Call to order at 6:30 by Bill McKay.

The first order of business was membership. As anyone getting this newsletter already knows the active members of the Pacific NW Chapter of the AFSA have assessed themselves an annual dues of $250.00. You should have all received a notification and invoice for your 2009 dues by now. Remember that you need to be a member of the AFSA national organization to be a member of this chapter. Remember that you are responsible for dues to both organizations. Remember that the dues amount is per company and not per individual. Remember that the dues for this chapter must be made out to AFSA/PacNW Chapter and mailed to me (the address is on your invoice) with the invoice by the last working day of 2008. The membership at the fall meeting, held on 11 November, voted a $50.00 late fee to anyone submitting their membership dues after 1 January 2009so that deadline has some meaning. This of course does not apply to new members but only to current members that are late. Remember that this is the last newsletter you will receive if you are not a member in good standing for 2009. Remember that AHJs can receive the newsletter just by asking but if you don’t ask…. Current members in good standing for 2009 are:

Advanced Fire

Commercial Fire

Fire Protection Systems

Inland Empire Fire

Inland Fire

Knight Fire

Plumbco

Simplex/Grinnell

Sprinx Fire

Wolfe Heat and Fire

AHJs are:

Diane Hansen–Seattle FD

Chuck Koval–GSA

Bob Lovett–Redmond FD

Brian Nixon– US Navy NAVFAC and too many other letters to list

Anybody else  out there–you have a little more than a month.

Next we’re having elections. We have openings for Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary/Trreasurer.  Each position will serve for two years. Current candidates are as follows:

Chair–Randy Knighton

Vice Chair–Ashton Wolfe

Sec/Treas–Jim Stewart, Mike Frazione & Kevin Kane

Nominations are open until the end of the year so if you’d like to run or nominate someone you have about 30 days to let me know. Sometime in January I’ll send out a special balloting mailing to the members.

Bill says the L&I wage survey will be coming soon-maybe January or February. We’ll keep you informed.

There should also be a statement soon from the AG relating to the use of union dues from prevailing wage jobs for subsidizing non-public work.

The “co-op” insurance program is nearing completion.

The mission statement for our chapter has been voted on and reads: Members helping members improve.

The “Permit Book” is being compiled by Ashton and he will be getting in touch with folks for help.

Discussion of the scholarship initiative was tabled until the winter meeting.

Discussion of the baseball tournament was tabled until the winter meeting.

If you haven’t heard the 2009 IRC will have a requirement that all single family dwellings, duplexes and townhouses will be required to have sprinklers beginning in January of 2011. Now the war to make sure it’s adopted in our NW states begins. Already the NAHB/BIA has its proxy agents fighting against it. See the attached letter from WABO to the ICC.

Everybody that went agreed that the AFSA convention was a smashing success.

Lots more about CPVC. Keep up with dos and don’ts. There’s apparently a new problem with a certain type of CPVC made in Canada. There’s also a potential problem with the chemicals used to mitigate against MIC attacking the CPVC in steel/plastic systems.

There’s a lot of confusion regarding the new installer/trainee certification at the State level. The one sure thing though is that you need to get your installers and trainees registered by the first of the year. If you’re unsure of what you need to do contact the State Fire Marshal’s office. Don’t procrastinate on this one.

Bill reported that the new NICET testing protocol will be starting the first of the year.

Lloyd Ivy was our guest and as usual he gave us insight into AFSA membership. There are nationwide 826 AFSA contractor members and 207 associate members. He also mentioned that AFSA was working on more streamlined communication strategies that should make exchanging information between AFSA and contractors quicker. Finally Lloyd announced he’d be retiring at the end of the year. I’ll certainly miss his annual visits. He’s been a great asset to AFSA and our chapter.

And last but not least Randy Siegmund announced his retirement from Kennedy. I can’t remember when I didn’t know Randy. I’ll be missing him to.

Members present:

Ashton Wolfe WHF

Bill Mckay Advanced

Jim Stewart Advanced

Mike Balsey Advanced

Roger White Knight

Randy Knighton Knight

Herb Canon Knight

Bill Cunnungham Plumbco

Dennis Skinner FPS

Mike Fragione FPS

Kevin Kane Viking Supply Net

Randy Siegmund Kennedy Valve

Jim Akers Kennedy Valve

Chuck Bamford Bamford Inc.

Steve Hobart Simplex/Grinnell

Herb Schairbaum Bluewater

Chris Johnson Bluewater

Chris Russell Security Solutions

Ken Sirak Victaulic

Lloyd Ivy AFSA

Ron Greenman Bates Technical College

Happy Thanksgiving–See you all next year.