Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Electrical Advisory Board - 03/18/2004 V V City of _ CO US ELECTRICALLc0 ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES = Christi MARCH 18, 2004 WY Board Members Present: Kyle Budd, Chairman Miguel Carragdo Charles E. Sebbert Robert Conolly Joe Hernandez Shane Tomo Board Members Absent: Martin Adrian John Homer Staff Members Present: David Lewis, Electrical Team Leader Art Sosa, Building Official Julie McCoy, Recording Secretary CALL TO ORDER Chairman Kyle Budd declared a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. ROLL CALL The first item of business was roll call. Martin Adrian and John Homer were absent. *Charles Sebbert joined the meeting at 3:55 p.m. EXCUSED ABSENCES Mr. Hernandez apologized for not attending the January and February meeting. A motion was made by Robert Conolly and seconded by Miguel Carranco to excuse Mr. Hernandez's absences. The motion carried. Charles Sebbert also asked to be excused for his previous absence. A motion was made by Robert Conolly and seconded by Shane Torno to excuse his absence. The motion carried. APPROVAL OR CORRECTION OF MINUTES-January 15, 2004 & February 19, 2004 A motion was made by Shane Tomo and seconded by Robert Connoly to accept the minutes as written. The motion carried. Development Services P O.Bax 9277 • Corpus Christi.Texas 78469-9277 • (361)880-3240 V Electrical Advisory Board Minutes March 18,2004 Page 2 LATEST INFORMATION ON STATE LICENSING- Update by David Lewis, Electrical Team Leader State electrical licensing applications will be available to people March 1, 2004, on the state's website. June l" will be the closing date of the Grandfather period. On March 16, 2004, members of TDLR held a meeting in the City's Council Chambers. An estimated 150 people in the community participated during this session. The Development Services department had the meeting professionally taped and will be using the recording for internal training purposes. By September 1, 2004, all electricians will be licensed in the State. Either by the State or City. At least two people have already received their licenses through the grandfather process. Nine people have applied for the electrical licensing exam to be held on April 05, 2004. Four people signed up to take the Masters, four for the Journeymen, and one person is scheduled to take the maintenance exam. There has been a great reduction in the number of people taking the licensing exam this quarter. However, the following nine people will acquire a license upon passing the exam. The electrical permit application has been redesigned to have a slot for State License Number and a slot for the City License Number. The State license has an expiration birth date on it. The term birth date refers to the anniversary date, not the person's date of birth. Questions asked by board members: So if a person already has a Corpus Christi License, come December Is`, they can renew their license and keep going? Response: Yes. What happens when you have a big house with a dressing bathroom with half dressing room and half bathroom? Is it all GFI? Is it all Arc fault protected? Response: It would be all GFI protected. it V Electrical Advisory Board Minutes March 18,2004 Page 3 AGENDA ITEMS Proposed Electrical Code Change-Midyear • Arc Fault Protection by Kyle Budd: An inspector's interpretation is that a closed closet is in a bedroom. If the switch out is turned to face the inside of the closed closet, then those particular outlets are not in the bedroom any longer, and they would not have to be protected by arc fault. My contention is the fact that other than the garage with flammables' being stored, probably a closed closet is on of the most flammable things in the home. I also think that closed closets in the bedroom should be included in the arc fault protection. The changing of the board's composition to allow for one member to represent the electrical supply industry We are currently drafting Ordinance changes. We are reviewing the composition and will be proposing to change one member to a person of the electrical supply industry with five years experience. We probably need to take action to remove John Homer from the board for his absences. BUILDING OFFICIAL'S REPORT Given by Art Sosa We are evaluating the numbers of permits, inspections, investigations, re-outs, and all activity related to all trades, building, plumbing, and electrical. Residential permit counts have gone up to 15, 000 per year and we are looking at the potentials of adding one inspector to each trade. Electrical inspectors are going out with between 15-28 inspections on a given day. Other issues within the department are that David's time in the office is becoming more demanding from plan review and walk in customers. Have you gotten to the point where we can run an ad for another electrical inspector? Response: No, we are in the budget process right now. I am going to try to make a case for another inspector across the board, one electrical, one building, and one mechanical/plumbing. We will be wrapping up the budget process in April. It will go to Council for public hearings between May and June, and at the end of July it will take effect. So we still have about a month to build our case and show the numbers. We thought about having Ms. Bailey at this meeting, but there is a 4:00 staff meeting at City Hall that she had to attend. Part of the mid year fee adjustments will be fee increases. The goals that we set was to do fee increases to increase our technology capabilities, online permits, real time inspections results, real time permit database on the website, and telephony. Telephony would allow us to increase the efficiency and get them out in the field sooner than 9:00, but this is a $68,000 investment. it Electrtcal Advisory Board Minutes March It 2004 Page 4 We are also looking at the potentials for registering contractors under House Bill 730 which is a legislative action. We would like to have all specialty contractors registered such as pool, sign and roofing contractors. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Mid Year Amendments Energy Code Inspections and the Implementation PETITIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE There were none. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made to adjourn by Chairman Budd. The meeting was adjourned at 4:12 p.m. DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES l/v"VUr'yt/v�"4 r Arthur N. Sosa, Asst. Director of Development Services/Building Official Iv electrical 03-I8-04.minutes Posted.City Hall Bulletin Board Distribution'.Original minutes-notebook City Manager:Asst City Manager,Legal Depr_'.Building Official City Secretary,Electrical Team leader:Fire Marshall