndon seconded the motion. The motion passed. Canipe stated the committee has one signed consent agreement to be approved by the Board. Canipe asked the Board to accept the judgment of the Investigation Review Committee and staff s recommendations of the consent agreements for signature by the Chairman. The consent agreement was John DiRenzi (#2391). Marion Peeples moved to accept the consent agreement as written. Waverly Sawyer seconded the motion. The motion passed. Director Hejduk discussed issues related to 203(k) inspections done by licensees following issuance of a recent investigation report. Director Hejduk noted that recent direction from HUD precluded Board intervention regarding property condition reports performed by unlicensed persons. For the 203(k) consultants program HUD recognizes and relies upon state licensure for home inspectors. However, it was determined that a typical 203(k) contract does not necessarily include a complete home inspection or written report issued in accordance with the North Carolina Standards of Practice. Because there are nearly fifty (50) 203(k) consultants in North Carolina who are also North Carolina licensed home inspectors, it may be important to provide a written disclosure to the public when a licensee is hired as a 203(k) consultant to minimize confusion regarding the services being offered. Attorney Rebecca Lem will draft a disclosure notice for licensees contracting as 203(k) consultants. Director Hejduk will state the Board s position regarding the 203(k) matter in the newsletter. h) Personnel Committee Chairman Talmadge Jones stated no report. i) Advisory Committee New Licensee Report Reviews Fred Herndon stated that the committee is caught up on all the reports turned in and completed the evaluations. Still the committee is finding the same top five list items are missing from most reports reviewed. Herndon wants to incorporate these items from the top five lists 4 hour mandatory class, that new licensees have to take. The Education Committee will take Herndon s suggestion under consideration. Herndon stated that there are still around 30 to 40 new licensees that have not submitted their reports. Unfinished Business None

6 NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 6 New Business Chairman Talmadge Jones appointed, Joe Ramsey, Chair and Fred Herndon to the Nominating Committee. The committee will report to the Board at the July meeting with the committee s recommendations of new officers. Adjournment Chairman Talmadge Jones asked for a motion to adjourn. Gerald Canipe made a motion to adjourn. Fred Herndon seconded the motion. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted, Christian Noles, P.E. Secretary Note: This meeting has been recorded on CD. Anyone desiring copies should contact the NC Department of Insurance, Engineering Division, Home Inspection Section for reproduction costs.