Georgia Fire Inspectors Association
General Meeting Minutes
The May 19, 2016 meeting of the Georgia Fire Inspectors Association was held in the H Building Auditorium at Central Georgia Technical College, Macon, Georgia.
Officers attending were President Lavon Cooper; Secretary Jimmy Gantt; Treasurer Dawn Taylor; Past President Craig Landolt; Member at Large 1 Willie Johnson; Member at Large 2 Danny Wallace.
President Cooper opened at 9:00 AM; James Crawley opened with prayer and President Cooper led the pledge of allegiance to the flag.
President Cooper welcomed everyone and introduced Eric Shaw, Georgia Representative for Hilti Fire Stop. Mr. Shaw presented the training session on fire stop systems.
After the training session President Cooper opened the business meeting at about 11:06 AM.
Member at Large 2 Report
Member at Large 2 Danny Wallace reported he is still trying to reach out to all across the state and asking people in the GEMA Districts to compile a list of AHJ’s and Inspectors across the state.
He reported on the shirt orders. There will be 1 order per year; the shirts will be delivered at the Fire Safety Symposium and shirts must be paid for before delivery.
He gave an update on the webpage, the address is www.gainspectors.org. He reported 178 visits in the last 30 days with 4 signed up. He is also working on the GFIA Facebook page and Google has had 402 views.
Member at Large 1 Report
Member at Large 1Willie Johnson reported tentative training topics for the remainder of the year.
July: Department of Community Health?
September: ISO?
November: Bright from the Start?
He also asked for input from the membership on topic needs.
Secretary’s Report
Secretary Jimmy Gantt reported that the minutes of the March 2016 meeting was emailed to the membership, he asked if everyone received a copy. There was no response from members present.
President Cooper asked for a motion to accept the minutes. James Crawley made a motion to accept the minutes and Judson Mobbs seconded the motion. The minutes for the March 2016 meeting were approved.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Dawn Taylor reported that no report was available. The GFIA account was attacked on May 9th and 12th and that the debit card was used for around $1800.00 - $2000.00. Law enforcement is working on the criminal activity and working to get funds reimbursed.
Certificates for the March training will be emailed to the membership by the end of the month.
Presidents Report
President Lavon Cooper reported that GFIA is now a preferred provider for ICC and that to receive ICC credit we need to sign in at the beginning and out at the end of training. GFIA is still working on getting ICC Membership status. It is important that members check whether they are ICC members on their membership application.
He reminded that after July, 50% of training for ICC recertification is required to be from ICC preferred provider courses.
He reported that HB 727 on Fireworks was signed in to law and to contact Jason Pritchett at the GA State Fire Marshal’s Office for questions.
Vice Presidents Report
In the absence of Vice President Stephen Bush, President Coper gave the report.
He reminded everyone the Fire safety Symposium is June 20-24th and that you can register on the website and the Chiefs can sign up on the website also.
On Friday of the symposium there will be a Fire Prevention roundtable, there will be speakers for fire alarm, sprinklers, hood and SFMO. Please send any questions you may have for these to Stephen Bush.
Past Presidents Report
Past President Landolt reported on the unification meeting. The Governor did not sign off on the workman’s compensation bill for Firefighters. This was for firefighters who got cancer from on the job exposure.
He reported that in HB 727 the law now has the definition of Firefighter to include inspectors.
He reported that the unification partners are now looking at GFIA as a resource.
The whitepaper initiative spearheaded by the GFIA, meeting with local leaders resulted in locale leaders going to the legislature. It took 2 or 3 years to make a difference but positive results came from the whitepaper.
He reported as of this date there were 7 golf hole sponsor’s. The golf course gave a $2:00 break per player. It is now $17:00 per player down from $19:00 per player. He said if we were not comfortable reaching out to get him contacts and he would.
Committee Reports
No update on 120-3-3 committee.
The nominating committee will accept nominations at the July and September meeting for this year’s board member elections. The nominees will be voted on in September. Nominations will be taken from the floor in September.
Association Reports
No association reports presented.
Old Business
Future meeting dates:
July 21, 2016; September 15, 2016; November 17, 2016; January 19, 2017; March 16, 2017.
New Business
President Cooper reported that the Memorial for the Charleston 9 who died in the Charleston Super Sofa Store fire was being refurbished and asked that the GFIA purchase a brick paver for the memorial. He asked that we purchase a $150.00 brick. A motion was made and seconded to purchase the brick paver with a unanimous vote in favor.
For The Good of the Membership
Nothing reported. The meeting was adjourned.
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