MINUTES OF MEETING OF BOARD OF ELECTRICAL APPEALS April 12, 2005 - 3:00 p.m. OFFICE OF CENTRAL INSPECTION CITY HALL, 455 NORTH MAIN OCI CONFERENCE ROOM, 7th FLOOR Chairman Roy Meinhardt called the meeting to order at 3:07 pm, with Board members Larry Hackney, Dale Johnson, Harold Ragland, Larry Clark and Secretary Tom Kerschen present. Also present was Steve Schauner electrical inspector and Mike Hood elevator inspector. Board members Jerry Addington and John Whittit were absent. The minutes of the March 8, 2005 regular monthly meeting were read. Board member Clark made a motion the minutes be approved as written, it was seconded by Board member Ragland and approved. The recent examination results from Experior Assessments for electrical examinations administered by their office for City of Wichita approved applicants were presented to the Board. The results were as follows: APPLICANT APPLICANT EXAMINATION EXAMINATION NAME NUMBER CLASSIFICATION RESULT Clinton Black 0916 Master Failed Michael Branstetter 6164 Master Failed John Clark 9610 Master Failed Kevin Dearinger 4951 Master Failed Charles Freeman 2493 Master Passed Richard Claycamp 5439 Journeyman Failed Joe Correll 7098 Journeyman Failed Damon Dial 7994 Journeyman Failed Anthony Clark 0589 Res. Journeyman Passed One (1) Master Electrician, four (4) Journeymen Electrician and one (1) Residential Journeyman examination applications were reviewed for approval to be administered the appropriate examination for certification. The results were as follows: NAME NUMBER CLASSIFICATION ACTION David Anderson 7624 Master Approved Paul Bohlken 3552 Journeyman Approved Gary Lindow 8802 Journeyman Approved Jody Olsen 8428 Journeyman Approved Heath Alcaraz 9570 Res. Journeyman Approved Under part A of the new business section of the agenda, the Board unanimously voted to table this issue with Newton Electric until the May 10th meeting requesting Secretary Kerschen find out the status of the wiring at 3612 W. St. Louis located within the City of Wichita. Newton Electric pulled an electrical permit to upgrade the electric service but the Office of Central Inspection was given a copy of a bill and canceled checks in the name of Nevins Electric. Nevins Electric is not a licensed Electrical Contractor in the City of Wichita. Under part B of the new business section of the agenda, the Board welcomed Mike Fry of Pinnacle Construction Group. Pinnacle Construction is building 2 hotels, 1 at 1550 N Waterfront Parkway and the other at 1212 N Greenwich Road and they are requesting an interpretation of reliable power as referred to in the 2002 National Electrical Code Art. 695.3, which state: "Power Source(s) for Electric Motor-Driven Fire Pumps. Electric motor-driven fire pumps shall have a reliable source of power." Pinnacle Construction was asking whether WESTAR, the electric utility company, was considered a reliable source. They had an email from WESTAR stating that the source of power is a gridded system and if one grid goes completely down WESTAR can possibly back-feed that grid from another grid. The Board asked if the switching to another grid was something automatic that could be controlled from the downtown office or if a lineman would have to travel to the area to manually operate the control switch. Mike Fry said he would have to check with WESTAR to find out. Mike Fry also stated that there are 2 fire stations within 2 or 3 minutes of each site and that when the fire trucks arrived they would connect to the fire hydrant and by-pass the fire pump. The Board was questioning whether they really had the final authority in this decision then or if the final authority was the Fire Marshal. After considerable discussion with Mike Fry on the safety of the installed sprinkler system and the reason a fire pump was required on these projects Board member Hackney made a motion to table the issue until the May 10th meeting requesting Secretary Kerschen contact the Fire Marshal and find out if the Fire Marshall is asking for the Boards opinion in this matter or if the Fire Marshal has the final authority, Board member Ragland seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. Under part C of the new business section of the agenda, the Board welcomed Ben Boeson of Otis Elevator Company. In November of 2003 the Board of Electrical Appeals granted Otis Elevator a variance to install a Gen2 machine room-less elevator system in the Commerce Bank at 1551 N Waterfront Parkway. This installation is now complete and has been successfully inspected by the Office of Central inspection. Otis Elevator is requesting a variance to allow them to engineer, bid and install the Gen2 elevator system in other buildings in the City of Wichita. The elevator code for the City of Wichita at the current time is the ASME A17.1-1996, but will be reviewing the ASME A17.1-2004 later this year. In the 2004 edition Section 1.2, Purpose and Exceptions: "The provisions of the Code are not intended to prevent the use of systems, methods, or devices of equivalent or superior quality, strength, fire resistance, effectiveness, durability and safety to those prescribed by this Code, provided that there is technical documentation or physical performance verification to allow alternative arrangements that will assure safety equivalent to that which would be provided by conformance to the corresponding requirements of this Code." The 2005 supplement to the ASME A17.1 will allow machines in the hoistway with 3 new rules, Rule 2.7.6.3.4, Rule 2.7.6.2 and Rule 2.7.6.3.1. The Coated Steel Belts used in the Gen2 system will be the only item not directly permitted in the new supplement. Otis Elevator has done vigorous testing on the CSB and firmly believes that they are equivalent if not superior in safety and quality to current technologies. Elevator inspector Mike Hood reviewed the installation and equipment and reported to the Board that he also believes that the installation is safe and complies to the intent of the Code, and it is his recommendation that the variance is granted. Board member Clark made a motion to grant the variance and was seconded by Board member Hackney and was unanimously approved. Under part D of the new business section of the agenda, Chairman Meinhardt asked about the status and if Secretary Kerschen had heard from Saint Electric in regards to the complaint of violating Sections 19.08.010 and 19.08.015 of Title 19 of the City of Wichita ordinance and requested that Secretary Kerschen explain to the Board about this complaint. Secretary Kerschen gave the Board a copy of a letter sent by Tom St. Peter, stating he would be out of town the week of April 11th and would also like to meet with Tom Kerschen prior to appearing before the Board, and also copies of several citations that Electrical Inspector Schauner had wrote to Saint Electric employees over the last few years. Inspector Schauner explained to the Board that this is a continuing problem and several of the employees have had 2 or more citations issued. After considerable discussion of this issue Board member Ragland made a motion that the electrical contractors license of Saint Electric be suspended pending the appearance of Tom St. Peter before this Board and Board member Clark seconded the motion and was unanimously approved. Under the section for unfinished business a motion was made by Board member Hackney to have a special Board meeting/workshop on April 26, 2005 at 3:00pm to review the 2005 National Electrical Code. Board member Clark seconded the motion and was unanimously approved. With no other business to conduct, Board member Clark made a motion to adjourn. Board member Ragland seconded the motion and the meeting adjourned. The time was 5:15 pm. Tom Kerschen, Secretary, Board of Electrical Appeals 1