Introducing Roby Harris as Your 2020-2021 CFI President

Roby Harris
CFI President, Roby Harris

To the members of the Carpet and FabriCare Institute, I want to thank you for your vote of confidence by electing me as your President. I was elected to serve and represent the CFI with honesty and integrity, and I am up to the challenge.

On November 14th, 2020 we held our Annual Business Meeting and Award Banquet, at Sequoia Cleaning, In Palo Alto, CA to swear in the new Board of Directors for the upcoming year of 2021. Congratulations team. It is going to be an exciting year working with this dynamic Board.

  • Andrea Varnai, Northern California Director
  • Terry Jones, Southern California Director
  • Jim Morris, Central California Director
  • Jose Solorzano, Secretary-Treasurer
  • Roby Harris, President
  • Charlene Locke, Chairman of the Board

As I begin my term on the Board of Directors, I will be working on our membership growth by continuing to add value to CFI. The new CFI Webinar Series: Success Wisdom, Meet the Experts, and the first-ever Spanish speaking webinar series - Sin Miedo al Exito, are being recognized as great educational webinars for professionals to be a part of.

In addition to the webinars, I'll be working with the Board to enhance the already great membership benefits we have. By collaborating with other organizations, CFI can add and increase discounts, perks, and build on our large group insurance coverage like the CFI Long Term Disability, Basic Life insurance and AD&D coverages we already have. I do believe CFI is the only carpet cleaning association that provides disability insurance to members.

We have reached an exciting new era in CFI and I am proud to be a part of the new generation. With all that has happened in 2020, COVID 19, shutdowns of businesses, and the loss of life, our industry pushes on. Online learning and Zoom meetings are the way of the world. However, we will still be meeting in person on some occasions. Make sure you attend the RED - Regional Education Days, Chapter meetings, and Webinars. Take advantage of all the benefits CFI offers you as a member.

Remember, CFI adds value, we are apart of one of the longest standing associations in the industry, and the best. From our beginning’s in 1954 to 2020, I am very proud to represent you as your new President.

Please take the time to email me or call me. My email is President@cficonnects.org and my cell number is 530-941-7390.

Roby Harris III
President, CFI
2020-2021

Wildfire – Environmental Assessments

Wildfire Impact Assessments

After a Wildfire, Do I need to hire an industrial hygienist and other qualified experts? “It Depends” is the answer, which sounds vague, but it is not.

Scroll down to read the summary and the article, or click here to download the PDF

Article provided by Blue Sky Environmental Consulting, Inc.
For more information call: (714) 379-1096

Summary:

  • After a wildfire, communities will have various degrees of damaged and smoke impacted structures and it may be necessary to have them inspected or tested by experts before occupancy.
  • It is necessary to have non-fire damaged buildings inspected and tested? Generally, no. In a light wildfire impaction situation, the building owners may feel comfortable doing their own work.
  • In more severe situations, building owners or their representatives may need to hire experts. Initially, a visual property inspection, assessment, photo documentation, and report written by qualified experts should be sufficient to document property and content damage and identify the means and methods of cleanup and repair.
  • A few situations may require inspection by experts. These include, but are not limited to:
    • When property around buildings or the building itself is charred or experienced high heat damage it should be inspected by licensed contractors.
    • Buildings having their power interrupted because of a power outage or burnt wiring, should be inspected by utilities, an electrician, or both.
    • When neighboring buildings burnt, where there could be a release of toxic materials, they should be inspected by environmental experts.
    • When you or other individuals in your family or business experience health effects when entering the building, surface and air quality should be sampled and analyzed.
    • When there is moderate to high levels of smoke and/or particulate impaction in the building, attic insulation, and HVAC system, an industrial hygienist and other qualified experts should inspect the property and determine if sampling is necessary.
    • When there is an increase in risk or liability, materially interested parties (e.g., mortgage, insurer, CPA) may require independent verification of the extent of heat damage or smoke and particulate impaction, where their documents support the cost of cleanup and repair.
  • The focus of this bulletin examines the qualifications of experts, investigation processes, the types of sampling and analysis methods, and the interpretation of lab data that drives cleanup and restoration reports.
Update - August 2020 - Wildfire - Environmental Assessments

Download PDF

The Three R’s for 2020-2021 Rethinking, Reinventing, Restructuring

Some of you might be too young to remember the Three R's. I have vivid memories of being taught Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. Okay, I am showing my earthy years, but stay with me.

With what our nation is struggling through economically and with no clear end in sight, I have been thinking about the “Three R’s” – not the three I was taught, but three for today’s times. Rethinking, Reinventing, and Restructuring.

We all know adapting is a form of survival. To have a profitable and healthy future, we need to adapt by Rethinking how we do business, then Reinventing and Restructuring our business models. This holds true to both our individual businesses and CFI.

Your CFI Board has embraced and succeeded in Rethinking for the future of our great association. While we bridge the gap between our membership of cleaners and industry leaders, affiliates, distributors, and educators, our vision remains the same. CFI is recognized as "The Association" who is unified and empowers its members.

CFI, clearly acknowledges, a significant part of our Restructuring success is because of your dedication and participation. You have embraced the modernized website where members are accessing their benefits, continuing education, resources, and networking - faster, easier, and safer. Restructuring continues and will bring added value to your membership benefits. We are expanding benefits with new accredited classes, extensive discounts, implementation of the next phase of webinar series, and introduction of a marketing campaign to reach cleaners nationwide.

My Presidential terms have been rewarding. As your President, I am honored to be the architect orchestrating such a monumental restructuring of CFI. As I transition from President to Chairman of the Board, I remain committed to CFI and its Rethinking, Reinventing, and Restructuring.

It takes your participation, it's your association, get involved, nominate and vote. I passionately believe 2020-2021 Membership year will prove to be one of growth, profit, and a healthy future.

Respectfully
Charlene Locke
CFI President 2018-2020

Important Links

 

Newsletter and Presidents Message

CFI Phases Forward Together

I was once told, "If you look forward, you won't stumble on the stones behind you." I find myself referring to this statement now, as I look at what lays ahead, after emerging from a pandemic driven economy. The last few months have been an eyeopener, for all of us, on so many levels. Yet, when I have spoken to CFI colleagues I am comforted in a shared optimism for continued growth and prosperity for our businesses.

The secret to success is adapting and CFI is adapting by looking forward. As we phase through June and July 2020 with on-line meetings at GoToMeeting.com, we plan to continue being on-line while resuming actual social meetings in August 2020.

Your CFI Board continues working on our collective vision; making the CFI brand nationally recognized. We will continue to couple with our longtime supporters, industry leaders, and Associate Members to adapt the groundwork that we have been building to move forward with this vision. We are adapting and phasing CFI to provide cohesive and balanced Chapter meetings membership wide. CFI Directors are working together to create great on-line Chapter meetings for all members while phasing in our Regional Chapter meetings for our members to gather and socialize. All meetings that provide an educational component will continue to be acknowledged by IICRC and receive Continuing Educational Hours ("CEH") as a membership benefit.

CFI and its members are there for each other to share knowledge, offering their skills, and giving support in any way needed. Always building, adapting, and looking forward! As a 2nd generation CFI member, I can truly attest that members are vested in each other's success. I want to personally thank all of you for your support and for being an important part of CFI.

Respectfully
Charlene Locke
CFI President 2019-2020

RSVP Bay Area: SBA Coronavirus Resources

Hi Everyone,

This email is a little out of the ordinary for me, but I was able to be on a national call yesterday with the administrator of the SBA and the Chamber of Commerce, along with 800 other business owners across the country, and some helpful information came out of it regarding help that is or will be available in short order.

I'm working on using a couple of these programs myself, and since it's relevant to me, it's also relevant to you, as we are all small businesses.

As a disclaimer, these are my notes from the call, please be sure to verify as things are changing by the day.

  1. EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loans) Loans- this is an existing program and is now approved for all states, as all states are now declared to be in a state of emergency. These loans are streamlined in process compared to a standard 7a loan, and as of now, do NOT require real estate collateral, which they ALWAYS did prior. Limit of $25 Million, rates are 3.75% (I assume that this is 3.75% + prime, which is how the 7a loans work)
  2. Grants- These would be awarded even if you were not eligible for the EIDL or PPP loans, and is a one time grant of $10,000. You must apply for either the PPP or the EIDL loan to qualify. They mentioned these a few times, but were a bit short on details. They made it sound like these would be broadly awarded for those that apply.
  3. PPP Loans (Personal Paycheck Protection Loans)- This is part of the pending legislation, and is up to $10 million in order to maintain payroll and other operating expenses during the outbreak. 8 weeks worth of payroll covered by this loan is forgiven after one year in order to assist businesses in keeping their employees on payroll rather than laying them off.

Other important notes, they are in the process of streamlining the applications to be just 2 pages, making it much simpler.

You can apply for both loan programs, the funds must be for different purposes (I.E. you can’t apply for both and get double funds for payroll, but you can get the EIDL Loan for ongoing things like rent/IT/Phones/etc, and then get the PPP loan for payroll in order to take advantage of the forgiveness program)

The repayment term for these loans is UP to 30 years. Both loans are payment deferred for one year from the date of award.

For existing SBA Loans, disaster loans are currently deferred payments until January 2021, and for 7a loans, they CAN be deferred up to 6 months, preapproved by the SBA (previously it was 3 months, 6 months required additional approval)

Sole proprietors are eligible for these programs in addition to all other business organizations.

More information can be found on the SBA Disaster Recovery site here: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/

And on the Chamber Website here: https://growwithco.com

Finally, there is an excellent spreadsheet with gobs of additional resources if you want to go down that rabbit hole as well. Too many programs to talk about here, but worth a look.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SRBZE2_6Nftwd02M6Oxj8MoeuZ7y93spXIgIPhkkp2w/htmlview#

As always, if I can be of assistance during this mess, I'm available by phone or email.

Best Regards,

Eric Meyers
President
RSVP Bay Area
925.365.1590

IMPORTANT MESSAGE from Your CFI Board About COVID-19 and Upcoming, First-Ever, On-Line Meeting

Dear CFI Members, Families, Suppliers, and Vendors:

Like you, we are deeply concerned about the impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to our membership and the communities served. In order to provide information to our membership, the CFI Board has been closely following developments concerning the outbreak of COVID-19.

We plan on sharing this information provided from the recommendations and guidelines issued by the CDC and WHO at our upcoming, first-ever, on-line, GoToMeeting.com. This meeting is a FREE benefit and exclusively for current CFI members in good standing. All members will receive a separate email with meeting agenda and login directions.

Click here to register for the meeting.

At this time we know of no confirmed instances of COVID-19 at any facility we are scheduled to visit. However, the Board voted to suspended non-essential travel and scheduling of classes or events out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of all. This includes cancellation of the CFI Fabrica Mill Tour. The Experience Conference and Exhibition in Ohio has been cancelled by their event coordinators. If you have any questions, please reach out and contact me.

We are also encouraging our CFI members, their employees and family members to continue taking preventive measures based on the CDC's guidelines. At this time we all should be focused on preparedness, precaution, and prevention, not panic.

CFI appreciates all your patience during these times. We appreciate your membership, partnership, your business and continued support as we all navigate through this current economic occurrence. We understand this is a tough period for our industry with many challenges.

I look forward to seeing our members at the upcoming GoToMeeting.com where we are planning to provide information from a reliable industry authority, who can answer our questions directed towards our business practices as we move forward. Remember, all members will receive a separate email with meeting agenda and login directions.

We are optimistic the spirit of social distancing will prevail and look forward to a speedy recovery.

Respectfully,
Charlene Locke
CFI President 2019-2020

Until Further Notice, The Upcoming Events & Classes Are CANCELLED

CFI Fabrica Carpet Mill Tour - CANCELLED

Fabrica Canceled
This event was scheduled for Tuesday March 24, 2020

The Experience - CANCELLED

the-experience canceled
This event was scheduled for April 1, 2, 3, 2020

Jon-Don - PENDING

jon-don
Announcements regarding Jon-Don will be updated as CFI is notified. Contact Jon-Don directly for further information.

CFI, First-Ever On-Line, GoToMeeting.com Details to Follow Soon

Please keep your eyes open for an email with directions to join our first-ever GoToMeeting.com. This on-line meeting answers as many questions possible during these changing time.

CFI 2019-2020 Board Members

  • Chairman of the Board - Matt Cole, mattcolescarpet@yahoo.com
  • President - Charlene Locke, president@cficonnects.org
  • Secretary-Treasurer - Roby Harris, raharris90c@gmail.com
  • NorCal Director - Open Position
  • Central Coast Director - Jose Solorzano, ejsjanitorial@gmail.com
  • SoCal Director - Terry Jones, tljservice@yahoo.com
  • Emeritus - Ralph Denning, spotlessincrd@gmail.com

We are Off and Running in 2019-2020!

It's official, CFI has a new Board of Directors, sworn in at our 65th Annual Meeting on September 18, 2019 in Las Vegas. We thank Andy Smith and Mark Goodman, our out going Northern and Southern California directors, and welcome back Terry Jones our new CFI Southern California director.

Our annual meeting and award ceremony was well attended by CFI members, Associate members, industry leaders and past CFI Presidents. Attendees were further versed on the added benefits of membership and the CFI vision to once again become a nationally recognized association. Our membership is strong and multi-talented within our own association. Together, we can ensure growth.

I want to personally thank those members who spoke to me directly about becoming involved by offering their time and turning a vision into reality.

The award ceremony that honors those who have given direct support to CFI and to our industry was impact-full, moving, and a surprise to our winners. We would like to extend a hearty congratulations to those deserving winners. In no particular order, here they are:

  • The Dick Mapelsen Award - Jose Solozano
  • The Joe Laurino Award - Greg Millitello
  • The Carl Willmans Award - Ivan Day founder of Procyon and accepted by his family

CFI booth in the exhibit hall was very well attended by members, non members and other exhibitors inquiring on how they can collaborate with CFI to achieve mutual goals. Your board will work within our industry to continue to bring additional value to membership, increase benefits and achieve our vision.

This year brings multiple Meetings, Events, and Education Classes. Please take a moment to read, familiarize, and share some of the great upcoming events already scheduled.

Respectfully,

Charlene Locke

CFI President 2019-2020