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Singer Island meeting:

The Advisory Committee held its annual meeting on December 4^th at Singer Island, Florida. Thirty-one of the thirty-nine accredited agencies were represented at the meeting, and some agencies had several people in attendance. Kevin O’Connell of the COA chaired the meeting. (list of attendees)

The large turnout made for a good meeting. There were many familiar faces as well as some new ones. The presentations were well-received and the discussion of associated issues was lively and informative. The pre and post-meeting networking was also beneficial.

A special thanks goes out to first-time attendee Dan Heney, of fire etc. of Alberta Canada, for recording the minutes of the full day meeting.

Welcome:

Mr. M. H. Jim Estepp, Chairman of the Board of Directors, welcomed the attendees and thanked them for their dedication to Fire Service Professional Qualifications. He also spoke highly of the late Johnny Wilson and his contributions to the ProBoard and asked for members to observe a moment of silence in his memory.

Review of proposed changes:

A presentation of the proposed changes to the accreditation process filled most of the morning. Mr. Lawrence Preston of MFRI, Mr. Fred Piechota of Connecticut, Mr. Alan Joos of Utah, and Mr. Tim Dunkle of Pennsylvania handled the task admirably. The changes were proposed by the COA with the goal of uniformity of paperwork, consistency of evaluation, and ease of use of the system of accreditation. They included revisions of the following documents:

Application for Accreditation	COA – 1
Accreditation Self-Study Document	COA – 3
Operational Procedures	COA – 5

The Advisory Committee proposed several clarifications during the morning session. All of these clarifications were subsequently reviewed and approved by the COA. The updated documents are available on the ProBoard web site.

In addition, Mr. Dunkle led a discussion on an implementation timetable for the changes and associated paperwork. The recommendations, subsequently accepted by the COA, are as follows:

New Accreditations	1/1/05
Re-Accreditations	1/1/06
Extensions of Accreditation	1/1/06

Afternoon session:

Mr. Robert Rose, Certification Coordinator for MFRI, presented an overview of how MFRI handles the Experience and Training audit in their Option Two method of certification.

Mr. Tony O’Neill reported that the NBFSPQ system was in good fiscal shape in the treasurer’s report.

Mr. David Trebisacci and Mr. Ken Elmore gave the Accreditation Manager’s report and a demonstration of the web based certification search tool that is now available.

New representatives:

Nominations were opened for Chairperson of the Advisory Committee and representative to the Board of Directors. Mr. Fred Piechota of Connecticut was the only candidate nominated, and was elected by proclamation.

Nominations were also opened for Advisory Committee representative on the COA. Mr. Gerald A. Fox of the College of the Rockies was similarly nominated and elected.


Gerald A. Fox	Fred Piechota takes the helm

Mr. Fred Piechota assumed the chair and held discussion on next year’s Accreditation conference location and other issues.

Johnny Wilson Memorial Award:

Mr. Larry Preston presented a proposal for a Johnny Wilson Memorial Award, including criteria for the selection process. The award is to be presented annually to someone in the fire service community who emulates Johnny's dedication to training and certification. Three members of the Advisory Committee were seated on the selection committee pending the approval of the award by the Board of Directors. They are Mr. Larry Preston of MFRI, Mr. John Johnson of Georgia and Mr. Alan Joos of Utah.

Adjournment:

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