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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes Electrical Advisory Board - 03/16/2005 V 6^1$v9202122.2a City of �' Corpus ^I? 2005 r' RECF_I\OED m Christi ELECTRICAL $ CINSFCrETA wr OFFICE eco ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES �0., MARCH 16, 2005405 b sem/ Board Members Present: Kyle Budd Robert Conolly Charles Sebbert Shane Tomo Bill Ewing Jr. Craig Loving Board Members Absent: Martin Adrian Richard Gray Lee Montgomery Staff Members Present: David Lewis, Chief Electrical Inspector Alonzo Garza, Interim Building Official Joseph Harney, Assistant City Attorney Julie McCoy, Recording Secretary CALL TO ORDER Chairman Kyle Budd declared a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. ROLL CALL The first item of business was roll call. Martin Adrian, Richard Gray, and Lee Montgomery were absent. EXCUSED ABSENCES There were none requested at this time. APPROVAL OR CORRECTION OF MINUTES—January 20,2005 Correction to item one under Other Discussions Page 3 of 3 Item one needs to read-Chairman Budd requested that the board be informed on staff decisions on the Licensing Ordinance of the City of Corpus Christi. David Lewis had questions regarding the board moving the meeting date and meeting times. It was explained to him that the board would be having Special called meetings until a change to the ordinance was made. A motion was made by Shane Tomo and seconded by Craig Loving to accept the minutes as amended. The motion carried. SCANNED Electrical Ade.„„Board Mlnuter DeveloWtgervices P.O. Box 921 • Corpus Christi. Texas 3'8469-9277 • (36I) 880-3240 41110 LATEST INFORMATION ON STATE LICENSING TDLR handouts were distributed and various items were discussed • The Levels of violation including fees and administration penalties • The revocation of licenses • The processes of Electrical license renewals, CEU's, and expiration dates • Electrical License card is now plastic • Mechanical licenses were plastic and are now paper Information shared by Chairman Budd • Can now take the test online and receive 4 hours of CEU's for $5.00 cheaper than other area providers. • Can also go offline and complete the test at a later time. DISCUSS SETTING A TIME TABLE FOR THE 2005 CODE ADOPTION • David Lewis had not had a chance to speak to Joseph Harney, Assistant City Attorney • Anticipate adopting the 2005 Code within three months after the State's adoption, which is July 1, 2005. • City hopes to have amendments shortly after the adoption Is staff going to be doing a synopses of changes and getting to contractors? As soon as physically possible. SERVICE REBUILDS-AEP RELEASES • Kyle Budd has asked that this item remain on the Electrical Agenda until staff gets something resolved on this • Chairman Budd has been asked to serve on the Development Services Advisory Group committee • Chairman Budd recently sent out surveys to contractors and was not pleased with the responses made from 15 of the 36 sent out. Negative responses were made regarding service rebuilds • May consider having AEP supervisors come back to the board to discuss the topic further. • Would like more direction from City staff on curing the problem. Comments made by David Lewis: • Emergency releases are available, but staff has not received calls to respond to. • The problem is that the customer wants to avoid paying the priority fee and they want the City to release city service with out an electrical inspection. • When we do get calls from contractors, we try to expedite them. Comments made by Kyle Budd: • Would like to see service rebuilds that would generate a temporary release along with an inspection within a 48— 52 hour period of time. Elxulul Advisory Board Mmmes March 2005 Page 2 of 5 L+ V • Need a new permit line item for service rebuilds that would generate a temporary release when you take the permit out and schedule it 48 hours in advance with AEP and schedule the inspection for the work within the same period of time. REGISTRATION OF ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS • The City of Corpus Christi's anniversary date does not coordinate with the State's license renewal date. • Registration is in place for those who have entered the system. • Not registering journeymen or helpers • The State was able to lower their fees because of overestimating their budget Comments By: Alonzo Garza—Building Official • Roof contractors are asking the City to register all contractors and take a test. • Roof contractors are currently not registered, most are not pulling permits, and many are not obtaining windstorm certificates. • The City is looking at also registering pool contractors and sign contractors. What was the intent of the discussion of staff on April 15, 2004 regarding the registration of electrical contractors? To ask a fee for a service offered. How did the City's intent get changed to collecting fees and maintaining a database? To get on a database, there would be a fee. The intent was not to assign without compensation. We are giving something. The permit ability is provided to contractors. BOARD'S RECOMMENDATION ON MOVING MEETING DATE • The board recommends moving the regular meeting date to the third Wednesday of every month. • No meeting space is available on the Third Thursday of every month, so they can no longer meet on the regular dates. • Joseph Harney, Assistant City Attorney, provided copies of his Ordinance draft to change the regular meeting date to the third Wednesday of every month. A motion was made by Charles Sebbert and seconded by Craig Loving to support the ordinance change on moving the regular meeting date from the third Thursday of the month to the third Wednesday. The board agreed and the motion carried. tic...[AdvisoryBeard MI nmas March 16.20M Page 3 of5 iir V NOMINATION OF VICE CHAIRMAN On January 20, 2005 the board had an election of the Chairman and Vice Chairman. It was brought to the board attention that the nomination for the Vice Chairman was made by an outgoing member to an incoming member. In order to make the nomination correct, Chairman Budd opened the floor in order to re-nominate a Vice Chairman. A motion was made by Shane Tomo and seconded by Charles Sebbert to nominate Craig Loving as the Vice Chairman by acclamation. The motion carried. BUILDING OFFICIAL'S REPORT Technology Update • The City is in the process of implementing new technology such as the PC Tablet • Inspectors will now have a mobile office • Tablets will have intemet access and Inspectors can input instant inspection results, comments for inspections, and review permit histories. • With the help of Intel, Dell &Gateway,the city should be saturated by August 2005. • At the moment, the city is using WIFI Technology and wireless hotspots are available and limited to SPID, Island, Calalien and the Corridor. • City of Corpus Christi also has implemented the IVR system. This system will allow contractors to check the status of their permits using this system. • The IVR system went live this week Consultant Update • Development Services brought in a consultant to review our department and set new goals. He was also invited to our Development Services Advisory Group meeting. • Mr. Arimes interviewed each staff member to analyze their processes and find real issues and the underlying problems. • Mr. Mimes is preparing the 1st of 3 reports for our department. • The department is hoping for a positive change. • Building Inspections has the residential plan review process down to two days. • Building Inspections got approved for one electrical inspector and one plan reviewer • Additional staff and technology will streamline our processes. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 1. AEP Releases 2. Updates on the Administration Chapter 3. Latest information on State Licensing El en Advisory Bond M;no,n march 2005 MVes,4 of • 4 V PETITIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE There were none at this time. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made at 4:35 p.m. by Kyle Budd and seconded by Craig Loving to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried. 7----1).ARITI�MENT`�F V I.OPMENT SE C ,�/� zo Garza, rim Building Official/Plans Examiner Coordinator r.1.103 1665 moms Ponce Crh HO Bullem Board Dint"" C,„(...,„A"A .cr 61.,.w wBm B.limre Metal Co 366.666 Eleancal Advisory Board Mains March 16,2005 Page 5 015