NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 1 Minutes of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board July 8, 2011 The meeting of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board was held at 9:00 am, Friday, July 8, 2011 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The following members of the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board were present: Talmadge Jones Tony Jarrett David Jones Ted Triebel Marion Peeples Chris Noles Waverly Sawyer Gerald Canipe Department of Insurance staff members Mike Hejduk, Phil Joyner, Terri Tart and Jennifer Hollyfield were in attendance. Board Attorney Rebecca Lem was in attendance. Also in attendance were 4 visitors. Chairman Talmadge Jones acknowledged the two new appointments to the Board. Joseph Ramsey will be replacing Ted Triebel as the public member and Fred Herndon will replace David Jones as a home inspector. The Chairman thanked the outgoing Board Members for their time and service. 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 March 11, 2011 Minutes Tony Jarrett made a motion to approve the minutes. David Jones seconded the motion and the motion passed without dissent. Staff Reports-Director Director Mike Hejduk stated the June monthly report shows Letters of Caution (0) but that the Investigation Review Committee did meet and made recommendations for (3) of the complaints to receive Letters of Caution. The letters of caution will be reflected on the next monthly report. The Action Item List item for the web site photos of the Board Members is partially completed. Staff needs to receive the other Board Member photos to complete this item.
NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 2 Tony Jarrett asked Director Hejduk if the monthly report expired numbers status reflected just this year or from the very beginning. Director Hejduk stated the report is all the expired from the beginning. Jarrett stated he would like to see a report reflecting the numbers on the different status totals (active, inactive & expired) for the current year. Staff will work to get these numbers compiled for the next Board meeting. Director Hejduk stated the Board Developed Update Course for 2012 has been approved and the contract has been closed out. The Pre-licensing application forms are being worked on for the October 1 st deadline. Director Hejduk presented Phil Joyner with a certificate for 5 years of service as investigator for the Board. Chairman Talmadge Jones thanked Phil Joyner for all that he does and to continue to get reports out. All four (4) of the Contract Inspectors contracts have been processed and awaiting the last signatures. Staff is working with NCDOI IT in the transition to Oracle and working on the Continuing Education (CE) Sponsors online rosters and to receive payments for the CE providers that are still active. Director Hejduk asked the Board to look over the Action Item List to see if items need to be deleted from the list. The Board stated none. Director Hejduk stated the next regular Board meeting will be September 9, 2011 at the Raleigh office. At this time staff has no dates scheduled for Disciplinary Hearings. Also staff is working on maintaining a list of home inspectors that are on probation, suspended or otherwise disciplined in one way or another. Chairman Talmadge asked staff members Terri Tart, Jennifer Hollyfield and Phil Joyner if there was anything they wanted to report to the Board. Public Comment Eric Coates informed the Board that Fred Herndon resigned from the North Carolina Licensed Home Inspector Association (NCLHIA) to serve as a Board Member on the Home Inspector Licensure Board. Coates stated he is replacing Fred Herndon as President of the North Carolina Licensed Home Inspector Association. Just to let the Board know NCLHIA is here to help the Board in any way they can and interested in what is going on with HUD. Coates also stated four associations; Presidents and Vice Presidents are working together on some issues that are of interest to licensees and the industry. Chairman Talmadge Jones asked Coates about some of the issues going to be brought to the Board. Coates stated one of the issues the associations are working on is preparing a letter regarding HUD to be sent to Senators and Representatives in the legislature. Committee Reports a) Application Evaluation Committee Tony Jarrett stated no report.
NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 3 b) Examination Committee David Jones stated the committee did not meet and has no report. c) Finance Committee Ted Triebel stated the committee did meet and has no report. d) Legislative Committee Ted Triebel stated the committee did not meet. e) Continuing Education Committee Chris Noles stated the committee did not meet but the committee had an oversight and did not include Bonnie Gregory s fee for the Train the Trainer Class. Noles made a motion to approve a $1,800 increase to Bonnie Gregory s contract to address the Train the Trainer Course in August. Gerald Canipe seconded the motion. The motion passed. f) Standards/Rules and Interpretations Committee David Jones stated the committee did meet and has no report. g) Investigation Review Committee Marion Peeples stated the committee met several times since the last Board meeting. Peeples stated that staff has been doing an outstanding job in clearing a lot of the backlog of investigations. Mike Hejduk, Phil Joyner and the contract inspectors have cleared out the investigations where there are only 21 to 22 open cases. The committee discussed several cases and agreed to resolve some of the cases by sending Letters of Caution to the licensees for minor reporting violations. Marion Peeples stated the committee has two (2) consent agreements to present to the Board for approval. Peeples made a motion for the Board to approve the consent agreements for licensees Daryl Ray Sims and Scott R. Hickinbotham. Gerald Canipe seconded the motion. The motion passed. Marion Peeples stated now that the consent agreements have been approved by the Board and signed by the Chairman, the Board and staff thinks it would be best to let the public know the issues that generated the complaint and why the Board considers the complaint a serious matter. In the matter of Daryl Ray Sims, the complaint alleged he failed to state in the home inspection report or anywhere in the summary there were cracks in the fireplace and the chimney that required repair or subsequent observation, or warranted further investigation by a specialist. In the matter of Scott R. Hickinbotham there were a great deal of violations of the Standards of Practice in how he wrote the reports and prepared a contract and they were the same type of violations in a previous complaint, which has been resolved by disciplinary action by the Board. It is the Board s decision that Hickinbotham s probation periods for the two complaints be concurrent. There has been a great deal of discussion among the investigation review committee and staff on complaints filed regarding participation in the HUD REO Property Report Condition Program and the consultants involved in the 203(k) program. There are ongoing discussions with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development trying to clarify our mutual positions for the public with regard to home inspections.
NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 4 The committee is not ready to take any action on the issues associated with unlicensed individuals at this time. The committee would like to table any discussion on the disciplinary issues until September meeting. Chairman Talmadge Jones stated this is the recommendation of the committee at this time. h) Personnel Committee Chairman Talmadge Jones stated no report. Unfinished Business Director Hejduk stated the rules that were published in the North Carolina Register were read at Public Hearing and some typographic changes were necessary. Also, several comments were received regarding the rules. Three (3) rules were modified based on the review and public comment as noted below: Section 11 NCAC 08.1024 Course Requirements o (Electrical listed twice in subparagraphs. One was deleted). See Attachment A to these minutes for the entire rule. Section 11 NCAC 08.1025 Course Completion Standards o (On line 18 changed of to or ). See Attachment B to these minutes for the entire rule. Section 11 NCAC 08.1027 Textbooks o (Delete requirement to report itemized changes with replacement textbook). See Attachment C to these minutes for the entire rule. Director Hejduk stated the Board will need to vote to adopt all the rules published and modified. Chris Noles made a motion to adopt all the rules that were published and modified for approval. Marion Peeples seconded the motion. The motion passed. Marion Peeples made a motion to hold the November Board Meeting in Charlotte, NC. Ted Triebel seconded the motion. The motion passed. Marion Peeples made a motion that the Board Members volunteer for a one (1) hour question and answer Q & A session at the NCLHIA Conference in Charlotte, NC, February, 2012. Gerald Canipe seconded the motion. The motion passed. New Business Chairman Talmadge Jones stated it is time to elect the new officers for 2012, turning it over to the nominating committee Chairman Chris Noles. Chris Noles and Tony Jarrett met and decided on a slate of Officers for 2012. The following is the committee s recommendations for the 2012 Officers: Chairman Talmadge Jones Vice-Chairman Marion Peeples Treasurer Gerald Canipe Secretary Chris Noles
NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 5 Chris Noles made a motion to the Board to accept the recommendations of the nominating committee for the 2012 Officers. David Jones seconded the motion. The motion passed to approve the Election of Officers as nominated. Chairman Talmadge Jones stated to the outgoing officer Ted Triebel, Jones appreciation of his time and service on the Board. Ted Triebel stated it had been his pleasure to serve on the Board for the past three (3) years. Triebel stated that during his term on the Board one major change was when Chris Noles assigned Mike Hejduk to the Director s position. Triebel said Not only was it a good move, it has proven to increase the effectiveness and the efficiency of what this Board does. I would like to thank Mike Hejduk and Chris Noles. Triebel said he would also like to thank the home inspectors for his time on the Board. Chairman Talmadge Jones stated the Board has a request for reciprocity from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Chris Noles made a motion to send the request of reciprocity to the Standards/Rules and Interpretation Committee to identify if reciprocity is appropriate or not. Marion Peeples seconded the motion. The Board will need to determine what Massachusetts requires. Chris Noles would like staff to research this issue and turn it over to the Standards and Rules Committee to identify if this is an appropriate action. The motion passed. Chairman Talmadge Jones turned it over to Director Hejduk to discuss HUD. Director Hejduk stated a complaint from Daryl Washington about unlicensed entities doing HUD property condition reports prompted an investigation by Staff. Hejduk stated the Board has no disciplinary power over unlicensed people. There have been some letters sent out directing individuals to cease and desist performing home inspections for compensation unless properly licensed. Chris Noles explained to the Board we do not have the ability to punish someone who does not follow our rules, doing one of these inspections, if they are not licensed by the Board. The Board Attorney Rebecca Lem has sent a letter to HUD and will hopefully have something for the Board at the next meeting in September. Lem stated we basically want to find out what HUD s point of view is on this and get some clarification. Chairman Talmadge Jones stated that further discussion on this matter would be under the Investigation Review Committee. Jones recognized Fred Herndon to speak on this matter. Herndon stated that NCHILA and other associations got together to form a Home Inspector Summit Group and they meet every 2 to 3 months. The group discusses different issues and makes suggestions or hears ideas on how we would like to see the industry move. One of our objectives is to be able to work with the Board in a team effort. One of the concerns discussed is unlicensed people doing inspections for compensation. When you have people relying on property condition reports that are not being done by people that are qualified, then the general public is put into a potential position of harm or injury. Chairman Talmadge Jones stated he would like Fred Herndon to serve on the Standards/ Rules Committee and act as the liaison with the other associations. Also, would like to ask the summit group to hold off on sending the letter to HUD, until the Investigation Review Committee comes back to the Board with their recommendations on this matter.
NCHILB Meeting Minutes Page 6 Adjournment Chairman Talmadge Jones asked for a motion to adjourn. Gerald Canipe made a motion to adjourn. Chris Noles 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.