Letter to fellow Interior Designers in Mississippi;

Over the past few days there are a couple of issues which have come to light which affect your ability to practice as an Interior Designer, as well as management of your practice. Over the past couple of months the Governors Tax Study Commission has issued a draft report of their findings. Note that before these items can take effect, they must be passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the Governor.

In 6.6.7 ADD ADDITIONAL SERVICES TO THE LIST OF TAXABLE SERVICES such as the following:

- Motor Vehicle Towing
- Mini-Warehouse
- Interior Design Services
- Graphic Design Services
- Pet Grooming
- Nail Services and Tanning Services
- And so on, this item is included for your reference

Under Mississippi Code Chapter 07 Design, Engineering and other Professional Services, these services are exempt from tax when not related to sales of tangible property Section 27-65-17, services Section 27-65-23 or activities taxable by Section 27-65-21. All of these items are included for your reference. Upon review of the various sections mentioned above, it would follow logic that professional services would be exempt. But at the state level we are not legislated or recognized as such.

Interior Designers generally practice one of two methods; the first of which only professional services are provided as the instrument of service delivery. A second method is a combination of professional services along with retail sales.

Where tangible personal property has changed hands, the appropriate taxes have been collected and remitted to the state. Under the proposed changes, you would now have to pay taxes on professional fees collected from your clients. It appears that this would also be the case for architectural firms on their portion of fees collected for interior design services. Unless such services are not promoted or billed as such services. In general this would provide an additional level of burden on the firm’s, owners and business managers with regards to record keeping and filing on these taxes.

While this material is only from a draft report of the Governors Tax Study Commission, it should reemphasize to us the importance of active involvement in the political process. These findings have a long road ahead before they can be signed into law, but they demand our attention now.

As design professionals, you’re aware of how important the protection of the public’s health, safety and welfare is. On a daily bases you are entrusted to make decisions based on your education, training and interpretation of codes which affect our state’s major assets-its citizens. From youngest to oldest, we are entrusted to safeguard their well being, by providing spaces which ensure that their lives are enhanced.

For those of you whose practice includes tenant build-out projects, your ability to perform such services has been greatly reduced. On May 23, 2008, the Mississippi State Board of Architecture issued an opinion to Mississippi Building Officials outlining those who can and cannot provide such services.

If a tenant space is within a building and less than 5,000 sq. ft. in scope, and the building itself is larger than 5,000 sq. ft., it must be designed by an architect licensed by the State of Mississippi. For those of you who have not heard about this, a copy of the board’s letter and brochure are attached for your review. So unless it’s 5,000 sq. ft. or less for both, and unless you work for an architectural firm, you’re out of business.

As a group, it’s time for us to take control of our profession and our destiny. Are we going to let the select few dictate what we can and cannot do? True, we have to work with them to reach our end goal, the protection of the public’s health safety and welfare, but when one or both sides of this equation is saying one thing and doing another something has to give.

Over the past few years we have reached out to the design community in our state, AIA and The Mississippi State Board of Architecture. We have informed them of our thoughts and shared with them our legislation. We have met with them, received their verbal comments but to date we have yet to receive any written comments. (These are the colleagues in the design profession which we work with on a daily bases to ensure that the health, safety and welfare of the public is protect.)

At this point, it appears that we were strung along to slow down these legislative efforts in hope that we would lose interest and go away. For those who don’t know, AIA national position holds that those who are qualified, through education and training to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, are architects and engineers.

As a unified group, we are going to have to inform and educate the public and elected officials with regards to this legislation. Or let a select few continue to dictate the direction of those who are the “chosen ones”.

This past legislative session, there was legislation introduced by a House member. This was done on their own initiative seeing the need for such legislation. Though we got credit for it, and not doing what we said we would do and hold off of legislative efforts in 2008.

Remember the old saying “timing is everything”? That is true now. We can say that with the approach of the 2009 legislative session, we will be there, have sponsors to introduce legislation in both chambers and will move this cause forward.

It will also be our position that if the state during these tough financial times needs the additional tax funds on a short term, we will gladly support the Governor’s Tax Study Commissions report but only if it’s equal taxation among all design professionals.

Take a moment, take a stand for what you feel is right and join us in this effort to protect health, safety and welfare of those close to us and those who will follow us in the future.

Is it possibly to take something controversial, and make it a leader within the community?

Some building type provide great concern and opposition within communities such as detention facilities. Over the pas several years, I've worked on a County Adult Detention Center (ADC). This facility will replace one which was built in the early 1970's, and has sense outlived its usefulness. There has been some opposition to the project and its proposed site.

A concerned citizens group has come out in opposition to the proposed project site. The local municipality has approved the site which has lead to court action by the citizens group. After an extended process and change of venue for the hearing, the court system has finally ruled in favor of the county's proposed site.

Site is located just outside the central business district west of the existing ADC on what was once an elementary school site. Site is one block off a main east west corridor and adjacent to a major north south corridor. An one point the site was just south of a private elementary school which was destroyed during hurricane Katrina, with no current plans of rebuilding.

One of the difficulties with any site selection for this type of facility, state law requires county detention facilities to be located within the county seat. Couple of years ago there was local private legislation introduced to relocated the ADC into the county, but a local legislator blocked the measure thinking that the county was wanting to put the facility in town, which they are now forced to do.

County seat is basically land locked by water on two sides and other communities surrounding its other sides. Within city limits selection is very limited due to several factors of which flooding is the major one. Being a coastal community a major consideration to take into account is elevation above sea level and storm surge.

As with most things in life, we must look for the good which can come from something which is even controversial. The location and type of structure could allow the facility to become a leader within the community by thinking outside the box with this type of facility.

From what I understand it’s not necessarily the ADC but the community work center (CWC) which has caused the most objections. One of the things which I’ve always heard was passers-by do not like traveling down Telephone Road and seeing them outside weight training and playing basketball. To screen the ADC from the street, the inmate exercise yards are surrounded by a twelve foot high masonry wall at the perimeter, and then within this defined space, inmate exercise yards are separated by twelve foot security fence.

One thing which we can do is create a landscape buffer between north south corridor and the ADC. This buffer zone would also include an area in front of the CWC. This “Park” is seen as a natural setting, not necessarily a public spot, although it could be utilized by those families visiting or waiting at the ADC. Vegetation and trees would be species indigenous to the area. This would create a setting at a smaller to the natural river system which exists just a little ways from the site. The water feature would serve two functions. It would act as storm water retention, but would also allow some water to slowly filter through the ground and assist with the recharging of the local aquifer.

An issue/opportunity we have will be the two+/- acre roof scape. This provides an opportunity to address a couple of issues which would benefit the County and Citizens long range. As we are well aware, energy costs are now taking more of a toll on everyone’s budgets and there seems to be no end in sight. The structure is in place to support it and we should consider making the roof a vegetative roof. Life expectancy of this type of system is about thirty years.

This would benefit the County by reducing the equipment required to heat and cool the ADC by some where in the range of 20% to 30%. This would reduce the energy demand of the facility. Reduce heat island effect of facility on its surroundings. The technology behind the system (from deck up) is well developed and proven.

Another issue which will have to be addressed will be storm water run-off. This system also acts as a retention basin and would reduce the time of run-off entering the system. A portion of the water would be retained by the roof for irrigation of the vegetation on the roof.

With this option, and the incorporation of the landscape buffer, we could create an “avian sanctuary” within the city limits.

Some early thoughts on a work in progress.

First Class:

This is the syllabus and class schedule for the first class I assisted with. An yes the students treated us the same way that I have done before class. This was a nice learning process got to help develop the course material and see how the other side (educational) works. Class had twenty-four junior level design students.


























































If it were to work-out again, I believe that it would be a nice challenge to teach another class. A small way of giving back to the profession, and the future professionals.

"Have we forgotten the lessons we learned in kindergarten?"

In 1986 Robert Fulghum published a book “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten” in which he pointed out those things which he learned in kindergarten:

• Share everything.
• Play Fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and mike are good for your.Live a blanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
• Wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we re all like that.
  - Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup-they all die. So do we.
• And remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned -- the biggest word of all -- Look.
• Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule, and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and quality and sane living.
• Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
• And it is still true, no matter how old you are-when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

I've been looking for a format to coninue my practice study, so I think that it should follow loosely this format, in story form, until I get sidetracked.