ASHI member caught abusing his office in a failed attempt to destroy his competition.

InterNACHI's own Nick Gromicko and general counsel Joe Ferry attended the Loveland, CO city council meeting on October 11th, 2005 in an effort to stop them from adopting Colorado's first home inspection regulation.  The regulation, proposed by the city's Construction Advisory Board, was authored by one Jon Rudolph and presented using Power Point by Jon Rudolph, one of the Construction Advisory Board members.  The regulation would require home inspectors to adopt the ASHI Standards of Practice, word for word, thus eliminating home inspectors who belong to InterNACHI.  
 
Can you guess what City Construction Advisory Board member Jon Rudolph does for a living?  It is almost unbelievable, but here goes:  He's a home inspector belonging to... you guessed it... ASHI.
 
In an egregious violation of the city's own Charter Article 5-2, which prohibits any Board or Commission member who suffers from a conflict of interest from taking any action on such a matter, whatsoever, scumbag Jon Rudolph just couldn't play by the rules:
 
This from the Loveland, Colorado City Charter, Article 5-2:
 
Section 5-2 - Disclosure and Non-action - Matters involving conflict of interest.
(a) If the Mayor, any Council member, or any member of a board or commission has a conflict of interest with regard to any matter before the Council, board, or commission, as applicable, he or she shall follow the disclosure and other requirements of this section.
 
(b) At or before the time the matter is heard, the member shall disclose the interest to the Council, board, or commission, as applicable.  The member shall not vote on or otherwise take any formal action concerning the matter, shall not participate in any executive session concerning the matter, and shall refrain from attempting to influence any other member in voting on the matter.
 
Well, that didn't stop ASHI's Jon Rudolph who has been abusing the power of his office to try to put his competition out of business.
 
InterNACHI to the rescue!
 
InterNACHI submitted the following letter to the City Counsel on October 11th which squashed the ASHI scum bug.
 
Memo
 
To:        City Council
From:    Nick Gromicko
Date:     10/11/2005
Re:        Home Inspector Registration
 
Nick Gromicko, Founder of the National Association of Home Inspectors (“InterNACHI”), respectfully requests that this memorandum be admitted into the record of the hearing on the captioned matter.
 
InterNACHI objects to the proposed Amendment to Title 15 of the Loveland Municipal Code for the following reasons:
 
1.       There is no Code of Ethics included in the proposed Amendment.  Thus, a home inspector could pay kickbacks and finders’ fees to realtors or, more unethically, find defects in the inspected home and then suggest himself as the perfect person to repair them.  If the purported rationale behind the Amendment is to protect the consuming public, this is a glaring omission.
 
2.       There is no requirement to carry Errors and Omissions Insurance.  Thus, an aggrieved client of a negligent home inspector would have no recourse against a judgment proof inspector.  If the purported rationale behind the Amendment is to protect the consuming public, this is a glaring omission.
 
3.       The proposed Amendment is nothing more than a word-for-word recitation [with a different numbering scheme to fool the unwary] of the standards of practice of the American Society of Home Inspectors, an out-of-state organization to which Mr. Rudolph belongs, rather than the more stringent standards of practice of the Colorado-based InterNACHI, which is not only the world’s largest association of home inspectors, but Loveland’s, Colorado’s and America’s, as well. Because InterNACHI standards of practice, continuing education and annual testing requirements are so high, AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, insures InterNACHI members exclusively at a substantial discount from the rates it regularly charges for errors and omissions insurance.  By lowering the home inspection standards to the ASHI model, the City of Loveland will instantly eliminate almost all of the inspectors in the city of Loveland and make it impossible for many to acquire errors and omission insurance to protect the consuming public.
 
4.       The continuing education requirement is inadequate.  It should be at least twenty-four (24) hours.
 
5.       There is no annual testing requirement of the home inspector in the proposed Amendment.  In an industry that has undergone and continues to undergo such rapid change as the home inspection industry, inspectors should be required to demonstrate continued competency.  If the purported rationale behind the Amendment is to protect the consuming public, this is a glaring omission.
 
6.       There is no requirement that the home inspector have any experience whatsoever.  If the purported rationale behind the Amendment is to protect the consuming public, this is a glaring omission.
 
7.       Section 3.2.5 is clearly unconstitutional.  As written, one could be barred from earning a living as a home inspector on the basis of unproved allegations, while, ironically, a convicted criminal who, thus, has a resolved complaint, could operate as a home inspector with impunity, an absurd result.
 
8.       The Amendment is tainted by its provenance.  It was prepared and proposed by a home inspector  who is a member of Loveland’s Construction Advisory Board and has ties to the real estate industry.  The Amendment he has proposed would eliminate his direct competition which is a clear violation of  5-2(a) of the Loveland City Charter relating to Ethics.
 
9.       Finally, despite InterNACHI’s having met with the Construction Advisory Board and provided Jon Rudolph with a torrent of material germane to the proposed Amendment, the proposed Amendment omits any mention of InterNACHI in the Acknowledgement Section, an oversight that could not be unintentional.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
 
Nick Gromicko
InterNACHI
 
 
Needless to say, City Council won't be adopting Mr. Rudolph's self-enriching proposal.
 
No wonder ASHI member Jon Rudolph omitted any reference to ethics in his proposed regulation!   Would you trust Jon Rudolph to be honest about your most expensive investment? 
 
A detailed brief of these events and a summary exposing this public official and warning all about this ASHI inspector is being drafted and sent to all concerned parties including EVERY real estate agent and lending institution within 70 miles of Loveland, Colorado.   InterNACHI will be building over 200 search engine optimized websites designed to warn REALTORs and home buyers about this inspector.  Inspector's Quarterly will be featuring a national story about Jon Rudolph.  And, a civil law suit against Jon Rudolph, demanding reimbursement of InterNACHI's costs and legal fees suffered while thwarting his abuse of office actions is being prepared.
 
Many thanks to member Jim Bushart for bringing this to InterNACHI's attention, and to InterNACHI's general counsel Joe Ferry who made it to the October 11th City Council evening meeting despite having to catch a plane to Connecticut and then back home to Philadelphia at 5 am the following morning.