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*Decem6en, 2009 'Hew^iettei
NC
BOARD OF ARCHITECTURE
President’s Message
И
President’s
message,
December
2009
from those practitioners who
damage it, we protect the
public’s interest in this vital
segment of society.
This year brought many
changes to the profession of
architecture, and there is not
a firm or practitioner in
North Carolina whose life
has not been altered by the
economic events of 2009.
We have all seen collegial
ties shattered as architects
lost staff in anticipation of -
or as a result of - lost
revenue. Some firms
postponed the hard decisions
at their financial peril, while
others reduced salaries and
hours in an attempt to hold
valuable teams together. I
can say that your Board of
Architecture recognizes the
difficulties experienced by
the profession, and regularly
discussed the impact of the
Great Recession upon
architects throughout 2009.
This year, as the economy
tightened, we saw an
increase in complaints
regarding financial
mismanagement by
architects. Some complaints
came from clients who felt
underserved; others came
from consultants who felt
underpaid. Either allegation,
when supported by facts,
undermines the deeply-
seated and hard- won trust
placed in architects by the
public. In guarding the
integrity of the architect
In one particularly
protracted case, an architect
failed to pay his consultants
for many months after he
received payment from his
client for the work. The
architect was using the
engineer’ s fees to finance the
architect’s firm. This
practice is in violation of
rules 83A- 15(a)(2), 83 A-
15(a)(3), and 21
NCAC2.0210 which govern
incompetence and
unprofessional conduct. The
architect was reprimanded,
fined, and ordered to make
restitution.
In another case, a former
licensee was accused of
embezzlement of funds from
his Rotary Club, and in fact
had failed to pay his
employee’s withholding tax
for several years. The
Board, through a formal
hearing, revoked his license
to practice architecture.
I highlight these cases
because they are the first
ones I can recall in which
financial management, not
design or construction flaws,
became an issue. In its
disposition of these cases,
the Board has clearly
included an architect’s
financial practices within its
purview. Even in dire
economic times, the public
deserves no less a standard
of care from its architects
and its Board of
Architecture.
I will close this very
difficult year with the
opening words of Charles
Dickens’ A Tale of Two
Cities:
"It was the best of times, it
was the worst of times, it was
the age of wisdom, it was the
age of foolishness, it was the
epoch of belief it was the
epoch of incredulity, it was
the season of Light, it was
the season of Darkness, it
was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair, we
had everything before us, we
had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to
heaven, we were all going
direct the other way - in
short, the period was so far
like the present period...”
I challenge each of us to
reverse Dickens’ phrases as
we abandon 2009 for 2010.
If 2009 was the worst of
times, let 2010 be the best of
times, a season of light, a
spring of hope.
Best wishes for the Holiday
Season, and for a better year
ahead, from your Board of
Architecture.
Sincerely,
Charles H. Boney, Jr. AIA
Chairman 2009-2010
