Page 50 - Green Builder November Issue Codes Update
P. 50
CODE ARENA
The Latest Rules, Regulations and Codes Impacting Sustainable Construction
cdpACCESS: The Good,
the Bad and the Uncertain
An online portal built for the ICC plus a policy change equals streamlined code
voting, but is the technology ready for prime time?
TBY MIKE COLLIGNON cdpACCESS was a new system, and it wasn’t going to be perfect on
HE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL has the first go-around. The participants were very civil and polite about
over 20,000 governmental voting member any glitches that occurred.
representatives. However, the ICC requires
these officials to annually register in advance REDUNDANCY TO THE RESCUE
of a vote. Unfortunately, not all take that step,
so the number of eligible voters will be quite However, the stakes were much higher in the Group A cycle, as
a bit less than 20,000. But thanks to an online some of the more notable codes (plumbing, mechanical, building)
portal built for the ICC and a policy change, were undergoing deliberations. This time, the technical difficulties
all eligible voters can cast their votes without weren’t tolerated as well. ICC staff recognized that the in-person
incurring travel expenses and lengthy stays out of the office. voters were losing trust in the electronic voting devices, so before
the hearing concluded, they were scrapped in favor of hand/
In 2014, the ICC unveiled cdpACCESS, their new online code standing vote counts.
development platform. Designed as a way to increase inclusiveness
in the code development process, cdpACCESS allows any registered According to Dave Bowman, manager of codes at ICC, the electronic
user to submit and comment on code change proposals, collaborate voting devices won’t even make an appearance at the upcoming
with peers and (for ICC governmental voting member reps) the Group B public comment hearings. Vote tabulation will initially be
opportunity to vote. done by a show of hands. “If we’re not comfortable with that, then
we’ll actually take a standing count,” Bowman says.
SO MUCH POTENTIAL
If you’re at all familiar with professional sports, you know
The voting function is its best feature. how easily teams request reviews of the officials’ calls. With the
For those who attended the final action hearings (as they were then significance of the proposals on the docket, it wouldn’t be surprising
to see vote counting on a number of proposals. This method of
called) in October 2014, they were able to use electronic voting devices voting will probably lead to some long days (and nights) in the
to both cast their votes and have those votes logged in cdpACCESS. hearing room.
When the vote was opened to the rest of the governmental voting
member reps, the remote voters were able to see the in-person results. Because technology won’t be used in the hearing room, it will cause
Those who attended could also log in and change their vote, if they a duplication of effort for those who attend in-person. The in-person
chose to do so. This portal, along with the addition of Section 8.0 vote will set the agenda for the online voting, but Bowman explained
to Council Policy 28, was going to usher ICC into a new era of code that “this year, because we’re not using the electronic devices, the
adoption. online governmental consensus vote will start at zero-zero. Those
that are voting at the public comment hearing, we’ll really need to
While cdpACCESS had undergone the expected beta testing, the encourage them to remember to go and participate in the online
ICC wisely decided to roll it out during the Group C cycle, which consensus vote”.
was largely the International Green Construction Code (IgCC)
development cycle. This gave ICC a trial period of sorts, since the IgCC Bowman said that ICC is working to remedy the problem with the
was one of the newest I-codes, it was considered more manageable electronic voting devices. They want to make sure the technology is
than the legacy codes, and it had yet to be widely adopted. “airtight and absolutely no way there will be a problem” in the future.
But in the short-term, the time spent on hand/standing vote counts
The combination of the electronic voting devices and cdpACCESS will create an extra burden on those voters who attend.
didn’t go 100 percent smoothly, but everyone understood that
48 GREEN BUILDER November/December 2016 www.greenbuildermedia.com
