To the Membership of the International Association of Building Officials:

It is hard to believe that our Association is almost two years young since our incorporation in April of 2011. Your board of directors, working with the CEO, has been working hard to grow our organization. We have had many successes.  Just filing the incorporation papers and receiving approval by the IRS within a very short time was a huge success for the organization. This was cause to celebrate because it was the announcement that Building Officials were once again coming together.  It was a message that we want to create, an organization for Building Officials by Building Officials with the purpose of supporting our proud profession at all levels of government within this great Country.

Our accomplishments have been many. We are proud to say we have 150 members to date nationwide and growing. We have nine members on our board of directors and will be completing the full slate this coming year to 13 members. Our main achievement in the early stages of this organization is simply gaining recognition.

Gaining recognition was a major challenge. Most were concerned about our true purpose of the organization. There were misconceptions, false rumors, etc. These types of issues created major obstacles to the growth of the organization. We believe we have overcome those concerns by other organizations. We have had very productive meetings and conversations with organizations such as the American Institute of Architects, The International Code Council (ICC), ASTM, The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), etc. In recent weeks we have also met with representatives from BOMA, FEMA and have been invited to meet with the Codes and Standards Committee of the National Association of Home Builders. Our members have been invited to and serve on committees and councils of organizations such as ICC, NIBS, etc.

We have had successes in one of our main goal areas and that is related to code development. Our members have been very active testifying on proposed code changes that impact the quality of the codes which have been having an impact on code adoptions. This is an area that we need to strengthen.

While we have had many successes growing the organization, we also have many challenges ahead of us that are critical to moving forward. We need to continue our process of recognition, particularly at the federal and local levels. We have to grow our membership. We have to continue to be aggressive in the code development arena. As Chairman, it is my goal to create a strategic plan for the organization to move us forward. You the membership will be a part of helping the board of directors create that plan.

In order to continue to grow the organization that will provide the support that Building Officials need, we need to have the appropriate funding. We have been very successful managing our finances. We owe nothing; all expenses are paid and we have a little money in the bank. However, in order to continue to support you, we need to increase our finances. Our only source of revenue is membership dues. Therefore it is critical that we increase our membership. Further, for those of you who invested in us from the beginning, we hope you continue to see the benefit of membership in the Association through our accomplishments and the potential we have for the future.

I am therefore requesting that you renew your membership for another year by January 1, 2013. Further, I am asking you to serve as ambassadors for IABO by recruiting new members. You can renew your membership by applying online at www.iabohome.org or by mailing a check with the renewal form.

I want to thank you for your support and look forward to serving you this next year.

Sincerely,

Bill Duck