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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Electrical Advisory Board - 04/24/2000 - Special w / ohCity of ELECTRICAL ADVISORY BOARD Corpus Minutes of the Special Meeting E Christi April 24, 2000 ,0A415 7 1� Board Members Present: Mike Carranco, Chairman o� ��� N John Bartram RECEIVED Frank Brogan CITY SECRETARY'S Willie ngs OFFICE ti� Ralph Skinner kil �'' 2 Board Members Absent: Kyle Budd \t£o£6Z 43-61 Joe Hernandez Robert Shake Staff Members Present: Arthur N. Sosa, Building Official David Lewis, Chief Electrical Inspector Andrew Lang, Electrical Inspector II E. Kay Butler, Executive Secretary Chairman Carranco called the meeting to order at 4:34 p.m., in the Committee Room on the first floor of City Hall. The first item of business was roll call. Messrs. Budd, Hernandez and Shake were absent. The next item was board action on a decision of Building Official. Mr. Sosa handed out additional background information. He explained to the board what the options were and added that his position had not changed. He stated that looking at the situation and the Fire Department's position plus the fact that the fire station is located next door he felt this was a reasonable alternate method of construction. A discussion followed during which board members questioned staff concerning what was shown on the plans as far as firewalls and who set these standards. Mr. Lewis stated that the letters he handed out were from John Hudson concerning rulings made by Benny Mullenix. Both Hudson and Mullenix are former Chief Electrical Inspectors. Mr. Skinner stated that the board had a job to do concerning whether or not they concurred with the assessment of the Building Official that this is an acceptable alternate method. He stated that clearly this is a violation based on the logistics, of the project. Mr. Sosa stated that this is a violation of the code. He stated that he is asking for a concurrence based upon his decision accepting an alternate method. He explained that his decision was based upon: how the fire department will handle a fire situation, the location of the Fire Department and because it was not caught or stopped in the inspection process before the job had progressed. SCANNED P.O. Box 9277 • Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277 • (512) 880-3000 Vim/\Bow In response to Chairman Carranco question Mr. Sosaststated that he did not feel that this decision would set a precedence because there were certain mitigating circumstances in this case. The Chairman asked Mr. Lewis if his opinion had changed since the previous regular meeting when he did not agree with Mr. Sosa's decision and if it was the same what could he recommend that would bring the job up to code. Mr. Lewis stated that he supported a structured application of NEC 230-2 and 230-71. Mr. Lewis said that he supported plaques and main disconnectors. Mr. Martin Adrian, Metro Electric, stated that his staff did not detect the error in the plans. Mr. Skinner questioned whether or not this will be the last time that an exception would be made and how long will we have to make this type of concession. He stated that he does not believe alternate means and method has anything to do with what we are talking about now. Chairman Carranco stated that he felt it was the consensus of the board that this was not Mr. Adrian's responsibility, to know whether there are four hour walls or not. A motion was made by Mr. Flemmings to concur with the decision of the Building Official. Motion died for lack of a second. A motion was made by Mr. Skinner, seconded by Mr. Bartram and passed unanimously not to concur with the Building Official's decision. (The board was polled at Mr. Adrian's request, the vote was unanimous). The Chairman stated again that the consensus of the board was that they do not feel that the burden should fall upon Mr. Adrian, the electrician. He stated that in his opinion this was a serious code violation and could effect someone's life. He stated that he had thought about this situation and he just could not concur. Chairman Carranco stated that it was a hard decision to make and he hoped that something would come out of this to make it safe. He stated that wished that it could have been caught earlier when it could have been fixed. Chairman Carranco then called for any petitions from the audience. There being none, the meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. BUILDING INSPECTION DIVISIO lorry . 11 Arthur N. Sosa Building Official ANS:ekb Distribution: Board Members City Manager Asst.City Manager City Secretary Asst.City Attorney Director Housing&Community Dev. City Electrical Inspector(6)