January 12, 2005 Board of Directors Meeting Report Out

ASHI’s final board meeting of the year was held in conjunction with InspectionWorld 2005 in Austin, Texas. This is a report to the ASHI membership of the actions taken during this meeting. The official minutes of this meeting will be presented for board approval at its next meeting on April 16, 2005, in Rosemont, Ill. We encourage you to review this report in order to be fully informed of actions taken on your behalf by the ASHI Board of Directors.

I. Consent Agenda

The board approved an item presented on a Consent Agenda. Consent items are those that do not require debate or dialogue in order for action to be taken on them. This approval includes the following:
The board approved ASHI Member Brian Murphy to serve as the 2005 chair of ASHI’s Education Committee. (Note: the individual previously approved to serve in this capacity was elected to serve on the ASHI board and is therefore ineligible to serve as a committee chair.)

II. Approval of Minutes

Board meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the board. These included:
Minutes of the October 23, 2004, board meeting held in Rosemont, Ill. as presented.

III. National Home Inspector Exam

The board authorized its legal counsel to finalize an agreement between ASHI and the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors (EBPHI) that will grant ownership of the National Home Inspector Examination (NHIE), its item bank, copyright, trademark and all other rights associated with full ownership of the NHIE to the EBPHI. The agreement will now be signed by both the ASHI pPresident and EBPHI pPresident for implementation.

IV. Work Area Status Report

The board now receives “status updates” on how the committees and staff are progressing in their work within each area of the strategic plan. These reports have taken the place of “Committee Reports for Review” and “Committee Reports with Motions.” As this was the final meeting of the year, the report was in a year-end format summarizing all that had happened over 2004. The following motions were presented and approved by the board during this report:

A. The board approved offering full members of the Georgia Association of Home Inspectors (GAHI) the opportunity to become full Members of ASHI. Full members in GAHI will not have to take the ASHI Standards of Practice Examination, but they will be required to meet other ASHI requirements of membership, including successful passage of the National Home Inspectors Examination, report verification, payment of annual dues and application fee, and annual MRC requirements. The ASHI Membership Committee shall review all membership requirements for GAHI on an annual basis.

B. The board approved offering all inspector level members of the Texas Association of Real Estate Inspectors (TAREI) who hold a professional inspector’s license, via the sponsorship program, with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) to become full Members of ASHI. These persons shall also satisfactorily complete the standard ASHI report verification process January 12, 2005 Board of Directors Meeting Report Out as well as TAREI membership verification. The TAREI membership requirements will be reviewed annually by the ASHI Membership Committee. (Note: While this item was originally approved by the board in October, there was a need for further clarification on certain terms used in the motion.)

C. The ASHI board granted permission for the U.S./Canadian Task Force to continue its work in 2005. (Note: this task force, assembled in late 2004, is meeting to discuss possible enhancements to ASHI’s offerings to Canadian home inspectors to make membership more appealing.)

V. 2005 Work Plan

The ASHI board reviewed the draft 2005 work plan, which was assembled from the 2004 work plan with significant enhancements and additions from the 2005 committee chairs and board and staff liaisons. The work plan for the society identifies the actions needed to achieve the goals of ASHI’s strategic plan. The work plan also identifies the committees assigned to these actions as well as the timeframe to complete the work. The board ultimately approved the 2005 work plan with minor changes. The work plan is now being divided up among all
committees for their immediate implementation.

VI. Homeowners Insurance Alliance

Following a presentation by ASHI Member Bill Mason, the board approved ASHI’s participation in the “Homeowners Insurance Experience,” an alliance of various organizations and companies to develop an insurance inspection report format for use by insurance companies to issue homeowners insurance. ASHI’s participation in this alliance shall be funded for 2005 from the strategic expenditures budget. This approval requires ASHI board approval of the inspection report form and all follow-up documents.

VII. Miscellaneous Reports

In the board meeting, various reports are given. At this meeting, reports were provided to the board from the Finance Committee, Council of Representatives, Headquarters, and legal counsel. In addition, ASHI’s lobbyist, Randy Pence provided an update of federal activities in 2004 and expected activities in 2005. Actions were taken during the following reports:

Financial Report
To direct staff to prepare and submit a report outlining the income and expenditures related to the branding program.

VIII. Unfinished & New Business

The following items were approved by the board under the unfinished and new business sections:

A. A motion was made, seconded and approved to conduct a “Committee of the Whole” discussion at the April 2005 board meeting in Chicago regarding financial matters.

B. A motion was made, seconded and approved that ASHI’s legal counsel should prepare a report to include his recommendation regarding distribution of ASHI’s Board Book to the Speaker of the Council, the Alternate COR Speaker and the eight COR Group Leaders.

C. A motion was made, seconded and approved that the board subgroup look to implement nonunion voice talent to re-record The ASHI Experience radio commercials so as to not pay ongoing talent fees.

IX. Executive Session

During executive session, only the board is allowed to be in the room. Unless requested otherwise, all guests and staff are asked to leave. After the executive session is completed, typically, the secretary reports certain actions taken during the session as appropriate. During this particular session, several policies were approved pertaining to the process and committee make up for the annual evaluation of the society’s executive director. In addition, a task force was established to create policy regarding succession of the executive director for use when applicable.
With no additional business to discuss, the January 12, 2005, ASHI Board of Directors meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.