The first PBA committee and Board of Directors meetings for 2023 were held February 9-11 at the Hotel Hershey. Committees met to report progress and set goals for the coming year. The sessions concluded with the Board meeting. Summaries of the meetings are below. Meetings are open to all members and non-directors are encouraged to attend, engage and see how their Association is working.
PHRC
Brian Wolfgang, Pennsylvania Housing Research Center Associate Director, provided an overview of new initiatives including the development of an online article database and is working on creating an eight-part mechanical ventilation article series. The PHRC will be getting involved with weatherization training and will generally focus on existing homes in the coming years. These initiatives will launch later in 2023.
Information on upcoming PHRC webinars and the 2023 PHRC Housing Conference was shared and PBA will promote these events to members.
Mr. Wolfgang asked all members for input on challenges that are being faced in the industry, so that PHRC can consider solutions for those challenges for future projects. Submissions can be sent to bwolfgang@psu.edu.
Membership Committee
Membership Chair Dean Hilliard welcomed a packed room at the committee meeting. A report was given on the status of some of the smaller local associations and how best to help them grow. Members were assigned to reach out to locals that had under 30 members to find out what needs they have and how PBA can help.
Information was shared on the current communications and membership tools that are available to members and locals.
The Membership Committee is working on a recruitment incentive program to help grow membership. Details will be available soon.
Cindy Cepko presented the group with a status report on the marketing awareness campaign that was approved by the PBA Board of Directors during the Fall meeting. Sessions and users on the PBA website have increased more than 200% since November. In addition, PBA has forwarded information from eight individuals/companies interested in joining to the appropriate locals in just the last month. The campaigns have just started so PBA expects even better results in the months to come. Executive Officers present expressed their enthusiasm for how the program is already working.
GA Committee
Mark McNaughton chaired the Government Affairs Committee meeting. Three IAF applications were approved. PaCAH awards were handed out to those locals who met or exceeded their goals in the 2021-2022 cycle. There was a lengthy discussion regarding the upcoming legislative session. The democrats will have the majority in the House and the republicans will have the majority in the Senate. There is a call for members to sign up for Hammers and Gavels. Once the House has constituted their committees – an updated form will be sent to each EO to circulate.
Workforce Training and Education Committee
Chris Warren substituted for the unavailable Dave DiPasquale and provided attendees with updates on the 11 CTCs that are up for review during the 2022-23 school year. To date, six have been approved for Endorsed Trade Program renewal. The addition of the Construction Trades program at Keystone Central CTC was approved.
The PHRC is working on reducing video education content from one hour to 15 minutes in order to provide secondary schools with more student-relevant material to fit in their curriculum.
New promotional materials have been developed and the plan is to distribute this information on vocational education options to guidance counselors in schools around the state.
The PA Foundation for Housing recently launched a fundraising drive that will be ongoing. Donations can be made via an online form or through a QR code to a PayPal option.
Professional Women in Building
The PWB welcomed the new PWB Chapter from the BA of Metro Pittsburgh. The chapter received their charter during the recent IBS gathering in Las Vegas. Chapter President Heather Dieckmann reported that they were chartered with sixty members and have since enrolled at least ten additional members. BA of Central PA PWB Co-Chair, Ellie Leyo, shared how her chapter partnered with the BACP Home Show for a Construct Your Future event. CTC female students set up a carnival alongside industry professionals. There was a lunch with a Q&A session. Students took home packets with a resume builder and other resources. PWB members sold PBA mugs during the Board of Directors meeting and raised nearly $700 which will be used specifically for female student awards in the PBA Endorsed Trade Program.
Associates Council
The Council met under new Chair Andréa Bledsoe to discuss ways of attracting more Associate Members, encouraging them to get involved with PBA and take advantage of the benefits available to them. A new quarterly e-newsletter will be developed specifically for Associate Members. Members are also asked to bring Associate Members to the PBA committee and Board of Directors meetings.
PBA Board of Directors
The regular Winter meeting of the PBA Board of Directors was held on February 11, 2023. The meeting was called to order by PBA President John Olson. Topics covered included the following:
- Cindy Cepko of the Wayne-Pike BIA and Todd Fisher of the York Builders Association were elected as PBA Life Directors. In order to become eligible for Life Director status a member must attend two meetings per year for ten years.
- Andrew Kaye of the HBA of Bucks and Montgomery Counties was elected as the 2023 NAHB State Representative.
- Mark McNaughton, Vice Chair of the PBA Governmental Affairs Committee, presented three recommendations from the GA Committee Meeting held the previous day:
- HBA of Chester and Delaware Counties – Amicus Brief in support of Toll Brothers. The IAF Subcommittee recommended the GA Committee and the Board of Directors approve up to $10,000 for an amicus brief and to have PBA participate as a named party on the amicus.
- The IAF subcommittee recommended to the GA Committee and the Board of Directors the approval of up to $15,000 for PBA to update the model contracts that PBA makes available to its members.
- The IAF Subcommittee recommended the GA Committee and the Board of Directors continuing funding of PBA’s codes consultant through the end of the calendar year.
All requests were approved by the PBA Board of Directors.
- Mark McNaughton also reminded members in attendance that the new 2023-24 cycle has 50 new members in the General Assembly and the Senate. He encouraged all members who may have a relationship with their Representatives and Senators to sign up for Hammers and Gavels.
- PBA Treasurer Don Olsommer gave the financial report. He stated that through November 2022, PBA was ahead of the budget in terms of revenue and expenses. PBA also holds more than four and one-half years of expenses in both the cash and investments.
- Don also offered the happy news that BSI, PBA’s wholly-owned affiliate, has approved a special $400,000 dividend to be paid to qualifying participants in the PBA Workers’ Compensation program.
- Dean Hilliard reported on the Membership Committee activities and the development of an incentive program that soon will be presented to all members.
- Andrew Kaye shared news with the Board on the recent International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas. The combined show took up 2.2 million square feet, with over 120,000 people in attendance (70,000 from NAHB; 40,000 from KBIS; and 10,000 from the Hardware Show). Over 5,000 brands were showcased and NAHB received gross revenues of more than $29 million.
- Mr. Kaye recognized NAHB Senior Life Director, Jim Piggot.
- Maria Coutts, BUILD-PAC National Chair, explained to those in attendance that a new set of goals have been set, but the mission remains the same: to get pro-housing, pro-business candidates elected so that they can support our building industry. Members must explain the value of having the right people elected and the need for support. Since Ms. Coutts is the National Chair, Pennsylvania will be in the spotlight and what we raise is going to be noticed.
- Nicky Paterson, 2023 Executive Officer Council President, encouraged members to support their EOs to attend the NAHB EO Orientation programs that are available in April and November. These valuable opportunities are essentially free to attend. Ms. Paterson also noted that the 2023 Association Management Conference is being held in Cincinnati in August. Because this is a relatively close location and there are scholarships available, she again encouraged members to support their Executive Officer to attend.
- John Olson announced that the 2023 Awards Program is now open for nominations. Winners will be announced at the summer meeting. To nominate an individual or project visit https://pabuilders.org/awards/. He also urged members to support the PA Foundation for Housing’s sole purpose in funding the PBA Endorsed Trade Program.
- PBA CEO Dan Durden asked members to share their ideas, complaints, and concerns with Senior Officers and staff members so that the membership could receive the best possible service. He closed by encouraging the members to help make their leaders jobs easier rather than thankless. Many hands make light work.
The next meeting of the PBA Board of Directors is set for 10:00 a.m. on July 29 at the Gettysburg Hotel. All members are invited to attend.